Tell Me Something I Don't Know

[EricKei]

The book Fahrenheit 451 is about the evils of television and other mass media (including addiction to it and the resultant apparent "dumbing down" of people as a result), NOT about burning books or censorship. Well, at least according to some guy called Ray Bradbury, anyway, what would he know? ~_~ According to what is possibly urban legend, he has been "corrected" by at least one classroom audience during a speech about the work (at UCLA), causing him to walk out on them.

"Fahrenheit 451 is not about the topic of censorship. Rather, it is a story of how television destroys interest in reading literature, leading to a replacement of knowledge with “factoids”: partial information devoid of context." - attr. to Ray Bradbury

Some people refer to (roughly) 450F as the auto-ignition point of book paper; others say it's more like 450C. YMMV.

The book predicted, among other things: flat-screen TV's and "media walls", surround sound, the increasing spectre of the "death" of print media, and tiny little wireless electronic devices that sit in your ear that allow for 2-way communication over long distances -- in other words, Bluetooth headsets, wireless earbuds, and similar devices. IIRC, jetpacks, too, but we haven't quite mastered those. Yet. Oh yeah, and unmanned flying drones.

[sms001]

The book Fahrenheit 451 ... NOT about burning books or censorship.

Saw a net pic along this line the other day - "You don't have to burn books if no one wants to read them." under a couch potato glued to his TV set.

Thanks for all the other info. Think it's time for a reread.

[Mikkel]

It's some years ago I read Fahrenheit 451, but if it is about people not wanting to read books, why in the world should it be illegal to own them and why should firemen run around burning them?

[EricKei]

Mikkel -- It's not so much that the people do not WANT to read books (some of them do, despite that being, in effect, a capital crime) -- it's that TV has supplanted print media completely, and books are seen as archaic and useless artifacts of the past in their society.

edit: started a thread on Fratching about the book, as I can see a discussion of its merits getting easily derailed and pushing that line Please head on over that way if ya wanna join in the discussion.

[dalesys]

And then there are the bookleggers in A Canticle For Leibowitz...

[PandaHat]

A defibrillator (the device used by medics to shock you during cardiac arrest) doesn't restart your heart, it stops it.

Yes indeed. Basically, in true IT style, you're trying turning the heart off and on again and hoping it reboots in a way that works.

[SongsOfDragons]

Yes indeed. Basically, in true IT style, you're trying turning the heart off and on again and hoping it reboots in a way that works.

I remember not too long ago one of the medical practitioners on here - Sapphire Silk perhaps, I can't remember? - posted a fantastic old video about a doctor-lecturer guy doing a series of crazy little dances that demonstrated varying arrythmias of the heart and how the defib works at the end. It was so funny and informative too.

[Tama]

So basically the defib is the biological equivalent of pushing the on/off button, holding, waiting for it to go off, rebooting, etc? Wow.

[crazylegs]

So basically the defib is the biological equivalent of pushing the on/off button, holding, waiting for it to go off, rebooting, etc? Wow.

Pretty much.

A defib only works if there's some electrical activity going on in the heart, so if the heart is in asystole (flatlining) then there's no point in shocking the pt. This is why I get angry at medical dramas

[Tama]

What is SUPPOSED to happen for reviving them if they are flatlining?

[EricKei]

Presumably, hope and/or prayer and/or "DAMMIT! NOT AGAIN! I WON'T LOSE THIS ONE!" or words to that effect. Other than that...? Pure dumb luck, I would suppose.

[crazylegs]

What is SUPPOSED to happen for reviving them if they are flatlining?

ALS for asystole in the UK is CPR - 30 compressions to 2 rescue breaths (delivered by bag/valve/mask or airway device) and adrenaline delivered intravenously or via intraosseus access every 3-5 minutes.

The odds for getting someone back from asystole is unlikely if there's no reversible cause*. So again I get a bit shouty at the TV. A resus is most certainly not like it's portrayed - it's messy, brutal and can be very difficult to watch. Intubation (passing a tube into the throat for a definitive airway) is also far harder than it's portrayed on the TV and in the UK there are moves away from calling it a gold standard and allowing practitioners to simply use whatever works for that patient.

For a much better written synopsis here's the UK resus council algorithm

http://www.resus.org.uk/pages/als.pdf

*Reversible Causes
Hypoxia
Hypothermia
Hypoglycemia (and other metabolic disorders)
Hypovolaemia

Tamponade (cardiac
Thromboembolic obstruction
Tension pneumothorax
Toxins

[sms001]

What is SUPPOSED to happen for reviving them if they are flatlining?

Well, first you have your Igor open the skylights.....

[dalesys]

Well, first you have your Igor open the skylights.....

Yeth, mathter!

[sms001]

Yeth, mathter!

Gah! Where'd you come from? And stop that ridiculous lisp.