Human being-being

2006-08-06T20:23:00.000-07:00

The World's Youngest Drummer

While standing only 31” tall and weighing in at 27 pounds, 16 month old Julian is certainly a star in the making. Playing the drums while sitting atop his father's lap since the age of three months, this rhythmic child could keep a steady beat while rolling around in his mother's womb! Since then, he has progressed to being able to perform drum rolls and actually plays syncopated beats. Too small for his feet to reach the bass drum or high hat pedals, he sits in his high chair playing dad's prized DW's. His favorite bands to rock to include, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Chicago, ToTo and Rush.

Recently, he has applied to the Guinness Book of World Records as “The World's Youngest Drummer”. At this point in his young career, he enjoys entertaining his family and friends, but is looking forward to beginning his stage career as the opening act for some local talent. Check back frequently to catch the latest news in Julian's young career…

Link

2006-07-25T20:54:00.000-07:00

7 Inventive Ways To Go To Sleep

Each night of your life it's the same routine: same boring bed, same boring pillow, same boring pattern of reducing alpha waves, generating theta waves, lowering EMG, entering delta sleep, and finally engaging in rapid eye movement. Aren't you sick of it?

Here are 7 Inventive Ways To Go To Sleep:

1. Chillow

We've all been there. We love the ‘cool' side of the pillow but as soon as we flip to it, all the coldness gets absorbed into our head and dissipates, leaving us to languish in a state of unreasonably warm pillowness until the other side cools down sufficiently. Until now, the only alternative was to build a multi-million dollar pillow-flipping robot who would lift your head off the pillow, flip the pillow, and lay you back down every 20 minutes or so, stopping only when he would need an oil change, which is every 2 hours.

But now the ‘Chillow' is here. Say goodbye to Flipbot 2000, say hello to cool, comfortable nights. The Chillow is a technological marvel on a magnitude of the combustion engine, or ESPN. Filled with a space-age blue gel, all you have to do is top it off with some water and the Chillow will do the rest. It's guaranteed to keep your head nice and cool all night long, and if your brain freezes and you die, they will return all your money, minus a 95% restocking fee. Thank you, Chillow!

2. Japanese Dream Machine

Tired of running away from Tommy Lee Jones for a crime you didn't commit every night? I know I am. Fortunately, the good people at Takara inc. have stepped up to the plate to make sure your dreams are nothing but sweet.

Called "Yumemi Kobo" which is Japanese for "dream workshop," the devise boasts the ability to influence the user's dreams. Armed to the teeth with an arsenal of speakers, a voice recorder, small lights, a picture frame, and even a fragrance dispenser, the Yumemi Kobo is designed to ‘determine' when you enter REM sleep (the stage of sleep at which dreaming occurs) and only activate accordingly.

So say you want to dream about, say, having a pirate adventure. You load up a picture of pirates cavorting about, you fill the fragrance dispenser with, what-rum? And you slowly drift off...only to be woken up by the smell of ocean funk, flashing strobe lights, and the pre-recorded sounds of clanging sword fighting. If you're at all able to get back to sleep, your dreams are almost certain to be those of being chased by a robot through a disco for music pirating.

3. Coffin Bed

Maybe you're a Goth who is into such things, maybe you think it would be interesting, and maybe you're just plan disturbing, but some people out there probably would enjoy the feeling of sleeping in a coffin. Thanks to the Casket Furniture company, the wait is over.

According to their site, this ‘long awaited' item can be yours for only a little over $4,000. While the rest of us suckers stretch out on queen-sized down mattresses, you'll be hunkered away, dreaming the dreams of angels, in a big wooden box that you can't roll over in and which might close on you and suffocate you to death. At least burial won't be a problem.

Disturbingly, their site also indicated ‘locks and latches' are available at an added price. Oh, thanks. How much to have it filled with flesh-eating bacteria, too?

4. Snore Backpack

Are you one of the 4 in 10 people in the United States who suffers from snoring? How often have you wondered when someone would invent a way to allow you to sleep silently while simultaneously looking like a massive dork wad?

Based on the scientific principle that you're 10% more likely to snore if you're sleeping on your back, the good people at some lame company or other got immediately to work and came up with Dr. Parker's Snore Relief Cusion.

Worn like a backpack, Dr. Parker's Snore Relief Cushion is basically just a foam pillow with rubber suspenders attached. Just sling the thing over your back and hope that your wife doesn't mind that you'll be going to bed looking like the bullies from shop class super glued part of a couch to you. Now, try to roll onto your back. You can't do it! Because there's a giant foam pillow preventing you. And if you're worried about safety concerns involving getting tangled up and choked to death by the rubber suspenders, rest assured that's only 60% likely to happen. Sure, the company likes to claim that the product is 100% safe, but can you really trust people who don't mind looking like this guy.

5. Stylin Sleep Mask

This isn't your grandma's sleep mask. You're an active young woman. You have responsibilities, places to go, people to see. You deserve a sleep mask that says "I'm unique! I designed my own sleep mask!"

Fortunately, you no longer have to be style-deprived while unconscious anymore. Now you can look your best for all the people who we can only assume must stare at you when you sleep, where they will no doubt be incredibly impressed with your amazing skills.

Complete with a piece of ‘self-adhesive' black felt, a hot glue gun, some satin, and a smorgasbord of decorations including ‘sequins' and ‘glittery puff paint,' you too can sleep like Liberace with the help of a Stylin' Sleep Mask from Familyfun.com. And what's more, designing the mask is only half the fun-the other half is wearing it! While you're asleep!

6. Floating Bed

Who hasn't dreamed of sleeping on a bed that floats in mid-air? I haven't, but I'm sure someone has. And in fact, someone did, or we wouldn't have the $1.5 million dollar magnetic floating bed.

Tethered down with 4 cables to prevent your bed from floating out and taking a spin on I-94, the bottom of the mattress is covered with enough magnets to keep almost 2,000 pounds floating in the air.

Though there would be no technical application of this bed other than to just look incredibly cool, I pledge it's the first thing I will buy as soon as I acquire either $1.5 million dollars or 1.5 million fridge magnets, whichever comes first. (via Gozmodo)

7. Sleep Analysis Doll

Sure, it seemed like you slept OK, but how will you know for sure? Short of talking to a horrifying sleep analysis doll, you'd have no way of knowing, which means it's a good thing that just such a doll is now available on the market.

