The Link Between Ovarian Cancer and HPV

First time I heard about HPV, I thought it was purely an STD. Which it is, actually, then later I learned that it could apply to any old wart you have on any non-genital part of your body. So I could have a plantar wart on my foot and it is HPV! (correct me if I'm wrong). Just like good and bad cholesterol, there are also good and bad - in this case, safe and ugly and bad and life-threatening - kinds of HPV. HPV first made medical news when it was linked to cervical cancer. It continues to make big waves because it is so prevalent (one in 10 women have it) and so life threatening (HPV causes almost all cervical cancers, 85% of anals cancers,...

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Showering and Acne

(oh no that's not me). Before I ponder on the bigger mysteries of life, allow me to dwell on the more mundane. Question in mind: can too much showering cause acne? This popped up unsolicited while I was enjoying an extra-tall glass of triple chocolate milkshake (which I think is also implicated in the acne debacle...more on that later). Being the geek that I am, tried it out myself - took daily nighttime showers for a week and noted the appearance of new pus-filled little red bumps. The result? One angry little red bump. On the crease right between my brows. Being the non-girly-girl I aspire to be, I just shrugged it off. Maybe it timed with...

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Setting Up Apt-Mirror to Download Ubuntu Repositories and Create Local Repositories for Use in a Local Network

Yeah, I'm getting my Ubuntu geek on now. (Methinks I like the meerkat/timon better. But I'm partial to mammals. I loove the karmic koala the best! But i'm digressing..) On to the tutorial-slash-note-to-myself: Open Terminal, type: sudo apt-get update (this I think updates packages already installed on the system) Type: sudo apt-get install apt-mirror (downloads and installs the apt-mirror package) Type: sudo apt-get install apache2 (downlaods and installs the apache2 package you need to serve as local server) Type: sudo nano /etc/apt/mirror.list This opens the mirror.list file in a text editor called Nano right in the Terminal console....

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Face Spa Treat...Right from the Kitchen

I love experimenting in the kitchen. Whipping up a good meal from scratch gives a certain satisfaction, especially if you have no idea what you're making in the first place. From testing on edible treats I've moved on to sampling different kinds of kitchen ingredients I can use to make my own facial masks at home. Face masks, especially the natural, so-called organic ones, cost quite a lot and can be quite disappointing once they come out of the pot. Since I believe Mother Nature provides us with just the right ingredients for everything, I've compiled a list of the best natural, homemade ingredients for face masks and tested mixing and matching...

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Learning a New Language via Firefox

The internet can be a lot of things to a lot of people. But have you ever tried learning a new language just by surfing through sites from all over the world? Apparently you can. By using language learning plugins in the Firefox web browser, you can go to any site in any language and have it instantly translated for you. Not all plugins are perfect though, so you'll find some that simply suck at translation. Here's a list of the five best learning language Firefox plugins to da...

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The Benefits of Being Pear-Shaped

Apparently, having a pear-shaped body isn't as bad as most women see it is. Aside from the obviously wider pelvic canal that makes giving birth easier (hence, the term "birthing hips"), men are more attracted to bigger bottoms than they are to bigger breasts. Of course, the evolutionary instinct to propagate the species (wider hips = higher fertility) may play a bigger role here. More interestingly, wider hips - or rather, a bigger waist-to-hip ratio, turns out to be an indicator of better health as well. This goes both for men and women. You can read more about the benefits of pear shapes and the waist-to-hip ratio he...

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Everyone's a Critic...

...so why can't everybody accept criticism graciously? When it comes down to it, it's all a matter of pride. And learning to look at things beyond yourself. But if you're in one of those glum, depressing days when you feel like you're perpetually at the receiving end of the critique's parade, here's a handy guide to graciously surviving criticism. If that's not enough, maybe a day or two in a safe, secret, warm fuzzy hideaway will do... But really, handling criticism is all a matter diplomacy...just as dishing out criticisms and compliments in the right manner and delivery is a technique in subtlety (or brazenness, if done poorly). You have...

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