Slashdot Mirror
For Those Long Coding Sessions: The Food Patch
rtphokie writes "The U.S. Army has created a Transdermal Nutrient Delivery System which works similarly to to nicotine or birth control patches but delivers vitamins and other micronutrients. It was developed to help "warfighters sustain their physical and mental performance" during high intensity conflict. Is this what ./'ers need during those long coding sessions."
It might be good for slashdotters too. :-)
I'd really like tandoori chicken with mint sauce, please. Oh yeah, my arm has no taste buds. Dang.
I just want a caffeine patch. - Well, maybe a junk food patch. I can see this.
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
Clinical studies show that, while only about 20% (less now, I'm thinking) of Americans are addicted to cigarettes, 100% are addicted to food.
Hopefully, this patch will help people with a food abuse problem to combat it and overcome it. In moderation, food is a good and healthy thing, but as with so many things, there is such a thing as too much.
I wonder how long it's going to take them to come up with the Sleep patch? Now that's an addiction I'd like to kick...
Don't you wish your girlfriend was a geek like me?
Not sure if it would be a wise idea to slashdot a military server these days. You might be considered a terrorist.
Is this what ./'ers need during those long coding sessions.
This may have been said jokingly, but it definately isn't what we need. Not only do TNDS' not give you a delicious taste in your mouth, they don't tell your body that you are full either. If we want fatter geeks, this is the way to go. Otherwise, I'll just stick to my perishable food.
but it sounds as if this is just a pipe dream at the moment. The article is filled with phrases like "will conceivably", "would work", and "might activate".
Future warfighters may spend substantial amounts of time encapsulated in protective garments ...with limited access to normal meals.
Foolish Army...Everyone knows the answer to this is alien-tech suits filled with multi-purpose gelatin.
"Inattention makes clowns of us all" -Bean
Going to the refridgerator for food was my only excersize! Just encourage me to be lazier and get fatter! Thanks alot!
X(7): A program for managing terminal windows. See also screen(1).
Seems like this is only designed for vitamins and hormones and such. Perhaps carbs take up too much space?
I would love to have one or two of these... :)
Think of all the time we waste eating food when we can be doing other, more important things!
At the very least it would give more time to sleep and study
I just have 248 nutrient patches pasted all over my body.
That's all we need now to have neverending LAN games...
"This processor might activate a microelectrical mechanical system that transmits the micronutrients -- either through skin pores or pumped directly into blood capillaries."
I am warfighter of Borg.
You will be assimilated.
Resistance is futile.
Why should I apply patches to myself? There's no Windows inside... Oh wait...
--
Error 500: Internal sig error
I hope my employer doesn't find out about these...they'll undoubtedly become yet another dubious 'benefit' which makes it so we don't even need to get up from our keyboard for the lunch and dinner breaks, or go to the can afterwards.
Anyway, it's nice to see this kind of technology being developed out of the military budget instead of another variation on the bullet, bomb, etc. It has a lot of potential and I imagine it's not long before we see folks using pharmecutical patches soon - probably tailored for their specific needs/doses.
It would be pretty nice if I could take ALL of my daily meds via a single patch rather than gulp down 10+ "easy-to-swallow if you're a horse" caplets.
Good show, GI Joe.
Nutraceuticals? Doesn't that sound a lot like battle drugs. Comming soon to a war near you, Patch fed, drug fueled insane doom guards, wahhhh..
I know I'm not the only one who still buys them...
I think the Borg icon (currently used for Microsoft stuff) is more appropriate for this particular article.
--naked
Very popular slashdot journal for adul
repeat from a story posted a couple of years ago.
but it's a well-known fact that anyone who reads /. is too busy refreshing to do any coding ;)
"I would say that 99 per cent of what my father has written about his own life is false." - L. Ron Hubbard Jr.
I don't know.. I'd think a well prepared army might carry food instead, so the soldiers don't just get their nutrition, but oh yeah, they avoid starving to death too. If they really need this vitamin/nutrition replenishment, why not just crack open a jar of Flintstone chewables? A grape dino tastes damn good!
Technocratic "Geeks" spend their time contemplating the usefulness of a "food patch" instead of thinking of and implementing ways to make their country democratic again, and overthrowing the corporate-fascist oil baron dictatorship.
Forget food. I want one that pumps BEER straight into my veins!
>I Don't Have Security Hole
That's what you think. Would you trust Richard Simmons within 10 feet of you?
I'm allergic to the adhesive in transdermal patches, as well as medical tape. That's right, I'm allergic to tape you insensitive clod!
I'm sorry, but when I'm wading through breakpoints, I want something cruncy. When I'm hacking out a killer regular expression, something sweet. While I'm sure the patch is nice and chewy, there's nothing like an ice cold Jolt Cola at about 1a.m. when you've finally inherited and overloaded your native hash object to recursively enumerate its own members.
Point is, some of the fun of eating while coding isn't just the stinking vitamins, more full tummy for that matter. So while I see it as an effective way to feed someone who'd rather starve than gag on MRE's in the middle of a minefield, I'll stick to my pretzels and mint-conditioned coffe thank you very much.
--- have you healed your church website?
I definitely wouldn't want to be a soldier once they figure these things out. After all, if the soldiers could get nutrition from a patch, why feed them at all? Or at least that's what their thinking will be.
---
Open Source Shirts
the implications of this to long endurance sports, such as 24 hr LeMans car racing, ironman triathlon, long range cycling, and so on.
I think currently athletes drink some sort of soups or something to get their calories... just a semi wild guess.
geek page at KY speaks
How about the YRO or Privacy icons?
After all, your personal, private nutrient uptake data is being sent to a microprocessor, where big-brother can do heaven-only-knows-what with it.
"A terrorist is someone who has a bomb but doesn't have an air force." -William Blum
"Is this what ./'ers need during those long coding sessions."
Is that anything like the much needed Sex Patch?
Uh, erm, not that I need it. =)
Well it seems you're in need of one to prevent you making mistakes through hunger! It's /.ers not ./ers. The site's called slashdot - not dotslash!
Video Game cheats, hints a
The boss figures that if we can get access to the low-sleep research as well, I'll be better than a robot.
OS Software is like love: The best way to make it grow is to give it away.
by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 10, @07:00PM
Fighters will need fluid replacement, too.
Just put the drugs and vitamins in whatever
they are drinking. Hmmm, what will they be
drinkng?
And you get to pick which leg the cotton goes in.
It was developed to help "warfighters sustain their physical and mental performance"
Wow, just what I need for those late nights, broadcasting my pirate 802.11b signal.
Oh, that kind of warfighter? Man, on slashdot, they really need to clarify these things!
Big news in Canada is the two US pilots who killed the canadian soldiers were hopped up on crank.
Government issued crank which they couldnt refuse to take.
There was an article in a British paper before this accident which explained how the pilots were doped when they went up, doped when they came down and the doped so they could go to sleep, so its not like this was a big secret.
Coming from the taliban-like leader on the War on Drugs, this was just too freakin ironic.
Of course, Zoloft, Xanthax, Prozac, Lithium and other popular happy pills which are regularly consumed by a third of americans are considered to be a normal way of life in the Excited States, while lighting a doob will get you an invitation to be Bubba's prison bitch.
I always said to maximize a programmer's efficiency would require a full-time attending nurse, to administer IV drips that insure adequate levels of hydration, nutrients, stimulants, etc, as well as urinary catheterization. Haven't figured out how to handle the need to take a dump, although I figure that would be gradually minimized by 100% IV feeding.
and then the Government would know the chemical make-up of our blood at all times!
Transdermal Nutrient Delivery System (TDNDS)
What It Is:
TDNDS Concept Illustration During short periods of high intensity conflict, soldiers may not have access to a real meal or the time to eat it. The Transdermal Nutrient Delivery System (TDNDS) is a nutrition patch that will transmit vitamins and other micronutrients or nutraceuticals to the warfighters and sustain their physical and mental performance.
Why It's Needed:
Future warfighters may spend substantial amounts of time encapsulated in protective garments or in vehicles with limited access to normal meals. Replenishment of some of the most bioactive nutrients found in foods is needed, using a method that's controllable and minimally invasive.
How It Works:
A smart delivery system will conceivably expand on similar technology used in the nicotine patch; however, instead of transmitting nicotine, the TDNDS will serve as a reservoir of micronutrients and nutraceuticals. Advances in nutritional sciences, miniaturized physiological monitors and molecular delivery will be exploited. One potential means of transmitting nutrients would work like this: Sensors would first take readings on a warfighter's metabolism, then send information about the soldier's nutritional needs to a microchip processor. This processor might activate a microelectrical mechanical system that transmits the micronutrients -- either through skin pores or pumped directly into blood capillaries.
Benefits:
Improved Performance...Nutraceuticals transmitted by the TDNDS could reduce combat-related stress, such as muscle fatigue and the physical problems that accompany prolonged exposure to cold weather and high altitudes and conceivably signal a soldier's brain that he still has nutrient reserves to draw upon.
Civilian Applications...This delivery system could meet the nutritional needs of workers in stressful, hazardous work environments -- such as miners, oil riggers, firefighters, chemical production workers, police bomb squad members and astronauts involved in space walks.
One might have hoped that tragic events in Afghanistan would have taught the US military that drugging your troops is a bad idea.
Please donate your spare CPU cycles to help fight cancer and other diseases
Personal Strap-On Aircraft for Auction on eBay
would you like fries with that?
They need sex patch.
You can't handle the truth.
Military stimulants.. just what /. coders need to crash into Canadian networks.
Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
If the following is any indication of their level of technical experience that I think I will pick some place else.
From their site:
"Our servers at dual 64-bit 1266 Mhz. Pentium III machines. With 6 Gigabytes of RAM and hardware level RAID 10 UltraWide SCSI A/V Hard Drives. These boxes dual 64-bit PCI buses, with ALL 64-bit peripherals. Additionally dual power supplies and network cards round this package out."
I Can see it now: "Slap this patch on your arm and watch the pounds melt away!"
Click to see amazing before and after blah blah blah.
A Fatal OE Exception has occurred, Sig will now reboot.
*mumbles* /.'d yet .mil site, should be able to handle the effect..
/. 1 .mil 0
Cant be
*mumbles*
*shakes monitor*
Come on ya bitch, serve the page, serve the page!
*frowns*
too late!
For most here, the only calorie expenditure to be had on a daily basis is the lifting of the candy bar to the mouth.
Please don't take that away.
Does any body else find that healthy food is counter productive when it comes to your programming?
A couple years ago we opened an office that is 3 blocks from my home so now instead of grabbing some fatty restaurant food I go home and eat real food.
I find that most home made foods (e.g. Fettuccini Alfredo made with pasta, cream, garlic, parmessean etc and not just from an instant package) tend to slow me down in the afternoon. My body seems to take longer to digest the real food. OTOH junk food seems to be converted to energy in only a few minutes.
What we geeks need is for those long coding sessions is: better chairs, better screens, workplace ergonomy in general, decent food, short breaks a couple times an hour and a short walk around the block or something now and then aswell as 8 hours of sleep. We do not need anything to keep us glued to our monitors.
I know it's incredibly cool to keep up the pizza/coffee/dew image, I like all three of them too, but considering how bad a lof of geeks handle their eating and sleeping, combined with a bad workplace and little excercise... they're a burnedout zombie with bad back and wrist problems waiting to happen.
Contrary to popular geek belief, our bodies are not made for such abuse, and no, you are not different, you too need nutrition and sleep.
Wax-Museum Fire Results In Hundreds Of New Danny DeVito Statues
being a student of theology and ancient languages, there sure arent many long coding sessions, you insensitive clod
rainman
They haven't "created" it quite yet. They are still developing it. At least according to the wording of the article.
Everybody thinks the whole rest of the world is starving too, and eagerly awaits the implementation of a postal system. A computer with e-mail would look like something from another planet, and they would most likely try to eat it or burn it for warmth.
I have pizza rolls, I take them orally. They work quite well.
My Karma was at 49, then they switched to words. All that work for nothing!
Imagine you'll get pretty hungry, though.
GI Joe: Trade you my patch for your peanut butter and crackers.
GI Ethnic: [bitch slaps GI Joe]
Not that I would suspect that any of you would refrain from reading the article, but they mention it's "civilian use".
Civilian Applications...This delivery system could meet the nutritional needs of workers in stressful, hazardous work environments -- such as miners, oil riggers, firefighters, chemical production workers, police bomb squad members and astronauts involved in space walks.
And, while we're venturing off topic, geeks need better project planning to prevent a lot of the last minute coding cram sessions that inevitably happen.
Before you flame me, I've long championed the "improv" school of coding - write when you're inspired.
But, good project management might save a lot of hairlines, guts, and relationships from distress.
The soldier of the furture come equipped with everything he needs to operate in a hostile environment.
The nutrient patch Eating means downtime, and downtime means certain death (we tell them that so we can save on the scrambled egg MREs)
The NRG patch To keep the soldier of the future alert and in the business of acting as the freeworld's finest killing machine, we have the NRG patch, a potent time release combination of caffine, cocaine, methamphetimine(sp?), and some of the best drugs every developed for narcolepsy. (If they run for 24 hours straight we can get three times the use out of them)
The Mind patchEverything you need to keep moral high and your soldiers too, eliminate battle fatigue, reduce stress, and give them the ability to see the colors of the world with our unique combination of nicotein, lsd, pcp, thc and various other combinations of letters. ( They'll be so addicticed they will battle to get their fix)
Recreation patch This patch features a combination of drugs recovered from Roswell, Viagra and birthcontrol to take the male and female integrated army to the next stage, no more ping pong or other games of skill. It's the oldest form of recreation known to man, all induced at appropriate times by appropriate couples with the use of this patch.(If they screw like bunnies they might just forget we sent them to hell)
Better living through chemistry, it's not just a motto, it's a way of life!
Anyone with any experience in a *nix shell can understand this mistake, my friend. You see, when you want to run an executable that is in the current working directory, you type ./ before its name.
Of course, if you're used to using the backslash when working in a shell you wouldn't know this, because you don't have to prepend the executable name with the current working directory to run it in DOS.
My Karma was at 49, then they switched to words. All that work for nothing!
They grow lots of corn.
..There existed two main systems of domination - Capitalism and Communism. Both these systems were used to maintain control of the population by an elite few. When the people woke up to their encagement, they revolted. But the state did not stand still, whether the state was capitalist or communist, it moved towards a fascist dictatorship to maintain control over the uprising masses.
In the end though, it was the people themselves which killed the planet. Through shortsightedness and greed, they polluted the planet until the planet chocked, and then nature washed away the parasite known as 'the human race'.
the article doesnt say anything about this patch suppressing an appetite. it might give you all the nutrients you need, but if the hunger pains are still there, then this probably isnt as great as it seems
on the other hand, if this thing can suppress an appetite and becomes relatively inexpensive, i can see the average work week increasing by at least few hours, since lunch breaks will become obsolete.
wait a minute, thats probably not good either...
Gyrate Dot Org - "Where high-tech meets low-life"
Not until it also releases Dr. Pepper into the bloodstream.
C'mon!
"Is this what ./'ers need during those long coding sessions."
No. For that we have No-Doz, coffee and caffeinated soft-drink beverages.
ok... and pizza. (Though most pizza seems to be really bad these days)
Cheers
Stor
"Yeah well there's a lot of stuff that should be, but isn't"
I saw this mentioned about 3-4 years back in Scientific American. I mentioned it to a friend who is in the Army and he got very excited about it. He explained that during combat conditions there are long periods of time when it is not possible to stop and eat, drink, or go to the bathroom-- war does not take meal breaks.
I also imagine that these things would be easier to carry with you than MREs
This is army food that even the Atkins diet could love!
What gives?
-Jordan
Another way of course is stronger drugs & vitamin pills...
