Friday Four

1. I have been carrying around Little Man -- his blanket draped over my shoulder -- for over two years, now. But, suddenly, I am not to be trusted with his blanket. "Mine!" He shouts, and yanks it away so he can hold it himself, apparently oblivious to who is holding him.

On somewhat related note, I am looking forward to my first night of uninterrupted sleep in over four years during an upcoming trip. I'll fly out ahead of my family's house hunting trip for a professional conference. Thank you, wife and in-laws for the birthday presents! (I have, for a few years, joked about getting a full night's sleep as a gift. Watch me stay awake, wondering how the kids are...)

2. I had heard about a physician performing his own appendectomy in the Antarctic before, but had never read a detailed account. This one even has pictures. The one with the coffee cup in it makes me chuckle.

3. Lord, no, this isn't going to "kill" FedEx, but I do like the idea of Uber Rush:

If a restaurant is swamped with delivery orders during the lunch hour, it can sign on to the Uber Rush merchant platform and summon a courier to its doorstep to deliver the orders for it. If a small boutique wants to add same-day delivery for its clothing or books, it can add it as a delivery option (against the slower standard choices).

Where Uber becomes most efficient, and most like FedEx or UPS, is in its ability to pick up multiple packages from multiple businesses.

The usual Uber app will also allow its users to do such things as have a forgotten rain coat retrieved from one location to another.

4. Computation may solve a common diagnostic problem, inexperience. This obtains, at least, for up to 3,000 genetic disorders:

A group of researchers at Oxford University would, though, like to make dysmorphology work better. They want to bring it into the 21st-century world of face-recognition technology, and thus extend its range. Christoffer Nellaker and Andrew Zisserman began from three premises. First, of the 6,000 known developmental disorders, about half express themselves, in part, in the face. Second, most are so rare that a doctor is unlikely to come across any given one of them during his career, so he will have no chance to learn how to recognise them. Third, they are nevertheless, in aggregate, common enough that distinguishing them is important.

This diagnostic aid could spare many parents of special needs children the anxiety of not knowing what is wrong with their child, and make them better able to help much more quickly.

-- CAV