Stanley O'Shea

logo
logo

health

Including mental health, physical therapy, vision, TCM, veterinarian medicine etc.

health, media, philosophy

Medical ninjas EP N3 Dr Warm : the Quincy descendent who activates the Cosmo pt.2

/

Part 2 Dr. Warm: Hahahaha. Lift your shirt a little more; I must make sure the Cosmo doesn’t spread to your myocardium.I: Are you saying you can’t fix my fragile little heart with your therapeutic guns? fig 5 Dr. Warm: Currently there’s no clinical trial data showing spiritual power is safe for the myocardium. There’s sufficient evidence for blood vessels, nerves, skeletal and smooth muscle, though.I: Why hasn’t anyone researched the heart muscle?Dr. Warm: Because people with heart problems don’t come to our department. To repair that tissue directly they’d rather go to surgery. We won’t mess with it without data.I: In Bleach’s worldview, once the heart dies, even spiritual power and many supernatural forces can hardly save it.Dr. Warm: That’s true. Our department has its limits. We’re not in the business of making money off people’s desperation.I: But why were your two guns aimed right at that woman’s belly?Dr. Warm: She had back pain, and she’s been here many times. The gun mode and bullet type used on her are different from what we’ll use on you. Bullets are personalized via our machine settings — we first forge them with individualized parameters, then load them into the guns.I: Never mind — I won’t ask for details. According to your theory, a lot of energy is probably wasted in that kind of shooting.Dr. Warm: Not at all. My bullets have a trace-back property to living tissue; they don’t get wasted in empty space. Besides, they’re particles — not energy.I: Oh — I thought you fired positive and negative energy simultaneously.Dr. Warm: Energy is always positive. What’s a “negative energy”? That’s not a scientific term, but a liberal-arts invention. I choose to ignore it.I: It’s about controlling the “narrative” — to manufacture a prosper-looking public by labeling all whistleblowers as “negative energy spreaders”.Dr. Warm: History always moves forward while looping back.I: Yes — a spiral curve can be described by polar parametric equations.Dr. Warm: Hahahaha. Some are worse: whatever helps them is “positive energy”; whatever harms their interests is “negative energy.” Interests are relative. What benefits the Democrats likely harms the Republicans. If someone gets murdered, opponents call it a victory — “positive energy” — while his supporters call it tragedy — “negative energy.” Fig CK I: You really are an expert. Your theories can be complete and even branch out. Last time an “expert” from Smoke City lectured me about primary and secondary contradictions; I was convinced — but the side effects of her treatment plan were huge and I needed 2 practitioners and 6 courses of traditional herbal medicine to recover. Heh.Dr. Warm: I won’t comment on others. My specialty project, I’ve studied thoroughly. Many other hospitals come to me for training on this. Heh.I: What exactly is my body’s current