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What I saw during Lasik Eye Surgery

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I just experienced one of the more extraordinary things in life, Lasik eye surgery. After more than 20 years of corrected lens wearing, I now have 20/20 vision. Science is real.
Here are some drawn and digitally altered images in attempt to recreate what I saw through the steps of surgery. While I had anesthetic drops in my eye so I couldn't feel any pain, I was awake and still able to see what was going on.
The hardest part was anticipating bright lights coming into your eye and not being able to blink.
After taking numbing eye drops and lying on the exam bed, the machines moved into place over head and bright lights zoomed in on my face. The surgeon placed a patch on my left eye and a speculum opened my right lid, clockwork orange-esque and there I went...toward the light.
 photo lasik1_zps4g7vzrjj.gif
Then, I presume, they suctioned my eyeball because I lost partial vision but could still see the ceiling lights in my peripheral vision. The strangest twinkles of blinking blue and green dots appeared for a few moments across the black patch. I read on another blog that those are blobs of your veins???
 photo lasik2_zpsjc8wdeuj.gifI think this is where they cut open my cornea as well. I felt pressure and encouraging words of "Good job, Jean" from somewhere behind me. Then I saw a green dot coming towards me in between red dots. I was told to keep looking still at the green dot. Or maybe this happened before I lost vision for a few moments? I can't remember already. Maybe it reappeared?
   photo lasik4_zpsuu4qnbea.gifThere were a few fleeting moments of a faint burning smell that I was told beforehand is NOT my eye burning, but the intensity of the laser machine. Then, they folded my cornea flap back in place and I think added some fluid to the surface of my eye. It looked like someone was brushing clear nail polish over my eye and lightly dabbing here and there.
   photo lasik5_zpswamsz6js.gif
Then they repeated it on the other eye. After less than 10 minutes, I sat up from the bed and they asked me what time the clock said. I could read it just fine.
I was driven home and took a long nap. The end. Now I walk around smiling at everything! Absolutely Amazing!
Did I mention science is real?
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manderay
2812 days ago
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oh man, Jean. now I don't know if I could go through with this.
Chicago
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Sue The T-Rex Is Running A D&D Game On Twitter & It Is Freaking Amazing

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Sue The T-Rex Is Running A D&D Game On Twitter & It Is Freaking Amazing This isn't just a series of D&D references; it's a full-on game, complete with characters (of course, the main character is a "dino-sorcerer"), polls of the audience to decide what to do next, dice rolls (with photographs) and ridiculous antics. [ more › ]
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manderay
2824 days ago
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Chicago
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Chicago 'Witches' Cast Hex Against President Near Trump Tower

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We'll take all the help we can get. [ more › ]
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manderay
2837 days ago
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#toowitchesforthispresidency
Chicago
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Meteorite Identification

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Click for an actual flowchart for identifying a meteorite. My favorite part is how 'Did someone see it fall? -> Yes' points to 'NOT A METEORITE.' This is not a mistake.
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manderay
3022 days ago
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I used to work in a lab in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Washington U, therefore I am (extremely) tangentially related to this xkcd and feeling very pleased with myself. (also I wonder if they've figured out why their site is crashing this morning...)
Chicago
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4 public comments
chrisrosa
3021 days ago
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how to identify a meteorite (be sure to check the mouse-over).
San Francisco, CA
thelem
3023 days ago
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The site it links to is down, but the flowchart is accessible at https://web.archive.org/web/20160110210954/http://meteorites.wustl.edu/check-list.htm
Brighton, UK
lahosken
3023 days ago
Thanks to this, I can see that "Did someone see it fall?" has no "No" option. This is obviously part of the conspiracy to hide the existence of aliens.
hananc
3023 days ago
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https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/regmaglypt
alt_text_bot
3023 days ago
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Click for an actual flowchart for identifying a meteorite. My favorite part is how 'Did someone see it fall? -> Yes' points to 'NOT A METEORITE.' This is not a mistake.

