MedWorm provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest medical blog items that have been tagged with 'fiction'. Sat, 03 Sep 2011 01:54:50 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5159203&cid=t_110530_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F08%2F23%2Fbest-of-our-blogs-august-23-2011%2F Every once in awhile, I like to snoop around my old diaries. Besides personally being one of the best non-fiction reads to me, it gives good insight into who I was and potentially who I will be. One of the jewels of wisdom I recently picked up from a 7 year old Winnie the Pooh journal contained information on my state of mind at the time. The details are not important. But the general feeling of that entire year was one of heartache and confusion. There was this sense of longing, emptiness, a feeling that whatever I was going through was not only uncomfortable, but unfair. I even wrote: “When I’m 50, I’ll probably look back on this moment and it will be a fleeting and insignificant memory. But right now, I’m having a hard time with it.” I smiled reading it bec... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5159203 Tue, 23 Aug 2011 11:39:33 +0100 5159203 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4953265&cid=t_110530_134_f&fid=35187&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FDiabetesDaily%2F%7E3%2Faz_VcpzOnrU%2Fthe-two-prisoners-another-allegory-about-personal-change.php Once upon a time, there was a small prison in which two men were each serving out life sentences for crimes they had not committed. Both men were determined to escape, and very occasionally were able to hold furtive discussions in which they compared plans. The first prisoner had been able to acquire a spoon, which he had sharpened into a small tool. Each night, he spent about an hour slowly scraping mortar from between the bricks of his cell's wall. Progress was very, very slow. The second prisoner had noticed a place where the wall to his cell had been badly cracked. He became convinced that if he could just hurl himself against that section of wall with sufficient force, he could break through it and be instantly free. So, each night, he get as far away from the wall as he could, and ... Diabetes Daily blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4953265 Mon, 20 Jun 2011 02:19:20 +0100 4953265 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4934574&cid=t_110530_129_f&fid=27216&url=http%3A%2F%2Flifewithadhd.com%2Fadhd-research%2Fcause-of-adhd-sorting-out-fact-and-fiction.php What is the cause of ADHD? One fact is absolutely certain and that is there is no ONE cause of ADHD. ADHD causes which have gained a certain credence over the years have been many and varied and include bad parenting, too much media exposure and of course sugary food. All these are myths and have been debunked in recent years. What is certain now is that there are many co-factors involved. It seems that there is a problem in the child’s brain and so researchers have looked at mothers during pregnancy as one way to throw light on a possible cause of ADHD. It is possible that the foetus was damaged by alcohol, smoking, lead and other toxins and maybe there was some interaction between the genes and these toxic substances which would result in abnormal development of the child’s b... Life With ADHD blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4934574 Wed, 15 Jun 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4934574 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4945098&cid=t_110530_137_f&fid=39091&url=http%3A%2F%2Falzheimmers.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F06%2Fnew-blog-meidcal-fiction-writer-and.html Good Day. Long time no blog. I have been busy with some Health Care Issues lately. In fact I have been down to Mayo Clinic twice since I last blogged. (Great Venipuncturists at Mayo, also fairly decent restaurants in Rochester, MN) I won't bore you with the details right now, needless to say it sucks, but then you go on as best you can,  as time keeps marching on.Also I have been busy trying to survive as a Private Practice Physician in the State of Minnesota, despite the best efforts of  many bureaucracies and agencies to annihilate entities like myself: all done of course shouting the Battle Cry and in the name of health care "REFORM".  When it is all said and done, we will still need doctors to take care of patients and patient... Caregiver Survival: I Hate Alzheimers blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4945098 Wed, 15 Jun 2011 03:22:00 +0100 4945098 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4883909&cid=t_110530_151_f&fid=35823&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FAddictionInbox%2F%7E3%2FlqG-w-uDfGA%2Fsteve-earle-and-ghost-of-hank-williams.html Book Review: I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive Musician Steve Earle made a solo name for himself with Guitar Town and Copperhead Road after playing in legendary country and bluegrass bands as a young prodigy. He was nominated for a Grammy, his reputations soared, he added rock and roll to his range—until 1991, when Earle put out the aptly named live album, Shut Up and Die Like An Aviator. Shortly thereafter, he was dropped by his record label for long-standing drug problems, and landed in prison with a heavy sentence for possession of heroin. He completed rehab successfully, earned his parole in 1994, and has gone on since then to make several highly successful albums, guest star in the TV series The Wire, and write music for the New Orleans-based series Treme. And now he has wr... Addiction Inbox blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4883909 Mon, 30 May 2011 23:00:07 +0100 4883909 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4883587&cid=t_110530_88_f&fid=39185&url=http%3A%2F%2Fedwinleap.com%2Fblog%2F%3Fp%3D1633 This is my column in today’s Greenville News                 Dear graduates, congratulations on your accomplishments!  Whether you are leaving high-school, trade-school, college or graduate school, you have done something.  You have, unlike many others, persevered to the end of your course of study, whether two years, 12 years or 18 years.  That’s a good first step; but only a first step.  Your certificates, awards and accolades, your grades and honors are testament to your effort.  But you have to accomplish more.             So, first of all, I charge you, I ‘knight you,’ to go and do something great.  There are those who genuinely believe that there is no greatness left.  That all noble achievements have been attained.  This is an... edwinleap.com blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4883587 Sun, 29 May 2011 16:49:56 +0100 4883587 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4862562&cid=t_110530_88_f&fid=39185&url=http%3A%2F%2Fedwinleap.com%2Fblog%2F%3Fp%3D1626 The video lives!  Our nursing staff helped me to film this years ago, and now I present it to you.  Invincibility Syndrome concerns our patients who just can’t die, no matter how hard they try. And whose motto is:  ‘I gotta get outta here!’ No actual drunks or patients were harmed in the making of this film.  Kudos to Frank Mason, RN, the star of the production. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cepDYbKNkA&feature=related (Source: edwinleap.com) edwinleap.com blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4862562 Wed, 25 May 2011 16:21:56 +0100 4862562 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4847965&cid=t_110530_88_f&fid=39185&url=http%3A%2F%2Fedwinleap.com%2Fblog%2F%3Fp%3D1617 The Suffering Prevention Act Dr. Sam Fisher walked into the small exam room with chart in hand. He looked up, and extended a tired hand to the well dressed gentleman on the exam table before him. Mr. Mason, I’m Dr. Fisher. What can I do for you? he said for the 35th time that evening. Without a pause, Roger Mason looked at him, and said the words that had become so common. I claim the right to free care and to your voluntary effort as guaranteed by the Federal Health Care Rights Charter. Sam Fisher knew that he was required to reply in one manner and one manner only. I am here to serve you. What is your need? Roger Mason looked at him with a disdain that seemed to ask if there were any other doctors available. I’m in pain, as if you shouldn’t know by now. He looked down a... edwinleap.com blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4847965 Sat, 21 May 2011 03:50:23 +0100 4847965 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4841490&cid=t_110530_88_f&fid=39185&url=http%3A%2F%2Fedwinleap.com%2Fblog%2F%3Fp%3D1599 Heck, if we have to see patients for free, at least we could bill for a dating service.  Couldn’t we? http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/11938527/emergidate-the-er-matchmaking-service (Source: edwinleap.com) edwinleap.com blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4841490 Thu, 19 May 2011 03:11:49 +0100 4841490 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4829204&cid=t_110530_134_f&fid=35187&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FDiabetesDaily%2F%7E3%2FacvHvTy1AfI%2Fdiabetes-blog-week-out-of-the-box-three-fictions.php The three pieces here have all previously appeared on my older blog. They're out of the box in that while poetry appears in blog entries fairly often, but I rarely see fiction. The pieces were published at different times, and are all somewhat different in tone. You might give yourself a few seconds of break between pieces.Breakfast With My MeterIn a dream…. I was sitting in a molded plastic booth at a fast food restaurant, finishing my breakfast, when a woman slipped into the seat across the table from me. “We have to talk”, she said. I was startled – by the interruption, by the woman’s loveliness, and most especially by such words coming from someone I didn’t think I knew at all. A case of mistaken identity? I wondered in a moment of anxiety. Was I about to be drawn into some ... Diabetes Daily blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4829204 Sat, 14 May 2011 21:38:39 +0100 4829204 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4829104&cid=t_110530_129_f&fid=27216&url=http%3A%2F%2Flifewithadhd.com%2Fadhd-medication%2Fherbal-supplements-for-adhd-fact-or-fiction.php If my child takes herbal supplements for ADHD, it is natural so it must be good! This is a fictional belief in that it is superficial, to say the least. Herbal supplements for treating ADHD must be approached with the same caution as that in using ADHD conventional medication. FDA Warnings When the FDA in 2006 told pharmaceutical companies to put warning labels on ADHD medicines, alarm bells started sounding in many parents’ heads. There ARE potential health risks and these can range from stunted growth, insomnia, mood swings and even cardiac arrest. It is a fact and if you do not believe me, try visiting the FDA site for a horror trip through the psychostimulant drugs jungle. Another alarming fact is that US doctors are three times as likely to prescribe these drugs than their... Life With ADHD blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4829104 Thu, 12 May 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4829104 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4768005&cid=t_110530_88_f&fid=39185&url=http%3A%2F%2Fedwinleap.com%2Fblog%2F%3Fp%3D1552 Those of you who read my blog know that it has been a tough winter.  My wife Jan has gone through a rough patch with cancer, as well as a pulmonary embolus.  Well, we’re on the sunny side of things and she’s doing wonderfully.  So, last night we went on our first, official evening date in several months.  In honor of that, I’ve pulled an old column/post out of the archives.  I hope you enjoy! The point is this:  we all have to learn to take our romance and intimacy where and when we can;  and always with a bit of levity. Edwin’s hand brushed against Jan’s as he reached for the shopping cart. She smiled, and tossed her purse inside. As they walked into the store, her mind raced with a million thoughts. ‘Does he feel the same desire as I do? Does he find me ... edwinleap.com blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4768005 Fri, 29 Apr 2011 16:33:53 +0100 4768005 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4753922&cid=t_110530_136_f&fid=35302&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FWhitePebble%2F%7E3%2Fm-PLM0HT2Bw%2F Laurie R. Kings Blog – Coincidence – April 20, 2011 07:25. Filed under: Link Tagged: books, Crime fiction, fiction, Laurie R. King, mystery (Source: white pebble) white pebble blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4753922 Tue, 26 Apr 2011 22:03:36 +0100 4753922 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4642901&cid=t_110530_136_f&fid=35302&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FWhitePebble%2F%7E3%2FdE51Fsb1dW4%2F Image by C. McKane via Flickr RIP: Diana Wynne Jones, author of several successful young-adult fantasy novels including Dark Lord of Derkholm and Howl’s Moving Castle, passed away today following a hard-fought battle with cancer. She was 76. Her final novel, Earwig and the Witch, will be published this summer through HarperCollins in the UK and Greenwillow in the US. via RIP: Diana Wynne Jones – The Daily What. RIP: Diana Wynne Jones (thedailywh.at) “Diana Wynne Jones, 1934-2011″ and related posts (feministe.us) Diana Wynne Jones (stevenhartsite.wordpress.com) We’ll never forget you, Diana Wynne Jones (cherstinieveen.wordpress.com) Filed under: books Tagged: arts, author, books, Dark Lord of Derkholm, Diana Wynne Jones, Fantasy literature, Greenwillow, HarperC... white pebble blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4642901 Sun, 27 Mar 2011 13:39:26 +0100 4642901 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4302864&cid=t_110530_88_f&fid=39185&url=http%3A%2F%2Fedwinleap.com%2Fblog%2F%3Fp%3D1406 im-Bob’s Terrible Confession Cast:  Mama 40, Daddy 42, Chastity 19, Jim Bob 17 Setting:  The family is sitting around the table in their subsidized housing, discussing the future.  Mama is microwaving dinner, as Daddy pops an Oxycontin, which Chastity eyes with interest.  Her back has been hurting too. Background:  Jim Bob, ever the Black Sheep of the family, is on edge.  He has news to tell the family, but he knows it won’t go well.  Chastity knows about it and is being typical big sister.  A typical big sister, that is, who refuses to work, loves to party and has seriously considered a career in government sponsored child-birth. Mama:  How’s your back pain, honey?  Any better? Daddy:  Naw, I think them Oxycontin aren’t gonna help anymore.  