Granted I’ve moved on to cows but STILL, the time I’m spending on these farms in some ways is absolutely eye-opening. You’ve thought of it, I’ve thought of it but in different therms than these: how do we feed the people of the world? In my months here my mind has been better woken to the questions of colonialism, capitalist fallout and global equality but the pulse my hand may actually reach is hunger. Step one: strategise better farming solutions. Conceptualize applicable alterations to factual problems to optimize yield and quality of life. Growth is a competition between speed and size. Breeding programs aim at a profitable median which pushes the norm ever upwards. This time, I’ll ask myself to address the question without my usual neophobic veil: “when is enough enough?” What is quality living, objectively?

what i meant to say is, the bathroom is completely tiled and the shower is just a curtain that pulls across to separate it from the toilet & sink. (I tried to take a picture to show but it just didn’t come out right.)

Today was easier - more “meet your Teachers” activities and one very long lecture on nutrition: labelling & contents. Interesting guy with lots of great energy who will be teaching us the local slang as well. “When a punter comes in and says, ‘I don’t know why Fluffy is so fat’ you can point out that wet food is 70% water, so a cup of dry is not its nutrative equivalent.” We like him. In fact, we like a lot of the teachers (they’re not Professors, that is only the head of the department). I met the woman I hope to do some research for at our drinks this afternoon as well. She’ll be teaching us neurology. Has recently been a participant in a paper on spinal nerve cord regeneration studies on the zebrafish. Paydirt! Have promised new friend Clare from New Orleans to not drop back by a year if I can avoid it. Love her! She’s super cute, super smart, sweetheart. (Reminds me very much of Sam from GAH. Sigh.)

I should take a moment to correct the information I shared regarding the numbers of international students. We, the Graduate Entrance Professionals, number 72 with one more to come once the visa clears. Usual years number 12-15. We are also the first year of an experiement in advanced-rate integration. Our “first year” is these 5 weeks of August until Fresher’s Week in September, when the 2nd Year students return. Theoretically, because we all have previous degrees in biological sciences, we have already learned all of the Anatomy, Physiology, and Biochemistry necessary. Unfortunately, I really needed to get my reviewing completed before leaving the States.

Tomorrow is our first day of practicals. They didn’t have our required clothing pre-ordered and so we’ve had to purchase what we could (at a tad higher cost) from a local distributor. Who ran out of Wellies. It’s a bit of chaos here. I now understand why all the paperwork referred to deadlines on or around 15 September. But we did get the Animal Husbandry Extra-Mural Studies requirements sorted out. Now it is just a matter of actually filling out the reports and completing the remaining (7? 8? 9? I don’t even know how many to consider finished) weeks. Since this cannot be done during the school year, I will be spending my Christmas vacation on a local dairy farm and my Easter break tending lambing and pigs. Or possibly the pigs could also be worked into the Christmas break and I can use the remaining Easter break after lambing on horses and poultry? In any case, I won’t be going on a National Lampoon tour. Hahahaha.

More pictures……

My lovely bedroom.

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OK, just stormy but pouring BUCKETS when I left but lovely, sunny and warm upon arrival. It’s t-shirt weather here despite being an estimated 20 degrees. Am quickly loading myself down with heavy £ coinage. Will be out of camera battery soon and not sure what to do - my adapter doesn’t fit. Seeking WiFi on campus. Have yet to find my spot. That’s about it. Spent the better part of yesterday sleeping and the better part of today purchasing a new cell. (Traded in my old phone for a pay-as-you-go only to walk a half a block further north and discover a T-Mobile store!) Have yet to attend any part of the Fringe but am VERY aware of its happening. By no means a subtle presence in the city!

Check out Hopstop, the new site for city directions. You can now map your travel by foot and subway! I love this site. I’m a huge mapquest fan and try to always confirm my travel plans before departure. (You can always tell if I’ve forgotten because I get lost for an hour along the way.) Can you IMAGINE what it would say if they ever added Los Angeles as a destination city?

(1) Walk 3.5 miles East on Hollywood Blvd.
(2) Pick up RedLine at Hollywood and Highland
(3) Take one stop North to No Ho / Universal City Walk
(4) Walk 6.2 miles West on Ventura
(5) Take 720 “express” bus 0.8 miles to Riverside Dr.
(6) Walk 1.2 miles East

Total Travel Time: 8.5 hours
Total Distance: 1.2 miles

Hhahahahahah

I’m feeling obsessed with travel today, this week and this weekend. Partly to do with my impending flights, partly to do with wanting to be that little bit more south in a borough county. Trying! Will stop blogging and get on the work to get there, hon,………. NOW.

Japanese scientists have unveiled the most human-looking robot yet devised - a "female" android called Repliee Q1.

She has flexible silicone for skin rather than hard plastic, and a number of sensors and motors to allow her to turn and react in a human-like manner.

She can flutter her eyelids and move her hands like a human. She even appears to breathe.

Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro of Osaka University says one day robots could fool us into believing they are human.

Repliee Q1 is not like any robot you will have seen before, at least outside of science-fiction movies.

She is designed to look human and although she can only sit at present, she has 31 actuators in her upper body, powered by a nearby air compressor, programmed to allow her to move like a human.

We have found that people forget she is an android while interacting with her