Gaviiformes Tredinnii

David Tredinnick is the Conservative MP for Bosworth. He is also one of the most raving loons in parliament, far outlooning anything that UKIP can throw up. His first job was as a second lieutenant in the Grenadier Guards, and even then it is clear that his intellectual capacity did not go unnoticed, and he left without even rising to the dizzy heights of lieutenant. After he left the army, much to the relief I expect, of his soldiers, he had a number of jobs, none of which he was able to hold down for very long. I wonder why.

I'm not going to detail the full depths of his ignorance, you can read it all here.

What is stunning is that a man of such profound scientific and medical illiteracy and ignorance has managed to get himself onto both the Science and Technology select committee, and the Health Committee, both committees providing an opportunity for him to do immense harm. He is a prime example of the Dunning Kruger effect and appears virtually ineducable.

What is so utterly disheartening is that the reason he got onto the Science & Technology committee is that, out of 306 conservative MPs he was the only nominee. For fuck's sake Cameron do you not give a shit?

Savings?

DZ commented recently on the determination of the health secretary to "tackle the soaring cost of hospitals’ use of temporary staff" . It may just be coincidence, but since then DZ has noticed that the offers of agency work he has had have declined markedly.

If it's true that NHS Trusts have decided to save money in this area, what do you suppose are the chances of them now turning their attention to some of the real parasites bleeding the NHS?

Pareidolia again

You may have seen this picture in the Telegraph today.

The woman who took the picture is convinced of the following
1. This is a picture of an angel
2. The "apparition" is some sort of message, intended specifically for her.
3. The "message" is from her father who died 20 years ago.
4. That it means her sick son will get better over Christmas.

 For fuck's sake missis. It's a fucking cloud!

AKA

I notice in The Times this morning a small feature on free diving. people who see how far down they can go in the water and get to the surface again without any form of breathing apparatus. The world record depth currently stands at a staggering 281metres.

What did strike me in the article was the statement that, apparently these feats are made possible by a special breathing technique, called "apnoea". Wow! who'd have thought it. Doesn't that just mean holding your breath?

Homophobia

I understand Christopher Monkton has recently been quoted as stating, "Gays have 20,000 sex partners in their 'short, miserable lives" This figure I found a little dubious to say the least, so I decided to do a little simple arithmetic.

If someone, gay, straight or bisexual, were to have a new sexual partner every single day, 365 days of the year, from the age of 16, they would be almost 71 years old by the time they reached partner number 20,000.

Which suggests to me that their life could by no stretch of the imagination be described as short or miserable!

The NHS

It is rare that DZ perceives in any politician the qualities of honesty, intelligence and perceptiveness. This article however is so spot on that I have to acknowledge an exception. Correct, absolutely, to the last full stop.

Chicken

DZ once had the misfortune of coming down with Campylobacter food poisoning. I was sicker than I have been in my life, before or since. The source of the infection was never traced. So I was interested to see this article in today's press. It's no surprise really. Chickens are social animals, and even those raise in a traditional manner are going to have close contact with others and so bacteria such as Campylobacter and Salmonella are going to be endemic.

So the recommendation that we should all boycott chicken is, I think, a bit of a hysterical over reaction. There is a perfectly good way of eating chicken, regardless of source, and not getting food poisoning. The solution was well known to my own mother. Cook it properly!

Booze.

Ephesians 5:18 - And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.

Single malt for me then!

Quote

"One of the painful things about our time is that those who feel certainty are stupid, and those with any imagination and understanding are filled with doubt and indecision"

                                          Bertrand Russell

Savings

I've mentioned before one of my favorite film quotes. "What'll that asshole think of next" from the mouth of the late Slim Pickens in the film Blazing Saddles.

It's a quote that, to me, springs to mind every time Jeremy Hunt opens his mouth. Every time. And today is no exception. In this pronouncement he makes it clear he's got agency staff in his sites, and the money they cost in having to pay them. Well, as someone who does agency work I'd like to make a couple of points.

