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August 17, 2010
BehindTheMedspeak: Doctors find pea sprouting in man's lung
No, not The Onion but real life.
Long story short: 75-year-old Ron Sveden of Brewster, Massachusetts had been to numerous doctors because of a bad cough but none of them had been able to diagnose the cause.
Dr. Jeff Spillane took him to surgery, fearing the worst after an x-ray (below)
revealed a density.
Spillane said, "It was pretty grungy, but it looked like a pea. It definitely had a sprout."
He sent the specimen to pathology, where it was examined microscopically and diagnosed as a pea sprout.
According to a Healthy Living article on the case, "In 2009, a Russian surgeon said he found a tiny fir tree in someone’s lung and suggested the patient could have inhaled a seed. Experts said at the time that a fir seed could not germinate in the lung because it needs sunlight."
Perhaps it's time to reconsider.
For those who would like to learn more about this case, you will find detailed stories here and here.
August 17, 2010 at 04:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBack
Converse x Free People Shredded Sneakers
Featured in Ruth La Ferla's August 11, 2010 New York Times story about the persistence of slashing as a fashion statement since the age of Henry VIII.
From the Free People website:
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Original All-Star chucks hand-ripped and washed to give them a shredded, vintage look.
Canvas upper, rubber sole.
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August 17, 2010 at 03:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Beloit College Mindset List For The Class of 2014
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Long story short: Ron Nief and Beloit College English professor Tom McBride have assembled the Mindset List annually since 1998.
According to an AP article, "The list is meant to remind teachers that cultural references familiar to them [like writing in cursive and phones with cords] might draw blank stares from college freshman born mostly in 1992."
The 75-item list begins above and continues below.
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August 17, 2010 at 02:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Jackpot Pen
From the website:
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Wishing you were at the casino instead of at work?
Why not bring the casino to work with you with our Jackpot Pen?
It has a cool slot machine-styled handle, free-wheeling graphics that spin independently, and 3 slot-machine-style windows so you can see if you've won.
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August 17, 2010 at 01:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
3-D without glasses: Not only possible but already here
It's just not yet evenly distributed.
Exhibit A: The amazing photographs at Best Bookmarks taken with this camera:
Try it, you might like it.
[via Marcus Reimold]
August 17, 2010 at 12:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Glass Tank
By Kouichi Okamoto for kyouei design, it employs air and hydrostatic pressure.
After you drink, the tank refills the glass with a constant amount of liquid without any flowing over the brim.
Heat-resistant glass.
8.7" x 5.2" x 3.2".
$349.
[via LikeCool and designboom]
August 17, 2010 at 11:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
DeepSurplus — Cables for (much) less
DeepSurplus is featured in this week's edition of Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools, edited by Oliver Hulland.
Aram Salzman reviewed the site as follows:
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Deep Surplus is a fantastic source for an encyclopedic array of cables.
For example, Apple sells a mini to mini cable for connecting your iPod to your stereo for $24.95. The same cable can be had for less than a dollar from Deep Surplus.
For work I buy all of our networking patch cables, USB cables, etc. for 10% of the cost of buying them at Staples, Microcenter, or Best Buy.
I recently bought some rather hard to find white, two-lead speaker wire, which elsewhere was as pricey as $80, for $12 for a 25 foot-length.
I also bought a 6-foot mini (iPod) to dual RCA (for my older audiophile amplifier) cable for $2.75, compared to $24.95 at the Apple store.
I rely on them whenever I need essential cables affordably.August 17, 2010 at 10:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Endless Rain Record
"This phonograph record plays endlessly."
"The grooves in the record form a circle."
"It endlessly plays rain sounds
and the sound of raindrops."
$49.
August 17, 2010 at 09:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack