medical

Bouncehausen Halloween Performance

At the Art Of Bleeding’s Halloween extravaganza held in Los Angeles this year, they will be hosting a rare live appearance by the enigmatic band/art-collective known as Bouncehausen. Their performance sounds like it is going to be both spectacular and horrific.

Bouncehausen will sonically recreate the exact moment of impact of a terrifying automobile crash, slow it down 300 million times and stretch it into one seven hour epic “song” that will take three days to play. If you are able to witness even a small part of this historic event you will have a much greater understanding of what it sounds like to exist on a molecular level as steel and glass twist and explode.

The collective is expected to sustain and revive themselves for the duration of the three-day performance through intubation. Yikes!

Death Coaster

Euthanasia Coaster

I love roller coasters but I don’t think the Euthanasia Coaster designed by artist Julijonas Urbonas is one I would ever ride – mostly because it is designed to kill its riders.

“Euthanasia Coaster” is a hypothetical euthanasia machine in the form of a roller coaster engineered to humanely – with elegance and euphoria – take the life of a human being. Riding the coaster’s track, the rider is subjected to a series of intensive motion elements that induce various unique experiences: from euphoria to thrill, and from tunnel vision to loss of consciousness, and, eventually, death. Thanks to the marriage of the advanced cross-disciplinary research in aeronautics/space medicine, mechanical engineering, material technologies and, of course, gravity, the fatal journey is made pleasing, elegant and meaningful. Celebrating the limits of the human body, this ‘kinetic sculpture’ is in fact the ultimate roller coaster

.
The coaster would have a 510 meter drop and get you to 10 G’s (gravitational force) in 60 seconds. I must admit, however, it does sound like a pleasurable death. Julijonas’s website has a detailed description of the effects that riding the Euthanasia Coaster would have on your body.

Euthanasia Coaster Detail

Cause of death: Cerebral hypoxia, a lack of oxygen supply to the brain. Additional effects: Greyout – a loss of color vision; Tunnel vision – a loss of peripheral vision; Blackout – a complete loss of vision; G-LOC – g-force induced Loss Of Consciousness).

Kissing Cooties

Just in time for valentines day, I discovered this interesting study. According to the Journal of Infectious Diseases, vol. 150, no. 2, August 1984, pp. 189-94, it is very unlikely you can catch a common cold from kissing. According to the journal, “Casual social encounters or kisses between infected and susceptible individuals are probably unlikely to result in the transmission of rhinoviruses.” Below is the data from the experiment

Bonus quote from the study: “During kissing the lateral margins of donor and recipient noses may also touch. [Our observations, as well as previous data] suggests that transmission resulting from nose-to-nose contact during kissing is infrequent….”

And The Winner Is….

After a very prolonged and heart-pounding week, the suspense is finally over. The much awaited results for the very ballyhooed cholesterol contest have finally arrived.

Before we get to the results, I would like to make a few thank-yous. First to my doctor, without whom the blood-work would never have been processed. I would also like to thank all the doctors who were involved in the process of discovering cholesterol and thus providing us with one more thing to worry about (not to mention discovering one more thing that can kill us). I can’t forget to thank my parents for providing me with the blood, and eggs for providing me with the cholesterol. Oh yeah, I’d also like to thank Jesus because somehow it seems necessary.

The contestants and their respective guesses follow:

  • Dave : 110
  • Laura : 250
  • Chevy : 125

    The processing of the entries was long and arduous but a definite winner was established. Thanks to everyone who participated. This contest was a raging success and the winner will be thusly awarded. So without further ado, here are the results:

  • Cholesterol Contest

    I used to think my old doctor was the greatest. Well she still is, as far as I know. However, she won’t be my doctor anymore. But that is only because she quit internal medicine and is now working with the elderly. So after she quit, I was reassigned a new doctor. And this is one of the major downfalls that I have run into with HMOs. They just assign you somebody. You have no idea who they are, and that can be a little scary when this is a person you are going to be discussing some very intimate details of your life and body with. And I really liked my old doctor. She took her time, explained things, even if they weren’t important. She thought of good questions and was always willing to answer mine. I even recommended her to a couple of friends who also found her to be a wonderful doctor.

    But today I went to go see my new “assigned” doctor for my yearly check up. And I have to say, he was great. He never rushed. He answered all my stupid questions (why do you guys always check my involuntary reflexes by tapping my knee with that rubber mallet? I mean if I can move voluntarily why check them?) And asked a lot of questions himself. So, I think I may have lucked out.

    Scroll to Top