1. As the Guardian article makes clear, "He will demand action to tackle the soaring cost of hospitals’ use of temporary staff – mainly nurses – who have been supplied by employment agencies to cover shifts in order to ensure wards are fully-staffed and patients receive good quality care." Well Hunt, who's ultimately responsible for the state of affairs where wards are not fully staffed? You are, in your bid to get care on the cheap. And it's going to get worse as the staff that you have demoralised simply walk away.

2. It's nice to see you admit you are prepared to compromise quality care to save money.

3. It's clear to me that Hunt doesn't like it when staff are in a position where they can demand a decent rate of pay. Agency staff can cultivate a "take it or leave it" attitude. More than once DZ has declined work because the pay on offer was inadequate. It's called the free market. Hunt's party is in favor of that isn't it? But Hunt wants staff he can treat like shit and pay peanuts.

Agencies will continue to provide staff at a market rate of pay and more people will leave the NHS for the greener grass. Hunt only has one choice. Pay up or fuck off.

Remembrance again

I've had a little criticism over that last post which I'll answer here.

Firstly Snow doesn't mention the simple act of buying a poppy. His comments are purely aimed at what he describes as the "religious dominance" of the ceremony of remembrance at the Cenotaph. If HC doesn't see that that is the case then she has to be a little imperceptive. The entire ceremony is pretty much (christian) religious, and this means that those who wish to show their respects by participating are forced to engage in this superstitious ritual whatever they may believe. A secular ceremony would exclude no-one.

DZ attended a funeral a few years ago for a man who had participated in one of the most famous actions of the second world war. The christian priest who officiated spoke for 28 minutes. 90 seconds of that was about the deceased. The rest of the time was spent pushing his religion. More than a little bit naff and grim I think. Hijacking the funeral of a good man (who I knew was not religious) to push his own agenda.

As a matter of interest HC, have you ever served in the armed forces, regular or reserve?

Remembrance

Well said Dan Snow!

Mystery object.

Congratulations Anna. you got it right. Not sure it's something you should be proud of though. It's an automatic semen collector.
On the one hand I can't say I find it very alluring. On the other hand though it's not going to demand two hours of oral sex before you get down to the main event.

Mystery object

Those who follow Dr Rant will know the answer to this. Those who don't, any guesses what this is?

Pay

It is true that, like many other NHS employees the pay of hospital doctors has not fared well over the last few years. Pay freezes and changes in terms and conditions have eaten away at the purchasing power of doctors very significantly. The approach of the government has been to try and screw us even further, to the point where even those ineffectual dullards at the BMA have finally made some small protest.
Many doctors harbor a fond delusion that if things get too bad we can all, as individuals, desert these shores for another country, where the financial grass is greener, and the usual destinations considered are Australia and the USA.
The only thing wrong with this view is that it's wrong. A quick google search shows basic pay for Australian consultants to be pretty much the same, if not less, than those in the UK. So what of the USA. Surely we all know that American doctors are rolling in it. Think again.
In spite of everything we could in the UK be the best paid doctors in the world. Makes you think.

Nurses

In a very recent post I asked  "how many fewer nurses will we have when large numbers get to feel that they are undervalued to the point of contempt, and decide to just fuck off?"
Well it seems that point has already passed.

Ebolaphobia

The reaction of western politicians to the ebola outbreak is little short of criminally irresponsible. Cameron, Obama, and Kerry have all been whipping up public fear & anxiety recently with pronouncements that can only exacerbate matters. The disease has been compared to smallpox, and HIV and dire predictions made about potential numbers of cases, and horrific predictions about numbers of deaths. You'd think wouldn't you that they'd take 5 minutes to educate themselves about the condition before shooting off their big ignorant mouths.

Lets put things into perspective. Firstly Ebola is not remotely comparable to smallpox, for the simple reason that it's not spread through the air. The recent case where an infected person traveled by air has resulted in a massive exercise in contact tracing, but in reality the only passenger at significant risk of contracting Ebola would be the person sat next to her infected. The rest have about as much chance of catching it as if it were Hep B we were talking about. They'd need to actually come into contact with secretions.

