Does print offer any advantage over digital beyond not needing a powered device?
It can be physically abused, without risking damage to a potentially expensive electronic device... for myself, namely in the waiting area for patients at my office.
Sure, lots of people just play around/read on their smartphones these days, but for those who are not, I'd rather have a bunch of magazines which they can flip through if they're looking for something different to read, rather than providing an electronic device for them to do the same.
Granted, the alien species there weren't terribly memorable in any way... the series was built more around the lower-tech methods of the human resistance, which I did find to be an interesting concept.
I remember once I extracted the MIDI files from TIE Fighter (ahh good ol' days poking around things with a hex editor). The music for the menus/etc. were some 30-odd regular length pieces (minute or two long)
The actual in-flight music, on the other hand, was something like 60 or so (I don't remember exactly how many, maybe more?) pieces, about 5-15 seconds long each, which the game would stitch together with some sort of logic (afterall, only certain phrases will sound right following other phrases of the music) to provide the background music while playing, which would of course attempt to match the action which was happening at the time in-game.
The effect was quite neat, but something like this requires a lot more work on the part of the composers and everyone else working on the game to make sure that the action and the music match up properly as well.
I'm pretty sure there was some element of randomness to it as well, since I remember flying around after having completed a mission, listening to the music which played indicating you were done, and listening for a good 20 minutes or so trying to figure out where it was looping or such, and not finding it. While there was a certain sequence in that one phrase of the music would follow another, it seemed like it would randomly pick what to play next at times.
Ahh... good ol' GUS. I think I've still got a GUS ACE in an old system somewhere...
A pain to configure at times... though being able to swap samples on a per-game basis was fun... a rather decent sample set (still use a few of them to this day)... and the sound output was very clean too (SB16 *shudder* sooooooooo noisy)
Most white fillings placed these days are a composite, the resin part typically being something such as Bis-GMA, the 'MA' being 'methacrylate', the chemistry behind it being acrylic chemistry which allows for the polymerization of the individual molecules together. Look up 'acryl' or 'acrylic acid'... same basic end group, but the properties of whatever you end up with vary greatly with what you attach to it.
The light activation itself is not of the Bis-GMA though, but a separate photoinitiator, commonly camphorquinone, which absorbs in the blue range... knocks an electron off, creates free radical, free-radical polymerization of the Bis-GMA, etc., the usual story with acrylic-types. (Fun fact: camphorquinone is a very yellow molecule [since it absorbs blue!], which makes for all sorts of fun for the composite manufacturers trying to get the shades right for filling materials). Once upon a time, UV photoinitators were used, but due to safety concerns everything's gone to blue light these days for filling and sealants. UV photoinitiators are still used in many other different areas though... the last time I had a chip in my windshield repaired, it was with a UV-cured acrylic.
This wound treatment though, is using Rose Bengal, which is typically used as a dye, but as with many coloured molecules, absorption of that frequency of light which characterizes them knocks that electron off, creating a free radical... which in turn can react with other substances. In this case it is collagen molecules.
So, to compare with acrylic chemistry... it's sort of an analogous process, where Rose Bengal is the photoinitiator, and the collagen in the body is like the acrylic!
The nature of the reactions, despite 'application of energy', is quite different; the energy involved is also on vastly different scales.
Cauterization involves application of heat, burning the tissues (killing the tissues) and denaturating the proteins (completely wrecking their structure), causing them to precipitate out of solution and clump together, plugging things up (plugging up bleeding blood vessels, and also causing blood to clot around the plugs, being a side effect of it). Lots of heat energy, sufficient to burn flesh. Usually done with a fair bit more precision these days of course.
This technique, on the other hand, is quite similar to one which I use from time to time for disinfection of periodontal pockets around teeth... application of a dye (in my case, toluidine blue) which binds to the bacteria, and then activation of the dye with the appropriate frequency of light which is matched to the absorption spectrum of the dye (sorry, not at the office so can't look up the specs), generating free radicals which react with bacterial components and ultimately killing the bacteria. The energy involved is literally that of the photon of the proper wavelength which knocks the electron out of the dye when the dye absorbs it... multiplied many times of course. Without the matched dye to absorb the light though, the light won't be doing a heck of a lot of useful work... sure it'll be absorbed by other molecules, which does heat them up somewhat, but nowhere near the level of heat used in cauterization.
In this situation, the dye is Rose Bengal, which likely has an affinity for collagen. Activation of the dye causes the collagen molecules to form bonds with one another, cross-linking them. Essentially, it turns the existing collagen where it is applied into the 'glue' to hold the wound together. No destruction of living tissue as cautery would (whether tissues die from other factors with the injury, such as insufficient blood supply, are a different story), and also much less of a mess of various byproducts left behind afterwards as well.
