Is there some way to reduce scarring? On Saturday I gave blood, from the right arm for the first time, and when it came time to fill up the little tubes at the end there was a vibrating cell phone feeling and no blood coming out, and the Red Cross guys were talking about how the needle was probably interacting with a valve in a bad way, and there were some painful attempts to re-aim the needle and then a switch to the other arm. Anyway, the right arm today has an occasional slight tweaking feeling at the blood draw site when I straighten it, and I'm a bit worried that there's a scar building up between the outer skin and the vein which would keep everything from sliding around comfortably as I imagine it's wont to do, and I was hoping there was something I could pick up at the drugstore tonight to amelliorate this.
In one of the lecture rooms, right by the lunchroom, they're showing CNN on the screen, and I swung by just now... Obama still smiling and waving to the parade...
He started at 9 my time and will probably still be going at 5. He's going to be putting in a basically 8-hour work day being feted, and then probably another 6 hours at parties tonight. And did he sleep well last night? Are there people getting him snacks to tide him over? Seriously, a lot of effort. I bet he's a extrovert who gets energy from this sort of thing, but damn! I guess I'm impressed how cheerful he looks. This is great.
There was a shoutout to the nonbelievers! Yessss!
John Stanning #89: I just read an article in the Telegraph about things you can do to increase your odds of surviving a plane crash, and in the comments was this, "As a former Cabin flight manager, i can tell you, ... Airbuses are designed to float in ditchings, Boeings are not, Boeing aircraft the crew are instructed not to open the rear half doors only the forward half as the Boeing is rear heavy and will push the forward part up in the air, putting the rear completely under water."
I was on Southwest, so a Boeing 737. A pretty similar safety card found here. So, yay memory. I hope there's an article sometime about why the Airbus in New York sank from the rear, though. I did read that "It all happened so fast, the crew never threw the aircraft's 'ditch switch,' which seals off vents in the fuselage to make it more seaworthy"... Perhaps that was the problem?
Caught in the act of nabbing a cookie, Madeline F brazens it out. That writing place? Oh, terrible that it's down! Terrible! I wonder if it's the result of Sinister Forces! By the way, have you tried the chocolates over there? I hear they're handmade.
Snorfles cookie in momentary distraction, tries to look like someone who totally belongs at this party.
#55 John Stanning: I read an airline safety info card thoroughly in December when I scored an exit row seat, and I seem to recall that it specifically pointed out that in a water landing the exits were over the wings and in the front, not in the rear.
I sat on a jury once when I was home on summer break from college. It was pretty ridiculous. I think we made the wrong call. I hope someday to sit again with more knowledge.
The trouble was, it was a case where we were supposed to decide, was it self-defense, or was it assault? And the lawyers for both sides were mickeymouse, and some evidence we saw at the trial didn't get to us later in the deliberation, and there wasn't evidence for a key scene. It came down to a couple of the jurors during deliberations acting out for us the defendant's proposed scheme for how he'd picked up a knife out of the dishrack and sliced open the back of the other guys' neck while being held in a bear hug. We didn't think the angle worked. But I think we're supposed to call the guy innocent unless the prosecution proves he wasn't. So... Hell. I dunno. Being on a jury isn't all civic joy and/or boredom.
I have stuff to say about digital cameras that no one has said yet! I recommend the Canon PowerShot SD800 IS Digital Elph. Typed out the name after pulling it out of my pocket, where it's survived being dripped on by plum juice, and years now of being carried around everywhere.
Why is it more awesome than any other digital camera? It takes a wider photo. I forget the term, but there's some built-in thing with cameras that determines how wide a cone they see, and the 800 sees a wide enough cone that you can photograph buildings without standing in the street getting hit by cars. All the time I photograph the insides of rooms, or largish stuff I'm planning to sell on eBay, or groups of friends arm-in-arm. There are places where you just can't back up far enough to get the whole photo with a typical camera.
There's another in the series of Digital Elphs that also has the wide cone, that was replacing the 800 a few years ago when I bought it, but I don't remember the specific number. Take care as the numbers don't seem particularly representative of the age/features of the camera.
