In a former life I used to be an electrician. And like in any tradies home, odd jobs requiring trade skills seem to get left until last, or forever. I have a 90cm/36in ceiling fan in the computer/junk/ grog store room. Quite a few years ago a thing called a capacitor blew up, and the fan no longer worked. So, I needed to buy another capacitor and replace the dud one. Somehow, I never did get around to replacing that capacitor. Until a couple of weeks ago. I removed a capacitor from a fluorescent light and replaced dud one with it. I won't go into the technical details of this, but I'd be grateful if you didn't tell the electricity supply company about this. Ta.
Having replaced said capacitor, and congratulating myself on my cleverness, I switched on the fan and....nothing happened. So, instead of checking further, I assumed the fan motor had suffered damage, and that I would have to replace the fan with a new one. So, I bought said new fan last week. Yes, you know where this is heading, don't you.
After much procrastinating, I finally decided to replace fan today. But first, I thought I should disconnect live wire at switch so that I didn't get fried. There's enough CO2 in the atmosphere now, I'm told. So, I removed the cover....and discovered that wire had already been disconnected. I must have done it all those years ago to stop anyone from accidentally turning on the fan which could have damaged it. Two minutes later, wire was reconnected, and fan was running merrily. And I was cursing myself for my laziness, stupidity or whatever. To say nothing of the embarrassment of explaining all this to Mrs Snowy.
I wish it was Friday night.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/22/health/policy/22health.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
Senate Votes to Open Health Care Debate
“Last year 750,000 Americans filed bankruptcy,” Mr. Reid said in
opening the debate. “Over half of those bankruptcies were because of
medical expenses. Over half of the people who filed bankruptcy because
of medical expenses had health insurance. Don’t we need to do something
on health insurance reform? Of course we do.”
15 Signs American Society Is Coming Apart at the Seams
Editor's note: The following is an edited excerpt from the Amped Status report, "The Critical Unraveling of U.S. Society."
The economic elite have launched an attack on the U.S. public and society is unraveling at an increased rate. You may have missed it in the mainstream news media, but statistical societal indicators are reading red across the board. Let’s look at the top 15 statistics that prove we are under attack.
1) The inequality of wealth in the United States is soaring to an unprecedented level. The U.S. already had the highest inequality of wealth in the industrialized world prior to the financial crisis. Since the crisis, which has hit the middle class and poor much harder than the top 1 percent, the gap between the top 1 percent and the remaining 99 percent of the U.S. population has grown to a record high.
2) As the stock market went over the 10,000 mark and just surged to a 13-month high, the three big banks that took taxpayer money and benefited the most from the government bailout have just set a new global economic record by issuing $30 billion in annual bonuses this year, “up 60 percent from last year.” Bloomberg reported: “Goldman Sachs, the most profitable securities firm in Wall Street history, had a record profit in the first nine months of this year and set aside $16.7 billion for compensation expenses.” Goldman Sachs is on pace for the best year in the firm’s history, and it is also benefiting by only paying 1 percent in taxes.
3) The profits of the economic elite are “now underwritten by taxpayers with $23.7 trillion worth of national wealth."
As the looting is occurring at the top, the U.S. middle class is just beginning to collapse.
4) Workers between the ages of 55 to 60, who have worked for 20 to 29 years, have lost an average of 25 percent off their 401k. During the same time period, the wealth of the 400 richest Americans went up by $30 billion, bringing their total combined wealth to $1.57 trillion.
5) Home foreclosure filings "hit a record high in the third quarter (of 2009)… They were the worst three months of all time… 937,840 homes received a foreclosure letter" in this three-month period; “3.4 million homes are expected to enter foreclosure by year’s end, with some experts estimating that next year will be even worse.”
President Obama has enacted a $75 billion taxpayer funded program that has been a spectacular failure in stemming the foreclosure crisis and has proven to be another massive waste of billions of taxpayer dollars.
6) 25 million people are unemployed or underemployed.
This means we have 25 million people who urgently need to increase their income, and they’re quickly running out of options. The unemployment rate is expected to rise further and remain high for several years. “The president’s chief economic adviser warned that the nation’s unemployment rate could stay ‘unacceptably high’ for years to come."
The New York Times reports: "Americans now confront a job market that is bleaker than ever in the current recession, and employment prospects are still getting worse. Job seekers now outnumber openings six to one, the worst ratio since the government began tracking….” As this ratio continues to grow, it will lead to a further reduction in wages -- average worker wages have seen a sharp decline over the past year.
Economist Nouriel Roubini, a man who accurately predicted our current crisis, just reported on unemployment stating: “Think the worst is over? Wrong. Conditions in the U.S. labor markets are awful and worsening…. So we can expect that job losses will continue until the end of 2010 at the earliest. In other words, if you are unemployed and looking for work and just waiting for the economy to turn the corner, you had better hunker down. All the economic numbers suggest this will take a while. The jobs just are not coming back.”
7) As the few elite banks thrive, there have been 123 U.S. bank failures thus far this year. Recently, three banks that the government declared “healthy” and gave taxpayer money, have folded. The Wall Street Journal reports: “U.S. regulators have seized or threatened at least 27 banks that got capital infusions from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, including some lenders government officials knew were troubled when they awarded the money. The troubles put taxpayers at risk of losing as much as $5.1 billion invested in the banks since TARP was launched in October 2008.”
8) As bankruptcies surge across the board, 10 U.S. states are on the verge of bankruptcy, with several ready to declare a financial state of emergency. California, Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island and Wisconsin are all “barreling toward economic disaster, raising the likelihood of higher taxes, more government layoffs and deep cuts in services."
9) This is occurring at a time when the “federal budget deficit for the fiscal year that just ended was $1.4 trillion, nearly a trillion dollars greater than the year before." In total, "U.S. public debt topped $12 trillion for the first time in history… The public debt topped $10 trillion in September 2008. The debt is quickly approaching the statutory limit of $12.104 trillion, meaning Congress would have to raise the ceiling to prevent a shutdown of government operations."
Economist Dean Baker explains the risk of running such a large deficit: "The debt limit must be increased at regular intervals in order to allow the government to function normally because the government is currently operating at a deficit. If the debt limit is not passed, then at some point the government will not be able to pay workers and contractors. It won’t be able to send out Social Security checks or make payments for Medicaid and unemployment insurance to state governments. And, it will not be able to make interest payments on government bonds, effectively defaulting on the national debt."
Needless to say, all of this will make life drastically more difficult for American citizens. As the middle class continues on the path of economic decline, the number of citizens living in poverty has already hit an all-time high.
10) Although the government’s official figure tries to low-ball the number, 47.4 million U.S. citizens live in poverty, and the U.S. poverty rate is the highest in the industrialized world.
Predictably, homelessness is rising at an increased rate as well. "The U.S. government does not tally the numbers but interested organizations say that more than 3 million people were homeless at some point over the past year…. The fastest growing segment of the homeless population is families with children.”
Children have been hit especially hard by the economic crisis:
11) * 50 percent of U.S. children, one out of every two children, will need to use food stamps to eat.
One out of every two children in the United States of America will need to use a food stamp… to EAT!
If you didn’t think starvation was a serious threat in the U.S., just read this new Washington Post report: “The nation’s economic crisis has catapulted the number of Americans who lack enough food to the highest level since the government has been keeping track, according to a new federal report, which shows that nearly 50 million people — including almost one child in four — struggled last year to get enough to eat… Several independent advocates and policy experts on hunger said that they had been bracing for the latest report to show deepening shortages, but that they were nevertheless astonished by how much the problem has worsened. 'This is unthinkable. It’s like we are living in a Third World country,' said Vicki Escarra, president of Feeding America."
The United States Department of Agriculture released these findings in a study that was completed in December 2008, which means these numbers don’t take into account the millions more unemployed throughout 2009. The numbers of people living in poverty and struggling to eat has seen a significant increase since then.
This a national tragedy. But it gets much worse.
12) In 2008, according to the Census Bureau, the number of U.S. citizens without health care grew to a record 46.3 million. “The new figures, however, understate the severity of the economic downturn because a large portion of the nation’s job losses and unemployment rate increases occurred after the Census survey data was collected in March as part of the annual Current Population Survey."
13) Lack of health insurance has caused 45,000 preventable U.S. citizen deaths in the past year. The American Journal of Medicine recently released a study that stated, “Nearly two out of three bankruptcies stem from medical bills, and even people with health insurance face financial disaster if they experience a serious illness.”
A Johns Hopkins Children’s Center study reported that 17,000 children have died due to lack of health care. You can also add in a recent report that revealed that 2,266 U.S. veterans have died in 2008 due to lack of insurance.