:)
;)
Amphetamines (legal ones of course) will keep you up for days
Americans have one up on everyone else here, cos all they need is a vick's nasal inhaler (US version has amphets in). Everyone else would need to buy khat.
The only worry is... Do we really want thousands of nerds running around, trying to hug us?!?!?
Great, now I can finally do away with that glucose/ephedrine IV!
"FDA staff reviewers expressed concern about the number of patients who were left out of the study because they died."
"Is this what ./'ers need during those long coding sessions[?]"
:-P
What's a dot-slasher?
I would prefer a buffalo wing patch on my right arm and a beer on my left arm.
I'd code all night.
100% Insightful
Going long-term without eating cannot happen... big problems if you don't feed the gut.
Critically ill hospitalized patients with long-term abdominal pathology that prevent them from eating (severe Pancreatitis, shotgun wound to the abdomen, Gastric Outlet Obstruction from cancer, Crohns Disease, etc) are at high risk for all kinds of problems. It can even happen with anorexics. They often end up on TPN (total parenteral nutrition)... AKA Intravenous feedings. Long term TPN puts you at risk for some nasty complications (see below), even aside from the risk of TPN itself (you have to have the electrolytes, osmolality, etc just right).
The current theory is that the intestinal wall needs to be "fed" by absorbing food. Like many things in the body, the gut needs exercise. If it doesn't get it, you get atrophy of the viscera, and bacterial translocation across the gut wall. This results in severe gram-negative sepsis from enteric organisms (think about intravenously injecting feces... it's about the same effect). Overwhelming gram-negative sepsis has a tremendous mortality rate... most don't survive.
Even without the above complication of not eating, the amount of material (think in terms of simple mass of nutrients) you could get from a transdermal patch is miniscule. There is no way you could absorb enough nutrients to stay alive. Even TPN requires that huge volumes be infused, since it can only be concentrated so much. Some components are not even water soluble (lipids), and have to be given as a suspension. Even worse, TPN has to be given through a central IV line (subclavian, jugular, femoral, PICC), since peripheral veins quickly become unusable from the irritation and osmotic load.
Honestly, I can't see this satisfying anyone's caloric needs.
I suspect this will be used primarily to deliver drugs... something we already do.
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
Transdermal Nutrient Delivery System (TDNDS)
What It Is:
During short periods of high intensity conflict, soldiers may not have access to a real meal or the time to eat it. The Transdermal Nutrient Delivery System (TDNDS) is a nutrition patch that will transmit vitamins and other micronutrients or nutraceuticals to the warfighters and sustain their physical and mental performance.
Why It's Needed:
Future warfighters may spend substantial amounts of time encapsulated in protective garments or in vehicles with limited access to normal meals. Replenishment of some of the most bioactive nutrients found in foods is needed, using a method that's controllable and minimally invasive.
How It Works:
A smart delivery system will conceivably expand on similar technology used in the nicotine patch; however, instead of transmitting nicotine, the TDNDS will serve as a reservoir of micronutrients and nutraceuticals. Advances in nutritional sciences, miniaturized physiological monitors and molecular delivery will be exploited. One potential means of transmitting nutrients would work like this: Sensors would first take readings on a warfighter's metabolism, then send information about the soldier's nutritional needs to a microchip processor. This processor might activate a microelectrical mechanical system that transmits the micronutrients -- either through skin pores or pumped directly into blood capillaries.
Benefits:
Improved Performance...Nutraceuticals transmitted by the TDNDS could reduce combat-related stress, such as muscle fatigue and the physical problems that accompany prolonged exposure to cold weather and high altitudes and conceivably signal a soldier's brain that he still has nutrient reserves to draw upon.
Civilian Applications...This delivery system could meet the nutritional needs of workers in stressful, hazardous work environments -- such as miners, oil riggers, firefighters, chemical production workers, police bomb squad members and astronauts involved in space walks.
Transdermal Nutrient Delivery System (TDNDS) What It Is: During short periods of high intensity conflict, soldiers may not have access to a real meal or the time to eat it. The Transdermal Nutrient Delivery System (TDNDS) is a nutrition patch that will transmit vitamins and other micronutrients or nutraceuticals to the warfighters and sustain their physical and mental performance. Why It's Needed: Future warfighters may spend substantial amounts of time encapsulated in protective garments or in vehicles with limited access to normal meals. Replenishment of some of the most bioactive nutrients found in foods is needed, using a method that's controllable and minimally invasive. How It Works: A smart delivery system will conceivably expand on similar technology used in the nicotine patch; however, instead of transmitting nicotine, the TDNDS will serve as a reservoir of micronutrients and nutraceuticals. Advances in nutritional sciences, miniaturized physiological monitors and molecular delivery will be exploited. One potential means of transmitting nutrients would work like this: Sensors would first take readings on a warfighter's metabolism, then send information about the soldier's nutritional needs to a microchip processor. This processor might activate a microelectrical mechanical system that transmits the micronutrients -- either through skin pores or pumped directly into blood capillaries. Benefits: Improved Performance...Nutraceuticals transmitted by the TDNDS could reduce combat-related stress, such as muscle fatigue and the physical problems that accompany prolonged exposure to cold weather and high altitudes and conceivably signal a soldier's brain that he still has nutrient reserves to draw upon. Civilian Applications...This delivery system could meet the nutritional needs of workers in stressful, hazardous work environments -- such as miners, oil riggers, firefighters, chemical production workers, police bomb squad members and astronauts involved in space walks.
