Posts tagged personal

the perils of science writing

That awkward moment when you tell your grandma about your freelance writing that you’re really enjoying, she’s so proud she wants to see it, and you have to tell her up front that it’s about terrible surgeries and goat gonad implants.

I think the response of “…oh! Well! I’m proud of you, you keep up the, uh, good work, I’m…I don’t need to see it.” was the best possible outcome in this situation.

Terrible photos of a vintage anesthesia cart

The local miscellaneous surplus store has an old anesthesia cart for sale. It says “for human use only” on the side. They also sell blow-guns, hemostats, lab coats, gauze, and everything you’d need for a testing lab.

But no, my partner won’t let me become a mad scientist and dart people to do unethical testing. He says the neighbors would hear the screaming. :(

“That’s what the anesthesia cart is for!”
“…no, they would hear MY screaming.”

ETA:

  • Pressure containers include [left/orange] enflurane (trade name Ethrane), [center/red] halothane (trade name Fluothane), and [right/green] methoxyflurane (trade name Penthrane).
  • The cart was produced by Foregger, who, in the 1950s, represented a full 15% of all anesthesia apparatuses in hospitals, and was contracted to provide a number of surplus carts for individual states, for Civil Defense stockpiles. The Foregger company dissolved in 1987.
  • This cart has all of its original vaporization equipment attached, so I presume it was produced after halothane was first used as a clinical anesthesia agent (1956), and before it began to be phased out in favor of less problematic agents (early 1980s).
Do you have a favorite animal? what is it? — Asked by Anonymous

You know, I don’t, I love too many animals, but I almost want to pick a *most* favorite species/genus now that you ask. I haven’t thought about it in a while, but it might be interesting to look at some of the animals I know of and love - my problem is that I’m constantly reading about new [to me] and awesome animals/bugs/species of everything and it’s a bit overwhelming thinking of EVERYTHING. :P

I almost miss when I knew, like, as many species as I knew pokemon… >_>

Current contenders:

Pangolin
Glaucus atlanticus
Blanket octopus
Musk deer
Megalonychidae (Two-toed sloths)
Spotted hyena
Tuatara
Aardwolf
Phyllobates (true dart frogs)
Red panda
Platypus
Bullhead sharks
Southern Casowarry
Oraseminae (Eurcharitid wasp)
Babokotia/Sloth Lemur
Sifakas
Thylacoleo
Axolotl
African Painted Dog
Maned Wolf
Salticidae
Kakapo 

Things that exist

***I have a history blog (that I’m terrible at updating but is still not awful, seriously): Cabbaging Cove

***I have a personal blog (that is mostly awful but frequently updated): Of Paper and Ponies


***I have a Flickr stream (with about 650 new photos which will be posted this week): Biomedical Scraps

“Stfu, woman, this hangover can’t be cured by table water”

Mummified head of Pharaoh Ramses II, with artificially enhanced nose. Did you know that the first plastic surgery was performed in Ancient Egypt? No, not on the living, but it was considered crucial to the Egyptians who were mummified. In the afterlife, the only physical feature believed to be completely retained was the facial structure, but mummification dried the body such that the face was often unrecognizable. Ramses II was known for his elongated nose, so to ensure he would be recognized as a king in the afterlife, bone and seeds were surgically inserted under the skin of his nose after the desiccation of mummification, to restore and exaggerate its original shape. Read more about plastic surgery, from Ancient Egypt to Tagliacozzi, to Harold Gillies’ wartime facial reconstruction in my mental_floss article! Image: Catalogue General Antiquites Egyptiennes du Musee du Caire; The Royal Mummies. G. Elliot Smith, 1912.

Mummified head of Pharaoh Ramses II, with artificially enhanced nose.

Did you know that the first plastic surgery was performed in Ancient Egypt? No, not on the living, but it was considered crucial to the Egyptians who were mummified.

