While traditional modalities of surgery are used in the Alliance, the most advanced surgical platform available is the medimage, which uses a variety of technologies (including the breakthrough that made Pads possible) to continuously scan the interior of the body, build a solidigraphic image of it for gross manipulation by surgeons, and then duplicates their motions, in miniature, inside the body. This solves several problems: it allows far more precision in technique, since surgeons no longer have to work directly on a body part; it minimizes invasiveness and injury, while results in patients recovering faster; it allows multiple surgeons to work on the patient without crowding; and it reduces surgeon fatigue, since it allows them to use more of their bodies, in a more natural way, while working.
A surgical theater outfitted to use this technology is a significant piece of technology, consisting of a lower platform (the bed and its emitter); an upper platform, usually mounted in the ceiling (the upper emitter); and side installations for monitoring and power. A minimal medimage platform will allow a third of the body to be addressed at one time, but these small installations are rarer than full body platforms.
The minimal (typical) team for a medimage surgery consists of an anesthesiologist, who monitors the patient’s status at the patient’s head where the displays are mounted. The anesthesiologist is in charge not just of the drugs used during the surgery, but the use of the paralysis field (which is generated by three bands, one at the head, one under the medimage arch, and one at the ankles). The engineer tracks the equipment power and status, and oversees the backup generators; the engineer also addresses any technical issues that might arise during the use of the platform. Larger hospitals assign banks of engineers to their surgical wards, who sit outside the operating theater; smaller locations might seat their engineers inside the theater, depending on their design and procedural preferences.
The minimal surgical team is one principal surgeon and one surgical healer-assist, but some operations may call for more participants. A medimage surgery can be undertaken with a single surgeon but this is not encouraged except in emergencies.
While the Pad technology made the medimage platform possible, there are significant practical differences between them. Pads can operate with only a base station; medimage requires both the base and head stations to generate and maintain their field. Because the surgical platform must remain in operation and stable for continuous periods, its power needs are far greater. Pads have a limited number of functions, all of which can be performed by its single base; the medimage platform is actually a constellation of functions, undertaken by separate modules, all of which must be functioning in order for it to work.
There are multiple failsafes programmed into a medimage platform to reduce the frequency of errors, the most notable being that the manipulative element will be locked out if any of the other technologies fail (power, visual/monitoring, drug delivery, etc). Medical professionals call this the ‘all but, no cut’ principle, based on the frequently repeated line that if ‘all but one thing is operating, you still can’t operate’ made popular in the Tam-leyan hospital that pioneered the technology.
Or at least, I intend it to be relaxing. Hopefully it delivers.
4:22 minutes
Materials:
In which I talk about the paper, the paint, and the experience of oils versus gouache. Fun stuff, will do more.
Thank you Locals supporters! Your contribution to my art war chest here is what's powering these experiments and videos. For now I'm keeping them public but I may start doing some subscriber-only videos if you all are interested.💖
Thanks for your comments yesterday on the business post... all very provocative, in a good way. I'll try to respond to all of them today.
Some Alysha misc now, since I'm gearing up for the results of the Kickstarter!
Petrov is giving away coupon codes for every book in the Alysha series (and has some leftover coupons for Marda and the business book). You can pick those up here (and please do! The books are bought already, someone should use them!) https://twitter.com/PetrovNeutrino/status/1457344535843987461
Our own @JudasComplex sent along a sample of the Faith in the Service audiobook, which I've attached for your delight! I... haven't had a chance to listen to it. Don't ask me about my past week and a half or so. Putting it here will guarantee I get to it.
After hearing the amused comments during the livestream, I went ahead and added all the ship type illustrations I have inked from the 90s to the wiki. Glory in the rampant adorableness of their anthropomorphic stylings! See those ...
A little comedy today, at least in the link. Transcript follows.
Hi, all. Welcome to this episode of The Jaguar’s Heart.
A while back I was introduced to a comedy sketch about Cuban coffee by a Mexican comedian, Gabriel Iglesias. ( The sketch begins with him greeting all his fellow Latinos and then backing up to say ‘but we’re all different, aren’t we’ which is a segue into a demonstration of how different Hispanics speak Spanish.
It is hilarious. First, because I am a Spanish speaker and a linguistics hobbyist, and his portrayal of various accents resonated with my experiences in trying to make sense of them myself… Not always easy, since from culture to culture, slang and accent are often totally different (and sometimes grammar! Spaniards use a grammatical construct that has died out in many other Spanish-speaking countries, the plural “you.”)
I also loved it because the Cuban coffee part is real. I grew up with Cubans. I know how we are....
One of the most common things I hear (and say) right now is "the asymmetry is the story." Here's one about how none of us are innocent of the sins we hate in others.
Hi, all. Welcome to this week’s episode of The Jaguar’s Heart.