I don't need a sticky wafer feeding me fancy "nutraceuticals". That's why they make vending machines, I imagine the pork rinds are chock full of them (not that I could ever bring myself to eat them, mind you. I'm in for the sweet rolls).
No, what I need is a patch to feed me lots of "nutrazzzzzicals", giving me a full nights sleep while I do whatever. If that means lucid dreams overlaying normal vision, fine (I'll just be really careful who or what I look at), just give me real sleep I don't have to catch up on later.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Soylent Patch! It's made... (SLAP)
Wait! What would happen if we made a Beowulf cluster of patches? (SLAP)
In soviet Russia, patch gets nutrition from you! (SLAP)
All your patch are (SHOTGUN BLAST)
We salute you!
Why? What is wrong with the tried-and-true diet of chips and coke?
That will never be used where it should really be: the 3rd world.
but at least we might see a few less of those 72 hour lanners passing out and dying while playing various games back to back for 36+ hours.
There aint no pancake so thin it doesn't have two sides.
.. how about your poor stomach, being slowly but steadily digested by its own hydrochloric acid and peptides?
DISCLAIMER: I have not read the article. It's Slashdotted already, dammit! Knowing that hilarious (and worrying) Navy incident of a warship stalling because NT4 crashed, I wonder why...
Michel
Fedora Project Contribut
What happens when we run out of skin surface to place all these patches?
So when will my job start requiring this new technology so i can work without a lunch break.
If you want a meal replacement, gulp down a can of Boost. You can get a generic 6 pack for about 7 bucks here in Canada. They have 353 Cal, 17.6g Protein, 44g Carbs, an assload of vitamins, etc. Which seems to be better than those patches. You can drink one in a matter of seconds (that way you don't taste it), and you're good for a couple hours, I'd say. I'm a geek, and I never eat chocolate, drink caffeinated beverages or all that junk, and I still am able to code for long stretches, and, I can also still play my favorite sports. Nutrition is a good thing for your future. These drinks are equivalent to the price of a bottle of Jolt, and they do liven you up, too. Just an alternative view of this hold geekdom thing... Although this reply might be a bit late... Meh...
...oOOo..'(_)'..oOOo...
I may be a Cynic and a paranoid ultra right winger but wouldn't this be the ultimate delivery system for nanoprobes? Or nano????
the surface area of the small intestine is several hundred square meters, and it is particularly adept at absorbing the nutrients you need. The cells that line your intestinal villi and microvilli include several specific cellular pumps on their membranes, specifically so you can move particular compounds.
Your skin, aside from being a much smaller surface area, has none of these absorptive properties.
Some drugs that are effective in micro-gram quantities (like fentanyl) can be delivered trans-dermal, but nutrients cannot be delivered in a similar fashion, or at least not in any real quantity. Think about your larger-molecular-weight nutrients... no way those are going through the skin.
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
How hard is it really to just grab a fucking pack of pop-tarts???
evil adrian
Could someone please explain to me the benefit of delivering the food as a skin patch instead of as little food pills or something. For insulin and nicotine, I can understand the need for a controlled continuous release, but why the need for such precision with food?
PLIF was awesome. So sad it's not drawn anymore.
Canada still sucks balls.
Warfighters! Another doubleplusgood word served up to us by our superduperleader and his department of the Fatherland, er, Homeland Defense!
C'mon! Be Bush's bitch! Throw out that old, not-government-approved terminology like 'soldier' and sign up for your New and Improved English class today!
Max
My god carries a hammer. Your god died nailed to a tree. Any questions?
Is this what ./'ers need during those long coding sessions. :\
Sounds more useful for dealing with trolls and other low life forms.
Hm, when they will start to invent something for all those hungry, dying people arround the World? If this helps soldiers, it will shure help children in Ethiopia and similar... What they get is rice with water ;-/
I see this as a potential and quick intervention for people dying from hunger, not as a war fighting addon.
Sinisa
This is great! You could just sit by your computer all the time, you only have to get up to take a piss! :)
Or on lan-parties! you could stay up all the time working with compos or playing the wargame!
Hell yeah this is sweet
But does my arms feel the taste from it? Like could I get a "burger with fries" patch? that would be nice..
:D
I'll take a Coke flavored one. Can I get a cheesburger as well.
> Is this what ./'ers need during those long coding sessions ?
./'ers need during those long CS playing, warezing, wanking to gay porn and anime sessions ?
Yeah right, how about:
"Is this what
"it's nice to see this kind of technology being developed out of the military budget instead of another variation on the bullet, bomb
...but I guess that wouldn't be good for the economy though...
And if we all get off our asses and tell Mr. Bush to call off the war, we can save a hell of allot more money, maybe even find a cure?
Sirens of Titan
>Think about it: instead of having to put together a >complete breakfast for your troops, you can just >feed them a generic mass of proteins and sugars, >and slap a patch on them to take care of the >vitamin and mineral requirements. Much faster, >cheaper, and field-portable.
It also produces an "all your eggs in one basket" problem. If an enemy wanted to mess with a food supply, all they have to do is destroy or steal a few kilogrammes of patches, and you no longer have the supplies to guarantee sufficient nutrients for the troops.
With conventional food, to take down the micronutrients, you also have to take down the macronutrients, which are too bulky to easily steal and too big to burn without someone noticing the fire before it's too late.