In the afterlife, the only physical feature believed to be completely retained was the facial structure, but mummification dried the body such that the face was often unrecognizable. Ramses II was known for his elongated nose, so to ensure he would be recognized as a king in the afterlife, bone and seeds were surgically inserted under the skin of his nose after the desiccation of mummification, to restore and exaggerate its original shape.

Read more about plastic surgery, from Ancient Egypt to Tagliacozzi, to Harold Gillies’ wartime facial reconstruction in my mental_floss article!

Image: Catalogue General Antiquites Egyptiennes du Musee du Caire; The Royal Mummies. G. Elliot Smith, 1912.

mentalfloss.com

What do your dreams typically consist of, with all this information you have consumed, I'm curious how it all influences your dreams. — Asked by kibombo

You know, it really influences my dreams very little, though my friends say they have weird medical/creepy animal-based dreams after my long-winded over-excited blathering on about something new I’ve learned.

I don’t usually read about this stuff right before I fall asleep, though - I tend to read about air disasters (plane crashes) and about things like the physiology of how someone can literally explode from explosive decompression. Fun fact! It doesn’t happen in space or in airplanes, because the decrease in pressure is actually very minimal - it makes it so one can’t breathe or anything, but you don’t literally *explode*. That only happens when people are in an environment with many atmospheres worth of pressure (deep-sea or deep-sea simulation chambers) that is accidentally brought to surface pressure too quickly. Anyway, the physiology of what happens is *fascinating*.

Anyway, that stuff doesn’t usually affect my dreams, either. My dreams are usually about my friends and people from my past, and sometimes about whatever video game I’ve been playing recently.

I have the best friends.

When I equate their personalities to monotreme genitalia, they don’t scream and run in the other direction.

…on the other hand, perhaps I scared them into inaction.

Don’t click through if you have some sort of complex and want to think that this guy is nothing but cute (assuming you thought that to begin with).

The Huffington Post

Answers! [nope, for those wondering, I still can’t answer ask box questions] From the top down: izzyfig: I wish!…well, no, actually I’m not sure I really wish that. PhDs are a LOT of work. My mom has a PhD in microeconomics, and she didn’t finish that until I was almost 8 years old. She didn’t have me until after she got her masters degree, and didn’t take a break or anything, either. Long story short, no, I definitely do not have a PhD. I’m not even 25 yet! I’m hoping to eventually go back to school for a masters in some aspect of biotechnology or microbiology. Probably not a PhD, though. knowun: I’m not sure. Consistently-oceanic parts of tectonic plates are not conducive to fossil formation, and any fossils on the seafloor would have to be in areas that were once dry for a long enough period to have deeply-buried specimens, and I’m not really sure how much of our ocean meets anything close to that ideal condition. If you’re less picky and include lakes and inland seas, then the case is a LOT. Almost every lake or inland sea was once dry land. Any large non-glacial and non-volcanic lake almost certainly has *some* fossil specimens deep under its floor. johnlaughingalonewithyaoi: Done. Sort of. I’ll definitely return to the subject in the future. shroom-diabolique: Sure. Don’t eat them much, though. Plain crisps make my tongue swell up and hurt for some reason. I’m not sure why flavored ones don’t. desirescasualty: AOL Kids Only. 1994. I was so cool. inexplicablespaceship: Unfortunately, I haven’t been to a ton of museums, especially lately. I love the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, and have learned tons every time I’ve been there. The Field Museum and Shedd Aquarium are pretty boss, too. I’m particular to the Science and Industry and Field Museums over the Shedd Aquarium, if only because of the much lower entrance fees and the fact that I learn a lot more there, but they’re all fun. From what I’ve heard from friends, the best aquarium to really *learn* at is Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies in Tennessee, and the best science museum (in the US) for the above-schoolchild age crowd is split between the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago and the one in Oregon. Mind you, this is just my friends, not the general public, but there are great museums all over the world…you don’t need to be at the “best of the best” to learn new things and find great exhibits you would have never expected! paintedgraves: I’ll be honest, my attention has been largely diverted to personal matters, politics, and work lately. I don’t really remember what the last thing I got so interested in that I stayed up all night reading about it, which is a bit sad…I used to do that all the time. I’ve been very interested in the science of emotions (especially the neurology of those who seek horror and the like), but that’s not exactly breaking news. The only recent science story that’s grabbed my attention for a significant period has been the new study published on color perception (decent breakdown of the study), and how it differs from person-to-person. carathebug: [second part answered previously] no, I don’t have a big collection of biomed stuff, myself. I’m always a bit extremely broke, thanks to not having a “real” job yet, and wanting to pay back my loans quickly. Either way, I’d be more inclined to collect natural history ephemera (I love love love well-presented specimens and gardens in glass baubles/cases/containers), and old adverts/postcards regarding medicine, than biomed items themselves. :D marisalorea: I’m not sure how much I really want to make a point of putting this out there now that my parents know of this blog, but my personal blog is ofpaperandponies.tumblr.com. Short version: Mid-20s female, generally stressed out but complacent with it, non-religious, semi-political, in a fairly long-term (does 7 years count as long-term?) with a guy whose ambition is to teach seventh-grade (12-13 year old kids) social studies (aka an insane person). Two cats. Pretty weird, myself, sometimes very sarcastic. I love animals, craft a lot when I have actual free time, and am pretty solidly into games (both video and tabletop). lokithefulltiltgodofdiva: I can’t go into “fake diseases” or “fake cures” of the modern age without going into a seething rage due to the idiocy >_> But! 1870-1906 is what I see as the “golden age” of Quackery and Bullshit. We were just discovering electricity, radiation, and tons of chemicals. And naturally people exploited the fact that we didn’t *really* understand these new discoveries by saying it cured everything. And I have some posts on it already, but just like medieval medicine, I’ll definitely return to it again soon.

Answers!

[nope, for those wondering, I still can’t answer ask box questions]

From the top down:

  1. izzyfig: I wish!…well, no, actually I’m not sure I really wish that. PhDs are a LOT of work. My mom has a PhD in microeconomics, and she didn’t finish that until I was almost 8 years old. She didn’t have me until after she got her masters degree, and didn’t take a break or anything, either. Long story short, no, I definitely do not have a PhD. I’m not even 25 yet! I’m hoping to eventually go back to school for a masters in some aspect of biotechnology or microbiology. Probably not a PhD, though.
  2. knowun: I’m not sure. Consistently-oceanic parts of tectonic plates are not conducive to fossil formation, and any fossils on the seafloor would have to be in areas that were once dry for a long enough period to have deeply-buried specimens, and I’m not really sure how much of our ocean meets anything close to that ideal condition. If you’re less picky and include lakes and inland seas, then the case is a LOT. Almost every lake or inland sea was once dry land. Any large non-glacial and non-volcanic lake almost certainly has *some* fossil specimens deep under its floor.
  3. johnlaughingalonewithyaoi: Done. Sort of. I’ll definitely return to the subject in the future.
  4. shroom-diabolique: Sure. Don’t eat them much, though. Plain crisps make my tongue swell up and hurt for some reason. I’m not sure why flavored ones don’t.
  5. desirescasualty: AOL Kids Only. 1994. I was so cool.
  6. inexplicablespaceship: Unfortunately, I haven’t been to a ton of museums, especially lately. I love the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, and have learned tons every time I’ve been there. The Field Museum and Shedd Aquarium are pretty boss, too. I’m particular to the Science and Industry and Field Museums over the Shedd Aquarium, if only because of the much lower entrance fees and the fact that I learn a lot more there, but they’re all fun. From what I’ve heard from friends, the best aquarium to really *learn* at is Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies in Tennessee, and the best science museum (in the US) for the above-schoolchild age crowd is split between the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago and the one in Oregon. Mind you, this is just my friends, not the general public, but there are great museums all over the world…you don’t need to be at the “best of the best” to learn new things and find great exhibits you would have never expected!
  7. paintedgraves: I’ll be honest, my attention has been largely diverted to personal matters, politics, and work lately. I don’t really remember what the last thing I got so interested in that I stayed up all night reading about it, which is a bit sad…I used to do that all the time. I’ve been very interested in the science of emotions (especially the neurology of those who seek horror and the like), but that’s not exactly breaking news. The only recent science story that’s grabbed my attention for a significant period has been the new study published on color perception (decent breakdown of the study), and how it differs from person-to-person.
  8. carathebug: [second part answered previously] no, I don’t have a big collection of biomed stuff, myself. I’m always a bit extremely broke, thanks to not having a “real” job yet, and wanting to pay back my loans quickly. Either way, I’d be more inclined to collect natural history ephemera (I love love love well-presented specimens and gardens in glass baubles/cases/containers), and old adverts/postcards regarding medicine, than biomed items themselves. :D
  9. marisalorea: I’m not sure how much I really want to make a point of putting this out there now that my parents know of this blog, but my personal blog is ofpaperandponies.tumblr.com. Short version: Mid-20s female, generally stressed out but complacent with it, non-religious, semi-political, in a fairly long-term (does 7 years count as long-term?) with a guy whose ambition is to teach seventh-grade (12-13 year old kids) social studies (aka an insane person). Two cats. Pretty weird, myself, sometimes very sarcastic. I love animals, craft a lot when I have actual free time, and am pretty solidly into games (both video and tabletop).
  10. lokithefulltiltgodofdiva: I can’t go into “fake diseases” or “fake cures” of the modern age without going into a seething rage due to the idiocy >_> But! 1870-1906 is what I see as the “golden age” of Quackery and Bullshit. We were just discovering electricity, radiation, and tons of chemicals. And naturally people exploited the fact that we didn’t *really* understand these new discoveries by saying it cured everything. And I have some posts on it already, but just like medieval medicine, I’ll definitely return to it again soon.

carathebug answered your question: Questions tonight?

Do you have a large collection of biomed stuff yourself? Whart got you interested in it?

My pops got me interested in it! Well, he got me interested in critical thinking and the world around me, so I naturally ended up wondering about science, and history, and how things happened, and why things happened. Im so grateful that my parents were able to provide me encyclopedias, and factbooks, and “why do penguins have cold feet?”, even if they were second-hand books. I read them all until they fell apart.

Not sure why I got into history and science over other things like math and art and music (though admittedly I was a musician for 13 years, and really do have a great amateur appreciation for art), but I sure am into them. You know.

Guess what? I’m not dead yet!

Not that random disappearances are uncommon on my part, I just thought I’d mention that I’m still alive, because I like to loudly proclaim “I’M NOT DEAD YET!” to random people.

That said, don’t expect much around here until after the first week of June. I’m working every day until about 2 am, and spending the few days I have off with my friends.

But! After my birthday and the stupid random shifts thanks to college kids leaving, I’ll be around again. Thanks for all the nice notes recently, and don’t think I’ll just ignore your requests because I’m not posting all that much - most of the recent requests I’ve had will be covered when I’m back.

Because I am both self-aggrandizing (since I find it pretty nifty) and have had a couple different questions about it today - yes, one of the images in the Cracked article 6 Scientific Advances Courtesy of Reckless Self-Endangerment is from my photostream. No, no one asked me about it. No, I don’t have a problem with that. My images have been used in lessons and presentations and even in a book (will be published in October!), and that’s exactly what I want! I love medical and scientific history, and want to get it out there, and as far as I’m concerned, a minimal amount of credit is all I ask for. A link, or even just a name is fine. Get the weird world of the past out there! :D

Because I am both self-aggrandizing (since I find it pretty nifty) and have had a couple different questions about it today - yes, one of the images in the Cracked article 6 Scientific Advances Courtesy of Reckless Self-Endangerment is from my photostream.

No, no one asked me about it. No, I don’t have a problem with that. My images have been used in lessons and presentations and even in a book (will be published in October!), and that’s exactly what I want! I love medical and scientific history, and want to get it out there, and as far as I’m concerned, a minimal amount of credit is all I ask for. A link, or even just a name is fine.

Get the weird world of the past out there! :D

I read your FAQ... I think it's really funny. You remind me of my private tutor :D I think it's really crazy how you can have all this informatin... I'm going into the medial field and I wish I could be as enthusiastic as you... — Asked by Anonymous

Thanks ^^

Actually going into the medical field ended up killing my enthusiasm in a serious way, especially when I was taking all of my chem classes, but when I switched over to Biology alone (I mean, on top of all the Dairy Science classes I already finished) I actually regained my passion for medicine and history and started this blog.

“I’m spending a year dead for tax reasons.”

…no, no, I’m kidding. But as you’ve probably noticed, Real Life™ and trying to survive the insane economy has certainly been doing its best keeping me away from the blog. Posts will still be fairly sporadic and un-queued until at least the new year. But I’m not dead yet!


In the mean time, feel free to:

  • Submit requests or questions
  • Check out the archive; I recommend the quackery and Gould tags, myself.
  • Check out my general Victoriana/Edwardian history blog, Cabbaging Cove
  • Look at some of the blogs I recommend, both similar and dissimilar.
  • Donate to the blog (any amount gives me the opportunity to spend more time on the blog and less time working! and, you know, lets me survive Real Life™, to finish my other degree so I can get back to the laboratory and earn a living wage. plus I’ll love you until the law asks me to stop <3)

To be honest, I’m more likely to make posts when I get specific requests that I can fill, as my own inspiration is pretty much languishing in a cobweb-filled corner, despite having a huge amount of potential material. I’ll poke the inspiration-blob once I have less work and start classes again.

Putting my ducks in a row -

ofpaperandponies:

HOKAY. So. As bloody tired as I am, I’ve decided that today is the day I’m going to get my ducks in a row and organize my life so that I can actually move forward. That doesn’t actually mean a whole lot regarding you guys, but I figure part of organizing ducks is neatly stacking the blog-ducks in the same place.

My Blogs:

Of Paper and Ponies - Personal, Weird, Shiny Things, Commentary. My personal blog. Ranty, insipid, mostly mindless, probably offensive. Also includes shiny things, topless humans, and my music/ginger/lava/geology loves.

Biomedical Ephemera - Science, History, Medicine, Animals. Medical history and natural history stuff. Animals and comparative anatomy, old medical cures/surgical procedures, ways to become deformed/dead, contemporary interpretations of pathologies and non-pathological anatomy from history. Pretty much anything biology, zoology, or medical from before the mid-20th century.

Cabbaging Cove - Culture, History, Vintage, Fashion. I have a *thing* for history. This is where my non-science history goes. Generally from the Regency to the Edwardian eras, but I get into anything that’s post-Medieval. Advertising, fashion, and photography that evokes the Western cultures of the day are my primary subjects, but I like to explore everything.

Not my blog:

Fuck Yeah Medical Stuff - Mariana’s blog that I’m currently helping run for the moment. Modern medical topics, pathology cases, microbiology, pharmacology, and anatomy. An escape for me to get back into modern science (my background) and out of history for a bit.

Ok? OK! That’s where you can find stuff I post. Blog-ducks corralled!


What do you look like? — Asked by Anonymous

This, but in jeans and a t-shirt, without the fancy hair:

stout, muscular, ginger, “dwarfish”, though I’m a full 4’11” thankyouverymuch.

Been told I have “good hips for bearing sons” by someone who’s apparently watched Mulan one too many times.