Author: Miss Vivi

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Eye’ll take a bucketful

Eyes by Salvatore Vuono

Image: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net


So, where do eyes come from? Miss Vivi has them in stock all the time, so for you, getting them is easy. She orders them in lots of 100’s or 1000’s and a bit of work is required here.

In the beginning, a lot of abattoirs flatly refused to supply them due to disruption of work flow and OHS issues. You see, a big abattoir putting through say 1000 head a day is running at capacity. They don’t normally cut eyes out; they usually go down the chute with the head into the rendering plant. The floor manager needs to take a staff member out of production and implement procedure in accordance with a specific risk analysis to get the eyes. As far as production goes, there’s more money in rib fillet or bacon, so why would they bother?

Because Mr Vivi has a way with the meat men, he’s convinced them to go through the above procedure to extract this product. The cost is we have to order 1000’s of the slippery suckers at a go.

I had the opportunity to talk to one of the floor mangers after our last order and he admitted it’s not his favourite job. It’s a bit fiddly, a bit dangerous, there’s an extra bucket on the floor (for the eyes) that can get in the way. You see, an abattoir is a regimented production line. There is a set procedure for removing the commercial items (tongue, cheek meat etc.) out of the head when they are on the head chain (stock moves through the floor on mechanised lines or chains). Commercial items in turn are placed on conveyors that whisk them off for packaging, so a bucket on the floor is not a usual risk.

So when you ask your butcher for 30 eyes and he can’t do it for you, you know it’s possibly not for his want to help you, but because the abattoir’s not going to drop knives to cut a few out for you. So all you have to do to have as many eyes as you want delivered to your door is fax or email an order to Miss Vivi and she’ll take care of the rest.

Mr Vivi

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Say hello to my little friend

Organ Donor Plasma from Street Anatomy


A little while ago I posted on the Facebook page that I’d seen these incredibly cute collectables by artist David Foox at the Street Anatomy store but they were sold out.  The lovely Vanessa from Street Anatomy got in touch and offered me the very last one – and here he is!

They are sold as a blind box, so you don’t know which one you’re getting until it arrives.  Mine is Plasma and he came with a little booklet describing all the different organs that can be donated and how they are used.  I don’t know if he’s camera shy, but he’s been remarkably difficult to photograph.

Since I bought mine there has been another release and they are available now at the online shop and every order comes with a free pack of anatomical stickers by artist Rx.

The Red Cross website says that 1 in 3 of us will need a blood donation but only 1 in 30 donates.  You can actually donate plasma every 2 weeks because the red cells are returned to your body after the plasma is separated out.  I’m overdue to donate blood so this is a good kick in the pants to get me back to the donor mobile.  I might even take my little friend along.

Of course, you can also sign up all your other useful body parts to be donated to others when you’re finished with them.  It’s strange that Australia is a world leader for successful transplant outcomes, and we are so generous towards others in times of need, but we still have the one of the lowest rates of organ donation in the developed world (Donate Life).  Why is that?

The End

Miss Vivi

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An eye for an eye

Mr Vivi passes on the tricks of the trade to a couple of budding scientists

Everything I ever learned about this job, I learned from a more experienced Labbie.

4 years of chemistry at Uni meant I could set up a distillation apparatus with my eyes closed and perform multiple titrations in the blink of an eye, but it didn’t teach me to leap tall piles of washing up in a single bound or remember to check if the copper sulphate I’d grabbed off the shelf was anhydrous or not.  I’d always had a labbie nearby to do that for me. Not that I’d ever really noticed.

When I started my first school job I had Andy to look after me, then there was Julie at the next one, followed by Jill at the next.  If I ever needed them, and I frequently did, there was also an army of experienced people available via the LABBIES discussion list, or the LabLINK newsletter or the QEST committee.  That’s how I know how to get a piece of tube through a rubber stopper without jamming it into my hand, how to nurse a microscope through to the next service and how to store eyeballs in the freezer for the next time I need them.

So, when I had a call from a Labbie new to the job recently I was happy to be able to pass on some of the tricks of the trade.  She started the conversation with,

“I’m not sure if you’re going to want to tell me or not, but I’m going to have a few eyeballs left over after the prac and I want to know if I can freeze them for next time.”

I will always be happy to help you get more bang for your buck out of our specimens. It’s my experience that education in Queensland is under valued and horribly under-funded, and that is probably the case in most states of Australia.

So, don’t be shy.  Get in touch and ask away.  And if you have a tip to share then let your colleagues in on the secret.  You just never know when you might need one of them to return the favour.

Miss Vivi

 

By the way, place your eyeballs lens down in a container or petri dish and cover them with 0.9% saline then store in the freezer until you need them.  A quick soak in saline will also plump up any specimens that have dried out a bit in the freezer and get them looking better before you put them into the classroom.

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Rainy day blues


These dreary, cold, wet winter days make me feel like I’m in danger of coming down with something. You’ve got to look after yourself. ConQEST is only 2 weeks away and we don’t want you missing it because of the flu.

Miss Vivi’s suggestion – get into the lemons and ginger.

Gingerbread Cake with Lemon Icing
3/4 cup golden syrup
3/4 cup water
185g butter
1 1/4 cups plain flour
1 1/2 tsp bicarb soda
1 1/2 tbsp ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp all spice
3/4 cup self raising flour

Gingerbread Cake
Straight out of the oven - yum!

Melt syrup, water and butter together. Mix into dry ingredients. Bake at 180C for 25 mins.

Lemon Icing

1 tbsp milk
1 tsp butter
1/4 cup icing sugar
zest of a lemon
juice of 1/2 lemon

Melt butter into milk. Mix in icing sugar and zest. Thin with lemon juice to right consistency.  Drizzle over a slice of cake.

Gingerbread Cake with Lemon Icing
Rug up and enjoy it with a cup of tea

Enjoy!
Miss Vivi