Carrying this emergency tracheotomy kit around with your set of keys is pretty advanced. It makes CPR look like child's play.
Viewing entries tagged
Health
Everyone tries to ride the coattails of the NCAA annual "March Madness" basketball tournament, including urologists.
A new study by John Komlos analyzing data recently published by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey at the CDC suggests that on average black women in America are becoming shorter in height--a surprising development considering Americans have become taller with each successive generation. The study found the height differential more pronounced in the lower socioeconomic level. Komlos theorizes that obesity, a problem that particularly impacts African American women, might explain this decline in height.
Alan Rogol, a professor of clinical pediatrics at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville and Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis, explained it this way: Obesity causes an apparent acceleration of the onset of puberty in young people. In the case of young women, "the female hormone estrogen is what leads to closure of the ends of long bones, where you grow from," Rogol said. "If that is done more quickly on average, you are at risk for being . . . smaller as an adult."
I really hope that the next surgeon general in the Obama administration, Dr. Sanjay Gupta or whoever it may be, will be able to focus more attention on our country's obesity epidemic.
Page Six (CMMV) reports:
That although we didn't think it would be possible to silence Ann Coulter, the leggy reaction-ary broke her jaw and the mouth that roared has been wired shut . . .
This is a quote from a speech she gave at the University of Florida in October 2005.
They're [Democrats] always accusing us of repressing their speech. I say let's do it. Let's repress them. Frankly, I'm not a big fan of the First Amendment.
CMMV: Credibility Mileage May Vary.
[Thanks Paul!]
There's a restaurant in Chandler, Arizona called Heart-Attack Grill. Their motto: Taste worth dying for!. And it starts with their hamburger.
Note the nurse uniform. I approve that.
The breakdown.
[Thanks Lynda!]
Toothpaste product dissections by Erik Boker. Brilliantly horrifying (to me).
[Via]
I'm posting this on behalf of my friend, N. He's a regular here entertaining or annoying you all in the Last Night's Party segments...but on a more serious note, he's also participating in the Alzheimer's Association Memory Walk on behalf of someone close to him. If you can, please donate whatever you can in support of this noteworthy cause and N. He has raised $315 of his goal of a $1,000 for this event. Click here to donate.
The seemingly superhuman abilities of savants ("like having photographic memory, playing music perfectly after hearing it just once, or doing complex mathematical calculations in one's head") is a fascinating study for many fields of science and human studies. For me it suggests how much further potential we possess as a whole and provides a tantalizing glimpse into the possibilities of the direction that our evolution may take us towards. Although, me personally, I'm still hoping to fall into a temporary coma for a hot second and then reawaken as a savant with the ability to talk to the fishes and other sea creatures. Neatorama takes a look at ten savant individuals with extraordinary abilities. I was particularly amazed by Stephen Wiltshire. He was born mute until the age of 9 where prior to he communicated by drawing. Tellingly, his first word spoken was supposedly "paper." Wiltshire has one particular unique ability where he can illustrate detailed drawings of a city after only seeing it once. For example, check out the mesmerizing video below of him drawing a 33ft long panorama of the city of Tokyo after one fly-over in a helicopter.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95L-zmIBGd4]
There's also Ellen Boudreaux, a blind autistic savant who in addition to being able to musical abilities, she avoid obstacles and obstruction by making chirping noises as sonar while she walks. However, it is this third ability she possesses that really blew my mind:
To help overcome her fear of the telephone, Ellen's mom coaxed her to listen to the automatic time recording (the "time lady") when she was 8. From then on, Ellen knows the exact hour and minute, any time of the day without ever having seen a clock nor have the concept of the passing of time explained to her.
So....what did YOU do today?
Read more here.
Planet Dan's weekly Friday edition of hilarious, often painful to watch, gifs never disappoints:
Watch until the very end of the clip for the jackpot moment.
If you have trouble expressing yourself verbally adequately during boom boom time or you kill the mood by saying the wrong thing, then this extensive flow chart will be a handy cheat sheet for you the next time she wants you to talk to her. I don't need it though. I have a Ph.D. in this field. Hi-ho!
![flow_sex [Converted]](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3226/2823001157_c973560625_o.jpg)
[Via]
I'm not quite sure how I missed this in my Internet peregrination last week, nor did a a single one of my friends or contacts mention this to me either: But last weekend was National Go Topless Day. As a strong advocate for gender equality, an issue I have always held closely and passionately to my chest heart, I'm disappointed in myself for not being aware and informed about this event. This particular matter, the right to go topless in public (a right and privilege that men have held since days of yore) is an area where a vast gap still egregiously and outrageously remains in this country. But, this good, kind, and righteous organization is attempting to rectify that, I think, illegal and unjust discrepancy.
While in the civilized city of New York after a brilliant court ruling in 1992, it is in fact legal for NYC women to be topless just like their male counterparts. Nonetheless showing the same spirit that compelled Susan B Anthony, women of New York City gathered last Saturday and marched, topless, around Central Park in protest to show solidarity with their sisters trapped in unenlightened communities around the rest of the country, who lack the basic freedom to enjoy the right to feel the hot summer sun or experience a cool fall breeze against the skin, without the impediment of sweatshop sewn fabric or other shackles of modernity.
As the founder of GoTopless.org, Rael, put it: "as long as men can be topless, constitutionally women should have the same right, or men should also be forced to wear something hiding their chest." Amen, sister.
Amen and hallelujah.
Government should not be legislating our bodies, so long as it does not pose a risk to the greater society. Allowing women to be topless in the same manner that men are permitted is the only decent thing to do.
In all seriousness, it's kind of sad that in the 21st century our society is still so uptight and didactic about this sort of stuff. The human body is not a taboo, people! Come on, just watch a few National Geographic specials, Nova documentaries, or HBO's Real Sex to see what a not big deal all of this is. Okay, maybe not Real Sex. I saw this one episode once and it caused me curl up into a fetal position and made me want to die a little. So, yea, skip that HBO series.
Read more here (Gothamist link, but sorta NSFW).
NOT SAFE FOR WORK (rolling eyes, sheesh) pictures of the protest after the jump.
Artist William Utermohlen was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 1995, from which point he began chronicling his descent into the disease. These self-portraits painted from that period until 2000 when he was no longer able to hold a paintbrush provides an interesting visual insight into the mysteries of the human mind.
His wife and his doctors said he seemed aware at times that technical flaws had crept into his work, but he could not figure out how to correct them.
“The spatial sense kept slipping, and I think he knew,” Professor Utermohlen said. A psychoanalyst wrote that the paintings depicted sadness, anxiety, resignation and feelings of feebleness and shame.
It's fascinating to me that the nose or perhaps the sense of smell remains the strongest visual feature in each of his paintings.
Read more here.
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