Is this such a good idea? The mouth is a rather harsh environment... moist, corrosive environment; very very abundant in bacteria (which just love to grow onto anything foreign we place in there); and subject to some very strong forces (hundred or two pounds of pressure of conscious biting force, can be many times more unconscious [eg. sleeping]).
Less invasive I suppose, but it'll have its own issues.
The whole 'many eyeballs' idea, which has seemed to work so well for software,
but which I hesitate to apply to other areas such as this. With software, if
there is bug, then it breaks. The program does not work properly, be it a
buffer overrun, errors in the output, whatever.
However, what is the standard by which the entries of an encyclopedia may be
judged for accuracy? (And I ask this question of any reference work, not just
wikipedia). Are the masses going to catch all the errors? Probably only the
most blantant ones. How many are going to take the time to research many other
sources to verify if something is correct, and change the information? And what
if said change happens to run against the established beliefs even if it
happens to be true? Will peer review accept or discard new information, even if
it happens to be true, because of one's bias?
Dental drills? I know of more than once person that has used a lab handpiece for
carving pumpkins and other things... no, not the ones you'd use in the mouth,
typically these are either small electric dremel-looking deals (but smaller) or large motors and a flexible shaft.
As to your dental high speed turbines, they typically run at 200,000-500,000
rpm, which is a fair bit higher than what a dremel runs at. The slow speed
rotors run at 20k.
As to the sound... not much you can do about that. Spinning at that frequency,
you'll have noise as such.
The new electic handpieces are looking nice; they're a lot quieter than the air
driven ones that we've been using for the last howevermany years. Better torque
as well. Been starting to consider switching just to spear myself ear damage...
just waiting for them to shrink the size some more... and the cost to come
down...
I've always likened demos vs pre-rendered movies to theatre vs film, seeing how
theatre is done real-time, whereas film is not. Yet there are certain aspects
of both which appeal to different people, though obviously not to everyone.
Perhaps there is something about it being created at the time you are watching.
Or maybe it's about working with limited resources. Or to some the appeal is in
how it was done rather than what you see.
Amoung dentists, we do consider dentin is a living tissue (or at least, most dentists I know would consider it living). It has microscopic tubules inside in which there are cells or extensions of cells that are in the pulp. If you cut into it (eg. when doing a filling), pain will be percieved. People with recession and exposed root surfaces often temperature sensitivity since the dentin is exposed.
Does dentin require any nutrition? That is a bit of a point of debate still. When a root canal is done, the pulp tissue is removed, and the tooth is essentially dead. Normally, the pressure from inside the pulp causes slow fluid flow through those tubules to the outside. I'm not sure if anybody has determined exactly what that does (perhaps some sort of defensive flushing mechanism has been speculated). I don't know of any studies that have been done about teeth with root canal treatment (and hence lacking this fluid flow) being more vulnerable to anything either.
Teeth which have had root canals do dry out though, and thus the dentin does become slightly more brittle (and hence prone to fracture). More so, the access opening that has to be made to do the root canal weakens the tooth structurally (think of a cylinder with closed ends, and then you put a hole through one end into the hollow center)... hence again root canal teeth being more fragile. And as mentioned, the root canal is often done because of prexisting factors such as large amount of decay or trauma. Therefore, a crown is often highly recommended to reinforce what is left. Much better than having the tooth fracture straight down the root (which I have seen quite often with uncrowned root canaled teeth) and then having to be pulled because you can't fix it.
As to the tooth turning black, that often is a result of the oxidation of the materials that are used to seal the canal up after root canal treatment is performed.
And this technique of growing a new tooth? I hope people are very patient, since the process to grow a new tooth will probably take years (at least, that's how long it takes for you body to form one when you are young).
Re:It IS absolutely retroactive
on
Canadian Privacy Act
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· Score: 2, Informative
Here in Alberta, the provincial version of the act is PIPA, which is pretty much based on PIPEDA, and is what we are required to follow in handling privacy issues in-province, while PIPEDA applies when dealing with out-of-province information transfer. As a dentist, I am a bit annoyed at the extra paperwork that has to be done to get consent for patient information now. With regards to doing different things to protect the privacy of patient information, not much really has to be changed from what were were doing before (eg. how long to retain information, shredding stuff so nobody else can see confidential stuff, asking only for what we need, not letting other people see it unless it's required, etc), other than certain things we'll probably have to get written permission for now whereas before we could just ask.
As to 'giving the dentist consent to use the data how he wants'... the PIPA act (and I think with PIPEDA as well; I'd have to double check) requires the dentist, business, etc. to inform you exactly what the data is to be used for before you give your consent. Not quote 'how he wants', but spelled out in some detail so you know where it's going to go. Name so we know who you are; contact information so we know how to get a hold of you (eg. Recall reminders [though you are required to give the option of opting-out], manufacturer issues recall on certain filling material so have to call up all the patients about it, etc.), to send bills to if applicable; insurance information if applicable; medical information that may affect treatment or ability to treat, etc.