This would seem to be a legitimate strategic concern. I suppose they have to guard food shipments now, but if you break food down into "bulk" and "essential vitamins", it creates a more interesting target.
It's just like a fascist dictatorship, without the punctual rail service!
"GI Ethnic"??
You never real-played no Army you fuck.
Fucking wanker.
Fucking "Sean Clifford" What're you a big ol' Red DOG, SEAN!?! HUH? you lick your BALLS, Sean!??
You ARE a BIG RED DOG, huh, SEAN!? WWIII, you LIKE THAT!?!? That's COMMIE talk!
As my father lik@(munch munch)...
...if you spend so much time coding that you can't stop to make yourself a simple meal.
..."works similarly to to nicotine or birth control patches"...
Oh yeah, there's a warehouse mixup waiting to happen.
-- Terry
do have to say anymore?
What about caffiene. I can't have food without coke. Or will it just encourage me to drink more water?
But you're still hungry.
..that technocrates are controling your information flow.
Never mind a nutrient patch - I like eating, and it
:)
makes for a nice break from whatever you're doing.
What I want is a chef, so I don't need to waste time
cooking/preparing. Not to mention, so I don't have
to live on frozen pizzas, or my own cooking
Though they aren't mentioned in the article, if you look closely at the picture of the two patches it mentions these as being an example of chemicals to be used. Glucathione, an antioxidant and Tyrosine, a neurotransmiter precursor.
Why do people assume that coding needs a lot
of food? I mean mental labor definitely requires
a normal diet, but it is not mountain climbing
or pentathlon... Even the hardest mental
activity cannot compare to moderate physical
activity in terms of calorie consumption.
Even for the longest coding session a 10 minute
break to eat something healthier is OK, I suppose.
For those who worry about micronutrients, a
nice fresh fruit (orange/apple) is a good idea
and you can eat it while coding.
Hydration and electrolyte balance is propably
more important, especially in conjuction with
fluid loss from caffeine consumption (diuretic).
P.
Of course, Zoloft, Xanthax, Prozac, Lithium and other popular happy pills which are regularly consumed by a third of americans are considered to be a normal way of life
What you say is more true than you know. When I started taking Prozac, my life turned around. My life became normal again. So yes, a lot of people probably shouldn't be taking the drugs they do. But a lot of other people should. Please don't associate scientifically tested and proven useful medical drugs with common street drugs. Anybody who scoffs at the use of medications such as SSRIs and thinks of them as nothing more than "happy pills" probably hasn't been or known someone in their life who has suffered from and been diagnosed with major depression.
Before you jump on the what-about...-train, I'll admit that drugs like marijuana do have ligitimate medical uses. However, recent research has isolated the elements of the plant that work for pain relief from the other elements, such as those that cause the "high" that can permanently damage the brain's pleasure receptors after frequent use. If that first element can be administered seperately in a refined form, say in a pill, shot or nasal spray, it can be safely taken. Heck, even a patch (strangely, sounds almost on-topic). That is the difference between street drugs and prescription drugs.
Now if advocates put half the energy into fighting the medical industry as they did getting their pet stoner-drug legalized, these prescriptions would be cheap enough for anyone (who needs them) to afford. But prescription drugs make a nice scapegoat (mischaracterise, scream "me too!") for anyone who is cranky that they can't get their daily high.
Remember "Bring 'em on"? *sigh
Your imagination is behind reality.
At least the DARPA is doing research
on that issue.
Here's a recent german article.
This page last updated on 19 October 2001
I rather hope the technology has improved in the last year or so, but this is rather dated.
The difference between carefully-doled-out doses of lab-grade d-amphetamine, administered under the very watchful eyes of your flight surgeon AND CO, and a 'teener of stepped-on bathtub crank bought out behind a biker bar is like the difference between life and death.
Same goes for short-term use of hypnotic sleep aids under a doctor's supervision versus washing down a couple Valium with a wine cooler. Both the quack and the Old Man keep a list and check it twice, and they know who's naughty or nice.
Accidents happen during wartime. Try fielding a military force larger than five frigates and a sniper company sometime, Canada, you might find these things out for yourself. Yeah, yeah, WWII and the War of 1812, and my grandmother has nice tits, and a 386/16 is enough for anybody.
Stick to something you know something about, like toy operating systems, pornography and intellectual property theft. Your betters are on the case.
... ya mean for those Macintosh users who spend a couple of hours using iPhoto to make awesome printed books of photos to send to Mummy and Popsie?
FOLKS!
This patch is nothing but a fancy vitamin pill. It won't "feed" you any more than a vitamin pill would. RTFA!
The only advantage this patch has is that it lasts many days - the idea being to prevent soldiers from coming down with beri-beri, scurvy, and other diseases due to lack of vitamins (which MREs are not exactly high in). If you can issue a soldier a patch every week,
a) You can quickly determine if the soldier is using it - "INSPECTION - Pruuu-zent PATCH!" This is harder to do with a pill.
b) You only need worry about it once a week - for guys on long range patrol this simplifies life. In combat, simple is good.
For geeks driving a keyboard, just take your multivitamin every (virtual) morning, along with your coffee, and you will get the same effect.
www.eFax.com are spammers
Food Patch? How about a Laid Patch?
