hi

the simpsons were singing the jingle for “armour hotdogs”

so i read the wikipedia entry for armour hotdogs

apparently the armour meatpacking company was one of those truly evil companies that you just can’t get today what with labor laws and such

they even sold 500K pounds of tainted meat to the army and gave food poisoning to soldiers during the spanish american war

that is some pre-halliburton war contract profiteering!

it was a family business of the armour brothers from chicago

they were the real hot dog kings of chicago!

it gets weirder

with you, it always does

they made lots of stuff as meat and animal byproducts

like dial soap!

then their profits went down

and the company was bought by greyhound bus co.

which is actually a canadian company

wtf

the name was changed to the dial corporation

then it was sold to some german food conglomerate

the song the simpsons were singing is the actual jingle that was apparently very popular

Hotdogs, Armour hotdogs.
What kinds of kids eat Armour hot dogs?
Fat kids, skinny kids, kids who climb on rocks.
Tough kids, sissy kids
Even kids with chicken pox
Love hotdogs, Armour hot dogs
The dogs kids love to bite!

there is another armour reference in the simpsons where principal skinner is wearing a bunch of hotdogs to look like a guy with bombs strapped to him

and chief wiggum says “what kind of man wears armour hot dogs?”

and that is all i know about armour hot dogs.

what is up with u?

oh wait, one last thing about armour hot dogs!

some really old patients i saw in KC took a thyroid replacement called “armour thyroid”

its not used anymore because the dosing is unreliable

it comes from pig thryoids

i never made a connection between it and the hot dogs, but there you go! one more weird thing about hot dogs.

Filed under: food, medicine | 2 Comments
Tagged: Armour , chatlog , hotdogs , random crap i learned from obscure simpsons references

It seems that researchers have found a new reaction carried out by the hemoglobin molecules in our red blood cells. Specifically, the researchers have discovered a method of converting nitrate salt stored in the blood cell into nitric oxide by oxidized hemoglobin. I found this article interesting not simply because of the new finding, but because it supports the idea that hemoglobin has undiscovered functions in the human body.

The main purpose of hemoglobin is to pick up oxygen molecules as blood passes through the lungs, then deposit the oxygen in the tissues that need oxygen. However, the average person has a hemoglobin concentration of about 15mg per deciliter of blood. This hemoglobin is 100% saturated with oxygen when leaving the lungs. At the end of the round trip through your body, it is about 70% saturated with oxygen before picking up more oxygen in your lungs. Think about all the energy that your body spends pumping blood around your body during the course of a day. If the only purpose of hemoglobin is as an oxygen transporter, that is a lot of reserve! The human body is generally more efficient that this, suggesting that hemoglobin serves some as of yet undefined purposes, making it even more of an elegant molecule than presently known. Of course, the role of this newly discovered reaction on vascular hemodynamics is yet to be defined.

Link to article

Filed under: medicine | 0 Comments
Tagged: hemoglobin

Bob sent me an article in the New England Journal of Medicine. Neither of us have read the article (although Bob insists that he has read the Journal and even understood several of the words). This particular article might (or might not, we haven’t actually read it) claim that having fat friends can kill you. It includes a pretty animation.

Filed under: bobslobster, medicine | 0 Comments

I keep giving the same advice to people who ask me about RSI, so I’m writing up some ideas here. Remember, I’m not a doctor, and this is not medical advice.

• If you are in serious pain, stop typing. Really. Completely stop using a computer, at least for a while. See a medical professional and talk to your friends who are going through the same thing. Here are some things your doctor might recommend if you are diagnosed wtih tendonitis:
  
  • Ice packs to reduce swelling of your tendons. Bags of frozen peas work. Use a towel so they aren’t too cold. Do not exceed ten minutes. Do *not* type while your arms are cold. Use as needed.
  • Wrist guards, the kind that peliom recommends. Wear them while typing. Wear them while sleeping. Yes, really. It helps a lot.
  • Ibuprofen also reduces swelling. Use as prescribed.
  • Tendon stretches and exercises, several times a day.
  • Lots of breaks, early and often.
  • Squeezy stress ball.
  • Stop typing.
    
• OK, so you decided to ignore my advice and keep using a computer. No one ever stops. At least set up your computer to be as ergonomic as possible, and reduce use.
  