Most of this basically stays in-house. Insurance information will go back and forth between the office and the insurance company; medical information only if consultation with another dentist/doctor/etc. is required; specifics of treatment with the laboratory so they can fabricate prostheses. If you want to know what happens to it and why a dentist, business, or whatnot needs it, do ask, since they will be required to tell you exactly what it's for. If they can't show you why it's required, then you don't have to give it. For dental work, if you don't provide sufficient medical information that I can decide that you can be treated safely, then obviously I can't treat you. No billing information, then you'll have to pay up front. In my line of work, most of it is pretty obvious. I suppose things could get messier with banks and larger corporations.
Personally, I've been more concerned about the extra loops that I have to go through just to get work done more so than the act's impact on my ability to keep my information private.
This may not be a practical suggestion, but it came to my mind as I was reading
this, since I have dabbled in some minor electronics and case modification in
the last while... if one knew what they were doing, perhaps one could modify an
existing mouse to replace the existing microswitch with something else, perhaps
a IR emitter/sensor which is blocked by a tab when the mouse button is pressed.
That would eliminate the clicking sound of the microswitch.
Or perhaps a touchplate... though could be interesting trying to rest your
finger on there.
One would have to consult someone more experienced in building this sort of
stuff regarding feasibility though.:)
Among classical listeners you are more likely to find greater discernment though, especially among people who play instruments... they're likely to enjoy music for which they get a good part. I know some people who really don't like Beethoven too much since the orchestral part they play in his pieces is utterly boring (a commonly seen thing from the classical period forward for supporting parts).
Some people prefer music from the romantic period, some like more modern fare, and some like myself prefer baroque (Beethoven I find boring, Mozart... so-so; Handel would be my composer of choice). It's somewhat misleading to lump everything into just 'classical' just because it involves the traditional classical instruments. There are too many varied styles. And most 'classical' listeners I know listen for different things... technique, difficulty of the part... lots of variety.
The other thing about classical music is you'll get many varying interpretations depending on who's conducting/performing. Regardless of who composed it, there'll be performances I disagree with and performances I'll love just because of the tempo, the dynamics, and of course, the quality of the performers.
As popular music... probably 99% I just can't stand listening to. Most of the time it's a simple a thing as their doing nothing but singing the same note over and over, or the same phrase of 3 or 4 notes repeated ad nauseum. It's very hard to appreciate it musically when there is very little or no melody... and usually it just ends up grating on my nerves. Often the only part I can really appreciate is the drummer if they do something more interesting than the standard rock beat, or maybe the bass if they're doing some embellishing and not just the same 3-note loop as well. And the vocalists... well, compared to a trained classical voice, you can't really compare. I tend to pay more attention to the composition than how well the performance is done, but that all goes to heck if the singer doesn't manage to stay in tune...
According to the
NASA release, it's the heliosheath that's possibly been reached, not the heliopause.
The heliosheath is the area between the termination shock and heliopause. It looks like there's some debate about whether the termination shock has actually been crossed or not, but I guess they're agreed that certain readings have changed.
Reasons for having a quiet computer can range from just being annoyed at the
noise, to needing it quiet for, say, a home theater setup.
As for myself, I edit music/audio on my system as one of my hobbies, and
having loud fans gets in the way. I don't have a studio setup or anything
fancy that requires ultra-quiet, but do want a low enough level of noise
that I don't notice it (too much). I still use headphones sometimes when
I really want to block things out though, but I much prefer working through
the speakers.
Well, in the orig. Quake there was the m_pitch and m_yaw settings which could be easily changed/scripted. Having not kept up extensively with more recent games, I can't say much about them, though many seem to reduce the response appropriately when one zooms in.
I can't playing any FPS without a super-high sensitivity... approx 1 inch for
a 180 degree turn. Most of the time it's just very small movements... don't
want to waste time and effort having to move the mouse too far...
Just to get the name out since somebody suggested it yesterday there but it
doesn't seem like anybody has gone ahead to write anything yet...
A bunch of us ol' Ultima Dragons (and some non-dragons) like to hang out on the
Weyrmount MOO (moo.weyrmount.org:8000). What happens there? Anything from great
meaningful^H^H^Hless debates on just about any topic to mass idling to various
games/etc. 'Tis a fairly small crowd, but don't be too shy to drop by, whether
you be a dragon or not.
(Silhouette Dragon of the Ultima Dragons Internet Chapter)
Too bad they didn't give a list of brands and manufacturers; that would've been
good to know.
Back when you could still get them, I burned all my important data onto Mitsui
golds. They seem to be working still, after sitting around for 5-6 years.