status? If I put my hand in, will it disappear?Dr. Warm: You can try. I: Whoa! Hahaha!Dr. Warm: That segment of your hand right now has been assimilated by your core Cosmo.I: Then I shouldn’t be shaking hands with people for a while.Dr. Warm: Right. If you shake hands the Cosmo’s reparative capacity for you is weakened — the Cosmo’s spiritual power goes to others.I: I’ll avoid touching people then.Dr. Warm: Yes — put your shirt back on and wear gloves if possible. That’s it for today. Once your Cosmo is fully absorbed, next time we’ll proceed deeper.I: You mean you can treat foot pain directly next time?Dr. Warm: Well… we’ll re-evaluate when you come back.I: Heh heh heh heh. After leaving the treatment room I bumped into that big fish again — oh wait, that’s the woman who had back pain. I: Hey — your belly has a Cosmo too.Inoue: Right. After each therapy session the Cosmo expands and then shrinks.I: It really resembles the cycles of the universe.Inoue: According to Dr. Warm, the Cosmo is really a projection of the greater universe’s power into the unit circle, which, in this case, is the human body.I: Dr. Warm said you have back pain. Is it from sitting at an office a long time or carrying a baby for too long?Inoue: Neither. I’m an athlete — lumbar muscle strain is normal for my profession.I: To be honest, you don’t look like an athlete.Inoue: I do synchronized swimming, also known as artistic swimming.I: Many people tell me swimming is safe and gentle on joints. But being easy on joints doesn’t mean it won’t strain muscles.Inoue: Right — athletes can even have herniated discs.I: What’s your family name? Maybe I’ve seen you on TV.Inoue: Inoue.I: So is your ancestor Orihime Inoue or Kazuhiko Inoue?Inoue: Haha, the former, apparently.I: So you must know those Soul Reapers and Quincies very well.Inoue: Dr. Warm and I met in our university.I: So you probably get preferential access here because you’re an acquaintance?Inoue: Who said that? I paid in full. This type of treatment isn’t covered by insurance yet. I came to him because he’s a friend and I trust he won’t do me harm.I thought to myself: Not doing you harm is certain — but whether he’ll gouge you, I don’t know. Familiarity is a double-edged sword. From what I observed, he treated you differently from how he treated me; even I as an outsider could tell.I: But isn’t it awkward with a friend treating you?Inoue: Of course. That’s why I turned into a fish. Their department used to have a female doctor who went away this month to study.I: I came because of their expensive machine.Inoue: Right — you come to a top-tier hospital to save worry. If you’d gone to an average hospital, maybe you’d only get fifty to sixty percent better and still have to come here.I: According to Bleach’s character attributes, you should naturally have medical superpowers.Inoue: I do, but without specialized training you won’t reach professional levels. It needs both genes and training. Several in my family work in medical or fitness fields. But I don’t want my fate decided only by genes — I wanted to pick

media, health

Adventures with the Medical Ninjas – episode N3: Dr. Warm : the Quincy descendent who activates the Cosmo pt.1

/

Part 1(Inside the treatment room) fig 1 I: Dr. Warm, this is my Chakragraphy test report. Everything came back negative.Dr. Warm: Then where exactly is your problem?I: Wherever I wore orthotic inserts, that’s where I have problems.Dr. Warm: If that’s the case, one session won’t be enough. You can’t start at too high an intensity — your body needs time to adapt.I: Sure. But the intensity can’t be too low either. It’s not easy for us to come all the way from out of town. If the intensity isn’t enough and the lesion isn’t resolved… Anyway, I don’t want to be  traveling to a second-tier city for treatment again and again.Dr. Warm: Don’t worry. These two guns of mine are ancestral — very powerful.I: Whoa — are those guns made of titanium? They look like they have noble bloodlines. The director in Smoke City used white guns, and his bullets were made with three kinds of chakra. He sold me a ton of medicine; later I threw all the oral meds away.Dr. Warm: Nani? Chakra? The bullets we use here are forged from spiritual power — from reiatsu (spiritual power). The higher a therapist’s spiritual power, the higher the spirit-pressure each bullet carries.I: Spiritual power? Spirit-pressure? Right — the last doctor who did my Chakragraphy told me you have to go to a first-tier city to get spiritual power tested; second-tier cities can’t do it. So are you perhaps also a descendant of a Soul Reaper (Shinigami)?Dr. Warm: Nope. Our hospital’s surgery department is mainly descendants of Soul Reapers. The internal medicine and support departments are mostly descendants of Hollows. Our department, though, is basically made up of Quincy descendents.I: My goodness. Big cities really do have all kinds of talent. In hospitals in backward regions, seeing even one descendant of a ninja is already amazing.Dr. Warm: Hahaha — you know what? The medical device company that supplies our hospital with high-tech polymer disposable rubber gloves — their ancestors used to be pirates.I: That company must be called One Piece, right?Dr. Warm: Heh — looks like you didn’t spend much time grinding through problem sets in school; you only watched anime.I: I wasn’t cut out for academic stuff. But you can’t watch every show; at least you should know about the big ones.Dr. Warm: Historical reasons. Now we are living in a peaceful era; this society doesn’t need so many people who are good at fighting, so many of our clan chose to enter the medical field.I: In Bleach the Quincies used to use bows and arrows — now they’ve evolved into guns.Dr. Warm: Look — the wall behind me records the tools our department has used over the last few hundred years.I: Quincies are different from Soul Reapers. You all look gentle on the outside, killing without a trace of blood.Dr. Warm: Heh — we are wholeheartedly FOR the patient. Compared to those big departments, our tools are really gentle: fast-acting and never dragging things out.I thought to myself: guns breed power.I: But there must be side effects, right? After being shot, the body inevitably swells for a while.Dr. Warm: That means your tissues are repairing. Look at this patient I’m treating — she’s already had several sessions here and can gradually get back in the water. Before, her back pain was near unbearable; she almost went to folk remedies. Fig 2 I: That’s really amazing. This patient didn’t struggle at all — so it doesn’t look that painful.Dr. Warm: Pain should be there; she just dares not move. During treatment patients must not shift, to prevent the spiritual particles from going off-course when they enter.I: I didn’t expect your hospital to treat animals too — or are you just a jack-of-all-trades?Dr. Warm: She’s not an animal — she can transform, and lying like this is more convenient. She’s almost finished. You’re next.(This patient’s treatment finishes — she reverts to human form and goes outside to rest.) fig 3 I: Should I lie down?Dr. Warm: For the first session you need to stand. Per our department’s usual protocol, we treat from the core first. We see the body as a whole instead of solely targeting the areas with symptoms.I: But every time I switch therapists they start from the core. The core has already been treated many times; in the end the lesion turned out to be clearly in my foot.Dr. Warm: That’s other people’s theories. Some treat by nerves, some by muscle chains, some by fascial lines, some by chakra, some by qi and blood — we Quincies don’t accept those. The first time we must activate your Cosmo (inner universe). If a patient’s Cosmo can’t be activated, the natural spiritual power can’t tune into your body, and subsequent effects can’t be good.I: Sigh — well, doctor-patient relationships always have an information gap. If you put this theory in a ninja-run hospital, you might get yelled at as pseudoscience.Dr. Warm: Which hospital would dare call us pseudoscience? I’d call them traitorous ninja. Lift your shirt — we’re starting. Each of these two guns will fire 1,000 bullets. Both will fire together.I: Huh? So if you actually fire 1,000 times, this treatment’s fee will be used up in one go.Dr. Warm: The effect can never be compared by ordinary bullets, okay?I: Then why don’t you point the guns directly at my core muscle groups?Dr. Warm: My bullets are made of spiritual particles, invisible and intangible. The direction that lands on the patient’s tissue corresponds to the vector cross product of the gun barrel’s direction and the thumb’s direction. fig 4 I: Uh — that sounds a bit like left-hand rule / right-hand rule in physics. But there’s no lesion on my belly at all.Dr. Warm: You young people don’t get it. The first time we must activate the Cosmo so your body connects with natural energy. Our method is all-natural — no drugs, no blood draws. Watch: the particles produced by these two guns are yin and yang

media, health

Adventures with the Medical Ninjas – episode N2: Getting a Chakragraphy and Encountering the Soul Reapers