The 50 million now uninsured and the 45,000 preventable deaths per year statistics are expected to drastically rise over the next few years. As the Senate continues to strip meaningful amendments from a health care bill that wouldn’t even take effect until 2013, it has become clear that, despite the media hype, the health care bill is going to fall far short of meaningful reform and continue to rig the game in favor of large insurance company profits at the expense of the U.S. population. With the highest cost healthcare in the world, current trends will continue and much needed change is not on the horizon.
Never before has the United States had so many citizens with so little means, little to no income and heavy debt. Debt and costs of living have now shackled U.S. citizens just as they have shackled people throughout the world. The economic hit men have now hit the United States as well and millions of American citizens are now effectively sentenced to a slow death.
Economic Imperial blowback has hit the mainland.
And the clock is ticking louder by the day…
And here’s two more facts for you:
14) The gun and ammunition manufacturing industry in the United States has over 200 companies producing billions of dollars in annual revenues. This huge manufacturing base cannot fulfill demand quickly enough. The demand for guns and ammunition has hit a record high and the gun industry cannot produce enough bullets to keep up with orders.
Americans are arming themselves to the teeth!
15) In the past year, 100 new armed militia groups have been formed, as militia members have doubled in numbers. Federal authorities are gravely concerned about the “uptick in militia activities." One federal authority recently said, “All it’s lacking is a spark. I think it’s only a matter of time before you see threats and violence."
So let’s break down these numbers.
You have a population of 50 million people who are in desperate need of money, they most likely have no health insurance and can’t afford to get health care or help of any kind. Part of this population probably also has loved ones who can’t get life sustaining medical treatments, or loved ones who have already died due to lack of costly medical treatment. The clock is ticking loud for these people and they are running out of options fast, and time delayed is time closer to death.
While the richest 1 percent have never had it so good, a significant percentage of the U.S. population now has firsthand experience in this. Millions upon millions of Americans are poor, broke, struggling, starving, desperate… and armed.
We are sitting on a powder keg!
We are now witnessing the critical unraveling of U.S. society.
You can read the rest of the report here.
"I recoil with horror at
the ferociousness of man. Will nations never devise a more rational umpire of
differences than force? Are there no means of coercing injustice more gratifying
to our nature than a waste of the blood of thousands and of the labor of
millions of our fellow creatures? ": Thomas Jefferson = =
"No man survives when freedom fails, The
best men rot in filthy jails, And those who cry 'appease, appease' Are hanged by
those they tried to please.": Hiram Mann
"The civility of no race can be perfect whilst another race is degraded. It is a
doctrine alike of the oldest and of the newest philosophy, that man is one, and
that you cannot injure any member, without a sympathetic injury to all the
members": Ralph Waldo Emerson. 1844
When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have
no food, they call me a communist .- Dom Helder Camara
Johann Hari: The real reason Obama is not making much progress
Before you can appeal to America's voters you have to appeal to the corporations
Almost a year after Barack Obama ascended to the White House, many of
his supporters are bemused. His healthcare bill is a hefty improvement
but it still won't provide coverage for all Americans, and may not
provide a public alternative to the over-charging insurance companies -
if it passes at all. His environmental team is vandalising the vital
Copenhagen conference by saying the US – the single biggest emitter of
warming gases – will not sign up to any legally binding restrictions
there. He has placed the deregulation-fanatics who caused the New
Depression, like Lawrence Summers, in charge of the recovery. Despite
the real improvements on Bush – such as the end of torture, the
resumption of stem-cell research, and opposition to the coup in
Honduras – many people are asking: why he is delivering so little, so
slowly?
A pair of seemingly small stories about the forces warping American politics can help us to answer this question. At first glance, they will seem like preposterous caricatures, but the facts are plain. The institutions that are blocking progress on all these issues – Republicans in the Senate, and the mighty corporate lobbying machine that bankrolls both parties – have rallied over the past few months to defend two causes with very little popular support in the United States: rape and slavery. No, really. If we begin to explain how this came to pass, then we might see why the American political system is malfunctioning so badly, even after a landslide victory for change.
Let's start with rape. This story begins in Iraq in 2003. The private military contractors sent by the Bush administration to guard the oil pipelines didn't want to get bogged down in expensive legal cases if anything went wrong. When it came to Iraqis, the Bush team simply exempted them from all Iraqi law, in a move so sweeping one Senator called it "a license to kill". But what about if their employees attacked each other, or other Americans? The private companies insisted all their employees sign contracts saying that, whatever happens to them, they will settle it in in-house, through "arbitration". Why? While representing the company at a real legal trial costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, an arbitration panel costs a few thousand. It saves cash.
