Frankentooth tooth repair with electricity

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On the Osgood File radio program on KNX 1070 (an LA based radio station) I heard of a new process using electricity for repairing teeth. They did not say how many visits it would take to make a repair so I thought that a dentist office could turn into an over crowded assembly line for people getting their week jolt. There may be the need to drill out the bad stuff before beginning the electric repair so it may not be a totally painless wonder treatment. The report did say that the new process could be in your dentist office within three years.

Then a week or so later I read about a process that uses lasers to repair teeth. See

http://www.gizmag.com/low-power-laser-stem-cell-tooth-repair/32309/

The article does not say when this will be ready for prime time but soon your dentist could ask if you want to be Zapped or Jolted.

Will the dentist office of the future have a car battery and a set of jumper cables next to the chair or will you have to go in for a weekly visit to have the tech shine a super laser pointer in your mouth. Either way it’s better than drill and fill.

Then comes the tooth and bone repair gel.

See

http://www.ecnmag.com/news/2014/03/new-shrinking-gel-steers-tooth-tissue-formation

Sometimes progress is great.

 

Write on, draw on,   Professor Voltage.

Great line, not so great feel for a pencil

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I watch too many how to draw YouTube videos. One video features a guy from England and he uses Derwent brand pencils. So the other day I was in the arts and crafts store and they sold Derwent brand pencils. I picked up a couple, 2B, 4B and a 6B. They make a OK to good line but the pencil just doesn’t feel right. The paint on the pencil is thin and you can feel the lumps bumps and grain of the wood under the paint and you can see and feel any manufacturing defects in the wood. After so many years of using a yellow number 2 Dixon Ticonderoga with its heavy slick coat of paint the Derwent feels rough. The Derwent also feel lighter than pencils I’m use to. Derwents do sharpen well. I’m back to using the 25 year old Skilcraft 0.7 mechanical pencil.

e-book pirates are alive and thriving

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At the last meeting of the screenwriters group I belong to one of the members who runs a mirco-traditional-publishing business had some bad news for another writer in the group. The other writer has written and published several novels both in trade paper back and e-book. The bad news is someone is selling print on demand copies of his books and he wasn’t aware of it or getting any money for the books sold. Seems it common for people to scrape e-books off the net and offer them for sell. They sell the books through large used book web sites but not Amazon. Self published authors and other small authors would not expect to find their books on used book web sites so they never check. One site we were shown claims the books (taken from other authors) were printed in the USA. The books from the dealer using print on demand were selling for less than the author sold them for or the price on the book jacket.

Are you a small book author that has e-books or know someone who is, then check the used book web sites and see if this is happening to you or people you know.

 

Write on. Professor Voltage.

Company Merger Less Service

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I just received an email that Time Warner Cable will kill the free web site I have with them at the end of the month. I’ve had this web site for a long time, through three ISPs. Why are they doing this, they didn’t say. I believe they have to eliminate all freebies so Comcast can report good financial numbers next quarter. Comcast is buying Time Warner Cable and Comcast debt will increase, big time. To pay the interest on the new debt’s loan and still report an increase in profit Comcast will have to cuts out everything it can from the cable service while keeping the price the same (less service same price). Does the storage requirements for a web sites cost that much. I don’t think so, Google offers ton of free cloud storage for gmail accounts and other companies offer free storage to. Does it matter? Not so much for the web sites. People don’t use personnel web sites like they have in the past. Now people use FaceBook pages or use a web site hosting service. Even Blogs are declining in popularity. But this could be a warning that new fees are coming for things that use to be free. The end result is some people at Time Warner Cable will get an unreal amount of money while the customer will get less. Is this unique to Comcast? No, Union bank bought out Santa Barbara bank and simple things have been stopped. My mother still complains that they no longer print pictures of checks on the monthly bank statements and if the computer is ever hacked or crashes she will not have a record that bills were paid. How much could it cost to print the pictures of cashed checks on the statement? If Union bank wants to act like a major bank then their customers could end up going to a small bank that will go the extra distance to give them simple things that they want. Time to call up Verizon and see if I can get a good rate on plain internet service. Write on.

April 1 proves the economy is getting better

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April first I received several e-mails that were April fools gags and the gags weren’t gallows humor. This proves the economy is getting better. People are happier, the beam counters are not strangling everyone (it cost money to send out a gag e-mail, those electrons aren’t cheap and were in business to make money not get sued).  Spring is coming, the snow is going to melt and there’s a light at the end of the tunnel (it’s not a train it’s congress coming to muck things up).            Professor Hy Voltage.

19th century meets 21st century

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Coming from the pool area into the convention area of the ConDor con you cross by the pool area then through a short hallway to the con area. Along one side of the hallway are brand new soda machines and on the other side are full length mirrors. Early Sunday morning one of the attendees was checking the fit the bustle of her steampunk costume in the hallway mirrors. A great juxtaposition of the 19th and 21st century.

Write on,draw on.  Professor Hyram Voltage