Similarly with the Mitsui silvers and Kodak silvers. All these used a
pthalocyanine dye, which is supposed to be more stable than the cyanine (and
cost more... the Mitsuis at up to $5+ per disk at times). Unfortunately I
believe they dropped off the CDR market since I can't seem to get a hold of any
of theirs, save some which is rebranded under a different name... which you
really can't find out until you pop it into the CDR drive to ID it.
I believe Taiyo Yuden made a well-stabilized cyanine die that was supposed to
last long as well.
I can't say much about the stability of the pthalocyanine dyes today, especially
all those coming from the cheaper manufacturers (Ritek, Prodisc, etc). It
doesn't seem like you can even find gold pthalocyanines anymore these days, or
heck, even gold cyanines. I don't know much about the azo dyes though.
Which brands are good today? That's rather hard to tell, since even within a
single brand you're probably going to find a bunch of different manufacturers,
unless you're buying one where the brand is the same as the manufacturer. I've
seen tons of different manufactured Sonys; Taiyo Yuden's and Mitsui's showing
up as Memorex's (very rare, most of the current ones are Prodisc I think and
I've seen a lot of Riteks in the past). 'Made in Japan' seems to be a good sign
though, instead of 'Made in Taiwan'.
Personally, I save the cheapo ones for throw-aways. Burn to listen in my car
for a while, to mix and match and avoid wear and tear on originals. Scratching
them up really doesn't matter, they're not that critical. Anything
important I try to keep on (supposedly) more long-lasting media, and that gets
handled with care. So far, 5+ year backups have been brought back up and data
read without any problems. Whether that'll be true of the more current disks
in another 5 years I really can't say.
As a dentist, first of all, I cannot recommend anything for a
specific situation without actually seeing the situation myself. There are
different reasons why teeth are yellow, and different ways of whitening as
well. As mentioned by many others, get a dentist to have a look at the
situation first.
For some more general information about bleaching products:
They are all peroxide-based, usually carbamide peroxide, which breaks down into
hydrogen peroxide upon use. There are various ways of delivery. The
over-the-counter methods such as the strips or paint-on system are lower in
concentration than what you would find in a dentist-provided system, but
basically the same thing. If you see a dentist, you can either have a home
bleaching system made up for you, or have in-office bleaching done. The
take-home system entails wearing a custom-made tray carrying the bleaching gel
overnight. In-office bleaching uses quite a high concentration of peroxide,
applied over a short period of time. Which one you pick depends on how much
hassle you want, and costs will vary.
How well does it work? Generally, there will be some whitening, but how much
depends on the patient. Smoking, coffee, and foods that stain are absolute
no-no's, especially right when you're doing the bleaching, since the teeth at
that point can very easily pick stains back up. 'Clinically proven' is a
phrase I absolutely hate. To me, it's just a marketing phrase, and says nothing
about the amount or quality of research that has been done on a particular
product.
Last of all, there can be side effects from bleaching. Many people have
reported sensitivity (hot and cold) after they've done it; It goes away for
some. Also, I don't know of any long-term studies on whether the teeth are
damaged in any way, or more susceptible to decay/etc., so that question is
still up in the air.
Personally, I do bleaching for patients on occasion, but I don't really push
it, due to concern about side effects. Plus, I find the resulting look can be
unnatural compared to how natural teeth are supposed to look.
Still considered by many to be the best Quake mod, and which started the craze of all the team-based FPS's (whether commercial game or mods) played today. A small though dwindling number of people still play it today (with QuakeWorld), because of its arguably still-unrivalled gameplay. There are plenty of follow-ups, imitators, and newer/fancier/enhanced team-based FPS's, but there's something particularly refreshing about the original TF which I have yet to find beaten by any other game.
While having used both xine and mplayer a fair bit for a while now, the one thing I really like about mplayer is the ability to control it from the console you start it on, without having to use a GUI or physically be on the system that it's displaying on (not having any type of IR remote control myself). The keybindings are nicely tweakable, which makes control of it from the keyboard easy (though I do like xine's ability to jump to the 10%-90% position in the file just from pressing 1-9). Some people such as myself don't appreciate GUI's as much, and being able to ssh over to the box across the room and play a movie, pause, seek, etc. in it without having to sit in front of it is nice.
Also, not everybody spends all their time in X all the time; much of the time I'm on a plain text console, and being able to play on fbdev is quite welcome as well.
Re:Was I the only kid who read Three Investigators
on
Soundless Music?
·
· Score: 1
I vaguely remember this book, but it was the first thing that came to mind when I read this. IIRC, they used a pipe organ where the pipes had been lengthened to decrease the frequencies, and it generated feelings of fear for those inside the haunted house.
Three Investigators was as great series of books, though. I always wished I had a hideout like their RV hidden under the junkyard.
