Developer Saved Years Later by His Own Hardware | Hacker News Reader

Developer Saved Years Later by His Own Hardware

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149 pointssemanticist17 comments

This is a great story about the power of AEDs to save lives. I lost a younger cousin almost 15 years ago [1] but since then my aunt and uncle have worked tirelessly to have them put in public places around our state (and others). My sister's place-of-employment installed several and two people have been saved just there.

There are hundreds of stories like this one and you can help. Take an AED training class - Make sure they're installed in public places in your area - Donate to make sure they're installed in other places.

The life you save might be your own!

[1] http://gregaed.org/

Yeah, I found Chris' mention of having to deal with different regulations from state to state (which only allowed an MD to administer shocks to a patient) an interesting tidbit that went along with bringing this to market. I understand why those were in place and am glad that the tech has become reliable enough to loosen those restrictions.

Such regs are costing lives.

There have been studies where AEDs were put in airports and such and lay persons successfully followed the directions and saved lives with them. They're very dummy proof at this point: place sticky pads where a picture shows you, turn it on, and follow the voice prompts. Even if you don't know CPR, you can help by trying this.

As further safety, the DSP software has a bunch of safeguards to only shock the types of bad rhythms it knows how to correct, so it can't hurt a normal person if the AED is mistakenly applied; it can only help a v-fib one.

Training won't hurt; the Red Cross course for combined CPR and AED is only a few hours. But there is benefit from none at all.

I've personally brought someone back with an AED and the experience changed my life.

In the UK the Resucitation Council issued a statement in 2009 recommending that they can be used by anyone, even without training:

https://www.resus.org.uk/pages/AEDtrnst.htm

They are still few and far between, outside of big railway stations I haven't seen any in public. I think one of the issues is people are unfamiliar with how easy they are to use.

All workplaces (above a certain, fairly low, level) are required to have first aid trained staff around at all times. The training only includes CPR though; adding AED training seems like an easy way to make people a lot more aware of them.

They're getting pretty common in US workplaces, especially health clubs, airports, liability-aware offices, etc.

Some here are in a cabinet that phones emergency services when the AED is removed; that's an especially good feature.

I suspect they'll eventually be cheap and reliable enough that most homes have one, just like smoke detectors.

Just have to wait for all the patents to expire I guess.

For those wondering just what's inside, Mike (of Mike's Electric Stuff[0]) has some excellent teardowns with commentary on a few[1][2]. The engineering constraints (high reliability with low maintenance, instructing the user how to operate it, etc) make them very interesting machines.

[0] http://electricstuff.co.uk/

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pn-Wv9YAfv0

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWC22NufDUo

Go Green!

No but really, this is like, every engineer's dream that his creation would someday save him

Go Green indeed!

Amazingly enough, I programmed on the same CDC 6500 at MSU in the '70s. By the time I got there, the school had lost its EE credentials, and I was torn between a music degree at MSU and EE somewhere else.

Technically, I guess I'm still deciding.

So as not to be too OT, I've taken the AED training course, and it's really simple. Doing it when there's a guy (or gal) on the floor in front of you is probably tougher.

Go Big Blue!

Sorry ... I work at Penn State and just had to get that in. My (amazing) daughter is a molecular geneticist who's considering that other Michigan school for her Doctorate. I'm not sure my genes need saved that badly (though obviously in this case, she is my creation).

I guess this is some good instant karma!

Arguably "years later" isn't instant.

Karma came from a culture that believes in reincarnation. It is payback for your behavior in past lives. "Instant karma" is therefore payback for your behavior in your current lifetime, without an intervening turn of the samsara cycle.

If you kicked a puppy right before you died, and got slapped too hard just as you were born into your next life, that's regular karma. If you stole someone's car for a joyride when you were 16, and your car was stolen by a joyrider when you were 90, that's instant karma. The number of intervening years is not the important factor, but the number of intervening rebirths.

First, thanks. I honestly had never heard that description before. I definitely see it making more sense than the alternative interpretation of the phrase if you approach the concept of Karma as an actual metaphysical phenomenon rather than as more of a meme, as I think people often do.

That said, any time I've seen the phrase "instant karma" used, it's in response to something that occurs within seconds or minutes of what earned it, or "instant" in a more commonly used sense.

It seems that there are various interpretations of karma. Dogen, founder of the Soto Zen school, taught that karma can be experienced in this same life. I swear I've read far earlier sources discuss karma in a manner outside of rebirth in samsara, but I can't find those sources at this time.

I can't help you on the religious origins of this, but the concept got introduced to me by a game by this dude named Richard Garfield in the early 90s. If I recall correctly, the term that that dude and a bunch of other WotC folks used was "mana".

It took a while before I learned that it was apparently a term in hawaiian slang, but it usually seems appropriate, especially when you're discussing this with folks old enough to remember alpha, beta, and unlimited Magic: the Gathering.

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