With its 6 sensors and vocabulary of 1200 different sentences, the doll is capable of determining a user's sleep patterns and then badgering you when you don't stick to said sleeping patterns. So that night that you have insomnia because you're nervous about an important project at work will be made even more fun with a disturbing doll berating you for not being asleep. Good times. And a normal person would buy this why?

Link

2006-07-17T20:01:00.003-07:00

What is a Retinal Tear or Detachment?

What is the Retina?

The retina is the layer of neurosensory tissue that lines the back, inside wall of the eye. If
you imagine that your eye is like a camera, then the retina is the film. When rays of light
enter the eye and are focused on the retina by the cornea and lens, the retina reacts. The
light receptive nerve cells that comprise the retina generate a nerve impulse whenever
they are exposed to light. The retina then sends these nerve impulses along the optic
nerve to the brain which interprets them as a picture. It's rather like the film in the camera
being developed so that pictures can be viewed. However, just like a picture cannot be
developed if the camera has defective film, vision is not possible in an eye with a defective
retina.

What are Retinal Tears?

Posterior Vitreous Detachment (PVD)

The back cavity of the inner eye is filled with clear jelly called vitreous . When the vitreous
jelly undergoes the natural aging process it deteriorates and becomes liquid. As the
eyeball moves, small pockets of liquid vitreous can move around as well inside the
vitreous cavity. This movement causes the vitreous to pull on the retina, causing flashing
(photopsia)

Normally the jelly is only loosely adherent to the retina and easily peels away
from the retina during vitreous degeneration
(syneresis). This event is called a posterior vitreous
detachment (PVD) and again is a normal event
occurring in most people sometime between 50 and
70 years of age.

However, occasionally, the vitreous jelly is so
adherent to the retina and pulls so hard on it that it
creates a tear. If this tear is along a blood vessel of
the retina this may cause bleeding into the vitreous
(called a vitreous hemorrhage) which could lead to a
shower of floaters which cloud the vision. Acute
retinal tears with or without flashes and floaters pose
a risk because fluid can enter through the tear under
the retina and lift the retina off, causing a retinal
detachment, much like damp wallpaper peeling from the wall. Since PVDs are usually the
initiating event of most retinal detachments, this is why PVDs are such a concern.

Retinal "Horseshoe" Tear

Horseshoe tear with retinal vessel involvement

Retinal tears may be sealed with lasers or cryotherapy (a freezing treatment), or both, to
prevent retinal detachment. These treatments are usually painless and seal the retina to the
wall of the eye. Both of these procedures create a scar to seal the retina to the back of the
eye. This prevents fluid from traveling through the tear and under the retina, and is
thought to be helpful in preventing a retinal detachment.

What is a Retinal Detachment?

A retinal tear is considered so serious because the vitreous liquid may leak through the
tear, and pool under the retina. Gradually, the build up of liquid separates the retina from
the wall of the eye, a condition called a Rhegmatogenous Retinal Detachment ( a retinal
detachment associated with a hole or break in the retina). Retinal Detachments are a
separation of the retinal tissue from the inside wall of the eye. Similar to wallpaper coming
lose from a wall, the retinal tissue may develop folds or come completely away from its
proper position along the interior of the eye resulting in loss of vision.

Retinal Detachments

What are the symptoms of Retinal Tears and Detachments?
Retinal tears and detachments generally offer the following painless symptoms:

New Floaters: The presence of some floaters is common because the vitreous is not
completely transparent or uniform in consistency. However, a sudden increase in the
number and size of floaters perceived in your vision is a warning sign that a retinal tear
could be in progress.

Simulated Floaters

Simulated Flashes

Flashes: The sudden appearance of flashes in vision may indicate that the vitreous material
is pulling away from or tugging on the retina, which could be the first stage of a retinal
tear or detachment.

Shadow or curtain over vision: The onset of a growing, dark shadow or the appearance of
a curtain being pulled over a portion of the vision in one eye is an indication of a retinal
detachment. These symptoms usually occur in the peripheral (side) vision. The growing
shadow results from the increasing area of retinal tissue being pulled away from the back
wall of the eye and no longer able to react to light.

Decreased vision: Another common symptom of a retinal tear or detachment is a sudden
decrease in vision.

Many people experience flashes or floaters and these are not necessarily a cause for alarm.
However if they are severe and seem to be getting worse, and/or you are losing vision
then you should see an ophthalmologist immediately. An eye examination with dilated
pupils will allow the determination of the source of your symptoms, as well as a
recommendation for the appropriate treatment. Prompt treatment can often minimize the
damage to your eye.

What is the treatment for a Retinal Detachment?

Retinal Surgery
The detachment of the retina from the back wall of the eye causes it to be removed from its
blood supply and therefore its source of nutrition. An untreated detachment will cause the
retina to degenerate and lose its ability to function, permanently in some cases. Retinal
surgery though offers hope and the chances of successfully restoring vision are
dramatically improved when intervention occurs as soon as possible following the onset
of symptoms.

Very small detachments of the retina can be surrounded by laser treatment, just like retinal
tears, to help limit their spread. Large retinal detachments, however, need to be repaired
surgically. The two major surgical treatments for retinal detachment are scleral buckling -
where a sponge or length of silicon plastic is placed on the outside of the eye and sewn in
place (the scleral buckle is very small and not visible after surgery), pushing the sclera
toward the tear in the retina - and pneumatic retinopexy, a less severe treatment where the
surgeon injects a gas bubble inside the vitreous cavity. The bubble pushes the retina
against the wall of the eye, allowing the tear to seal against the eye wall.

Vitreous Surgery
If the retinal detachment is too severe for scleral buckling or pneumatic retinopexy,
surgery to reattach the retina may be necessary. Under general anesthetic, the surgeon
removes the vitreous entirely, replacing it with air or a fluid compatible with the eye. Over
time, the fluid (or air) is absorbed, and replace with the eye's own fluid. Lack of vitreous
does not affect the patient's vision.

The success of these surgical techniques depends upon several factors including the size
and location of the damaged area of the retina, the length of time that elapses between the
onset of the tear or detachment and the surgery to repair the damage, and whether or not
other complicating factors are present. Many persons who have undergone retinal
reattachment surgery regain all of their previous vision, while some regain only functional
vision. Even in these latter instances, the treatment is usually effective in preventing further
damage to the retina and more vision loss.

All of these surgical techniques are done microscopically. We want to reassure you that
your surgeon does not take your eye out of its socket to operate on it. This is simply
impossible.