I need something... edwinleap.com blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4302864 Sat, 01 Jan 2011 22:08:55 +0100 4302864 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4167931&cid=t_110530_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F007647.html Imagine a cloaking device that turns on briefly to hide an event that occurs. The study, by researchers from Imperial College London, involves a new class of materials called metamaterials, which can be artificially engineered to distort light or sound waves. With conventional materials, light typically travels along a straight line, but with metamaterials, scientists can exploit a wealth of additional flexibility to create undetectable blind spots. By deflecting certain parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, an image can be altered or made to look like it has disappeared. Previously, a team led by Professor Sir John Pendry at Imperial College London showed that metamaterials could be used to make an optical invisibility cloak. Now, a team led by Professor Martin... (Source: FuturePundit) FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4167931 Mon, 15 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +0100 4167931 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4159223&cid=t_110530_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F0E-gHm1_62I%2F By Jason KuznickiToday is Armistice Day. It marks the end of an era. Before the First World War, the western understanding of warfare was that it made plain things noble. It allowed superior individuals to show their valor, to exercise a virtue that both transformed themselves and offered a shining example to those around them. To act in the face of danger was what men did, and for them to do it properly, you needed a war. Yes, there were a few naysayers out there — Thoreau, Mark Twain, Moorfield Storey — but the consensus view held that war made weak things strong, boys into men, and good nations into great ones. Yes, war was horrible. No one doubted it. But to be sublime, a thing must, on some level, be horrible. So was war — a great, terrible proving ground for the m... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4159223 Thu, 11 Nov 2010 15:18:08 +0100 4159223 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4097952&cid=t_110530_88_f&fid=39185&url=http%3A%2F%2Fedwinleap.com%2Fblog%2F%3Fp%3D1321 This is an excerpt from a book of ultra-short fiction I’m writing. Gene spent all of the time he could by the bedside of his wife of, well, his wife of all the years he could remember. Esther had suffered, and dissolved, bit by bit since the stroke first took her speech three years prior. Then it was a a hip fracture, then another stroke and a heart attack. Her kidneys died then, and she received dialysis a while until the day her intestines were shocked by a low blood pressure and then they died too. Gene held her hand all the way until her last breath slipped out the next day, lovingly refusing any other efforts to prolong the life he knew was ending. And oddly, he felt something slip out of himself. None of Gene’s doctors understood what had happened. He did not set out to ... edwinleap.com blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4097952 Sun, 24 Oct 2010 02:19:50 +0100 4097952 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4036629&cid=t_110530_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FY-9Bxo0zh2Q%2F By David BoazThe biographer of the great libertarian science-fiction novelist Robert A. Heinlein will speak at Cato on October 21. I liked Michael Dirda’s Washington Post review of the book: Picture a Saturday morning during one of those endless summers of the late 1950s and early ’60s. A boy climbs on his red Schwinn bicycle and rides like the wind to the public library, then to several drugstores and thrift shops. He is on a mission. He is looking desperately for a book, any book, by Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988), the greatest science-fiction writer in the world. The greatest? Back then, few adolescent sf readers would have seriously questioned such a cosmic truth. Isaac Asimov’s “Foundation Trilogy” was certainly cool (Hari Seldon! Psychohistory!), and R... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4036629 Wed, 06 Oct 2010 14:02:26 +0100 4036629 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4018183&cid=t_110530_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fthe-next-10-years-in-medicine%2F2010.09.29 Forbes magazine came up with a few lists describing what will happen in the next 10 years in different areas. Medicine is one of these: We asked our staff and contributors to forecast some of the noteworthy events of the next 10 years, a vision of the coming decade sketched from real data, projections and facts whenever possible — though we’ve injected a dose of rigorous science fiction to fill the gaps. 2012: Super-Tuberculosis 2013: DNA Sequencing Pays 2014: Big Pharma Implodes 2015: First autism drug 2016: First fatherless child using synthetic sperm 2017: U.S. life expectancy declines for first time in a century. Doctors blame 55% obesity rate. 2020: FDA approves autonomous robot surgery to remove tumors. *This blog post was originally published at ScienceRoll* (Sourc... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4018183 Wed, 29 Sep 2010 12:00:13 +0100 4018183 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4013620&cid=t_110530_180_f&fid=38607&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fsuccessbeginstoday%2FBHWQ%2F%7E3%2FuHjcjbYB31E%2F Over the last two years I’ve done a lot of research on how to write fiction. I’ve investigated the keys to a successful plot, picked up some secrets of good dialog, and even put a pen towards creating amazing characters. Some great books such as Stein on Writing, On Writing Well, and The Lively Art of Writing, have helped me along the way. While I have a long way to go, it’s been a fun journey so far. Through it all, it has become apparent that to become a good writer, I will need to become a good reader first. Every book on writing that I picked up, advocated reading, reading, reading. So I picked up some books in the mystery-suspense genre that I wanted to write in. Books by Dick Francis, Michael Connelly, James Patterson, and Lee Child filled out my reading list in both paperback ... Success Begins Today blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4013620 Mon, 27 Sep 2010 14:17:41 +0100 4013620 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3895937&cid=t_110530_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2010%2F08%2F23%2Ffinding-your-writing-voice-without-losing-your-mind%2F I’ve had the clandestine identity writer since I first scribbled in crayon on the living room wall. But there was always one small problem: talent. So the first thing I needed to do was to go out there and get me some of that God-given talent that God hadn’t given me yet. Here are the lessons I’ve learned. Lesson One: Getting some skill I took a noncredit course at the New School in New York City called Finding Your Voice In Non-Fiction. It seemed perfect. For 10 weeks 20 of us sat around and critiqued each other’s essays. This confirmed something I had suspected: Some people were better writers than me. I could tell. Their writing had whole sentences and nifty words. They had nice little paragraphs and compelling stories about something that really happened to them. I learned ... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3895937 Mon, 23 Aug 2010 14:20:39 +0100 3895937 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3794844&cid=t_110530_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2010%2F07%2F27%2Fbook-reviewers-wanted%2F Do you like to read (especially self-help or other non-fiction books)? Do you like to share your opinion with others? Would you like to make a few dollars for sharing that opinion about a specific book? If you answered yes, consider becoming a Psych Central book reviewer. All it takes is excellent writing skills (sorry, that’s a must), a penchant for reading, and the ability to read a book in a timely manner and synthesize it into a cohesive, helpful review. If this sounds of interest, please check out our current book review list as well as our book review guidelines. If you ask for a book to review, we expect you to complete it within 3 weeks’ time (both reading the book and writing the book review). Book reviewers get to keep the book they are reviewing, and will receive a s... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3794844 Tue, 27 Jul 2010 15:35:01 +0100 3794844 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3786995&cid=t_110530_101_f&fid=34592&url=http%3A%2F%2Frandomreality.blogware.com%2Fblog%2F_archives%2F2010%2F7%2F25%2F4587913.html The monster, who was once a man, sat on the bonnet of the burnt out car and looked out across the London night. He was deciding what to do, after all immortality could get boring after a while. So he sat on the car and tried to decide whether he should let himself die. The problem, he thought, was that with endless years the space in your mind would fill up - forgotten names, faces without names, memories blurring into one another. It wasn't that long ago he had London in the palm of his hand, ruler of the night court. Taken through fair means and foul, politics and violence, from the one who came before. And he couldn't remember her name. He remembered other things though, the massacre at Osbourne house - trading on his survival at that bloodbath gave him his first footstep on the ladder ... Random Acts Of Reality blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3786995 Sun, 25 Jul 2010 22:51:13 +0100 3786995 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3754039&cid=t_110530_136_f&fid=37852&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdonnatrussell.com%2F2010%2F07%2F14%2Fchoosing-children-a-huge-investment-in-a-perilous-world%2F Saoirse Ronan in "The Lovely Bones" (2009) My new post on Politics Daily / Woman Up. Choosing Children: A Huge Investment in a Perilous World. Kids. Are they bundles of joy? Or crippling burdens? A trip to the mall will remind anyone that it depends on the parent and depends on the kid. However, a headline like that is not going sell papers. Despite the title of New York Magazine cover story “I Love My Children. I Hate My Life,” readers learn on page six of the six-page article that research reveals that in the long run parents do not regret having kids. It’s the childless who have regrets. Sure, kids will ruin your life. But so does everything, if you live long enough. My colleague Sarah Wildman acknowledges the frustrations of raising a child in a country that... Donna Trussell blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3754039 Wed, 14 Jul 2010 20:11:28 +0100 3754039 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3726736&cid=t_110530_136_f&fid=35302&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FWhitePebble%2F%7E3%2FhoQjuWkx02g%2F My feeling is that theres no such thing as nonfiction. Everything is fiction, because in the moment someone tries to relate an experience of what happened to them, its gone. The reality that was felt at the moment is almost impossible to describe. Its one reason why there are writers, to come close to how it felt when it happened. — NORMAN MAILER via AdviceToWriters – Home – Theres No Such Thing As Nonfiction. Filed under: qotd Tagged: fiction, Norman Mailer, Novel, qotd, writing (Source: white pebble) white pebble blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3726736 Sat, 03 Jul 2010 17:42:08 +0100 3726736 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3420669&cid=t_110530_131_f&fid=34995&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Fgnxp%2F%7E3%2F732D3F3a7OQ%2F Matt Yglesias muses on the possible influence of Isaac Asimove’s Foundation series on the way he looks at the world. Interestingly, Paul Krugman admits his debt to this series as well in getting him interested in economics. Unlike Robert Heinlein or mentor John W. Campbell Asimov was a political liberal. It is not uncommon for nerdy males, who are disproportionately represented in the pundit-class, to go through a science fiction phase in their youth. It would be interesting to see how interests in various authors tracked their current political positioning (I’d bet money that Poul Anderson is more popular with people who work at the Cato Institute). Note: William Sims Bainbridge’s Dimensions of Science Fiction explores the various demographic trends which characterize th... Gene Expression blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3420669 Mon, 29 Mar 2010 19:59:13 +0100 3420669 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3115018&cid=t_110530_83_f&fid=34690&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Finsolence%2F%7E3%2FIj_iQwcG12E%2Fwhat_researchers_really_mean.php Ha! So true, although in academia we aren't so much concerned with getting products into consumers' hands; so the exact times may be different: Via xkcd, of course! Read the comments on this post... (Source: Respectful Insolence) Respectful Insolence blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3115018 Tue, 22 Dec 2009 21:00:00 +0100 3115018 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2995750&cid=t_110530_101_f&fid=34592&url=http%3A%2F%2Frandomreality.blogware.com%2Fblog%2F_archives%2F2009%2F11%2F15%2F4381348.html A couple of days at work and then two days off where my brain refused to get out of idle means that I've seriously fallen behind schedule for NaNoWriMo. If I don't have the chance to get going then I'm unlikely to 'win'. Still, even if I don't finish the 50,000 words by the end of November, I'm still planning on finishing this thing. What I do with it once it's written may be something... interesting. ----- It would seem that Judith’s lead has paid off, she’s leading be down some cobbled Swedish backstreets to a bar where I’m to meet a family that is dodging their responsibility to the ‘Home Care Plan’. They have a relative that is comatose in hospital and while they should be taking care of him, instead they had sold everything and gone underground. Judith is ahead of me, and I... Random Acts Of Reality blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2995750 Sun, 15 Nov 2009 21:14:00 +0100 2995750 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2989166&cid=t_110530_101_f&fid=34592&url=http%3A%2F%2Frandomreality.blogware.com%2Fblog%2F_archives%2F2009%2F11%2F13%2F4379321.html has long been held as a perfect example of socialised healthcare, that and the UK. I went there to find out how Sweden coped with the first outbreaks of CLBD-7 I’m speaking with a Doctor Anders Kask in a beautiful park. Judith meanwhile is next to some trees aggressively smoking a cigarette while watching some young men play football. She’s got her back to me and I think it’s the first time she hasn’t had her eyes on me. I swear she waits outside the toilet for me to finish, eyeballing the other patrons to see if they are international assassins. I ask Dr. Kask how the healthcare system of Sweden coped with the early days of CLBD-7. “Like everywhere else we didn’t know what was happening”, he says in thickly