  • STOP WEB BROWSING. Also stop non-work related emails. Most people I know keep hurting their wrists doing stupid shit like surfing the web several hours a day. If you must surf, do it on a blackberry, sidekick, or a tablet pc.
  • Stop using your laptop keyboard and trackbad. Don’t use a laptop at the coffee shop, on the couch, or in bed. Use an external keyboard and pointing device.
  • You need to work at a properly adjusted desk with a properly adjusted chair. You want someone who knows what they are doing to make some measurements so that your workstation fits your body. Actually, you want at least three people to make the same measurements, because at least one of them will give you bad advice.
  • You will most likely need a keyboard tray, but really this depends a lot on your body proportions. A fully adjustable one will cost at least $200. We’ve been using the $220 one from Anthro.
  • You will most likely have to raise your monitor up to be at eye level.
  • You will most likely have to rip the armrests off your chair. Armrests are horrible if you have RSI. Same goes for wristrests. Your arms and wrists should float.
  • Learn how to roll up on your sit bones, so your back and neck are held straight without effort. Learning how to sit correctly helps a lot. You shouldn’t be slouching, but you don’t need to use muscle to correct bad posture. You shouldn’t be leaning on the back of the chair while you type.
    
• General keyboard advice:
  
  • Do *not* use a laptop keyboard. A laptop is not ergonomic. Here is a test: Try using an external keyboard on a well-adjusted keyboard tray. Did your wrists hurt less than when using the laptop? If so, your laptop keyboard is hurting you. Stop using it.
  • Ergonomic split keyboards are good.
  • Zero force multitouch keyboards like the TouchStream are great, but no longer on the market. They use gestures to reduce pinky-reaches and other kinds of hand stretching, which is a huge win. They cost a lot on eBay.
    
• General pointing device advice:
  
  • Stop using your laptop touchpad. At the very least, carry a bluetooth mouse with you.
  • Move your mouse to the to other side. If most your RSI is in your right hand, and you mouse with your right hand, move the mouse to the left side.
  • Try replacing the mouse with a trackball or a vertical mouse.
  • Replace the mouse with a Wacom tablet. Holding a stylus or pen is much more ergonomic than a mouse.
  • Try keeping a Wacom tablet on one side and a mouse on the other. Lots of different input methods = good.
    
• General handwriting recognition advice
  
  • It helps supplement typing.
  • It’s hard to write code using handwriting reconition, but not so hard to write emails.
  • Easy to get started: built into OS X and tablet PCs. Wacom 4×5 tables are $80 or less.
    
• General voice recognition advice
  
  • Not for programmers
  • It moves RSI from your wrists to your throat.
  • It is hard to problem-solve and speak at the same time.
  • Give it a try if everything else fails.
    
• Update: Advice on choosing a keyboard
  
  • Overuse of your pinky fingers can aggravate your RSI. Keyboards such as the Kinesis Contoured move modifier keys to your thumbs, which helps reduce pinky usage.
  • Gesture keyboards like the Touchstream are even better at reducing pinky reaches, but difficult to find and have a longer learning curve.
    
    • Backspace, Delete, Enter, Space relocated to thumb keys.
    • Modifier Key gestures for Shift, Command, Control, Option/Alt.
    • Editing and Navigation gestures reduce stretching your hand to hit modifier+letter combos.
    • Programmers’ keypad (simlar to numlock keypad) reduces pinky reaches for symbols.
      
  • At the very least, re-map your primary modifier key to be a thumb modifier, instead of a pinky modifier. The command key on a standard macintosh keyboard is a thumb modifier; the control key on a standard pc keyboard is a pinky modifier. Pinky reaches = bad for RSI.
    

OK, who has more advice?

Filed under: medicine, support | 3 Comments
Tagged: multitouch

I went to a nutrition workshop last night expecting an extremely boring and yet slightly motivating remix of the food pyramid for athletes.

Instead I was blown away by a rapid fire how-to-fuel-your-body talk by Dr. Clyde Wilson, and left with that feeling of “living in the bay area totally rocks.”

Clyde is one of those of those OCD professors that is crazy smart, loves teaching and optimizes every minute of his life to making the world a better place while at the same time having as much fun as possible. In philosophical terms, if there is such a thing as “The California School”, Clyde is headmaster. After high school he spent 6 years in the navy as the “supervisor for reactor chemistry and radiation control” aboard USS Carl Vinson in Alameda. His Standford PhD thesis was “Biochemistry in Single Cells Using Microfluidic Systems.” He is now teaching courses on clinical and popular nutrition at Standord and UCSF, and he is Director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the Sports Medicine Institute in Palo Alto.

Reading Clyde’s website, which I highly recommend, is a deluge of facts and figures about why and how we should eat and how to make it simple. It is ironic that by following his obsessive regime you actually become less obsessive about reading labels, the right thing just happens automatically. And Clyde jokes that he loves pineapple juice and root beer floats, being healthy doesn’t mean not having fun.

Pinapple Juice!!!!

This guy is one of us …. so check out his

• Vision Statement
• Excellent FAQ on Sports Nutrition
• Crazy Helpful Downloads Page
• Seminar Calendar

Link to Dr Clyde Wilson’s Website

Filed under: bay area, cycling, food, medicine | 4 Comments

Hard ‘n Phirm, the guys that made the awesome Pi video, have another awesome video for El Corazón, which is an anatomically-correct love song. (via bb)

Filed under: medicine, video | 1 Comment
Tagged: wtf???

