Allergy or Shingles (by sarah)

I had to go back to the dr - Saturday after the first aid course my arm broke out in a server rash - that didn't look like the impetigo which was clearing up nicely with the creme. The photo's were taken Monday as and I got to see the dr Wednesday morning - the dr who had been dealing with me has apparently left the surgery.

I got a bit flustered at the drs as he said he didn't know what it was and started asking questions about bites - we ascetianed it probably wasn't bites but was it an allergy?

It looks like shingles as its in a strip on one arm but I'm 'a bit young for that'. So I was prescriped another cream this time Betnovate RD cream which I think is just to stop me scratching my self to bits. I mentioned the itching but forgot to mention the burning or the fact I feel pooh.

Apparently shingles is from chickenpox when I was younger and just flares up if your run down etc... I am now waiting 2-4 weeks to see if its an allergy - if it gets worse I have to go back imediatly.

I considered mentioning my backs got a new 'sharp' pain in it but they get a bit upset with you adding things to the sessions that aren't related. On the plus side either way I'm not infectious which is good 🙂

Also I have Cassiopea or the wonky W as one of the spot patterns which is kind of cool 🙂

We had the last Scout meeting of the term last night and it was decided that I should take a break from it until mid May which to be quiet honest is a relief as I'm going to be submitting alot of course work then plus have presingtations and the like going on.

Earth Hour (by sarah)

On Saturday I find out via Twitter that this thing called Earth Hour was happening were everyone (hopefully) would be turning off their lights and such - I vaguelly feel that either Ella, Oliver or Andrew mentioned it too me last weekend.

Anyway I decided that we were going to take part (with half an hour to go) so wizzed around finding candles - Al got out the oil lamps and we light a fraction of what we have here!

Jean said the house was bueatifull - "Its a bueatiful night mummy" which was sweet.

I even cracked out a nice candle floating bowl that we were given for either a house warming or wedding 🙂

It was also the first time we got to use the bathroom candle I'd picked up in a charity shop - its got like glitter and shells in it and looks like a little lamp - I love it and yes I am perfectly awear that it is tacky 🙂

I'm afraid I did have to cheat and put on Jean's LED alphabet lights as I didn't want to keep her up until 9:30 and she wont sleep in the dark.

You all know my view on the global warming issue ie waste of resources is bad reguardless - as a geologist/earth scientist so I'm not going to go into that again. But one of the things I didcovered was that the oil lamps give out far more heat than the electric heater we have for when it gets nippy and we don't have time to light the fire.

Now they give out light aswell so I am wondering if it would not be more effiecent in winter to have lots of these lit around the house than lights and heater (when it snows the fire is no where near enough to keep the house warm).

Alaric’s 30th Birthday (by sarah)

Saturday the 4th of April is Alaric's 30th birthday - hopefully we have managed to catch everyone and inform them but I have been made awear of a few gaps in the invitations.

It is Logan's Run theme and me and Alaric at least will be in costum (but you can come as you if you want!).

It's a bring your own BBQ and as always we are happy to recieve people on Friday and loss them what ever time they want to go home even if thats on the Monday!

We've got a marquee for outside.

Al is making people hand crystals so sort of needs to know whos coming and how old you are!

Here's the form to fill in.

I'm going as Box the robot and have been papier maching away like a mad things so I hope you all appreciate the effort!

Accomidation wise there is plenty of room for tents - there is limited floor space or there are BnB's in the area.

Though I am petrified of being 30 Alaric is looking forward to it but then he runs into real problems with people not respecting his ideas as they think he is too young (doesn't help that he often looks a decade younger than he is!).

Catch Up on Dr Things (by sarah)

I went back to the Drs Tuesday morning leaving Ella and Oliver asleep on our living room floor - they'd come up to visit us which was most excellent.

On the plus side the impetigo is clearing up and I have got alot more movement in my jaw - and I'm feeling alot better. Bad side is that I still have lots of fluid in my ears and she found another skin infection.

This time its a fungal infection that's probably cuased by the stuff that cuases thrush - this means I'm not to use perfums and have yet another creme to apply - joy 🙁

I have been over doing it and have gotten myself really run down apparently hence I have mouth ulcers again etc... she told me there's a spray I can have for them if they continue and if I don't start to feel better soon I have to go back again.

But I am happy that things are responding to the medication. I'm abit worried that I have ended up with skin infections at all though. To be far the fungal one feeds off of perfumed soaps and things including the skin lotion I'd been using 🙁

I have also been moaning about this far too much for what it is aswell - its not made me really sick just uncomftable :/

Ada Lovelace Day: Barbara Snell (by alaric)

For Ada Lovelace Day I'm going to write about my aunt Barbara.

She's never been one to be arbitrarily limited by society - in the 1950s, she went and toured the world on her own; which was quite something for a woman in her early 20s to do!

She's retired now, but her career was in linguistics. In particular, she was a technical translator, translating equipment manuals from other languages to English; I've never obtained a full list of the languages she knows, but (from memory) all the main European languages, Russian, and Japanese have been mentioned.

Anyway, she happened to be working for Xerox when the job of translating some documentation relating to the Xerox Star came across her desk.

At the time, translators worked with typewriters; they'd type up a first draft of the translation, with lots of corrections pencilled in as they went along, as it's quite common to find you want to revise something you've already translated when you come to write a later paragraph. They would then have to type up a better copy incorporating the corrections; but this might then come back with amendments proposed by the marketing department or other stakeholders. So the translators spent a lot of time doing menial work.

So imagine Barbara's excitement when she read the manuals for an electronic word processor... So, never one to let convention stand in her way, she petitioned the management to let the translation department have some. This request was eventually fulfilled, and as she predicted, translation became a lot more efficient...

But Barbara continued to be vocal about the opportunities for computers to help with translation, driving developments within the company and starting a series of conferences on the use of computers in translation, which is perhaps why Xerox is considered "is the private company that has contributed the most to the expansion of machine translation"ref.

This was all about when I was being born, of course. But when, around 2000, Barbara retired and closed down her own translation business, I had the chance to take my pick of computer equipment as she was clearing out the office; I took away a 486 that became the home router - but I always wished I'd managed to claim her Xerox Star...