List: Who Said It? Donald Trump or Regina George?

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1. “I promise not to talk about your massive plastic surgeries that didn’t work.” work”

2. “Why are you so obsessed with me?”

3. “It’s almost like… does like…does he watch television?”

4. “He put on glasses so people will think he’s smart. And it just doesn’t work! You know people can see through the glasses.”

5. “I, like, invented her, you know what I mean?”

6. “My IQ is one of the highest — and you all know it! Please don’t feel so stupid or insecure; it’s not your fault.”

7. “The beauty of me is that I’m very rich.”

8. “My fingers are long and beautiful, as, it has been well documented, are various other parts of my body.”

9. “Get in, loser.”

10. “Her ass is too fat.”

- -
fat”

Donald Trump: 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10
Regina George: 2, 5, 9

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manderay
3039 days ago
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Chicago
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Recipes – World AeroPress Championship

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So you got an AeroPress for Christmas?

WAC 2015_Event_2023

Here are the top 3 Aeropress methods from the 2015 World Aeropress Championships…

WAC 2015 Top 3


Here are the top 3 Aeropress methods from the 2014 World Aeropress Championships…

WAC2014Top3

1st place : Shuichi Sasaki

16.5g coffee, 78℃, 250cc soft mineral water, EK43 grind at 9.5

Rinse normal paper filter, in standard position.
40g of blooming water for 25 seconds, stir 5 times.
Add 210g of water, stir once.
Press very slowly for 75 seconds.
Leave 45g.

2nd place : Martin Karabinos 

18.5g coffee, 92℃, 215g water, EK43 grind at 6.2

Aeropress in regular position
80g of water at 35C for 3 minutes, stir well and close aeropress.
135g of water at 92C, stir once and push slowly for 30 seconds.

3rd place : Jeff Verellen

17.5g coffee, 82℃/76℃, 270g spa blue, soft 33 dry rest mineral water, ph 6.6, EK43 grind 8

Picking: unripes, too big, too small, ears.
Sieving: using sowden softbrew filter, banging and shaking it to get rid if the superfines. You can also lose some of the chaff this way.
30 second soft bloom, at 82c, wet all the grounds nice and even, shake lightly around if not arounds 40gr water.
1 minute extremely slow pour, 230gr water, at 76c 30 second soft plunge.
Extra Rimini beach version: plunge in a superchilled container, on ice if possible.
Leave enough slurry in the aeropress, about 50gr.
With this coffee I originally had my recipe at 86 bloom/ 82 pour. We calculated with the weather, humidity and bean temp before grinding that shaving 5c degrees would correct the extraction. In retrospect, even lower was better.


Here are the top 3 Aeropress methods from the 2013 World Aeropress Championships… 

WAC2013top3

Jeff Verellen’s winning recipe :

17 grams coffee ground 5.75 on the uber grinder, little courser than paper filter.
Rinsed normal filter, aeropress in regular position.
50 grams of water at 83c for the bloom.
Bloom for 40s. Nicely wet all grounds and lightly agitate holding the aeropress and shaking it abit around.
Very slowly add 215 grams of water at 79c for about 30 sec
Press very gently for about 30 seconds.
Leave about 50 gram slurry in the press and discard.
Put the rest of the brew in the gob.
Extra tips for supreme brew:
Picking beans, lights out, heavies in. Too big and weird, also out.
Use a cocktail pitcher to grind in and charge up static electricity so light particles stick to the walls, try to discard them.

Wille Yli-Luoma’s 2nd place recipe :

Inverted
17 grams of coffee
240 water right of boil
2 min steep with 3 stirs.