My
Limekiller
it's /.'s, not ./'s
battle rations
sugar, dex, vitamin B
no way in hell will they
fit a few days worth of sugar in a patch
I still to my red bull, coffee, and whatever chips i have laying around, plus it always help to watch a movie and/or have trance music playing, or jus stream from the ministry of sound
"Not only did the deceased defendant in question remember to his virtual apples, he also had the real life food patch! We are clearly not at fault here."
When are you going to give me my /. patch?
If you outlaw the law, only criminals will have laws
US Pilots bombing Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan because they're a bit warped out on speed in Go pills, soldiers on the ground surviving assault rifle hits with armoured vests, nutrient patches to be able to stay fit longer in battle, remotely controled drone bombers. All very in the realm of Lucius Shepard's Green Eyes I think it was, written in the Contra years in the 80's.
Why is it that I think that things like this will not make better soldiers, but merely soldiers that are more and more dependant on technology to fight?
+1 insightful, +1 funny
Underground modding!!
+1, troll
Underground modding!!
I am a US Army vet, but my only exposure to field food was MREs, I never got to see the next generation MREs used now or the older C-rations. When I was in the service the MREs came in diverse enough configurations that there was something for everyone, plus of course the little black market we had running using the M&Ms as a bargain tool.
:-)
Still, MREs had a small problem, it took time to eat them. The MRE not only gave us a certain caloric load per bag, but it also kept us busy for up to 30 minutes (some of us looked forward to getting MREs instead of a chow truck because you would be literally guaranteed 30 minutes of peace from the cadre as long as you looked busy tearing open packets of food). If you are really in a hurry and you don't eat your MREs whole then over time in a long deployment you could start suffering vitamin deficiencies, which is where a patch like that would rock.
Of course, we know the first three patches that are going to be issued will be:
1. Caffeine
2. Tylenol/Motrin
3. Go pills
The concept sounds great, but it is just too obvious that they are looking for a clean way to deliver chemicals without needles or pills (plus the patch allows a time release).
If any of you has never tasted an MRE and has a chance to, go ahead and try it. I have always been picky about food but I never thought I would be so damn well pleased with cold food (the warming jackets were not widely distributed to non-deployed units). Chicken-a-la-King, Beef Stew and "Ham and Omelette" where the best
Pedro
----
The Insomniac Coder
How about one that acts as an external kidney, filtering and accumulating wastes, releasing them through an external one-way valve?
I think waste elimination would be as important, perhaps more so, since the natural way would involve removing far more protective gear, than feeding or imbibing the conventional way.
Those limeys probably got their information about air force phamacueticals from this article written by Marc Bowden The Atlantic Monthly.
The fact that fighter pilots take "go" pills and "stop" pills so they can withstand 9-hour sorties is common knowledge.
Anonymous Coward indeed.
Take of hoser!
Eh?
How long before they are offered for sale on Thinkgeek?
If Netcraft is not decieved, that would be the way to "fix" it. Netscape on NT, I'm amazed that it has not blue screened yet and is so responsive. If it was IIE, it would be all over by now for the second or third time. Thanks for the insight.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
For those that joke about this patch, I'll bet many of the same jokes were had about canned food in 1812 too. "Who would eat food that had been bottled up for a year? How unwholsome!" Well, look at you now. Does your town have a market where farmers bring their food for you to purchase or do you eat beans from a can? In 100 years or so, people will wonder aloud about why their grandparents troubled themselves with cooking food. They will point to their care free, perfectly ballanced nutition and contrast it to a former world population that was either obese or malnurished. Something will be lost, something will be gained, the methods will be improved.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
I happen to work for a company in the industry and know a considerable amount about the pumps and future and current sensors. Most of the sensors that are on market (e.g., Glucowatch) or are being developed are complete hype (there's one or two that show good promise, but I won't name them). Basically all of the projects that intend to measure BG through the skin are complete crap. Besides the fact that BG is in relatively low concentration in the blood, and the fact that it can vary wildly in a diabetic, and the fact that its spectra overlaps with a number of other elements commonly found in blood, they must also contend with varying blood, sweat, skin, fat layers, and so on. It's essentially an impossible task if you wish to do it consistently, accurately, continuously, and for an extended period of time (that is to say without constant recalibration). Different people will have different concentrations of these other elements and it depends, day to day, on diet, exercise, and so on too. The external devices that are attempting to extract blood in small quantities have limited success, but only for short durations and generally without much accuracy. They also tend to irritate the skin and must be moved. In my estimation, the only sensors that show any promise in practice are those that are implanted and do not depend on chemical and electro-chemical (e.g., spectrosopy) processes.
As for the pumps, pain from the infusion sites (or even from measurement) is not a significant factor for most diabetes. The few patients that do, tend to be really skinny, but with proper training they accustomed to it pretty quickly. The real problem is the hassle associated with taking the time to measure, living by a regimented schedule, having to restrict your diet, etc. The pump makes a lot of these much less of a problem, but it's still far from perfect.
Even when a good sensor is developed and approved, you can expect to wait a couple years for a true closed loop system to get approval. Even if both are shown work very well independently (the pump is of course well proven in its current form), coupling them to work autonomously will be a HUGE step in the regulatory process (hopefully with support from the diabetes community the FDA and other regulatory agencies won't drag their feet too much).
For years we've been bombarded with commercials advertising "deep pore cleansing" to help reduce clogged pores, and make us leap tall buildings in a single bound.
But now by shoving food down our pores, we will be suffer unslghtly blackeads, bet GI-Jane wouldn't go in for this.
