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Comment 8th grade. TI-83. Bored. (Score 1) 623

In 8th grade I had a TI-83 calculator. I already knew algebra, so I was naturally bored and restless in math class. Being a bit antisocial, I started reading books in class, which my teacher disapproved of. I figured out that if I was messing with my calculator, it looked like I was paying attention and following along, or at least engaged in math. So I discovered that I could write programs. I still had the calculator manual, so I read that to get an overview of the programming commands, of which the most important to me were commands that would write a letter or a pixel to a location onscreen. At first I amused myself by little graphical programs that just drew things on screen, but I discovered that I could make them interactive, so I made increasingly sophisticated games.

Comment Go for it! (Score 1) 379

This sounds awesome, and apparently unlike everyone else here, I would totally want to hang out with you while you were doing this. Would I act differently? Probably I would only be *more* motivated to be awesome. There's a wide variety of forehead-mounted video cameras you could choose from. Probably having a long-lasting storage device that you could carry on your person would be a harder problem.
China

Worldwide Shortage of Barium 270

New submitter redhat_redneck writes "The U.S. and Canada has been experiencing a shortage of barium sulfate, which is used as contrast for upper and lower GI studies. It has reached the point where doctors are being asked not to order these exams except in emergencies, and some exams are being cancelled. Here's the letter that's been put out by the manufacturer. The longer this drags on, the more serious this issue becomes, eventually impacting patients and healthcare providers in both cost and quality of care. Some sources point to a dramatic drop in Chinese production. In their defense, it seems China is changing safety regulations. Medical use only make a fraction of the uses of barium sulfate, but it's going to be disproportionately affected by this shortage. We can't go back to our old contrast Thorotrast; it causes cancer. Does anyone know of alternatives to barium?"

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