Slashdot Mirror
Does print offer any advantage over digital beyond not needing a powered device?
It can be physically abused, without risking damage to a potentially expensive electronic device... for myself, namely in the waiting area for patients at my office.
Sure, lots of people just play around/read on their smartphones these days, but for those who are not, I'd rather have a bunch of magazines which they can flip through if they're looking for something different to read, rather than providing an electronic device for them to do the same.
Also preferable for active, destructive, kids. :P
Granted, the alien species there weren't terribly memorable in any way... the series was built more around the lower-tech methods of the human resistance, which I did find to be an interesting concept.
I remember once I extracted the MIDI files from TIE Fighter (ahh good ol' days poking around things with a hex editor). The music for the menus/etc. were some 30-odd regular length pieces (minute or two long)
The actual in-flight music, on the other hand, was something like 60 or so (I don't remember exactly how many, maybe more?) pieces, about 5-15 seconds long each, which the game would stitch together with some sort of logic (afterall, only certain phrases will sound right following other phrases of the music) to provide the background music while playing, which would of course attempt to match the action which was happening at the time in-game.
The effect was quite neat, but something like this requires a lot more work on the part of the composers and everyone else working on the game to make sure that the action and the music match up properly as well.
I'm pretty sure there was some element of randomness to it as well, since I remember flying around after having completed a mission, listening to the music which played indicating you were done, and listening for a good 20 minutes or so trying to figure out where it was looping or such, and not finding it. While there was a certain sequence in that one phrase of the music would follow another, it seemed like it would randomly pick what to play next at times.
I really miss stuff like that...
Ahh... good ol' GUS. I think I've still got a GUS ACE in an old system somewhere...
A pain to configure at times... though being able to swap samples on a per-game basis was fun... a rather decent sample set (still use a few of them to this day)... and the sound output was very clean too (SB16 *shudder* sooooooooo noisy)
Then everything became prerecorded...
RIP dynamic music imuse style...
Most white fillings placed these days are a composite, the resin part typically being something such as Bis-GMA, the 'MA' being 'methacrylate', the chemistry behind it being acrylic chemistry which allows for the polymerization of the individual molecules together. Look up 'acryl' or 'acrylic acid'... same basic end group, but the properties of whatever you end up with vary greatly with what you attach to it.
The light activation itself is not of the Bis-GMA though, but a separate photoinitiator, commonly camphorquinone, which absorbs in the blue range... knocks an electron off, creates free radical, free-radical polymerization of the Bis-GMA, etc., the usual story with acrylic-types. (Fun fact: camphorquinone is a very yellow molecule [since it absorbs blue!], which makes for all sorts of fun for the composite manufacturers trying to get the shades right for filling materials). Once upon a time, UV photoinitators were used, but due to safety concerns everything's gone to blue light these days for filling and sealants. UV photoinitiators are still used in many other different areas though... the last time I had a chip in my windshield repaired, it was with a UV-cured acrylic.
This wound treatment though, is using Rose Bengal, which is typically used as a dye, but as with many coloured molecules, absorption of that frequency of light which characterizes them knocks that electron off, creating a free radical... which in turn can react with other substances. In this case it is collagen molecules.
So, to compare with acrylic chemistry... it's sort of an analogous process, where Rose Bengal is the photoinitiator, and the collagen in the body is like the acrylic!
The nature of the reactions, despite 'application of energy', is quite different; the energy involved is also on vastly different scales.
Cauterization involves application of heat, burning the tissues (killing the tissues) and denaturating the proteins (completely wrecking their structure), causing them to precipitate out of solution and clump together, plugging things up (plugging up bleeding blood vessels, and also causing blood to clot around the plugs, being a side effect of it). Lots of heat energy, sufficient to burn flesh. Usually done with a fair bit more precision these days of course.
This technique, on the other hand, is quite similar to one which I use from time to time for disinfection of periodontal pockets around teeth... application of a dye (in my case, toluidine blue) which binds to the bacteria, and then activation of the dye with the appropriate frequency of light which is matched to the absorption spectrum of the dye (sorry, not at the office so can't look up the specs), generating free radicals which react with bacterial components and ultimately killing the bacteria. The energy involved is literally that of the photon of the proper wavelength which knocks the electron out of the dye when the dye absorbs it... multiplied many times of course. Without the matched dye to absorb the light though, the light won't be doing a heck of a lot of useful work... sure it'll be absorbed by other molecules, which does heat them up somewhat, but nowhere near the level of heat used in cauterization.
In this situation, the dye is Rose Bengal, which likely has an affinity for collagen. Activation of the dye causes the collagen molecules to form bonds with one another, cross-linking them. Essentially, it turns the existing collagen where it is applied into the 'glue' to hold the wound together. No destruction of living tissue as cautery would (whether tissues die from other factors with the injury, such as insufficient blood supply, are a different story), and also much less of a mess of various byproducts left behind afterwards as well.
