25 January 2015
Word Fun
25/01/15 19:07
This week I got thinking about words. I love words. It’s why I studied geology and astronomy, more for the words than the actual things. Fomalhaut, Widmanstatten figures, Maastrichtian, they’re just fun to say. But the best words are found in Palaeontology. I mean last year I told you about Lythronax argestes. It’s a fun creature. I mean the name is fun. It wouldn’t be fun if you met him, even a smallish Tyrannosaurid could mess up your whole day. Then there was the huge sauropod they found last year Dreadnoughtus schrani. Now, that’s a fun name, and oddly enough it was found in sediments of Maastrichtian age. Well, this week I found another great name: Nundasuchus songeaensis. It’s not a dinosaur, it predates them, but it's as big as a dinosaur. If you met a nine foot long Nundasuchus with its big head full of teeth and legs built for galloping I doubt you’d be too concerned with it not actually being a dinosaur. It’s name means predator crocodile from Songea Tanzania. But it’s just fun to say Nundasuchus songeaensis. Repeat after me; Noond o sook us song ean ses.
Then this week on the CBC they were talking to someone about birds in Vancouver. It's on the western flyway and with all the parks and nearby wilderness bird watching is quite popular. Everything from bald eagles and snowy owls to blue herons and black capped chickadees regularly stop by. The guy though said that birding was "one of the most popular sports in Vancouver". Sport? I'm sorry but birding is not a sport. It may be many things but you can't make something a sport just by saying it is. OK I know there’s a push for making ballroom dancing an Olymp[ic Sport, but it’s not. What’s next, Olympic Bridge? Olympic Tanning? Those are activities, but not sports. Similarly It bugs me how people try to make something seem more important by pretending it’s a science. You can't make something a science just by adding -ology to the word. The next time some bartender refers to himself as "a doctor of mixology" I think I'm gonna have to pull out my degree in whackology and make sure he spends some time around a real doctor.
OK I can hear you wondering aloud where I’m going with this. Well, you see this week I had another CT scan. It’s a routine thing for people that have gone through what I went through last year. I guess the idea is after five years or so they will discover if the cancer has come back. Either that or they might be testing to see how long it takes for me to start glowing.
Maybe a little bit of both actually.
Anyway so I was laying there waiting for the test to start and I noticed on the side of the machine was a name. Yes, the manufacturer felt it necessary to name the scanners, which struck me as really weird. I mean this is a piece of industrial x-ray equipment. At least I would have expected something like Siemens Model 16KL4AZ-3 CT Scanner. That would fit with the feeling of the massive computer controlled system that it is. But that’s not the way they went. On the side of the machine, silk screened on the case of the machine, in pastel letters and flowing script were the words SOMATOM Sensation16.
Really? Sensation 16? The more I thought about it the funnier it got. I had to control myself to not giggle when I was supposed to be laying still. Sensation 16. That’s just such a whimsical, feel good name for something that weighs a couple of tons, gives off such a slightly alarming mechanical whirring noise and for which the operator flees to a lead lined bunker when it is in operation. It just seemed out of place so I made note of the name. (No, not while I was in there mind you, I waited until I was done. No telling what it might have done to my iPad.)
So when I got home I googled the name.
This is why I love the Internet, it turns out that Siemens has a whole page of sales information on the SOMATOM Sensation16 CT Scanner, which is not to be confused with the SOMATOM Emotion 16 CT Scanner or the SOMATOM Sensation 4 or 64 CT Scanners.
http://www.siemensctscanner.com/ct-scanners/siemens-somatom-sensation-16-ct-scanner/
I’m glad though that the Nanaimo Regional Hospital didn’t get the cheap model, the SOMATOM Volume Zoom CT Scanner. I mean Volume Zoom sounds like something where the patients would be stacked up like rounds in a clip to be stuffed into the machine and then ejected into a basket when we’re done. Or maybe a fast conveyer belt so they could scoot you through the machine, hand you a bag of fries, and fire you out to where your parked car is waiting. As convenient as that sounds, I'm not sure I'd go for that. Well, maybe the fries. I kinda like the idea of being there for an X-Ray and them asking if I'd like fries with that.
But then are any of these good names? I mean the Sensation 16 sounds like something you’d pick up along with your Cialis prescription. I mean seriously, the whole purpose of a CT scanner is to investigate, to diagnose, to look in without causing any pain, any discomfort, any kind of, oh what’s the word I’m looking for… oh yeah, SENSATION. That’s why they were invented. And don’t get me started on the Emotion line. I mean you don’t get in one of these things unless you have a medical problem. That’s a very disturbing thing for most people. So guess what, they called the scanner the Emotion 16 just remind you of what you're dealing with right now? And what’s with the number? I assumed it had to do with the diameter. I didn’t take out a tape and measure it but 16 for 16” diameter looked about right. I assumed that the Sensation 4 was for arms, and the Sensation 64 was for livestock. It all made sense. But no they’re all the same size. I don't know, maybe the number refers to how long it takes to cook you. What’s next, will Caterpillar start calling their dozers the Larvakin 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10? How about Boeing renaming the 777 the ChickenHawk? Or maybe there will be a line of small front end loaders called the Bobcat?
Oh wait, there is.
