Alice in Wonderland / Creepy Chemistry

For some reason when I put on this black Abhair wig, I want to dress up like a character from childhood stories (see my Snow White post from a week ago here). Well, it's happened twice now anyway, haha. I owned this beautiful illustrated Alice in Wonderland book when I was little and read it so many times, and it lended itself nicely to this outfit post with my awesome new illustrated Alice in Wonderland tights! I made these lace cuffs for my Japan trip so I can instantly cute-ify any socks I buy while I'm over there. And I'm wearing these gorgeous lolita platforms from Topb2c again. I'm a bit obsessed. (Also sidenote: Topb2c is running a deal at the moment, to get 8% off use the code topb2c8 and to get 15% off - if you're one of the first 100 to use it - use topb2c15.) wearing dress - c/o Sheinside tights - Ebay shoes - c/o Topb2c socks - Vintage wig - c/o Abhair So Alice in Wonderland was full of some pretty trippy chemical reactions - pebbles turning into cakes, etc (see what I did there? I'm great at these segues into science... haha). Here's two amazingly weird chemical reactions, and a little explanation about what's going on behind them (thanks to Kailey for sending them to me!) Simply mix two small quantities of hydrogen peroxide (what you use to bleach your hair) and sodium iodide (this is a salt, you'll need to add water) and a little bit of soap. And then back right away. The sodium iodide speeds up the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide. As hydrogen peroxide has the formula H2O2, when it decomposes it breaks down into water and oxygen. The crazy-looking reaction is caused by the oxygen blowing up the soap bubbles in the solution as it escapes. You can even DIY this chemical reaction using these instructions! This creepy reaction is done simply by setting alight some mercury (II) thiocyanate and watching it go. It's what's known as a decomposition reaction, but the whole reaction is a little lengthy to type out here, so if you want to know the specifics then have a look here. And I don't recommend doing this one yourself... it's particularly toxic at just about every stage of the process. This is proof that chemistry can be ridiculously cool (and creepy)! Do you know any crazy chemical reactions? Much love,

Pineneedle & Thread Mini Magazine

Guys! Yesterday I woke up with SO much stuff to do, organising everything for my trip to Japan, finalising accommodation, packing my suitcase, etc... so I spent the entire day making a magazine instead. Don't ever say I'm not good at procrastinating - I'm really, really actually very good at it. Anyway, this is what happened. I lay all the blame on Glossi for telling me that this thing existed. If you can't view the embedded magazine below, then click here to have a little look. I hope you guys like it - it's got a bit of science, a bit of online shopping and photos of three very lovely ladies whose style I adore. Please let me know what you think! p.s. click here if you're having troubles viewing the embedded version. I also made it available as a printable pdf that you can download here (and print out as a booklet format).

Little Red / A Little More Fake Science

Today's post had two purposes other than just being your run-of-the-mill outfit post. One was to test out my teeny little netbook's capacity for photoshop - this is the baby computer I'm going to be taking overseas with me to Japan, and I wanted to make sure I'd be able to blog once I'm over there! And it was successful! (although it did take me about a bajillion years longer to edit these photos). The other purpose of this post was to test out my gorgeous new cape coat from Oasap! I'm also planning on taking this overseas with me, so that I don't freeze my butt off. I tested it out today because it's wet and very cold here (I told you Australian weather is completely mental). I think it will do the job nicely (although it's impossible to wear a backpack while wearing this coat unless I put the backpack under the coat and become a hunchback - which is slightly annoying. I guess you can look forward to a whole lot of hunchback shots of me from Japan, because this is the only coat I have!). wearing cape coat - c/o Oasap skirt - Wholesale tights - Wholesale shoes - Rubi shoes Seeing as I got such good feedback on my "false science facts" post the other day, I'm going to do a similar post! Side note: don't feel bad if you thought some of these were real - I'm not intending to make anyone feel stupid! (And I've believed all of these at some point as well.) The point I want to make is that humans are easily fooled - and using science and our critical thinking facilities we can sort the right from the wrong :) Here's some more false science facts that you might have heard of before (thanks again, Snopes)! - Gum is indigestible, so if you swallow it then it'll stay in your stomach for 7 years - FALSE Chewing gum is largely indigestible, but you shouldn't freak out too much if you swallow it - it'll just pass through your digestive tract at the same rate as any other food, but remain largely intact on the way ;) (yeah, gross). - Blondes will be extinct within 200 years - FALSE This pops up in the news from time to time on slow news days (and you can replace blondes with redheads as well), and it's not just a recent myth - this has been circulating since the mid 1800s. It's basically a misunderstanding of genetics, recessive genes and statistics that leads to this myth popping up again and again. Put basically - this becomes plausible only if no one in the world wanted to have babies with natural blondes, ever again, including blonde people themselves. - Rubber tyres protect you in a car during a lightning strike - FALSE I freaked out when I read this one, thinking "I'm not safe in a car in a storm??" But cars are actually quite safe in a lightning storm - turns out it's not the tyres that make you safe. People think rubber tyres are what's protecting you because they don't conduct electricity, but in fact it is the highly-conductive outer metal shell of the car. If lightning hits the car, the metal shell picks up the lightning's discharge and deposits it straight into the ground, bypassing the car's inhabitants. Phew! - Getting a hair cut stimulates new growth - FALSE Doing anything to the hair that's already on your head (the cells are all dead) has no effect on the living section of the hair beneath the skin. A good hair cut might make your hair feel healthier and thicker, but fresh hair is going to keep growing at the exact same rate it was growing at regardless if you've got long and scraggly hair, or nice and newly cut hair. It's just an illusion that makes it seem like your hair isn't growing as fast if it hasn't recently been cut, because the hairs become thinner at the ends (and can also break off if you dye it too much like I did, heheh). Hope you're all wonderful :) p.s. Image of woman blowing a gum bubble above is by Joseph Sterling (Age of Adolescence)