accented English, “People going mad in the streets, emergency ... Random Acts Of Reality blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2989166 Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:32:00 +0100 2989166 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2989333&cid=t_110530_131_f&fid=34994&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gnxp.com%2Fblog%2F2009%2F11%2Favatar-death-of-star-trek-aliens.php Since readers of this weblog tend toward nerdishness I'm assuming they're following the buzz around Avatar: The Movie. I only got interested in it last night trying to figure out the references in yesterday's South Park episode, Dances with Smurfs. Check out the tailer below. Obviously actors in regular films aren't going to be replaced by CGI in the next few years, but, looks like we're on the cusp of a the shift when it comes to a human being necessary to portray humanoid aliens. The "uncanny valley" is to some extent an upside in sci-fi, excluding the problems that will generate when it comes to the sticky issue of hybridization. (Source: Gene Expression) Gene Expression blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2989333 Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:52:00 +0100 2989333 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2981101&cid=t_110530_101_f&fid=34592&url=http%3A%2F%2Frandomreality.blogware.com%2Fblog%2F_archives%2F2009%2F11%2F10%2F4377409.html I really need to get hold of a proper written statement so that I can make sure the format and language is more realistic, rather than sounding like one of my statements to a coroners court. What this hopefully shows is that the story is not going to be all first person/interviews. ----- Personal report of Cpt. P. Almert, Bureau des Impôts 12th March 2011. On the date in question I was commanding an armed fire-team at Jersey Airport. Our duties for that day were to provide a rapid response to any situation that required a less than lethal/lethal response. I was initially informed of the incident by officer Tregourny, he had called for general assistance over the radio to the arrivals terminal. As we were nearby I instructed my team that we would provide this assistance. On arrival to t... Random Acts Of Reality blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2981101 Wed, 11 Nov 2009 03:19:32 +0100 2981101 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2977305&cid=t_110530_101_f&fid=34592&url=http%3A%2F%2Frandomreality.blogware.com%2Fblog%2F_archives%2F2009%2F11%2F10%2F4376741.html Once more I find that I'll be checking some research when I come round to editing this. Right now I'm struggling with SAD. Where I was on schedule two days ago I'm now dropping behind because I'm self-medicating on World of Warcraft which is the only thing that'll get me out of bed at the moment. Maybe I'll get a chunk done later today. ----- I got to Gatwick airport for our flight to Jersey with plenty of time, despite my luggage (one carry on and one booked suitcase, plus several pockets full of gadgets) weighing a ton. Judith was waiting for me through security sipping an over priced coffee. Our flight was due to leave on time so we had time for a breakfast, something light for me while Judith tucked into a plate piled with bacon, sausage and eggs. With more coffee. The was a joke onc... Random Acts Of Reality blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2977305 Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:38:00 +0100 2977305 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2973943&cid=t_110530_101_f&fid=34592&url=http%3A%2F%2Frandomreality.blogware.com%2Fblog%2F_archives%2F2009%2F11%2F8%2F4375617.html I'm suspecting that this section will be a bit longer when I edit it. Say hello to Judith. She shares a surname with a friend of mine who does rather splendid webcomic type things. ----- Back on the train into London and I’m left deep in thought about what Doctor Aldbride told me, about how once the retrovirus mutated we didn’t stand a chance. How maybe if it had mutated another way it would have died off, or been less infectious, or would have had no effect on us at all. I spend the rest of the trip deep in thought about how the world would be without people getting Clubbed with CLBD-7 There is a delay at one of the stations, ‘person on the tracks’; unlike the underground there are fewer guards on the overland trains and sometimes one of the Clubbed will get onto the tracks. The... Random Acts Of Reality blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2973943 Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:07:08 +0100 2973943 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2970233&cid=t_110530_101_f&fid=34592&url=http%3A%2F%2Frandomreality.blogware.com%2Fblog%2F_archives%2F2009%2F11%2F7%2F4374239.html Loads of medical stuff that'll need researching and checking here - essentially just assume that the whole section has QQ throughout it. It's also where I explain that the normal isolation procedures wouldn't work with CLBD-7. ----- After all the packing and the promise of travel I’m somewhat disappointed that my first appointment is at Cambridge. I’m here to speak to Dr. Robert Aldbridge, I’ve already done an online search for him and it appears that he has the most peer reviewed articles published on CLBD-7 in the world. He’s an epidemiologist who works for the World Health Organisation and he’s married with two kids. I pull up some of his papers from BMJ.com onto my phone while I’m on the train to Cambridge, it’s all above my head so I skim read the abstracts and ignore ... Random Acts Of Reality blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2970233 Sat, 07 Nov 2009 09:16:00 +0100 2970233 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2967301&cid=t_110530_101_f&fid=34592&url=http%3A%2F%2Frandomreality.blogware.com%2Fblog%2F_archives%2F2009%2F11%2F6%2F4373502.html Not massively happy with this, I suspect that this section will be completely rewritten in editing. ------ The next few days are something like a whirl. I’m prodded and poked for the new biometric passport when it turns out that my old one was just that, too old. Photographs, fingerprints, DNA markers are all now needed on the chip in the passport. All nicely encoded, but of course that hasn’t stopped a few thousand people from having their identity cloned and used in the commision of fraud. I make certain to buy one of those tinfoil covers for the it. It might make it more difficult to use at the airport, but at least it’ll mean that someone criminal with a £100 RFID scanner on the tube won’t steal my credit rating from under me. I’m also sent for various medical tests in ord... Random Acts Of Reality blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2967301 Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:56:09 +0100 2967301 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2963110&cid=t_110530_101_f&fid=34592&url=http%3A%2F%2Frandomreality.blogware.com%2Fblog%2F_archives%2F2009%2F11%2F5%2F4372578.html So, one of the things that I've discovered about a 1,667 words a day production schedule is that when you work twelve hour shifts, spend about an hour each way getting ready and driving to work and then add on eating and sleeping, 1,667 words is a hell of a lot. Especially when all you want to do is go to bed so that you have some energy for doing it all over again - the next day. So what I'm finding myself doing is not writing for a few days and then having to 'catch-up' as it were on my days off. Meanwhile also trying to do those things that normal folk do when they have some free time, like answer emails and wash clothes. This isn't a moan by the way, just explaining why I'm not particularly intent on posting each day. ----- Here is the second bit - it's a bit of a plot set up and while... Random Acts Of Reality blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2963110 Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:45:46 +0100 2963110 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2950753&cid=t_110530_101_f&fid=34592&url=http%3A%2F%2Frandomreality.blogware.com%2Fblog%2F_archives%2F2009%2F11%2F1%2F4368485.html So here is the first bit of my NaNoWriMo project. Be aware that this is a first draft, there has been no editing and I'm making it up as I go along. I hope you enjoy it and find it interesting - not every blogpost will be self contained, it'll just be as far as I have got during that day. In other words, I'm not writing to any sort of cliffhanger, or short form structure - it's just a wall of text. If I do finish this draft it'll be interesting to see how it differs once I start editing it. ----- For some reason I find myself awake at this ungodly hour. I can’t see what time it is as, although my brain is awake, my eyes are yet to get the message and so I can’t see the digits on my alarm clock. I’ve had less than five hours sleep and while I can’t remember dreaming I’m guessing ... Random Acts Of Reality blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2950753 Sun, 01 Nov 2009 18:05:16 +0100 2950753 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2948308&cid=t_110530_87_f&fid=36050&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.blisstree.com%2Fbreastfeeding123%2Fthe-wet-nurses-tale-book-discussion%2F Join the on-line book discussion of The Wet Nurse’s Tale! Elita at Blacktating first posted a very interesting interview with the author Erica Eisdorfer and then reviewed the book. Now the book has been released and Tanya at the Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog has suggested an on-line discussion group. I have put a hold on the book at one of my county libraries (25 cents gets it shipped to my local branch!) and I can hardly wait to get started reading next week. The timing is good because I just finished reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver (quite a dense and informative read — one worth plowing through. Oh, did I just go with the farming pun? ) The Wet Nurse’s Tale is a historical novel set in Victorian England and it features a ... Breastfeeding 1-2-3 blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2948308 Sat, 31 Oct 2009 19:42:49 +0100 2948308 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2927246&cid=t_110530_86_f&fid=38272&url=http%3A%2F%2Flaikaspoetnik.wordpress.com%2F2009%2F10%2F26%2Fsilly-sunday-9-the-apocalypse-of-the-vocal-bubblewrap-plop%2F Tuesday Grand Rounds will be hosted by Gina Rybolt of Code Blog (see announcement). O dear, a few hours left before the deadline expires …. What to do? I could submit the post on BlogWorld Expo [SOTB], where I embedded an interview with Gina and Kim. However, because it is almost Haloween, Gina is all for the super-scary! What [...] (Source: Laika's MedLibLog) Laika's MedLibLog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2927246 Sun, 25 Oct 2009 23:48:53 +0100 2927246 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2762004&cid=t_110530_122_f&fid=36582&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FSharpBrains%2F%7E3%2FYWJmrAaDs8I%2F (Editor's Note: we are pleased to bring you this article thanks to our collaboration with Greater Good Magazine.) Changing our Minds By imagining many possible worlds, argues novelist and psychologist Keith Oatley, fiction helps us understand ourselves and others. -By Keith Oatley For more than two thousand years people have insisted that reading fiction is good for you. Aristotle claimed that poetry—he meant the epics of Homer and the tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, which we would now call fiction—is a more serious business than history. History, he argued, tells us only what has happened, whereas fiction tells us what can happen, which can stretch our moral imaginations and give us insights into ourselves and other people. This is a strong argument for schools to c... SharpBrains blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2762004 Wed, 02 Sep 2009 22:27:46 +0100 2762004 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2641481&cid=t_110530_136_f&fid=35302&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FWhitePebble%2F%7E3%2F_mWlSvgWY9U%2F Image by the queen of subtle via Flickr Ideally, in even a very large and sprawling novel, which David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest certainly is, all the parts of the book are necessary to the whole. The sum of the whole is greater than the accumulation of its parts, etc. This is emphasized in the quote from Infinite Summer, below So yes, I am glad that I read footnote #24, and all of the rest of them. Footnote #24 contains much useful knowledge about the characters in the story, but you have to dig through the seeming oddity of a filmography of a fictional character in order to get it. Have patience. Those digressions that don’t serve the plot (or at least provide a satisfying coincidence that may or may not serve the plot, such as Gately’s role in a separatist’s death or... white pebble blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2641481 Sun, 26 Jul 2009 12:52:57 +0100 2641481 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2523481&cid=t_110530_122_f&fid=34736&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FChannelN-PodcastsPoweredByOdiogo%2F%7E3%2FyVkqvfwZxj8%2Fweb-therapy.html - Gossip Girl, part 1-3 Comedy about dubious web psychotherapist Fiona Wallice, who offers three minute sessions online using her theory that 50 minutes is too long and all the real work happens in three minutes. Features Lisa Kudrow of Friends fame, and other well-known actors playing her clients. Season two has just been uploaded to YouTube, beginning with “Gossip Girl” (in three parts) about a woman who comes to therapy for help because she thinks she’s too pretty, but ultimately reveals a shocking secret about Wallice’s husband. I recommend all the webisodes: they’re brief, slick, and very funny. (Source: Channel N) Channel N blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2523481 Fri, 26 Jun 2009 05:57:50 +0100 2523481 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2469513&cid=t_110530_93_f&fid=35707&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fhemodynamics%2F%7E3%2Fg9-FTlsH6HI%2Ffuture-of-future.html Wikimedia commons photo: Samuel Delany. NASA photo: Charles Bolden in 1992Yesterday, I was registering the fact that President Obama has appointed Charles Bolden, an African American astronaut, to run NASA. I googled him, thinking about how it's not that incredible anymore to have black people go up in space, and that therefore it doesn't seem incredible that there's a black astronaut in charge of NASA. And then one article, which included various people gushing about Bolden, included a comment from his astronaut buddy Franklin Chang-Diaz, whose daughter is a Massachusetts politician with the same last name. I don't want to dwell on the point, but "Franklin Chang-Diaz" used to not be an astronaut kind of name, nor a Boston politician name either. In fact, it is hard to know which would hav... hemodynamics blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2469513 Tue, 09 Jun 2009 02:53:00 +0100 2469513 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2453010&cid=t_110530_133_f&fid=35096&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.b5media.com%2F%7Er%2Fb5media%2FAutismVox%2F%7E3%2F73NelpaPbsE%2F I found Jodi Picoult’s passing portrayal of a young man with a developmental disability gratuitous and sloppily drawn. Curtis Sittenfeld, on the other hand, has written movingly (if passingly) of young men with special needs with grace and insight and caring. In “American Wife,” Alice Blackwell (the fictionalized Laura Bush character) sits next to a young man with a disability at a fundraising dinner. Though I suspect Dale had the intellectual aptitude of a nine- or ten-year-old, I wouldn’t have guessed this if I’d been observing him from any distance–his featurers weren’t irregular, except perhaps that he looked friendlier than most other guests. When it was time to sit for dinner, the men at the table remained standing while I and the other wives... Autism Vox blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2453010 Wed, 03 Jun 2009 03:36:48 +0100 2453010 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2442382&cid=t_110530_133_f&fid=35096&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.b5media.com%2F%7Er%2Fb5media%2FAutismVox%2F%7E3%2Fy7tynN_qVc8%2F It’s not easy to watch certain movies or read certain books, ever since Alex came along. I do like to keep up with how people with developmental disabilities are being portrayed, so I make it my business to watch movies like “Pumpkin” “Rain Man” and keep up with books like Mark Haddon’s “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.” But then I come across something like the following in one of Jodi Picoult’s novels ripped from a newspaper’s front page. In this case, a high school boy who’s been bullied since kindergarten is in prison awaiting trial after shooting ten of his classmates. Drawing/photo by Fated to Pretend (flickr.com) “Hey, Houghton,” a correctional officer said, “we got a present for yo... Autism Vox blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2442382 Fri, 22 May 2009 03:29:00 +0100 2442382 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2347622&cid=t_110530_85_f&fid=34924&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.baggas.com%2Fposts%2F2009%2F04%2F19%2Fa-fine-balance%2F I’ve been thinking and reading a lot about India lately, and reading Rohinton Mistry’s A Fine Balance has been the culmination of that process. In fact this book is so vivid and real and gut wrenching that after reading I feel like I need a rest from my Indian phase (though not from the food, of course). The book follows the stories of four central characters who find themselves living together in a large Indian city in the 1970s, an incredibly corrupt and dark time for India. We are taken deep into their psyche, their past and present, and their dreams for the future, and we are drawn into their pain when those dreams are shattered over and over again. An amazing achievement of this book is that not only do we have these four well fleshed out characters but there is a cast of... Baggas' Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2347622 Sun, 19 Apr 2009 12:23:31 +0100 2347622 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2222489&cid=t_110530_111_f&fid=34712&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdigitaldoorway.blogspot.com%2F2009%2F02%2Fcolumbus-circle-430-pm.html Please feel free to surf on over to my fiction blog, "Fiction, Prose & Ephemera", to read my latest short story, "Columbus Circle, 4:30 P.M." (Source: Digital Doorway) Digital Doorway blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2222489 Sat, 28 Feb 2009 20:22:00 +0100 2222489 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2167556&cid=t_110530_111_f&fid=34712&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdigitaldoorway.blogspot.com%2F2009%2F02%2Ftangier-and-cognac.html There's some new short fiction on my fiction blog. Please click here if you'd like to pay a visit. (Source: Digital Doorway) Digital Doorway blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2167556 Sun, 08 Feb 2009 12:31:00 +0100 2167556 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2131305&cid=t_110530_111_f&fid=34712&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdigitaldoorway.blogspot.com%2F2009%2F01%2Fcrane-and-river.html Please see my newest story, "The Crane and the River", on my literary blog, Fiction, Prose & Ephemera. (Source: Digital Doorway) Digital Doorway blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2131305 Sat, 24 Jan 2009 04:05:00 +0100 2131305 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2033176&cid=t_110530_85_f&fid=34924&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.baggas.com%2Fposts%2F2008%2F12%2F13%2Fthe-lazarus-effect%2F Over the last week or so I’ve been reading something a little different - some christian fiction. Now there’s two words I usually don’t like to see put together “Christian” + “fiction” - too often that means some pretty trashy, low quality, often dodgy theology content that fills the shelves of our Christian bookshops. But “The Lazarus Effect” is different. The Lazarus Effect is written by acclaimed New Testament scholar Ben Witherington III and his wife Ann. Ben is one of my three favourite NT scholars, the other two being N T Wright and Scot McKnight. All three write a combination of serious scholarly books and Christian books aimed at the rest of us. And like McKnight, Ben Witherington has his own blog, which is one of my top reads. ... Baggas' Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2033176 Sat, 13 Dec 2008 04:34:57 +0100 2033176 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1980621&cid=t_110530_111_f&fid=34712&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdigitaldoorway.blogspot.com%2F2008%2F11%2Fkeiths-ephemera.html Dear Readers,If you are so moved, please pay a periodic visit to my newest blog---Fiction, Prose & Ephemera---a collection of fiction and poetry, some of which are works in progress, and others that are more or less complete. It is a project whose time has come.Thanks,Keith (Source: Digital Doorway) Digital Doorway blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1980621 Fri, 21 Nov 2008 14:05:00 +0100 1980621 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1944382&cid=t_110530_136_f&fid=37852&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdonnatrussell.com%2F2008%2F11%2F07%2Flooking-for-america%2F (2002) Hej studerende i Danmark! Hello students in Denmark! Thank you for writing to me about my short story Fishbone (see comments). “Fishbone” was first published in 1989 in the literary magazine TriQuarterly. The story has since appeared in several anthologies, but I especially like the version in the Danish textbook Looking for America (edited by Bjorn Christensen) because of the glossary in the margins: “Trailer court: camping plads til campingvogne (ofte permanent).” I don’t know what it means, but I like the sound of it. I wrote the story in the mid-1980s, not long after taking a poetry writing class. “Fishbone” began as a love poem to my grandmother, and it just kept going and became a story. Unlike the main character Wanda, I have never b... Donna Trussell blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1944382 Fri, 07 Nov 2008 21:50:44 +0100 1944382 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1853549&cid=t_110530_87_f&fid=34825&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wesleyjsmith.com%2Fblog%2F2008%2F10%2Feleventh-hour-new-cbs-tv-show-out-of.html Well, this could be very interesting--or awful. Apparently CBS has a new series starting next week called The Eleventh Hour. And it seems to cover many of the issues we discuss here at SHS. From the PR Internet site: Humankind has survived devastation: Famine. Plague. Predators. Insects. Wildfire. Floods. Hurricanes. All take their tolls, but we have learned to overcome the destructive forces of nature. Medicine wages war against disease. Pesticides replace blight with abundance. Fire brigades extinguish raging fires, saving cities.Now, humankind has entered a new era. An era in which the balance is reversed. Where humankind and nature are at war. An era in which civilization threatens itself more than nature: genetic manipulation, cloning, eugenics, nuclear proliferation, viral superbugs,... Secondhand Smoke blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1853549 Mon, 06 Oct 2008 03:34:00 +0100 1853549 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1759853&cid=t_110530_111_f&fid=34716&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FNurseRatchedsPlace%2F%7E3%2F382931047%2F Welcome to pulp fiction week at Change of Shift. I want to thank Kim from Emergiblog for allowing me to serve as host. You may think that Dr. Duane is obsessed with his nurse, but I think the good doctor is obsessed with blogging. He’s just leaning into his nurse so he can tell her about his latest post. Or not. Everyone has an obsession. If you’re familiar with Emergiblog, you know that Kim is obsessed with Star Bucks coffee, rock and roll music, and giving excellent patient care. Check out Kim’s call to arms. She’s mad as heck, and she wants nurses to start taking back the nursing profession. It seems like a lot of people are having delusions. Doctor Sarah Reagan thought that people didn’t like her because she was a woman and a doctor. Little did she know that is was all in... Nurse Ratched's Place blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1759853 Thu, 04 Sep 2008 04:27:24 +0100 1759853 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1750079&cid=t_110530_87_f&fid=34872&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthbolt.net%2F2008%2F09%2F01%2Fhealthbolt-funtime-you-can-be-whoever-you-want-to-be%2F As it’s long holiday weekend for the majority of our readers, I decided to postpone the review of the Food Matters documentary until tomorrow. Instead, here’s another Healthbolt Funtime escapade… Seems you can be whoever you want to be, including a ‘Super Villian’.  All you have to do is answer a few oddball questions and the truth will be revealed! I, apparent, am… The Joker The Joker 23% Lex Luthor 23% Dr. Doom 23% Mr. Freeze 21% Catwoman 20% Green Goblin 20% Kingpin 19% Mystique 16% Magneto 14% Riddler 14% Apocalypse 13% Poison Ivy 13% Juggernaut 8% Venom 6% Dark Phoenix 6% Two-Face 4% The Clown Prince of Crime. You are a brilliant mastermind but are criminally insane. You love to... Healthbolt blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1750079 Mon, 01 Sep 2008 07:46:14 +0100 1750079 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1739070&cid=t_110530_111_f&fid=34716&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FNurseRatchedsPlace%2F%7E3%2F376260834%2F If you don’t know by now, I really love old pulp fiction nursing books. My favorite books are the original Harlequin Romance books. Take this one for example. Meet Dr. Luke Spencer. No, he’s not related to the Luke Spencer from General Hospital. Dr. Spencer may own his own hospital, but he really needs to modernize his healthcare facility. Maybe he can start by buying latex gloves. Those look pretty gross. Dr. Spencer and his friends are going to stop by Nurse Ratched’s Place for the next Change of Shift on September 4th. Please send in your submission to motherjonesrn AT yahoo Dot Com by September 2nd. I want to hear from you! Nurse Ratched's Place is Sponsored by allnurses.com - Where Nurses Come Together (Source: Nurse Ratched's Place) Nurse Ratched's Place blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1739070 Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:56:35 +0100 1739070 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1730644&cid=t_110530_83_f&fid=34690&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Finsolence%2F%7E3%2F373598463%2Fnow_theres_a_real_toaster.php Those who are Battlestar Galactica fans, as I am, know that the disparaging slang humans in the Colonial fleet use for their dreaded enemies the Cylons is to call them "toasters." The question then naturally follows: Sure, Cylons are toasters, but can they actually make toast? It turns out that they can. Read the comments on this post... (Source: Respectful Insolence) Respectful Insolence blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1730644 Sun, 24 Aug 2008 19:05:19 +0100 1730644 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1713906&cid=t_110530_87_f&fid=34872&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthbolt.net%2F2008%2F08%2F18%2Fmyth-busters-old-wives-tales-exposed%2F You’ve debated them around the water cooler for years. Your mother has warned you about a good many of them. Seinfeld even had a whole show built around one of them (#5). What are they? Old Wives Tales, of course. But are they tales, or do some of them hold some truth a grain or two of truth? Take the quiz below to test your own knowledge on some of the most commonly accepted thoughts out there. Then check your answers and get the explanations you seek at MSNBC.com. 1. Cell phones are dangerous to use in hospitals because they can interfere with medical equipment. True / False / Maybe So 2. It’s safe to follow “the 5 second rule” for food dropped on the floor. True / False / Maybe So 3. Cracking your knuckles can cause arthritis. True / False / Maybe So 4. Cola ty... Healthbolt blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1713906 Mon, 18 Aug 2008 18:43:26 +0100 1713906 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1696846&cid=t_110530_105_f&fid=36987&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FIvorKovicMd%2F%7E3%2F361198780%2F I started reading The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing and so far I think it is great. This book is actually a collection of pieces by the very best scientists and science writers selected by Richard Dawkins. I recommend it to anyone who finds science interesting and if you don’t find science interesting, listen to what Richard himself has to say to you in this short video. (Source: Ivor Kovic, M.D.) Ivor Kovic, M.D. blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1696846 Sun, 10 Aug 2008 16:37:19 +0100 1696846 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1728309&cid=t_110530_136_f&fid=37852&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdonnatrussell.com%2F2008%2F07%2F29%2Fmfa-pyramid-ponzi-or-paradise%2F Are Master of Fine Arts programs pyramids that enrich a few at the top and embitter those at the bottom?  