Saturday, April 03, 2010
Open source prosthetics
Kevin Connolly is a photographer, writer, and extreme sports athlete. His photo set,The Rolling Exhibition, garnered national attention and his memoir, Double Take, is available from HarperStudio.
Clicking into an article by Aimee Mullins, a double below knee amputee, actress, track athlete, and total babe, resulted in a moment of groaning "what the hell" at my computer screen. The article -- "Is Choosing a Prosthesis so Different than Picking a Pair of Glasses?" -- spoke of how prosthetics have evolved to the point of being as specialized and aesthetically unique as eyeglasses in the last fifty years in the United States.
To illustrate her point, Mullins notes:
"...no one has yet to build a leg that does it all --- I have to change legs when I want to wear high heels; I have to change legs when I want to wear different height high heels; I have to change legs when I want to swim, take a boxing class at the gym, or sprint on the track. I have 12 pair in all (though many are housed in museums)."
While the there are indeed parallels, the article largely neglects the enormous burden of cost and limited access to this cutting-edge technology that so often gets featured in the press. Those very legs that Mullins has relegated to museums sit well out of financial reach for the majority of the disabled community.
Last Supper helpings have grown
The Christian faith holds several acts of "super-sizing" to be miracles accomplished by Jesus Christ -- a handful of fish and loaves of bread expanded to feed thousands; a wedding feast running low on wine suddenly awash in the stuff. Now a new study of portion expansion puts Jesus once more at the center.
In a bid to uncover the roots of super-sized American fare, a pair of sibling scholars has turned to an unusual source: 52 artists' renderings of the New Testament's Last Supper.
Their findings, published online Tuesday in the International Journal of Obesity, indicate that serving sizes have been marching heavenward for 1,000 years.
Thursday, April 01, 2010
WWII Airships over Helena
WWII Airship Manoeuvres Over Helena ~ On May 3, 1942, nearly 2,000 Helenans gathered in Hill Park to watch three U. S. Army airships out of Spokane practice mooring operations. Major Charles F. Bowden told the Independent Record that the Army had deemed the Helena Civic Center minaret to be ideal for such practice. Higher than expected northwest winds complicated the operation, but Major Bowden called the exercise "A huge success, and a kick in the pants to Herr Hitler".
The airship crews were feted that evening at the Montana Club, and were driven out to the river early the next morning to look at Hauser Dam.
The airship crews were feted that evening at the Montana Club, and were driven out to the river early the next morning to look at Hauser Dam.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
How many calories for your fast-food dollar?
When New York City adopted a new rule last year requiring chain restaurants to prominently post calorie counts for every item on their menus, it was supposed to be the Day of Judgment for the fast-food industry. Knowledge is the key to winning all modern wars, and calorie information is the new weapon in the war on fat. Who could bear to utter the words "super size" while staring at the calorie counts?
I think I may use this as a screen saver when waiting for the audience to sit down for a presention.
5 Ways Disney’s New Cruise Ship Will be Wired for Family Fun Read More http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2010/03/disney-dream/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_m
Virtual Portholes: It’s a fact of ship design that some staterooms will be “interior” staterooms, meaning they don’t share a wall with the outside hull of the ship, and therefore don’t have win- err, portholes. But the interior staterooms on the Dream will. Each stateroom will have a 30″ round HD screen mounted on one wall, feeding live video from a series of cameras mounted around the perimeter of the boat. No matter what direction the Dream is sailing, or what time of day, passengers will see what’s visible outside in the specific direction they are facing in the stateroom, as if they were looking at an actual porthole. And to add to the Disney magic, each screen will have random characters from Disney properties matted into the video feed doing appropriate things: the house from Up! floating by, or a starfish from Finding Nemo holding on to wave hello. Disney reps say that many people, when offered an upgrade to rooms with actual portholes, decline in favor of the virtual ones.
Service monkeys and the TSA rules for them
- When a service monkey is being transported in a carrier, the monkey must be removed from the carrier by the handler prior to screening,
- The service monkey must be controlled by the handler throughout the screening process.
- The service monkey handler should carry the monkey through the walk through metal detector while the monkey remains on a leash.
- When the handler and service monkey go through the walk through metal detector and the detector alarms, both the handler and the monkey must undergo additional screening.
- Since service monkeys may likely draw attention, the handler will be escorted to the physical inspection area where a table is available for the monkey to sit on. Only the handler will touch or interact with the service monkey.
- Security Officers have been trained to not touch the service monkey during the screening process.
- Security Officers will conduct a visual inspection on the service monkey and will coach the handler on how to hold the monkey during the visual inspection.
- The inspection process may require that the handler to take off the monkey’s diaper as part of the visual inspection.
(Just for fun, re-read it, but replace all references to monkeys with the word, "penis." It's funny too. )
Grab the Airplane and Go
How to repossess an airliner without getting shot, or thrown in jail, or beat up, or slammed into a wall, or...
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Childhood Photos
I recently had 500 slides my dad had taken converted to slides. Here are a few
I still have both of those toys, and most of the others in the pictures. Not in as good of shape, of course.
Probably Halloween 1972
Our house, probably in 1967.
It looks like I didn't want to leave my gift for church.
My Uncle Leonard and I
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Kalispell Crime Blotter - I want to make the last four words of this a euphemism, I just don't know what it would refer to. Definitely nothing sexual.
4:07 p.m. A resident of North Ferndale Drive called to ask questions regarding a neighbor who was evidently burning a dead llama.
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