-The maximum speed at which a human being has a respectable shot at surviving feet-first (the safest position) is 70mph. Terminal velocity of a falling body is 120mph and can be reached in 500 feet.
-Without temperature extremes, bodies lose about 1.5 degrees Fahenheit per hour until ambient temperature.
-Necrophilia was not a crime in any state in the US until 1965. To date, only 16 states have enacted necrophilia laws.
These are just a handful of tidbits I learned from "Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers" by Mary Roach.
It was recommended to me by a staffer in a random bookstore in this weekend. One of those little tags on the shelf with handwriting on it got me to pick it up and I talked myself into walking to the register with it for the sake of research for any future mystery novel I might write.
The book starts off with 'fun' fact chapters telling stories of what happens to the human cadavers donated to science, how anatomists of the 1700s and 1800s got their cadavers to dissect (from using executed criminals to using deceased loved ones and finally paid body snatchers pilfering the freshly dead from the graveyards). Later chapters deal with heavier topics such as the debate whether the soul resides in the brain or the heart, medicinal cannibalism, and future body disposal techniques (composting).
This is not a book for the squeamish. I'm a fan of the CSI TV show (the Las Vegas version), but I'm wary of the things I learn there because I've seen plenty of TV 'science'. The author put in a CSI moment addressing how body temperature, rigor mortis and yes, bugs and larvae, could be used to help determine time of death.
I was fascinated by the story of a Dr. Duncan Macdougall, who sought to determine if the soul had substance or more measureably, weight. In 1907, he placed six of his dying patients in beds on scales sensitive to two-tenths of an ounce. He found that upon each patients' expiration, the scales lost three-fourths of an ounce.
Throughout the book, the author uses healthy doses of both humor and respect to explore her subject matter. She also heavily advocated for organ donation, lauding as heroes the cadavers who bequeathed their life-saving organs after death. Although I started reading the book from a sense of curiosity and shock factor, her respectful treatment got me accustomed enough to the topic of human bodies after death that I could ponder the questions she posed without my brain trying to shy away so quickly. I don't think anyone really wants to ponder death, let alone post-mortem logistics, but the book made it a fascinating topic to spend an afternoon with. Yeah, morbid, I know.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Stiff: A Book Review
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Fantastic Procrastinating
Found a new game to procrastinate on the web with. Or should that be 'Found a new game with which to procrastinate on the web'? Whatever.
I link you to Fantastic Contraption, a physics game where you can build contraptions to move a box/ball into a target zone with obstacles in the way ranging from empty space to objects. I haven't gotten through the 20 or so free levels, but I reserve the right to shell out the $10 for the full game at a later date. It's also available on iPhone/iPod.
Here's an example.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Paper Stash Reduction
The idea of reducing the amount of paper in my house has been intriguing me for some time. Happily, I have my paper files in a file cabinet grouped in file folders that make sense to me. Unfortunately, I also have paper files going back more than ten years. Cleaning them out at this stage is a daunting process. I didn't have an impetus to start that process until I found the Neat Receipts system on sale on Woot for a significant discount. It was my first (and thus far, only) purchase on Woot and I've been pretty happy with it. Read on for my review.
The Neat Receipts system includes a small scanner and a database system to put the scanned data into. To my mind, the money I spent is primarily for the database (I already own a scanner).
The nice thing about the scanner is that it's a feeder scanner. I have the portable travel scanner although I keep it on my desk at home. It keeps the desk footprint small while still able to scan in long receipts and full 8.5"x11" documents. The larger scanner is able to scan in double sided documents at once. The scanner I have requires flipping over the paper to scan in the second side. It's decent and relatively fast.
But that's enough about the scanner. The real reason I like this is for the software. There are two pieces to the software system. The software that scans in the documents and the software that organizes the data. The scanning software provides options to automatically sense whether the object you're scanning in is a receipt, a business card or a document. I've found that this can be tripped up distinguishing between a receipt and document. I will typically manually set it to the document type to get over that hiccup. Even if I don't, it's easy enough to switch the type in the database afterwards. It also provides an option to import pdfs or images - handy for my online shopping receipts.
I spent the most time trying to figure out how to set up the database fields so that I can find the information easily later. I haven't been able to test how well the system I set up works, because I haven't found a need to go look up information I've already scanned in. The online documentation and tutorials keep talking about pulling out receipts and other documents for tax purposes, so perhaps I'll be testing that functionality out soon.
My Receipts Category has 2 main sections, one for my debit receipts and the other for my main credit card. Each section is broken down into monthly folders.
The Documents Category has sections for the companies I have documents from. For example, I have a section for the telephone, gas & electric, water, and mortgage bills. Each section is further broken down into yearly folders. I've also started a section I've labeled 'Mementos' where I've been scanning in concert and show tickets so I don't have to hang on to the physical tickets.