Are they Ponzi schemes that ultimately collapse on themselves? Or are they heavens on earth for those who practice the secular religion of writing? This debate has been raging for decades. Years ago I read an article — I believe it was in Poets & Writers. (Edited to add: I think it’s this article, “Why Is American Fiction in Its Current Dismal State,” by Anis Shivani. Thank you conepuppet.) Open up any current leading journal, and the typical story starts off with these phrasal bits: “My mother…my father…I was in the sixth grade…my friend Ellie…in the backseat of my parents’ car…” The author’s point... Donna Trussell blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1728309 Tue, 29 Jul 2008 21:20:46 +0100 1728309 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1660869&cid=t_110530_93_f&fid=36200&url=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.jammedph.com%2Fdownload-free-high-quality-sci-fi-e-books%2F If you are fond of reading sci-fi books, you might want to check outTor.com, a new site managed by Tor Books, part of the Macmillan publishing group, which offers free downloads of e-books for a limited time only. The offer only runs through Sunday so hurry now! Twenty-four (24 ) free e-books and a collection of high-resolution cover art suitable for use as a computer desktop background are available for download. The downloads are available in HTML, MOBI and PDF formats. Available titles are: Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson Old Man’s War by John Scalzi Spin by Robert Charles Wilson Farthing by Jo Walton The Outstretched Shadow by Mercedies Lackey & James Mallory Crystal Rain by Tobias Buckell Lord of the Isles by David Drake Through Wolf’s Eyes by Jane Lindskold The Dis... Jammed: Full into Capacity blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1660869 Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:10:27 +0100 1660869 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1556566&cid=t_110530_109_f&fid=36089&url=http%3A%2F%2Fimages1.americanprogress.org%2Fil80web20037%2FThinkProgress%2F2006%2F60min.320.240.mov Being a traditional liberal academic, there is no love lost between me and the Bush Administration. But social psychological research offers a more nuanced take from others I have heard on what happened in the run up to the Iraq War. It is a take that fits comfortably between the Left’s position that Bush, Cheney and company deliberately manufactured a case for war against Iraq (i.e., they lied), and the Right’s position that any reasonable person would have come to the same conclusion about Iraqi WMDs based on the available intelligence. The Bush administration clearly wanted to believe that Saddam Hussein had an active WMD program. This belief fit both with their general ideological worldview and their specific foreign policy agenda, and there was obviously some foundation fo... The Situationist blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1556566 Mon, 30 Jun 2008 17:47:26 +0100 1556566 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2512424&cid=t_110530_132_f&fid=35013&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fpedrobeltrao%2F%7E3%2FdvLY4z5zhMQ%2Fworld.html (caution, fiction ahead)I wake up in the middle of the night startled by some noise. Pulse racing I try to focus my attention outwards. Something breaking, glass shattering? Is someone out there ? I reach out with my senses but an awkward feeling nags at me, bubbling up to my consciousness. I try hard to focus, it is coming from outside the room , someone is inside my house. I close my eyes but vertigo takes over and weightlessness empowers me. I am in the living room cleaning the floor, picking up a broken glass. The nagging feeling finally assaults me fully. I am moving but I am not in control. Panic rises quickly as I watch helpless the simple and quiet actions of someone else. I stop picking up glass and I feel curious, only it is not exactly me, the feeling is there besides me.- Hi, w... Public Rambling blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2512424 Thu, 12 Jun 2008 18:33:00 +0100 2512424 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1341218&cid=t_110530_122_f&fid=36506&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FBrainSciencePodcastBlog%2F%7E3%2F261587928%2F Brains Matter is a podcast about science from Australia. It was one of the shows on my ill-fated Podango™ Science channel and it is now one of the charter members of SCIENCEPODCASTERS.ORG. Unfortunately, I don’t have a chance to listen to it on a regular basis, but I want to recommend the most recent episode, which is a discussion of robotics in history and in fiction. The guest is Adam Parker who is studying for a PhD in Robotics in Australia. He has a surprising knowledge of the history of the field and brings that perspective to the conversation. I think that that is one of the things that makes the interview interesting. This is not a technical conversation, but one that everyone can enjoy. As I said on Digg™, if you liked Blade Runner, you will enjoy this interview. (Source:... the Brain Science Podcast and Blog with Dr. Ginger Campbell blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1341218 Mon, 31 Mar 2008 23:22:20 +0100 1341218 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1322383&cid=t_110530_87_f&fid=35052&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FWomensBioethicsBlog%2F%7E3%2F256794581%2Fsigma-more-than-scifi.html I've heard rumours of a science fiction writers group that advises national/homeland security officials for years, but this is the first time I've actual confirmation of the group, called SIGMA. (Of... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] (Source: Women's Bioethics Blog) Women's Bioethics Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1322383 Mon, 24 Mar 2008 02:47:39 +0100 1322383 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1312474&cid=t_110530_154_f&fid=36333&url=http%3A%2F%2Fblogs.enotes.com%2Fnews-blog%2F2008-03%2Farthur-c-clarke-has-died%2F Pioneering science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke passed away today at his home in Sri Lanka. He was 90 years old and had suffered from polio since the 1960s. Just a few of his many influential works: 2001: A Space Odyssey, Childhood’s End, and Cradle. (Source: eNotes News Blog) eNotes News Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1312474 Tue, 18 Mar 2008 22:50:59 +0100 1312474 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1265171&cid=t_110530_87_f&fid=35052&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FWomensBioethicsBlog%2F%7E3%2F242802175%2Fnanocosmetics-really.html As I'm sure every student remembers, when you're in the middle of studying for a test, you often end up doing the most counter-intuitive thing to studying: you surf the net in search of... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] (Source: Women's Bioethics Blog) Women's Bioethics Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1265171 Thu, 28 Feb 2008 16:20:28 +0100 1265171 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1251876&cid=t_110530_109_f&fid=35677&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FBrainBasedBusiness%2F%7E3%2F240060330%2Fready_for_googles_brain_implan.html Neural linkups to your brain will project Google’s images onto a screen in your brain. Fact or fiction?Science fiction advocates tell us to expect Google search engine - brain implants sooner than most people realize. How so?  Here’s the skinny on benefits of your Google Brain implant: 1. Forget any name in a conversation … and you’d be able to google it quickly … and accurately. 2. Read maps … keep up with sports scores … or follow news without ads while you work.3. Access data banks to outsource your best insights and organize fast facts for use later. 4. Shop or sell through online search engines in your head … designed to show updates as they appear.5. Download instant updates to computer programs … games … songs &... BrainBasedBusiness blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1251876 Sat, 23 Feb 2008 19:55:17 +0100 1251876 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1251789&cid=t_110530_133_f&fid=35096&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.b5media.com%2F%7Er%2Fb5media%2FAutismVox%2F%7E3%2F240000887%2F Science fiction blog io9 considers what it would be like to have a Google brain implant: In John Varley’s upcoming scifi novel Rolling Thunder, everyone has a brain implant that lets them google information constantly. And many futurists are saying this technology will become a reality long before we colonize Mars. The question isn’t whether we’ll have google brain implants (or the futuristic search engine equivalent), but how we’ll handle them. What exactly would be the plusses and minuses of being able to google information instantaneously in your head, without anybody knowing you’re doing it? A google brain implant could work in lots of ways. With technology we have right now, people could wear a brain-computer interface helmet like the one sold by Emotiv, ... Autism Vox blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1251789 Sat, 23 Feb 2008 17:04:08 +0100 1251789 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1194821&cid=t_110530_133_f&fid=35096&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.b5media.com%2F%7Er%2Fb5media%2FAutismVox%2F%7E3%2F227123407%2F A “group of German researchers” has announced that they have “perfected the method for inducing autism.” ??!!!?!?!??? They have also, it is parenthetically noted, figured out how to “cure” autism (this study on reversing symptoms of autism and Fragile X is cited). Cure being a fighting word in discussions about autism, I’ll note that this “autism-inducing drug” is described on io9, a science fiction blog: Need to finish that work project, and wish you had the mental intensity to do it? Just take a synapse-regulating inhibitor, induce temporary autism, and you’ll want to ignore your friends and do nothing but number-crunching for days. Autism-inducers could become as popular as Provigil among the geek set by 2020. Last night,... Autism Vox blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1194821 Fri, 01 Feb 2008 09:14:39 +0100 1194821 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1179636&cid=t_110530_123_f&fid=34779&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftalesfromthewomb.blogspot.com%2F2008%2F01%2Ftrouble-with-surgeons-chapter-16_26.html Chapter 16: E-mails and Epileptologists Dear Jerold, This is your quarterly e-mail giving you a written update about my evolving status as an epileptic (as we agreed). I am writing another e-mail to Norman. It is the third one this week. I figure it is better he know about every single epilepsy-like episode, than assume that I am perfectly regulated on this new drug in between our visits. This is the third drug we’ve tried this year. I am still having perserverative thoughts but finally, at last, I can think again. My ability to analyze problems, to be creative, to appreciate irony – all of these seem to be back. The problem is I am still having a lot of focal seizure symptoms. I have visual changes (in accommodation) and these hand and facial ticks that feel like the beginnin... Tales from the Womb blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1179636 Sat, 26 Jan 2008 14:52:00 +0100 1179636 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1176063&cid=t_110530_87_f&fid=34872&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthbolt.net%2F2008%2F01%2F24%2F7-health-myths-debunked%2F Photo Credit The medical world: a place where truth reigns supreme and questions are definitively answered. The one place shielded from wive’s tales and urban legends. Not. In reality, the medical world is fraught with all kinds of “We used to believe what?”-type theories and a whole bunch of other BS. Here, dear readers, are just a few of the health myths held on to, but now exposed. Seven, to be exact, debunked by two docs from the Indiana University School of Medicine: Dr. Rachel Vreeman, a research fellow, and Dr. Aaron Carroll, the director of the Center for Health Policy and Professionalism. Myth #1 - Eating turkey makes you sleepy. Believed to be true for ages, research has found that the suspected tryptophan overload from turkey actually pales in comparison to t... Healthbolt blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1176063 Fri, 25 Jan 2008 02:54:06 +0100 1176063 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1147248&cid=t_110530_83_f&fid=34690&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Finsolence%2F%7E3%2F215989694%2Fgeek_orgasms_will_ensue.php ...at Elijah Wood's elaborating on plans to adapt J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit to the big screen in not one but two movies. I don't know if he knows what he's talking about or not, even if he is buddies with Peter Jackson, but the plans sound at the same time intriguing and worrisome. I do have to say that I'm rather skeptical of doing two films. If reports are correct, then there will be one film that covers the entire plot of The Hobbit released in 2010, and then there will be a second film that will take place sometime during the 60 years between the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and serve as a "narrative bridge" between the two. Since Tolkien himself didn't provide much in the way of details of what happened to Bilbo, except in the appendices of LotR and vague mentions... Respectful Insolence blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1147248 Sun, 13 Jan 2008 16:00:43 +0100 1147248 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1146208&cid=t_110530_123_f&fid=34779&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftalesfromthewomb.blogspot.com%2F2008%2F01%2Ftrouble-with-surgeons-chapter-15.html Chapter 15: Here again, her again, a hurricane I remember my drive back down to the university from my psychiatry practicum. Inside my head there was a tempest going on as I tried to comprehend the man who called himself “The Jesus”. Outside, the first hurricane of the year was off the coast of Florida. Its eye was headed straight for a small town known as Homestead. As I drove into the city, it was clear skies on a hot, HOT August day. The only dark clouds were the ones over my head. It would be another 48 hours before Andrew’s front would appear off the coast. On the radio, there was already constant talk about evacuation. It seemed silly to me, given the weather. All the hurricanes I had lived through as a child in the Carolinas had massive, sky-filling cloud fronts that rolled ... Tales from the Womb blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1146208 Sat, 12 Jan 2008 03:42:00 +0100 1146208 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1134608&cid=t_110530_123_f&fid=34779&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftalesfromthewomb.blogspot.com%2F2008%2F01%2Ftrouble-with-surgeons-chapter-14.html Chapter 14: Inside my head I am sitting in the waiting room with Sarabeth and Megan. The drab green walls have a shimmer that wasn’t there the last time I sat here. I try to think about my research, but the usual layers and textures