Be Cool

It's going to be 98 degrees in Chicago today!

That's really hot, especially if you're like me and you've had your pores cauterized. It's important to stay cool so your body and mind don't become a mess. Here are some tips for beating the hotness:

• Don't go outside. Stay inside in your air conditioned house or workplace. Don't go outside.

• If you do have to go outside, come inside again, right away. Don't go out there again. Why did you - just, ugh, just stay inside.

• Eat garlic, mint, and spicy foods. They actually cool you down.  Eat them inside, though, not on your balcony or rooftop.

• Ice bath, take an ice bath. Turn your water to cold, all the way, until ice starts coming out. Or just pour all of the ice from your freezer into your bathtub. Then bathe in it. Run it over your arms and the back of your neck. Listen to soft music loudly and say "oh yes" a lot. Also take a real shower, because the ice won't get you very clean.

• Don't -- hey, why are you going so close to the door! 

• Icicles - think about them. Try and make one with your mind.

• Don't go indoor tanning, at a salon. Don't go to a tanning salon today.

• Sun hat with face protection. "Ponytail slot in back." 

Enjoy the day!

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Dermatology v. Insect Bites

JAMES HAMBLIN

The American Academy of Dermatology disheartens us with their update on insect bites being: don't get insect bites. But then after that:

“Maggots hate to have the hole in the skin covered, so the best way to get them out is to slap a piece of pork fat or meat over the affected area of the skin for a few hours,” said Dr. Rapini. “The maggot is naturally drawn to the meat and will come out from under the skin and attach itself to the meat instead.” While not painful, Dr. Rapini added that a maggot holed up beneath the skin can be uncomfortable and should be removed.

Did you catch that last part? If you have maggots, yes, remove them.

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[image via]

Someone Spilled Some Knowledge On You

 

Carl Zimmer's forthcoming Science Ink: Tattoos of the Science Obsessed tells true stories of science tattoos. Because it's neat when responsible people get reasonable tattoos.

Reason aside, as many of you know I'm seriously interested in getting sleeved. But I'm also looking for a design that would be acceptable for work. Would you be okay with your doctor having a tattoo sleeve? If it was something scientific, say, that I could use to help educate patients -- a pictorial of fetal development throughout gestation, maybe, or depictions of people with different kinds of tumors in the act of the lifestyle choices that caused them -- then yes, it could be okay, right? 

My other idea is just to get the actual cool tattoos I want (extremely NSFW), but then cover them when I'm wearing scrubs, say with a Dri-Fit shooting sleeve like Allen Iverson or something.

If people ask why I'm wearing it, I can always say it's because I'm about to make it rain.
I say that a lot already anyway.

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