Prenuvo: The age of full body scan

Prenuvo: The age of full body scan

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As my doctor told me, we do not have medical tricorders like they do on Star Trek. Devices that could quickly and safely scan your whole body and give you a diagnosis. The closest things we have today are MRI or CT scans, but those kinds of scans are not usually done unless there is a problem suspected and require a doctor to read and interpret. They’re not generally available to the public without a doctor’s orders because they have been very expensive, require trained doctors to read the results, and carry their own risks such as radiation for CT’s and chemical toxicity if chemical contrast is used.

But maybe things are changing.

Prenuvo is starting to offer MRI scans to the general public that can detect more then 500 conditions such as congenital defects that might go unnoticed and early stages of cancer. Despite being fairly new, it’s already started saving lives – especially for people in stage 1 cancer when there may be absolutely no symptoms.

This is particularly important for me because I had not one, but two independent stage 1 cancers. The worse part, just like Julianne Santarosa in the article, I had no symptoms. My first cancer was found via a routine exam; and during the investigation for the first cancer I got a MRI scan that revealed the second. I had surgery very quickly for both and it appears we successfully caught it before it spread. I’m now in a 5 year monitoring period, but the early detection definitely and massively improved my odds of survival.

Right now Prenuvo is open in a few major cities, but has expansion plans to many other cities. Personally, I plan on making use of them if I make it through my 5 year monitoring phase for my current cancer recovery.

They offer different plans which includes a torso scan for $1799 and a full body scan for $2499. For the price of a holiday trip, I think it’s an absolutely worthwhile diagnostic tool.

Y combiner is also pushing for more CT scan startups such Neko.

Links:

No, seriously – don’t go there

No, seriously – don’t go there

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Just for fun, I was looking at exotic places to travel. In looking at UNESCO heritage sites, the ancient and fascinating city of Timbuktu came up. But in looking at travel advisories to Mali, uhhhh – yeah.

The US State Department Travel has a great website with travel advisories for every country around the world. They have a rating system from 1-4. Right now, Mali (where Timbuktu is located) is a 4 due to crime, terrorism, and kidnapping. But I mean, how bad can it really be? I bet they’re over-exaggerating. Let’s read the description

Terrorist and armed groups continue plotting kidnappings and attacks in Mali. They may attack with little or no warning, targeting locations frequented by foreigners. The U.S. government is unable to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens throughout much of Mali as U.S. government employee travel outside Bamako is restricted due to security concerns.

Well, that’s not encouraging. But I’ve traveled abroad a lot and get along with just about everyone by being cool, respectful, and staying low-key. How bad could it be right? Let’s continue reading the advisory…

If you decide to travel to Mali:

  • Draft a will and designate appropriate insurance beneficiaries and/or power of attorney.
  • Discuss a plan with loved ones regarding care/custody of children, pets, property, belongings, non-liquid assets (collections, artwork, etc.), funeral wishes, etc.
  • Share important documents, login information, and points of contact with loved ones so that they can manage your affairs if you are unable to return as planned to the United States. 
  • Establish your own personal security plan in coordination with your employer or host organization, or consider consulting with a professional security organization.
  • Develop a communication plan with family and/or your employer or host organization so that they can monitor your safety and location as you travel through high-risk areas. This plan should specify whom you would contact first and how they should share the information.
  • Identify key sources of possible assistance for you and your family in case of emergency, such as the local U.S. embassy or consulate, FBI, the State Department, your employer (if traveling on business), and local friends/family in the high-risk area. 
  • Be sure to appoint one family member to serve as the point of contact with hostage-takers, media, U.S. and host country government agencies, and Members of Congress if you are taken hostage or detained.
  • Establish a proof of life protocol with your loved ones so that, if you are taken hostage, your loved ones will know specific questions and answers to ask the hostage-takers to be sure you are alive and to rule out a hoax.
  • Leave DNA samples with your medical provider in case it is necessary for your family to access them.

Uhhhhh – yeah. Not traveling to Mali anytime soon.