of thought seem distant and unobtainable. There is a picture of a train yard upon the wall. It is filled with locomotives from the nineteenth century. Each type moves at a different speed, with a different load, along a separate track. A passenger-express speeds out ahead with its matching cars. A freight engine carries a long hodge podge of flat beds and tankers. A shunter moves a few boxcars at a time. It is a fair analogy to the way I once shuffled thoughts back and forth in my own mind. I could jump from one rail to the next and back again, riding the dif... Tales from the Womb blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1134608 Tue, 08 Jan 2008 01:05:00 +0100 1134608 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1132141&cid=t_110530_83_f&fid=34690&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Finsolence%2F%7E3%2F212070411%2Fdoctor_who_revolutionary_or_tool_of_the.php Charlie Anders seeks to answer that very question: (Click on the graph above to go to the full size original graph, which graphs the frequency of stories per season in which the Doctor is portrayed as overthrowing the government or the status quo or foments a rebellion.) Although the arch-conservatism of the John Pertwee-era Doctor (which continued into the early part of the Tom Baker-era Doctor) is not that surprising (at the time the Doctor did work for the quasi-military U.N.I.T. as its science advisor, after all), who'd have thought that the Sylvester McCoy would be the Che Guevara of Doctors or that the current Doctor would be relatively tame, given that he is a Time Lord without a home world? Read the comments on this post... (Source: Respectful Insolence) Respectful Insolence blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1132141 Sun, 06 Jan 2008 14:27:55 +0100 1132141 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1129353&cid=t_110530_123_f&fid=34779&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftalesfromthewomb.blogspot.com%2F2008%2F01%2Ftrouble-with-surgeons-chapter-13.html Chapter 13: Jesus the Christ The guard turned the keys in the lock to let the four of us in. A glance at our half-length coats on the third Thursday of the month was enough of an introduction. It was medical student day again. He looked at his clipboard and matched our I.D. tags to the names on the page. One by one, we were led to the interview rooms. I was the last. After matching each of my colleagues with a patient, he led me down past the usual set of rooms and took me farther into the bowels of the Micheal Shay Florida State Criminal Sanatorium. He unlocked another set of doors, let me in, and then locked them again. “You’re in for a real treat today young man. They only let a medical student interview him every couple of months... too disruptive to his therapy plan.” The guard ... Tales from the Womb blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1129353 Thu, 03 Jan 2008 03:30:00 +0100 1129353 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1127306&cid=t_110530_123_f&fid=34779&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftalesfromthewomb.blogspot.com%2F2008%2F01%2Ftrouble-with-surgeons-chapter-12.html Chapter 12: Sleepy Interlude I am lying upon the gurney looking up at Drew. I don’t remember how I got here, wherever here is. “Back in the land of the living are you? Christ Phil, you scared the shit out of me! Sarabeth is on her way. She’s bringing Megan with her.” I look back at Drew as if he’s an alien life form. “Wot hap-pen’d?” “You had a seizure. They’ve given you dilantin. You’re probably feeling post-ictal and drugged. You look as if you want to go back to sleep.” “Can I?” “Yeah, now that you’ve woken up, I’ll tell the emergency room doctors that you woke up. Quick, answer the four questions that I’m supposed to ask you.” “My nom ish Phillip Gowrdon. My burth date ish Jan-yew-ware-ee twentee thurd, nine teen six-tee ate. Today’s date ish�... Tales from the Womb blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1127306 Thu, 03 Jan 2008 03:13:00 +0100 1127306 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1118180&cid=t_110530_123_f&fid=34779&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftalesfromthewomb.blogspot.com%2F2007%2F12%2Ftrouble-with-surgeons-chapter-11.html Chapter 11: A Breath of Fresh Air “Dillard!”Daisy was using ‘the voice’ on our latest medical student.“Were you just going to open that up and then leave that big poop lying in there without telling anyone?”Daisy sometimes helped change diapers and feed patients when the unit was busy and the phones were not. During rounds, when parents were not allowed in the units, Daisy often wandered into the intermediate care unit and asked if there was a baby that could be rocked or fed. She was bottle feeding a five kilogram kid who’d been having problems keeping his blood sugars up while she shrewdly ambushed Dillard.“Uhm, well, I wasn’t….”“Un huh, you were just going away and leaving that poor little darling sitting in poop. I don’t think so. You get back over there and c... Tales from the Womb blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1118180 Thu, 27 Dec 2007 01:57:00 +0100 1118180 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1106958&cid=t_110530_123_f&fid=34779&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftalesfromthewomb.blogspot.com%2F2007%2F12%2Ftrouble-with-surgeons-chapter-10.html Chapter 10: Lightning in my brain “Hello Phil” Jerold Kazmersky is my division head. He holds out his hand for me to shake it. He knows it’s partially paralyzed. He wants to assess for himself how much progress I’ve made in the four weeks since I’ve been gone. “Hey-o Jahr-auld. How are ya?” “I’m good. You look a lot better. We’re glad you’re back.” He squeezes my hand gently as he says it. I do my best to return the handshake, but it is a feeble response. He nods slightly. “That’s something to work with Phil. I bet it will be back to normal in no time.” Nothing will ever be normal again… I slowly withdraw my hand from his and let it hang from my side. “Yesh, that’s wot they tol me. I’m goin ta try and do sum reedin. Spend a haf-a-day d’l... Tales from the Womb blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1106958 Thu, 20 Dec 2007 02:28:00 +0100 1106958 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1098774&cid=t_110530_123_f&fid=34779&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftalesfromthewomb.blogspot.com%2F2007%2F12%2Ftrouble-with-surgeons-chapter-9.html Chapter 9: What Can You Do? Mr Fordham was a large man who towered in my memory for a long time after I met him. Six and half feet tall with a five o’clock shadow that started at noon. He also lumbered by the bedside of his son in long, painful vigils. It was an ominous sign when the father hovered in silence over the victim of non-accidental trauma. It was either anger or guilt. Someone had shaken Luke so hard that tiny hemorrhages had erupted throughout his brain. Luke was now on a ventilator and trying to die from the brain swelling. No one was admitting to it and no one was pointing fingers, which meant that everyone in the family knew who’d done it. I was placing my bets on the father, but kept it secret. I had a case two years earlier in which the mother had shaken the baby t... Tales from the Womb blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1098774 Mon, 17 Dec 2007 03:40:00 +0100 1098774 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1085546&cid=t_110530_123_f&fid=34779&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftalesfromthewomb.blogspot.com%2F2007%2F12%2Fpart-8-christopher-reeve-was-here-were.html Part 8: Christopher Reeve was here We’re walking down the hill towards the neurological injury rehabilitation clinic. It has a prominent neurosurgeon’s name from our University Hospital slapped over the door. It’s the place where Christopher Reeve did some of his early rehabilitation, before he got his home system set up. I know that surgeon, he wasn’t the one who operated on me, but we’ve shaken hands many times and talked about tiny babies who needed intraventricular shunts…politely discussed how best to manage them. He’s a legend in his field and the editor of the most prestigious journal in neurosurgery. I respect him, even if I haven’t always agreed with him about how to manage babies. It gives me goose bumps to be walking into a building with his name on it. I am en... Tales from the Womb blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1085546 Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:14:00 +0100 1085546 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1068644&cid=t_110530_123_f&fid=34779&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftalesfromthewomb.blogspot.com%2F2007%2F12%2Ftrouble-with-surgeons-chapter-7.html Chapter 7: Life in the Toilet “Do you have any idea how many babies are born in a toilet each year?” Jack Richards said it to the group, but he was looking at me, daring me to respond. It had been an exceptionally disheveled morning rounds and neither of us liked it if we didn’t have at least one good “discussion” during the day. The housestaff and students might well have described our discussions as verbal brawls, but for us, it was the way we did our teaching. In our NICU, we taught on the fly, as we trouped from patient to patient, not stuffed up in some class room. Today we’d had a few things get in the way. Primarily we’d had a full blown code in the delivery room that had not gone well. It was nobody’s fault but fate’s. The child had been infected in utero an... Tales from the Womb blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1068644 Tue, 04 Dec 2007 05:44:00 +0100 1068644 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1058257&cid=t_110530_123_f&fid=34779&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftalesfromthewomb.blogspot.com%2F2007%2F11%2Ftrouble-with-surgeons-chapter-6.html Chapter 6: Home Coming “Which way do you want me to take you?” “Hey-wey Tweney, wana shee shom schenrey whit ma won good eye….May-be iffff I keep this’n clowsed, I can shee shomtin.” “I think you should give it a rest for a while Love. Your speech is getting really bad.” “Mu Brwain’s tahred…” “I know. Just sit back, here, is the seat the right height?” I nod that it is. Sarabeth climbs in behind the driver’s seat of the explorer and backs it out of the reserved spot in front of the hospital. She heads out, away from the hospital and towards the winding highway that was my favorite daily passage to work, in my life before I came to know the surgeon’s knife. “Let’s see if we can’t get you back to where you belong!” We drive out into the... Tales from the Womb blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1058257 Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:33:00 +0100 1058257 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1049070&cid=t_110530_85_f&fid=36194&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftesstermulo.com%2F2007%2F11%2F26%2Fexpeditions-with-neil-gaiman%2F (Warning: Lengthy post ahead. Keep reading at your own risk!) There are such events that are worth getting tired feet and strained back muscles for. And an event which has Fully Booked and Neil Gaiman in it is an example of such. I’ve known about this event weeks ago because I frequent Fully Booked SM the Block but I wasn’t able to make up my mind about it until almost the last minute (okay, that’s an exaggeration. I must have weighed this on my mind until the day itself when I’ve finally made a decision). The indecisiveness must be because I’ve been so drained of energy these past few weeks by work and study and since it’s another Sunday of being not on duty (actually, the first of a series of Sundays of being not on duty), I thought of just spending it... Prudence and Madness blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1049070 Sun, 25 Nov 2007 16:21:59 +0100 1049070 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=991830&cid=t_110530_129_f&fid=34862&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.alifelessconvenient.com%2F2007%2F10%2F30%2F381%2F .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } October 25, 2006 009 version 2, originally uploaded by the wilderness. Over at TheNervousBreakdown.com, I’m still reliving summers from years ago: I flounder in two part-time jobs. My elbows grow calluses from leaning for hours on desks and counter tops while I work. It is possible I am not a happy person. At night, I drive up and down Cary Street in Richmond and take random left and right turns. The itch to drive often arrives around 8:30 p.m. and sometimes lasts until midnight, unless I sate it earlier. The urges to drive are worse and more real than illicit carb cravings while on Atkins. . . . . I ye... A Life Less Convenient blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=991830 Tue, 30 Oct 2007 23:18:18 +0100 991830 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=874577&cid=t_110530_129_f&fid=34862&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.alifelessconvenient.com%2F2007%2F09%2F15%2Fwhere-the-hell-have-you-been%2F .