We just got back from a trip to New Delhi. Here is some medical advice that you might find useful:

• Before our trip, we went to the CPMC travel clinic and met with a travel nurse ($25 consultation fee for two of us). We got the vaccinations and prescriptions, which were expensive. Vaccinations are cheaper at the SF Department of Public Health Travel clinic, but it takes a while to get an appointment. CPMC has a 30% discount on vaccinations if you have insurance, even if your insurance doesn’t cover the vaccinations!
• We made sure we were current on the recommended vaccinations: Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Rabies, Typhoid, Tetanus, and Polio. If you are going to rural areas, you might need more. Here are the CDC recommendations.
• We got Malarone for Malaria (very expensive). I don’t know why this was recommended for us. It was January, and we didn’t get any mosquito bites in New Delhi. We also didn’t use a Mosqui-Go plug-in electric vaporizer. I think I saw one mosquito while I was there, and Malaria was definitely not a concern in the New Delhi winter.
• We got a prescription for Cipro, in case we got a bacterial infection that causes traveler’s diarrhea. It’s smart to have this prescription filled before you go, and fortunately we didn’t need it. Those of you with tendonitis should note that Cipro has a minor risk of tendon ruptures in some people, and there is other medicine that you can take.
• Although we had medicine for a bacterial infection, we didn’t have anything for a viral infection. If you get sick and are vomiting, it may be a viral, not bacterial infection, and Cipro may not help. One of us had to deal with a short-lived but violent attack of viral gastroenteritis. Fortunately we were traveling with a doctor. Compazine will help deal with ‘intractable vomiting’ if you are sick and need to ride in a car or get on a plane. It is available from Indian pharmacies under the generic name Prochlorperazine. I would recommend asking your doctor/travel nurse about this before you go to India!
• Everyone tells you to drink only boiled water, but all the houses we went to had one of these Aquaguard water filters. I always drank filtered water and never got sick. I don’t know why guide books and travel clinics don’t tell you about these filters.
  
• Costco is the cheapest place in SF to get your prescriptions filled, and you don’t need to be a Costco member to use their pharmacy.

That’s all the advice I have.. maybe bob has some more!

Bob says:
- when traveling abroad, big cities often do not have the same malaria risk as rural areas. for example, if one were traveling to Bangkok and not leaving the city, malaria prophylaxis may not be necessary. It would certainly be advisable if one were to explore the surrounding areas.
- if your insurance plan does not cover the expense for your medications, consider filling just enough to get you there, and buying the rest when you arrive. Of course, you should be sure you have easy access to a reliable pharmacy at your destination.
-travel safely!

Filed under: excursions, medicine | 8 Comments
Tagged: india

when a double espresso will do the trick. According to this study at the University of Georgia, caffeine cuts post-workout pain by nearly 50 percent. Also…

…a 2003 study led by UGA professor Patrick O’Connor found that caffeine reduces thigh pain during moderate-intensity cycling. O’Connor, who along with professors Kevin McCully and the late Gary Dudley co-authored the current study, explained that caffeine likely works by blocking the body’s receptors for adenosine, a chemical released in response to inflammation.

The recent study was only conducted on women so they’re not sure if it works on men just yet and apparently it doesn’t quite work on people who already consume lots of caffeine on a regular basis since they’ve likely developed decreased sensitivity to its effects. Still, I’m going to make sure I have a latte before hitting the slopes this winter! (although I’m still going to keep the vicodin in my pocket)

(via collision detection)

Filed under: medicine, support | 2 Comments

This looks like something rajbot might be interested in :-)

December’s San Francisco NetSquared Meetup will feature Richard Cave, IT Director, and Barbara Cohen, Executive Editor, of PLoS (Public Library of Science).

PLoS is a nonprofit organization of scientists and physicians committed to making the world’s scientific and medical literature a freely available public resource. PLoS is helping to shape the global open access movement–which includes scientists, funders, publishers, librarians, patient advocacy groups, lawmakers, and many others.

Where:
Citizen Space

1. 300, 425 Second Street
   

When
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

More info

Filed under: medicine, upcoming | 2 Comments
Tagged: library

Due to my general distaste for getting tasered, I have been avoiding the UCLA library. However, I found this odd calendar among their online collections. It was made by a chemical company 1899 and intended for physicians. Coincidentally, the dates match up with 2006. Here is the library’s description:

“The Antikamnia (”Opposed to Pain”) Chemical Company of St. Louis, Missouri produced several calendars (1897-1901) illiustrated with “Skeleton Sketches”–chromolithographed series based on watercolors by the local physician-artist Louis Crucius. The limited edition calendars were mailed to physicians who provided business cards or letterhead correspondence as evidence of their medical standing. Antikamnia was a proprietary product consisting of acetanalid (antifebrin) combined with sodium bicarbonate, citric acid and caffeine.
The Liebeskind Collection recently acquired a copy of the calendar for 1899, which matches 2006’s calendar day-for-day.”

