Friday 25 January 2008

Sink or swim

You eat a meal and it takes around two to three hours to clear most of the gastrointestinal tract before settling in the colon for further absorption and breakdown. A lot of people empty their bowels once or twice a day, at least they should. When they do, I wonder how often people take a look at their poo poo? I certainly do! You poo poo can tell a lot about you.

What should it look like? This question came up in a class discussion on recycling hemoglobin (I say this, in case you are wondering if I sit around thinking crappy thoughts).

So what should it look like? According to most literature on defaecation, it should appear brown, not too soft or pebbly as far as the consistency goes, and it should sink, and of course as Oprah's handsome doc Oz would say, dive in smoothly without a splash!

Think about this the next time you take a dump, and take a peek.

Sunday 20 January 2008

If I were a ...

Have you ever wondered what you'd rather be? I don't mean in the sense of your occupation or ambitions, I mean in terms of the organism that you are. If you are reading this, I would assume you are a Homo Sapien. So, my question is, have you wished you could be anything but?

I reckon it would be fanstastic to be a bird! Rain or shine, you get out. Find some food, sometimes a reasonable shelter and eventually a mate, and ensure the safe passage of genes onto the next generation, and then find some food, and maybe shelter and a mate...you get the picture? And of course you get to fly miles and miles, no passport, visas or any of the hassle. No baggage, no clothes to worry about, just preen the fantastic feathers and look smashing.

It must be rather cool (literally too) to be a fish, especially if you were like Nemo and got to live on a coral reef! Oh, so beautiful!! Of course, you just would have to listen to Daddy and never wander too far off the shelf.

I also did consider elephants, but knowing what they are going through, it would be mighty dangerous to be one of them right now. I know quite a few of my fellow H.Sapiens that walk around with a piece of an elephant on them. I don't fancy that.

Come to think of it, there are a lot of creatures I'd rather be, but not in the present circumstances, not at the rate at which we are wiping them off the planet, and how much harder we are making it for them to get by. Since it is my kind that is doing this, I certainly am not proud to be one of the so called 'intelligent' species. Unfortunately, since I am what I am, and there is not a lot I can do to change that, what am I going to do to help the creatures I would rather be?