repository

So like ever since I got my wisdom teeth out, I've had to rinse my mouth after every time I consume solid food. I don't really understand why exactly the pockets are even there, seeing as my wisdom teeth hadn't crowned(terminology?) at the time of the operation.
My theory was that the teeth was "filling out" the gum, so that it was tight with my molars (I believe the notation is 17, 27, 37, 47), but once my wisdoms were removed, my gum sits slightly away from the gums.

Now remember that story by Roald Dahl called "The Twits", where the dude licked his own beard for a second meal? Well I'm not going to say it outright, but rest assured that I didn't mention this part for nothing.

Also, after finishing our assignment for this TP, I am now practicing string skipping and learning my arpeggios on guitar. I haven't played properly for a while :(

paypal rox

In response to everyone who loves PayPal for enabling their crippling dependence on retail therapy, I've often quipped that PayPal isn't as angelic as it may appear. I had previously read articles about PayPal being shitty to buyers who want a refund, or to sellers dealing with refunds, fucking up charity donations and etc. Today I found this article, so I have something to dig up next time someone goes "what do you mean PayPal isn't a godsend for gratuitous spending?".

I'll break it down if you can't be bothered reading it.
- Lady sells violin that survived through WW2, for $2500
- Transaction goes as normal
- Buyer receives item, then disputes its historical authenticity
- PayPal tells the buyer that it is a counterfeit (hardly PayPal's job)
- PayPal informs the buyer that he must destroy the violin in order to receive a refund
- So the buyer does, gets his refund, and the seller is left going "what the fuck"

Also, please sort out your terminology/understanding of credit card vs debit card. It could end up costing you a lot of money in the event you use one instead of the other.

Appendix:
Actually I searched on reddit.com for "PayPal" and, through a massive swamp of "I got swindled out of $x by PayPal" and "Bitcoins ftw", I was reminded of this case, where a teen kid finds a security flaw in PayPal's website. Most websites have a bounty program, where they pay a decent amount for bug finds. But since this kid is not 18, PayPal takes the submission, and straight out refuses to pay him. When the kid asked for some recognition so he can put it on a resume, etc, PayPal then proceeds to just straight out ignore him. Note this kid has been paid previously by Microsoft and Mozilla. PayPal just does not give a fuck since it's almost a monopoly.

my incidental find on asian glow

Journal article I found. Yeah... this isn't peer reviewed. It's like one step above a blog post, I guess. In any case I'm half basing it on lectures we've had, and half basing it on the article.

Quick medicoscientific basis:
1) Alcohol
2) Enzyme called ADH converts it to acetaldehyde
3) Enzyme called ALDH oxidises this into excretable acids so your kidneys help you piss it all out

Everyone, unless they be majorly messed up, has adequate ADH floating around
But something like 10% of Caucasians and 60% of East Asians are missing that important ALDH enzyme.

As far as I can tell it's not the ethanol itself causing symptoms of facial flush, nausea, increased heart rate, headache, feelings of shittiness, and other Asian/hangover style symptoms. Rather, it's the buildup of acetaldehyde that causes these annoying symptoms.

This article claims that ALDH-deficient individuals are at greater risk of oesophageal cancer, since acetaldehyde meddles with your DNA and shit which is like recipe for cancer. However, it doesn't state what the increase in risk is, as a percentage, nor does it cite any articles to support how it came to the conclusion that this is true (this is what you get when it's not peer reviewed). However, if you're curious about how acetaldehyde affects DNA in your lymphocytes, which is linked to oesophageal cancer by ??? mechanism, you can always look up T. Matsuda et al., Chem Res. Toxicol. 19, 1374-1378 (2006) or H. Ishikawa et al., Mutat. Res. 615, 134-142 (2007). I can't be bothered because I don't care that much, and also who the hell cites with the shortened journal names wtf.

The article does vouch for the effectiveness of Zantac and other "antihistimines" [sic] in reducing the facial flush, although obviously this does nothing for the acetaldehyde levels. Yeah this article wasn't so much of a great find after all... I shoulda just done a search on MEDLINE about acetaldehyde buildup.

choice is an illusion



Just watched this video on the near-monopoly that a company you've probably never heard of, Luxottica, has on the eyewear industry. Think like every fucking eyewear brand that you can think of.
Not content with just owning all the top brands of eyewear, they also fully own outlets like Sunglass Hut and OPSM.

If you watched the video, the CEO is one clever but slimy guy. You can just tell he's a genius but he won't hesitate to take advantage of others. It's pretty genius to maintain the illusion of choice by maintaining a huge variety of brands so it's all "free market" and shit. Although it's not like that same shit isn't happening with stuff you'd find at the supermarket. (Although that's significantly less price-fixy or whatever the monopoly equivalent of that is)

Now switching from O.O to :D:
http://www.megalomaniac.com/~andrew/funny/bloodcyber.html
This thing might be as old as the internet, but I only just discovered it. I couldn't stop laughing at some bits.
It's a guy going to a chatroom, initiating cybersex, then progressively ruining it for the other party.