MRI story

[jayman]

Yes, overall it's a GOOD thing to have an engineer be cynical and pessimistic

[KK6PD]

Originally Posted by dogfriend

I have found that engineers as a group tend to be cynical and often pessimistic. I have always found that the pessimistic side really helps to evaluate a design and imagine how someone can break it or otherwise f*** it up.

Where do you think "F.U.B.A.R." AND S.N.A.F.U. came from!!!

[qbee42]

Originally Posted by jayman

Just curious if you were involved in the ADCAP refit. There was a lot of initial DARPA and later on, MURI funding, for that project

By the time the Mod 5 and Mod 6 came out I was working for a company that made vibrational analysis equipment. FFTs again, but a different application. Gould had been sold to a Japanese company, and because of that the different divisions were all split up, making things a bit messy for awhile.

Actually, the best engineers I know are complete bores with no sense of humor whatsoever. Which is why I find you such an intriguing mystery ....

I don't have a sense of humor. I have been programmed to simulate a sense of humor.

So is going on a diet and getting some exercise. That's a pet peeve of mine. I have direct personal experience of what its like to become a fast disgusting slob. It was strictly due to being lazy and having weak self control

I suggested an alternative to large bore magnets: Crisco. I thought we should ship each MRI system with a big tub of Crisco. You get a fat person in for a scan, you strip them naked and smear them with Crisco - problem solved.

Originally Posted by jayman

You're being unusually quiet about wire reinforced bras ....

It *was* amusing. A whole class of female technicians and I had to entertain them for a week. Oh the sheer drudgery of working for a living.

Another amusing thing you can do with an MRI magnet, although not as amusing as female techs, is to balance a large coin on edge. You give it a little push and it falls over slowly, just as if it were in a viscous fluid. The strong magnetic field induces eddy currents, which oppose the motion of the coin. It's pretty cool. I wouldn't try it with one of your Canadian "fake" coins. The magnet would rip it from your fingers and send it flying through the bore, only to nail you in the face when it came yo-yoing back.

That's still in the strict prototype/lab environment, right? I thought it was years away from being fielded

Yes, very new stuff. Sometimes these things move faster than expected, but this one is still a ways off.

Tom

[dogfriend]

Originally Posted by qbee42

I suggested an alternative to large bore magnets: Crisco. I thought we should ship each MRI system with a big tub of Crisco. You get a fat person in for a scan, you strip them naked and smear them with Crisco - problem solved.

Sure, you could get them in the MRI, but wouldn't it be tough to get them back out again? Would there be a suction force at the closed end of the tube?

[qbee42]

Originally Posted by dogfriend

Sure, you could get them in the MRI, but wouldn't it be tough to get them back out again? Would there be a suction force at the closed end of the tube?

Both ends are open, except for trim pieces. On the other hand, we could take a page out of the torpedo manual and pop them out with compressed air: "HssssssssPOP!...thud...ssssssssCRASH". The "sssssss" part is the sound of a greased naked fat body sliding over linoleum before crashing into the door at the entrance to the suite.

Tom

[dogfriend]

That would scare the crap out of anyone: You are waiting in the lobby and suddenly a greased fat person comes crashing through the doors directly at you. They should show the reaction on You Tube.

[qbee42]

Originally Posted by dogfriend

That would scare the crap out of anyone: You are waiting in the lobby and suddenly a greased fat person comes crashing through the doors directly at you. They should show the reaction on You Tube.

We had a similar experience one time, although I didn't see this one personally. I have told this story before, but it's worth repeating. MRI scanners use large gradient amplfiers. They are essentially high power stereo amplifiers. In fact, in the early days they were made for us by an audio amplifier company which I won't name, but they also made big PA systems. We pushed these amps pretty hard, and failures were not uncommon. At one clinical location, two of our technicians were working on a failed MRI unit. Patients were in the waiting room, unaware of the technical problem. The gradient amp in this system was a big rack mounted device, and the techs had it pulled out for testing. Whatever they did managed to overload it, and the amp burst into flames. As is usual in these situations, panic was the normal response. Not knowing what else to do, the two techs grabbed the smoking amplifier, ran through the waiting room, and tossed it out the door onto the sidewalk. I imagine that was very reassuring to the waiting patients.

Tom

[FL_Prius_Driver]

Originally Posted by qbee42

Both ends are open, except for trim pieces. On the other hand, we could take a page out of the torpedo manual and pop them out with compressed air: "HssssssssPOP!...thud...ssssssssCRASH". The "sssssss" part is the sound of a greased naked fat body sliding over linoleum before crashing into the door at the entrance to the suite.

Tom

OK, I have a true story that is close enough. On the sub, a particularly overlarge junior torpedoman was given the job of cleaning the torpedo room bilge. This required him to squeeze down between the piping to get the job done. One completed, it became very clear that he was not coming back up. He was a human check valve. All the excess weight shifted up to let him down, but on the way back up, the same excess weight only expanded his girth coming up.

This was pondered for quite a while, till the Division Chief stated he had the answer and left the torpedo room. He returned with a fishing rod and a doughnut tied to the end and stated "We will fish him out". (Submariners heal wounds by rubbing salt into them.)

Eventually, the only solution was to have him strip completely, grease him in Crisco (no kidding), and get the whole crew pushing every part up. Not a fun evolution for all involved, but better than the alternative.

[qbee42]

Originally Posted by FL_Prius_Driver

OK, I have a true story that is close enough. On the sub, a particularly overlarge junior torpedoman was given the job of cleaning the torpedo room bilge. This required him to squeeze down between the piping to get the job done. One completed, it became very clear that he was not coming back up. He was a human check valve. All the excess weight shifted up to let him down, but on the way back up, the same excess weight only expanded his girth coming up.

This was pondered for quite a while, till the Division Chief stated he had the answer and left the torpedo room. He returned with a fishing rod and a doughnut tied to the end and stated "We will fish him out". (Submariners heal wounds by rubbing salt into them.)

Eventually, the only solution was to have him strip completely, grease him in Crisco (no kidding), and get the whole crew pushing every part up. Not a fun evolution for all involved, but better than the alternative.

This is a great story. I especially like the expression "human check valve". You could have just left him down there until he got skinny.

Tom

[amm0bob]

Originally Posted by hyo silver

How could someone have a nail up their nose and not know?

They can't...

It wasn't a nail... it was a metallic recorder used to transmit whatever he smelled to the mothership... it is one of the only ways that our alien overlords can determine when it will be the right time to invade.


I'm surprised there isn't someone (obviously it would have to be an alien drone) trying hard to cover this thing up and bury it entirely...