Little Animal Friends / Micro Worlds

I wore this outfit when I went bike riding today, and only afterwards did I realise that the animals on this t-shirt are standing behind a bike! I dress up to a theme so often that today I must have just done it subconsciously, haha. wearing shirt - c/o Sheinside skirt - Wholesale bag - Vintage belt - Vintage socks - Vintage shoes -Vintage Scanning electron microscopy produces the most incredible images of our micro world. Here's some incredible images made using this particular technique. See if you can guess what any of them are of before checking out the answers at the bottom of the post! 1. Snow 2. The teeth of a Sea Urchin 3. Two-day old zebrafish larvae 4. An ipod earbud with skin flakes (the green bits). Note: Electron microscope images carry no colour - the colour is added afterwards to differentiate the different materials. (And make them look pretty!) I'm buying some winter clothes today! (After yesterday was the HOTTEST EVER day recorded in Sydney, yikes). I hope I can find somewhere that stocks something even mildly wintery, like a big chunky knit scarf and thick socks, or else I'm going to be mighty cold landing in Tokyo in a week's time - although it will be a good excuse to go shopping as soon as I get there!

Video Blog #2: Thrift Store Haul

I decided to do another video blog today! Seeing as I got SO much stuff from that country-town op shop I keep talking about, and will probably never post about it all, I thought I'd show it off all in one 2 minute video. Skip to 0:42 if you want me to shut up and see some clothes :) Some stuff I still have to alter, like the blue shirt that I tie up, the shirt after that and the pink jumper (I'm pulling out the shoulder pads to show you that they've got to be removed, haha). I've also yet to alter the last two dresses - they're going to be such cute little things once I do! Btw does anyone know what that floral scarf-thingy is meant to be (is it a scarf? Why is it that shape?? How do you tie it up?) Hope you like it!

Giveaway: 2 Pairs of Romwe Leggings! (CLOSED)

Romwe are very kindly giving away a pair of galaxy-style leggings to two of my readers! Use the rafflecopter widget below to enter (you will need a facebook account as well). The more entries you complete, the more chance you have of winning! The winners will be randomly sent one of the above three designs, in their size. The competition ends on the 24th of January! Good luck! a Rafflecopter giveaway

Space Kitty & Science Myths

Even though this sweater was on the list of items I'm packing for Japan, I couldn't resist wearing it the other day when it suddenly became inexplicably freezing. I was in the mood for a bizarre kind of outfit, so the effect of a kitty being draped over my shoulders went well with the planet stockings. Again, I'm wearing my amazing new t-bar platform shoes from Topb2c which I've been (somewhat impractically) living in for the past few days. wearing sweater - c/o Sheinside skirt - Vintage tights - Ebay bag - Vintage shoes - c/o Topb2c hat - c/o Wholesale Today's science segment is going to be a little different. Rather than teaching you something cool about science, I'm going to give you a list of science facts that you might have thought were true, but are actually very much false (thanks, Snopes!) So here's a list of false science 'facts': - The average person swallows 8 spiders each year - FALSE This "fact" was actually spread by a woman attempting to demonstrate how gullible people are when they hear something on the internet. And it is now one of the most common myths people believe on the internet. - Your hair and fingernails keep growing after you die - FALSE In fact, it's the shrinking of skin and flesh after death that makes it seem like hair and fingernails are still growing, when they are in actual fact staying the same length. - The Coriolis Force (remember the Simpsons episode where they go to Australia?) means that water spins the opposite way down a drain depending on the hemisphere - FALSE The Coriolis effect is real, but it is very small and only influences very large systems like the movement of air. It has no effect on the water in your toilet bowl. The configuration of taps, sinks and bowls is what causes water to "spin" in any one direction and is much stronger than any swirling from the Coriolis force. - You only use 10% of your brain - FALSE This is such a pervasive myth and it irritates me the most out of this whole list (probably because I'm a neuroscience nerd). If you only used 10% of your brain, evolution would probably have worked to remove the 90% we apparently don't use, making childbirth a heck of a lot easier and using the body's resources in a much more effective way. We make use of 100% of our brains. And brain imaging studies show that this is indeed true. What is true is that we don't use 100% of our brain all at once, just like you don't suddenly engage every single muscle of your body in one specific moment. - You can see the great wall of China from space - FALSE You can't.

