Life as Rose

A list of things (diseases mostly) I sort of worry about all the time.

Rose — Sat, 12 May 2012 06:46:56 +0000

Just in case everyone forgot about how neurotic I am, here is a reminder.

Mad cow disease
Sudden heart failure
Suddenly developing an allergy, especially an allergy to something I really like, like dogs or peanuts.
Diabetes
rectovaginal fistula (I went to a sex toy party one time and the presenter was a morbid woman who brought this up and I AM SCARRED. FOR LIFE. And now you are too. Who brings that up at a PARTY??? Especially when you’re trying to sell a product!)
Having contact with a rabid animal but not realizing it until I start to show symptoms and am doomed.
You know when you’re having a really awesome day and your mind is totally in a great place and then suddenly something terrible happens, like you slip and fall and then you have a broken arm or a sore bum or stitches? Whenever I’m having a really great time, I always remind myself that this is *exactly* the recipe for me to have some disaster unexpectedly occur and maybe I could die as a result.
Not saving enough money and then running out when I’m retired.
High blood pressure.

Harry Leon Crawford

Rose — Tue, 08 May 2012 15:43:20 +0000

When hotel cleaner ‘Harry Leon Crawford’ was arrested and charged with wife murder, he was revealed to be in fact Eugeni Falleni, a woman and mother, who had been passing as a man since 1899.

In 1914, as ‘Harry Crawford’, Falleni had married the widow Annie Birkett. Three years later, shortly after she announced to a relative that she had found out ‘something amazing about Harry’, Birkett disappeared. – Source

Kottke posted a link to this article of vintage mugshots, and this particular mugshot stood out to me.

I did a bit of googling and found a bit more info on the story -

Crawford told neighbours that she had run off with a plumber. In 1919 Birkett’s young son, who had remained in Crawford’s custody, told an aunt of attempts made on his life by his drunken stepfather. The aunt contacted police. A charred body which had been found in Lane Cove in 1917 was belatedly identified as Birkett’s. ‘Crawford’s’ astonished second wife, when finally convinced of Falleni’s true gender remarked, “I always wondered why he was so painfully shy …” The photograph shown here shows Falleni in male clothing, probably on the day of her arrest. The negative was found in a paper sleeve inscribed ‘Falleni Man/Woman’. It is also possible that Falleni was made to dress in a man’s suit for the photograph. – source

As well as this page – Australia state archives, which has a bunch of written records and additional photos.

Things I’ve been reading about recently

Rose — Tue, 08 May 2012 04:53:41 +0000

The Sweating Sickness

Sweating sickness, also known as “English sweating sickness” or “English sweate” (Latin: sudor anglicus), was a mysterious and highly virulent disease that struck England, and later continental Europe, in a series of epidemics beginning in 1485. The last outbreak occurred in 1551, after which the disease apparently vanished. The onset of symptoms was dramatic and sudden, with death often occurring within hours. Its cause remains unknown.

I love mystery diseases, especially historical ones. The plague was interesting but since there is a cure for it and doctors know what it was*, it isn’t as exciting as an unknown illness that swept through europe and caused thousands of deaths and then disappeared.

*In case you’re interested, here’s wikipedia’s take on the plague of the middle ages:

Based on genetic evidence derived from Black Death victims in the East Smithfield burial site in England… ….further conclude “that the Black Death in medieval Europe was caused by a variant of Y. pestis that may no longer exist.”….A study published in Nature in October 2011 sequenced the genome of Y. pestis from plague victims and indicated that the strain that caused the Black Death is ancestral to most modern strains of the disease.

The BTK Killer and the woman that got away

How horrifying would it be (and yet also relieving) if you found out two months after the fact that the night you were out late with a friend was the night a serial killer waited for you in your home for hours, plotting your demise, only to get bored and leave when you took too long to return home?

And what if you found out because the killer wrote you a letter about how you were ‘the one that got away’ and left it in your mailbox?

(even more horrifying? He wasn’t caught for another 25 years. I’d probably spend the rest of my life jumping at shadows.)

Supermoon

We drank wine and watched the moon rise over the weekend. None of our photos did it justice, but it was totally gorgeous. The tides have been way more extreme the last few days too.

Octopus Lunch

Rose — Tue, 01 May 2012 14:31:57 +0000

I’m not sure if this is getting any global kind of coverage, although I think it has the potential to go viral. A local Victoria resident took some photos of a giant pacific octopus grabbing a seagull and slowly dragging it underwater to eat. They’re disturbing and awesome and there’s a couple stories posted already.

These photos (credit goes to Ginger Morneau) were taken at the breakwater, which is an awesome walking spot.

New Wheels!

Rose — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 15:08:19 +0000

The era of the car is over, thank god. Say hello to our new 2008 Yaris RS

For those of you who like Downton Abbey…

Rose — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 23:42:10 +0000

Some Stoic Photos

Rose — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 15:13:05 +0000

Because these photos don’t truly illustrate his size, here is a photo of an anatoalian shepherd standing next to a man. They are huge.

Interesting things part 6

Rose — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 14:00:18 +0000

This guy draws disney characters as their ‘real life’ versions

These are so amazing. He also has some very impressive photo manipulation skills. I’m jealous.

The Voynich Manuscript

The Voynich Manuscript first came to light in 1912, when it was purchased by an antique book dealer. In 2009, carbon dating was used to determine its creation date, which turns out to be between 1404 and 1438. The mystery behind the book is that it is written in a language that no one has ever seen before.

It has had many owners, including Emperor Rudolf II, and a man name Georg Baresch, who, in 1637, was just as stumped by the language as we are in 2012. It appears to be a book documenting herbs, but as of yet, the words have not been deciphered. Theories include that it is a hoax, a cypher, or an unheard of natural language.

Potential life changing cancer vaccine developed

The media is going crazy over this one.

In the safety trial at Hadassah, 10 patients with multiple myeloma, a blood cancer, received the vaccine. Seven have finished the treatment and the developer, drug company Vaxil Biotherapeutics, reported all had greater immunity against cancer cells compared with before they were given the vaccine. Vaxil added that three patients were free of detectable cancer following the treatment.

Source

Easter!

Rose — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 14:00:49 +0000

I bought my sister a book for her birthday called The art of painting animals on rocks. This is her first creation.

Free time nerd stuff

Rose — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 17:31:17 +0000

Spent a bit of time this weekend converting this PSD into code.

At the moment it’s only about 50% done, but I thought I’d post it now because I am extremely ~~lazy~~ busy and I doubt I’ll finish it any time soon.