Saturday Miscellaneous

My son had a party today for his upcoming 6th birthday, so this will be a short post, mostly a few miscellaneous items that I've been collecting for awhile.

First up is a story about a fire alarm for the deaf. By using an extremely pungent material, this alarm is able to wake someone by smell alone.
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Next up is a quick blurb about another example of brain surgery in the ancient world. Unfortunately the patient died during or just after surgery. The reason I even mention this is due to the following quote:

"We interpret the find as a case of complicated surgery which only a trained and specialized doctor could have attempted."

If the patient died, how do they know that a trained doctor performed this procedure? Seems to me even an untrained doctor could have killed the patient. :)
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Third, the first sentence of this next story is probably sufficient to let you know immediately whether you wish to pursue it any further.

"Two German air force sergeants are facing a court martial after trying to mass produce sausages made with the blood of their comrades."

Apparently, senior officers got wind of this activity when one of the "comrades" asked if giving blood for sausage-making was against regulations.
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Fourth, a link to a list of the top ten signs of the week.
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Finally, from Dubious Quality comes news of a computer toy/program called Phun. It reminds me of Crayon Physics. Check out the video and see if you can resist downloading it. My kids will just love playing around with this.