Thus far, I've scanned in roughly 80% of the relevant daily paperwork I have. I still have the past accounts to scan in, but since I haven't been receiving more statements and bills from them, I gave myself a break once I got the current accounts up and running. The initial scanning and organizing step is definitely a hefty chunk of work. Unfortunately, I have also added steps to my daily paper management regimen. In the past, I would get the mail, pay the bill online and then file the statement in the file cabinet. Now, I get the mail, pay the bill, scan in the statement, then file it into its appropriate section, then shred the paper. To be fair, under my previous regimen, I'd only been deferring the paper shredding event to a later date.
At some point, I'll have to figure out how to set up the data backup so I can still retrieve the information when I inevitably change computers. Right now, the paper database is backed up to my external hard drive along with the rest of the data on my computer.
Overall, I am very happy that I'm no longer adding to my paper stash in the file cabinet. There's still some more scanning and hashing out the details of backing up the database, but I feel pretty good about my new system.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
NaNoWriMo Year 3 Win
Belatedly reporting that I have my winner goodies from the NaNoWriMo website. Yay! I'm liking the fireworks theme this year. I'm glad to have crossed the finish line again this year, but I haven't finished my rewrites. Actually, I crossed the finish line on Tuesday, Nov. 17 and promptly dropped it in favor of Thanksgiving preparation, then later for Christmas preparation. (There's a lot to think about for a planaholic like me, but that'll be a different post). I only hope that I don't take this year's early win and challenge myself to win earlier and earlier. I have to admit that dropping the intensive writing mode was a bit of a relief, though.
The new scenes I wrote will make me change the ending. I have successfully avoided romantic scenes again this year. And I still have to integrate the new bits into the old bits. Over the Christmas holiday, I've transferred the first and second drafts into my new writing software on the PC. As I did so, I did some re-reading and I'm appalled at some of the scenes. Perhaps I should have deleted those outright. But as I'm still trying to figure out how to use Liquid Story Binder, I'll hang on to them for now. Maybe I'll be able to hone them into something better later. I'm glad I fleshed out some of the characters this year. They were only caricatures previously. I deliberately wrote in their points of view this time around so I could get to know them better, particularly my antagonist. There's still one main player I don't fully understand. But considering she inserted herself into the story the first year, I don't feel so bad waiting on knowing who she really is.
Overall, it was a satisfying, if shorter, Novel Writing Month. I'm sure I'll find a way to do it again next year.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Cry Havoc and Let Loose the Tugs of War
Warning: You might want to turn your audio down before hitting play.
Unbeknownst to the folks at work, the 'cry havoc' part is standard operating procedure for tug of war games at my karate dojo. It's been reported to me after the picnic, that my strategy of psychological warfare at the front lines was actually pretty effective. I think the quote was "You're scary." I guess it doesn't hurt to be scary, screaming girl at the front when you're the smallest person on a team built for tug of war.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Novel Writing Nov. 12 Update
I was afraid that having to fill in scenes and flesh out details would slow me down this month because I'd have to think them through first and make sure it fits within what I've already written before I write.
I was wrong. I hit the halfway point on Nov. 8. If I keep up the pace, I'm looking to hit 50k sometime next week.
I'm having a lot of fun refining my magic system and the world. It feels a lot more solid and grounded to me instead of floating around vaguely while I hoped it worked. I've also decided to write scenes in other characters' points of view, particularly my villain so that I can get to know her better. I stuck pretty closely to my main character's point of view the first time. She didn't really know what was going on so it was easy to hand wave events. This time, I do have to know what actually happened to inhabit the other characters' points of view.
My other word count strength is dialogue. If I get several characters in conversation, I can chew through words pretty easily. I'll sit down to write, get a few people talking and there went 500 words, a quarter of my daily goal. I even remember to put in actions in between their conversation. A pair of my characters love to tease each other - they're a lot of fun to write.
I've hit a tricky part of the story so the next few days might be dicey. I think I'm going to have to ditch the location of the last half of my story and write in a completely new place. It should be interesting.
With that, I'll leave the rest of this post to an excerpt from my current story. I wrote this scene on Nov. 5. Hope you enjoy!
Excerpt:
It was well past dark when Evrhiel stepped into the Smith’s Buckler tavern by the docks. She had already sent Lysanna and Geoff in different directions to find other potential ears. “Drazehn only,” she had said. “They’re the best at this task and I don't want to risk having this fall into less trustworthy hands.” She paused a moment to allow her eyes to get used to the brighter interior before moving to corner table near the door that was unoccupied. The room was not particularly crowded. Several tables were shoved together on the left seating a group of blacksmith apprentices and a blacksmith or two. Another smaller group on the right looked like other locals. Several tables scattered here and there were singly or doubly occupied. She concentrated on the singly occupied tables for a few minutes before determining the one she was looking for. She made no pretense about sauntering over to her target’s table and claiming an empty seat.