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Driving and Treating on July 7, 2006 020 version 2, originally uploaded by the wilderness. Here, for one. I didn’t really leave, and yes, I’m okay, though life has taken me in directions I couldn’t imagine a year ago. The explanation, or lack thereof, is at The Nervous Breakdown. Other news: the founder and owner of Merge Press decided to shut down the biz. ‘Tis okay: my book is going elsewhere, and so is Queer Shorts. The moral of this post: life really does go on. Share This (Source: A Life Less Convenient) A Life Less Convenient blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=874577 Sat, 15 Sep 2007 16:45:06 +0100 874577 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=874561&cid=t_110530_83_f&fid=34690&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Finsolence%2F%7E3%2F156849917%2Fthis_might_almost_make_me_go_back_to_chu.php Now here's a church service that I could get into, the Church of the Time Lord. As an article in Metro.co.uk says: A congregation are to be invited to compare a Time Lord with the Lord of Time at a special Dr Who-themed church service, it was disclosed today. Teenagers and young people in their early 20s are being targeted for the "cafe-style" Communion service, with music and video clips from the hit series, at St Paul's Church in Grangetown, Cardiff. The Anglican church was used as a location two years ago for an episode of the series starring Christopher Eccleston as the ninth Doctor. Fr Dean Atkins, youth officer with the Diocese of Llandaff and one of the organisers of the service, said: "The figure of Doctor Who is somebody who comes to save the world, almost a Messiah figure. "... Respectful Insolence blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=874561 Sat, 15 Sep 2007 15:01:21 +0100 874561 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=867271&cid=t_110530_87_f&fid=34872&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthbolt.net%2F2007%2F09%2F12%2Fcadaver-calculator%2F Ever wondered how much your body is worth? Start planning now with the Cadaver Calculator! The Cadaver Calculator asks you a series of questions, including whether you are fit or obese, if you’re a lil smokey or not, how much liquor you quaff, if you are an albino (hey), and if you ever eat anything remotely leafy and green. My mortal coil is evidently worth 5 G’s. How much is yours worth? (Brilliant: the Cadaver Calculator comes to us via Mingle2, an online dating site. Now that’s romance!) Share This (Source: Healthbolt) Healthbolt blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=867271 Wed, 12 Sep 2007 15:23:32 +0100 867271 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=852499&cid=t_110530_83_f&fid=34690&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Finsolence%2F%7E3%2F153949119%2Fsouvenirs_of_london.php More random weekend chatter... If a big time Doctor Who fan visits London, what is it that he brings back as souvenirs? Well, I had wanted to bring back a large radio-controlled Dalek to harass my wife with, but I just couldn't figure out how we would get it back on the plane, and I didn't want to spend big bucks to ship it home across the Atlantic Ocean. So, I had to be more modest. For example, there's this to start out with: Naturally, when you use it to open a bottle, it cries out "EXTERMINATE!" (That'll discourage you from opening that extra bottle of beer, won't it?) Then, what die-hard Doctor Who fan could be without this? As soon as I get the nerve up to open the box, it'll grace my desk at home. Read the comments on this post... (Source: Respectful Insolence) Respectful Insolence blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=852499 Sat, 08 Sep 2007 20:04:06 +0100 852499 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=835416&cid=t_110530_83_f&fid=34690&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Finsolence%2F%7E3%2F150664583%2Fbummer.php Sadly, I won't be in London for 10 more days. Consequently, I'll be missing something really cool that'll be happening a mere couple of blocks down the street where I'm staying now: I did, however, purchase a nice cast metal replica of the TARDIS at this shop, the Stamp Centre, which seems to carry a lot of science fiction stuff (particularly Doctor Who paraphernalia) as well as stamps. It's a bit of an odd combination, but it works. In any case, the TARDIS will grace either my desk or my bookshop. For those of you who live in London or who will be in London on September 10, though, you might want to check this out. Read the comments on this post... (Source: Respectful Insolence) Respectful Insolence blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=835416 Fri, 31 Aug 2007 20:26:51 +0100 835416 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=893262&cid=t_110530_87_f&fid=35060&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthnewsblog.com%2Fcgi-bin%2Fhnblog.pl%3Fhnblog%3D815071 Writers Write, Inc. has added a new blog to its blog network called FantasySFBlog.com. Fantasy/SF Blog is a daily blog covering what's new and interesting in the worlds of fantasy, SF, and horror, including books, movies, TV and gaming. Recent posts include: Lost: The Orchid Orientation Video Is Peter Jackson Back on Board for The Hobbit? Finalists Announced For British Fantasy Awards Saw IV Coming in October Will Tom Cruise Join the Star Trek Cast? The Dresden Files Is Cancelled ABC Offers Masters of Science Fiction The Beowulf Trailer is Here Johnny Depp Is Barnabas Collins RSS subscription informaton for the Fantasy/SF Blog can be found here. Permalink | Recent Headlines | News Feeds (Source: HealthNewsBlog.com) HealthNewsBlog.com blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=893262 Thu, 16 Aug 2007 02:00:00 +0100 893262 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=797026&cid=t_110530_83_f&fid=34690&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Finsolence%2F%7E3%2F143746356%2Fi_can_answer_that_question.php Since I'm still immersed in grant writing, to start the afternoon off, here's one that I saw a week ago but never got around to answering. It's a question from this week's host of the Skeptics' Circle, Bronze Dog, over at (appropriately enough) The Bronze Blog, who asks: You've been captured by Daleks. You're their legendary foe who always comes up with some clever way of thwarting their plans for universal domination. They're equipped with a death ray, nigh-impenetrable armor, and a plunger that somehow works as a multitool. Why don't they just shoot you? I can answer that one! Although many of the answers in the comments are quite good, I think I have the real answer. Just think about it. It's the same reason that, when James Bond is captured, the villain doesn't just have one of his ... Respectful Insolence blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=797026 Mon, 13 Aug 2007 19:35:17 +0100 797026 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=755599&cid=t_110530_87_f&fid=34872&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthbolt.net%2F2007%2F07%2F24%2Fiq%2F Your normal programming has been interrupted for this important public service announcement: Look like an idiot in 1 easy step: pimp an IQ widget on your blog! Online IQ tests are a joke (but you know this). Even if they claim to be “real”. They’re not. Guess what? Mensa is a joke, too. The vos Savant method will raise your IQ a few notches, but does this really mean anything? Even the merit of a “real” IQ test is debatable, because IQ is a controversial concept. Evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould and the pioneering Alfred Binet disputed the validity of IQ (among many others). If you need to do some virtual culling or simply find yourself in the mood to discover even more poseurs, because you’re just so gangsta, might I suggest a rich niche known a... Healthbolt blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=755599 Tue, 24 Jul 2007 22:03:40 +0100 755599 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=711669&cid=t_110530_87_f&fid=34865&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thecancerblog.com%2F2007%2F07%2F03%2Fthought-for-the-day-isaac-asimov%2F Filed under: Thought for the Day"If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn't brood. I'd type a little faster." - Isaac Asimov Famous quotations can provoke powerful messages and thought. As individuals, we can read the same quotes but give to it totally unique meanings. This quote means to me -- that if I was to find out that my cancer recurred, I would still need to carry on, hold my head up and keep going. Live life to the fullest. I started to think about what the author of this quote was saying about himself. I wondered what it meant in his own life. Issac was a science fiction writer who died in 1992. I think that maybe since he was a writer, upon learning of his death, would want to tell more stories, finish ones he already started or just get all of him that he c... The Cancer Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=711669 Tue, 03 Jul 2007 04:00:00 +0100 711669 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=693223&cid=t_110530_83_f&fid=34690&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Finsolence%2F%7E3%2F127538846%2Fquote_of_the_day_j_r_r_tolkien_on_mercy.php From The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, specifically the chapter The Shadow of the Past, in which Gandalf responds to Frodo's statement that Gollum is an enemy who deserves death: Deserves it? I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. For even the wise cannot see all ends. I have not much hope that Gollum can be cured before he dies, but there is a chance of it. I sometimes wonder if reading that quote as a youth was a seed that ultimately lead to my changing my mind about supporting the death penalty many years later. Obviously, it's not the only reason, but I've remembered it ever since I was a teenager, and it's a quote that still resonates with me today. Read ... Respectful Insolence blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=693223 Sun, 24 Jun 2007 18:01:00 +0100 693223 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=674547&cid=t_110530_123_f&fid=34779&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftalesfromthewomb.blogspot.com%2F2007%2F06%2Finterview-with-spooner-jenkins-and.html “We're back! Today through the wonders of the cybernet, I'm bringing you the one, the only Mayor of Belvidere Nebraska: Spooner Jenkins. How are you Sir?” “Well I'm fine, thank ya for having me on this gizmo of yours. How exactly is it that we can see each other on the computer screen like this? I didn't realize I even had a camera in there. Did I push a button or something?” “Big Brother is always watching us Spooner. You just have to know how to make the system work for us instead of against us. You don't think Al Gore invented all this just so we could send e-mail do you?” “Well...” “Of course not! He and Dick Cheney have been peeping into our private lives ever since! It's a Vice President thing. But I digress. The topic today is patient satisfaction with chiropractic... Tales from the Womb blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=674547 Thu, 14 Jun 2007 02:06:00 +0100 674547 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=674548&cid=t_110530_123_f&fid=34779&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftalesfromthewomb.blogspot.com%2F2007%2F06%2Finterview-with-dr-john-crippen.html “Today, through the magic of the cybernet, we're going to interview Dr John Crippen. Our topic today is recognizing, empathizing with, and finding an effective plan of therapy for today's modern sociopath.“Welcome Dr Crippen!”“Well hello, and thanks very much for having me on this new platform of yours. Quite original really. Bit of a job you did with Aiden Charles last week. I suspect he's still smarting from that one. Helped him get in touch with his inner feelings and what not I suspect.”“Yes, well, I just let him do most of the talking really. Nice of you to fill in for Charity Doc. He wasn't very interested in the topic I'd picked out.”“Can't imagine why? Once Aiden got going, he could hardly stop.”“Let's talk about you for a bit shall we?”“It's more fun to tal... Tales from the Womb blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=674548 Wed, 06 Jun 2007 18:35:00 +0100 674548 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=658637&cid=t_110530_123_f&fid=34779&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftalesfromthewomb.blogspot.com%2F2007%2F06%2Finterview-with-dr-aiden-charles.html I've noticed lately that a good many medical bloggers who used to blog (almost exclusively) about their day-to-day encounters with patients have transformed (or is the term transmongulated) their blogs into the erudite and platonic musings that one might read if they belonged to a college philosophy club... on a liberal arts campus... in Spring time. But I digress. My task today is to explore this recent trend by interviewing one of the blogosphere's most popular and cerebral of typists: the one, the only, the incomprehensible... Aiden Charles (as brought to you by the miracle of the cybernet).“Good morning Aiden, how are you?”“I'm fine thanks, but I really don't think that I'm incomprehensible or that my blog has been transmongulated. Really, I've got more hits than I've ever had...... Tales from the Womb blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=658637 Mon, 04 Jun 2007 17:30:00 +0100 658637 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=651304&cid=t_110530_140_f&fid=35450&url=http%3A%2F%2Fofflabel.blogspot.com%2F2007%2F06%2Fundead-3.html Monday is D-day, dole day; the form for claiming my allowance comes every fortnight and I'm supposed to fill in the jobs I've applied for and take it down to the nearest Social Security office, which has recently started calling itself something even more euphemistic and making copious use of green and orange toner. Every Monday I have an appointment with my GP, a softly spoken Greek man whose office walls are a patchwork of kids’ paintings on butcher’s paper, pap smear reminders and black lungs. His practice bulk-bills and is just a few blocks from the hotel, which is one of two reasons why I go there. The other is that Alex knows, for the most part, how to mind his own business. Each fortnight he writes me a medical certificate saying that I’m too sick (“depressed” is the word ... Off-Label blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=651304 Sat, 02 Jun 2007 07:31:00 +0100 651304 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=638388&cid=t_110530_140_f&fid=35450&url=http%3A%2F%2Fofflabel.blogspot.com%2F2007%2F05%2Fundead-2.html I came to this hotel because it was the closest place on the list to the train station. Little more than a shopfront on the corner, it was dilapidated, verandah-less, a hole to crawl into. Instead of a sign, there was a blackboard: ROOMS TO RENT, LONG OR SHORT STAY, REASONABLE RATES, TV ROOM, and squashed in the lower margin as an afterthought: FRIENDLY ATMOSPHERE. The ground floor windows were boarded up. I pushed the front door open, nudging my suitcase in ahead of me. The front desk and its keeper were suitably retro; a sliding glass window and landing strip tie. A filing cabinet, a fan and a Thank You For Not Smoking sign that had gone yellow around the edges.Because the refuge I’d come from didn’t charge any rent, I had enough saved to put down straightaway and obviate any serious... Off-Label blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=638388 Sat, 26 May 2007 07:17:00 +0100 638388 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=637860&cid=t_110530_87_f&fid=34872&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthbolt.net%2F2007%2F05%2F24%2F7-reasons-drugs-are-waaay-better-than-vitamins%2F I’m sick of these alternative health hucksters trying to profit off innocent souls by selling them dangerous, deceitful products. Why aren’t vitamins regulated? Drugs are regulated by the FDA to protect citizens’ health, and it’s about time vitamins were, too. There are seven very compelling reasons why drugs are way better than vitamins. If anything, we ought to deregulate drugs (prescription drugs, people) and ban those dangerous vitamins! Reason #7: Vitamins may be essential to life, but drugs help mask the symptoms of all the sh*t you shouldn’t be doing to your body. Okay, so the body needs vitamins to, you know, not die or something. The WHO (World Health Organization – not the band) says vitamin deficiencies will cause all kinds of diseases. But duh – that’s why we ... Healthbolt blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=637860 Thu, 24 May 2007 21:25:54 +0100 637860 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=629415&cid=t_110530_140_f&fid=35450&url=http%3A%2F%2Fofflabel.blogspot.com%2F2007%2F05%2Fundead-1.html Imagine that one night while you’re asleep a miracle happens and everything that’s ever gone wrong in your life, everything that makes you grimace at the crackle of cars crossing the tram tracks, everything that makes you ignore the spider veins marching across your chest and thickening into wounds under your arms, everything, all this and more, is undone or disappears. When you wake up the next day what would be the first thing you’d notice that would make you realise that such a miracle had taken place?Easy. I’d be woken by Peregrine bringing me a cup of tea.But this Monday morning it’s just me in the same lumpen bed, restless in its plastic cover and crowned at the wall by a patch of mould. My bedside table was built by a neurotic; a roll of toilet paper and a half-empty mug o... Off-Label blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=629415 Mon, 21 May 2007 03:18:00 +0100 629415 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=595203&cid=t_110530_129_f&fid=34862&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.alifelessconvenient.com%2F2007%2F05%2F07%2Fthe-saints-are-coming%2F .