What is the newest installment of 'Random Thoughts' on Physics Forums?

[BillTre]

I just remembered why I know so little about biology... It's gross, revolting. Why does it have to be so graphic? What's the big idea?

I feel I'm going to be sick. You don't want to see what I just saw. That's... I don't think I could ever get a degree on biology. Whatever you do, don't google frog dissection. Or dissection for all that matters. I'm... I'm just going to lay in the floor for a while. Don't mind me.

The grossness is something you can easily get used to.

Biology, itself, is the most intriguing of subject, very complex, yet still very approachable experimentally (including using a lot of physics).
Seeing anatomy is a, to me, is a expression of amazingness of biological phenomena (which extends from the atomic scale to the global scale) and the natural world in general.
It is also placed between physics and the less easily studied, but interesting, world of psychology.

I got over the grossness of it in grade school (biology class).
Now in my oldish age I do recoveries for an eyebank.
The actual recoveries are pretty fun for me (I am actually really good at dissecting things- got the Golden Scissors Award in neurophysiology class!).
The body exams for signs of disease can be kind of gross: blood, poop, puke, pee, feces), but since I have been doing this for more than a year and seen things like gunshot and car crash victims, do not much fazes me now.
I would suppose @berkeman has similar experiences.

 

[berkeman]

seen things like gunshot and car crash victims, do not much fazes me now.
I would suppose @berkeman has similar experiences.

I was lucky -- In my early emergency response training, "moulage" was used extensively. Moulage is makeup that looks like very realistic injuries. I don't want to gross out @Psinter so I won't go into a lot of detail about all of the different moulage variations that I've seen, but the big advantage of that kind of training is when you see it in a training situation you know it's fake (no matter how realistic it looks), which helps to keep it from seeming too gruesome in the training. And then when you see the same kinds of injuries in real life, you basically say to yourself, "I've seen that before", which keeps it from being a distraction or seeming gruesome. You just go straight to treating it without spending much time being distracted by the injury's appearance.

One of the most amazing pieces of moulage I've ever dealt with in training was at a mass casualty training event where a bomb had gone off in a crowd at a large political gathering on a high school football field. The shift I was on was in the middle of the night, and as my team and I worked our way through the field of victims (performing "triage", which is tagging the victims with their severity level so we can prioritize transport), I came upon a semi-conscious man with blast injuries, and no lower left leg. I thought to myself, "Boy that is amazing moulage! What did they do, bury his lower leg in the ground and make it up to look like it has been blown off?!" Turns out the actor/victim is a retired Army veteran who lost his lower leg in Afghanistan a few years ago, and he volunteers at these training events to act (very realistically!) like his leg was just blown off there in the scenario. Kudos to him, amazing realism!

 

[Psinter]

Now in my oldish age I do recoveries for an eyebank.

Wait, what? No. I am so not going to google what that is.

Spoiler: Nope

 

[BillTre]

Wait, what? No. I am so not going to google what that is.

Spoiler: Nope

View attachment 223014

I take out corneas and sometimes whole eyeballs (only from dead people).
They are used in transplants for people with eye problems.

 

[berkeman]

I do recoveries for an eyebank.

Wait, what? No. I am so not going to google what that is.

He misspelled it. He's a Repo Man for the iBank, a division of Apple that does loans for self-driving smart bicycles.

 

[strangerep]

I feel I'm going to be sick. [...]

Hmm, that probably rules out a career in most forms of medicine. And don't visit an abattoir, or even a farm.

 

[Psinter]

I take out corneas and sometimes whole eyeballs (only from dead people).
They are used in transplants for people with eye problems.

I did not want to hear that. Where's the 'nope' button? 1 person 'noped' this post. Because of reasons.

He misspelled it. He's a Repo Man for the iBank, a division of Apple that does loans for self-driving smart bicycles.

Makes sense now.

 

[Ibix]

I take out corneas and sometimes whole eyeballs (only from dead people).
They are used in transplants for people with eye problems.

Wait - so if I got a corneal transplant I could say "I see with dead people"?

 

[Borg]

Wait - so if I got a corneal transplant I could say "I see with dead people"?

As long as you don't see like dead people.

 

[pinball1970]

Why does it have to be so graphic?

We have to thank the morbid curiosity of the guys who wanted to see how the human body was made and functioned.
The basis of medicine pathology anatomy physiology

Da Vinci is a good example, he supposedly did dissections to improve his art but I bet he was curious about what muscles tendons etc really were made up and worked.

His studio probably did not smell very nice given 16th C cleaning and sterilizing methods

 

[fresh_42]

Wait - so if I got a corneal transplant I could say "I see with dead people"?

Even worse: By a very massive coronal mass ejection many of us will become a client for the coroner.

