What an interesting show that was. I just loved how Bonnie wants to help make a difference in her lifetime. This is a quote from http://www.hhmi.org/research/investigators/bassler.html and seems to sum up the point of the show: "Processes controlled by quorum sensing are usually ones that are unproductive when undertaken by an individual bacterium but become effective when undertaken by the group. For example, quorum sensing controls bioluminescence, secretion of virulence factors, biofilm formation, sporulation, and the exchange of DNA. Thus, quorum sensing is a mechanism that allows bacteria to function as multicellular organisms. Our recent studies show that bacteria make, detect, and integrate information from multiple autoinducers, some of which exclusively facilitate intraspecies communication, while others enable communication between speciesÂWe propose that quorum-sensing transition is not switch-like but rather operates in a graded manner" How fascinating to combine the theories of this segment with the aging segment earlier in the show! Here is a link that might be useful: Watch the Segement

If I were you, I would seriously consider Huntington Rose--those big fat blooms and it is supposed to be very disease-resistant, nice fragrance. If I had more room, I'd definitely get one. Scepter'd Isle is lighter than you evidently want, but other than that, it has everything you want in your rose. I've got one on order for this spring and am looking forward to a great rose, according to many posters on this forum. Some other promising ones you might look at: St. Swithun or Strawberry Hill or Wisley--but maybe they aren't pink enough. In that case, check out Young Lycidas--definitely dark pink and highly praised by a number of posters on this forum. And there is The Ingenious Mr. Fairchild which I know nothing about but love its pic in the austin catalog. Harlow Carr is another one that looks interesting but other than that I know nothing about it either. Hope that gives you come alternate choices. Austin seems to be better in the pale to medium pink range, at least at the height you prefer. Speaking of height, I just remembered the richly pink Hyde Hall--tall and very disease resistant. Good for hedges I know--don't know how it would work as a speciman or in the middle of a cottage garden or something like that. Good luck--searching is sometimes half the fun of rose-mania! Kate

I used to love "Iron Chef" (the Japanese version), it was so fun and funny, but of course USA had to beat it into the ground the way we do with most things. It is well known that I love Michael Chiarello but I don't have cable anymore and he's not on much (which is probably why I still love him). My favorite cooking shows are now on PBS, I ADORE Lidia Bastianich's Italian cooking show, and also like Sara Moulton and even Martha Stewart's everyday cooking, and several others they show from time to time, including Julia and Jacques Pepin. I've never liked any of the "Test Kitchen" recipes I've made, they've been OK, but do not end up being my "go to" recipes for anything. But the show is tolerable only because it has a certain kitschy humor IMHO, like most of them. But Lidia is my all time favorite. PBS really does these kinds of shows well. I think they should do more.

I do like sport, I've played golf, tennis, volleyball, I ride horses, go swimming, etc but for fun, I don't like competitive sports when winning is everything. It shouldn't matter who wins or loses, it is having fun and learning to work together and support each other. I am more impressed by the person who stops to help someone who has fallen than the one who wins. I think that is more important - caring for others. "We have medicare and people who attend public hospitals and who pass a means test get their treatment paid for .FULL STOP!" Yes if you're prepared to wait years for a hospital bed. We have private medical insurance (which we can't afford) so we don't have to wait 3 - 5 yrs or more in pain for a hospital bed. It doesn't matter whether it is self-inflicted from drugs, etc or sports, it is still self-inflicted and avoidable in many cases. Yes they do deserve treatment but so do people who are sick or injured by accidents that aren't preventable. What I was mainly saying in the first place is why do other stations have to play repeats when these other shows are on. I am not just talking about the com games, but football, etc. Putting the games on is fine and people can watch if they want, it is the other stations I'm talking about. Not everybody watches the games or footy or whatever. I just can't see why other stations have to put on repeats, I thought they were rivals and supposed to vie for viewers. We thought about pay tv once but we don't watch enough to make it worthwhile and would've had to pay for a sports station which we don't want anyway. If you read down further you would see that I don't sit in front of the tv much but, like all of us occasionally I like to watch something to relax. Some nights when we aren't working on the books and when the kids are in bed, my husband and I like to cuddle up together and watch something interesting on tv (no, not that sort of thing either). You would also have read that I don't like soaps, reality or romance shows and never watch them. I read alot, much more than the average person - it only takes me an hour or 2 to read an average 2-300page novel, but we don't read all the time and after spending several hours helping with homework, doing bookwork, etc the last thing we feel like doing is more reading. Surely we are entitled to watch tv too. Good on the volunteers, if that is what they want to do that is fine. Congratulations to your daughter for giving up her time, you have obviously thought that I have been insulting her, I haven't. I haven't been personally insulting to you or your family at all. My kids (8yrs, 10yrs, 12ys) volunteer a lot too and I spend a lot of travel time as well as we live out of town. They mainly help at the school - working in the library, garden, etc giving up their lunchtimes, after school time, etc but also other things on weekends helping others - they don't have to and we don't ask them to, they volunteer. No I don't stop them...