Risk factors

These conditions may be caused by a number of factors ranging from a physiological
weakness of the retina to a positive family history. The risk of spontaneous retinal tears
and detachments increase as we grow older. Nearsighted individuals are at an increased
risk for retinal tears and detachments. Persons who have had cataract surgery or have
experienced a blow to the head or injury to the eye are also at risk for retinal tears or
detachments. If you have had a retinal detachment in one eye, you are at increased risk of
developing one in the other eye. But there is only about a one in ten chance of this
happening. Retinal detachments do not happen as a result of straining your eyes, bending
or heavy lifting. Retinal detachments in general are quite uncommon however and only
about one person in ten thousand is affected.

Prevention of a Retinal Detachment

If your family has a history of retinal detachment, or your doctor determines that you are at
risk, it is important that you be familiar with the signs and symptoms of this condition and
that you have regular and complete eye examinations.

Awareness of the symptoms of a PVD is the critical first step in preventing a retinal
detachment. If you have new symptoms of a PVD (floaters, flashes, shower of spots) it is
important to have a prompt and very thorough examination of the retina and its periphery
to search for any retinal tears. If a retinal break can be discovered before a retinal
detachment develops it can be treated with the laser to seal the break and prevent a retinal
detachment. Fortunately the great majority of PVDs do not cause a retinal tear and not all
retinal tears will lead to a detachment. In general, though, if a tear is associated with a
symptomatic PVD it is at high risk for leading to a retinal detachment and should be
treated.

Link

2006-07-17T19:40:00.000-07:00

18 Tricks to Teach Your Body

Soothe a burn, cure a toothache, clear a stuffed nose...

When you were 9, playing your armpit was a cool trick. Now, as an adult, you can still appreciate a good body-based feat, but you're more discriminating. Take that tickle in your throat; it's not worth gagging over. Here's a better way to scratch your itch: "When the nerves in the ear are stimulated, it creates a reflex in the throat that can cause a muscle spasm," says Scott Schaffer, M.D., president of an ear, nose and throat specialty center in Gibbsboro, New Jersey. "This spasm relieves the tickle."

2. Experience supersonic hearing!

If you're stuck chatting up a mumbler at a cocktail party, lean in with your right ear. It's better than your left at following the rapid rhythms of speech, according to researchers at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. If, on the other hand, you're trying to identify that song playing softly in the elevator, turn your left ear toward the sound. The left ear is better at picking up music tones.

3. Overcome your most primal urge!

Need to pee? No bathroom nearby? Fantasize about Jessica Simpson. Thinking about sex preoccupies your brain, so you won't feel as much discomfort, says Larry Lipshultz, M.D., chief of male reproductive medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine. For best results, try Simpson's "These Boots Are Made for Walking" video.

4. Feel no pain!

German researchers have discovered that coughing during an injection can lessen the pain of the needle stick. According to Taras Usichenko, author of a study on the phenomenon, the trick causes a sudden, temporary rise in pressure in the chest and spinal canal, inhibiting the pain-conducting structures of the spinal cord.

5. Clear your stuffed nose!

Forget Sudafed. An easier, quicker, and cheaper way to relieve sinus pressure is by alternately thrusting your tongue against the roof of your mouth, then pressing between your eyebrows with one finger. This causes the vomer bone, which runs through the nasal passages to the mouth, to rock back and forth, says Lisa DeStefano, D.O., an assistant professor at the Michigan State University college of osteopathic medicine. The motion loosens congestion; after 20 seconds, you'll feel your sinuses start to drain.

6. Fight fire without water!

Worried those wings will repeat on you tonight? "Sleep on your left side," says Anthony A. Star-poli, M.D., a New York City gastroenterologist and assistant professor of medicine at New York Medical College. Studies have shown that patients who sleep on their left sides are less likely to suffer from acid reflux. The esophagus and stomach connect at an angle. When you sleep on your right, the stomach is higher than the esophagus, allowing food and stomach acid to slide up your throat. When you're on your left, the stomach is lower than the esophagus, so gravity's in your favor.

7. Cure your toothache without opening your mouth!

Just rub ice on the back of your hand, on the V-shaped webbed area between your thumb and index finger. A Canadian study found that this technique reduces toothache pain by as much as 50 percent compared with using no ice. The nerve pathways at the base of that V stimulate an area of the brain that blocks pain signals from the face and hands.

8. Make burns disappear!

When you accidentally singe your finger on the stove, clean the skin and apply light pressure with the finger pads of your unmarred hand. Ice will relieve your pain more quickly, Dr. DeStefano says, but since the natural method brings the burned skin back to a normal temperature, the skin is less likely to blister.

9. Stop the world from spinning!

One too many drinks left you dizzy? Put your hand on something stable. The part of your ear responsible for balance—the cupula—floats in a fluid of the same density as blood. "As alcohol dilutes blood in the cupula, the cupula becomes less dense and rises," says Dr. Schaffer. This confuses your brain. The tactile input from a stable object gives the brain a second opinion, and you feel more in balance. Because the nerves in the hand are so sensitive, this works better than the conventional foot-on-the-floor wisdom.

10. Unstitch your side!

If you're like most people, when you run, you exhale as your right foot hits the ground. This puts downward pressure on your liver (which lives on your right side), which then tugs at the diaphragm and creates a side stitch, according to The Doctors Book of Home Remedies for Men. The fix: Exhale as your left foot strikes the ground.

11. Stanch blood with a single finger!

Pinching your nose and leaning back is a great way to stop a nosebleed—if you don't mind choking on your own O positive. A more civil approach: Put some cotton on your upper gums—just behind that small dent below your nose—and press against it, hard. "Most bleeds come from the front of the septum, the cartilage wall that divides the nose," says Peter Desmarais, M.D., an ear, nose, and throat specialist at Entabeni Hospital, in Durban, South Africa. "Pressing here helps stop them."

12. Make your heart stand still!

Trying to quell first-date jitters? Blow on your thumb. The vagus nerve, which governs heart rate, can be controlled through breathing, says Ben Abo, an emergency medical-services specialist at the University of Pittsburgh. It'll get your heart rate back to normal.

13. Thaw your brain!

Too much Chipwich too fast will freeze the brains of lesser men. As for you, press your tongue flat against the roof of your mouth, covering as much as you can. "Since the nerves in the roof of your mouth get extremely cold, your body thinks your brain is freezing, too," says Abo. "In compensating, it overheats, causing an ice-cream headache." The more pressure you apply to the roof of your mouth, the faster your headache will subside.

14. Prevent near-sightedness!

Poor distance vision is rarely caused by genetics, says Anne Barber, O.D., an optometrist in Tacoma, Washington. "It's usually caused by near-point stress." In other words, staring at your computer screen for too long. So flex your way to 20/20 vision. Every few hours during the day, close your eyes, tense your body, take a deep breath, and, after a few seconds, release your breath and muscles at the same time. Tightening and releasing muscles such as the biceps and glutes can trick involuntary muscles—like the eyes—into relaxing as well.

15. Wake the dead!

If your hand falls asleep while you're driving or sitting in an odd position, rock your head from side to side. It'll painlessly banish your pins and needles in less than a minute, says Dr. DeStefano. A tingly hand or arm is often the result of compression in the bundle of nerves in your neck; loosening your neck muscles releases the pressure. Compressed nerves lower in the body govern the feet, so don't let your sleeping dogs lie. Stand up and walk around.

16. Impress your friends!

Next time you're at a party, try this trick: Have a person hold one arm straight out to the side, palm down, and instruct him to maintain this position. Then place two fingers on his wrist and push down. He'll resist. Now have him put one foot on a surface that's a half inch higher (a few magazines) and repeat. This time his arm will fold like a house of cards. By misaligning his hips, you've offset his spine, says Rachel Cosgrove, C.S.C.S., co-owner of Results Fitness, in Santa Clarita, California. Your brain senses that the spine is vulnerable, so it shuts down the body's ability to resist.

17. Breathe underwater!

If you're dying to retrieve that quarter from the bottom of the pool, take several short breaths first—essentially, hyperventilate. When you're underwater, it's not a lack of oxygen that makes you desperate for a breath; it's the buildup of carbon dioxide, which makes your blood acidic, which signals your brain that somethin' ain't right. "When you hyperventilate, the influx of oxygen lowers blood acidity," says Jonathan Armbruster, Ph.D., an associate professor of biology at Auburn University. "This tricks your brain into thinking it has more oxygen." It'll buy you up to 10 seconds.

18. Read minds!

Your own! "If you're giving a speech the next day, review it before falling asleep," says Candi Heimgartner, an instructor of biological sciences at the University of Idaho. Since most memory consolidation happens during sleep, anything you read right before bed is more likely to be encoded as long-term memory.

Link

2006-07-12T21:35:00.000-07:00

1,235 pounds Manuel Uribe loses 200 pounds without surgery

Manuel Uribe, a 41-year-old man, was as heavy as five baby elephants do. He weighed about 1,235 pounds. Uribe got people’s attention when he appeared on the Televisa television network in January. He was urging the medical experts help him to reduce his weight.

Now, Uribe, the mexico citizen, has lost 200 pounds that was the result of the high-protein diet. He is not dumping the idea of having gastric bypass surgery.

Medical officials are regularly monitoring Uribe’s weight and confirmed the loss of 200 pounds flesh from his body. Uribe is thinking to lose 770 pounds. (Link)

2006-07-11T02:19:00.000-07:00

Control Freaks - turning objects into game controllers

This is neat, a project that turns any objet into a game controller - "Control Freaks are devices that attach to everyday objects, turning them into interactive game play objects. When the Control Freak attaches to a host object, its movement, vibration or sound, can be translated into control functionality for a game. The situation, location and behavior of the host, are all enablers for opportunistic play experience. The Control Freak device therefore enables any object in any situation to become the focus of play adventure."

Link

2006-07-09T21:37:00.000-07:00

How Defensive Drivers Give Right-Of-Way

Defensive Driving is all about thinking ahead so that you forsee potentially dangerous situations and adjust your driving behaviour to compensate for those situations.

Any situation where a vehicle is maneuvering close to another vehicle will cause a defensive driver to be especially alert. Defensive drivers drive with the assumption that other drivers may make mistakes, so even if it is clear that the other vehicle should give way, or give right-of-way as it is called in many places in North America, a defensive driver does not assume that that will always happen.

The laws on giving way in different driving situations varies from place to place, so I will not try to explain them here. As defensive driving includes preparation for a safe trip before the trip starts, the defensive driver will understand what the give way rules are in the places that will be visited during the trip. However, during the trip the defensive driver will not assume that other drivers have gone to the same effort.

In any situation where a vehicle has to give way, the defensive driver proceeds only when it is clear that there will not be any conflict. Defensive drivers are concerned about safety, not who has the legal obligation to give way.

When you are driving defensively you are careful to ensure that other drivers do not have to brake or maneuver to avoid you, you do not assume that other drivers will see and avoid you and you only proceed when you are sure that there will not be any danger.

Vehicle safety is not an accident! By learning defensive driving, and practising defensive driving techniques whenever you drive, you should avoid being involved in a preventable accident.

Link

2006-07-09T21:15:00.000-07:00

Finish Him!!!!

Link

2006-07-03T03:50:00.000-07:00

Jo Lawrence's Artwork

Jo Lawrence playfully placed photos of old Hollywood stars on these household cleaning brushes. (Is that Rita Hayworth in the center?)

Link

2006-07-02T06:51:00.000-07:00

Homemade Oil can guitar

Great collection of instructions from the ATLAS of Plucked Instruments - "The ramkie is the famous "blik kitaar" from Southern Africa; a home made guitar, using an empty oilcan for the body. The wooden neck is sometimes stuck all the way through the can; sometimes it is fixed to a wooden "lid" on the top. The 4 to 6 strings (if not of nylon) are made of unraveled bicycle brake wire. The frets are made from U-shaped pieces of wire stuck in the front of the neck. The kind of capodastre construction is usually just an upside-down bridge and can not be moved. The ramkie is mainly found in South Africa, Botswana and Namibia."
Source

2006-06-21T22:18:00.000-07:00

IT WAS not the most important event to honour the reign of the world's longest-serving monarch. But it means Thai fishermen have taken an essential step to saving the world's largest freshwater fish, the Mekong giant catfish.

Royal reprieve for Thailand's giant catfish

On 9 June, Thailand marked King Bhumibol Adulyadej's 60th year on the throne. A crowd of over half a million people gathered in the nation's capital, Bangkok, prisoners were released, and fishermen in the north of the country declared they would no longer catch the Mekong giant catfish. Instead, they will hand over their nets to the government, in return for $500 per net.

According to the CITES red list of endangered species, numbers of the Mekong giant catfish (Pangasius gigas) have fallen by 80 per cent in the past 13 years, and the species is listed as critically endangered. The fish can grow to 3 metres in length while one specimen caught last year (pictured) weighed 293 kilograms. Its huge size and slow reproduction mean it is likely the population will not recover for at least 30 years.