/

N2.1 (9 am, inside the testing room for Chakragraphy) Woman: Lift your leg. Me: The needle’s inside—I wouldn’t dare lift my leg! Woman: You have to lift it, otherwise there won’t be any signal. Me: But it hurts, the needle is stabbing inside. Woman: If you don’t use force, the needle will never come out. Me: Nani? (What?) N2.2 （10 am, outside the testing room） Woman: Sigh, has your report come out yet? Me: Nope, still waiting. It’ll take at least another half hour. Woman: I’m getting anxious waiting. I still have to go to my outpatient appointment later. Me: I’ve got one too, but you know how it is—your scheduled time and the actual time you see the specialist are always at least half an hour apart. No need to rush. Woman: Why do you think the Chakragraphy room is so busy yet there are only two doctors inside? Me: Just shows how scarce their skills are… one of them seems to be only writing reports. Woman: Did you see that guy just now? He almost broke the door down trying to get his wife in a wheelchair in earlier. And in the end, it looks like he really did cut the line. Me: Yeah, I saw that. Honestly, if you just shout outside, “Doctor, I need you to determine the pricing for me,” that female staff will definitely let you in. Woman: True, they’re super quick when it comes to money matters. N2.3 (8 am, outside the testing room) This man brought his wife here for the chakragraphy test. Because the waiting time was too long, he lost his temper and banged furiously on the door. The doctor inside didn’t dare open it, saying the previous patient hadn’t even put their clothes back on yet. Me: Why is your wife in a wheelchair at such a young age? Was it an accident? He: ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), also called Lou Gehrig’s disease. Me: She looks like she’s in pretty good condition, though. He: The Kuchiki family’s reiryoku (spiritual power) is unbelievably strong. Last time she went to the first-tier city for a reiryoku scan, she froze the entire machine. Me: Kuchiki? Reiryoku? Aren’t those Bleach terms? So in this world there are not only descendants of ninjas, but also descendants of Soul Reapers (shinigami)? He: You must be from another city. This hospital has a lot of Soul Reaper descendants. Me: Alright… but if you’re Soul Reapers, why do you still need chakragraphy? He: Because only first-tier cities can do reiryoku scans, and even then you have to book a month in advance. We just want a follow-up. The doctors say chakras and reiryoku can be converted through equations. Me: Oh right, it feels similar to the meridian system. He: We don’t really understand either. That’s the information gap between the medical world and us commoners. Me: So her ALS… is it genetic? He: Yes. Ice-type reiryoku affects the motor neurons. But in the family it only shows up once every few generations. She only developed it after we married. Me: And yet you’ve stayed faithfully by her side. He: We were childhood sweethearts, hehe. Me: From your hair, your outfit, and your tone, I’d guess you’re from the Abarai clan? He: That obvious? Haha. Me: I never missed a single episode of Bleach growing up. He: You look fine though. Why are you here for this test? Me: Oh, nothing serious. The doctor in the first-tier city asked me to come to a less crowded hospital for the test, so I wouldn’t have to wait in line. He: My hometown clinic can’t do it either. We have to come downtown. Me: And that brain-computer interface on your wife’s head — does it actually work? Did this hospital give it to you? He: Not at all. We bought it online. They say you have to train the model for a while before it works. It’s only because they offer a one-month no-questions-asked return that we dared to buy it. (At that moment, the door opened. Mr. Abarai started quarreling with the female doctor, describing his wife’s illness in the most tragic terms. In the end, the doctor let them cut in line.) As the brother pushed his wife into the room, she cast me a smile that was not a smile. I felt a sudden chill wash over me, and my phone shut down by itself. short vid for N2.3 End of EP N2. The N-x series is a fork from the main story happening in the city where Patrick lives. These episodes exist for a reason, and they expand the world of the medical ninjas to a broader universe, which you will see. This is a creative project inspired by the traditions of Eastern shonen manga and Western comics and cinematic storytelling.All characters, abilities, and world elements are original creations.Any similarities to existing works are coincidental or intended as respectful homage, without any claim of ownership or affiliation.