Also, check out some more of their online medical exhibits here to learn about things like bloodletting, and be glad that today’s healthcare system is so much less absurd.

Filed under: bobslobster, books, medicine | 2 Comments
Tagged: LA

Nurz Saz, International Nurse of Mystery, sent word that they’ve launched a website for the Bed Nets for Kids project. The project works to reduce malaria infection rates in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The project is very efficient: a $5 donation provides a child in the DRC an insecticide-treated bed net that is good for five years. From the site:

Recent studies on bed net distribution show that freely distributed nets are not valued. However, the Bed Nets For Kids project is finding that 93% of our kids are using their net appropriately. We attribute this fact to the emotional and financial investment already made by the families with sick children. Follow up visits at home are proving that the free bed net and health education provided at the time of treatment is greatly valued by these families.

This is a great project, donations are tax-deductable, and they make $5 go a long way!

Filed under: inspiration, medicine | 2 Comments

Neato. Odeo allows you to embed audio players on your site with feeds of your favorite podcasts so I’ve created a new tikirobot page of shows I like listening to. The only annoying thing is that the player prefaces every podcast title with the name of the channel (which seems unnecessary and prevents me from seeing the specific title of a podcast) Maybe I will write them about that. (okay, I think I’ve fixed somewhat by changing the default width of the players from 400px to 600px.) They seem to be using this open source media player XSPF over here. Anyways, you guys should add shows that you like too :-)

Filed under: all talk, beats, medicine, science | 1 Comment
Tagged: podcasts

After riding my new bike a little bit I felt a teeny tiny bit of knee pain. It’s built up now to what I would call “moderate, chronic pain” and since that freaks me out I’m trying to learn more about it.

First off my bike seat was too low so I got that adjusted. Make sure your bike fits people! I haven’t ever paid attention to this kind of thing in the past (I just adjusted my bike myself until it “felt right”) but I guess it’s pretty important. Getting all the measurements right is pretty hard and reason enough to buy your bike at bike store with good service that knows how to do the fitting. I’ll be sure to get properly fitted for bikes in the future. A quick shout out to the Pacific Bicycle Super Store at 4th and Folsom in SF. They are awesome.

Then there is the actual pain itself. I find the medical system to be phenominally unhelpful for these kinds of problems. If I say “my knee kinda hurts all the time.” I find I rarely get resolution. It’s a major problem though….even though my body is 99.99% functional my day to day life is about 75% OK and 25% Sucky. For example, a couple months ago I exacerbated my tendonitis for a Slide release and I was suprised at how depressing it was to have that constant, gnawing forearm pain….

I read a description of Iliotibial Band Syndrome and it sounds pretty familiar:

The symptoms of ITB syndrome commonly begin with pain over the outside of the knee, just above the knee joint. Tenderness in this area is usually worse after activity. As the bursitis grows worse, pain may radiate up the side of the thigh and down the side of the leg. Patients sometimes report a snapping or popping sensation on the outside of the knee.

I feel that snapping and popping sensation :-(

But I could also have Runners Knee.

The resident triathlete at work says I should ice it. I’m also taking ibuprofen, staying of the bike, trying to minimize walking and standing, and thinking about doing some quadriceps exercises at the gym. I’m sure I will be better in a few days but just a little reminder to stay healthy!

Link to IBS page at Montana Spine Center.

Filed under: all talk, cycling, medicine | 3 Comments

These Cube World guys remind me of Bitman, the Japanese dancing guy on a pic chip. Now you can have a whole neighborhood of them, but with an LCD screen. Connect the cubes together and the virtual neighbors play and hang out together…

Link to a Cube World Purchase Point.

Filed under: medicine, tronix | 1 Comment

It’s good to see the Germans working towards the greater good. Dig on Napshell, the latest in power-napping technology. I like Janine Anderson’s rationale here:

Since they’re designed for outside use, you’ll soon see these cool mobile beds at your favorite park, nightclub or hotel. But you might want to pick one up for yourself as well because — well, do you really need a reason?

Features include ergonomic matresses and Dolby Surround. Hopefully the Make people will pimp these out with knobby tires and solar powered motors.

Link to Napshell (english version).

Filed under: all talk, medicine, science, support, tiki lifestyle | 2 Comments
Tagged: ninja

here’sa nifty site that teaches you to examine a heart. Use the tutorial to look at some anatomy, or test yourself with the quiz! Just in case you were wondering what your doctor is listening for..

Filed under: medicine, science | 2 Comments