Saturday 30 April 2011
The Wedding
So the Royal Wedding was paid for by The Royal Family but they were at pains to point out that the money comes from their own money and not the public purse (except for the police, security, etc, etc) - well that's ok then.... but hang on, where do they get their own money from? Presumably from their private estates, such as the Duchies of Cornwell and Lancaster, which they obviously worked hard to inherit establish. And father's Aston Martin apparently was a "common touch".
Ok I know I am too much of a grouch, but this guy is going to be our (unelected) Head of State one day.
Ok I know I am too much of a grouch, but this guy is going to be our (unelected) Head of State one day.
Thursday 28 April 2011
Hold the line please
I really love being put on hold. Today I was in the middle of a phone conversation with a secretary in another department about some innane meetings/agenda/minutes nonsense when I was suddenly put on hold. After 60 seconds of some obscure violin/cello thingy she was back on the line: "sorry, go on...". Maybe she had to polish the nails on her other hand.
I also really love ringing a business when the following happens:
"Hello, can you hold the line please?"
"No, I need to speak to..."
Cue obscure violin/cello thingy
Maybe these people should be applauded - all I can do with my fancy-shmancy phone is pick it up and talk into it
I also really love ringing a business when the following happens:
"Hello, can you hold the line please?"
"No, I need to speak to..."
Cue obscure violin/cello thingy
Maybe these people should be applauded - all I can do with my fancy-shmancy phone is pick it up and talk into it
Not a good statistic
One in three women worldwide who give birth (or nearly 48 million a year) do so without a trained birth attendant present. As a result 1000 women and 2000 babies die each day from birth complications that could be easily prevented, according to a recently published report from Save the Children.
It is also true that home births are back in vogue in some developed countries, although they do usually have a midwife present. The problem is that while the vast majority of births are uncomplicated, in a small number of cases things can rapidly go wrong, and suddenly acute medical intervention is required. Giving birth in a hospital environment is one of the reasons why there has been a massive decline in maternal and perinatal mortality in developed countries.
It is also true that home births are back in vogue in some developed countries, although they do usually have a midwife present. The problem is that while the vast majority of births are uncomplicated, in a small number of cases things can rapidly go wrong, and suddenly acute medical intervention is required. Giving birth in a hospital environment is one of the reasons why there has been a massive decline in maternal and perinatal mortality in developed countries.
Wednesday 27 April 2011
The second-to-fourth digit ratio correlates with the rate of academic performance in medical school students
The second-to-fourth digit ratio correlates with the rate of academic performance in medical school students
Apart from being a weird study, and a total waste of time, the conclusion does not match the optomistic title!
Apart from being a weird study, and a total waste of time, the conclusion does not match the optomistic title!
From the Twitterverse
"Feed a man a fish a day and he'll eat for a day. Feed a fish a man and he'll eat for like two and a half months" @rainwilson
"If someone says they're only human, give them a second look. That sure does sound like something a robot would say" @ladybirdj
"If someone says they're only human, give them a second look. That sure does sound like something a robot would say" @ladybirdj
Tuesday 26 April 2011
Monday 25 April 2011
<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/HwEqreIeeVY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> - Sparkadia: Talking Like I'm Falling Down Stairs
http://youtu.be/lpBS3T8oXBk - Groove Armada: History
http://youtu.be/mVWeqAPQUXc - Miike Snow: Animal
http://youtu.be/B6xOZILIcKk - Grizzly Bear: Two Weeks (Fred Falke Remix)
... just goes to show that there's still a lot of really great music out there!
http://youtu.be/lpBS3T8oXBk - Groove Armada: History
http://youtu.be/mVWeqAPQUXc - Miike Snow: Animal
http://youtu.be/B6xOZILIcKk - Grizzly Bear: Two Weeks (Fred Falke Remix)
... just goes to show that there's still a lot of really great music out there!
Yeasayer - worth a listen
<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/JsLTXhCTSAA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
She wears her sunglasses at night... and the scam of chiropractic
The first foggy morning of autumn, so why were people wearing sunglasses?
I really hate it when people don't take off their sunglasses when you're talking to them - where do you look? I end up trying to look at where their eyes are supposed to be, and end up jiggling my eyes all over their face like a mad-man.
Totally unrelated to the above, I have been tangentially involved in a protest against the teaching of pseudoscience at a large university. This university was in fact an Institute of Technology, but somehow it was thought discriminatory in the 1980s to differentiate between Universities on the one hand and Institutes of Technology on the other - so now this organisation is known as an X Institute of Technology University... well that clears it all up then. The Chancellor has a PhD in nuclear physics and the Vice-chancellor is a cell biologist. So far so good. But explain to me why do they teach Paediatric Chiropractics??
