Some items in my head that I think might be worth sharing.
Domes!
We’ve barely begun winter, yet I find my thoughts drifting toward backyard project season. A few summers back, I put in a slate patio after scoring some of the material on Craigslist. (Just picked up a trail-a-bike for my son…I have a couple of topic-oriented RSS Craigslist searches saved on Google Reader.) This spring, I’d like to make good on my threat to build a pergola and, just maybe, a backyard studio. Now, I could convert the back-half of my garage, which seems doable, considering I just use it for storing bikes, the lawn mower, and all the leftover building supplies from re-framing the garage wall. Or I could buy (and finish) one of those nice Amish sheds. Or, I could build a dome using these nifty plates, some pressure treated lumber and some roofing material.
I’d have to consider power (which I might be able to get from the garage connection), legality (some small structures don’t need permits, I think…maybe), and approval (from my lovely and wonderful boss), but its worth investigating.
Starplates. Just add bolts and 2x4s.
Something like this right behind the pergola. Could work.
Anasthesia!
I think by now, the notion that you can wake up during surgery “locked in” to experience the operation, is common. This article, however, makes me doubt how real it is, though. Its a long read and I haven’t gotten to the end of it–so tentative opinion folks–but once I read about how most of the anecdotal evidence presented was solicited through hypnosis, my skeptical hackles started to rise. Still, some of the descriptions from patients share a lot of similarities with the old out-of-body during surgery tales you hear. It makes me wonder if patients are registering conversation some way while under anesthesia. Second, the concept of “emergence delirium” is real and poorly understood. I wonder how many stories of anesthesia-related trauma are poorly-recalled episodes of such delirium. Spicy! Need to read the whole thing. You should too.
End lesson: If real, its extremely rare, and should be the last thing on your list that would stop you from having surgery.
Pick-pocketing!
If you don’t listen to Penn’s Sunday School, you should. (Penn and I share similar fears of crustaceans the size of basset hounds, and we both cry over Matt Harding videos. See here.) That said, here’s another Atlantic article (mentioning Penn) about an entertainer in the same vein (and in the same magical circles…hmm…I wonder people googling Magic Circles will end up here?…Eh, why would they? Nobody else does! True, sadly.). Read about Apollo Robbins. Adam Green does a wonderful job of writing it.