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } October 9 red light hunting 019, originally uploaded by Jnnburk. More meditations on having Catholic roots at TheNervousBreakdown.com. The Book still possesses a pervy sensuousness to the pictures and tales that has stayed with me long after any priest hammered home the gospel from the pulpit. Each saint is covered in one page with a few paragraphs, an ode, and a color sketch that captures something of the saint’s essence and patronage. Some saints have fascinated me more than others. With some, I can easily tune into the grotesqueness of their physical suffering, the way it was subtly eroticized, and th... A Life Less Convenient blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=595203 Mon, 07 May 2007 08:51:28 +0100 595203 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=589134&cid=t_110530_87_f&fid=34865&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thecancerblog.com%2F2007%2F05%2F04%2Fthought-for-the-day-something-to-bead-about%2F Filed under: Breast Cancer, Products, Cancer Survivors, Thought for the DayBreast cancer survivor Linda Griggs offers a wide variety of hands-on healing products for other survivors -- like an inner child notebook with markers for journaling and expressing emotions, a wooden box with instructions on how to create a healing shrine, a non-fiction account of her own cancer journey, and so much more. Griggs, who also teaches workshops and speaks out on cancer as a hero's quest, is now onto something new. She's stringing beads.Think about this:"After helping a young breast cancer survivor make a "power necklace" to help pump her up before chemo, I realized perhaps other survivors might benefit from having their own empowering necklaces," Griggs says.Griggs has begun making necklaces from natura... The Cancer Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=589134 Fri, 04 May 2007 04:00:00 +0100 589134 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=556875&cid=t_110530_129_f&fid=34862&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.alifelessconvenient.com%2F2007%2F04%2F20%2Fsurely-there-will-be-some-room-in-hell-for-me%2F .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } March 13 2007 CAT scan 021 version 2, originally uploaded by Jnnburk. At least there’s room for me at TheNervousBreakdown.com: I have a new piece up today. I talked about the hereafter, the now, religious awards, and sleeping in a truck. Random snippet: You take it where you find it. I grew up Catholic, which means a good bit of my time was occupied with thoughts of redemption. At a single-digit age, I was convinced I was well beyond saving, which was a relief, not a curse. If you’re already a member of the damned, then life involves less sweat and more honest observing of the world. You can final... A Life Less Convenient blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=556875 Fri, 20 Apr 2007 13:41:11 +0100 556875 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=539128&cid=t_110530_129_f&fid=34862&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.alifelessconvenient.com%2F2007%2F04%2F12%2Fthe-end-or-the-end-of-the-excerpts-from-love-story%2F .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } I See Things [v.5], originally uploaded by shadowplay. The final installment of Love Story, as far as snippets go. The rest of it, including the ending, will be laid to rest in a collection of short stories somewhere. . . . After I put it on the counter, I must have stared at it for a long time, lost in thought. What are you thinking about, your voice came suddenly. You looked much better than I thought you would, although you were still slightly groggy. I began to tell you about my walk, about the giddy sense of floating as I glided without my backpack. How I was truly yours when no one when dared to look. Yo... A Life Less Convenient blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=539128 Thu, 12 Apr 2007 15:14:51 +0100 539128 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=531424&cid=t_110530_131_f&fid=34989&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.b5media.com%2F%7Er%2Fb5media%2FGeneticsHealth%2F%7E3%2F107743893%2F Even if you think Michael Crichton is totally off base when it comes to global warming, you can’t deny that he is a very handsome man. Here’s a video of the hour he spent with Charlie Rose in February promoting his genetics thriller, Next. Tags: michael crichton, next, science, genetics, genes, genome, dna, fiction, books, diseases, illness, health, medicine (Source: Genetics and Health) Genetics and Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=531424 Mon, 09 Apr 2007 16:03:45 +0100 531424 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=528266&cid=t_110530_109_f&fid=34875&url=http%3A%2F%2Fballoonballoon.blogspot.com%2F2007%2F04%2Fupdates-final-kathy-sierra.html [UPDATE: April 6, 2007: Here are the final results of the one and only Kathy Sierra poll, conducted here at Surreal and Paranoid Life from March 28 to April 6. Here is the poll question, along with the percentages of the answers:What's the bottom line with this Kathy Sierra fiasco?1. Kathy is working hard with the authorities and will prosecute. = 30.3% (40)2. Kathy is watching the publicity she is getting and loving it. = 25.8% (34)3. Something other. If so, write what it is in the "Hang in there" comments = 22.7% (30)4. Kathy is really offended and will blog no more. = 13.6% (18)5. Kathy is actually one of the "meankids", and they're all having a good laugh. = 7.6% (10)6. Kathy will be killed or harmed by the perpetrators of this mess. = 0% (0)total votes: 132 individuals[UPDATE: April 5... American Center for Surreal and Paranoid Life blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=528266 Sat, 07 Apr 2007 12:19:00 +0100 528266 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=524343&cid=t_110530_129_f&fid=34862&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.alifelessconvenient.com%2F2007%2F04%2F05%2Flove-story-again-and-other-rambling%2F .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } DSC_0677.jpg, originally uploaded by rent-a-moose. I was about to tell you many things to introduce this snippet. I know that at one point when I sat down, I thought they would illustrate something about my motivation for different sections of “Love Story.” Now I just think I had too many steroids, and that you’re perfectly able to determine metaphors and my hang-ups on the vicissitudes of being embodied. More from “Love Story” (and from my ongoing fears, of course). Prior installation here. (Source: A Life Less Convenient) A Life Less Convenient blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=524343 Fri, 06 Apr 2007 04:26:49 +0100 524343 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=499256&cid=t_110530_129_f&fid=34862&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.alifelessconvenient.com%2F2007%2F03%2F25%2Fa-separate-story%2F .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } flyingTVSHEEPfrJPG, originally uploaded by bekon. It’s time for something completely different. Sort of. My hangups parade through my fiction like a teen beauty queen on meth. They’re so obvious and deliciously Freudian. Repetition compulsions rock: you always have something to think about. If you’re thinking there’s a theme I’ve been working on overtime, you’re right. Pick an object, and look at it from every angle. You’d think the number of potential angles would be finite. You’d be wrong. This one has nothing to do with The Letters or excerpts from “Lov... A Life Less Convenient blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=499256 Sun, 25 Mar 2007 05:59:36 +0100 499256 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=499257&cid=t_110530_129_f&fid=34862&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.alifelessconvenient.com%2F2007%2F03%2F24%2Flove-story-another-piece%2F .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } tavolo5, originally uploaded by rent-a-moose. The first part of this story is here, where I also give the background on overly literal metaphors, motivations, meanderings, and obnoxious tendencies toward gratuitous alliteration. Maybe it’s not the first part. That’s the fun aspect of editing and drafting ad nauseum. I’ll figure out where I am once I know I’ve gotten there. Maybe. I’ve been using A Life Less Convenient.com to share my fiction snippets about desire, like this. Thankfully not all my fiction is autobiographical, really. That would be messy. And illegal. Now for anothe... A Life Less Convenient blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=499257 Sun, 25 Mar 2007 02:35:04 +0100 499257 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=493100&cid=t_110530_129_f&fid=34862&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.alifelessconvenient.com%2F2007%2F03%2F23%2Flove-story%2F .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } , originally uploaded by shadowplay. I’m a second-person kind of writer. The word “you” does things to me. The fiction shared here tends to be similar in some ways beyond the “you” part of the deal. There’s an aesthetic in what is shared here that is perhaps predictable, and maybe that’s not such a good thing. I recently floated rewrite of a story by friends who all went “hmm” but seemed to enjoy it nonetheless. Maria, the one known as my fav editor, actually rejected this short story for a project because she thought it was too weird. Another friend made a... A Life Less Convenient blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=493100 Fri, 23 Mar 2007 14:22:51 +0100 493100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=552015&cid=t_110530_140_f&fid=35450&url=http%3A%2F%2Fofflabel.blogspot.com%2F2007%2F03%2Fhospital-food-1.html In your tribute album to the worldYou must never forgetTo sing the one about the catWho's always getting wetHe's always got a problemHe's a very bitter dudeAnd now he is complaining'bout his hospital food - Eels, "Hospital Food"At first I was in trouble for expecting my tray to be brought to me in bed - after all, I was in a hospital, and supposed to be sick, right? The B-Man, my good-for-nothing psychiatrist, should have warned me. My next faux pas involved wearing my pyjamas in the so-called dining room. Blue and red flannelette men's pyjamas that hung off me, and that I still eat my breakfast in now and then. The night before I'd tied my hair into two plaits, that were now as frizzled as hangman's rope, and my eyes were still crusty with sleep. I was seventeen, and my skin showed it.I f... Off-Label blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=552015 Mon, 19 Mar 2007 04:42:00 +0100 552015 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=479169&cid=t_110530_129_f&fid=34862&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.alifelessconvenient.com%2F2007%2F03%2F17%2Fsecond-personing%2F .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } "Reasons to Love" [v.3], originally uploaded by shadowplay. I’m finding my second-person/first-person voices are all taking their distinct characters. Maria Angeline, my favorite editor, once told me that she liked my introductory blurb for the excerpt I provided from my story in Queer Shorts. I’ve copied, pasted and played with that blurb voice. I probably won’t be able to resist tweaking the hell out of this post… * * * * A quickie, you say? Yes, I tell you, because I think we can find the time. Then again, I’ll tell you anything. Plop the words right out of my mouth onto your palm and b... A Life Less Convenient blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=479169 Sat, 17 Mar 2007 11:40:19 +0100 479169 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=464019&cid=t_110530_83_f&fid=34690&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Finsolence%2F%7E3%2F100906950%2Fsay_it_loud_im_an_sf_geek_and_im_proud.php This one's right up my alley, and PZ, John, Joseph, and Bora have already weighed in. I've been a big SF fan since my very earliest days. (Indeed, one of my earliest memories of SF is reading A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle back in maybe third grade or so. So, when I learned of a list of the Most Significant SF & Fantasy Books of the Last 50 Years, I just had to do like my fellow SB'ers and look at which ones I've actually read. For some of them, I'll also add a brief comment (for example, at least a couple of these books I consider to be highly overrated). So, here we go. Bold means that I've read it: Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post... (Source: Respectful Insolence) Respectful Insolence blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=464019 Sun, 11 Mar 2007 14:01:36 +0100 464019 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=552018&cid=t_110530_140_f&fid=35450&url=http%3A%2F%2Fofflabel.blogspot.com%2F2007%2F03%2Funtitled-1.html There's not much to do among walls that shear sunlight into a sickly green like swimming pools in winter. In my hospital nightgown, a patchwork of someone else's piss and blood, I wring my hands into eyelashes of congealed sweat, worn rubber, proof positive that I am made of something synthetic. Like the canvas of a perfectionistic child, it seems that every step forward will require yet another erasure. And every step forward is made down a linoleum-lined corridor that leads past four square doors into the stomach of the ward, where geometry melts in its acids - the furniture there has contours but no corners, softness but no solidity. I turn around under the television that hangs in its cage from the ceiling - it's 6am, and Rage is trawling through the Top 60 - and retrace my steps. The ... Off-Label blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=552018 Sat, 03 Mar 2007 04:51:00 +0100 552018