Compact camera reviews

I love dpreview.com for its independent reviews of all things digital camera. It's through them that I discovered the Fujifilm F family of cameras, most notably the F31fd, that are a close match to what I use a compact camera for, specifically excellent low-light performance and at high ISOs noise that looks to my eye like film grain. The F31fd is still, two years after its release, selling for more than it initially cost new and the one that every new point and shoot is compared to for low-light capability.

They just posted a review of "premium" point and shoot cameras that, if you're looking for a point and shoot or thinking about it, will be very useful.

It's here.

They also have the same sort of reviews for ultra-compacts, budget compacts, and it looks like in a few days they will have a couple more categories.

Recovery from hip fracture at age 90

I'm reading up on hip fractures and trying to map what I know about the surgery she's going to have ("two small incisions") to the different kinds of fractures.

At least she's not going to have to have a complete hip replacement but the downside is that even though the replacement is more intrusive and therefore more short-term risky, recovery time seems to be less because they can walk right away.

I know that the risk from anaesthesia is not what it used to be and that they can keep her out for the stated three hours (what kind of surgery would take 3 hours?) without putting her heart or breathing at risk. She's been on coumadin from atrial fib for a few years and they're waiting for that to subside (I assume there are tests for clotting) but the risk of blood clot is not insignificant. Except for the spinal stenosis that led to the leg weakness that caused her to fall she's totally healthy, sick very rarely, not treatment for any heart or lung problems and that seems to make a huge difference.

I remember when I was out there this summer and she fell and the skin on her arm tore like tissue paper. They stitched her up and she was fine but it was a strong indicator of how fragile she is but then, living a relatively normal life nothing has happened until now.

One of the biggest problems, from what I read, is the post-injury depression. Given who my aunt is, and her life and attitude until now, I really believe that pumping her full of antidepressants during the recovery and physical therapy over the next couple of weeks/months could result in her living several more happy years. I think that as recently as a few years ago I wouldn't have thought that but now, with more experience, I no longer cling to the idea that there is a "natural" brain chemistry that will provide a happy life. Living with depression and ADD is no big joy and in my reckoning, as long as you're careful to not go for numbness there's nothing wrong with adjustment.

And taking that a little bit further, if there's a situation where being depressed is natural but leads to a notably worse outcome, I think that medicating through it to a better outcome - which probably won't require drugs - is something we can be thankful to modern science for.

This is a new attitude. Drugs used to be for fun but if you needed them every day you were weak. Ha ha ha. I don't believe that at all any more.