And it's not remotely comparable to HIV either. HIV is asymptomatic for months or years before becoming apparent, and infected individuals live for years. They represent a large pool of people who can pass on the infection. With Ebola you're only able to infect others for a very short window of time, about three weeks, and then you either recover or die.

And with the best that western medical care has to offer mortality can be as low as 20%.

So medieviel scenarios of plague are not realistic. Not remotely

And our politicians should be reassuring us of that rather than needlessly inflaming the situation. Twats!

Space exploration.

First woman on the Moon:
"Houston, we have a problem."
What?
"Never mind"
What's the problem?
"Nothing"
Please tell us?
"You know what the problem is."

Ultra ketone/ketone slim XT scam

Another scam promising that your excess weight will evaporate away if you take these magic tablets. I'm not going to link to the site. But this is what they claim their pills will achieve. How can people be so gullible?

 Same tired old stuff, raspberry ketone, and a laxative. Same old tricks laid bare in the terms & conditions. If you don't cancel your subscription pretty much immediately you will be charged £95 for what they told you was a "free" sample. And once in you're in. "Customers enrolled for a Subscription will automatically receive a 30 day supply of the Product approximately every 30 days, without any further action on your part. As consideration for each 30 day supply, we will charge your credit/debit card the retail purchase price amount of £99.95"
If you really want to try this stuff you can get it on line for less than £4 for a month's supply. So save yourself  £95 a month. Better still save yourself £99 and don't buy it at all. It's worthless ineffective crap.

Today

I couldn't not comment on today's strike. I've seen this situation arise before, where long suffering staff have been provoked beyond endurance, and when they finally react the powers that be hide behind the patients, bleating about how the strikers are causing suffering to the sick. It makes my blood boil. A health professionals ultimate obligation is to fulfill the terms of their contract, no more, no less and the ultimate responsibility for caring for patients lies with the Health Minister. The fact that people work in the health sector does not carry any obligation to work extra hours for nothing, or to carry on working when their employers shit on them. To try & morally blackmail people into accepting a wholly unacceptable situation, so that you can carry on turning the screw is cowardly and repugnant.
I remember full well when the nursing and other professions accepted review bodies as pay arbitrators. We in medicine had had one for years and it was obvious that nurses leaders hadn't bothered to look and see how it worked in our case. The body simply was a puppet of government, usually awarding the government diktat, and totally ignoring the case for the profession. I remember at the time thinking it would all end in tears.
And how. This years recommendation of 1% would have been a slap in the face even if it were paid, after the last few years of frozen pay. But what did they (and we) get? "You're not getting it if you're not at the top of your incremental scale!!!!!!!!". WTF? Incremental scales are in my view wrong in themselves. I remember when I started as a consultant, many years ago. I did exactly the same job as my older colleagues, and took on exactly the same level of responsibility, and yet I got paid less, purely on the basis of my age. Can you imagine if they tried to introduce differential pay on the basis of sex or race? Perhaps I should shut up, I dont want to give them ideas. New consultants may lack experience, but they more than make up for it in the up to date and modern practices they bring, and the concept of increments is nothing more or less than blatant age discrimination. At least in my day it only took eight years to reach the top of the scale. In yet another underhand disguised pay cut it now takes over 20. So now you don't get a pay rise because you are already a victim of institutionalised agism. Only the best paid in each profession will get anything.
And that twat Hunt bleats about how many fewer nurses there will be if the pay rise is awarded, because they can't be afforded. Well how many fewer nurses will we have when large numbers get to feel that they are undervalued to the point of contempt, and decide to just fuck off? When the public realise how badly health staff are treated how many younger people will review their decision to go into health in the first place?
I've seen a lot of governments, a lot of prime ministers, and a lot of health ministers in my time. When it comes to the provision of health services they were all shocking. But this lot are the worst by an order of magnitude. They're indifferent, uncaring, cynical, manipulative, dishonest, lying, cheating, self serving, smug and pompous. What a bunch of vile loathsome fuckers.
Our own "union" the BMA of course are not doing anything to protest doctors' pay, that would be too much to hope for. The only thing they've ever resisted was the threat to higher awards. Why do people remain members?
Striking staff deserve our fullest support. Unison and the other organisations involved are to be commended at last for digging in their heels. If they hadn't done it now, they'd have had to do it next year. By which time they might well have private sector employers. Which is perhaps why their pay is being squeezed in the first place.