health, memoir

Adventures with the Medical Ninjas – Episode N1 Dr. Cold and His White Guns

/

(Last visit from one month ago) (one month later) Me: Dr. Cold, the ointment infused with chakra you put on last time was amazing — my left side doesn’t hurt anymore. I probably don’t need your “Water-Style plus Metal-Style” treatment. Just give me more ointment infused with chakra.Dr. Cold: Is that so? Then we’ll do one session of “Air-Style” on the right side.I thought to myself: Finally — but somehow it all feels a little too easy.He said: Let’s prescribe a few more oral meds.Me: Oh, no — I barely took the last mind-soothing powder. The mind-lifting pill helped a bit, but I later realized my lesion is actually higher up; it isn’t really an illusion spell. Besides, those ingredients are toxic; you can’t take much. AI says at most 20 days.He said: Toxic? Who said that?Me (thinking): ChatGPT checked it — it said it’s highly toxic.He said: That dose is tiny, it’s fine.I thought to myself: Are you ignorant or pretending to be? (At the Pharmacy) Me: Finally found it—didn’t know there’s such a tiny pharmacy on this floor. I even went all the way to the lobby on the first floor.The pharmacists: People requested to have one here. Going up and down is too much trouble. But we do have fewer types of medicine here.Me: Then why did I get my prescription from the first floor last time?The pharmacists: The doctor can choose that in the prescribing system.Me: You really have so few medicines here. Downstairs they have smart pharmacies—AI plus conveyor belts deliver meds straight to the pharmacist. They can sit all day without getting up.The pharmacists: You know that smart equipment costs millions, right?Me: Yeah, even all your salaries combined for a few years wouldn’t reach that.The pharmacists: Haha, exactly. We’re the more cost-effective option. (In the treatment room) He said: Sit up straight. I’m going to summon my ranged weapons. Watch closely — these are called mind-penetrating guns. Start telling me when you feel anything. Me: Ahhhh — your guns look 3D-printed, like those insoles sold online.He: No way. This is ancestral. I’m the ninth-generation heir. The guns look the same, but each generation uses different bullets. The bullets are high-density chakra — invisible to human eyes but birds can see them.Me: Ahhh…ahhh…ahhh…He: Moreover, these bullets can penetrate soft tissue and act directly on neurons in your brain — cranial nerves, spinal nerves, sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves — a full 3D approach to remove hallucinations.I thought to myself: Wow — that sounds like precision pseudoscience, just like the insole industry, according to ChatGPT.He said: Forgot to say — each gun contains 2,000 rounds, and the human body can handle at most 4,000 rounds a day. We’ve already used up one gun; you must hold on for the rest of the bullets. Don’t avoid it; don’t move.Me: You know how to run a business — you shot me with two guns at once and used them up in two minutes. I bet each round costs a lot.He said: I don’t usually do this special procedure — it wastes my chakra and takes time. If it weren’t for your long medical history, I’d just prescribe several boxes of mind-soothing powder and mind-lifting pill. Take them for months and you’d be fine. You young people don’t appreciate what you have — you get medicine and don’t even take it. In our day, not a single grain of rice was left, let alone medicine.Me: Ah…ah…ahhh…ah…ahhh…ahHe: Are you sending Morse code?Me: You noticed that. I learned that from the movie Parasite.He: Since you’re already here, begging won’t help. Okay, this session’s over. Hurry off the bed — I’ve got the next patient. Me: Your guns look scary but it didn’t hurt that much. Last year Dr. Good upstairs told me never to try the mind-penetrating guns — it’d be excruciating.He: Haha — can you trust him? He’s famous in this hospital for attacking other departments’ procedures.Me: Right, he even told me Dr. Dreamer’s patients sneaked over to his ward in the morning for treatment. Now I think maybe he fished those patients when he did rounds at Dr. Dreamer’s place — like handing out flyers.I thought to myself: Just like a Taiwanese scholar Bo Yang wrote — these people love infighting. When the Japanese came, a few turned traitor to save their families and harmed those around them.Me: By the way, what chakra are the Air-Style bullets made of?He: Water and Earth. I can’t tell you more — otherwise we won’t finish today’s patients.I turned and saw the wall full of bullet holes.Me: Wow — so many. Must have accumulated for years. Has that machine ever been calibrated?He lifted the gun: Shut up and get out. I thought to myself: How can people swallow that toxic mind-lifting pill? He says mix it with food — does that really reduce toxicity? He’s so blindly optimistic — is the medicine just a placebo? But now I know the ingredient is toxic; even if it’s a placebo, it’s a placebo that makes me more anxious.Me: Dr. Cold, how about next time I send you a red packet and you stop prescribing mind-soothing powder and mind-lifting pill?He said: What? A red packet? You’re trying to poison me! I truly wish you well — I want you to recover.Me: I appreciate your kindness. 😭 さようなら (farewell)~ Full video on Youtube (music copyright belongs to the singer-songwriter) This is a creative project inspired by the traditions of Eastern shonen manga and Western comics and cinematic storytelling.All characters, abilities, and world elements are original creations.Any similarities to existing works are coincidental or intended as respectful homage, without any claim of ownership or affiliation.