There is NO, I repeat NO evidence that chiropractic works in children (or adults for that matter). They are essentially teaching a course on how to sell the placebo effect with a dash of snake oil. Due to the general dumbing-down of science education in schools, the general population is totally naive about anything science-related and are seduced by their friends who tried chiropractic and exclaimed in raptures "it works!". The question is why is it being taught in a tertiary institution? I suspect money has something (or everything) to do with it.
My conspiracy theory, and I am sure I am right, is that the government is very happy for the existence of any "therapy" that draws people away from money pit that is the state-sponsored health system.
Some supporters for the Paediatric Chiropractic clinic feel it is better to keep the teaching in a tertiary setting so it can "be monitored". Monitored for what? It has a veneer of legitimacy when taught in a tertiary setting which is worse. Perhaps then, we should teach homeopathy and astrology in universities?
The question to ask whenever you hear someone has been to a chiropractor is: did the chiropractor ever say there was nothing wrong with you? Well I have never heard of someone who didn't enter the doors of a chiropractic clinic and come out with a plan of treatment over subsequent weeks and a large hole in their wallet.
It is important to point out that there is only one type of medicine and it is called "Medicine". There is no such thing as "alternative medicine" or "western medicine" - anything that has a plausible biological basis, improves health, and is evidence-based it is "medicine" - if homeopathy or Bach flower remedies were actually plausible and worked they would be become regular medicine and prescibed by medical practitioners. Why would a doctor withhold valuable treatment? We don't care where the therapy came from (viz. vinca alkaloids, quinine and aspirin - all plant extracts).
Of course the other major scam at present is the use of the word "organic". I personally have no problem with fruit grown by boutique producers that select carefully for the best strain of tomato, for instance, but don't necessarily care whether it's organic or not. I still don't get what is meant by organic - from my years of chemistry at high school and university, organic = carbon containing, which includes all petrochemicals, plastics, etc. The things that are definitely not organic are known as inorganic and include such wonderous (but not nutritious substances) such as sand and ammonia.
And don't get me started on "genetically-modified" - we are all genetically modified, and for thousands of years animal husbandry and plant cross-breeding have produced the best experiments in genetic-modification.
I really hate it when people don't take off their sunglasses when you're talking to them - where do you look? I end up trying to look at where their eyes are supposed to be, and end up jiggling my eyes all over their face like a mad-man.
Totally unrelated to the above, I have been tangentially involved in a protest against the teaching of pseudoscience at a large university. This university was in fact an Institute of Technology, but somehow it was thought discriminatory in the 1980s to differentiate between Universities on the one hand and Institutes of Technology on the other - so now this organisation is known as an X Institute of Technology University... well that clears it all up then. The Chancellor has a PhD in nuclear physics and the Vice-chancellor is a cell biologist. So far so good. But explain to me why do they teach Paediatric Chiropractics??
There is NO, I repeat NO evidence that chiropractic works in children (or adults for that matter). They are essentially teaching a course on how to sell the placebo effect with a dash of snake oil. Due to the general dumbing-down of science education in schools, the general population is totally naive about anything science-related and are seduced by their friends who tried chiropractic and exclaimed in raptures "it works!". The question is why is it being taught in a tertiary institution? I suspect money has something (or everything) to do with it.
My conspiracy theory, and I am sure I am right, is that the government is very happy for the existence of any "therapy" that draws people away from money pit that is the state-sponsored health system.
Some supporters for the Paediatric Chiropractic clinic feel it is better to keep the teaching in a tertiary setting so it can "be monitored". Monitored for what? It has a veneer of legitimacy when taught in a tertiary setting which is worse. Perhaps then, we should teach homeopathy and astrology in universities?
The question to ask whenever you hear someone has been to a chiropractor is: did the chiropractor ever say there was nothing wrong with you? Well I have never heard of someone who didn't enter the doors of a chiropractic clinic and come out with a plan of treatment over subsequent weeks and a large hole in their wallet.
It is important to point out that there is only one type of medicine and it is called "Medicine". There is no such thing as "alternative medicine" or "western medicine" - anything that has a plausible biological basis, improves health, and is evidence-based it is "medicine" - if homeopathy or Bach flower remedies were actually plausible and worked they would be become regular medicine and prescibed by medical practitioners. Why would a doctor withhold valuable treatment? We don't care where the therapy came from (viz. vinca alkaloids, quinine and aspirin - all plant extracts).
Of course the other major scam at present is the use of the word "organic". I personally have no problem with fruit grown by boutique producers that select carefully for the best strain of tomato, for instance, but don't necessarily care whether it's organic or not. I still don't get what is meant by organic - from my years of chemistry at high school and university, organic = carbon containing, which includes all petrochemicals, plastics, etc. The things that are definitely not organic are known as inorganic and include such wonderous (but not nutritious substances) such as sand and ammonia.
