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Hey there, stranger.
SirJuggles:
Umm, hello cool forum people.
I'm Justin. I actually registered almost a year ago now, but sadly spent my first few months in the Weekly Comic Talk. I have since strayed into the deeper end of the forum pool, and borne witness to the massively superior amount of fun had over here. I tend to not be so original in my thinking, and thus usually feel that the things I have to say don't have much value. I do however lurk here almost 24/7 sadly, partly due to my physical situation.
I'm 18, a first-year student at University of California Santa Barbara. One of the prettiest, partyiest schools on the West Coast, if not the entire country. Except that I don't drink, or smoke, or really party in any way. To keep my long self-involved story short, I tend to hide out in my room whenever I'm not in class and lurk these forums until 4 in the morning. So while you probably don't know me, I tend to know most of you.
Scrambled Egg Machine:
Hello, Darryl. I'm SEM for short, but my family calls me AJ. I used to post regularly, but now I mostly lurk. I'm about to turn 18, and have been accepted to Texas Tech University. I will major in Biochemistry, and I think Neal Stephenson is one of the better writers out there. I listen to crappy industrial music, techno and Dragonforce. I am a classic type c nerd, and have been around lots longer than my postcount would suggest. I used to cause drama, but since I am rarely online, that is no longer the case. I work at Wal*Mart, and am happy to be here. I like science. Adios.
Mr. Skawronska:
--- Quote ---a doctor that is supposed to help people but actually hates people, i guess.
--- End quote ---
There are more of us out there than you might think. Comes from working the streets and dealing with self-important, self-entitled system abusers who take up emergency resources for their bullshit reasons while people in real need, suffer and die.
See if that doesn't make you a little bit fucking bitter.
--- Quote ---I think it would be really cool if you could isolate some aerobic cellulose degraders from here
--- End quote ---
How about Clostridium acetobutylicum?
S
Reed:
The point was to isolate novel cellulose degraders. Anyways, Clostridia are typically anaerobic.
ruyi:
Elizzybeth I am sorry I am copying you!!!! With like, my life. But yeah, wow, that is an odd coincidence.
--- Quote from: Barmymoo on 03 Feb 2009, 11:14 ---Ruyi, can you tell me more about the volunteering you do? I had a look at the website and it seems really interesting but also incredibly controversial. How did you get into it?
--- End quote ---
It's a program based on the philosophy of harm reduction. Drug addiction is a complex problem, and while it may not be possible to get people to stop without changing a lot of things in society, offering clean needles and supplies can and does reduce the rate of HIV and Hepatitus C transmission. The program I volunteer with also offer wound care, HIV testing, and resources/referrals to stuff like free clinics.
To be honest I didn't really consciously seek out this kind of opportunity or think that much about it when I started. I was just looking for hands-on experience related to health care, and this program didn't have an extensive period of training, so I can commit to it for now even though my plans after graduation are still up in the air. After I started doing it I stuck around because I like the other volunteers and the stuff we did for our clients seemed actually very helpful to them. I meet a lot of interesting people through it :-)
Last semester I did it twice a week, and now I'm doing it only once, though hopefully that will change soon. Our program operates out of a van. We have three different sites weekly in various parts of Berkeley, so I just show up a little early and help unload stuff. When clients come they usually know what kind of needles they want so we'll give them a couple hundred, and we take their dirty needles to dispose of safely. We also offer supplies like tourniquets, cookers, ascorbic acid as breakdown (to make crack cocaine injectable), and Narcan (for opiate OD).
I sometimes help train new volunteers a little bit (e.g. what are the different kinds of needles, client confidentiality, etc) and hopefully I will be taking on more responsibilities in time.
If any of you guys are interested, there is a bill that would lift the current ban on federal funds being made available for these kinds of programs! Currently we just operate on state funding, private grants and donations. For more info on the bill go here and if you want more info on why these programs are worth supporting wikipedia actually has a pretty good article on it and there are many other google-able resources I'm sure.
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