Tibor Varaday’s 3rd place recipe :

Place 12g quite coarsely ground coffee into aeropress (set grind to taste),
pre-infuse with about 50g gramms of 90 degrees celsius water,
stir vigorously, 5 times,
add remaining water to a total of 200 gramms,
place cap on without stirring,
press out air while still in inverted position, until drops appear on top,
turn aeropress into a non-inverted position onto a pitcher, but do not press yet.
After two minutes of brew time have past, press gently using body weight, as the Aeropress allows.
Serve.


These are the top 2 Aeropress methods from the 2012 World Aeropress Championships…


Charlene’s Method :

18.3g coffee, 85℃, 250g water, grind course

<Wet the filter thoroughly
Put it on the Aeropress filter
18.30 grams of coffee, grind coarsely
Use the normal, non-inverted method
85°C, 250 grams water
About 40 grams of blooming water ( +/- 30 sec)
Then poor the rest of the water and press, not pressing all the way
Then serve. simple!

Ingri’s Method :

17g coffee, 96℃, 260g Oslo tap water, Mahlkönig Tanzania grind fine

17 grams of coffee (light roasted fresh crop washed Sidamo from Heart roasters)
fine filter grind on a Mahlkönig Tanzania
paper filter rinsed with hot water
water from Maridalsvannet (brought in glass bottles from my flat in Oslo, Norway)
inverted brewing method
preheat aeropress for 10 sec
96 Celcius pour temp (gives ca 90 C actual brew temp)
260 grams of water
no stiring
50 sec steep time
20 sec press time – slow enough to get a clean brew but also some fines (yuck) and oils (yum)
stop pressing before air comes out
wait for the fines to sink and temp to cool, then pour but hold back the last part with the fines (taste sample for yourself!)
The cup: a clean brew with floral notes and taste of sweet lemons.


These are the top 2 Aeropress methods from the 2011 World Aeropress Championships…

Jeff’s Method

-Put the paper filter in the filterholder, wet it with hot water, let it expand and refit it.

-Screw it very tightly into a clean preferably pre-heated Aeropress

-Measure out 17 grams of coffee (well, specifically this Kenya…) and grind coarsely, bit courser than paper filter at the very last moment.

-Put the Aeropress non-inverted on the recipient.

-Measure 270 grams of soft mineral water or filtered water and bring it to 80c.

-Splash a bit of the water on the filter and directly after throw in the freshly ground coffee, as to allow the bottom to wet and expand a bit.

-Directly after wet the coffee by dripping or pouring very slowly all the grounds, about 40 grams

-After the coffee has absorbed the water, after about 30 seconds, start very slowly pouring the rest of the water, try to re-wet the coffee fully again, see that the grounds do not separate from the water, this can be done using a good kettle with small nozzle.

-Let the Aeropress steep and drip for about 1/4th trough or 1 minute.

-Help about 2/4th of the rest of the water trough, with the provided piston, very gently.

-Remove the press and the what`s left, about 50 grams of water from the recipient and throw away.

Josh’s Method

– Non-inverted

– 20g

– Finer than drip (4.5 on a Ditting)

– 1 plunger of water (poured aggressively)

– Steep for 30 sec.

– Stir

– Press at 40 sec.

These are the top 3 Aeropress methods from the 2010 World Aeropress Championships…

Marie’s Method

1. Boil the water (so it is 80 degrees when you pour it over the coffee)
2. Grind the coffee, slightly finer than filter grind (20 grams)
3. Aeropress upside down and soak the filter paper with hot water
4. Put in the coffee and pour the 80 degrees water over it, almost to the top.
5. Stir for 10-12 seconds
6. Heat the cup, and then slowly push the coffee in the cup – stop before you hear the air.
7. Serve

Jeppe’s Method

Aeropress up side down

18 grams of coffee ground a little coarser than filter (3,25 in the Brew Bar)

230 grams of 75 degrees celsius water provided in the Brew Bar !

Start the timer

Pour water nice and easy with a Hario twisting the Aeropress

Stir gently for 10 sec make sure to get all the way to the bottom

Clean the paper filter with water

After 1.15 min turn and press – gently for approx 30 sec.

