Michael Jackson, Defibrillator Lessons, and Flatline Myths

Michael Jackson’s death reminded me of something I recently learned.

I attended defibrillator training at work, one of 4 in case of a medical emergency.

During the course, the instructor stated a fact that shocked me.

In the movies you always see people flat-lining (essentially dying) and being resuscitated using manual CPR or a defibrillator. But the instructor mentioned this is more likely during Ventricle Fibrillation (V-Fib), which is a twitching of the heart muscles which lasts only 6-8 minutes or so, and very unlikely after flat-lining or when the heart completely stops, at which point, according to him, there is roughly only a 0.0001% chance of survival.

Flatline

Rogers iPhone 3Gs

Now that we know the goods about the new iPhone 3Gs and have seen the related Rogers pricing, time for me to make up my mind as to whether I will be upgrading my iPhone 3G.

Likely scenario is I’ll grab the new 3Gs for my birthday and my wife will inherit my old 3G (Thanks honey!). She is actually looking for a new plan so I’ll even get to buy it at the $299 price (yes I want my 32GBs).

So I guess my decision is made…

Told you so?

Back in 2007 I talked about the cyclic nature of music and how 80’s music was making a comeback.

This was reaffirmed with the recent release of a Talking Heads best of album:

Available at your local Starbucks.

Same as it every was…

Back to the Minors

Back in the 90s there was a big movement within Alternative, Folk Rock, and even mainstream Pop music that focused on songs in minor keys. Very complex and even dark minor chords brought us songs with deeper emotional characteristics, which made me appreciate them more than the standard 3 major chord songs that are fun and light, but not as “intelligent” as its counterpart.

It’s nice to see a few albums come out recently that seem to bring back this style of music, including Swoon by the Silversun Pickups: