Dr Sadie Plant's latest foray into unravelling people's love affair with technology has revealed an interesting fact this week - that mobile phones and Gameboys (do they still sell these?) are causing the under-25s' thumbs to become their "new fingers." I once remarked that if man were to evolve that he'd look like a giant thumb, and here is Plant telling me the same thing. According to the noted founder of the Cybernetic Culture Research Unit at Warwick University in London, six months of study on nine of the largest cities in the world concluded that young people use both their thumbs dexterously when accessing the hand-held's keypad, causing "physical alterations" that have surely happened generations before.
And I quote:
"The fact that our thumbs operate differently from our fingers is one of the main things that defines us as humans. Discovering that the younger generation has taken to using thumbs in a completely different way and are instinctively using it where the rest of us use our index fingers is particularly interesting."
Check out the Observer release here.

I got three unsolicited IMs regarding the FIV story. Kermin's said:
[18:28] «Kë®mìN» wheee!!!!!!!! :) :) :) :) :) :) :) buti pa cats! LOL they can have unprotected sex anytime! hahahahahahhahaa

Cats can get AIDS too. I came across this article about the US government approving the production and commercial use of the vaccine for feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV). Although that's good news to some, I find myself worried about my cat. They usually get infected through bite wounds as it is the infected cat's saliva that is loaded with the virus. symptoms, which may show five to ten years after contact, include weight loss, diarrhea, fever, and swollen lymph nodes.
No, the virus has no effect on humans, may it be an infection or disease. The virus, however, can attack the feline's immune system, making the animal more susceptible to diseases and infections in contrast with the FIV-free.

congratulations to rachel ramos for passing the bar exams! im proud of you :)

i never thought i'd ever say this... but i've realized how grateful i am for my typing teacher back in 3rd year high. i used to hate her. mainly because i always left her class with sore fingers. after all, we weren't practicing touch typing on a qwerty keyboard that gives a soft tick, tick, tick. it was more of a clang, clang, clang, ding! sort of thing - and worse, your fingers go through the spaces in between the keys if you don't concentrate hard. ouch.
but all's well. :) im happy of how i do now in that department because of her.
typingtest.com has a nifty typing test applet. i scored 66 words per minute, with 1 word error, a net speed of 65WPM, and a 98-percent accuracy. how about you?

We are all Greeks. Our laws, our literature, our religion, our arts, have their root in Greece.
~ Percy Bysshe Shelley

stratfor.com unveiled satellite pics of North Korean missile launch pads in North Hamgyeong Province this week. Knowing these Koreans (i do?), they'll be condemning the "false reports" - or in this case, false pics? - by the end of next. According to the web site's report, it compared the pictures, taken by US commercial satellite Quick Bird last December, with shots taken some three years ago, and can honestly tell that Pyongyang has been making some renovations. it is reports like these that disturb what otherwise is dormant. it is largely provocative.

i go to work in an office with white doors. it looks funny, because it looks like someone painted the whole room and forgot to include the doors.

:D

catnaps are catnaps. they arent really naps at all. your cat would be so still, unmoving, and you'd begin to wonder what's so sweet about his dream, if you could possibly join him there, or have one yourself. but make one noise and he's instantly awake.
when cats are asleep, however, they really are. azi does not want me touching his furry tummy, and i can get swiped at just for trying. but when he starts to snore, then im in luck :) actually, you could just about do anything to azi when he's dreaming up his sexy girl catfriends slinking in and out of his vision. you could push him around your bed to make room for what's left of it enough to get some decent sleep, or you could shove him off the bed altogether - and he'd still be out cold, sprawled belly side up on the floorboards, and outsnoring my roommate.