Stop pressing when water surface is broken by the coffee grounds

Stir the coffee up and down with a spoon

Serve the 2 dl. to the judges and enjoy the little left overs yourself

Jeff’s Method

Grind : One bit finer then filter. On Ditting : 4.

Water serving temperature : tough one. We trained at 80, but then competed in the finals at 82°C. Jeff thought the roast was very fresh and needed 85, but I thought that was dangerous. He went for something in the middle.

Volume of coffee : 20 grams. A classic cut for us; a lot for a 20cl drink maybe.

Then the brewing :
Before the actual brew we decided to make a blind press to heat up the plastic of the press, the cup and rinse the paper filter.

We first take the filter and filter holder off and reverse the press. 20 grams is ground in a stainless steel cup (this is non static, except for the lightest of ground!!) and we use a funnel to keep things clean.
As pouring device we went for the Buono Kettle. This allows you to pour slowly and, this way, control the blooming. We often see an uncontrolled blooming while pouring too much water too fast.
We pour the water very slow and keep on rotating the base to make sure all coffee grounds brews well. This takes about 30 seconds.

We screw on the filter and wait 60 seconds. By this time all coffee is well agitated and it’s time to turn things into pressing position.

We go now for a very slow press.

After almost (another) 60 seconds we stop just before or just on the moment of the hissing sound. The last bit of water is very oily and bitter.

Get rid of the Aeropress and serve your cup.

These are the top 3 Aeropress methods from the 2009 World Aeropress Championships…

Alex’s Method

Do a ‘blind’ press with boiling water to soak the paper filter.

Pour 20 grams of filter ground coffee in to the main Aeropress chamber.

Pour boiling water to “1” mark on the inner tube and wait for 5 seconds.

Pour water from the inner tube into the main chamber. Circulate water and grounds with a jug underneath, ensuring grounds are wet.

Fill water from boiler up to “3” mark on the inner tube.

30 seconds after pouring the first water in, pour in the contents of the inner tube into the main chamber. Then press firmly until the brewed coffee is extracted into the jug, but stop just before the ‘pppffssstt’ sound.

Serve.

Ben’s Method

Begin by boiling freshly filtered tap water.

Invert your aeropress.

Apply a paper filter and run it under the tap until its rinsed.

Fill your inverted aeropress with boiling water, apply the filter, flip and press the boiling water through the filter to ensure there is absolutely no paper taste and to heat up the system.

Once again, invert your aeropress. The plunger should be about 1cm from the bottom.

Grind off your coffee, slightly finer than filter grind (Should be 14g by weight) and put it into your cup or glass. Keep this handy.

Bring your water to a rolling boil.

Put your inverted aeropress on a scale and zero out.

When the kettle hits a rolling boil, shut it off, open the lid and start your timer.

Wait thirty seconds to allow the water to cool a bit.

Add 1dL or ~95g by weight of your water to the aeropress and quickly zero out the scale again.

Add start your clock and add the 14g of coffee to the water and give the coffee a quick but efficient stir to completely saturate the coffee grounds in the water.

Add the remaining 1dL or ~95g by weight of water to the coffee slurry. The scale total should now read 109g.

Wait until the clock reads 50 seconds and then slowly and carefully flip the aeropress back upright. (I would use two hands.)

Begin slowly plunging. This should take about 25 seconds. Plunge until you hear any hissing or air escaping through the coffee puck. Quickly pull the plunger back up and invert your aeropress so it doesnt leak everywhere.

Serve.

Lukasz’ Method

Start with the the Aeropress upside down.

Thoroughly pre-soak filter.

19,5 – 20g coffee, ground slightly courser than filter grind

2 dl water

Water temperature: 75 degrees Celsius

Stir 4 times

Stop stirring, secure the filter an turn at ca 10 seconds.(Total contact time ca 15 sec.)

Press and serve.

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manderay
3153 days ago
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Chicago
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