It looks like a kind of strap to me. I've seen similar on folks who experience a kind of tendonitis in their forearms (or, maybe it's related to the elbow). Eg; tennis players. I could assume that someone who spent some time with a keyboard might also be similarly afflicted?

Looks kind of like this to me:

http://www.dme-direct.com/hely-weber-mattstrap-elbowband/

I was asking for Salon to add an editing feature which would allow a comment maker (and only the comment maker or the administrator) to go back and edit mistakes or additional pieces of information. There are message boards with this feature and it's quite handy if you find you've made a glaring factual error or misspelled a word that makes you look like a doofus.

Then, underneath the comment, it would read "edited by blahblahblah at blah blah time".

That's the feature I'd like. Not spell check. Clearly that is not a significant deterrent for either of our spelling problems.

Not to be judgmental or anything.

And psyche profile. See how it matched up. The guy is ABFDE Board certified and "For the past ten years he has been developing an expertise in detecting forgery. He currently has the distinction of being the WORLD'S ONLY practicing physician who is also Certified and Court-Qualified in Forensic Handwriting Examination. Most cases of forgery are medically related."

Pics at link

http://www.richardfrasermd.com/anthraxletters.html

THE ANTHRAX LETTERS

In October of 2001 three letters containing Anthrax were sent to Senator Tom Daschle, NBC newsman Tom Brokaw and the editor of The New York Post.

This was not a case concerning forgery but rather behavioral profiling through evaluation of the handwriting and handprinting. A variety of questions were raised in regards to the forensic information within these letters. Although there was a limited material available a profile of the perpetrator could be quickly established by a handwriting analysis:

Anthrax is a potentially lethal bacteria which rarely causes illnesses in this country such that most physicians have never seen a case and are familiar with the disease only through a brief discussion in the first year of medical school. Based on the selection of using anthrax the offender is likely an adult male in a position requiring little contact with the public, or other employees. He likely works in a laboratory or has recently purchased laboratory equipment, has a strong scientific background as he would have to be comfortable working with a lethal bacterial agent. Given the nature of the bacteria he would have acquired the necessary items and medications to protect himself in case of an accidental exposure. He has had a recent anthrax vaccination or has purchased specific antibiotics that work against Anthrax. He also started taking antibiotics unexpectedly.

The offender deliberately selected NBC News and the office of Senator Tom Daschle as the targeted victims. These targets are probably very important to the offender for unknown reasons. He likely expressed this contempt on multiple occasions to others as he would hold grudges for a long time. The victims were not selected randomly as he used the correct address and zip code of each victim and used sufficient postage to ensure delivery. This would not be his first offense and he has also harassed other individuals that have wronged him, likely through anonymous letters.

From his vertical printing and wide spacing one can infer that he exhibits organized, rational thought process. The letters are postmarked from Trenton, NJ and he would therefore be familiar with the Trenton area. The author uses dashes ("-") in the writing of the date "09-11-01." instead of a slash ("/") when printing the date. The number one is not a simple vertical line but rather has an initiating stroke and a horizontal base stroke. The form "can not" is used as opposed to "cannot." Upper case block-style letters are used with the first letter of each sentence and proper names being larger than the others. The printing on each envelope is tilted downward. The envelopes are pre-stamped, which are available directly from the post office. Traditional business envelopes are larger in size.

These traits are indications of isolation, passive aggressive behavior, intense emotions, poor social skills and having attention to detail. Given his passive aggressive nature and expressing his anger in the form of letters any personal relationships are self-serving in their nature. For the years prior to the mailings this person became mission oriented, more secretive and exhibited unusual activity patterns. Being focused and obsessed he would not have shown interest in important national events. The perpetrator likely exhibited significant behavioral changes at various critical periods of time throughout the course of the Anthrax mailings and related media coverage. These may include altering his physical appearance, having increased anxiety, mood swings and change in sleep patterns.

He would also display an increased interest in the media and would have been absent from work especially at the time of the mailing of the letters (09/18/01 and 10/09/01), the death of first Anthrax victim and media reports of each anthrax incident.

Not to be judgmental or anything.

Seriously, the only time people care about this kind of thing is when they are engaged in a flame war.

We're all typing furiously here.

I am so freaking dumb...

you are way above my 'league' - i just 'play' for fun afternoons and weekends with everybody who is willing to join in.

Not at all. These are purely recreational leagues (one is an over-40 league, one open). Some players that played in college, maybe, but a lot of people like me who just picked it up as a 'secondary' sport and were fortunate to still be just athletic enough to be competitive. ;->

I used to do a lot of 'pick up' soccer. It helped me find teams to play on and allowed me to play with people I wouldn't have had a chance to play with in league play (cross-pollinization sorta thing, DYK). I haven't done enough of that lately, largely due to my work schedule.

Weird. I have a wrist brace for the carpal tunnel but I've never seen that before. I see the letters E-P-I... can't read the rest. You can nagnify that pic. But I guess that must be it. I thought it might be a wrist or arm Blood Pressure monitor or first.