A publication in the current issue of the British Medical Journal by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine finally doubts the benefits of animal testing from the scientific point of view.

Among other things the article is stating some obvious flaws and is urging a systematic review of animal testing for medical research.

Some of the flaws stated (as quoted by BBC News Online) include:

• Species so different from man that findings may not be applicable
• Drug doses may be very different from those given to humans
• Small experimental groups generating weak conclusions
• Variability in the criteria for selecting animals
• The way illness or injury is induced may vary too much from the human condition

Of course, this is a rare sound coming from the scientific community, but it is a breakthrough to finally have a debate going in the community which may open the door to change, re-assessment and hopefully the end of unnecessary cruelty.

This morning I did something very dangerous. I have been warned before that something like that could get me seriously injured, but I just couldn’t help myself.

I was driving to work in the normal morning traffic. Actually, it was slightly lighter than other days, but who’s counting? I finally reached the junction in a green traffic light, but the junction was blocked with cars in front of me, and being a law abiding citizen with no death wish, I decided to stay behind until it clears enough for me to go through. Behind me was a taxi with a driver who was either unaware of the line of cars before him, in a great hurry, or just plain uptight. He was honking at me to move on, with big wavy hand gestures. Of course, I was determined to wait for the junction to clear before I move into it, but he did not stop. The honking noise disturbed me from listening to my music, and was plain rude. Without me even noticing, my right hand was rising towards the mirror, folding slowly into a sign that showed my middle finger high above the rest.

As the junction cleared I moved on slowly into the traffic. The taxi driver was probably quite pissed off. He changed lanes, obviously in order to take me over, except that the other lane was moving much slower. He kept moving between lanes until he finally passed by me, opening his window and lifting out his hand in a motion similar to my previous one. It was very amusing, but I guess you had to be there.

It could have ended much worse. There have been cases before involving road rage and death. I guess I should have just ignored him, but it was beyond my control. No one is allowed to disturb my morning music!

Last night was an evening full of sweetness.

The initial plan was for me to meet SkySurfer in a cinema complex, grab a bite and catch a movie, but my charming SkySurfer surprised me by knocking on my door earlier and planned and picking me up.

The sugariness continued with a think Italian hot chocolate, in which we dipped pieces of fruit and let the dark syrup drip to our tongues in pleasure.

The syrupiness became a bit too much with the movie. We saw Love Actually, a star studded romantic comedy that brings kitsch to new levels. Several love stories twine in coincidence around London, where everyone from the Prime Minister to 11 year old kids are in love, just on time for Christmas. Parts of it are good and funny, like the story of two movie stand-ins that chat about traffic while filming sex scenes. Other parts were too much. The scene in which a boy in love defies airport security just to confess his feelings should come with a health warning of possible nausea.

For the end of the night any plans of additional chocolate had to be scrapped, for the benefit of deep, sweet dreams.

Elephant in traffic, on a sunny winter morning, is the best way to start a day.

Things have been so busy lately that I forgot how life could work otherwise. Due to some cancellations and delays I am left with a bit of time at work in which there isn’t much I can contribute to, besides the obvious blog reading and catching up.

I guess I might as well just enjoy it, because it is not going to last for long. Very soon things will get very busy again, and I will end up wishing I had the chance to breath between tasks. Actually, my schedule is already filling up as far as May.

Here’s one thing to do when there’s a bit of spare time: the Belle & Sebastian I’m a Cuckoo game.

My computer is finding it hard to cope. It’s been with me for almost three years now, and is showing obvious signs of aging. I don’t think I’m making it work too hard; I don’t play graphically heavy games or make it work for many hours doing any heavy processing. However, recent days spent working from home reveal that it is not easy for it to cope with too many Office applications at the same time, and I should either check my emails, write documents or use spreadsheets, but not all at the same time.

Maybe old Patrick (I got it on St. Patrick’s Day 2001, the name was choice was obvious) deserves a break. However, I am currently trying to save up for more thrilling plans, so the hardware changes will need to be put on hold for a little bit longer.

I haven’t been 100% right in the past week or so. I’ve been taking some sorts of antibiotics which are supposed to make me better, but they didn’t seem to go and the pain just doesn’t go away. Needless to say, my recent work stress doesn’t contribute to my recovery, but unfortunately I can’t just make it disappear.

Today I went to see the doctor again. He sent me to do some additional tests and used some scary words like “Kidney Stones” and “Ultrasound”. Of course, there’s no reason to panic until I do the test and get some results, and the nearest appointment available was in March, so I just have to sit back and wait and hope it doesn’t hurt too much until then.

I just heard the new Gomez single, ‘Catch Me Up’ on the radio.

If the DJ wouldn’t have presented it as Gomez I wouldn’t have recognise it. So different – guitars and Country mixed with strange sound filters. It will take some getting used to.

Lonely Hearts

It’s a good thing my family is left in the dark about my love life.

Last night my mum called while I was driving and we had this conversation:

Mum: Are you alone in the car?

Me: Yes

Mum: Your grandmother called

Me: What does she want now?

Mum: She has a friend who has a son who’s single, and she wanted to know if she could give your phone number.

Me: Tell her I’m a lesbian.

Mum: Yes, but she wants an answer now.

Me: You already know the answer for that one.

Mum: OK, I’ll tell her you’re not interested and can find your own dates.

Me: Thanks

Turns out that a few minutes later my cousin’s phone rang. Needless to say, she was quite upset with my aunt for letting my grandmother have too much information.

My grandmother still lives in the belief that a woman’s only aspiration in life should be to get married and bring children to the world. I guess this could be expected for her generation, but I have no patience for it, which is the reason my mother is my buffer. I’m just happy that I don’t have to answer to her matching calls myself.