Avatar and the float tank

OK, Now we have all seen Avatar,
what was the technology of the pods?
Clearly not a float tank as such but it looked to me like a group of liquid filled sacs with plastic tops.

For long term rest like that, a bed would not be enough although they are at reduced gravity. It would make sense for a float system to be used and the use of liquid filled bags is a great idea. In general normal water beds do not let you sink in enough for any real float effect and technically its hard to do with a static system.

In theory you could tailor a group of bags to a particular body, rather like they do in Formula one, putting in just the right amount of liquid, and a spongy air-bubble filled liquid would be better still.

However for a general system, the bags would have to be filled and emptied and joined so that just the right amount of pressure support touches all over.

It might be the next development, and may be easier than linking your brain to an alien body, but hey, we're nearly there too, when you consider the games world.

Here are some links to new pages on different subjects

For sleeping problems try this one.

For restless legs syndrome.

For more about couple floating.

General notes on stress.

And to deal with nagging pain.

Haiku time:
This classic is not apparently on the web yet so now it is:

Corn: in between the rows
weaving them together,
a butterfly goes.

More to see

research information http://hailthefloaters.pbworks.com/FloatResearch

Nassim Haramein

I just discovered Nassim Haramein. He is a physicist. He has reworked Einstein's equations from General Relativity and added the idea of a spinning universe, where Einstein assumed a static universe. His reworking makes sense of the observations of the expanding universe without having to invent dark mass or dark energy. Then he turned to the atom and reinterpreted an atom as a mini black hole. He can explain the proton nucleus held together by gravity with no need for the strong nuclear force.

He believes the universe is a fractal with the same pattern at all scales from the tiniest subatomic scale, through our world scale to galaxies.

Most exciting of all perhaps is the link between physics and consciousness. He redefines consciousness as the information flow between the pattern of the universe and matter and energy. Everything flows in and out of the vacuum energy which is everywhere and contains the self organising pattern of the universe.

Watch one of his videos here

Can you float with piles???

This picture comes from Metro magazine on line. The question it prompts is: "Can you float with piles?"

OK what are piles? That's the common name for haemorrhoids and many people suffer from them at some time in their lives. I have no idea if the Mummy was caught in that painful expression due to piles but then again "We should never, ever doubt, what nobody is sure about?"

It is a great pity that many sufferers, not just Mummies, do not realise that painful piles can be "manually adjusted" and this adjustment is a really good idea.

Piles are a prolapse of the local inflatable sacs around the anus which are part of the system for keeping seepage inside and your underpants clean, (usually). They (the sacs) are filled with blood and when healthy they form the water tight seal about 2.5 cms (one inch) inside the anal sphincter. Bill Bryson is very good on this subject in "A short history of nearly everything".

OK so now we are clear what we are talking about, these sacs can inflate with blood and protrude through the aforementioned anal sphincter causing discomfort and pain. They can get stuck there ("strangulated" is the charming medical term) and the picture then gets worse and worse.

Getting to the point, if you float in a salt solution with protruding piles it can hurt like hell. You won't find this important advice on many websites but it's true.

However there is good advice to be had and I will summarise it here. Number one, get rid of the library you keep by the toilet bowl. Staying too long "at stool" is a prime cause of piles and reading on the loo is a very bad habit especially if you know you are prone to piles.

Number two; be prepared with creams and stuff and take the time after straining away, and wiping, to push those grapes-of-wrath back inside with your fingertips. You will need to learn the trick of relaxing that sphincter to allow the inflated piles to deflate and pop back inside where they belong. That is a really worthwhile trick to learn because while outside, those ballooning grapes can not just itch, not just feel uncomfortable, they can get worse, bleed and so on.... I don't want to get more graphic than I have already.

If you cannot succeed at this trick, or if they do get worse, do overcome your embarrassment and get medical help, you know it makes sense, and in the meantime save floating for another day.

couple floating

Couple Floating - is it a good idea?

Maybe two can float as "cheeply" as one.

I came across couple floating by accident. Now what kind of accident could that be? The ceiling gives way upstairs and down comes a very surprised carpet plus dozing bloodhound? Splash!

Well no, it wasn't that kind of accident but if the float tank is big enough, sooner or later the idea will crop up.

Quite a few float centers have couple floating now, so a quick survey reveals that half of all new customers come for the first time as a couple! That is a tricky statistic because you could take it that since we are talking about couples, then all new customers are in couples but that's not quite true.

Setting aside the big pools where half a dozen or more people can float and giggle at once, the centers with couple floating at the moment are all using the big floataway float tanks. What happens?

There's no doubt about it; you can get most people to try any new experience much more easily as a couple. Whether it's a big fairground wheel, a Thai restaurant or a float tank, we just have more courage in pairs.

Of course it really needs to be someone you know pretty well, that's obvious but since you can both wear swimming costumes it doesn't have to be intimate.

It's the future. Just imagine the positive scenarios! resolving conflict, celebrating an anniversary, or just trying this new thing, floating stress away.