2003-01-10 20:01:54 Military working on transdermal food for soldiers (articles,science) (rejected)
Fuck you, Timmy. You're on my shitlist with that retard, Michael.
Cruising the internet on my TI-99/4A @ a whopping 300 baud!
He said ./'ers, don't panic.
Keep your packets off my GNU/Girlfriend!
You want stimulation on this job? Chew on a stick of gum, clean up that filthy keyboard, and get back to work! Any more complaining and you are fired. - from the hell job.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
"I'm sorry ma'am, but it really isn't our fault that due to a mixup at our warehouse you got fat and pregnant... by the way, I notice that you are smoking. Would you like to quit? There's a patch for that, too. Just guess which of these three it is..."
Lack of eloquence does not denote lack of intelligence, though they often coincide.
While this is a great idea in some respects, it still fails in others. Part of what makes me "perform less than optimally" when I'm hungry is that my stomach is making all kinds of nasty noises & having nasty feelings. It is rather distracting. Regardless of what I put on my arm, without something in my stomach, it won't stop.
There are a thousand forms of subversion, but few can equal the convenience and immediacy of a cream pie -Noel Godin
Drink down four or five egg yolks for a similar effect.
Most depression is caused by cholesterol deficiency. Cholesterol is actually so important to our body's health your body punishes you with depression as a result. Our brains, btw, are about 25% cholesterol on average. Cholesterol as you may know is a lipoprotein. That is its a protein with the hydrophobic properties of fat, perfect for the acquious solution of our brain. Our brains could never grow to the size they are without cholesterol.
Anyway, egg yolks are rich in cholesterol. Drink them down and you will feel tired and happy in a few minutes. Take it before bed time and you will have the a similar effect.
One of the reason low density lipoproteins are common today is because most cholesterol has been oxidized by heat. So its important to eat only RAW egg yolks. LDL's have no functional purpose in our bodies and do not stimulate seratonin.
I don't read or respond to AC posts
Note that it says "short periods." This patch is not intended to replace eating forever. It's only a supplement to keep soldiers going for short periods.
Oh, you say you didn't read the article?
How very... 1999.
Honestly, I can't see this satisfying anyone's caloric needs.
Sigh... this patch isn't trying to deliver calories. It's trying to deliver micronutrients - vitamins and minerals. Just RTFA.
My other sig is also a
That's where the testosterone patch was supposed to be applied, but I never had one, and probably wouldn't go there, unless I really needed it. I guess I thought it was a funny picture, solders shaving their testicles before a mission to apply 'food patches'. Actually, it's still funny to me. I mean I did some weird things when I was in the Army, but that wasn't one of them.
Solders Shaving Testicles-Say it ten times, fast.
Computer virus zaps oil giant
I know MRE's and even old rations are held in high regard in some places, but when I trained with the Brits and French, they had hot and cold running water in their tanks for tea (Brits) and wine in their rations (French). However, I have eaten some local fare that I would gladly go back to MRE's, or even dogs; for example rancid soups, fermented fish heads, and the stomach contents of an ungulate.
Computer virus zaps oil giant
..."works similarly to to nicotine or birth control patches"...
Oh yeah, there's a warehouse mixup waiting to happen.
"Yes, I'm pregnant, but at least I don't have to worry about those extra B vitamins."
Hey, just imagine being able to game for 86 hours straight. It sure would have helped this guy.
Perhaps you should study some physiology before you criticize.
The article talks about nutraceuticals (who knows what they are talking about? Sounds suspiciously like non-specific marketing speak to me) and vitamins/nutrients.
How exactly do you think they are going to deliver water-soluble vitamins through the skin? The keratinized squamous epithelium is quite water resistant. How about fat-soluble vitamins? Do you think simple diffusion is going to bring in enough to satisfy someone's RDA?
The skin is not porous enough, and is not designed for absorption... in fact, the exact opposite is true. Unless a soldier in the field suddenly develops a B-12 deficiency (something that takes years), putting a patch on his arm is not going to boost his performance one iota.
The point I was making is this: with the exception of some drugs that are effective in very small quantities (Clonidine, Nicotine, Fentanyl) you cannot deliver sufficient material this way. Giving someone some kind of "nutraceutical" is not going to change the fact that their blood sugar is low from not eating.
I hope that clarifies it for you.
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
I also wonder why (you would think it would be a nice logical progression) there haven't turned up any common (or new) illegal drug patches (ie, a cocaine, amphetimine, or THC patch - or an LSD patch)? Heck, why not any common drug patches (pain relief patch - not heat, but real pain blocking chems, or cold relief - though these probably don't matter because taking pills in our society is seen as "normal" - so why not illegal drugs in pill form - sort like LSD sugar cubes)?
Every since transdermal nicotine patches came out, I have kept thinking that some illegal drug entreprenour would come out with such a patch - but nothing, so far. So why not? Does something in the makeup of the patch prevent it (ie, chemical incompatibilities or something similar)? I doubt it is fear of patent infringements...
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
Namely macronutrients. You can't survive off this - you will still die quickly of dehydration. And then the muscular atrophy will kick in from lack of protein, and loss of mental clarity from lack of glucose. Then, untimely death. This patch just means that now you can eat Snickers 6 times a day and Drink Water instead of fussing with the rest of that nutrition crap.
http://www.accountkiller.com/removal-requested