In a further bid to safeguard the species, the Thai Department of Fisheries has released approximately 10,000 captive-bred individuals into the Mekong river since 2000.

Link

2006-06-21T06:04:00.000-07:00

The Deepest Hole

Over forty years ago, researchers in the Soviet Union began an ambitious drilling project whose goal was to penetrate the Earth's upper crust and sample the warm, mysterious area where the crust and mantle intermingle– the Mohorovičić discontinuity, or "Moho." So deep is this area that the Russian scientists had to invent new ways of drilling, and some of their new methods proved quite inventive. But despite the valiant effort which spanned several decades, the Russians never reached their goal, and many of the Earth's secrets were left undiscovered. The work done by the Soviets did, however, provide a plethora of information about what lies just beneath the surface, and it continues to be scientifically useful today. The project is known as the Kola Superdeep Borehole.

Beginning in 1962, the drilling effort was led by the USSR's Interdepartmental Scientific Council for the Study of the Earth's Interior and Superdeep Drilling, which spent years preparing for the historic project. It was started in parallel to the Space Race, a period of intense competition between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. The survey to find a suitable drill site was completed in 1965 when project leaders decided to drill on the Kola Peninsula in the north-west portion of the Soviet Union. After five more years of construction and preparations, the drill began to nudge its way into the ground in 1970.

Inside the project's 200-foot-tall enclosure resides a unique drilling apparatus. Most deep-drilling rigs use a rotating shaft to bore through the ground– using a series of extensions which are incrementally added as the hole grows deeper– but such a method was unworkable with a hole as deep as Kola was planned to be. To overcome this, the Russian researchers devised a solution where only the drill bit at the end of the shaft was rotated. They accomplished this by forcing the pressurized "drilling mud"– the lubricant pumped down the drill shaft– through the specially-designed drill bit to cause it to spin.

Today, the deepest hole ever created by humankind lies beneath the tower enclosing Kola's drill. A number of boreholes split from the central branch, but the deepest is designated "SG-3," a hole about nine inches wide which snakes over 12.262 kilometers (7.5 miles) into the Earth's crust. The drill spent twenty-four years chewing its way to that depth, until its progress was finally halted in 1994, about 2.7 kilometers (1.7 miles) short of its 15,000-meter goal.

The Soviet's drilling rig was designed such that core samples would be provided along the entire length of the drill shaft, providing researchers on the surface with an intimate look at the composition of the Earth as the drill ventured further downward. Before the superdeep borehole project was undertaken, practitioners of Geology had reached a number of conclusions regarding the Earth's deep crust based on observations and seismic data. But as is often the case when humans venture into the unknown, Kola illustrated that certainty from a distance is no certainty at all, and a few scientific theories were left in ruin. One scientist was heard to comment, "Every time we drill a hole we find the unexpected. That's exciting, but disturbing."

To the surprise of the researchers, they did not find the expected transition from granite to basalt at 3-6 kilometers beneath the surface. Data had long shown that seismic waves travel significantly faster below that depth, and geologists had believed that this was due to a "basement" of basalt. Instead, the difference was discovered to be a change in the rock brought on my intense heat pressure, or metamorphic rock. Even more surprisingly, this deep rock was found to be saturated in water which filled the cracks. Because free water should not be found at those depths, scientists theorize that the water is comprised of hydrogen and oxygen atoms which were squeezed out of the surrounding rocks due to the incredible pressure. The water was then prevented from rising to the surface because of the layer of impermeable rocks above it.

Another unexpected find was a menagerie of microscopic fossils as deep as 6.7 kilometers below the surface. Twenty-four distinct species of plankton microfossils were found, and they were discovered to have carbon and nitrogen coverings rather than the typical limestone or silica. Despite the harsh environment of heat and pressure, the microscopic remains were remarkably intact.

The Russian researchers were also surprised at how quickly the temperatures rose as the borehole deepened, which is the factor that ultimately halted the project's progress. Despite the scientists' efforts to combat the heat by refrigerating the drilling mud before pumping it down, at twelve kilometers the drill began to approach its maximum heat tolerance. At that depth researchers had estimated that they would encounter rocks at 100°C (212°F), but the actual temperature was about 180°C (356°F)– much higher than anticipated. At that level of heat and pressure, the rocks began to act more like a plastic than a solid, and the hole had a tendency to flow closed whenever the drill bit was pulled out for replacement. Forward progress became impossible without some technological breakthroughs and major renovations of the equipment on hand, so drilling stopped on the SG-3 branch. If the hole had reached the initial goal of 15,000 meters, temperatures would have reached a projected 300°C (572°F).

When drilling stopped in 1994, the hole was over seven miles deep (12,262 meters), making it by far the deepest hole ever drilled by humankind. The last of the cores to be plucked from from the borehole were dated to be about 2.7 billion years old, or roughly 32 million times older than Abe Vigoda. But even at that depth, the Kola project only penetrated into a fraction of the Earth's continental crust, which ranges from twenty to eighty kilometers thick.

Kola was not the first nor the last attempt at drilling a superdeep borehole, but it has been the most successful so far. In 1957 the United States embarked on a similar project dubbed Project Mohole, but that attempt to drill through the ocean floor was cancelled due to lack of funding. Today, the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program seeks to penetrate the much thinner crust of the ocean floor to probe the Earth's lower crust.

The Kola Superdeep Borehole is still a scientifically useful site, and research there is ongoing. The huge repository of core samples are housed at Zapolyarniy, about 10 kilometers south of the borehole. Today the site is managed by the State Scientific Enterprise on Superdeep Drilling and Complex Investigations in the Earth's Interior as the Deep Geolaboratory.

2006-06-20T05:52:00.000-07:00

Bayview Subway Station, Toronto

Perspective art at a subway

2006-06-16T21:02:00.000-07:00

World royalty feasts with Thai king on 60th anniversary

Royalty from across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa joined Thailand's king at a state banquet to celebrate his 60th year on the throne as the world's longest-reigning monarch.

Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej will welcome royals from 25 nations at a sparkling new throne hall on the grounds of the Grand Palace, a glittering compound of golden temples in central Bangkok.

The 78-year-old monarch, who made his reputation by helping poor farmers rather than hosting extravagant parties, will serve his guests seafood and vegetables produced by projects he sponsors to help ease rural poverty.

The guest list includes Japan's Emperor Akihito, Britain's Prince Andrew, Spain's Queen Sofia, Jordan's King Abdullah II, Brunei's Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah, and Monaco's Prince Albert II.

Royals also came from Bahrain, Belgium, Bhutan, Cambodia, Denmark, Kuwait, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Morocco, the Netherlands, Norway, Oman, Qatar, Swaziland, Sweden, Tonga and the United Arab Emirates.

Nearly a week of festivities for the jazz-playing king have highlighted his enduring popularity in a country that has undergone tremendous political and social change during his reign.

One million people flocked to Bangkok's marble palace on Friday to hear him give only the third public audience of his rule.

Millions more around the country have worn yellow shirts and wristbands for a week to honor the king with the color associated with Mondays, the weekday he was born in 1927.

At that time, Thailand was still the Kingdom of Siam and monarchs ruled with absolute power.

As Bhumibol took the throne amid the ashes of World War II, he redefined the role of the king in a nation that had become a constitutional monarchy but faltered -- sometimes violently -- as it evolved into a democracy.

Link

Worldcup 2006 fever !

2006-06-09T22:12:00.000-07:00

Brasil fan Francis at Fan Fest Berlin

Brasil fan Francis, works in a beer tent at Fan Fest Berlin. She seemed confident about Brasil's chances.

Author: WorldCupBlog
Keywords: WorldCup WorldCupBlog Football Berlin BrasilFan Francis
Added: June 8, 2006

technorati tags:football, worldcup, Brazil, Berlin

Blogged with Flock

Geotagged Photos

2006-06-09T21:59:00.000-07:00

Zooomr 2.0 Screenshots, New Features

Zooomr, the company launched by 17 year old Kristopher Tate (he’s now 18) in March, will be releasing a new beta version 2.0 sometime around the end of June. The biggest focus of the new release will be increased stability and speed - Zooomr was taken down repeatedly by massive traffic spikes around its launch.

There’s a lot I like about Zooomr, but where they are really pushing the envelope is on photo metadata, particularly geotagging via a mashup with Google maps. Zooomr is also creating technology to help people understand when events are occuring, possibly via photos from users that don’t even know each other. When Zooomr sees photos being uploaded within a time window that are similarly geotagged, it assumes an event is occuring and groups those photos accordingly. The only difficult part of all of this is that it takes a lot of time for a user to associate location information with a photo…and that means many users won’t do it.

Look out for smart sets in version 2.0 as well, giving users the ability to create dynamic albums on the fly based on tags, users and other information. I really like this feature in the new Yahoo Photos and expect it to be widely copied by all of the photo sites over time.

Zooomr is also focused on creating localized version of the service in as many different languages as possible. In the 2.0 release they’ll add Romania and Norway to the sixteen other versions they currently support. For non English speakers, Zooomr may be the most compelling photosharing option.

There are lots of other feature additions as well. I’ll update as the new version is released.

Screen shots are here.

Zooomr

Tags: flickr, yahoophotos, techcrunch, web2.0, web_2.0, ajax

technorati tags:photos, geotag, sharing

Blogged with Flock

2006-06-08T06:19:00.000-07:00

Etsy Gets Funded by Web’s All-Stars

Etsy, the online marketplace for handmade items, received a small funding round last week. The participants included Flickr founders Stewart Butterfield and Caterina Fake, del.icio.us founder Joshua Schachter, Albert Wenger (former president of del.icio.us) and Union Square Ventures. The money is going towards a redesign, some new hires and managing Etsy’s growth. But the gesture itself is more significant: the web’s all stars think Etsy is a winner.

Link

2006-06-07T01:21:00.000-07:00

Can you feel the force?

We all know alternative health has something to do with the floatier side of medicine: acupuncture, herb-wielding Chinese men, that kind of thing. Often the word "holistic" crops up and - depending on what sort of company you're in - some eye-rolling.

But just how floaty is alternative health? More people are looking beyond the gym and the GP for help with pain-relief, stress-management and spiritual wellbeing. The Open University now provides a course on alternative health, Prince Charles has sung its praises to the WHO and more NHS trusts are offering complementary therapies. They can't all be nutters, can they?

Link

2006-06-06T06:23:00.000-07:00

Picture Perfect

Which Web sites create the best photo albums?

I have never been much of a picture taker, but after my daughter was born two months ago, I started snapping photos at every sniff, yawn, and burp. Soon after I entered this Richard Avedon phase, however, I discovered the Catch-22 of digital photography: The more pictures you take, the harder they are to share. Gather everyone around your computer monitor? Boring. E-mail your online slide show? Grandma complains she can't log in.

Link

2006-06-05T23:22:00.000-07:00

Thai Elephant Orchestra (Mulatta Records)

This is, I believe, the first CD ever recorded of instrumental music featuring non-human players. It's a project of the Thai Elephant Conservation Center, a government facility in which domestic elephants are making the transition from forest workers to interspecies ambassadors. In keeping with the center's exploration of human-elephant interaction, a set of instruments were designed with the elephants' particular dexterity and strength in mind. The resulting music is uniquely fascinating.
Link

2006-06-02T21:47:00.000-07:00

what you'll look like in the future

Accenture's Persuasive Mirror - shows you what you'll look like in the future.

Accenture have just officially unveiled their "Persuasive Mirror" today, the idea being that instead of being a true mirror, a camera picks up your image and after some processing, shows you how you will look in the future.

Now, if that isn't terrifying enough, a small army of cameras in your home will have been picking up your eating, sleeping, smoking, sunbathing and exercising habits. The information gathered from these cameras will then influence how your future-face is processed, i.e. more wrinkles due to too much sun, yellow teeth from smoking, etc. A virtuous week of course should be rewarded by a more flattering middle-aged you.

Link ( via Shiny Shiny )

2006-06-01T17:21:00.000-07:00

Old monitor = cat bed

Oskay2 turned an old monitor into a cat bed, seems like the cat likes it, or it's just a clever background image - "JellyBean hangs out in Harley's converted Apple Two-Page Monochrome Monitor, which has been repurposed into a cat bed. I removed the CRT, circuit boards, and added the towel and some catnip. " - Link.

Source

2006-05-29T14:36:00.000-07:00

Websites as graphs
Would you like to see a visual representation of your website's structure? Someone else's? Check out Websites_as_graphs and you'll see some of the best known sites on the web graphed using a Java applet on the page, created by Sala at his Aharef blog.