Creating really cool camp stove fire

Creating really cool camp stove fire

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Hoshizora Camping demonstrates a cool way of making your camp stove super cool. He first angles the holes in the secondary combustion layer and then adds a fire ring to an ordinary, boring camp stove. With some tweaking, the flame coming out of your stove will be tornadoed into a cool braid-like effect. I like how he shows how he experiments with different configurations to get the best effects.

I think this would be a great way to add a luxury touch to your camp stove and give you something cool to watch at the end of a long day of hiking or climbing.

Swedish Torch

Swedish Torch

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A handy way of creating a cooking surface with just a single log.

Now all you need is a chainsaw in the woods to cut the log with nice flat ends. 😀

How to get amazing camera shots

How to get amazing camera shots

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Luke Edwin shares this video collection of cool and often very simple tricks to get some interesting effect shots. Motion controlled greenscreen, shots that zoom in and out through objects, slow-motion effects, product shots and lots of little effects used in many modern videos. It’s pretty incredible these techniques and equipment are achievable by just about anyone for a very limited budget.

Equipment demonstrated:

Undervolting your SteamOS Steam Deck

Undervolting your SteamOS Steam Deck

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SteamdeckHQ reports that the recent 3.5.1 SteamOS update also came with a new BIOS firmware ver 118. Located in the SteamOS preview branch, this new version’s only change appears to be adding undervolting to the BIOS menu. Undervolting was possible before, but it could brick your device if you were too aggressive. To help prevent this, Valve appears to have put in a safety net in the BIOS that should save a lot of Steam Decks. Now, performing a CMOS reset (hold down the Volume Down button, 3 dot button, and power button at the same time) will also reset the undervolt settings to defaults.

Why undervolt your console? If your system is stable, your Steam Deck will typically run cooler, keep the fan quieter, possibly maintain higher speeds longer, and most importantly – improve the battery life.

Article:

Resources for Black Friday

Resources for Black Friday

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Shopping on Black Friday is not as simple as “Buy it because it’s the cheapest price all year!” You have to actually do your homework to figure out which items are actually a good buy.

Here’s some great resources to help you figure it out.

Check out the Black Friday ads to make your plan:

The first thing you should do is be prepared for Black Friday before it comes. You’ll do this by starting a few weeks in advance by reading through the ‘leaked’ Black Friday ad scans and seeing if there is any deals you’re interested in.

Check the reviews:

Sadly, it’s all too common for review sites to be purchased and largely just paid advertising. Anything endorsed by Twitch streamers, celebrities, or any online personality through Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, etc – are almost 100% guaranteed to be paid advertising. Websites that are reliable and accurate one year turn into paid promotion sites with shocking regularity. You need to check who owns the sites and see if the founders are still standing behind their reviews.

  • Hardware Unboxed – Good rating site that’s probably best for its gaming monitor reviews
    • Monitors Unboxed – A dedicated subchannel of Hardware Unboxed that is just monitors.
  • RTings – good for TV’s and monitors

Tools for reviews:

Retro game market collapses

Retro game market collapses

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Retro game prices have shot up to crazy levels in the last few years. As prices continued to go up far beyond what most individuals could afford, sites quickly picked up on the astronomical rises by offering fractional ownership of retro games. Sites like Otis and Rally.

In 2022, I shared a video from Karl Jobst that reported how the retro game market was actively manipulated by WATA rating agency and Heritage auctions. He showed how they were colluding to create those astronomical retro game values. Many news agencies picked up on his investigation, and a bit of a scandal broke out.

Here we are in late 2023, and it appears the crash has arrived. Karl has watched the prices plummet – and in a great many cases – by 90%.

The real question is if that money was ever real at all. In his original video, he indicated the astronomical sale prices likely didn’t actually involve those huge sums of money actually changing hands because WATA and Heritage were basically selling the games to themselves and the money and games never really changed hands.

One should question if the money ever even existed. So, we might take delight that a game that was falsely sold for $50,000 in a manipulated auction just sold for $5,000, but that’s still a good bit of dosh for games they likely bought off ebay for $500 or less years earlier.