One of those long weekly catch-ups

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Originally uploaded by rowanf.

I got back from Las Vegas and Russell and I went to a movie as we're waaay behind on the summer movies! We saw Get Smart which was much better than I expected and quite a fun romp. Tuesday we saw Wanted which I hated - there were no sympathetic characters and lots of graphic violence.

The week was really busy at work with lots of searches and a patent meeting. And I have a presentation next week that I really need to work on. But I keep getting other things. Gah!

Thursday we had our Pagan singing group, including a new member who found us searching yahoo groups for south bay folks. She is newly moved to the area and seems quite nice. She brought a song from Circle Round, which was great.

Friday the carpets got cleaned so I spent most of the day with all the doors and windows open and no air conditioning. At least the heat meant the carpets dried pretty well and didn't smell quite as bad. Erika was there and we hung out together in the morning. She headed off to see a friend's son defend his climbing championship. I did the Friday SL Flickr collaborators shoot which was lingerie shoot this time. Fun! In the evening I did fireworks for a reprise of the ball on Land of Lincoln that we had done for the history conference. This time it was open to everyone and we had lots of attendees (about 50 concurrent with folks coming and going).

Saturday was a work day at the Umbanda House. I took my tools but it was working on a small shed and really only two people could effectively be inside at a time. But I did drive a few nails and pull down some boards for replacing. And I brought sandwiches. *grin*

Sunday was a Sacred Connection one-day event and it was here in the south bay which was a nice change. It was over toward Los Altos and I had a brilliant idea of hitting Maltby's for lunch on the way... except I didn't know it was the Art & Wine Festival weekend so there was no parking to be had. *sigh* I did stop at Draeger's (they were guarding their parking lot from festival goers) and got a key lime pie to take to the one-day. I grabbed a bite up on El Camino since I hadn't had breakfast or lunch and it was getting on to noon.

Monday, lots more work and dancing in the evening. We did some veil work which really got my shoulder (which for no apparent reason was already hurting). Bah. This getting older/creaky body thing sucks, y'know?

Brainsex survey via BBC

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Originally uploaded by rowanf.

The other night Russell and I watched an episode on "Brainsex" from BBC show called Secrets of the Sexes. This show was aired back in 2005, so this is probably not news to some of you. But we found it fascinating. Among the other stories covered in Brainsex, they talked about a "Sex ID test which measures various things (including finger length) and tells you where you fall on a spectrum of male and female brain characteristics. The average of women is 50) on the female scale, the average of men is 50 on the male. Russell was surprised that he fell at 50 on the male. I fell at 25 on the male myself. My scores:

Part One
Angles - 16 of 20
Differences - 21%

Part Two
Hands - left thumb on top (right brain dominant)

Part Three
Empathising - 7 of 20
Systemising - 11 of 20
Eyes - 7 of 10

Part Four
Fingers .95 on both hands

Part Five
Faces - I had trouble with this one as they asked if you were more attracted to men or women. I ultimately chose men and my choices suggest I prefer my men to have more feminine faces. But I'd like to do the women's faces too! (Russell prefers more masculine female faces.)

Part Six
3D shapes - 9 of 12 (I was surprised, I think I'm awful at this)
Words - 17 total
Ultimatum - £25 (Obviously I'm a bad bargainer or Japanese LOL)

So what does this all mean? I have no idea. But it was an interesting show and I plan to watch future episodes.

Vitamen D & Health

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Originally uploaded by rowanf.

I was just telling a friend yesterday about some research another student did back when I was in a women's studies grad program. (I didn't complete it.) My fellow student did her dissertation on home remedies on the American frontier and she went around to various archives and read pioneer women's journals. The most common remedy was to have the patient "sit in the sun". I figured that it did no harm and having a rest from chores probably helped. But today I was reading in the WSJ about Defending Against Disease -- With Vitamin D. It seems that,

"It's long been known that D is crucial for strong bones. But new research suggests that it also protects against a wide variety of diseases. A study in the Archives of Internal Medicine last month found that men with low D had a higher risk for heart attacks. Other studies have linked low D with cancer of the breast, ovary, prostate, stomach, bladder, esophagus, kidney and lung. Low levels of D also have been associated with high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes, periodontal disease, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, macular degeneration, mental illness and chronic pain."

Huh. Those pioneer mothers new a thing or two, eh? And we, with our indoor activities and work and sun aversion and sun screen, aren't getting enough. I have cod liver oil supplments in my cabinet but I'm always worried about mercury in fish and don't take them very often. I do take a multivitamen that has some. And I eat tuna once a week (mercury again or I'd eat it far more often).