bookofjoe

John Kerry - love child of Bette Midler and Abraham Lincoln?

I don't know where I recently read this,

but every time I think about it I laugh,

so I figured you might too.

'If it's good enough for a person, it should be good enough for a machine'

Below, the email I just sent to my local Mac Users group after a computer crash.
___________________________

Dear Sirs and Madams,

Not two minutes ago, I was happily working here at home on my iMac G4 17" running OS X 10.3.5, when all of a sudden the screen went black and the CD I was listening to ("Bladerunner" sound track, if you must know, one of my favorites) stopped playing.

Huh.

I looked at my Epson printer, plugged into the same multiple-outlet device, and saw its green light was still on, so I knew there was power.

I looked at my Adelphia cable modem box, and green lights were still on, so the internet was still there.

Huh.

As you may recall from my previous posts, I get a gray screen of death/"kernel panic"/computer shut-down about once or twice a week, which I deal with by pushing the "On" button to restart my iMac.

None of the super-sophisticated stuff my betters amongst you do when that happens.

"Quick and dirty" is what we do in the OR, with people, so why wouldn't it be the way to go with a meaningless machine?

So I responded to my suddenly-dead machine just now the same way I deal with kernel panics: I pushed the On button.

It started right up just fine, and Bob's your uncle.

Now, what can we learn from this?

Well, not much on my part, but perhaps it will save those amongst you seeking answers to "Why?" the time and trouble of doing so in the future.

Who cares "Why?"

In the OR, I learned long ago that if a machine (read computer) crashes in the middle of a case, you don't try and fix it or figure out why it happened.

There's a patient lying there: paralyzed, unconscious, their respiratory and circulatory status and brain function completely my responsibility.

Doesn't that person deserve my undivided attention?

Wouldn't you want me to handle an anesthesia-machine-related problem, if you were that patient, precisely this way?

So perhaps you see a little more clearly now why it is I deal with computer malfunctions outside the OR the same way I do inside.

If it's good enough for a person, it should be good enough for a machine.

And nothing any of you techno-wizards tell me will ever, EVER, convince me otherwise.

And that's all I have to say about that.

Now, where are those shrimp?

BehindTheMedspeak: Rick James - 'He didn't die of a drug overdose.'

Really?

So said the Los Angeles County Coroner's office Thursday last, releasing the autopsy results.

The coroner's office emphasized that "none of the nine drugs (alprazolam (Xanax), diazepam (Valium), bupropion (Wellbutrin), citalopram (Celexa), hydrocodone (Vicodin), digoxin, chlorpheniramine, methamphetamine and cocaine) found circulating in his system was found to be at a life-threatening level."

That's interesting.

Let's play a game.

Suppose the life-threatening level of each of those drugs is 10.

And suppose, for the sake of argument, each of the nine drugs in James' bloodstream at the time of the autopsy had a level of 2.

Two's not so bad; not life-threatening, not even close.

2 x 9 = 18.

Is 18 > 10?

You do the math.

As one who routinely administers potentially fatal drugs IV as part of my daily routine in the operating room, I find it laughable that the coroner's office would conclude that James died of "acute cardiac dysfunction [a heart attack] due to idiopathic cardiomyapathy."

Let's take a look at the Medspeak in the previous sentence.

Because that's what we do here, when we go "BehindTheMedspeak." But I digress.

Everyone dies of "acute cardiac dysfunction" - in the end.

Everyone who's ever lived on this earth, and everyone alive today - yes, alas, even vous et moi - will die of "acute cardiac dysfuntion."

Because that's just a fancy-pants/white coat term for "your heart stops beating."

"Idiopathic cardiomyopathy" means James' heart was enlarged, but they can't say why.

Doesn't mean much.

Most professional athletes have this condition, as well as lots of recreational runners.

No, James died of a combined drug overdose.

Trust me on this: I'm a doctor.

James, who sang "Super Freak'' and other hits, died on August 6 at his home in Los Angeles. He was 56.

Kryptonite lock picking videos: 'Videre est credere'

"Seeing is believing."

What I find even more interesting than that anybody with a 10-cent Bic pen can open a fancy-shmancy Kryptonite lock ($30-$55 retail) is how long it took the news to arrive in the "real world."

Yesterday's New York Times ran the story; this morning's Washington Post has a piece about it as well, but the news - and an actual video made by the guy who discovered the flaw, Chris Brennan - first appeared online last Monday.

How many Times and Post readers, and other non-web connected people, all over the world, have had their locks picked and their bikes stolen this past week while they went about their business, ignorant of the kludge?

I'll bet thousands.

The Post's story, perhaps because of sour grapes at arriving so late at the station, long after the scoop train had left, doesn't give either the names of the two guys who made the lockpicking discovery, nor the websites where a skeptical reader could go to see for him or herself.

Good thing you've got me, following behind the elephants in the parade with my broom and bag.

Meanwhile, Benjamin Running, the guy who really put the news out there, has perfected his Bic technique so well he can now open a Krytonite U-Lock as fast as if he had a key.

Check this video out if you still don't believe all this is true.

I timed him at 4 seconds flat.

iDuck and friends

They're so-called "thumb" or "keychain" drives.

Holding from 64 to 512 mB of data, these flash memory devices let you carry data easily and safely.

Instead of burning CD-ROMs, you simply stick one into a USB port, and up pops the device icon onscreen.

You drag and drop files - documents, pictures, songs, whatever - onto the icon, then remove the drive.

Plug it into any other computer, and up comes the icon, ready to disgorge the stored files.

No formatting, no set-up.

Even I use one - so you know it's gotta be simple.

They're becoming so ubiquitous, companies now give them away as promotions.

The more stylish ones pictured above cost: the iDuck ($49-$329) holds 16 mB-512 mB, and comes in

pink, yellow, blue, tangerine, camouflage, and heart.

The new SwissMemory from Swiss Army knife maker Victorinox runs $62 for 64 mb - but don't forget, they throw in a knife, nail file, and scissors.

The Wolverine Data Pen costs $35-$70, and houses the flash drive (32 mB-256 mB) in the cap.

Meritline's Data Watch ($37) holds 64 mB.

Sandwich Project

Everything sandwich-related.

Browse their archive of 1,898 sandwiches, or submit your own.

Come on, everyone's got a favorite.

Mine?

Bacon and cheddar (cheddar on top, of course) melted on half (the top half, of course) a sesame bagel.

World's Longest Gum Wrapper Chain - 8.4 Miles, and Growing

Gary Duschl started it on March 11, 1965.

Now, 39+ years later, it contains 1,036,574 gum wrappers (Wrigley's only).

That's $51,829 worth of gum (I'm not gonna do the math to double check, sorry).

What can I say?

'Toda la vida es sueño, y los sueños, sueños son'

"All life is a dream, and dreaming as well." - Pedro Calderón de la Barca (1600-1681)

This week, there've been posts doubting the truth and questioning the accuracy of memories.

There's been discussion of a remarkable syndrome called Charles Bonnet, in which visual loss is accompanied by hallucinations which "fill in" what the eye fails to deliver to the brain.

Finally, there's been reference to the near-realistic quality of the newest videogames, and their tendency to so immerse the player that it's "like reading a book and watching a movie."

What do all these things tell us?

Well, they tell me that it is becoming increasingly clear that we indeed create our reality and the world we think we live in, rather than simply inhabit it and pass through it.

If this is the case, then it should be quite reasonable to believe that we can indeed create our future, just as it appears we create our present and past.

It seems to me that there's a quiet, unstoppable revolution in our thinking taking place, which is going to result in an entirely different view of ourselves in the world.

I predict we will take an increasing role directing and framing our lives - not so much in what we choose to do but, rather, in how we choose to view and value what we do.