It’s been weeks since the Baen’s Bar incident and I’m still thinking about it... because the longer I do, the more I feel, overwhelmingly, that it’s obvious that the problem is deeper than “this forum was saying stuff that offended us.” We have to back up to the glaring fact that people on opposite sides no longer consider each other human. Nothing I say will matter because the people disagreeing with me don’t think I’m human. They have denied my humanity; they have not bothered to listen to my beliefs, or have fake-listened to them in that way that people do when they’re so ready to prove you wrong that they’re only using your speech to provide talking points for their own ideas.
We have forgotten how to listen.
Increasingly, we have also ...
We’re just about at the midpoint of 2025, so I thought today would be a good day to do a Jaguar check-in! What a weird year it’s been. Very busy, family-wise, with lots of both good and challenging changes; I am using up a lot of time on that, but how is that news? You know how it goes.
My current major project is finishing up the second Jokka collection and mailing all the Kickstarter prizes. That should be wrapped up next month sometime, when we start the Red Honey serialization. I tell you, it’s a wild to be scanning old sketchbooks, only to find sketches of the Red Honey characters from the 2000s! This story has been on the backburner a long time! I also unearthed a lot of sketches from the development of the jokka.org website, which I used the wayback machine to archive (as much as possible). I’m thinking of restoring some amount of it to my current website, which is my other major project right now: my website. I feel like ...
I want to do these badge designs for things like shirts, acrylic pins, and the quiz! What design do you like? There are four "head and bust" styles and two "full body" styles.
As you all know (she says), we’ve reached the end of our last serial, Live, Love, Level, and I’ve been dragging my heels about what to do next… mostly because it’s hard for me to write more than one story at a time and if a serial goes on long enough, I’ll inevitably be working on another project. But I had a brainstorm when the Kickstarter got us every stretch goal except the Red Honey novella, which some of you have been waiting for, for decades. That story’s already 5000 words toward an expected 1,5000 (I know, I know) and the Kickstarter has definitively proved that the Jokka still have fans who want more stories.
SO! Our next serial will be Red Honey, the story of how the Jokka moved out of the nomadic age into the age of settlements. Some of you might remember the seeds of that evolution in Kediil’s second adventure, “New Stories.” And Roika and Keshul talked briefly about the first Jokku settlement during Pearl, hinting that there was some drama involved. Well, there is, ...
The Jokka kickstarter launches Thursday! And runs for 12 days, so if you want any of the original art (or one of the few “get yourself drawn as one of the Jokka” slots), go sign up to be notified of launch!
Scott Adams is fond of saying that you either want something, or you decide. That if you’re in the ‘I want’ phase, you don’t actually take steps; things only start happening when you have decided they’re going to happen. And I, ariisen, have finally decided I’m sick of not scanning and archiving my sketchbooks and turning them into stuff you can enjoy, like art books and prints and wiki images! I’ve already done Sketchbooks 1-10, and I’ve made a start on the next set of ten.
My plan is to run a Kickstarter for the first art book in a month or two (so if you’re a fan of my art more than my writing, your campaign is coming!) and use that as the proof-of-concept for the process for the remaining 200 or so… see where the issues are, streamline where I can, order proofs of the art book and decide what paper I like and what kinds of covers are economically feasible. I’ve timed myself and it takes about two hours to scan one sketchbook, if I stand there and do nothing but turn pages. I don’t think I can make that part go by faster, but I might be able to do something about the post-processing phase. Let the experimentation begin!
While I’m doing that, I’ll be posting some of the scans here! These posts will be separate from Back in Time Tuesday, which is for finished artwork dug out of the closet from whatever time period I feel like sharing. This means the Patreon will be getting EVEN MORE ART.
I’m debating right now whether the art sharing will be my “serial” until I’m ready to serialize new fiction. Someone also suggested writing wiki/worldbuilding entries as serial content, which might be fun. But I’m still only wanting to do those things—I definitely haven’t decided. Until then, there definitely will be an art explosion. I’ve montaged some things up there as demonstration of what you have to look forward to!
If you are a lurker, now’s a good time to decide whether you want to subscribe to contribute to my coffee fund. I do, in fact, literally drink a cup of coffee while trapped in my laundry room, turning pages and leaning on the drier! Or if you’re a paying subscriber, consider buying me a monthly coffee if you’re currently in the ‘tossing the jaguar a buck’ club. My coffee capsules are closer to $2 after shipping. XD
We’re all overloaded and looking for moments of beauty and cheer and inspiration in our days. A lot of this older artwork is silly, or delightful, or cartoonical, and I think it might be just what we need.
Seriously, check out happy bee guy there. What even was that. Lol.😂
Anyway, I'm doing the things! Jokka! Art! Fun! Forth!