Down the Rabbit Hole

My wife's seizures follow a mysterious internal clock, one governed by its own rhythms that on of their face don't seem to follow any we are familiar with. It has been obvious to us for years now that her seizures are brought by hormonal changes. However, they do not occur on a monthly cycle. Instead, the clock strikes about every six weeks.

We know in general now when they are about the happen. Still, when the alarm sounds, that first moment when the switch clicks somewhere deep in her brain, its always the same. Its always a surprise and its always terrifying. I am much more calm and able to handle the moments that follow. We have a pretty good system and a miracle medicine (Diastat) that clamps down on the seizures and has saved us for many harrowing emergency room visits. Still, I never get used to the start of it.

Tonight, we were watching the Red Wings game and she fell asleep. A few moments later, I sensed something change. I turned to her and eyes were wide open, her pupils blazing. Everytime, it slowly dawns on me. "What?" at first and then "Oh, s***". Down the rabbit hole and more missing time between us. She will be gone for a few days and not quite herself.

One of my favorite sayings is "Wherever you go, there you are." Right now, she's not there. Her body is here, but she is somewhere else. I can't wait for her to come back, to have her with me until the alarm sounds again.

Hand Drying: The New Frontier

According to the Center for Disease Control, if you do not practice proper hand drying, you might as well not wash your hands:

Wet hands have been know to transfer pathogens much more readily than dry hands or hands not washed at all. The residual moisture determines the level of
bacterial and viral transfer following hand washing. Careful hand drying
is a critical factor for bacterial transfer to skin, food and environmental
surfaces.

However, while hand drying seems like a simple task, drying with a towel or paper wipes never seems to do the trick. In addition, paper wipes are extremely wasteful and easily add up to mess in public bathrooms. Drying is the Achilles Heel of hand hygiene and I don't think people realize the importance of it. To improve hygiene, the key will be to take the work and time out of it. But, I think we're winning the war on hand drying.

That's why I flipping out about the revolution in drying technology. The first major leap forward that I came in contact with is the Xlerator, which packs air speeds which make your skin ripple and is a vast improvement over the slow and tedious hand dryer. I've encountered these in a few places, but you may find one at a Target store.

The Xlerator has been eclipsed though. During a weekend trip to the movies, I came in contact with the perfect hand dryer: The Dyson Airblade. The unique, simple, and fascinating design features the high air speeds, but also dries both sides of you hand at once. It is simply an amazing and so utterly simple a concept. But, if these catch on, the Airblade could save lives.

Wired goes Nuclear

Wired highlights the upside of Nuclear Power. Check out the link to the map showing carbon emissions. I wish Michigan was brighter. Also, this book by Gwyneth Cravens appears to a very intriguing survey of the subject. Cravens is a former nuclear opponent who was convinced that it is a better option than global warming. Cravens tells her story at this Long Now seminar.

Free Speech Alert: Don't Throw "Cult" Around Loosely

Great Britain has taken an aggressive approach to limiting speech critical of religion. The Instapundit provides a fresh example. Freedom of religion is fine, but not at the expense of freedom of speech. Let's pray that this sort of thing does not happen here.

An Amazing Album

In Rainbows: I've listened to it probably ten times in the last few days. A very different vibe for them, but a very rewarding listen. From Nude until the end of the album every song is amazing. Currently, my favorite song is House of Cards, a sparse but spacious song that has a ghostly keyboard refrain near the end of the song that makes it feel likes an 80's song. Also, check out this All Songs Considered episode with Thom Yorke, who was very humble and had an intriguing playlist.

Crisis in China and Myanmar

I think the prayers of the junta in Myanmar were answered when the earthquake in China occurred. It has taken an immense amount of pressure off the foul leadership in Burma, especially from the Western media. Today, I think Myanmar fell off the news cycle. On NBC Nightly News, the lead story was China, but the second story was... West Virginia? Also, China got five minutes. Five minutes, while seconds were wasted on Clinton and Obama running into each other on the Senate floor This is pathetic. Hurricane Katrina was an undeniable and unfortunate tragedy. However, it was covered as if it were a catastrophe which exceeded the scale of either China and Myanmar. Much of the coverage involved negative attacks on the government response and over-reports of deaths and unrest.

In Myanmar, one of the major impediments to better coverage may be the refusal of the government to allow reporters. It seems that major television news is unable to figure a way to attack the story from the outside.

The reporting in China would also probably be significantly less impactful without the serendipity of National Public Radio's Robert Siegal and Melissa Block already being in China for a planned series of stories on the country next week. They have filed harrowing reports of the destruction and provided perspective for many other news agencies. Tuesday afternoon's All Things Considered included far and away the most comprehensive coverage of the story.

One thing I have been wondering about is how serious China has been about building codes. This article from NPR claims that China has building codes in place to protect against such a disaster. A structural engineer anticipates that most of the buildings that suffered catastrophic damage were older buildings. More coverage on NPR's Chengdu Diary.

Creme de la Commentary

I'm a podcasting fiend. Good ones are hard to find and easy to exhaust. I love a good conference podcast, a speakers series, or the Sports Guy's seminal BS Report. Lately, I've received immense enjoyment for Ronald D. Moore's Battlestar Galactica Podcasts. For him, recording the podcasts seems to be a labor of love rather than a chore. I especially enjoy the podcasts accompanied by his wife as well as the inside the business tangents they sometimes veer off into.

The ultimate podcast from the series is a three-hour with his wife and some of the cast members recorded during season three. The back-and-forth is engrossing. Its a conversation I could have listened to for another three hours and I think they could gone for much longer also (although the Scotch may have eventually caught up with them.)