Hippo Birdie Two Ewes, Kouryou-chan!

Well, today marks the end of Kouryou-chan's fifth orbit around Sol. She was lying in my arms this morning in the rocking chair, our usual morning ritual for waking up, and I whispered, "What day is today?"

"It's my birfday!"

"How old are you today?"

"Five years old!" She was very proud of that fact, despite her being otherwise half-conscious. I made her a breakfast of bran muffins and a yogurt smoothie and then we headed out to her school. After a few minutes of waiting around, Omaha and I went in to the class to have a "birthday celebration," a short fifteen-minute ritual in which the teacher discussed her accomplishments throughout her five years while she held a globe of the Earth and walked around a candle five times. It was very cute.

Now I have to get everything ready for the party tomorrow. Stop by the party store to pick up decorations and serving settings, arrange a cake somehow (I have two means, but neither has gotten back to me yet), and get gifts. I'm about to go crazy.

And, another happy birthday...

And Happy Birthday to shemayazi on yet another 29th birthday! Let there be singing and dancing! Let there be champagne! Let there be orgies held in her name!

Another scourge fades away

Dartmouth Medical School has announced that a vaccine against HPV-16 and HPV-18. This is really big news for women; HPV-16/18 cause 70% of all cervical cancers, and a vaccine against them is a big step forward.

In other news (I love BetterHumans; they're definitely one of the Transhumanist news aggregators of choice), a drug that limits food cravings is now working well, stem cell transplants are helping heal hearts, a vaccination against fatherhood is in the works, and the enzymes regulating bone formation have been discovered. And diabetes has now been cured in mice. Whether it applies to humans has yet to be uncovered, but there's tantalizing evidence that it might work.