Haven't done some serious ice skating for 12 years. Only some preliminary try out on new year's day. Today went for an Ice skating tour for 45 kilometers with beautiful weather. You can see some photos of ice skating tour here on flickr. Never tried ice sailing, hmm Ever wondered what "klunen" was? Walking on skates across obstacles on rubber carpet Related posts: Dr Shock went Ice Skating Elderly couple of 62 years married plays piano What the Web Will Look Like In 5 Years ..read more »

Amazing pictures and videos for free. Image Fortress announced last week a new online digital library called the International Space Archives. This new collection not only covers still and video imagery produced by NASA but by the space programs of Russia, Japan, China, and other nations. It’s available at http://www.internationalspacearchives.com. The categories on the left has sub categories and some even sub-sub categories. About the videos There are 97 historical videos and 97 educational videos. The historical ones are press conferences, what look like documentaries, and so on. The videos are available, not just indexed; when you click on a thumbnail for .....read more »

What is transcranial direct current stimulation? With tDCS a weak electrical current of 1 or 2 m Ampere is applied to the head with an electrode. The electrode is a non-metalic conductive rubber electrode, covered completely by saline soaked sponges.It is a noninvasive brain stimulation technique that utilizes low amplitude direct currents applied via scalp electrodes to inject currents in the brain and thus modulates the level of excitability. It doesn’t elicit seizures and it doesn’t require anesthesia. For comparison in ECT current of 9 m Ampere is used to elicit seizures during narcosis. Advantages for tDCS above rTMS? In comparison with rTMS, .....read more »

This model is right, use chocolate as make-up. Cocoa polyphenols such as flavanols have a positive effect on skin structure when applied for at least 5 days. Cocoa butter also has an activity, but its onset of action takes longer (12 days). Cocoa butter doesn't contain polyphenolen. The dose at which cocoa polyphenols – when blended with cocoa butter – improves the skin tonus and elasticity is between 0.50% and 0.75%. At such doses, the influence on the skin is comparable with a commercially available anti-ageing cream. Cocoa is rich of polyphenolen and particularly in a subgroup of flavonoids named flavanols, .....read more »

That is a difficult question for two reasons: The exact meaning of the terms `laughter,' `humour' and `funny' have been formulated for individual studies, a broad consensus on their exact meanings has yet to be reached. Are tickling and contagious laughter one and the same or manifestations of particular kinds of humour? Is humour a kind of perception or is humour `something' that is produced? Or is it both? The meaning of these terms may vary over time. What was funny 20 years ago may not be funny today. Moreover, definitions vary not only with time but also among languages and cultures. The .....read more »

Patients can say and do funny things no matter how ill or even depressed they are. Medical students are often surprised to find that patients often respond to humor, even in discussions of the most serious consequence. Good humor can promote a conversation with a patient and it can be a bedside skill worth acquiring. Humor can be a way to fight the isolation of the disease, it can be an assurance that a situation is neither new nor unmanageable. But good humor used in direct contact with a patient is completely different from the derogatory and cynical humor used .....read more »

Yes your reading is fine and no Dr Shock is still in good health. Discovered this article in the BMJ: Coca-Cola douches and contraception. It appears that Coca-Cola douches were a part of folklore about birth control during the 1950s and 1960s, before effective contraceptive methods were readily available. It was rumoured that the acidity of Coca-Cola killed sperm, and the classic coke bottle provided a convenient "shake and shoot" applicator. Why it doesn't work? A toxicology study found that Coca-Cola has only a weak spermicidal effect a well placed sperm can reach the cervical canal within seconds, thus escaping the effect .....read more »

This post is the start of a very interesting series by Laika's MedLibLog. She is a medical information specialist with experience in both evidence based medicine (EBM) and web 2.0. She uses her experience with both to integrate these two forms of science. In her first post there are some striking examples of EBM and it's merits. The use of antenatale corticosteroids given to women about to give birth too early and the use of corticosteroids to lower intracranial pressure after serious head injury. I’m feeling like I’m in a split, with one leg in EBM and the other in web .....read more »

wingsuit base jumping from Ali on Vimeo. Wondered how they landed with those wingsuits but in the end they use parachutes. Proximity fly? Terrific video, awesome landscapes, even nice music, enjoy. Curious what they will try next? Want to see it larger, follow this linkRelated posts: Spill the Wine, Is he Crazy or A genius Forest plots: trying to see the wood and the trees Moodstream or get in the mood with pictures ..read more »

You would think a flower that resembles a 3-metre phallus would have no problems attracting attention, especially if it also stinks like a rotting corpse. But for the carrion flower, which has the world's largest flowering head, getting noticed by flesh-eating insect pollinators in its jungle home requires yet another amazing adaptation – and one that only came to light thanks to a serendipitous TV recording. Read the full story at The NewScientist W. Barthlott, J. Szarzynski, P. Vlek, W. Lobin, N. Korotkova (2008). A torch in the rain forest: thermogenesis of the Titan arum. .....read more »