Snow White / Poison Apple: Fairytales meet Science

A bunch of things to talk about in this outfit! After receiving both this apple necklace and this near-black wig the other day, I decided to dress up in a Snow White inspired outfit. My dress is yet another amazing find from my thrift shopping adventure of a week ago (I told you I got a whole bunch of amazing stuff). The necklace is from a new sponsor of mine, Australian-based Merrin & Gussy. They've very kindly provided me with all the jewellery I'm going to need for Japan, so look out for them in my outfit posts while I'm blogging overseas! The wig was sent to me by Abhair to review (this wig if you're looking for it). For $23, it's a really good quality wig and looks pretty darn realistic, hat on or off. The bang falls naturally and doesn't get into my eyes either. It's also ludicrously soft right now (although as I've noticed with my other wigs, that softness doesn't last for too long). The only thing I was disappointed with is the colour - I ordered darkest brown, but it looks black which makes it seem a little bit unnatural on me. However everything else about it is awesome, so I can't really complain. (And if you like this colour and are ordering it for yourself, order "2"). Lastly to note are my amazing shoes. When Topb2c asked to sponsor me, I was really excited because they sell heaps and heaps and heaps of lolita-style gear, and I've been after some chunky black Mary Janes for years. Also the shoes fit my big feet, which is something I always have trouble with at Asian stores! Expect to see these gorgeous things in many, many more outfit posts. wearing dress - Vintage shoes - c/o Topb2c necklace - c/o Merrin & Gussy wig - c/o Abhair socks - Cotton On Science fact! Snow White was given a poisonous apple to eat by the evil Queen, but are all apples actually poisonous? Apple seeds contain amygladin, a compound which consists of cyanide and sugar. In contact with digestive enzymes in our body, this is converted into small amounts of HCN, hydrogen cyanide, which is lethal to humans because CN (cyanide) is extremely poisonous in very small quantities, and can kill you in a matter of minutes (it's the typical poison used in old-school murder mysteries). Image of Amygladin from here. Don't let that stop you eating apples though. Thing is, you really need to chew up your apple seeds for your body to come into contact with the amygladin - the seeds have a tough coating which encases the amygladin and protects it from your digestive enzymes. Also, your body is able to handle tiny amounts of cyanide, so if you do accidentally eat a couple of apple seeds, you're going to be okay. In fact you'd have to crush up and eat around 143 apple seeds (from around 20 apple cores) to begin to do yourself any harm. So anyway, how are you all today?

Packing for Japan

Because the weather in Australia right now is entirely at odds with anything wintery, I've found myself at a bit of a loss as to how to pack for Japan. And I leave in 2 weeks so I really need to start thinking about packing! To help me plan my wardrobe, I decided to make this little picture of the clothes I'm planning on taking with me. Some of these are still in the mail... fingers crossed they arrive by the time I leave!! Any other recommendations for keeping warm from those actually experiencing winter right now would be most appreciated. It's hard to think about thermals when you're in 40 degree C temperatures. 1. Cape Coat from Oasap 2. Black knee-high socks 3. Red Cartoon Cat Sweater from Sheinside 4. Leather Skirt from Faith & Lola 5. Night Creeper Necklace from Merrin & Gussy 6. Half-Finger Converter Gloves from Oasap 7. Doll Quilted Dress from Romwe 8. Chelsea Boots from Asos 9. Cat Face Sweater from Romwe 10. Snow White Pendant from Merrin & Gussy 11. Musical Note Smiley Skirt from Sheinside 12. Lion Print Sweater from Sheinside I also just noticed that apparently I am bringing not one, not two but three sweaters with cats on them (big cats and little cats alike). I clearly like cats on my clothes, so... that's what I've learnt today.