News of interest in “The Oregonian” – 9/28/06
As I was reading an article about the “Mona Lisa” and how images of the picture suggest she was probably either pregnant or had just given birth when the painting was done, I saw an article right by the “Mona Lisa” concerning the first zero-gravity surgery performed in space. A team of French doctors – why am I not surprised at that – took to the skies and removed a cyst from a man’s arm as the plane soared and dived to create the necessary weightlessness. They sliced off the cyst which floated away from the patient. I trust it’s not floating someplace in space. The doctors worked for 22 seconds during the weightlessness periods. It took 22 intervals to accomplish this. This required 3 surgeons, 2 anesthetists and a cameraman who were strapped to the walls with mountain-climbing gear as the plane acted like a roller coaster. I asked myself, “Why are they doing this when it would be so much easier to do it in a hospital?” They are doing it as a first step to performing more complicated surgery on the international space station in the future. So I asked myself again, “Why is there such a thing as an international space station and why are we spending so much money on it when there are much more pressing problems here and around the world?”
So that sent me to my trusty internet that knows all and tells me everything. About the space station, it said “Space station is a collaboration of 16 nations, being built to maintain a long-term presence in space.” And I say “WHAT FOR?” Apparently NASA officials say the agency has lost enthusiasm for the project as it’s now all about manned missions to the moon and Mars. That doesn’t make sense to me either, but no one asks for my advice on matters such as those. But I did learn something very interesting about how they all go to the toilet in their little station. They have special toilets designed with a suction device. Suction device . . . hmmmm . . . couldn’t that be something we could use down here where the regular people live – on earth? Maybe something good will come out of the space station after all!
As I was reading an article about the “Mona Lisa” and how images of the picture suggest she was probably either pregnant or had just given birth when the painting was done, I saw an article right by the “Mona Lisa” concerning the first zero-gravity surgery performed in space. A team of French doctors – why am I not surprised at that – took to the skies and removed a cyst from a man’s arm as the plane soared and dived to create the necessary weightlessness. They sliced off the cyst which floated away from the patient. I trust it’s not floating someplace in space. The doctors worked for 22 seconds during the weightlessness periods. It took 22 intervals to accomplish this. This required 3 surgeons, 2 anesthetists and a cameraman who were strapped to the walls with mountain-climbing gear as the plane acted like a roller coaster. I asked myself, “Why are they doing this when it would be so much easier to do it in a hospital?” They are doing it as a first step to performing more complicated surgery on the international space station in the future. So I asked myself again, “Why is there such a thing as an international space station and why are we spending so much money on it when there are much more pressing problems here and around the world?”
So that sent me to my trusty internet that knows all and tells me everything. About the space station, it said “Space station is a collaboration of 16 nations, being built to maintain a long-term presence in space.” And I say “WHAT FOR?” Apparently NASA officials say the agency has lost enthusiasm for the project as it’s now all about manned missions to the moon and Mars. That doesn’t make sense to me either, but no one asks for my advice on matters such as those. But I did learn something very interesting about how they all go to the toilet in their little station. They have special toilets designed with a suction device. Suction device . . . hmmmm . . . couldn’t that be something we could use down here where the regular people live – on earth? Maybe something good will come out of the space station after all!
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