Here now, the promised pictures of a couple of the other exhibits at the conference.

This first one isn't all that amazing, I just wanted to have more than one.

This dummy's having a bit of trouble with his leg. The tank sort of visible at right was providing simulated breathing. This was a US Army exhibit. Also note the macs running it. Ugh, have I become a mac person? No, I don't think so. Just pointing it out, that's all.

Now the piece de resistance.

If you have a sick mind, the thing coming out of this machine at left is exactly what you think it is. This is an advanced ureteroscope something-or-other, so the idea is it teaches you to stick a tube up that, and then the screen presumably shows you what's happening. I didn't get a chance to try it, but it was making beeping sounds throughout the conference that made it seem like I was in an arcade. Surprisingly and perhaps disturbingly, the one person laughing the whole time at this was my boss, a doctor. It was he who demanded I take a picture of it. He found it particularly amusing when the two women presenting it had to wheel it down the hall from one room to another, and one of them seemed to be walking with the express purpose of covering up the embarrassing part. As he said many times, "they didn't have to make it look like that!"

Finally, while we're on the topic of photography and juvenile humor--sometimes you don't have to leave the country, or buy anything made outside it, to find some amusing misuses of the language.

Most people don't know this, but Californians are quite kinky when it comes to snacks. Also, I think they mean yogurt covered pretzels. The genetic engineering of pretzels to taste like yogurt is at least a couple of weeks away. There was also a Mexican brand of snacks called "Bimbo." One of their products was called "Pinguinos," with an umlaut over the 'u.'

On Friday we drove through LA and up to Santa Barbra, experiencing the Friday afternoon LA rush hour first hand, and had the honor of meeting with one of our few fellow small surgical robotics companies. Actually it's the company run by the former runner of one of the first surgical robotics companies. The new company isn't so much surgical. They make a robot that is piloted by a doctor sitting in their office. The robot has a camera, and a screen which shows the doctor's face as captured by a camera above the doctor's computer. This allows the doctor to make rounds and observe patients and such without leaving the office. Ater being around for just a few years the company has about 100 times as much space as ours, and a lot more robots, so it was inspiring in that respect.