Category Archives: Humor

Wired article on a 1982 artificial heart

Wired has an article today on the first use of an artificial heart back in 1982. The patient survived for 112 days – pretty remarkable. I wonder if he felt any unnatural urges toward appliances… robot love, as it were. I doubt it. It sounds like it was a pretty miserable 112 days. I suspect that subtle emotional changes toward toasters… or uncomfortable fantasies about R2-D2… were secondary concerns.

Despite the derision with which the heart’s mystical associations have been dismissed, it’s a rather complex organ with a great many feedback mechanisms to keep it precisely regulated. We’ve come a long way in 30 years. In addition to thinking in terms of an improved plastic pump, there is a lot of thought going into manipulating stem cells to make new hearts from meat, the way nature intended.

-Peter

In Brief: Ze Frank, humorist, making Video Essays on Time.com

Ze Frank is doing videos on Time.com. I’m a fan of Mr. Frank from years ago when he was doing The Show. In the same spirit, he’s doing 3 minute videos at Time.com.

The one that is most salient for The Big Upshot is his little introduction to the Healthcare Debate, which I think sums up a lot of the absurdity. Have a look, you’ll get a chuckle, I think.

Ze Frank on the Healthcare “Debate”

Cheers,
Peter

Correlation and causation: meditations on violence

XKCD looks at causation and correlation

With XKCD’s comic firmly in mind, I considered the news today. Constance Holden with the ScienceNOW Daily News over at Science Magazine drew my attention to an article linking violence to childhood sugar consumption. The telling quote is this:

Although lower education levels correlated with daily sweet-eating, the connection with violence remained significant even when the researchers controlled for factors such as family circumstances, parental attitudes, and IQ. “Try as I did, I couldn’t get rid of the sweets-violence connection,” says Morris.

So… it may be that highly sugared children (sugartots?) are made more violent by sugar… or it could be that violent people are drawn to sugar as children… the candy manufacturers may be drugging children to reduce their impulse control… or kids whose without parents failed to help them learn impulse control lack impulse control in adulthood… it’s all very complicated.

-Peter

On Long Drinks, Cravings, Moving

I went looking for the recipe for a tequila sunrise (International Bartenders Association standard: grenadine, orange juice, tequila) when I discovered the term “long drink,” the class of beverage to which the aforementioned Tequila Sunrise belongs. A long drink is usually served in a highball glass.

This led to the Finnish Long Drink (Thanks Wikipedia!) which is gin and, most commonly, grapefruit soda. I have not seen grapefruit soda in a store since I wore short pants. Now I crave the stuff and wish to mix it with spirits. A quest may be in order. (Edit: Alert Reader Robert informed me that Squirt is a name brand of grapefruit soda! This quest will be a success!)

For tonight, it will be Bushmills Malt, 10 year, neat. I’m moving in a month (or so) and I intend not to move bottles. When I arrive in Texas, I shall skype all of my local grocers and determine the closest establishment where a man may procure grapefruit soda.

-Peter

P.S. From Wikipedia: “In Finland, the term “long drink” or lonkero (which also means “tentacle“) refers exclusively to a mixed drink made from gin and, most commonly, grapefruit soda. Originally developed for the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, as of 2007 the Hartwall Original Gin Long Drink remains the most popular single product sold by Finnish state monopoly Alko, outselling even Koskenkorva, the most popular Finnish spirit.”

The Revolution Will (or Will Not) be…

I’ll get to some thoughts on the 7 Habits next week. Suffice it to say that I don’t hold to the Jester’s cynical assessment of the book. The principles in that book are fundamentally decent, the kind of truths that can change a person’s life. I’ll admit that some of the more hokey suggestions in there have not worked out particularly well for me. For the most part, though, Covey did a great job in presenting empowering material to a wide audience.

On an unrelated note,
I have heard the phrase “The Revolution will not be Televised” – it gets bandied about from to time. Removing the entries for “televised”, here are some amusing google search samples of peoples’ opinions on “The Revolution,” a collection of mutant memes.

(out of 185,000), The Revolution Will Be…
Downloaded, fictionalized, mobilized, Wikified, Digitized, blogged, Photocopied, Syndicated, Caramelized, Streaming, Litigated, Personalized, Twittered, Digitized, localized, Prosthetized

(out of a close second place at 135,000) The Revolution Will Not Be…
Socialized, Microwaved, Designed, Funded, Destabilized, Motorized, Advertised, pasteurized, Bolshevised, American, Invoiced, Podcast, T-SHIRTED, Theorized, YouTubed

My contribution: The Revolution will be poorly defined.

-Peter