This policy came, however, with a different price tag. According to her later sworn testimony, Jamie Leigh Jones – a 20-year-old working for the contractor Halliburton/KBR – was hanging out with co-workers one night in Iraq when her drink was spiked. When she woke up, she was haemorraging blood from her vagina and her anus. Her breast implants were ripped. The damage was so severe she later needed reconstructive surgery on her genitalia. She surmised she had been gang-raped by the seven men she had been drinking with. When she approached Halliburton/KBR, she says they locked her in a metal container with no food or water for 24 hours. A doctor came to see her wounds and took DNA evidence, although it was later "lost." A guard took pity on her and loaned her his cell phone. She called her father, who called the American embassy – and only then was she released.
In an Iraq that was collapsing all around her, there was no chance of the Iraqi police investigating. Halliburton/KBR insisted that her contract required the alleged gang-rape to be addressed by the company's private arbitration process, forbidding any claim in the American courts. (If this was how they treated blonde English-speaking American girls, what did they do if Iraqis said they had been abused?) After Leigh Jones went public, many other American women came forward to say they had similar experiences working in Iraq. Her legal team argues the refusal to allow rape to be pursued through the courts created a climate where it was more likely to happen.
The Democratic Senator Al Franken, when he heard about this, was horrified, and tabled a simple amendment to the law. It demanded that no company that prevents rape victims from having their day in court should receive taxpayers' money any more. Rape is rape. A majority of Republicans in the Senate – including John McCain – voted against the amendment. Why? The private contractors are major donors to the Republican Party, but the Senators claim this didn't affect their judgement. No – they said that Franken's proposal was a "vendetta" against Halliburton/KBR with "political motives". Franken pointed out any company trying to stop rape victims getting justice would be treated exactly the same by this law. The Republicans ignored him. They voted to maintain a system where some rape is not pursuable in a court of law.
At the same time, a group of Democratic senators have tried to amend the latest customs bill to ensure that nothing produced by slaves should be sold in the United States. It sounds uncontroversial – as uncontroversial as punishing rapists, in fact. Yet corporate lobbyists are militating behind the scenes to oppose it. As the private subscription-only newsletter "Inside US Trade" reported: "Business groups are worried by the potential effects", and a source tells them there will be, "a push from lobbyists closer to the Finance Committee mark-up of the bill... US industry groups and foreign governments [ie those that use slave labour] could form ad hoc coalitions to help send a united message." They will fight for their right to use slave labour.
These examples are extreme, but they reveal a powerful undertow that is at work on all political issues (and both main parties) in the United States. To see how, you have to understand two processes. The first is the nature of corporate power. Corporations are structured to do one thing, and one thing only: to maximise profit for their shareholders. No matter how personally nice or nasty their CEOs are, if they put anything ahead of profit, they will be sacked, and replaced by somebody who doesn't. As part of a tightly regulated market, this can be a useful engine for growth. But if it is not strictly reigned in by the law and by trade unions, this pressure for profit will extend anywhere – from trashing the environment to rape and slavery, as these cases remind us. The second factor is the nature of the American political process today. If you want to run for elected office in the US, you have to raise a fortune from corporations or the super-rich to pay for TV advertising. So before you can appeal to the voters, you have to appeal to the corporations. You do this by assuring them you will serve their interests. Once you are in office, you have to keep pleasing them at every step, or they won't pay for your re-election campaign. This two-step overwhelms the positive instincts the individual politicians may have to do good – and drags the US government further and further from the will of the people.
Obama had to climb through this system, and he is currently imprisoned by it. It explains his relative failure so far. Healthcare is proving so hard because the insurance companies are paying both Republicans and right-wing Democrats in Senate to thwart any attempt to provide universal healthcare coverage. Yes, it would save the 17,000 Americans who die every year because they lack insurance but it would depress their profits. Reducing carbon emissions is proving so hard because the oil, coal and gas companies are paying Senators across the spectrum to crush any moves to reduce oil, coal and gas use. And on, and on.