Disclaimer: I am a dentist...
Is this such a good idea? The mouth is a rather harsh environment... moist, corrosive environment; very very abundant in bacteria (which just love to grow onto anything foreign we place in there); and subject to some very strong forces (hundred or two pounds of pressure of conscious biting force, can be many times more unconscious [eg. sleeping]).
Less invasive I suppose, but it'll have its own issues.
AFAIK, Sparkle is just a rebranding of a FSP power supply. There's a few other names they sell under, but thats the only one I can think of offhand.
The whole 'many eyeballs' idea, which has seemed to work so well for software, but which I hesitate to apply to other areas such as this. With software, if there is bug, then it breaks. The program does not work properly, be it a buffer overrun, errors in the output, whatever.
However, what is the standard by which the entries of an encyclopedia may be judged for accuracy? (And I ask this question of any reference work, not just wikipedia). Are the masses going to catch all the errors? Probably only the most blantant ones. How many are going to take the time to research many other sources to verify if something is correct, and change the information? And what if said change happens to run against the established beliefs even if it happens to be true? Will peer review accept or discard new information, even if it happens to be true, because of one's bias?
Dental drills? I know of more than once person that has used a lab handpiece for carving pumpkins and other things... no, not the ones you'd use in the mouth, typically these are either small electric dremel-looking deals (but smaller) or large motors and a flexible shaft.
As to your dental high speed turbines, they typically run at 200,000-500,000 rpm, which is a fair bit higher than what a dremel runs at. The slow speed rotors run at 20k.
As to the sound... not much you can do about that. Spinning at that frequency, you'll have noise as such.
The new electic handpieces are looking nice; they're a lot quieter than the air driven ones that we've been using for the last howevermany years. Better torque as well. Been starting to consider switching just to spear myself ear damage... just waiting for them to shrink the size some more... and the cost to come down...
I've always likened demos vs pre-rendered movies to theatre vs film, seeing how theatre is done real-time, whereas film is not. Yet there are certain aspects of both which appeal to different people, though obviously not to everyone.
Perhaps there is something about it being created at the time you are watching. Or maybe it's about working with limited resources. Or to some the appeal is in how it was done rather than what you see.
Amoung dentists, we do consider dentin is a living tissue (or at least, most dentists I know would consider it living). It has microscopic tubules inside in which there are cells or extensions of cells that are in the pulp. If you cut into it (eg. when doing a filling), pain will be percieved. People with recession and exposed root surfaces often temperature sensitivity since the dentin is exposed.
Does dentin require any nutrition? That is a bit of a point of debate still. When a root canal is done, the pulp tissue is removed, and the tooth is essentially dead. Normally, the pressure from inside the pulp causes slow fluid flow through those tubules to the outside. I'm not sure if anybody has determined exactly what that does (perhaps some sort of defensive flushing mechanism has been speculated). I don't know of any studies that have been done about teeth with root canal treatment (and hence lacking this fluid flow) being more vulnerable to anything either.
Teeth which have had root canals do dry out though, and thus the dentin does become slightly more brittle (and hence prone to fracture). More so, the access opening that has to be made to do the root canal weakens the tooth structurally (think of a cylinder with closed ends, and then you put a hole through one end into the hollow center)... hence again root canal teeth being more fragile. And as mentioned, the root canal is often done because of prexisting factors such as large amount of decay or trauma. Therefore, a crown is often highly recommended to reinforce what is left. Much better than having the tooth fracture straight down the root (which I have seen quite often with uncrowned root canaled teeth) and then having to be pulled because you can't fix it.
As to the tooth turning black, that often is a result of the oxidation of the materials that are used to seal the canal up after root canal treatment is performed.
And this technique of growing a new tooth? I hope people are very patient, since the process to grow a new tooth will probably take years (at least, that's how long it takes for you body to form one when you are young).
Here in Alberta, the provincial version of the act is PIPA, which is pretty much based on PIPEDA, and is what we are required to follow in handling privacy issues in-province, while PIPEDA applies when dealing with out-of-province information transfer. As a dentist, I am a bit annoyed at the extra paperwork that has to be done to get consent for patient information now. With regards to doing different things to protect the privacy of patient information, not much really has to be changed from what were were doing before (eg. how long to retain information, shredding stuff so nobody else can see confidential stuff, asking only for what we need, not letting other people see it unless it's required, etc), other than certain things we'll probably have to get written permission for now whereas before we could just ask.