The occupant of the table did not move to acknowledge her presence. He had chosen a seat that kept him mostly hidden in shadow. He wore dark clothes and wore his hat low on his forehead even indoors. He certainly acted like a good candidate for the Drazehn that she was expecting. Before saying a word, she laid a gold coin on the table and slid it across. That garnered some movement from the man. He picked it up and deliberately dropped it back on the table. Satisfied, he pocketed it.
“You have my attention,” he drawled a melodious baritone and Evrhiel knew she had the right man.
“I expect something in return for that coin,” she began.
“Well I wasn’t assuming that you handed me gold for my looks alone,” he said taking a sip from the glass in front of him.
“I want to know information around two subjects. One is if anyone is asking around about me. The other is if anyone is asking around about a noble lady’s recent death. In either case, I want to know who.”
The man inclined his head, “And how many more such coins are you willing to part with for that information? These questions seem somewhat indefinite and could take some time.”
“For delivery of the information, I’d be willing to part with 25 gold.”
“That’s a middling sum for information that may never appear,” he mused.
“So if you don’t hear anything, you don’t get paid. I don’t see that this is a problem.”
He shrugged, “And it doesn’t become a high priority for me to keep listening past, let’s say three days. I’m a busy man and I’ve many other potential jobs I could fulfill instead of waiting around for only the possibility of 25 gold.”
“You have that coin I already gave you,” Evrhiel dug around in the coin pouch at her waist and deposited another stack of gold coins. “And I’ll add this to it.”
He counted, then nodded slightly. “I’ll call that incentive enough. But I’ll need names, more specifically yours and your dearly departed.”
In answer to that, Evrhiel slid over a folded piece of paper. “The first is my name. The second is the departed. I will be in town for only a few more days, but I will still pay on the information should it take longer than that. The final name and inn is where you can find my associate after I leave town. It is also the same inn where I can be found now should you be so industrious as to find the knowledge I seek sooner rather than later.” She paused to let him read over the slip of paper. “You’ll be throwing that in the fire.”
He rose smoothly from his seat and paced towards the fire along the wall. In the firelight, she saw that he was clad in browns rather than black. The hat firmly upon his head did not allow the benefit of illumination. Once he was seated again, he said, “I think we have an agreement, Mistress.”
“Save for your name,” she replied.
He turned his head to regard her in silence. Then he finally came to a decision and intoned, “Bruvier.”
She stood at that, “Then our business here is concluded. Good eve.” As Evrhiel left the tavern, she knew there were eyes that followed her out the door, but none so curious as the man still in the shadows, twirling a gold coin across his knuckles.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
On the Darker Side of Disney
Welcome to our Halloween costume 2009. The picture above was taken at DNA Lounge by Jamie Zawinski, the club's owner. It's one of my favorites.
The rest of this post will be picture heavy and not particularly instructive in case you sort of want to get the idea of how to make your own zombie Mulan and Mushu costume.
This was the source of our inspiration. Feel free to follow the link for other Twisted Princesses he's drawn. They're all very cool.
Twisted Princess: Mulan by ~jeftoon01 on deviantART
Just in case you don't quite see the similarities, this is a handy Photoshop to help you. 
We tried to do a group costume in the Twisted Disney theme, but only had one taker. Beast is my coworker, Chris.
Construction:
Most of the work was Mushu, as you can guess. My costume mostly involved taking a kimono and some scraps of fabric, stabbing it with arrows and distressing it a bunch. The cats were enthusiastic about helping with the distressing process. Especially once it had arrows in it. 
I also discovered that Testor's Ruby Red Metal Flake model paint, when sprayed on clothing is a good fake blood substitute. The cricket on my shoulder was made out of pipe cleaners by Chris (Beast).
Makeup is not my specialty, but standard makeup I found in my closet is mostly what I used except I added gel blood from the Halloween store. The biggest bang by far, were the contacts. Yes, they're contacts and they're creepy. 
Mushu's head started out life as a bike helmet, cardboard, wire and styrofoam.
Craft foam, felt, paint and many sticks of hot glue later. The crowning jewel was the EL wire for pointless illumination.
The rest of the outfit was a fleece footed pajamas with craft foam and paint. We replaced the feet with built-in shoes from Payless. The talons we bought from the great store called the internet. 
P.S. We didn't win any costume contests, though both contests I participated in (one at work, one at DNA Lounge) had the MC paying us compliments on the costume as we lost. Beast did win Scariest costume at work.