I got a giggle today while I was helping one of my customers. Part of the application they use has a list of descriptions for DRG codes. DRG's indicate why you are here in a hospital. They also impact reimbursement rates, etc. They are extremely detailed and break down not just what is wrong with you, but why. Maybe I'm morbid, but I find some of these funny. For example:

PEDAL CYCLE ACCIDENT INJURING OCCUPANT OF STREETCAR

Now I have to ask; just how many times does that happen in a year? Is it so frequent that it warrants its own DRG?

Then we have the NASA DRG:

ACCIDENT TO POWERED AIRCRAFT AT TAKEOFF OR LANDING INJURING OCCUPANT OF SPACECRAFT

I follow space-related news pretty closely; I'd have to say that in my lifetime, the number of aircraft crashes that have resulted in injury to an occupant of a spacecraft is zero.

And, of course, the klutz DRG:

ACCIDENTAL FALL INTO STORM DRAIN OR MANHOLE

As opposed to an intentional fall into a storm drain...

The Duh DRG:

FALL RESULTING IN STRIKING AGAINST OTHER OBJECT

Would someone explain to me how one falls without eventually striking another object? The ground is, after all, an object...

The Earth Science Challenged DRG pair:

a) CATACLYSMIC EARTH SURFACE MOVEMENTS AND ERUPTIONS
b) OTHER CATACLYSMIC EARTH SURFACE MOVEMENTS AND ERUPTIONS

How many kinds of "cataclysmic earth surface movements" are there? I count exactly one: earthquakes. And leave it up to medical people to take a simple word like "earthquake" and turn it into "cataclysmic earth surface movement." And I'm not touching the eruptions thing; I don't think I want to know...

And last but not least, we have the Who Concert DRG:

STRIKING AGAINST OR STRUCK ACCIDENTALLY BY A CROWD, BY COLLECTIVE FEAR OR PANIC WITH SUBSEQUENT FALL

I'm not clear on how one goes about being struck accidentally by a crowd. Maybe I just lack imagination.

But seriously.

Last night was homework until I fell asleep in my chair. Tonight is a youth event that combines the old people and young people into teams to build boats out of cardboard, duct tape, and milk jugs. This could be interesting. I hope it wraps up early; I still have a ton of homework. I have my stuff for Wednesday all ready to teach, so all I need for that is a few minutes' review. I wanted to get the minutes for the deacon's meeting typed up before the business meeting. but that may not happen. Homework has to come first.

Anyway, judging by the news, the entire universe is on hold during the Democratic convention this week. I didn't find much interesting other than this:

Medical people reveal that educators use legitimate medical diagnoses as wastebaskets to cover their own incompetence. The article is from London, but it could be from anywhere in the Western world. Sometimes, I think we deserve to have our lunch eaten by the Chinese. Other times, I'm certain of it.