Photo Essays

I just found a collection of photo essays on the UNICEF website. They even have an RSS feed for subscribing for updates. I came across it after listening to a UNICEF podcast describing how, in one project, a camera was provided to the children of Beslan as a means for them to document, communicate, and deal with what is important to them.

I have to admit, I can't look at any of the photo essays for long before I have to turn away. The rest of the world faces challenges we never know about. Unless we go looking for it.

Drop Bears

What are you people doing down there? Every week there seems to be a whole new variety of way to be killed by nature in Australia. Let's compare:

• Canada: Freeze, or be attacked by a bear. That's it. Even if you fall off a mountain, it's not the impact that will kill you, it's the freezing temperatures after you land, or windchill on the way down. It's near impossible to drown here - you will freeze first. You cannot be killed by a raccoon, no matter how big.
• Australia: Sharks, snakes, jellyfish, rips, reefs, crocodiles, stingrays, pufferfish, flashfloods - and that's just the wet stuff! On land you can suffer dehydration, poisoning, mauling, or beating at the feet of a kangaroo. Even in the air you might be sucked beyond Mount Everest by a storm cell, frozen, and then hit by lightning, or be attacked by eagles on your way back down. Take your pick.

So remember kids, when in Australia, watch out for those drop bears. They're probably the only thing you have a chance of fending off.

Making Progress

I've been given time off work (thanks boss! I know you're reading this!) to try and make some progress on my thesis. It's helped a lot, and I feel like I'm on target to finish sometime around April. Now it's a race between me and a colleague from Ireland. Who will finish their thesis first? Stay tuned for the answer. :)

Cuddly

Feeling in need of some inspiration? This might help. 18 baby panda bears. :)

Pelvic Exam

Well, not really. But the physio said that my pelvis was the in the best shape she'd ever seen it. Seems that stretching my leg muscles every hour at work has helped a lot (my computer kicks me off for 4 minutes every hour). Only one side-affect so far - my knees are wobbly and sublux a lot more than they used to. I have to build up the knee muscles know, to compensate for the loss of tension in the thigh muscles.

In related news, I went to put on my jacket on Monday morning. That hurt. I can't pick up heavy objects with my left arm now, and expect it to be that way for about a week. Physio says I need to ice it the shoulder for 10 minutes every day.