Rampant silliness is taking over the world. It’s all too much. I have to relax, to breathe, to meditate, to sit quietly and repeat my mantra until the feeling passes:
Nundasuchus songeaensis
Nundasuchus songeaensis
Nundasuchus songeaensis
Nundasuchus songeaensis
I’m feeling much better now.
PIX: Each January, sea lions congregate just offshore from Lantzville. We can hear them early in the morning laying in the water calling back and forth. Marsha stopped and got some shots of the packs of sleeping sea lions. They don’t seem to haul out on the beach. Maybe there’s too many people. I do believe they haul out on the islands offshore, just not here. Otherwise they doze in the calm water.
Then this week on the CBC they were talking to someone about birds in Vancouver. It's on the western flyway and with all the parks and nearby wilderness bird watching is quite popular. Everything from bald eagles and snowy owls to blue herons and black capped chickadees regularly stop by. The guy though said that birding was "one of the most popular sports in Vancouver". Sport? I'm sorry but birding is not a sport. It may be many things but you can't make something a sport just by saying it is. OK I know there’s a push for making ballroom dancing an Olymp[ic Sport, but it’s not. What’s next, Olympic Bridge? Olympic Tanning? Those are activities, but not sports. Similarly It bugs me how people try to make something seem more important by pretending it’s a science. You can't make something a science just by adding -ology to the word. The next time some bartender refers to himself as "a doctor of mixology" I think I'm gonna have to pull out my degree in whackology and make sure he spends some time around a real doctor.
OK I can hear you wondering aloud where I’m going with this. Well, you see this week I had another CT scan. It’s a routine thing for people that have gone through what I went through last year. I guess the idea is after five years or so they will discover if the cancer has come back. Either that or they might be testing to see how long it takes for me to start glowing.
Maybe a little bit of both actually.
Anyway so I was laying there waiting for the test to start and I noticed on the side of the machine was a name. Yes, the manufacturer felt it necessary to name the scanners, which struck me as really weird. I mean this is a piece of industrial x-ray equipment. At least I would have expected something like Siemens Model 16KL4AZ-3 CT Scanner. That would fit with the feeling of the massive computer controlled system that it is. But that’s not the way they went. On the side of the machine, silk screened on the case of the machine, in pastel letters and flowing script were the words SOMATOM Sensation16.
Really? Sensation 16? The more I thought about it the funnier it got. I had to control myself to not giggle when I was supposed to be laying still. Sensation 16. That’s just such a whimsical, feel good name for something that weighs a couple of tons, gives off such a slightly alarming mechanical whirring noise and for which the operator flees to a lead lined bunker when it is in operation. It just seemed out of place so I made note of the name. (No, not while I was in there mind you, I waited until I was done. No telling what it might have done to my iPad.)
So when I got home I googled the name.
This is why I love the Internet, it turns out that Siemens has a whole page of sales information on the SOMATOM Sensation16 CT Scanner, which is not to be confused with the SOMATOM Emotion 16 CT Scanner or the SOMATOM Sensation 4 or 64 CT Scanners.
http://www.siemensctscanner.com/ct-scanners/siemens-somatom-sensation-16-ct-scanner/
I’m glad though that the Nanaimo Regional Hospital didn’t get the cheap model, the SOMATOM Volume Zoom CT Scanner. I mean Volume Zoom sounds like something where the patients would be stacked up like rounds in a clip to be stuffed into the machine and then ejected into a basket when we’re done. Or maybe a fast conveyer belt so they could scoot you through the machine, hand you a bag of fries, and fire you out to where your parked car is waiting. As convenient as that sounds, I'm not sure I'd go for that. Well, maybe the fries. I kinda like the idea of being there for an X-Ray and them asking if I'd like fries with that.
But then are any of these good names? I mean the Sensation 16 sounds like something you’d pick up along with your Cialis prescription. I mean seriously, the whole purpose of a CT scanner is to investigate, to diagnose, to look in without causing any pain, any discomfort, any kind of, oh what’s the word I’m looking for… oh yeah, SENSATION. That’s why they were invented. And don’t get me started on the Emotion line. I mean you don’t get in one of these things unless you have a medical problem. That’s a very disturbing thing for most people. So guess what, they called the scanner the Emotion 16 just remind you of what you're dealing with right now? And what’s with the number? I assumed it had to do with the diameter. I didn’t take out a tape and measure it but 16 for 16” diameter looked about right. I assumed that the Sensation 4 was for arms, and the Sensation 64 was for livestock. It all made sense. But no they’re all the same size. I don't know, maybe the number refers to how long it takes to cook you. What’s next, will Caterpillar start calling their dozers the Larvakin 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10? How about Boeing renaming the 777 the ChickenHawk? Or maybe there will be a line of small front end loaders called the Bobcat?
Oh wait, there is.
Rampant silliness is taking over the world. It’s all too much. I have to relax, to breathe, to meditate, to sit quietly and repeat my mantra until the feeling passes:
Nundasuchus songeaensis
Nundasuchus songeaensis
Nundasuchus songeaensis
Nundasuchus songeaensis
I’m feeling much better now.
PIX: Each January, sea lions congregate just offshore from Lantzville. We can hear them early in the morning laying in the water calling back and forth. Marsha stopped and got some shots of the packs of sleeping sea lions. They don’t seem to haul out on the beach. Maybe there’s too many people. I do believe they haul out on the islands offshore, just not here. Otherwise they doze in the calm water.