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mojatu.com | Nottingham connected Woman With Tourette’s Says ‘Biscuit’ 16,000 Times a Day Jessica Thom, a sassy and smart 32-year-old from London, says the word “biscuit” 16,000 times a day. She also involuntarily bangs her head against the wall, beats her chest and when least expected, lets out a guttural sound or swears. She describes her love-hate relationship with the disabling disorder Tourette syndrome in a new diary-style memoir -- “Welcome to Biscuit Land: A Year in the Life of Touretteshero,” available in October. In Britain, “biscuit” means “cookie,” but Thom insists she is never really thinking about eating when she has her involuntary outbursts. Her brother-in-law recently took note of her verbal tic and counted her saying it 16 times a minute, or about 900 times an hour. In one day alone, she has hit herself on the forehead with a phone, a carton of apple juice, a set of keys, a toilet roll and a strawberry. Thom said that for years she viewed Tourette’s as a liability, but now she sees it as a strength. Comparing herself to the film character Bridget Jones, who laughed at her quirks and foibles, Thom recounts hilarious, but also heartbreaking stories of her encounters with a world not used to her social outbursts. “I know I tic all the time and it sort of pisses me off -- biscuit, biscuit,” Thom told ABCNews.com. “But if I paid attention to it all the time, I wouldn’t get much done. Sometimes with the Tourette’s, I get overloaded -- biscuit, biscuit. I’ll punch myself in the chest hundreds of times a day and my legs move erratically about.” For full story visit yahoo.com on http://goo.gl/T6X70 The 17 Best Photos From The London Olympics We’ve seen some amazing images come out of the London over the last two weeks. The Olympics are filled with photogenic sports (diving, etc.) and immense passion (four years of pent-up emotion), which makes for highly evocative photos. We’ve looked through the archives of the AP and Getty, and pulled out the 17 most stunning photos from the 2012 Games. They were taken inside, outside, underwater, and from inside the Olympic Flame. And they’re a great way to close out London 2012. For full story visit businessinsider.com on goo.gl/ Iv0jO IQRA PLUMBING & HEATING ENGINEER iqraheating.co.uk Iqra Plumbing and Heating Engineer Scan the code to visit the website Gas Services Boiler upgrade Bathroom Installation Plumbing 24 hour call out Landlord certificate Gas Installation Gas Safe Registered Installer Reg No: 527411 Reasonable prices... For more information call 07861742103 or visit www. iqraheating .co.uk 23