If you're a Flickr fan, you can check the websitesasgraphs tag to see graphs that people have created. Each one different, and beautiful.
Link

2006-05-29T03:40:00.000-07:00

Loving your pets to death

Australia is a nation of pet lovers but it may be loving its animals to death with pet owners passing on rising levels of obesity by overfeeding their cats and dogs, the country's main animal welfare body says.
Lawrie told Reuters surveys had found that between 40 and 44 percent of dogs and more than one in three household cats were now overweight, due to poor diet and a lack of exercise.

Fat cats and dogs were more vulnerable to diabetes, arthritis, heart problems and liver disease.

Dogs most at risk were Labradors, Beagles and cross-breeds such as Labradoodles -- a mixture of a Labrador and a Poodle -- with household moggies more at risk than other types of cats.
Link

Flickr

2006-05-24T22:57:00.000-07:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

2006-05-24T01:52:00.000-07:00

The King who Cares
Born into a family of medical professionals, health and medicine had always been prominent in His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s childhood. His father, HRH Prince Mahidol of Songkhla, was a pioneering doctor who dedicated his life to the plight of the rural poor. He initiated numerous healthcare programmes that brought medical care to the far reaches of the provinces, where modern medicine had previously been unheard of.His mother, the late Princess Mother, was a trained nurse who tenaciously supported her husband’s causes. After the death of Prince Mahidol, she continued to carry out his work and started numerous public health programmes.Growing up against a backdrop of dedication and service to public health, it comes as no surprise that His Majesty the King has followed in the footsteps of his parents and is an ardent advocate of health and medical concerns. While His Majesty, in recent years, is seen as being more active in areas such as rural development, water conservation and the environment, he has remained a compassionate champion of issues related to health and medicine since the end of World War II.At that time, state-run medical facilities in the provinces were scarce and under-developed. “During His Majesty’s frequent visits to rural areas, he would come across sick, malnourished people or those suffering from malaria who were desperate for medical attention and did not know where to get help,” says Magsaysay Award recipient Dr Prawase Wasi.“Since then His Majesty has traveled with a team of doctors and nurses to treat those who come to him with their illness. When he meets someone with a serious disease, he will write down their names before sending them off to the hospital. He’s been doing this for years. It gives people great hope to see him. It’s a cause that has stayed close to the King’s heart,” says Dr Prawase.His Majesty’s actions prompted a fundamental change in the attitude of healthcare authorities, says Dr Prawase. In the past the attitude and practice was that the ill had to go to hospital for treatment. By taking mobile medical teams with him wherever he went, His Majesty changed this attitude. “Medical professionals saw that they had to go out to the sick and not wait for them to come to the hospital. This led directly to changes in the structure of the healthcare delivery structure by the Public Health Ministry.”“[Doctors and health care officials] began to realise that medical treatment and public health care had to be distributed because that was the only way it could reach the people. They realised volunteers, health workers and nurses should play a role in this. This was the groundwork for what is now called ‘basic healthcare work’. I think that the King played a great role here in changing attitudes. And he did it without giving orders but by setting an example.”Apart from the official attitude to healthcare, His Majesty was also instrumental in encouraging villagers to care for themselves, first by adopting basic preventive healthcare measures rather than waiting until they fell ill. Wherever he went, His Majesty would advise rural residents on how they could take care of themselves.Apart from being instrumental in changing attitudes and actively assisting national health programmes, His Majesty has played a direct role in assisting the eradication of several diseases that were widespread in the country. After the Second World War, former public health minister Dr Sem Pringpuangkaew explains, the country’s most dreaded disease was tuberculosis.“The state did not know how to contain the disease because at that time there weren’t any sanitoriums to house those infected. The King, however, took a personal interest and set up the Anti-Tuberculosis Society to help prevent the disease from spreading,” he recalls.With a personal donation to the Red Cross Science Division, the Mahidol Wongsanusorn building was constructed in 1950 to produce BCG vaccines. UNICEF later bought the vaccines for use in other Asian countries.His Majesty was also instrumental in eradicating leprosy. Dr Sawasdi Daengsawang, then the director general of Public Health, was one of the first to turn to His Majesty when the disease became rampant in the mid-1950s. “I asked the King for help because at the time leprosy was spreading so quickly that in some cases in the Northeast, entire villages were becoming infected.”“In 1955 leprosy was everywhere in the streets,” says Khwankeo Vajarodaya, Grand Chamberlain of the Royal Household Bureau. “The Public Health Ministry had a plan to bring it under control in 12 years, but the King wanted it tackled much faster. A doctor told him that it could be done in eight years if there was an institution to train more professionals. So His Majesty set up the Rajaprajasamasai Foundation which also served as a research and development centre.“His foundation is directly responsible for dramatically bringing down the incidence of leprosy,” says Mr Khwankeo.Dr Vichai Chokevivat, Deputy Director-General of the Communicable Disease Control Department, agrees that His Majesty played a significant role in eliminating polio from Thailand. Apart from private donations to set up the Polio Welfare Fund and building the Vajiralongkorn Tarabambat building at the King Mongkut Hospital, he spearheaded the drive to raise funds for vaccines. His Majesty used his volunteer radio to call on Thais for donations to buy equipment to help those stricken with polio.The country responded. Mr Khwankeo notes that it was His Majesty who initiated the use of Jacuzzis to treat the disease and donated equipment to Siriraj Hospital.Polio was later eliminated from Thailand. It reappeared in the 1990s following the influx of Cambodian refugees 10 years earlier. Dr Vichai says that a campaign launched to inoculate all Thai children against polio proved highly effective: Only one child was reported to have contracted the disease. The campaign continued for three years until polio was eliminated from the country once again. “We have to recognise that we have reached this stage because His Majesty the King took an interest in the well-being of his subjects,” the doctor says.Since 1946, His Majesty has injected millions of baht of personal funds to assist numerous national healthcare programmes. The Thai Red Cross has been a primary bene- ficiary of HM’s support, especially in its work producing vaccines and serums. In 1952 His Majesty set up a blood service centre which developed into the National Blood Service Centre in 1969.At present the centre has branches throughout the country, saving thousands of lives each year. It produces saline drip for sale, while blood is distributed free of charge.His Majesty has expanded the work of the Red Cross to cover the whole country. His Majesty has assisted in providing funding for research on diseases relating to hormones, bones and joints, the nervous system and the blood. He has set up a fund for medical research, a foundation to promote cleanliness and health among schoolchildren, and a vocational centre for soldiers and border patrol policemen who have been disabled while protecting the country.In addition to His Majesty the King’s commitment to addressing current and future healthcare needs is his belief in funding the future development of Thai medical professionals.“There must be continuous training of people who are skilled and experienced in public health care”, says Dr Prawase.The late Princess Mother saw the importance of this and used personal funds to send many Thais to study medicine overseas. Dr Klum Vacharobol, Dr Sri Sirising, Dr Sawadi Sadaengsawang, Dr Luang Nit Vechavisit, and many other doctors who have become teachers of the medical profession were among recipients of the Princess Mother’s support. These people went on to play a crucial role in laying the foundation of medical and public health work in Thailand.His Majesty continued to support his mother’s work by establishing the Ananda Mahidol Fund to send doctors to further their education overseas. Dr Charas Suwanvela, former president of Chulalongkorn University, was the first recipient. Later the fund became a foundation and is now open to public donations.His Majesty allocates a considerable amount of time to the foundation, acting as its honorary chairman and paying great attention to its financing. Students under this foundation would be granted an audience with HM the King, during which they would be given invaluable advice before going overseas. On their return they would be granted another audience in which His Majesty would ask about what they had learnt. His Majesty would on occasion spend hours talking with them.As a healthcare advocate, His Majesty the King’s contributions remain immeasurable, and build upon the pioneering work of his late father and mother. Perhaps the best way to describe His Majesty’s attitude towards health care would be to use his own words. During a visit to a tuberculosis treatment centre on April 6, 1950, HM said to then Health Minister Luang Payung Vejchasart, “Is there a medicine that can cure this disease? If you lack any medicine I will find it for you. I want to see Thai medicine progress.”