Inside the hospital ward, Dr Sweet handed Patrick a bottle of Suzhou-style mung bean soup.
media, health

Adventures with the Medical Ninjas – Episode 06A: Dr. Sweet and the Suzhou-Style Mung Bean Soup Part 1

/

Part 1: After Abigail went home, I wondered who the next doctor would be to come and look after me. It turned out to be Dr. Sweet—a familiar face. Dr. Sweet: “Whoa, how’d you get yourself into such a mess?”  Me: “I just had an epic battle with Dr. Superior. Barely got out alive.”  Dr. Sweet: “You must be starving now, huh?”  Me: “Not too bad. Abigail just fed me some dumplings, so you don’t have to buy food for me.”  Dr. Sweet: “Then how about I bring you a drink tomorrow?”  Me: “What kind? If it’s one of those low-cost drinks like Starbucks, please don’t waste your money.”  Dr. Sweet: “Haha, you’ll see tomorrow.” (The next day) Dr. Sweet brought me a mysterious-looking drink. Me: “What the heck is this? Looks like something you’d use to filter urine on a deserted island. Why is it layered like this?”  Dr. Sweet: “My friend, this is called Suzhou-style green mung bean soup!” Me: “Oh come on, it’s just mung bean soup. What’s so special about Suzhou’s version?”  Dr. Sweet: “It’s different. It has a lot of ingredients.”  Me: “Wait a second, Dr. Sweet—are you from Suzhou?” Dr. Sweet: ” I will not tell you. That’s my privacy.” Me: “Then why insist on getting Suzhou-style mung bean soup for me?”  Dr. Sweet: “Because you pulled off a major achievement. You’re now a hero in the eyes of all the female staff at our hospital.”  Me: “Nani? But Abigail said she was really upset because I killed her boss.”  Dr. Sweet: “Well, she had been with Dr. Superior for many years. He really valued her and even asked Dr. Divine to help get her citizenship here. Otherwise, with her education level, it wouldn’t have been possible.”  Me: “I suppose her presence posed a threat to Radiology, Imaging, and Ultrasound departments?”  Dr. Sweet: “Not really. Dr. Superior wasn’t on good terms with those departments anyway. He’d often say their tools were useless and that everything ultimately depended on his diagnosis. When that got back to the department heads, they banded together to get back at him—lowering image resolution, stuffing reports with Latin or Greek jargon to make things harder for him, and always ending with a sarcastic ‘please correlate clinically.’ One time, they even drew an ASCII phoenix in the report to mock him as a ‘Phoenix Man.’”  Me: “Well then, no wonder he had to hire someone with Byakugan abilities.”  Dr. Sweet: “Exactly. That’s why you have to treat people right.”  Me: “Still… he was a colleague. Why are you all so happy he’s dead?” Dr. Sweet: “Because… actually, let’s talk about it tomorrow. Oh right—I just realized this mung bean soup seems to be missing an ingredient. No wonder you said it looks like a water filter. I’ll bring you another bottle tomorrow. Just drink this one for now. Don’t worry, it’s safe. I even asked them to add probiotics and prebiotics. All that’s missing is inactivated bacteria!”  Me: “Thanks, I appreciate it. But really, don’t spend so much on me.”  Dr. Sweet: “No problem at all. I’m taking care of you on behalf of dozens of female comrades. You deserve good food and drinks these days.” I thought to myself: What kind of negative figure was Dr. Superior in this hospital anyway? Wasn’t he a popular internet-famous doctor with a 4.7-star rating online? (The next day) Dr. Sweet brought another bottle of Suzhou-style mung bean soup. Dr. Sweet: “Look carefully—I told the shop owner today to load it up properly, even to make up for yesterday.”  Me: “This really looks more like a drink now. What’s that colorful stuff on top? Looks like what we had on steamed buns as kids.”  Dr. Sweet: “ChatGPT says it’s made from radish, probably with added coloring.” Me: “Alright… the bottom layer is glutinous rice, right?”  Dr. Sweet: “That’s right. Give it a good shake before drinking—shake shake shake—like doing an organic chemistry experiment or like that music video of Taylor Swift!”  Me: “Tastes surprisingly good, haha.”  Dr. Sweet: “Glad you like it.”  Me: “So, can you finally tell me why you’re so happy about Dr. Superior’s death?” Dr. Sweet: ” I knew you’d interrogate me. Be careful—you might die for knowing too much.”  Me: “Don’t worry. I’ve got nine lives. My original family already killed off seven. I’ve still got two left.”  Dr. Sweet: “You really think you are cat, don’t you?” End of Part 1 (to be continued) This project is currently paused due to my busy schedule. Will release more over time but much less text will be provided. (08-11-2025) This is a creative project inspired by the traditions of Eastern shonen manga and Western comics and cinematic storytelling.All characters, abilities, and world elements are original creations.Any similarities to existing works are coincidental or intended as respectful homage, without any claim of ownership or affiliation.