... duck and cover ...

 

[WWGD]

Bill is the dead people's ICU .

 

[WWGD]

I need to lose 10 pounds. I will shape up Ipso Fatso.

 

[fresh_42]

I need to lose 10 pounds.

Easy. Have a trip to UK. You'll lose probably more than ten though.

 

[WWGD]

Easy. Have a trip to UK. You'll lose probably more than ten though.

Ah, I forgot they never adopted the Euro, right? Sterling all the way, I guess.

 

[Dale]

Hmm @fresh_42 are you talking about the cost of English cuisine or its palatability?

 

[fresh_42]

Ah, I forgot they never adopted the Euro, right? Sterling all the way, I guess.

I moved them. I thought this would be better as Jim had a serious request that shouldn't have gotten drowned.

Hmm @fresh_42 are you talking about the cost of English cuisine or its palatability?

I know we have British members, so I better do not say something about the English cuisine. Let me state some facts instead: The Scottish fry Mars bars in a form of tempura and in England you'll find a lot of good Indian restaurants.

 

[WWGD]

I moved them. .

Wow, that's like 64 million people. You must be pretty strong. Still, just because they don't use the Euro? Wow!

 

[StoneTemplePython]

If you're worried about losing pounds, visit Pret for lunch.

Come to think of it, there's a bunch of Pret's in New York, too. I miss them.

 

[Ibix]

There is a school of thought that the best British food is actually foreign. The corollary is that our empire was the largest food run in history, with the most gunships.

 

[pinball1970]

There is a school of thought that the best British food is actually foreign. The corollary is that our empire was the largest food run in history, with the most gunships.

We have a concentration of takeaway places in the cities. Indian Chinese Pizza and Turkish (Kebabs, burgers) and some American chains some very unhealthy stuff

Traditional "English" food is something of a novelty you get it in Pubs rather than restaurants, watered down versions.

 

[WWGD]

If you're worried about losing pounds, visit Pret for lunch.

Come to think of it, there's a bunch of Pret's in New York, too. I miss them.

Thanks, Spring will take care of it; will cut down on the rich foods needed to stay warm + sitting all day when temperature is too cold to go for a quick walk. It is just some 10lbs after all, just " Winter weight".

 

[Psinter]

In my dream, it was my SO's birthday. So I bought all the tickets for a movie so the two of us could watch it alone. Just keeping each other's company.

I heard in the US, movie the tickets are expensive. But where I live they are rather cheap. You could buy the whole session for about $1500.

Does it makes sense? I don't know. But who's to say dreams make sense. The point wasn't the money, the point was to spend some time with each other.

What other ways of spending time alone could there be?

 

[Psinter]

A good way to start a conversation with someone would be:

"...but... have you tried garlic bread?"



Garlic bread is the best. I can't tell you how much satisfaction I get when I eat it together with grilled chicken thigh kebabs. Although I don't use all the extra ingredients they use in that article or even marinate it. I go plain and it still tastes awesome. And if you combine it with rice you will have not only a full stomach, but full satisfaction. Garlic bread gives that touch that will make you say: "Best lunch ever."

 

[nuuskur]

I have risen from my grave. Hast Riemann's great conjecture been proved?

 

[Ibix]

Argh! If I say I've got a ten pound note and two five pound notes everyone agrees I've got twenty pounds. As soon as I write 1×10+2×5 there's always someone who thinks I have 60 and operator priority is a ridiculous conspiracy by moustache-twirling mathematicians to make their life difficult.

I have risen from my grave.

Welcome back. Saw you on another thread and thought I hadn't seen you in a while.

Hast Riemann's great conjecture been proved?

No. Maybe the operator ordering is wrong.

 

[Borg]

Somebody is taking April Fools just a little too far. Please tell me the European Model is wrong. 18 inches of snow in APRIL?!?

https://weather.us/model-charts/euro/virginia/snow-depth-in/20180408-0300z.html

 

[fresh_42]

Somebody is taking April Fools just a little too far. Please tell me the European Model is wrong. 18 inches of snow in APRIL?!?

Not sure which weather model they use, but my local European forecast page says something about 20°C in DC.

 

[Borg]

Not sure which weather model they use, but my local European forecast page says something about 20°C in DC.

The picture above is using the European Model (see selections on left). It is supposed to be 65 F on Friday followed by snow on Saturday.

 

[fresh_42]

The picture above is using the European Model (see selections on left). It is supposed to be 65 F on Friday followed by snow on Saturday.

They forecast a temperature drop to 7°C / 45°F on Sat 4/7 for DC and 25 l/sqrm up to 33 l/sqrm precipitation. Still too warm but a lot of rain. And in case it falls as snow before it will melt, but they say rain ...