Corey’s Blather Blog

This is too good. It's nerdporn.

http://www.gocomics.com/foxtrot/2008/07/13/

What does it say about me when I feel authenticated by having a mainstream "paper" comic guy shout out to my favourite webcomics?

I keep trying to visualize some 60-something reading the Sunday funnies and going "wtf is this about?"

Then I kind of laugh. *haha hahahah hahahahah*

http://bigpicture.posterous.com/best-ball-powder-ever

I guess I will have to start using it too. *grin*

http://bigpicture.posterous.com/a-day-at-the-beach-in-china

NO way NO HOW would I subject myself to that. I might find it amusing to watch from my balcony, but only if the bars and restaurants weren't just as busy.

Admittedly, this is not the kind of catastrophe you want to live through. But when you learn from your mistakes, you can end up being the best in the business.

I often wish that my own company would learn from mistakes and use technology as a competitive advantage, even if there's growing pains and problems along the way. Instead they are far too timid, vindictive when anything goes wrong, and repeat age-old technology mistakes without progressing.

... but I'm a lot older than 13.

Comic is from www.xkcd.com, you should subscribe.

Apparently another part of the procedure that Jaime and I are using may not be done correctly.

The technicians that do the sperm selection and injection into the egg use microscopes to look for the "best looking" sperm and use those. In our case the sperm is actually forced into the egg to fertilize it, because my vasectomy reversal wasn't complete and my sperm doesn't typically have enough oomph left to do the job itself.

This article seems to say that that may not properly isolate the best DNA payloads for fertility. It seems that it is necessary to try to find out the actual condition of the DNA itself, rather than relying on conventional visual inspection. It makes me wonder if our failure to get pregnant this last IVF cycle might be related. Are there genetic abnormalities with this batch of embryos? Should we ask the doctor to do the genetic testing she talked about the last time? Do we want to risk losing embryos just to "look"?

For "next time", there doesn't seem to be a method to check the DNA of sperm without destroying the sperm, though. So worrying will probably not do me any good.

... but apparently they may actually result in stronger babies, with fewer NICU admissions.

The article doesn't explain WHY that is, but it's reassuring that frozen embryo transfer does not seem to increase any risk factors for the child.

My personal theory is that most transfer of fresh embryos are done immediately after the IVF / egg aspiration step. The woman's body at that point has been chemically treated, poked and prodded and is generally exhausted, as I recall from Jaime's experience. With fresh embryos there's a lot less trauma. It makes sense to me that the pregnancy will go better on average without the trauma, given identical viability in the embryos themselves.

I'm sure the mama-blogga-drama sites were all about this rally to make vaccines "greener" or "safer". Hell... Jim Carey was there!

Near the end of the (admittedly very long) post there is an incredible quote. I love this! I've used the exact argument (with less supporting evidence) many times:

Do you drive your kids around in a car? How can you do that? It's by no means "100% safe"! Do you know how many children die or suffer permanent brain injury in car crashes every year? Thousands! By your standards, then, shouldn't you should be demanding "100%" safety from your auto before driving your children anywhere in it? Do you let your children swim? How can you be so irresponsible? 5,000 children a year are hospitalized for drowning or near-drowning. 20% die, and 15% suffer permanent neurological injury. (It's true.) Do you have a child who plays baseball or softball? Don't you know that 4-5 children a year in the U.S. die of injuries suffered playing baseball or softball. But deaths are only the worst injuries. Among children ages 5-14, well over 100,000 children are taken to the emergency room for injuries suffered playing baseball each and every year. These include sprains, contusions, fractures, dental injuries, head injuries and concussions, and internal injuries. In fact, although its overall rate of injury is fairly low, baseball has the highest child fatality rate of any sport. I really hope your children don't like sports, especially baseball.

Clearly you, by your demand for 100% safety must not allow them to participate in any of these activities, nor must you allow them to cross the street or go to school. All these activities are far more dangerous than any vaccine. Indeed, one can't help but note that if you applied the same standard to daily activities as you do to vaccines, your children would have to live in a hermetically sealed bubble, never venturing out. Oh, wait. That wouldn't be "100% safe" either. Life isn't "100% safe." Nothing is.

More: http://bigpicture.posterous.com/us-auto-sales-plunge-to-10-yea

Most popular model is... drum roll please... Honda Accord.