Administrative, General, Health, Space

Light Blogging

15 Comments

I don’t know if I mentioned it, but I had a hernia repaired a couple weeks ago, and I’ve been having some post-surgery complications. I’ve also been writing an op-ed for the WSJ, and answers to FAQs for the Reason project. We’re going to Vegas on Monday for the AIAA ASCEND meeting, where we’ll be all week.

For those concerned, though, I should be fully recovered and back up to speed by next weekend.

[Monday-morning update]

Driving to Vegas today for AIAA/ASCEND. I’ll try to check in during the week from there.

[Bumped]

15 thoughts on “Light Blogging”

  1. Yikes. Thankfully I’ve never had a hernia.

    I just finished watching an interesting control-system video and thought that it might have some applications to vibration damping in rockets, especially in terms of making a mechanical system that can be tuned to knock out a particular resonant frequency.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhmLb2DhNYM

    The concept depends on understanding that mass and inertia are not the same if you toss in a mechanical advantage, making a small mass move a much greater distance at a higher speed. More simply, the short end of a free-floating lever reacts to an applied force as if it had a larger mass than it actually does, because the long-end of the lever has to sweep through a large distance.

    His first “inerter” was a rack and pinion spinning a flywheel, a concept I once thought of using on a direct blow-back rifle bolt to increase the apparent mass of the bolt without adding excess weight to the gun, but the resulting torques would make the gun act wonky unless you add more complexity to create multiple torques that cancel each other, at which point the parts count gets ugly.

    He ended up using a ball screw with the nut spinning a flywheel, and that’s what F-1 race teams ended up using.

    1. Yikes. Thankfully I’ve never had a hernia.

      Don’t give up just yet. Try awkwardly lifting some heavy objects. Then after that, you are supposed to live with it for several years before finally telling the dr about it.

    1. Thanks, Paul, but I don’t want to overstate the issue; I’m sure I’ll be fine in another week or two. I developed a seroma at the site, and it’s just annoying having to drain it until it closes up and finally heals. Many people my age have much more serious health issues, if they’re even alive. I’m thankfully and astoundingly healthy, once this is fixed.

      1. I want to add my best wishes as well. And to note that you’re a better man than I am. I’ve had three abdominal surgeries along my backtrail and two of them involved some lingering drainage issues. Those were enough of a problem to manage at home. Traveling while draining is a trick I never tried and wouldn’t have on a bet. Good luck again.

  4. Yeah, hernias suck. As does surgery.
    What doesn’t suck? Moon Day!

    Happy Moon Day everyone!

  8. Sorry about the complications, glad it isn’t too serious.

    My hernia guy did a great job. I have a tiny scar inside my bellybutton and another one under my belt buckle but they might be mostly gone by now. My dad had a double hernia done and the lady cut giant gashes in his stomach and he ended up with some extended recovery time too. When I took him in, the surgeon didn’t even make eye contact or say hello, bad vibes. I almost stood him up and walked out of the room right then.

  9. I’ve never had any real surgery (I do not count the plastic surgery to put my face back in order post skin cancer). As it happens. I might be having a spot of brain surgery soonish, and can’t imagine… If I live through it, will I wake up to the worst headache evah?

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