Thursday, December 24, 2009 |
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Merry Christmas! |
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By Diana Hsieh @ 8:00 AM   
Onkar Ghate published an excellent essay on the joy of Christmas in US News and World Report. It begins:
I'm an atheist, and I love Christmas. If you think that's a contradiction, think again.
Do you remember as a child composing wish lists of things you genuinely valued, thought you deserved, and knew would bring you pleasure? Do you remember eagerly awaiting the arrival of Christmas morning and the new bike, book, or chemistry set you were hoping for? That childhood feeling captures the spirit of Christmas and explains why so many of us look forward to the season each year. That joyful spirit of Christmas, Ghate argues, is part and parcel of a commercial Christmas. It's nowhere to be found in a truly Christian Christmas.
As someone who felt rather overwhelmed this holiday season, I appreciated Ghate's explicit rejection of the all-too-common duty-based approach to Christmas toward the end of his essay:
It's not uncommon today to hear people say Christmas is their most stressful period. Pressed for time (and this year probably for money, too), they feel there are just too many lights to put up, meals to cook, and gifts to buy. Seeking something to blame, they blame the commercialism of the season. But there is no commandment, "Thou shall buy a present for everyone you know." This is the religious mentality of duty rearing its ugly head again. Do and buy only that which you can truly afford and enjoy; there are myriad ways to celebrate with loved ones without spending a cent. Take some time to enjoy a mug of hot cocoa while staring at the pretty lights and decorations on your Christmas tree. Enjoy time with beloved family members and friends. Reflect on your accomplishments for the year. Look forward to 2010. Most of all, take a deep breath and enjoy your holidays in the most selfish way you can!
Merry Christmas!Labels: Ethics, Fun
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Thursday, October 15, 2009 |
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Fun Puzzler from CarTalk |
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By Paul Hsieh @ 5:00 PM
Last week's "CarTalk Puzzler" was quite good, and I thought I'd share it with NoodleFood readers:How the Dispatcher Saved the Day
RAY: An old guy is driving home. It's late at night. He's be-bopping along the highway and he's some considerable distance from home. Suddenly, he feels himself having a heart attack. He says, "Oh my God. It's the big one." Thinking quickly, he takes the first available exit.
As luck would have it, he winds up in a residential neighborhood. It's very late at night. He pulls over to the side of the road behind some parked cars. He's fading fast, but he has the presence of mind to pull out his cell phone and call 911.
He says to the dispatcher, "I need help. I'm having a heart attack."
TOM: And she says, "Where are you?"
RAY: And the conversation goes something like this: "I don't know where I am."
"What exit did you take?"
"I don't remember."
"Were you going north or south or east?"
"I don't remember."
"Can you tell me what street you're on?"
"I'm in the middle of the block. I'm parked. I didn't see any street signs." She says,
TOM: "Boy, are you screwed!"
RAY: Not quite. She says, "Start blowing the horn. Someone will come out of the house."
No one comes out. She then asks him to do one more thing. Minutes later, an ambulance is on its way there and saves his life.
What did she ask him to do? By the way, I wasn't able to figure out the answer. I'll post the answer tomorrow.
As an aside, there are only three podcasts I regularly listen to:Diana's Rationally Selfish Radio
Leonard Peikoff
CarTalk Labels: Fun
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Monday, June 15, 2009 |
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OCON Closing Banquet |
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By Diana Hsieh @ 1:50 PM
In just a few weeks, Paul and I will be at OCON 2009 -- the summer conference of the Ayn Rand Institute -- in Boston. Back in January, I mentioned that Paul and I would be not attend the closing banquet, as we prefer to have a private dinner instead. Here's what I wrote:
As for the other events, Paul and I will be attending the opening banquet but not the closing banquet. We always go out to a fine dinner with friends instead of the closing banquet. We never much enjoy the random good-byes, the overly loud music, and the overpriced food of the closing banquet. Unfortunately, some of our usual friends will be otherwise occupied or absent from OCON. So, friends, if you'd be interested in dining with us on that July 11th, just drop me an e-mail sometime in the next few months. I'm going to be finalizing plans for this dinner this week, so if you'd like to join us, please do e-mail me in the next few days.Labels: Fun
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Friday, April 17, 2009 |
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Tweenbots |
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By Diana Hsieh @ 12:01 AM
Via Flibbertigibbet and The Crucible, I recently discovered the fabulous little experiment of the the tweenbots. Here's the basic idea, as described by its creator, Kacie Kinzer:
Tweenbots are human-dependent robots that navigate the city with the help of pedestrians they encounter. Rolling at a constant speed, in a straight line, Tweenbots have a destination displayed on a flag, and rely on people they meet to read this flag and to aim them in the right direction to reach their goal.
Given their extreme vulnerability, the vastness of city space, the dangers posed by traffic, suspicion of terrorism, and the possibility that no one would be interested in helping a lost little robot, I initially conceived the Tweenbots as disposable creatures which were more likely to struggle and die in the city than to reach their destination. Because I built them with minimal technology, I had no way of tracking the Tweenbot's progress, and so I set out on the first test with a video camera hidden in my purse. I placed the Tweenbot down on the sidewalk, and walked far enough away that I would not be observed as the Tweenbot--a smiling 10-inch tall cardboard missionary--bumped along towards his inevitable fate.
The results were unexpected. Over the course of the following months, throughout numerous missions, the Tweenbots were successful in rolling from their start point to their far-away destination assisted only by strangers. Every time the robot got caught under a park bench, ground futilely against a curb, or became trapped in a pothole, some passerby would always rescue it and send it toward its goal. Never once was a Tweenbot lost or damaged. Often, people would ignore the instructions to aim the Tweenbot in the "right" direction, if that direction meant sending the robot into a perilous situation. One man turned the robot back in the direction from which it had just come, saying out loud to the Tweenbot, "You can't go that way, it's toward the road." The actual robots are quite adorable, so I definitely recommend checking out the pictures on the web site.
Regarding the significance of the experiment, Kendall writes:
There is an idea that I've heard repeated at various times in my life, that there is not enough charitable feeling in naturally "self-centered" man to be of meaningful help to those in need. When I respond that there is ample benevolence in man, and in a capitalist society, ample surplus of productive resource (time, money, etc) that we should not make it a forced duty to be charitable, but rather allow man's natural benevolence to take its course, most people tell me that resources have to be aggregated and centrally directed to be effective. Kendall then observes that the tweenbot experiment shows the dismal view of man to be false. He's right.
I'd say something in addition, however. As Flibby's own hope to see a tweenbot illustrates, many people are eager for some fresh novelty in their lives. They want to experience interesting things outside the ordinary humdrum of their daily tasks. To a benevolent person, such experiences brighten the mood. They make a day particularly memorable and pleasant. They highlight the simple joys of being a human creature living in a hospitable world.
Many such experiences are mere happenstance -- yet a person can also seek them out for himself. He can visit places he's never seen, attend to the small features of his surroundings, and pause to consider bright spots therein. The happy little tweenbots offer much reward to people who do that. So to offer the tweenbots a little help in return seems like a very reasonable trade.Labels: Ethics, Fun, Psychology
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Wednesday, February 18, 2009 |
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X-Ray Answer |
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By Paul Hsieh @ 11:01 AM
The patient's heart has been removed!
He is a heart transplant patient about to receive his new heart, and of course the surgeons had to remove his old failing heart first. The film was taken after his native heart had been removed but before the transplanted new heart was placed. Again, here is the abnormal film and a comparison normal film.
Abnormal:
Normal:
When I've shown the abnormal film to medical students, they usually know that something is amiss, but they can't quite put their finger on what's wrong.
Many med students learning introductory radiology find it much harder to recognize the absence of a normal structure than to recognize the presence of an abnormal structure. Or as one of my former professors used to put it, "The hardest thing to see is something that isn't there."
This principle is not unique to medicine, of course. For instance, the "dog that didn't bark" (when it should have) was the key to a Sherlock Holmes mystery story.
And part of radiology residency training is to develop the appropriate mental checklists so that when one analyzing any radiology exam (ranging from a chest x-ray to a brain MRI scan), one is methodically looking both for "things that should be here but aren't" as well as "things that shouldn't be there but are".
A few comments on some secondary findings:
The lungs are "dirtier" than usual (i.e., with more white), because of fluid build-up from his prior congestive heart failure. There are also various life-support lines and tubes that project over different portions of his chest. The dark vertical stripe in the midline is the incision used to remove the heart.Labels: Fun, Health Care
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Wednesday, January 28, 2009 |
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MRI Case Answer |
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By Paul Hsieh @ 1:48 PM
Once again, here is the original image:
Here is a magnified view of the abnormality, at the front of the knee just below the patella (kneecap):
The patellar tendon is torn. It should be a smooth black stripe, as in the normal image:
The patellar tendon is normally very strong. In fact, you can feel how stout your own patellar tendon is by placing your finger just below your kneecap while your knee is extended, then gently bending your knee back and forth a few degrees (i.e., 2-3 inches).
Hence, patellar tendon ruptures are fairly rare sports injuries. Here's more information.
Some of the other guesses were reasonable. However, I only gave one image (out of over 100), so many of the other structures of the knee were not included. For instance, the cruciate ligaments were not fully included on this one image and they happenened to be intact. But one would have required seeing the full data set to know one way or another. There probably was also some hemorrhage in the skin and fat just anterior to (in front of) the patellar tendon tear.
If you enjoy these semi-regular radiology case presentations, please let me know. My practice is very busy, so it's easy for me to find and post interesting case examples to NoodleFood.Labels: Fun, Health Care
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Tuesday, January 06, 2009 |
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X-Ray Of The Day |
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By Paul Hsieh @ 12:30 AM
Today's x-ray case was one I read a few days ago at our Invision offices. The patient is a 59-year old man who complained of chest pain after he fell while horseback riding.
(The weather in Colorado has been pretty mild lately, so people are still doing horseback riding despite the fact that it's January. I went for a 4-mile run outside on New Year's Day in shorts and a t-shirt.)
Here is the patient's initial chest x-ray:
As usual, the patient's left side is on the right side of the image (marked with a "L" in the upper corner) and his right side on on the image left -- exactly as if he were facing the viewer in real life. The lungs are black. The heart is the white area in the middle.
So what's the abnormality? (Hint: The abnormality is on the patient's left side.) Keep scrolling down for the answer.
Here is a normal chest x-ray on a different 50-year old man for comparison:
Finally, we got a CT scan of the chest to better delineate the problem. Here is a matching reconstructed image lined up to correspond with the chest x-ray:
Based on this (and the other CT images), we made the diagnosis of a ruptured diaphragm on the left side.
The diaphragm normally separates the chest from the abdomen. Because his left hemi-diaphragm was torn, it allowed his stomach and a large part of his colon to slide upward into the chest cavity. This compressed most of his left lung and pushed his heart far out of position to the right side, in turn causing additional partial compression of the normal right lung.
Fortunately, the patient was still breathing well with just his partially functioning right lung. A small portion of his left lung was still inflated. But because the left hemi-diaphragm wasn't working, very little air was moving in and out of the left lung.
The family practice doctor seeing this patient was just as surprised as we were. But she got him plugged in with a trauma surgeon right away, and the last I heard the patient was doing well.Labels: Fun, Health Care
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Friday, January 02, 2009 |
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Fantasy Playoffs |
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By Diana Hsieh @ 7:47 PM
Woo Hoo! NFL Playoffs begin tomorrow!
I decided not to do any regular season fantasy football this year, but I can't resist a very bit at the end, so Paul and I will both be doing the NFL's Playoff Challenge 2008. Here's how it works, in brief:
- It's free and easy to play
- Create a team of 8 NFL players
- Collect the most Fantasy Points throughout the postseason
- Pick players whose teams will continue playing all the way to the Super Bowl
You pick your eight players (without any kind of draft) before the first game, then you you can make eight roster changes throughout the rest of the playoffs.
I've set up the "John Galt League." If you'd like to join it, try this link. If that doesn't work, send me an e-mail.
Also, if you want to know why Peyton Manning became the MVP of the league -- and why his Colts had such a rocky start and then a spectacular finish -- don't miss Peter King's write up. It begins about halfway down that first page, then goes on to the next page. It's mind-blowing.Labels: Fun, Sports
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Thursday, December 25, 2008 |
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Merry Christmas! |
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By Diana Hsieh @ 8:11 AM
Merry Christmas!
Here are two questions for you:
1. What do you like most about your Christmas this year?
2. What will you do differently next year to have an even better Christmas?
Personally, I'm most looking forward to our traditional Christmas dinner with some friends from 1FROG at the always-fantastic Opus Restaurant in Littleton.
Unfortunately, I won't be doing much else with my day. Paul left bright and early this morning to go to work; he'll be done around 3 pm. I'm slated to do a full measure of dissertation writing today, as chapter seven has taken me a bit longer than I supposed, albeit for the very good reason that I've had develop some major new ideas in it.
Next year, I plan to enjoy Christmas by having more of a Christmas. I'd like to put up some decorations, as well as do some holiday-inspired cooking. That will be possible because I'll be a doctor of philosophy, rather than a mere dissertating grunt of a graduate student!
Oh, and I almost forgot: Here's a truly delightful tale -- no kidding this time -- that I read for the first time just a few weeks ago: "Merry Gravmas" by James P. Hogan. It's a short short story, but quite memorable: I've found myself mulling over the prospect of such a rational future more than a few times since I first read it.
Hence, Merry Gravmas!Labels: Fiction, Fun
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Friday, November 28, 2008 |
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A Different Kind of Christmas Card |
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By Paul Hsieh @ 12:01 AM
Objectivist graphic designer John Powers has created these terrific "alternate Christmas cards":
From the website:Isaac Newton Christmas Cards
Celebrate reason and science on December 25th, instead of the same old bearded mystic!
I like to send Christmas cards, but as an atheist, I have had to limit myself to the hundreds of bland cards that neutrally say "Happy Holidays." I decided that if it's okay for (almost) everyone else to stamp, seal, and deliver their philosophy to me every Christmas, I'll do just the same.
Sir Isaac Newton's ideas helped to rescue mankind from drudgery and propel it into the space age. I am a lover of reason, and I love it unashamedly, and I want my friends to know it too. They will this Christmas. Yours can, too.
Details
Outside: "On December 25th, a Savior was born. He revealed eternal Truth, bringing Joy to millions. He astonished the world with His command over Nature. He changed history forever."
Inside: "Happy Birthday, Sir Isaac Newton. December 25, 1642 - March 20, 1726".
Web site and greeting card designs are copyright © 2008 John Powers. (John also did free web design for the FIRM site.)Labels: Atheism, Fun, Religion, Shameless Commerce Division
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Monday, October 27, 2008 |
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X-Ray Quiz Answer |
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By Paul Hsieh @ 12:41 AM
Here's the original x-ray:
This patient has a partially collapsed right lung, also known as a spontaneous pneumothorax.
If you look closely, you can see that the branching blood vessels that go from the heart to the lungs have a normal pattern on his left side, starting off wide and becoming getting finer and finer as they move away from the heart until they reach the edge of the lung (and are no longer discernible).
On the abnormal right side, those branching blood vessels stop abruptly at a sharp thin vertical line, indicated by the multiple arrows. This is the edge of the collapsed lung, now pulled inwards. Note that no blood vessels extend past that vertical line on the right side.
Here are a few diagrams that explain this abnormality. The first diagram shows a normal pair of fully-expanded lungs:
The second diagram shows a partially collapsed right lung, just as in this patient. You can see the empty space (or "pneumothorax") between the edge of the lung and the ribs:
The third diagram shows the proper treatment of a large pneumothorax -- a chest tube is placed through the skin and into the pneumothorax cavity. The end of the tube outside of the patient is then attached to a suction device which removes the dead air and allows the lung to re-expand. That's how this patient was treated:
Here's lots more information on spontaneous pneumothorax.
Thank you all for playing!Labels: Fun, Health Care
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Thursday, June 26, 2008 |
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Epic Weekend Ride |
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By Greg Perkins @ 8:09 PM
 Whew! I was still a bit depleted Monday, with my brain a little foggier than usual.
This past weekend, we decided to try out an annual mountain bike ride that veteran riders around us have been talking about: the Wild Rockies Boise-to-Idaho City Tour!
Here are the essential stats: we mountain biked about 90-95 miles over two days, climbing a total of about 14 thousand feet (maybe seven hours of riding each day). Tammy and I may be pretty solid riders, but we don't usually do those kinds of numbers -- my rear is still hurting!
We got to ride with about 100 people from around the valley, going from Boise to Idaho City (an old mining town) on Saturday, camping there overnight, and riding a different route back on Sunday. 
Extra cool was how the ride was hosted: they transported our camping gear, and there were lunch and a few "snack break" stops along the way, dinner at the destination -- oh, and there were showers at the high school in Idaho City! I'm pretty sure Tammy thought that improved things in the tent. :^)
Very satisfying to be able to hang with that kind of crowd! (And nice that there were no real injuries in such a large group.)Labels: Fun, Personal, Sports
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