health

How to use Dragon NaturallySpeaking to control the mouse buttons

/

For those living with RSI This article is now designated as extension article No.8 for my psychological memoir [ The Snowy Battlefield of Ohio ]. (202504) This article is meant for users of Dragon NaturallySpeaking (Pro Individual 15 or more advanced). If you have repetitive strain injury (RSI), the method introduced here can make your life less painful. Now let me show you how to ­use Dragon to utilize your mouse to the maximum. That being said, I still encourage you to use your hand to move the mouse, as long as that doesn’t give you too much pain. Forget “MouseGrid” unless you are unable to use your hand at all. You don’t even need Dragon to use MouseGrid. Windows has it already. Years ago I was looking for customized Dragon commands that allowed me to do such things as left-click, right-click, double-click, drag&release. I was able to dig out some commands in the forum of KnowBrainer.com, but they didn’t solve the elephant in the room, namely drag&release. Later, when I was looking for a download link for Dragon (I had purchased the digital version from Nuance directly), their admin recommended purchasing a permanent download link for $20. I did. Along with it, I got a free toolbox called “KnowBrainer public toolbox“. It’s basically a PDF file with a bunch of links. Among those resources, I noticed something called “command collections“. Because I don’t use KnowBrainer software, I only downloaded “Dragon sample commands” and “ergonomic command set“. The next step, I imported two .dat files into my Dragon ( just say “open command browser” then click “import”, choose .dat files). WOW! It turned out they have prepared a bunch of useful commands. Although you can change the command names to fit your personal needs, it didn’t seem necessary for me. Typical examples are as follows: … Please try these if you haven’t figured out how to control the mouse with Dragon. Dragon was built for dictation only. The rest relies on third-party applications or community wisdom. For those of you who have forearm tendon or muscle issues, there is no need for me to explain why you should avoid using your fingers to double-click and drag. I myself got RSI because of repetitive dragging when editing an excessive amount of videos with some cheap software. My former employer Mr. Osman, a modern-age Mr. Scrooge, secretly replaced Adobe Premiere with some so-called Amazon bestseller, just to save money. After I got injured, he tried the crappy software himself, and then bought Adobe Premiere again. I, his only employee back then, was his lab rat to sacrifice. Anyway, you should practice until you get used to them. For example, if you want to select some text, say “grab”, move your mouse to the destination, then say “release”. It may sound slow, but it’s better than a relapse of your symptoms. If you want to create a shortcut for a file, say “grab right”, move your mouse to the destination, then say “release right”. This method works in most scenarios, to my satisfaction. Demonstration This collection also provides some other useful commands, but they are out of the realm of this article. Please try them yourself. Let’s thank KnowBrainer.com for their generosity. I hope the information can solve the frustration of many RSI patients. Now that you have these commands, you don’t need to install Talon or something technical just for the mouse functions. In fact, you shouldn’t need coding software like Talon unless you do coding. This article is written with the assistance of Dragon, but I also type on the keyboard and click the buttons of my mice occasionally because Dragon isn’t omnipotent. And of course, I still have pain sometimes, but it’s under control. The download page for this free toolbox is here: KnowBrainer public toolbox I do hope you check out their website, and if interested, explore their forum. There are many experienced Dragon users there who can help with technical questions. Remember that if you purchase their products and run into technical questions, you can directly ask their customer support. If you need individual assistance for installing these files, please contact me. If you like this article, please share and subscribe to the newsletter ON THIS WEBSITE.

