Live Blogging Returns

Well, when I have at least one person clamoring for more, I can't deny that.

9:24 Arrived late and missed the first paper. Today is off to a good start.

9:30 Why is it The Ohio State University and not just Ohio State University?

9:34 Whenever someone starts to mention inertial forces, I kind of start to tune it out.

9:35 Ooh, this paper is looking good! Comparing post-mortem human subjects with crash test dummies for knees. I hope we get some good and gory pictures of PMHS knees all cut open and stuff!

9:38 I love it when they put little movies in the presentations. Now I know how a PCL moves in the knee. I mean, it is the main load bearing structure to prevent lateral displacement.

9:44 Whenever he mentions knee sliders, I think of White Castle. Mmmm, I could go for a dozen sliders about now.

9:46 An imapct energy of only 125 J? Doesn't that seem a little low to you? Well, if the initial compression force is 1600 N, maybe it's not too bad. Especially with no eversion angle for the thigh.

9:48 Okay, if he's going to show picture of just a severed leg, did they really need to put a shoe and sock on it. That makes it ever freakier. Now I'm just hoping for a video of them impacting the knee!

9:49 And there it is!

9:50 Ouch, at 218 J there was a comminuted fracture. It looks kind of nasty. I mean, a severed leg potted into a block is weird enough, but to see it then all mangled? Ugh.

9:51 No standard devs for the data? I hate when they do that! Although I also hate when they do statistics on really small sample sizes like this, so he was bound to lose right from the beginning.

9:54 Yes! There are the nasty pictures of ruptured ligaments and stuff. Biomechanics rules.

9:55 Okay buddy, wrap it up. We gots to keep this train a rollin'.

9:57 So you can have large knee shear without large PCL disruption? Tell that to Willis Magahee (sp?). Or any other football player.

10:01 Come on people, we need to move on to the next paper, or I won't get my whole two and a half hours for lunch! Oh, come on, no more questions!

10:10 Man, another no show. I can't believe that more than 10% of the presenters so far have not shown up. Well, now I've got twenty extra minutes that I wasn't expecting. It's too bad that this guy didn't show up, because I was actually interested in the topic. I guess I'll just have to read the paper instead of seeing the presentation.

10:16 I'm beginning to think that I shouldn't have stayed up until 2:45 to watch The Jacket. First off, I don't think it's ever a good idea to stay up until 2:45 if you have to get up at 7:00. Second off, The Jacket sucks. It's supposed to be a psychological thriller, but it's more like a crapological non-thriller. If it had been Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle I so would have not regretted staying up.

10:21 I just realized that there are two White Castle references in this one post. As far as I know, these are the first two White Castle references in the history of A Ton of Bricks.

10:23 I just changed seats to be next to a power outlet, so hopefully I can keep this thing rolling all morning. Well, through the next two papers at least.

10:24 Bad news folks (for you anyway). The next paper is actually a good one, so I need to pay attention and not do any blogging. So here's the deal. I will jot down notes in my notebook and transcribe them to a pseudo live blog later. Don't tell anyone, but that's what I did yesterday too.

10:26 This one is getting pretty long. Don't blame me, you all asked for it, so you are going to get it.

11:07 That last paper was good. Totally worth the blogstop.

11:08 This is the last one of the morning session. He's talking a lot about coefficients and intercepts which, while important, do not make for compelling presentations.

11:09 I will try to do some blogging from this afternoon's session (in a new post), but it is on testing methodology. In other words, it is the perfect sleep aid. I don't need no freaking Ambien, all I need is A New Calibration Specification for Linear Displacement Transducers. Of course they have to put this one right after lunch.

11:11 I just realized that this session (Biomechanics part 3) had no unintelligible speakers! No wonder why I am still awake.

11:16 It's always good to reduce over-triage, right?

11:17 That basketball game last night was b o r i n g.

11:18 Urgent, urgent. Emergency. I mean urgency algorithm, that's what he's talking about. Too bad.

11:20 Actually, this would be really helpful for automatic crash notification systems. But since it incorporates occupant age, there might be privacy issues. Because I know my privacy is worth my life. Sure it is.

11:21 You know, the only thing that saves this room from being totally soul-crushing is the carpet. It has little flecks of color in it. Everything else is grey, with just a hint of beige. Even most of the suits are grey. Grey grey grey.

11:24 It's funny, but you can totally tell that this presenter is from Miami. He's just got that look about him. I expect to see him after the session wandering around with some bimbo on his arm.

11:26 Sorry, this goes back to earlier, but do you think the people that do PMHS tests ever play with their specimins? "Look at me, I've got a third leg!" That would be very tempting. Probably about the same level of temptation you face while playing croquet. Don't you just want to whack somebody with that mallet?

11:30 Dude, you are cutting into my two hour lunch! I know, I already lost a half an hour when I realized there would be more papers this morning. For the love of God, just let me go eat!

11:31 Looks like we'll have two more questions and that's it. It's time for me to shut down. I see you all after the break. In a new post. This one is getting too long.