The 800 also has a viewfinder so old baffled people can take photos of you, and it's flat enough that you can set it on its end so you can walk away and take a photo of yourself, and it turns on quite fast so you can usually photograph things you're driving past, and its battery keeps juice for months, and it has an easy-to-access way of changing exposure time which makes it easier to photograph sunsets right.
Going back in time to another topic, I also took my American flag to protests of the Iraq war, in San Francisco. At one point a transgender woman came up and asked if she could have it so she could burn it while declaiming poetry. I bemusedly wished her better luck elsewhere...
Who among us hasn't made a ridiculous exaggeration in a difficult discussion and then felt trapped into defending it?
#257 albatross: I think there are two equally-sensible ways to look at stuff like war, crime, and terrorism--that is, bad stuff that's the result of conscious choice of other humans. ... a. As the subject of explicit government (and other institutions') policy, which we may hope to influence. ... b. As something rather like the weather--bigger than you, broadly not affected by your arguments or preferences or desires.
This isn't correct. a and b are not exclusive, but more importantly, they aren't the whole story. What you're missing is that social mores are something we create with our expressed opinions.
Why is it ok today (as I read a couple days ago in an article on the Emily Post Institute) to congratulate a woman on getting engaged, while in the 20s it was gauche because it suggested she viewed marriage as a meal ticket? Because the opinions of the populace have changed, one by one.
If someone I thought was really cool was terribly anti-music-piracy, I might rethink my position on it. If there was a whole crowd of smart decent people who thought pirating songs was utterly appalling, it would certainly affect my opinion.
Same with what other crimes are considered appallingly bad.
I suppose Bush beat feet out of there after?
#33 glenda larke: Eh, don't worry about it. I'd guess that usage is a rapidly fading thing, soon to be like 1900s uses of "bully" etc. Which is to say, while I'm vaguely aware of it, I don't know anyone who'd think of it in the top five meanings of the word box.
The genre slush video is awesome! OMG so bad. And, I'm not biased against white people or anything, but it was kindof hard to tell some of those ladies apart... ;)
There were actually a couple of images that I really liked, like the ice chasm with narrow arched bridges across it.
Thinking about the dreadful makeup in terms of slush, it's interesting to think that when books are written, the main characters are, in the author's head, probably vaguely in the style of the times: so frex, Cordelia in _Shards of Honor_ may have been envisioned at the time of her writing with huge 80s hair. Current accepted writing style, though, seems to be that "good" is not describing hairstyles, unless specifically describing them as other than the current norm.
Yeah, me too. I love spy stuff, but living in DC? Nah.
BTW, this reminds me of a brilliant LeCarre piece I saw yesterday thanks to a link from Jim Henley... The Madness of Spies, in which he tells of people he knew when he was in the intelligence world who were made bonkers by it.
My parents protected their catnip patch by putting an old iron fireplace log holder over it. The catnip could grow to 5-6 inches without getting flattened, and the cats could lie in the log holder and roll around on the nip that grew up through the iron bars.
I had my wisdom teeth done with laughing gas. Probably there was novocaine also... I remember it as being like "Doo-de-doo-de-doo... Huh, my face is being used as a fulcrum to lever things out of my mouth... Huh. Dee dum dee..." Dissociative. Vaguely aware stuff was going on, but didn't care.
No aftereffects that I remember, either. I'd recommend it.
I have a friend who is sometimes in a wheelchair, and from her rantings the thing I picked up is: the wheelchair is part of her body. Do not touch it without asking. Do not bump it without apologizing. Do not presume to move her.
Might be different for people who aren't accustomed to wheelchairs, but eh, who knows.
Also, Montana is far less likely to break, fall over, and burn down following a 7.0 earthquake.
For common drug interactions, one of the postdocs here who had been a Pharmacy PhD emphasized to us: tylenol and alcohol are deadly together. Apparently tylenol is like a little handgun and alcohol is like little bullets, and togther, they shoot the hell out of your liver.
For me, tylenol is a completely useless drug anyway, but it must work for someone, so if so beware of the booze.
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