mind, health

My Favorite Timing App For Physical Therapy

/

In recent years, I’ve been getting intensive physical therapy (aka physiotherapy)  for some complex musculoskeletal issues. When doing the exercises prescribed by the PTs,  one thing that baffles me is which tool to use for the timing. For example,  sometimes I need to stretch one leg for 30  sec, then switch to the other leg,  and then alternate between legs. Other times I may need to do some isometric exercise for 2 sets, 5 reps within each set, 10 sec each rep. If your goal is to run for 3 minutes, you can use all kinds of tools, a physical timer, your smartphone, or your smartwatch such as Fitbit. But for repetitions of short-duration exercises, those tools are cumbersome for many reasons. The essential problem is that you need to stop and restart too frequently. Then people will naturally look for apps that allow them to program the training. We’ve seen fancy workout apps that are helpful for fitness routines, but do they work for rehab as well? Not for me.  Sometimes I need to rest for an uncertain amount of time depending on the condition of my body. From the perspective of health care, it’s never a good idea to push yourself to finish the reps in a hurry. So I tried the indigenous Clock app on my phone. Its “timer” feature sends out 4 Hz clicks in the background; in other words,  every 4th click indicates a second. It seems very convenient — no need to estimate how long a second is. The sound serves as the coordinate axis in the dimension of time. I can even play music or podcast on my phone as long as I pay attention to the clicks. But there is a problem: the sound stops when the screen locks itself automatically. As I’m not quite savvy in tweaking my Android phone’s settings,  I decide to look for a different app. It turns out I have something wonderful on my phone already. It’s the Metronome Beats app. If you are a musician, you probably already have that installed. Go to its settings, and change the tempo to 60 beats per minute, i.e. 1 Hz. Optionally, change the “beats” variable to 5 if your duration is a multiple of 10 sec. Now you have the coordinate axis of time playing in the background. I have used this minimalistic approach ever since, in combination with the printed program of exercises —no, I don’t recommend relying on video apps for physical therapy (I may explain this in a different article). With the metronome on, this time you won’t be able to play Spotify or other audio apps. If you are eager for another stream of sound to be added to the boring clicks, you can use another device. Usually, I just focus on counting the seconds, since I realize both music and podcast disrupt my counting sometimes. For other exercises which do not specify exact durations, just pause the metronome and play what you want. Theoretically, multiple users can use this app to guide themselves in the same room. How? Go to “preferences” for “custom sounds”, and choose their preferred pitch and timbre for the sound. During the practice, each user needs to pay attention to their distinct sound patterns, which requires some level of aural skill. However, that won’t be necessary in most cases, because people in the room can share the same coordinate axis of time. One smartphone serves all. Here’s the link to their website, where you can download the app. Metronome beats Now, let me explain why I think this app works the best. When you are counting 30 seconds, you are combining two cognitive tasks. First, you need to estimate how long one second is. Your brain is unable to achieve that without external reference. Second, you need to count the integers, which forces you to be mindful of what you’re doing. With the help of the metronome, you only need to perform the 2nd cognitive task. Hence reduced load yet not autopilot. Be careful: if you lose track of the numbers, that’s probably because you fail to maintain the mind-body connection. I used to be very bad at it, because I listen to music and podcasts which require serious comprehension. Come on, now that you have paid for expensive PT sessions, please allocate more attention to the tasks when necessary. Yes, you are also responsible for counting the sets or loops, but it’s easy to do, either mentally or…mentally. Believe me, you can do it. I was trained in cognitive science, so unlike some IT professionals, I wouldn’t debug codes while running on the treadmill. I love automation, but not autopilot. I believe the brain needs to actively engage in physical activities. In short, I recommend using a metronome, be it physical or digital, for PT exercises. In that way, you get to control your pace. What do you think? Do you have another interesting tool to share? Please leave a comment down below. [Correction] I previously used the term “Cartesian coordinate” in this article, but later realized it refers to 2-D or 3-D systems in common language. If you’re interested in my content, please kindly subscribe to my newsletter. I will only post when I have something meaningful to share. 1~2 posts per week. This article is written with the assistance of Dragon NaturallySpeaking, a voice dictation desktop program. Bonus: I made this short music video about time: In whatever time we have – Children of Eden music written by Stephen Schwartz