Monthly Archives: April 2005

Freecycling – Giving away your stuff

Freecycling networks harness the power of the Internet to connect people who have stuff to throw away with others in their area who would like that stuff, so it doesn’t wind up in a landfill. We ALL have things in our garages, closets, attics, offices, etc., that we don’t need. Freecycle lets you find someone who does. No item is too big or too small but ALL must be 100% free with no strings attached. A perfect consumer/earth friendly circle: no overhead, no money, no waste and no catch.
The basic idea is that you join a local email mailing list (many are hosted through Yahoo Groups) and you then receive messages from people in your area listing items they have for offer, or items they are looking for. You can post items that you want to get rid of, and people then e-mail you personally to arrange to pick-up or deliver the item, all free of charge.

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Our Shallow Culture

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  • Post category:Art

A study on how appearance affects pays scale:

A study by economists Daniel Hamermesh and Jeff Biddle uses survey data to examine the impact that appearance has on a person’s earnings. In each survey, the interviewer who asked the questions also rated the respondents’ physical appearance. Respondents were classified into one of the following groups: below average, average and above average.
Hamermesh and Biddle found that the “plainness penalty” is 9 percent and that the “beauty premium” is 5 percent after controlling for other variables, such as education and experience. In other words, a person with below-average looks tended to earn 9 percent less per hour, and an above-average person tended to earn 5 percent more per hour than an average-looking person. For the median male in 1996 working full-time, the respective penalty and premium amounted to approximately $2,600 and $1,400 annually. The corresponding penalty and premium for the median female worker are $2,000 and $1,100.
Economists Susan Averett and Sanders Korenman studied the effects of obesity on wages, using a sample consisting of individuals aged 16-24 in 1981 who were 23-31 in 1988. They showed that women who were obese according to their Body Mass Index (BMI) in both 1981 and 1988 earned 17 percent lower wages on average than women within their recommended BMI range… When comparing by race, the authors found a wage penalty for obesity among white women but no significant penalty for black women. Among white men, they found a much lower wage penalty for obesity than for their white female counterparts. A small positive relationship was actually found between obese black men and wages.

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Poor Henry

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  • Post category:Monkeys

A young gibbon monkey named Henry in a zoo in Minnesota is going to a new home because his parents have rejected him. The zoo has found him a surrogate mom in a zoo in Nashville, who will hopefully teach him socialization skills. Currently Henry’s only friend is a pillow named Fuzzy, that he holds onto for comfort.
You know, if that doesn’t work out in Nashville, I’ll take him.

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Fable Walkthrough Tips

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  • Post category:Art

The Bella Online walkthrough was most helpful in figuring out what I was doing wrong in the archery test. Also, see the comments for another walkthrough that I used to figure out stuff.
Also, I used the walkthrough here:
http://faqs.ign.com/articles/553/553965p1.html
I’m currently stuck in Hobbe Cave, so I don’t know some of the rest of the stuff. I’ve also on the “good” path, so I don’t have hints on doing the evil quests.

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Sleep Test

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I went to the hospital yesterday evening to participate in a sleep test to figure out why I stop breathing at night. I ended up getting not a lot of sleep at all, and I was so exhausted yesterday I went home from work and crashed. I’m still worn out today, and scrambling to keep up.

I have bookclub tonight, but I don’t know if I’ll go or if I’ll go home and crash again.

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Cognitive Decline?

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In writing about my upcoming heart surgery for IndyScribe, I stumbled across some information during research that is really disturbing, and may change my mind about having open-heart surgery. According to research, being on a heart and lungs machine during the operation can cause “cognitive decline” in 42% of patients — in other words, brain damage. Given the number of medical resources quoting the study, it appears to be a valid one.

Another source

A source that says it’s caused by endotoxins

Duke Med News Source

Given this, I’m not sure I want to have the surgery this way. I’d rather go some other route than risk the possibility of losing any of my mental ability. If that means insisting on a less-invasive procedure or foregoing surgery altogether, I’m going to consider those options.

UPDATE: I talked to my surgeon Doctor Beckman’s assistant, Michelle, this morning about this. She said that there isn’t a way to do mitral valve surgery without using the heart & lungs machine, which I guess I could have figured out on my own. (Duh; they have to stop my heart to cut into it, whereas with bypass surgeries they can sometimes avoid that.) She also pointed out that the studies were done on heart bypass patients who had clogged arteries, and that is thought to have had an effect on their situation. Also, the amount of time I will be on the machine is shorter, and they won’t have to cool me down as far or as long, which are also contributing factors. The other factors are that I’m very young to be having this surgery, and that I have advanced cognitive abilities now, which means my risk of losing them is much less than for people who are older and less educated.

I felt a lot better after talking to her. I’m still going to be doing logic puzzles and math stuff after the surgery, though, because now I’m paranoid.

Michelle also said she was very happy that I’m researching information about my surgery online, and that they wished more patients would do that. Heh. I didn’t mention that I’m also WRITING about it online. I should tell them that. Especially since if you Google “Dr. Daniel Beckman” my website comes up at the very top of the list. Hee hee. I wonder if he ever googles himself?

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