So far, Obama has tried to co-opt the corporations into his agenda by ensuring they will profit from any changes, but this inevitably waters down the proposals, often to the point of uselessness. The Cap and Trade legislation before Congress, for example, will barely limit carbon emissions at all because it has been gutted to please the polluters.
He will only achieve significant progressive change if he reforms the political system itself – to make it accountable to the American people, not the corporations. He needs to change the rules of the game. Ban big business from making political donations, and replace it with state funding. Shut down the lobbying industry. Make a big populist speech announcing you are driving the money-lenders out of the temple of democracy: it'd be surprisingly popular in a country where people can see they're being ripped off every day. The alternative is to become rapidly complicit in a system where defending rape and slavery is seen as just another day's work in Washington DC.
I've been reading a Peter Singer book about ethics. He is probably best known for being credited with the formation of animal rights movements around the world because of his ethical deliberations. He, in turn, credits Socrates with starting it all when he said that the unexamined life is not worth living. Singer has spent his life examining this life. And down through the ages we humans have been earnestly examining life so that we can live it worthily. And I have to say that I think we have done ourselves a disservice in doing so. As I look around me at our fellow creatures I see them living life quite happily, thank you. Our fellow meat eaters don't stop and think about the ethical implications of eating other creatures. They just do. Otherwise they would die of starvation. That's just the way it is. Why should we humans be any different to our fellow creatures?
Don't get me wrong. I don't have any illusions about the place of humans in this universe. We may be the biggest fish in this pale blue dot pond, but there is nothing to say that there aren't bigger metaphorical fish out there who will one day chew us up, belch, and spit us out with a casual observation that we were a bit overdone. If we are honest with ourselves, that is how we rate in the overall scheme of things in this universe. But honesty with ourselves is a rare trait, isn't it.
So it is that I confess to eating my fellow creatures with relish. As I said before, that's just the way it is. I don't say that I'm altogether happy with that disregard for them, but to go down the path of pondering over the ethics of doing so seems to me to be fraught with danger. I've mentioned Einstein's universe here before, but I'll do so again:
"A human being is a part of a whole, called by us _universe_, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest... a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."
It's that last bit that made me pause to think, "...widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty". How do I show compassion for all living creatures if I happily eat them? But then, as I look around me, all living things include the plants and the fish, as well as the domesticated animals that we eat. If I didn't eat them, I would die. I'll leave ethical martyrdom to others, thanks.
So, as we travel this wondrous journey we call "life", I think it is right and proper that we pause to analyse our actions, and to wrestle with the implications of those actions, as Socrates entreated us to do. But in the end we each must decide for ourselves what constitutes a meaningful and ethical life. I think the important thing is not what we decide, but that we take the trouble to ensure that decision is an informed one. Socrates must be smiling.
Hat tip WannabeeTesla
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,26373428-5003402,00.html
Alcohol helps 'lower heart disease risk'
November 19, 2009 07:26pm
MEN who drink alcohol every day see a nearly one-third average reduction in the risk of coronary heart disease, according to a long-term study among Spanish men published today.
The research unfolded over a decade among more than 41,000 men and women aged between 29 and 69, who were assessed for their health and lifestyle as part of a European probe into cancer.During the course of the study, 609 cases of heart attacks and other "coronary events" happened, 481 among men and 128 among women.
Among men, those drinking moderate, high and very high levels of alcohol all had a lower risk of coronary heart disease compared with non-drinkers.
For those classified as former drinkers, the risk was 10 per cent lower; for those drinking little (0.5 grams of alcohol per day), the risk was 35 per cent; for moderate drinkers (5-30 grams per day), the risk was 54 per cent lower; and for high (30-90 grams per day) and very high drinkers (more than 90 grams per day) it was halved.
By way of comparison, a 285ml glass of heavy beer containing 4.9 per cent of alcohol amounts to 11 grams, while a 180ml glass of wine with 12 per cent alcohol has 17.06 grams.
Women also benefited from alcohol intake, but the effects were not statistically significant, possibly due to lower numbers of "coronary events" in that group.
The type of alcohol consumed did not affect the level of protection.
The paper sheds light on the situation in Spain, which is the world's third largest producer of beer and wine and has the sixth highest per capita consumption of alcohol. But it also has one of the lowest death rates from coronary heart disease in the world.
To anyone tempted to defend heavy boozing as an act of healthiness, the paper also points to the many risks of alcohol abuse, in terms of premature death and disability.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that of the approximately two billion people out of Earth's 6.7 billion who drink alcohol regularly, over 76 million have ill health as a result, the paper says.