As to 'giving the dentist consent to use the data how he wants'... the PIPA act (and I think with PIPEDA as well; I'd have to double check) requires the dentist, business, etc. to inform you exactly what the data is to be used for before you give your consent. Not quote 'how he wants', but spelled out in some detail so you know where it's going to go. Name so we know who you are; contact information so we know how to get a hold of you (eg. Recall reminders [though you are required to give the option of opting-out], manufacturer issues recall on certain filling material so have to call up all the patients about it, etc.), to send bills to if applicable; insurance information if applicable; medical information that may affect treatment or ability to treat, etc.
Most of this basically stays in-house. Insurance information will go back and forth between the office and the insurance company; medical information only if consultation with another dentist/doctor/etc. is required; specifics of treatment with the laboratory so they can fabricate prostheses. If you want to know what happens to it and why a dentist, business, or whatnot needs it, do ask, since they will be required to tell you exactly what it's for. If they can't show you why it's required, then you don't have to give it. For dental work, if you don't provide sufficient medical information that I can decide that you can be treated safely, then obviously I can't treat you. No billing information, then you'll have to pay up front. In my line of work, most of it is pretty obvious. I suppose things could get messier with banks and larger corporations.
Personally, I've been more concerned about the extra loops that I have to go through just to get work done more so than the act's impact on my ability to keep my information private.
This may not be a practical suggestion, but it came to my mind as I was reading this, since I have dabbled in some minor electronics and case modification in the last while... if one knew what they were doing, perhaps one could modify an existing mouse to replace the existing microswitch with something else, perhaps a IR emitter/sensor which is blocked by a tab when the mouse button is pressed. That would eliminate the clicking sound of the microswitch.
... though could be interesting trying to rest your
finger on there.
:)
Or perhaps a touchplate
One would have to consult someone more experienced in building this sort of stuff regarding feasibility though.
Among classical listeners you are more likely to find greater discernment though, especially among people who play instruments... they're likely to enjoy music for which they get a good part. I know some people who really don't like Beethoven too much since the orchestral part they play in his pieces is utterly boring (a commonly seen thing from the classical period forward for supporting parts).
... probably 99% I just can't stand listening to. Most of the time it's a simple a thing as their doing nothing but singing the same note over and over, or the same phrase of 3 or 4 notes repeated ad nauseum. It's very hard to appreciate it musically when there is very little or no melody... and usually it just ends up grating on my nerves. Often the only part I can really appreciate is the drummer if they do something more interesting than the standard rock beat, or maybe the bass if they're doing some embellishing and not just the same 3-note loop as well. And the vocalists ... well, compared to a trained classical voice, you can't really compare. I tend to pay more attention to the composition than how well the performance is done, but that all goes to heck if the singer doesn't manage to stay in tune...
Some people prefer music from the romantic period, some like more modern fare, and some like myself prefer baroque (Beethoven I find boring, Mozart... so-so; Handel would be my composer of choice). It's somewhat misleading to lump everything into just 'classical' just because it involves the traditional classical instruments. There are too many varied styles. And most 'classical' listeners I know listen for different things... technique, difficulty of the part... lots of variety.
The other thing about classical music is you'll get many varying interpretations depending on who's conducting/performing. Regardless of who composed it, there'll be performances I disagree with and performances I'll love just because of the tempo, the dynamics, and of course, the quality of the performers.
As popular music
According to the NASA release, it's the heliosheath that's possibly been reached, not the heliopause.
The heliosheath is the area between the termination shock and heliopause. It looks like there's some debate about whether the termination shock has actually been crossed or not, but I guess they're agreed that certain readings have changed.
See also an APOD about this.
Reasons for having a quiet computer can range from just being annoyed at the noise, to needing it quiet for, say, a home theater setup.
As for myself, I edit music/audio on my system as one of my hobbies, and having loud fans gets in the way. I don't have a studio setup or anything fancy that requires ultra-quiet, but do want a low enough level of noise that I don't notice it (too much). I still use headphones sometimes when I really want to block things out though, but I much prefer working through the speakers.
Well, in the orig. Quake there was the m_pitch and m_yaw settings which could be easily changed/scripted. Having not kept up extensively with more recent games, I can't say much about them, though many seem to reduce the response appropriately when one zooms in.
Heh, 3 inches for a 360 turn is too high...
... approx 1 inch for
a 180 degree turn. Most of the time it's just very small movements... don't
want to waste time and effort having to move the mouse too far...
I can't playing any FPS without a super-high sensitivity
Just to get the name out since somebody suggested it yesterday there but it doesn't seem like anybody has gone ahead to write anything yet...
A bunch of us ol' Ultima Dragons (and some non-dragons) like to hang out on the Weyrmount MOO (moo.weyrmount.org:8000). What happens there? Anything from great meaningful^H^H^Hless debates on just about any topic to mass idling to various games/etc. 'Tis a fairly small crowd, but don't be too shy to drop by, whether you be a dragon or not.
(Silhouette Dragon of the Ultima Dragons Internet Chapter)
Too bad they didn't give a list of brands and manufacturers; that would've been good to know.
