Ophthosurgery.COM » misc

Elevators in Asia

admin — Thu, 03 May 2012 18:25:44 +0000

I recently attended a conference in South Korea, and was reminded how clever how much attention is paid toward efficiency in Asia. At my hotel in Pusan, the elevator buttons could be deactivated by simply pushing the button again. I can’t imagine the number of times I’ve witnessed elevator passengers “inadvertently” summon the elevator to an unattended floor, only to delay everyone in the building waiting for the elevator. The interesting aspect is that the logic required to cancel call on an elevator floor is not difficult, and the elevators in Asia with these features are manufactured by Otis, an American company.

The Airbus A380 travel experience

admin — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 22:23:38 +0000

I recently had the opportunity to travel on an Airbus A380, the largest passenger aircraft built to date. The A380 has a full second floor in the hull. It has a passenger capacity of over 550 in a typical 3 class configuration. There are two staircases in the cabin.

Boarding can be tedious, given the volume of passengers. At CDG, we boarded through two bilevel jetbridges in the 2F terminal. I was one of the last 100 to board the plane, and waited approximately 45mins in line. However, after everyone was situated, the flight was quite pleasant.

The most notable difference in the travel experience in the A380 was the smoothness in takeoff and landing. There was little indication of the ground speed in takeoff, and the cabin was significantly more quiet than in other aircraft, presumably because the hull is much further from the engines. I felt less exhausted after my flight, and the lack of perceived motion likely contributed to the flight experience.

All of the A380′s have personalized entertainment screens. The software suite varies depending on the carrier, but is overall very good. The touchscreens do suffer from decreased responsiveness, presumably due to a more budgetary resistive touchscreen interface. Air France, the carrier I took, offers software downloads via the usb charging port. Its software is still buggy, as the recipe downloads link to nonexistent files. Hardware amenities in business and first class cabins include additional footrests, extra reclining space, AC power, snakelight reading lamps, and a coat rack.

The lavatories are clearly more updated in design compared to old craft. As with other modern craft, the faucet has motion sensors, and the lighting has softer modified fluorescent/halogen bulbs.

Travel on the Airbus A380 was an overall pleasant experience. The amenities will certainly vary depending on carrier, but most of the airlines that have this equipment (Qantas, Singapore, AF…etc) all have decent in-flight services. The appeal, however, lies in the double decker configuration. There is something to be said about being able to walk a flight of stairs in mid-flight.

The hands-free dilemma in public restrooms

admin — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 13:08:32 +0000

The majority of newer public restrooms have incorporated touch-free technologies that helps us avoid “contaminating” our hands with germs. Airports were one of the earliest adopters of hands-free flushing, faucet use, soap dispensing, and towel dispensing. Our hospital, too, now has these devices in the newer wings.

The irony, however, of hands-free technology is that it’s almost never incorporated in the restroom door! Aside from the handicap entrances, every single door I’ve seen requires you to turn the handle, and violate your recently cleaned hands!

These same thoughts have crossed others as well. Some people wait until someone else enters the restroom before dashing out. Others use a paper towel to grasp the door handle. Whatever the case may be, urban planning came up short this time.

After Christmas frenzy at the Banana Republic

admin — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 01:07:42 +0000

I wandered into the local Banana Republic the day after Christmas. They had a 50% off every item in the store if the item was purchased before noon. Luckily for everyone, they passed out tags to all customers who entered the store before noon, since the checkout line was packed. One shopper waited 50 minutes to pay for her items. Click the image for a montage.

Replacing Mansfield flush valve in toilets

admin — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 13:34:08 +0000

Some of my holiday obligations to family always include fixing computers, rewiring home outlets, repairing broken fixtures, and plumbing.

Yes, plumbing. Sort of like cath-lab work and stenting vessels, right? Nothing like cataract surgery.

One of the plumbing jobs I encountered this year involved this:

This is a 1.5gpf Mansfield #160 toilet. The flushing mechanism is a vertical flush valve without a plunger. Over the past few months, the toilet became more difficult to flush (via the trip lever). There was no leakage into the bowl. It turns out that this is a typical problem with the system, when the flush valve seal (red ring at the tank-bowl junction shown with red arrow) becomes corroded.

As you can see, the ring edges decay with time. The ring actually maintains a watertight seal and vacuum–hence, the difficulty in flushing. With time, the seal will likely decompose and result in a continuous flow into the bowl.

This ring costs around $2.00 at Lowe’s, and can be replaced relatively easily. I found a video of this online, after I had replaced them in two toilets. No equipment was needed in the repairs, although a vise or wrench may have come in handy.

Hiatus

admin — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 00:50:27 +0000

New entries will be back soon! Stay tuned!

The power of salt

admin — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 01:30:07 +0000

I noticed this logo on one of my boxes of table salt. I guess I should use salt the next time I want to shoo away a pigeon.

Shocking

admin — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 21:42:54 +0000

Damn, I don’t want to know what’s behind this door…it may cause bilateral cataracts, however.

Dimmer switches and compact fluorescent bulbs

admin — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 22:04:59 +0000

Dimmer switches are a great option to control the amount of lighting needed in a certain venue. This also serves to limit unnecessary energy costs. What people don’t realize is that combining dimmer switches with compact fluorescent bulbs (CFL) is usually counterproductive; you not only get impure light, but also a shortened lifespan of the bulb.

I wrote about CFL’s in a previous entry. Many of these bulbs have come a long way, and produce high quality lighting. However, the standard CFL’s don’t play well with dimmer switches. Our amphitheater in the eye institute uses CFL’s on the dimmer, and the lights do not dim. In fact, they flicker.

Dimmer switches contain a triac circuit that cuts off the current to save electricity. This works for incandescent bulbs to cut back on heat production. With CFL’s, the interrupted current from a dimmer prevents adequate charge of the gas to produce light. The result is a dim, flickering light.

Installation of dimmable CFL’s would remedy the problem partially, but still may not be effective without changing the switch as well. Most dimmer switches are rated down to 40W of power–any draw below this cannot be controlled adequately. Given that most CFL’s draw less than 40W of power, one would need to replace the entire circuit.

The solution? I can think of two ways:

Continue using incandescent bulbs for your dimmer switches
Replace your dimmer switch
with one rated for use with CFL’s, and replace your bulbs with dimmable CFL’s

Addictive dressing – umami

admin — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 02:28:23 +0000

A vendor at a Japanese supermarket recently suckered me into buying this cucumber dressing. The dressing was imported from Japan and has no English on the bottle. I’m not sure what flavor the dressing even is, but boy is it tasty.

If I had to guess, I’d say this concoction includes soybean oil mixed with a ton of monosodium glutamate (MSG)–umami goodness. I typically associate MSG with soups or hot foods, but I guess MSG will taste good in any form.

If any of you comprehend Japanese, please let me know what the bottle says. I’ll definitely be going back to the market for more!