plantteacher

I’m trying to practice heating my body, not the whole room. The main problem is cold fingers when using a keyboard. Fingerless gloves are insufficient. So I figured a heat lamp would be ideal for this. And it turns out it’s been done.

I’m nixing that particular device though because the light is not red (thus not good for late night usage). It’s also only sold online and I will only buy local. The linked Beurer heat lamp is a “medical device” intended for humans. It looked suitable for my purpose -- then I saw there is a timer with max 15 min. What is that about? Is that for safety or for convenience?

I can imagine 15 min being enough for pain relief but my use case requires keeping my hands warm for hours. Pet stores sell 150 watt IR heat lamps for reptiles just as a standard bulb, thus would go into a desk lamp without a short time limit.

The linked device is 300 watt. That’s good but it has no intensity control. A normal light dimmer on the A/C line would solve that. But I wonder:

• is long-term exposure to IR heat harmful?
• if not, should I be avoiding medical devices and looking in pet shops or restaurant supply shops for IR heat lamps, to avoid the timers?
• are there IR lamps for medical purposes that have longer timers?

Bit nutty.. or it could work if the mouse is not needed much→ http://i.stack.imgur.com/bbE42.jpg

The ACM.org website published the work of a team at Carnegie Mellon (#CMU) which was said to include source code. Then the code was omitted from the attached ZIP file, which only contained another copy of the paper. I asked the lead researcher (a prof) for the code and was ignored. Also asked the other researchers (apparently students), who also ignored the request. The code would have made it possible to reproduce the research and verify it. ACM ~~also ignored my request and~~ also neglected to fix the misinfo (the claim on the page that source code is available). Correction: ACM replied and tried to find the missing code but then just gave up.

It seems like this should taint the research in some way. Why don’t they want people reproducing the research? If the idea is that scientific research is “peer reviewed” for integrity, it seems like a façade if reviewers don’t have a voice. Or is there some kind of 3rd party who would call this out?

My house has a tankless water for most of the house. Exceptionally, one floor gets hot water from a tank. I rarely need hot water on that floor so I keep the tank unplugged. But when I need a backup shower (e.g. the tankless gets clogged with limescale) I plugin the tank, let it reach a quite high temp, then shower.

Is this risky? I just heard from someone saying they only unpower their water heater for 1 day at a time because of some specific kind of bacteria. I was assuming whatever bacteria colonizes in 6 months or whatever would be killed off when I fire it up. But I know that some bacteria (which goes after spoiling meat) produces toxins, so even when the bacteria is dead there are dangerous chemicals remaining. Is this the same risk with water heaters?

If it’s unsafe, what do I need to do? Do I have to fill the tank with air between uses? Or can I just run the water for as long as needed to get all new water in the tank before powering it?

Hospitals will often give patients an IV as an automatic procedure and then use it for just one blood draw or injection, or even not use it at all. Then charge ≥$~~60~~ 600¹ for it (in the US)!

I went to the ER in Europe and got an automatic IV. They only used it to take blood and nothing else. So I took notes and prepared for a dispute. When the invoice finally came, I found no charge for the IV. But had to probe because I’m the type that will fight over a nickel on principle. I asked for details on some of the doctor’s fees, since it was not itemized separately. After my investigation, it turns out the IV was bundled in but only €6. LOL. So insignificant indeed.

Not sure if it’s fair to call it a swindle in the US. Is it typically a deliberate money-grab when the IV is not really needed? Staff are (generally rightfully) unaware of pricing and just focused on giving the best care for the patient independent of cost. And for insured people that’s ideal. But I often steer the staff, saying I’m an uninsured cash payer and need price quotes and to asses the degree of need on various things. It’s a burden on them but it’s important to me. I have gotten discharged a day early on a couple occasions (which generally saves me ~$/€ 1k each day I avoid).

Funny side story: a doc who I steered well toward budget treatment pulls out his smartphone with a gadget that does an echo. He said this is free but unofficial… maybe we can get out of the pricey proper echo imaging. And indeed the pics were good enough.

Anyway - to the question:

Whether to give an IV involves guesswork on whether more things will need to be injected. Do docs have any criteria to follow when ordering an IV, or is it their full discretion and they just order it for convenience without much thought?

1. ~~$60~~ was the price ~15-20 years ago.. probably even more today. CORRECTION: the ER nurse in my family apparently tells patients who possibly don’t need an IV that the cost on the bill will be $600 (as a good samaritan warning). I don’t have direct contact with this family member.. heard it through someone else. Can any other ER nurses in the US confirm whether that’s accurate? I am really struggling to believe this price and wonder if someone’s memory failed. I think if I were quoted that price I would surely say for that price I do not need it.. feel free to stick me 10-20 times if needed. (update 2: seems realistic)

The manual for my dishwasher says to refill salt just before running a wash cycle, because if any grains of salt spill onto the stainless steel interior it will corrode. If it runs right away, no issue because the salt is quickly dissolved, diluted, and flushed.

So then I realized when I cook pasta I heavily salt the water (following the advice that pasta water should taste as salty as the ocean). But what happens when I leave that highly salty brine in a pot, sometimes for a couple days to reuse it? Does that risk corroding the pots?