Tornado!!!

OMG! Tornado!!!
http://www.kmox.com/NEW-VIDEO--Tornado-touches-down/6881801

My Friend Is Getting Married In...

Disney World!!!  (Epcot to be exact!)

Once Upon a Mattress

At the prime age of nine, YW had to make the most important decision of her life.  Although she already had a well-paid job as the baby boy mouse in the Nutcracker, she risked it all to be a pro-tennis player.  Like most decisions she make, it was the wrong one, and she has since then failed to win the U.S. Open.  Reminiscent of being a ballerina and her good old days in elementary school as the pink fairy in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, YW decided to take a break from chasing after fuzzy green balls and be a lady – a lady who screeches, spins in the wrong direction, and looks utterly confused...

...And that's how I landed the role of a random lady in Once Upon a Mattress.  Yup - rehearsal every Saturday since the beginning of the school year, and 4-5 hr practices the week before the shows - and i don't even have a speaking role! (I "sing" and "dance" in the chorus.)  Wow, now I have A LOT of appreciation for those in the arts.  Man, people are so talented!  Their voices that go so many notes higher than mine, and their priceless facial expressions!  It was definitely a lot of fun!  

Immunology Exam Fun (ya, i know, exam and fun in the same title O_o)

This was one of the exam questions (scroll down for funny responses):
7. If you could “redesign” one component of the immune system to make it more effective/efficient, which component would it be and why? (4 points)

The most common responses:
(1st number is # of students; 2nd is % of class)

improve IgE responses to eliminate allergy: 27, 22.0

make vdj recombination more efficient: 12, 9.8

simplify/alter complement: 12, 9.8

suppress autoimmunity somehow: 11, 8.9

improve response to HIV/viruses: 8, 6.5

speed up adaptive response: 5, 4.1

T cell selection/development: 5, 4.1

allow MHC to bind polysaccharides: 5, 4.1

be better able to clear immune complexes: 4, 3.3

change class switching: 4, 3.3

improve response to tumours: 4, 3.3

more redundancy in cytokine receptors: 3, 2.4

have a new type of T cell: 3, 2.4

enhance NK cells: 2, 1.6

remove barriers to immunopriv sites: 2, 1.6

no response! Loss of 4 points right there: 2, 1.6

_________________________________________________________
And some of my(TA's) favourite excerpts:

… What we need is better innate immunity based on better barriers - a more acidic mouth, maybe, or scales that mosquitoes and tsetse flies can't penetrate with their little teeth

… get rid of c2 and c4 for pete's sake!

… Ah, my world would be such a better place without my mast cells degranulating to dust, pollen,…

… And we all know that he who has the ATP makes the rules. I think that's a quote from Aladdin.

… Also harsher punishment for negative selection violators… and world peace.

… [in regards to complement] It would also make for happier medical students because they don't need to memorize as much

… Also, I would eliminate Factor H. Honestly, who invited that guy?

… Then, when [the NK cells] migrate to a site of inflammation, they'd be all like "ZOMG OM NOM" to more viral infected cells…"

… It wouldn't be easy, but sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are the same.

… I would also give our CD8+ cells laser pistols and sunglasses [picture included, with a granzyme grenade]

… The thought of "design" and the immune system contradicts mountains of scientific evidence and vertebrate evolutionary history, but for four points I will "intelligently re-design" a component of a system that natural selection has been acting on for millions of years.