Link Round-Up

As usual, I can't remember who sent me all of these links.

Why I am self-employed. Because otherwise, people would be Stealing My Life. This is also why I try to support businesses where all 'employees' are partners and so have some role in running the company (eg John Lewis Partnership).

Childhood Trauma Contributes to Mental Illness in Adulthood. Adults who experienced multiple traumas are much more likely to have poor mental and physical health.

Every 6 minutes somewhere in the world a woman dies needlessly as a result of illegal, unsafe abortion. In response to this violation of womens human rights and medical need, Women on Waves operates a mobile clinic on a ship that sails to countries where abortion is illegal.

Some good emergency kit lists. I think I got the link off Making Light.

Very Shiny Thing. Want. I do wonder how big it is though; it says the package weight is 1kg, surely the device itself isn't that heavy? Ah, the FAQ says it weighs 145g. Okay. WANT. Um. Probably shouldn't get though. I mean, if I wait, they'll come out with one that holds a lot more than 2GB of music. You can get thumbdrives that hold more than 2GB these days... I know the storage isn't the limiting factor on the thing at the moment but really, people...

I wonder if the new Tate & Lyle boiler will make Greenwich and Isle of Dogs less stinky. Probably not, they probably aren't changing the thing that makes the horrible yeasty smell. Anyway in two years I won't even be at Trinty any more unless I go on to do a Master's there.

Feeling dry? Get used to it.

Personal Finance How-To Library.

Neuroscientists Propose New Theory of Brain Flexibility.

Behavioral Therapy Most Effective for Social Phobia.

Also, Meditation May Be Comparable to Exercise in Alleviating Depression. I really need to do more exercise and more meditation...

There has been a massive fustercluck in UK Physics funding, which you can read more about on purplecthulhu's journal. There is a petition here to sign to reverse these decisions.

The Make Lounge sounds really neat. ali_anarres, didn't you have an idea along these lines at one point? Hmm. I'm half-tempted to do a stuffed animals workshop or something, but I suspect this is just distraction eating my brain...

The Lakota Indians have withdrawn from treaties with the US and wish to become an independent country. Serious wow. Apparently it's not quite that simple, though.

Stripping the Gurus. Haven't read it yet; not sure I will as I don't tend to do the getting-suckered-in-by-gurus thing in the first place. Hmm.

I was reminded again of (secret lentil). And I'm thinking... I'll use the £50 Long Tall Sally voucher that I have, and I'll continue buying socks and some underwear as and when I need them (particularly as I can't crochet any more), but no more new clothes for me. From now, I'm going to make my clothes when I need new clothes. If nothing else that should stop me 'needing' so many new clothes... it's so easy to justify buying new things when it consists of exchanging bits of paper for shiny fabric. Okay, a lot of the clothing there looks a bit raggedy... but I'm a bit of a hippie, as well as congenitally incapable of looking tidy for more than a few minutes at a time, so I may as well embrace it... and I can sew smarter things for concerts, if I must.

I've been thinking about making some of my own ones of something like this, and possibly offering them in mp3 format, free of copyright, for others. Ideas? Suggestions? I mean, yeah, it might all be bullshit, but I'm not going to lose much by taking the time to put something together and listening to it a few nights a week or when I'm on the Tube or something, and if negative brainwashing works I don't see why positive brainwashing shouldn't.

To Do

Pack clothes
Confirm Flights
Wrap more gifts
Pack lunch/dinner for eating on the plane tomorrow (bagels with creamcheese), because buying airplane food is dumb.
Write postcards
Make up parcels to send to UK (stuff I've acquired here that I don't need for the next ten days)
Panic


I think that's everything.

You can buy ibuprofen in a bottle with 500 200mg tablets in for about $12 here. I'm considering getting a bottle to take with me, because in the UK it's a pain in the neck to get painkillers more than 16 at a time, but there's nothing illegal about importing the stuff. I use it probably once or twice a week depending on other factors, so that would be around a 3-year supply, which is probably even within the use-by date. Also, 500 tablets loose in a bottle takes up much less space per tablet than blister packs, which tend to get lost anyway.