The study appears in Heart, a journal of the British Medical Association (BMA).
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,26371980-952,00.html
Doctors tell of joy at successful surgery on twins
November 19, 2009 02:19pm
UPDATE 2.19pm: THE surgical team behind the miracle separation of conjoined twins Trishna and Krishna have recounted their joy at being able to separate the girls.
A team of 16 surgeons, doctors and nurses worked for almost 32 hours to separate the sisters, who were joined at the head.
At a media conference today, the surgeons said they were incredibly proud to be part of the groundbreaking operation and thanked the hundreds of people involved.
Director of Neurosurgery Virginia Maixner, who led the team with neurosurgeon Alison Wray, said she was overwhelmed when the twins were finally separated.
"Sometime in the early hours of Tuesday, I looked at Alison and Alison looked at me and I said 'I think we've done it','' she said.
"And that was an amazing moment. To have struggled for so long, to have worked so hard for what was not just that day but for a whole two years of work. To be able to say 'I think we've done it'.''
Trishna awoke from a coma this morning, while her sister Krishna faces a more difficult recovery owing to the pressures from the surgery.
"Of the two twins Krishna is the one that has to adjust more,'' she said.
"We will plan to wake her up this afternoon. It's looking very positive at this stage.
"(Trishna) looks brilliant. She's talking, she's being Trishna, she's behaving the way she normally did,'' she said.
Ms Maixner said brain scans showed no early signs of brain damage to either of the girls.
"The brains look really, really good on the scans, we're really, really happy.
Ms Maxiner said Trishna was being comforted by the twins guardian Moira Kelly and that she was aware she was no longer joined to her sister.
"I do think they do notice it and it's something we need to start addressing," she said.
"We need to make sure that passage is as smooth as possible for them."
News that Trishna had woken come as the two young Australian women who brought the girls' plight to the world shared their joy at the successful separation
Danielle Noble, 27, and Natalie Silcock, 33, are a big part of the story of the brave girls, and Ms Noble admitted shedding tears as she watched coverage of the marathon surgery to separate them at the Royal Children's Hospital.
"I feel connected to the girls so it's been an emotional couple of days," she said.Ms Noble first laid eyes on the twins while she was working as a volunteer at a Bangladeshi orphanage nearly three years ago.
The girls were barely a month old and their situation seemed hopeless.
But Ms Noble, who now works for the United Nations in Bangkok, could not walk away.
"Anyone who sees newborn children in distress is going to feel like they have to do something about it," she said.
Holidaying in Queensland, Ms Noble said she felt a mixture of joy, relief and nervousness over the critical next few days for the twins.
"It's been a long journey, and in a way it feels a little bit surreal," she said. "I feel some disbelief that we've come this far, and excitement."
The outcome so far had been exactly what she hoped for when she first started calling Australian doctors and hospitals and raising money for the twins.
"It's just so great, I think, to see that the impossible has become possible," she said.
"Maybe it wasn't a realistic thing to hope for, but I think for everyone involved this whole process has shown that miracles happen."
Melbourne-based disability worker Ms Silcock helped organise Trishna and Krishna's journey to Australia.
She met the twins in June 2007 after visiting the orphanage when working for Australia Volunteers International in Dhaka, and said they had come such a long a way.
"There's been such a big change, particularly in Krishna, the little one," she said.
They had two very different personalities right from the start, but both were fighters.
The twins were already sick when Ms Noble first saw them.
"It was all a bit overwhelming really," she said.
"Their situation seemed a little bit desperate.
"They needed world-class medical attention, and it really hit home seeing them there, that they deserved an opportunity greater than what they had."
The Sydney woman soon realised it was too much for her to take on alone, so the Children's First Foundation became involved.
Ms Noble visits the twins whenever she returns to Australia, and hopes to see them this weekend.
The 15 nuns at the Missionaries of Charity in Dhaka, who each helped in raising the twins, prayed for them as they went into surgery on Monday.
"We prayed from 8am to 8pm," Sister Grace said.
The following day their prayers were answered.
Global interest in the twins has been intense, with the Royal Children's swamped by media attention from countries including Japan, Britain and the US.
Hospital spokeswoman Julie Webber said never before had there been so much attention.
"It's to be expected, it wasn't at all surprising ... we just knew that there would be this amount of interest," Ms Webber said.
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