And don't get me started on "genetically-modified" - we are all genetically modified, and for thousands of years animal husbandry and plant cross-breeding have produced the best experiments in genetic-modification.
Sunday 24 April 2011
Five Conundrums
1. Why do paper clips always intermingle? I only need one at a time, not a necklace
2. Why are 50% of my male friends bald - but none of them have "male-pattern baldness"?
3. Why did the old guy who ran his car into the side of mine, get out of his car clutching his insurance policy?
4. Is it depressing that the guy behind the counter at the Fish N' Chip shop knows me by name?
5. Why do all animated Hollywood-produced films all have the same plot lines?
2. Why are 50% of my male friends bald - but none of them have "male-pattern baldness"?
3. Why did the old guy who ran his car into the side of mine, get out of his car clutching his insurance policy?
4. Is it depressing that the guy behind the counter at the Fish N' Chip shop knows me by name?
5. Why do all animated Hollywood-produced films all have the same plot lines?
What is the etiquitte?
When I was a junior doctor, like so many others, I found myself unexpectedly covered in bodily fluids. On one occasion whilst examining a three year old boy with pneumonia, I lent over him to examine his chest with a stethoscope, only to find him blowing his nose on my tie. Once we had both finished, and I stood up again, he looked at me and said: "I already ran out of tissues".
More recently I received a full frontal covering of vomit from a teenage patient of mine on a ketogenic diet - so that would be a few hundred ml of curdled dairy. The nurses all slowly exited the room, closely followed by a barrage of laughter down the corridor.
More recently I received a full frontal covering of vomit from a teenage patient of mine on a ketogenic diet - so that would be a few hundred ml of curdled dairy. The nurses all slowly exited the room, closely followed by a barrage of laughter down the corridor.
My first post
This Blog is intended for anyone interested in quirkiness, trivia, literature & medicine. I am a doctor, but don't let that put you off.
Let me first of all wish everyone who may visit this post a heartfelt "Happy Easter" - I say this as a devout, but liberal atheist. After all is does result in a four day holiday (and in my part of the world an extra day on top of that!).
This Easter has allowed me to complete The Pale King by David Foster Wallace. For those interested in Quirkiness (with a capital Q) I recommend it highly. Certainly unusual to have a work of fiction devoted to the IRS (US tax system). DFW was a genius, but alas his life was too short.
I have also read Henry's Demons by Patrick & Henry Cockburn. This book describes Henry's fairly rapid descent into schizophrenia and their reaction too it. An incredibly sad account of the rapid alteration in "personality" (whatever that means) that accompanies a psychotic illness. Having read a similar narrative of schizophrenia by another family, the striking features are (1) the relentlessness of the illness and (2) the destructive influence on the family, let alone the "sufferer" (for want of a better word).
Now this wouldn't be a real Blog without a rant and today's rant is: Given the parlous financial state of Europe/UK, why do they need to spend so much time, effort & money on Will and Kate's wedding (AKA "The Wedding of the Decade")? And, to continue the rant, isn't it nice to invite members of the Royal Houses of Bahrain and Swaziland - viz. apparently the King of Swaziland and his 70 (!) attendants will be travelling to London and staying at a 5 star pub, whilst 70% of the population of the country live in poverty.
More Prosecting soon!
Let me first of all wish everyone who may visit this post a heartfelt "Happy Easter" - I say this as a devout, but liberal atheist. After all is does result in a four day holiday (and in my part of the world an extra day on top of that!).
This Easter has allowed me to complete The Pale King by David Foster Wallace. For those interested in Quirkiness (with a capital Q) I recommend it highly. Certainly unusual to have a work of fiction devoted to the IRS (US tax system). DFW was a genius, but alas his life was too short.
I have also read Henry's Demons by Patrick & Henry Cockburn. This book describes Henry's fairly rapid descent into schizophrenia and their reaction too it. An incredibly sad account of the rapid alteration in "personality" (whatever that means) that accompanies a psychotic illness. Having read a similar narrative of schizophrenia by another family, the striking features are (1) the relentlessness of the illness and (2) the destructive influence on the family, let alone the "sufferer" (for want of a better word).
Now this wouldn't be a real Blog without a rant and today's rant is: Given the parlous financial state of Europe/UK, why do they need to spend so much time, effort & money on Will and Kate's wedding (AKA "The Wedding of the Decade")? And, to continue the rant, isn't it nice to invite members of the Royal Houses of Bahrain and Swaziland - viz. apparently the King of Swaziland and his 70 (!) attendants will be travelling to London and staying at a 5 star pub, whilst 70% of the population of the country live in poverty.
More Prosecting soon!
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