Dental Surgery is Fun

My mouth is slowly beginning to feel more like someone used a sharp object to pry a wisdom tooth out. I am, of course,thankful for modern dentistry techniques, since someone did actually pry a tooth out, only hours ago. Modern dentistry, despite the obvious advancements in anesthesia, is still somewhat primitive in practice. I watched in disbelief when the dentist stuck some sort of dental tool in my mouth and used it like a crowbar to pop my tooth loose. Then I listened as the tooth cracked audibly and half of it nearly went down my throat. I forced myself not to panic when the dentist and his assistant scrambled to pluck the fragment of my wisdom tooth off of my tonsil, all the while urging me not to swallow.
And that was good dental surgery.
My Dad told me the story of how once he visited a dentist for similar oral surgery (I inherited his crooked wisdom teeth along with nearly every other physical trait I own) and fled the dentist's office bleeding profusely from the gums. I am thankful that at least I didn't feel the need to get up and run in the middle of the tooth removal.

Tooth-less

I am posting here, dear reader, after having a successful (thus far anyway) dental surgery. It wasn't painful but having a tooth forcibly pried from one's head is never a pleasant experience. As I type these words the right side of my jaw, lip, and tongue are still numb. When I open my mouth to speak, I sound like a recent stroke sufferer. Saliva and blood accumulate in my mouth rapidly, and I struggle to keep from choking on my own spit. So, in other words, I am ready to celebrate the Christmas season.
MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR'S everybody!

Car Maintenance

I am very slack about car maintenance, which is why I took care to buy the extended warranty when I got my car and why I am very worried about sudden failures of my car's machinery. I constantly fret about the oil level, the transmission fluid, and tire pressure.
Naturally, my mind is next occupied with solutions for my problem and the one that keeps returning to my mind is pain. Not personal pain, although if someone where to flog me each time my car needed maintenance, my car would stay in tip-top shape all the time; but what if the car "felt" pain. People naturally respond to and understand pain in animals and other people. If a car was apparently self-aware and could express sensations of pain to its operator cars would likely suffer from fewer maintenance related problems. Apparent self-awareness isn't as difficult as it seems. (although it probably isn't as easy as I am about to make it seem) The car would only need to monitor a few critical systems to keep the operator abreast of its current maintenance needs. With the advent of low cost wireless communication, engineers could disperse sensors underneath the surface of a car's skin and in the event of an accident the car could pinpoint the damaged area of the body. Better yet, the sensors could be equipped with short-range sonar systems so that the car could "feel" how close it was to obstacles in it's path. Imagine a car that could tell you how far to back up when parallel parking! What's more interesting is that nothing I have proposed requires new technology. I don't know about the price or practicality but I bet the majority of what I have proposed could be built with off the shelf parts. Why not? I wouldn't be surprised if someone is already working on it.