missycola, Planet Cola -

I need to change my newly started column, because it’s not just questions targeted at me but also just awkward and funny things people say to me:

Boy, about 12 years old: “Are you from Germany?”
Me: “Yes.”
Boy: “When I thought of Germany I always thought of Nazis, but now I know you and will always think of you.” He gave me the biggest smile as wide as he was.

missycola, Planet Cola -

For a while now I’m never from wherever I live. Does this make sense? LOL
Back in Australia I should have started this column “Funny things I get asked”, because I got a lot of funny questions about myself or my ‘whereabouts’, but from now on I will start writing them down, because if they make me laugh, they might make you giggle, too!

The latest one (asked twice in less than two weeks):

Are you from England?

This is too funny! In Down Under people thought my English sounds American, here some people think it’s English… I think England has some of the strangest accents.. Well…I’m guessing 98% of the people I met haven’t been to England and most of those probably have never been outside the US, but if they think they cannot decipher where I’m from and it then must be England, it is too funny, because that’s how I made up my mind in Australia – don’t know what that accent is; must be English. But if it means “oh, you’re using vocabulary that I haven’t heard before, then it must be British..” I totally agree; I’m more English than American. Come on, the American English is really limited in the amount of words…but that’s another topic.

missycola, Planet Cola -

My today’s personal recommendations by Amazon.com are very strange and make me think:

Curricle & Chaise – Romance needed? Yes! Good guess Amazon!
40 Unforgettable Dates With Your Mate – A date might be overdue, how did you know Amazon?
Rough and Tender – It’s just the question what we are talking about here… me?
Kindle US Power Adapter – Oh yes, my Kindle didn’t come with one and it also doesn’t last two months as it states, but I won’t get this tiny thing for this ridiculous price.
Life Management – I could use some of that please.
Mountain Woman – Yep, I guess that’s my soon new me.

Lead with LUV: A Different Way To Create Real Success – Am I not successful enough?
Waiting For Rudi – Who is Rudi?

Also:
A Man Walks Into A Bar – How about a missy walks into a bar? Haven’t done THAT for a while and am craving a drink with friends and mr.natey!

Circle Of Friends Cookbook – Friends…oh yeah, they are too far away and deeply missed.

The Vegan Slow Cooker – Could be my current answer to the American Fast Food. Also I’m eating more vegan than ever before (due to allergies and health reasons).

missycola, Planet Cola -

Okay – this entry is just for the record:

Tonight on Thursday the 12th of April 2012 the fuel price in the Waterville Maine area went over four dollars the first time.

4!

That’s a lot for around here…especially in the poorer Central Maine.
I also already feel that this is a high price although I have been here in Maine only since last July, but since then the price just rose so fast! Shortly after I bought my super-Subaru fuel was at $3.17. Only three months later it is at $4. That’s a quick rise!

I should add that the fuel price in the US is measured by the gallon, which is 3.8 liters.

While $4/gallon is still “cheap” compared to German fuel, which is around 1.70 Euro PER LITER (= $6.45/gallon!!), most people in the US, especially in rural areas like Maine, drive their car a lot more than in Germany. There is no public transport in about 90% of Maine and people often drive one or two hours to work. mr.Natey drives 1.5 hours to his work with a heavy duty Volvo wagon (which uses less fuel than my light Subaru…which really annoys me).

First I thought gas is so cheap here…compared to Germany, but I only get 300 miles (483 km) to the tank (60 liters?) and paying around $55 to fill it up. My beloved car gets 22 miles/gallon, which is a bit low (the mister and his Volvo get 28 miles/gallon, newer cars can get up to 50 miles/gallon).

Oh and yes, my car is also an automatic (I hate automatics…grrr), but I could not find a manual car that ticked all the boxes. Manual cars are way more fuel efficient…at least the older models. My car is a 92, good old boy, but I guess I still need to break him in a bit more to reach the estimated 24 to 29 miles per gallon. But even the latest 2011 model of the Subaru Outback Wagon (the one I was going to get), the fuel economy is not much better than mine; almost worse with only 18 to 25 miles per gallon. Now think of those heavy duty trucks and SUV’s that are driving around everywhere….I don’t understand how people are willing to afford them.

Well, imagine a carved wooden board that is hanging on Planet Cola’s header saying “we’re at 4 dollars per gallon”…knowing that the only way is up and tomorrow is Friday the 13th (by the way).

Does someone drive a hybrid or electric car yet?
Who rides his/her bike to work?
I never see people on bikes here. There are no bike lanes around here and the mister said riding a scooter is even too dangerous…sigh…I need a horse and a cart!!!! And I HAVE seen those in people’s yards! Yes, a little bit old Wild West is still alive, I tell ‘ya!

missycola, Planet Cola -

10 interesting facts about the placebo effect:

1. Given a sugar pill (which has no physical effect) people with certain conditions not only report feeling better, but see actual improvements in their condition.

2. Given two sugar pills, people report more benefit than one sugar pill.

3. If someone believes a placebo has a negative effect, they can experience that negative effect. This is called a nocebo.

4. If a sugar pill is described as a muscle relaxant it will cause muscle relaxation. If the same type of sugar pill is described as causing muscle tension, it will produce muscle tension.

5. Placebos can produce the same side-effects that the real drug the person thinks they’re taking would also produce.

6. When conducting a study, it is an error to assume that your treatment produced the improvement and everyone seeing improvement under the placebo are “only” experiencing placebo effects. It could very well be that everyone who experience an improvement were experiencing a placebo effect.

7. Saltwater placebos administered via syringe are more effective than sugar pills.

8. Pacemakers can improve heart function after they’ve been put in, but before they’ve been switched on.

9a. Give people a sugar pill and tell them it’s a stimulant and they get stimulated.

9b. Give people a relaxant but tell them it’s a stimulant and they get more stimulated than anyone in 9a or 9c.

9c. Give people a relaxant, tell them it’s a relaxant: They have more molecules of the relaxant in their blood plasma than the people in 9b.

10. We’re still pretty confused about the placebo effect and it’s causes. There’s a mishmash of different things going on and we’re still picking them apart. Also, it’s really hard to design studies!

I read this on Google+ (via Dustin Wyatt) and wanted to share it here because I think there are some really interesting points. Isn’t #8 just crazy? Or #4?

Of course I was not the only one wondering about the sources for these claims, and Mr Wyatt was so friendly to add them; you can find them here.

I am so sure that our mind is able to “give” us an illness just because we “think” we are having something. Or because we are afraid that we would get ill. I’m convinced that our mind is the most powerful “mechanism” (if one can call it that) of the human body. I often think of things that could happen and then they are happening. Mostly they happen if I speak them out loud. I’m really concentrating on not speaking certain things of my mind out loud (which is hard, but I’m getting better at it, haha).

In regards to pills I actually had a similar placebo effect happening to me when I was a teenager. At a party I had a bad headache and someone offered me a pain reliever in form of a small tablet. Not even an hour later I felt fine; my headache was gone. The next day that “friend” told me it was not a headache tablet; it was just a small sugar pill. Something like dextrose. I could not believe it as it really helped with my headache. Crazy, isn’t it?

Do you have a placebo experience to share?

missycola, Planet Cola -

EN only

Winter

has been beauti-

-ful

with lots of sunshine

and a blue sky 97% of the time

and interesting formations

and interesting cat-walks

We enjoyed the winter races for kids

and for adults

and I went to my first open air on ice (frozen lake)

and realized that people even brought out their couches

I got into skiing

and other outdoor fun

I enjoyed the work that came with the snow

and loved watching the squirrels digging for food

I was totally excited and happy when I finally could smell, hear and see the ocean

This was one of the happiest moments this winter (I really missed the ocean)

I wanted to take my clothes off and run in…

but decided to enjoy the calm winter beach scenery instead

I learned that the wildlife at the beach is somewhat different to Australia (‘s snakes and sharks)

It has been a great winter and Maine is definitely worth a visit during this beautiful, sunny and peaceful time of the year

Winter is as good as over. We’ve had crazy 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32○C) last week, which was very unusal for March in Maine. Well, we’ve enjoyed flip flops and sunbaths on the porch until we got another small snow storm a few days later. What’s happening to the weather? Crazy! We are back to wearing socks and warm jackets for a few more days but from now on it’s supposed to get only warmer. Still a very early spring, people say here in Maine, because it can be snowing until May! As much as I liked the winter, I am ready for all the beauty spring has to offer!

missycola, Planet Cola -

DE

Wir sind mit dem Internet und im Internet aufgewachsen. Darum sind wir anders. Das ist der entscheidende, aus unserer Sicht allerdings überraschende Unterschied: Wir “surfen” nicht im Internet und das Internet ist für uns kein “Ort” und kein “virtueller Raum”. Für uns ist das Internet keine externe Erweiterung unserer Wirklichkeit, sondern ein Teil von ihr: eine unsichtbare, aber jederzeit präsente Schicht, die mit der körperlichen Umgebung verflochten ist.

Ein wunderbarer Artikel (Piotr Czerski, uebersetzt aus dem Polnischen von Patrick Beuth und Andre Rudolph), den es lohnt zu lesen, und nicht nur, wenn man mit dem Internet aufgewachsen ist.

Wir verstehen nicht, warum wir einen festen Wohnsitz (absurd genug, so etwas überhaupt haben zu müssen) erst förmlich abmelden müssen, bevor wir uns an einem anderen anmelden können – als könnten die Behörden diese Sache nicht auch ohne unser Eingreifen regeln.

Ich habe einmal versucht, meinem Ami-Maenne meinen festen Wohnsitz zu erklaeren und habe nur einen Blick der Unverstaendnis erhalten. Verstaendlich irgendwie, wenn man mal wirklich drueber nachdenkt.

So, und nun ab und den gesamten Artikel lesen.

EN

Read the article in the English version here.

missycola, Planet Cola -

I am so relieved that I found the (stupid little) mistake why my comments page didn’t show up. Gosh! I could not turn away from my blog code before finding that error. I searched google and the wordpress support pages, but nothing helped me for my problem. Of course not, because it was my own code mistake. But if you don’t know where to look for the mistake, it takes a bit longer as there is not only code to check, but also plugins to deactivate and reactivate.

In the end it was this code snippet:
<?php _e('Leave your comment - Komm', sag was!'); ?>

Now something for the smart ones under us: where is the mistake in the above code?

TechniCola needs to pay more attention. Jawoll!

P.S.: And because life is good when code just works, I felt like a little design change…a very small change…some fresh blue instead of pink (because I love the ocean, and I miss the ocean), a new header font and rearrangement of date and categories underneath the headline. Yep, can stay like this for a while.

missycola, Planet Cola -

Craze, no wonder that I didn’t read your comments here for quite a while. My comment function is broken and I cannot figure out how that happened and how to fix it.

I saw that my CSS was not valid, so I spend some time today to eliminate all those 40 errors, phew! Valid code now, but still, the comment function remains broken. I guess that wasn’t it, huh. When you click onto “Be awesome & leave a comment” the comment form doesn’t open. Come here you dirty little code (Kot)…NOW!

I also realized that you probably cannot vote at my new poll if you’re using Firefox (I’m using 10.0.2). The radio buttons are simply not clickable. Arghhhhh!! It works with the Internet Explorer (but shouldn’t it be the other way around? I hate the IE). The poll I’m using is WP-Poll by GamerZ. I have used this nice plugin/tool forever with no problems and want it to work with FF, but I’m using an older WordPress version, maybe that’s it? :{

Now that I wanted to work on the blog, GoDaddy’s server is down. Gimme a break! I cannot count how often their servers are down. COUNTLESS times! How farking annoying! Well, for the record, the server that my site is on was down today on 3/8/2012 from approximately 9:30pm to 9:47pm (EST).

Okay, now…who has an idea how to get my comments page back? It probably is a tiny little code error…but I wouldn’t ask if I were able to find it. Oh – yes, I understand, haha, you would not be able to leave help in the comments, because…haha, ok, understand, how about via twitter or old school email?
Any tips and help is very much appreciated!

missycola, Planet Cola -