The Japanese government conceded yesterday that they can’t contain the radiation at Fukushima Dai-Ichi’s damaged nuclear reactors. The likely solution will be to entomb the reactors with sand and concrete. Water around the reactors is currently emitting a deadly 1,000 millisieverts of radiation per hour. Small levels of radiation have been observed in milk as far away as California.

The ongoing health impacts of Chernobyl has had a devastating effect on survivors: damaging immune and endocrine systems, leading to accelerated aging, cardiovascular and blood illnesses, psychological illnesses, chromosomal aberrations and an increase in foetal deformations.
Quotation from Greenpeace, Chernobyl death toll grossly underestimated.

They have concluded between themselves that it is inevitable some of them may die within weeks or months. They know it is impossible for them not to have been exposed to lethal doses of radiation.
Quotation from the mother of a 32-year-old worker at Fukushima Dai-Ichi, according to Fox News.

Out of curiosity, I googled how many days old I am. Then I tried to remember as many of those days as I could. I found eureka moments, childhood memories, people, places, my wedding day, adventures, some Christmases. I remembered important days as well as insignificant days that were somehow important enough to be retained. I regretably confess I cannot remember all 14,368 days.
No, today isn’t my birthday, but I will nonetheless try to make it memorable.

Here is a “How Many Days Young Am I?” calculator. (Derbyshire Guide)

Here is the test to find whether your mission on earth is finished. If you’re alive, it isn’t.
Quotation from Richard Bach

April 28th marked the third anniversary of EncoreSeraphine.com. 793 comics. Much love. Thank you. ~Sera

You treated me like a goddess
When we were around everyone else
Now how come you couldn’t notice me
When I was standing by myself
Lyric from Meiko, Sleep

If every angel’s terrible
Then why do you welcome them
You said you’d provide the birdbath
If I’d provide the skin
Lyric from CocoRosie, Terrible Angels “It’s perfectly flawed imho”

Why do some food companies put gelatin in yogurt? To add firmness and consistency. The gross part is (if you are lacto-ovo vegetarian like I am) gelatin is made from the skin, boiled bones, internal organs and intestines of animals like cows, pigs and horses. It’s a by-product of the meat and leather industries. Gelatin is also commonly found in marshmallows, gummy bears, margarine and even beer. Check your food labels!
P.S. Yogurt has a 10-21 day shelf life according to the National Center for Home Food Preservation.

No, the serpent did not
Seduce Eve to the apple.
All that’s simply
Corruption of the facts.
Adam ate the apple.
Eve ate Adam.
The serpent ate Eve.
This is the dark intestine.
The serpent, meanwhile,
Sleeps his meal off in Paradise
Smiling to hear
God’s querulous calling.
Poem by Ted Hughes, Theology

Wouldn’t it be ironic if my imaginary friend is really my guardian angel?

It is somewhat of a revolving door. Children are nimble in coming up with these imaginary companions and sometimes we have a hard time keeping up with all of the ones a child has.
Quotation from Stephanie Carlson, Assistant Professor, University of Washington

One child said the [imaginary] friend put yogurt in her hair.
Another quotation from Stephanie Carlson

Yay, after a week, bronchitis is no longer contagious. In theory. But if I were you. I’d stay as far away from me as possible.

Ninety-nine per cent of the people in the world are fools and the rest of us are in great danger of contagion.
Quotation from Thornton Wilder

So many journeys may the sun and moon
Make us again count o’er ere love be done!
But, woe is me, you are so sick of late,
So far from cheer and from your former state,
That I distrust you. Yet, though I distrust,
Discomfort you, my lord, it nothing must:
For women’s fear and love holds quantity;
In neither aught, or in extremity.
Quotation from Wm. Shakespeare, Hamlet

I’ll cry at anything when I’m sick. I get emotional at inappropriate moments– during game shows, talk shows, comedies, even during car commercials. I can’t help it.

This much we do know: All of us do it in varying degrees of blubbitude. Some of us are waterfalls, soaking fellow moviegoers with our public displays of empathy. Others are Saharas, for whom tears are about as rare as oases.
Quotation from Desson Thomson, The Washington Post

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!

Placebos are scientifically shown to be effective 40% of the time against pain and depression. However, I haven’t found any studies that specifically compare the beneficial effects of a “name brand” Placebo versus a generic sugar pill. I suspect that this is one case where the name brand drug would be more effective than the generic version, despite both having the same “active ingredient.” Yes, I will accept a research grant to prove the point.

Reportedly, patients have even become “addicted” to placebos: According to an Internet paper by Ben Z. Krentzman, M.D., one patient ingested 10,000 placebo units in one year; another had a compulsive desire to take placebo tablets, tended to increase the “dose,” couldn’t stop taking the “medicine” without psychiatric help, and suffered “abstinence syndrome” when deprived of it—classic characteristics of drug addiction.
Quotation from Kenneth E. Legins, Is Prescribing Placebos Ethical?, American Council on Science and Health

I am sick. I’ve been in bed all weekend. Since we’re both sick, I don’t get any sympathy.

The sick grapes on the chair by the bed lie prone; at the window
The tassel of the blind swings gently, tapping the pane,
As a little wind comes in.
The room is the hollow rind of a fruit, a gourd
Scooped out and dry, where a spider,
Folded in its legs as in a bed,
Lies on the dust, watching where is nothing to see but twilight and walls.
Poem by D.H. Lawrence, Malade

This really happened to me. I won’t mention the name of the pharmacy, but it rhymes with Fright-Aid. The pharmacist said the best way to avoid getting the flu is “don’t touch your eyes, nose or mouth.” I’ll assume I can still use my mouth for eating as long as I wash my hands beforehand?

So the C.D.C. says 50 million [Americans] have been infected so far. Another 50 million have been vaccinated. And maybe 20 million have got innate immunity because of their age. You do the math — that’s 120 million who are immune out of 320 million, so two-thirds of the population is still not immune. It’s amazing how many people are acting as if this is all wrapped up. The numbers could still go up dramatically.
Quotation from Michael T. Osterholm, Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota