Have you vaccinated your girlfriend against rabies?

The CDC home page has a rather funny juxtaposition of "hot topics" today:

On click-through it turns out to be some rather boring general health tips for young women.

Sad...I thought it would be funnier if they were implying that girlfriends were a risk for sexual health and rabies infection.

Browser memory usage comparison

I've been getting fed up lately of how Firefox is a huge memory hog so I finally downloaded Chrome on Brock's suggestion. I like how the top part (menu bar and tabs) is pretty minimal - doesn't take up a lot of "screen real estate". The only thing I'm having a problem with is my prolific tab-opening habit because sometimes I have something in my left hand (e.g. food or Lina) and can't Ctrl+click, but "Open link in new tab" is the second option down the right-click context menu in FF, but the FIRST in Chrome so I keep accidentally opening new windows.

Anyway, I thought I would compare the three browsers on my computer so I opened Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Chrome, and opened 3 tabs in each and loaded the inboxes of my Gmail, Hotmail, and Wiscmail accounts. I'm the kind of person who likes to keep different types of correspondence sorted.

Here's the result:

Firefox is a memory hog. Internet Explorer is slightly better. I haven't used IE 8 enough to see if I would like it or not. Chrome is best. The only thing that's kind of worrying is how Google is taking over my life. I don't know why Chrome and IE both seem to open separate processes for each tab...weird.

Anyway, this week I'm pretty tired because last weekend was Elizabeth and Jon's wedding (Potatoboy and I bought them a bicycle repair stand, something I wish for myself) and then I had to rush back to Madison to be one of the audio-video monkeys for the 5th International Veterinary Vaccines and Diagnostics Conference. I met a lot of awesome future family members and a lot of awesome scientists. They gave me something to look forward to. Some day, I will be married and some day, I will do great science. Both the wedding and the conference were wonderful, but I could do with some quiet time now. I'll write about them later.

Things about America

Bad first good last.

Things I will not miss about the USA (bear in mind that some of these are probably Midwest- or Wisconsin-specific):

• Coffeeshops that close at 7 while bars stay open till 2 (so not fair!) 24/7 mamak stalls are one of the good things about living in a Muslim country.
• White people who can't grasp the concept that another person can be ethnic Chinese and a Malaysian citizen, not "Maylay" despite the fact that their ancestors aren't from here either.
• Winter.
• Exorbitant prices of eating out. I mean, seven bucks for a basic lunch? (Fast food doesn't count.)
• Lack of ceiling fans in most apartments and houses. Sucks in the summer.
• People whining about mortgages, car payments, and credit cards balances. You don't have money don't buy stuff la!
• Can't get good fish cheap.
• Having to "give" away recyclable trash for free instead of getting money from the "sau kau pou chi" (old newspapers) man.
• Bloody expensive farmers' markets.
• The inability of Americans to repair the technologies they invented. If you have an electronic thingy that breaks and it's out of warranty you're screwed.
• The inability to walk into a hospital to get some minor health problem seen to before it turns into a major one, and the lack of private general practitioners.
• People who are allergic to everything.
• Bloody expensive mobile phone plans and the near-impossibility of finding a good and simple prepaid service. (Einstein Wireless National Prepaid...they're not offering it any more but I got grandfathered in.)
• Stupid people who ride motorcycles with no helmets.

Things I will miss about the USA:

• Public libraries that are in the middle of town instead of the middle of nowhere and have books that people actually want to read.
• Being able to bike around shirtless in hot weather (I wear a sports bra OK!).
• Spring, summer, and fall. Hot weather is more interesting when there's contrast.
• The existence of a minimum wage for poor people. It's painful to strike up a conversation with some old aunty and find that she earns RM 300 a month.
• Good Internet connections. You think AT&T sucks, try TMnet.
• Clean toilets. Although I have to admit the ones in malls and highway stops are slightly better every time I go home, restaurants/coffeeshops are still pretty bad.
• Being able to enjoy stuff at a university even if you're not affiliated with it (e.g. members of the public can buy Wisconsin Union memberships).
• Municipal waste recycling.
• Being able to sleep with my cat, at least until I get my own place. Pa banned animals in the house.
• Good cheese and ice cream that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.
• Seeing retarded people on the buses. US society is a lot more accepting of handicapped people than Malaysia and does a better job of helping them to live their own lives.
• Drinking fountains. I don't care if you're from Milwaukee, it's not a "bubbler".
• Not being eaten alive by mosquitoes after 6pm.
• Anti-discrimination laws.
• My friends.