It's Time to Get the Blood Flowing

Great thing, giving blood

• Just 1 pint can save up to 3 lives
• Every 2 seconds someone needs blood

Unfortunately, there's rarely a day that goes by without shortages, some acute, across the nation.
As much as 60% of the U.S. population is eligible to donate blood yearly, but as little as 5% do it **

So, go do it

...
But here's my beef with this:

00:05:48

(hr:min:sec)

That's how long it took to physically draw the unit of blood out of me (and a glorious unit it was!).

01:08:00

And that's how long the process took from start to finish with only a single person in front of me waiting.

If blood is needed every 2 seconds, the time on the input side needs to be cut.  Let's face it, it's hard to convince potential donors to part with all that nice blood they usually like to keep on the inside, now enhance this with fear of needles and pain.

The Red Cross doesn't need to be wasting their time too.

Some points to consider:

• When a blood drive occurs at a company, they can hit the motherlode.  But over an hour of processing time plus significantly more for waiting cuts people right out.  Not everyone can miss that much time in a work day.
• I waited to register; I waited to get interviewed and finger-pricked (iron test - don't get all worked up); I waited to get on the table...and all four were empty
• The bean-counters prevailed:  In order to save the cost of an unused kit, attendants must now assemble your blood bag, tubes and test tubes after you get up on the table - five more minutes 
• The long and tedious medical screening questioning may be helpful, but if the donor gets inattentive/forgetful over the course of this ever-expanding set of disqualifiers, or he/she lies ^^, it really didn't work. 

So here's the way things Otter Bee at the blood drive...

Overhaul the System

The Goal:  15 minutes of administration, max

• Simplify the Screening - It really shouldn't have to be this complicated.  Screen hard for CJD (mad cow) 'cuz it can't be tested out.  Stop being PC on some questions and just eliminate others.  The risks from some of these disqualifying groups are no greater than others donating freely (like Zika-infested Floridians). 
• Hand Out Worksheets to Newbies Waiting to Start - Disqualifying answer and you're out, without slowing the flow.  Could do on smartphones via wifi in waiting area!  
• Fast Track the Regulars - Even the donut-swilling, time-sinks of TSA have Pre-Check.  I've given maybe a gallon or two; one lady there was on her 36th round.  Just verbally ask them and highlight any new questions while you're cleaning his/her arm.
• Do a Cholesterol Test - At same time as iron test; just takes a drop or two.  BONUS for donating! 
• Prep a Minimal Number of Blood Bag Assemblies - Come on!  The Red Cross has been doing these drives for decades.  They should have a good idea how many people they'll get at a minimum, and if you see ten people in line, prepare eight bags while you drain those on the table.
• And No Waiting - Once you're in, there should be no dead time.  Staff it up appropriately and keep it flowing as if lives depended on it.

The Red Cross should be testing the donors' blood, not their patience.  Bring on some efficiency for the donors, and you'll get more blood.

The Emperor Needs New Clothes

Emperor Norton 1869 on board a boneshaker bicycle around the time of San Francisco's Grand Velocipede Tournament

(Photography, like the bike, was similarly rare to see in that time period.  Pneumatic tires, smooth roads and enjoyment were apparently not top priority.)

In the world of modern cycling, advancements in technology come in fits and starts.  Apart from what some consider an unhealthy fascination with tight spandex, not a lot seems to have changed in clothing.  It's high time we do so, at least on the visibility front.

Where are the kinetic/movement-powered LED's, or glowing fibers in cycling clothes?  

There are patents that doubtless go back quite a ways to rudimentary but impractical designs, and some more modern ones that directly address electronics in clothing.  But frankly, small enough devices either embedded in/on fabric, or more ideally part of the fabric itself, should have made its way to the market by now.

In terms of clothing, the BBC (fabric as battery storage for phones, etc.) and Mashable (7 imaginative but disappointingly vague concepts in clothing to, once again, charge your phone) had articles back in 2012.

When is that solar-powered bra expected to be out in the sun?

(And, more intriguing, if this is all you're wearing,

exactly what electronic device are you powering?)

June 2015

This isn't a new idea, so much as a practical application and plea to get it done.  Maybe they think cyclists would be too shy to wear anything gaudy....

 

If Mickey can blink when a kid moves, why can't I?

After all, toddlers have been running around with LED flashing shoes such as these for a long time.