I had something a little unnerving happen the other day

I was at work. Everything was normal, and I felt a slight numbness on my left side of the face that lasted, oh, about a minute or two.  It could be caused by all sorts of things, and I didn't panic or for that matter tell anyone at the time, although I let my roommate know because 1) if it happened again, he should know, and 2) he's my medical surrogate.  He urged me to tell our doctor about it, even if it didn't happen again. And I will.  But it was very eerie.

Wow

I really have to admire Charla Nash' will to live, despite the chimpanzee attack that left her blind and horribly mangled. I hope so much that she and her daughter prosper, and that her story shows the dangers of keeping exotic animals as pets.

See The Will to Live, where she appeared on Oprah, revealing the damage done to her face, which she keeps veiled normally. I hope that people accept her despite the changes, because she is, inside, the same woman as before the attack. I hope she can get a face and hand transplant, and lead as normal a life as possible. I offer her my best wishes.

What an interesting set of special effects

I'm not that fond of the music (I could do without the rap part), but the video itself has some strange, surreal effects well worth seeing. It's 'You are Never Alone' by So Called:

Ew

Lake amoeba can kill swimmers

It sounds like science fiction, but it's true: Killer amoebas living in lakes can enter the body through the nose and attack the brain, where they feed until you die.

Though encounters with the microscopic bug are extraordinarily rare, it is known to have killed six boys and young men in the United States this year; over the decade ending in 2004, the yearly average was 2.3.

The jump in cases has health officials concerned.

Someone once brought me a clay masque from New Zealand and said that she'd gone to the hot springs it came from but you coudn't put your head underwater because of this same amoeba (yeah, that makes you want to use a product from there, doesn't it?) I had no idea they lived in the US--mostly the South--as well. I've swum in one lake in my life. I don't think I'll be returning to the water any time soon--just give me a pool. I don't want my brain eaten by amoebas, even if it is really, really rare.

That's up there with the faceless man who was infected by a fungus, who in order to save him they had to remove his eyes and most of his nasal area. (Don't watch this if you're squeamish. Just imagine living without a face. And although it's extremely rare, you never know when that statistic will be you.) YKWIA showed me this on months ago.