The Historical Perspective of the Spleen

The spleen was felt by the ancient Greeks and Romans to play a significant role in human physiology. Aristotle thought that the spleen was on the left side of the body as a counterweight to the right-sided liver.¹ He believed that the spleen was important in drawing off "residual humors" from the stomach. The spleen was also felt to "hinder a man's running," and Pliny reportedly claimed that "professed runners in the race that bee troubled with the splene, have a devise to burne and waste it with a hot yron [AKA they burned it away by jabbing themselves in their left flank with a hot iron] ."²
The exceptional speed of giraffes was felt to be related to the erroneous belief that giraffes were asplenic [without a spleen]. Early references to removal of the spleen to increase speed make it apparent that it has
long been known that the spleen is not absolutely necessary to sustain life.

[PS- A study in 1992 in rats confirmed that after their spleens were removed they could indeed run faster]

The Amazing Phone Ride

So I got to school this morning and realized that my new (AKA expensive) cell phone was no longer on my hip.
I had a feeling that it fell off this morning as I wiped Heather's windshield with a towel to remove the frost/dew so that she could see well on her drive to work (which is about an hour trip each way).
I left school and drove back home as fast as I could to try and find my phone before someone else would find it and become the proud new owner.

No luck. I searched everywhere in the parking lot. Multiple times.

I just knew it was gone for good. I caught Heather on Google Chat to tell her that I lost my phone.
After talking to me, she went out to the Faculty parking lot, looked at her car, and found my phone on her windshield wiper!

It survived an hour-long drive on the interstate without falling off.
Amazing.