The king who cares
Link

2006-05-21T21:57:00.000-07:00

It's Not Just Tissue...It's A Tiny Human Being!

It's Not Just Tissue...It's A Tiny Human Being!
By 5 weeks, the child's brain has human proportions, pituitary gland is forming and mouth, ears and nose are taking shape

By 8 weeks, every organ is present, heart is beating sturdily, kidneys function, taste buds are forming. By 10 weeks, the baby will squint, swallow, frown and smile and is sensitive to touch.

By 3 months, child is able to kick, make a fist, curl toes, turn head, bend his wrists and open his mouth.

By 4 months, the child can grasp with hands, turn somersaults and swim. Mother begins to sense movements.

By 5 months, sleeping habits appear and child responds to sound. A loud noise may startle the child into jumping in reaction.

By 6 months, fine hair grows on eyebrows and head. Eye lash fringe appears on lids.

900 GRAMS
By 7 months, eye teeth are now present; baby uses all four sense of hearing, vision, taste and touch. Hand grip is strong. Baby is able to recognize his mother's voice.

By 8 months, hair covers the baby's head. Skin begins to thicken and is healthy in color. Fingernails grow beyond baby's finger tips and the living quarters are getting crowded.

Mary Said "Yes" To God's Precious Gift....Won't You?
Say "YES" To Life!

Link

2006-05-21T18:43:00.000-07:00

Tattoo Removal
No one knows when the practice of tattooing the skin began, but Egyptian mummies dating back to 1300 B.C. have shown evidence of blue tattoo marks. Tattooing is accomplished by injecting colored pigment into small deep holes made in the skin. Regardless of who injects the pigment - a tattoo artist or an untrained person the marks or designs are relatively permanent. For various personal reasons, people turn to physicians to have tattoos removed.

Fortunately, there are several methods for tattoo removal which have proven successful. In most cases, however, some scarring or color variations remain. The conspicuousness of these blemishes depends upon several factors including size, location, the individual's healing pro-cess, how the tattoo was applied, and length of time it has been on the skin. A tattoo performed by a more experienced tattoo artist, for example, may be easier to remove since the pigment is evenly injected in the same level of the skin. A tattoo that has been on the skin for a considerable length of time may be more difficult to remove than a new one.

Methods of Tattoo Removal

There are several excellent methods of tattoo removal available today. The method that the physician chooses will depend upon the size of the tattoo and its location as well as the length of time it has been on the skin. How the patient heals may also be a factor in the decision.

Excision

Another popular method of tattoo removal especially when the dyed area is small is by excision. The advantage of this method is that the entire tattoo can be removed. With larger tattoos, however, it may be necessary to excise in stages, removing the center of it initially and the sides at a later date.

Excision involves an injection of a local anesthetic to numb the area after which the tattoo is removed surgically. The edges are then brought together and sutured. With this procedure, there is minimal bleeding which is easily controlled with electrocautery. In some cases involving large tattoos, a skin graft taken from another part of the body may be necessary.
Dermabrasion

Another method of tattoo removal is called dermabrasion in which a small portion of the tattoo is sprayed with a solution that freezes the area. The tattoo is then "sanded" with a rotary abrasive instrument causing the skin to peel. Because some bleeding is likely to occur, a dressing is immediately applied to the area.

Laser

In recent times, many physicians consider laser surgery one of the best methods of tattoo removal . Today, the Q-switched Nd:Yag, Q-switched Alexandrite and the Q-switched Ruby are among the most frequently used lasers today for the removal of unwanted tattoos. They are all employed in a similar manner. If necessary, a cream to numb the skin can be applied prior to the treatment. Pulses of light from the laser are directed onto the tattoo breaking up the tattoo pigment. Over the next several weeks the body's scavenger cells remove the treated pigmented areas. More then one treatment is usually necessary to remove all of the tattoo.

Salabrasion

Salabrasion, a procedure which is centuries old, is a method still sometimes used today to remove tattoos. As with the other methods, a local anesthetic is used on and around the tattooed area after which a solution of ordinary tap water dipped in table salt is applied. An abrading apparatus such as the one used with dermabrasion, or an even simpler device such as a wooden block wrapped in gauze, is used to vigorously abrade the area. When the area becomes deep red in color, a dressing is applied.
What Results Can Be Expected?

Regardless of which method of tattoo removal is used, some scarring or color variations are likely to remain. Healing time varies depending upon the size and depth of the tattoo, the proce-dure used and the patient's healing process. It is important for the patient to discuss with the physician the various procedures, how they are performed, and the probable results. Care of the treated area must also be discussed.

Link

2006-05-19T02:13:00.000-07:00

Love me love my elephant!!!!!

If you love elephants then The Elephant Conservation Centre between Lampang and Chiang Mai is the place for you, as they love and care for elephants here too.You can come and see a show demonstrating the incredible abilities of the elephant and the many skills they have acquired through years of training and companionship with a mahout, or you could as we did come for a three-day mahout training course and really get to know your elephant.
Link