... the Mitsuis at up to $5+ per disk at times). Unfortunately I
believe they dropped off the CDR market since I can't seem to get a hold of any
of theirs, save some which is rebranded under a different name... which you
really can't find out until you pop it into the CDR drive to ID it.
I believe Taiyo Yuden made a well-stabilized cyanine die that was supposed to
last long as well.
I can't say much about the stability of the pthalocyanine dyes today, especially
all those coming from the cheaper manufacturers (Ritek, Prodisc, etc). It
doesn't seem like you can even find gold pthalocyanines anymore these days, or
heck, even gold cyanines. I don't know much about the azo dyes though.
Back when you could still get them, I burned all my important data onto Mitsui golds. They seem to be working still, after sitting around for 5-6 years. Similarly with the Mitsui silvers and Kodak silvers. All these used a pthalocyanine dye, which is supposed to be more stable than the cyanine (and cost more
Which brands are good today? That's rather hard to tell, since even within a single brand you're probably going to find a bunch of different manufacturers, unless you're buying one where the brand is the same as the manufacturer. I've seen tons of different manufactured Sonys; Taiyo Yuden's and Mitsui's showing up as Memorex's (very rare, most of the current ones are Prodisc I think and I've seen a lot of Riteks in the past). 'Made in Japan' seems to be a good sign though, instead of 'Made in Taiwan'.
Personally, I save the cheapo ones for throw-aways. Burn to listen in my car for a while, to mix and match and avoid wear and tear on originals. Scratching them up really doesn't matter, they're not that critical. Anything important I try to keep on (supposedly) more long-lasting media, and that gets handled with care. So far, 5+ year backups have been brought back up and data read without any problems. Whether that'll be true of the more current disks in another 5 years I really can't say.
As a dentist, first of all, I cannot recommend anything for a specific situation without actually seeing the situation myself. There are different reasons why teeth are yellow, and different ways of whitening as well. As mentioned by many others, get a dentist to have a look at the situation first.
For some more general information about bleaching products: They are all peroxide-based, usually carbamide peroxide, which breaks down into hydrogen peroxide upon use. There are various ways of delivery. The over-the-counter methods such as the strips or paint-on system are lower in concentration than what you would find in a dentist-provided system, but basically the same thing. If you see a dentist, you can either have a home bleaching system made up for you, or have in-office bleaching done. The take-home system entails wearing a custom-made tray carrying the bleaching gel overnight. In-office bleaching uses quite a high concentration of peroxide, applied over a short period of time. Which one you pick depends on how much hassle you want, and costs will vary.
How well does it work? Generally, there will be some whitening, but how much depends on the patient. Smoking, coffee, and foods that stain are absolute no-no's, especially right when you're doing the bleaching, since the teeth at that point can very easily pick stains back up. 'Clinically proven' is a phrase I absolutely hate. To me, it's just a marketing phrase, and says nothing about the amount or quality of research that has been done on a particular product.
Last of all, there can be side effects from bleaching. Many people have reported sensitivity (hot and cold) after they've done it; It goes away for some. Also, I don't know of any long-term studies on whether the teeth are damaged in any way, or more susceptible to decay/etc., so that question is still up in the air.
Personally, I do bleaching for patients on occasion, but I don't really push it, due to concern about side effects. Plus, I find the resulting look can be unnatural compared to how natural teeth are supposed to look.
Still considered by many to be the best Quake mod, and which started the craze of all the team-based FPS's (whether commercial game or mods) played today. A small though dwindling number of people still play it today (with QuakeWorld), because of its arguably still-unrivalled gameplay. There are plenty of follow-ups, imitators, and newer/fancier/enhanced team-based FPS's, but there's something particularly refreshing about the original TF which I have yet to find beaten by any other game.
While having used both xine and mplayer a fair bit for a while now, the one thing I really like about mplayer is the ability to control it from the console you start it on, without having to use a GUI or physically be on the system that it's displaying on (not having any type of IR remote control myself). The keybindings are nicely tweakable, which makes control of it from the keyboard easy (though I do like xine's ability to jump to the 10%-90% position in the file just from pressing 1-9). Some people such as myself don't appreciate GUI's as much, and being able to ssh over to the box across the room and play a movie, pause, seek, etc. in it without having to sit in front of it is nice.
Also, not everybody spends all their time in X all the time; much of the time I'm on a plain text console, and being able to play on fbdev is quite welcome as well.
I vaguely remember this book, but it was the first thing that came to mind when I read this. IIRC, they used a pipe organ where the pipes had been lengthened to decrease the frequencies, and it generated feelings of fear for those inside the haunted house.
:)
Three Investigators was as great series of books, though. I always wished I had a hideout like their RV hidden under the junkyard.
??? (For those who understand the reference