Further to my posting of the sword swallower’s accident yesterday, I received a comment from Dan Meyer, Executive Director of the Sword Swallowers Association International.

Dan kindly sharpened (pun intended) my knowledge of the human anatomy including the upper esophageal sphincter, which is also known as the “Cricopharyngeal Sphincter”.

He also provided this Link to Sword Swallowing To The Hilt the official website of the Association which is packed with information.  Thanks Dan!

Remember to pay attention to their disclaimer

Warning: Sword swallowing is a life threatening activity. Many deaths and serious medical complications have arisen from attempting this most dangerous of performance arts. Sword swallowing should only be undertaken by a skilled, trained professional. The owners of this website will not be liable or accountable for any injuries sustained by attempting acts described and depicted within. The bottom line is, if you are considering sword swallowing, DON’T!

Words of wisdom there kids.

So a circus sword swallower in England injures himself while trying to slide a 4 foot long sabre down his throat.  He was rushed to hospital (in Tooting no less) when he pierced his respiratory tract.

Ok, that’s wierd but probably not really newsworthy until you get to the line in this story from the Croydon Guardian:

But the German performer accidentally stabbed himself at the Fairfield Halls show when his sphincter failed to open correctly because of a throat infection.

Now I’m not a medical professional.  Heck, I don’t even remember playing doctor when I was a kid but I’m pretty sure the sphincter isn’t part of the respiratory tract.  In fact, I think it’s nowhere near the throat area.

Almost is good is this picture of the performer – Hannibal Helmurto who is part of “The Circus Of Horrors”.

The former German government worker is now back on the job, sphincter and all.

UPDATE: It appears that the quote is correct.  The body has a number of sphincters including one in the throat.  Who says you don’t learn anything on the Intertubes?

“Cats are intended to teach us that not everything in nature has a function.”

Another Photoshop experiment.  This one is to simulate the “Orton Effect” that was popular back in the darkroom days.  Back then, the effect was produced by overlaying 2 negatives – one slightly out of focus and the other correct.  Photoshop achieves basically the same effect by grouping a number of layers so that certain attributes are applied to each and then “flattened” to produce the final effect.

The original picture (from our back garden) looked like this

I upgraded WordPress again today to get up to the current version (2.1) and a few things got broken.

I’ve switched back to the original theme files until I can figure out what exactly went wron.  As well, I don’t think the black background made anything easy to read.

Lorne “Gump” Worsley passed away yesterday at the age of 77.  A Hockey Hall Of Fame goaltender, Gump played for 21 years with a number of teams but I’ll always remember him as a member of the Montreal Canadiens.

In the modern era where hockey players look more like football players due to the amount of equipment they wear, it should be noted that Worsley was one of the last to play without a mask (until his final year in 73-74).

More on Gump Worsley

There will be no tailgating at this year’s Super Bowl in Miami next Sunday.

Reason? Increased security concerns.  Yep, the terrorists have won.

I won’t even be able to watch the game.  Another trip to Switzerland starts next Saturday and, although I could find an “American” hotel like the Hilton that will probably show it, there’s no way I handle watching something that starts at midnight and still make a meeting the next morning.

James Thurber

“Why do you have to be a nonconformist like everybody else?”

So the future king of England and his wife arrived in the US on friday and are taking a train to New Your City to prove that he’s reducing his carbon footprint.  Of course, the scamps over at Fark.com couldn’t resist starting a thread called “New York City to welcome Prince Charles and the horse he rode in on“.  Didn’t take many posts until some wag dropped this picture.

So wrong but oh so funny.

Some snow last night followed by a short period of freezing drizzle resulted in an interesting day for driving and photography.  I worked at the museum for a while and took this on a smoke break.   A fir tree wearing a heavy coating of ice which would have been spectacular if the sun had managed an appearance.