Lazy sick bastards

The NHS can be a pretty inconsistent employer. We are repeatedly told that we should not come to work if we are suffering from infectious diseases, from flu to diarhoea. And yet if you actually take more than 4 minutes off sick over 20 years you have some fucking tyrant summoning you to his office telling you you're not pulling your weight and will be watched from here on in.

Lets face it , if you're ill, you're ill, and you shouldn't be at work. Being treated as if you're some sort of idle skiver (or if you're Welsh, "skifor") for taking time off sick is just not right. On your return you will be taken to one side and "counselled" (translated "threatened") with the consequences of daring to take sick leave again. Pointing out that sick leave is a statutory right is likely to get you labelled a troublemaker and not struggling in to work when you have ebola will be considered a sign of lack of dedication.

Another way of looking at it;

A Post Office employee in Bournemouth is retiring after 41 years without using any of her sick days.

Friends describe her as "dedicated".

Co-workers remember her as, "That cow who kept giving me the flu."

Death

 DZ is used to reading crap reports on medical matters in the newspapers. Sometimes the problem is that a perfectly reasonable piece of research is taken by the newspaper editor and mangled to the point where the conclusions are completely misrepresented, in the interests of making a more newsworthy article. Sometimes however the original research itself is clearly just bollocks.

Like this one

The fundamental and primary error here seems to be at what stage people are declared clinically dead. The investigators seem to be of the view that you declare someone dead, and then commence resuscitation. No you fucking don't! Cardiac arrest does not equate to death. Death is what's declared when resus has failed and you've all given up. The entire paper is based on the accounts of people who were successfully resuscitated, ie NOT DEAD. At all, even a little bit. Strewth, these guys apparently spent four years gathering data about after death experiences from live people. By definition live people are not dead, and never have been.

The only thing they have proved is that people who are brain dead can become university professors in spite of it.

General Practice

"Doctor, I've got premature ejaculation"

"Well don't come in here!"

Busy

DZ is old enough to remember when being gay was illegal in this country. If you were convicted of being homosexual you could be sent to prison, where you would be incarcerated with a whole load of guys with a lot of time on their hands and no access to female company.

Although this is now no longer illegal in this country, or most other western nations, the sad fact is that being gay is still illegal in about 70 countries, some of whom have the death penalty for this "offence."

Egypt is one country which criminalizes gays, as has been highlighted in this article today. The Egyptian public prosecutors are pursuing a group of men because, they say, releasing film of a gay wedding "would anger god".

Really? Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't he supposed to be all powerful, all seeing etc? If he was really that pissed off about it wouldn't he be able to do something about it himself? Perhaps he's too busy with other things I suppose.

Quote

"nothing with a pair of testicles attached to it can ever be truly beautiful,"

                                                                                   Daily Mash

Certainly true in DZ' case

Safety

Previous posts on this blog have highlighted the gradual erosion of clinical autonomy endured by the medical profession. The rise of guidelines, protocols, trust formularies etc that has taken away the professionalism from doctors and turned them into box ticking technicians.

Since I have been doing some agency work I have seen that this continues to a staggering degree. Micromanagement is rife and rigid control is the norm. I recently worked at a place where the management dictated what needles are used for various mundane and common procedures.

Many of these rules are introduced in the cause of risk management. The needle rules start with the premise that medical professionals can't be trusted with sharp objects!

What they have failed to take into account is a phenomenon first described in the field of motoring. I've been unable to find the reference, but I remember reading a study that showed that, if you increase the safety features within a car, the driver tends to drive less safely. Seatbelts, airbags and the like increase the driver's feeling of confidence and security, and he consequently drives faster, and takes more risks.

In the clinical setting, clinicians who work with sharps that have safety features to reduce the likelihood of needlestick injuries are unlikely to develop the level of care and discipline in their handling of sharps that my generation learned, and in the long run there is no improvement in safety as the one cancels out the other.

As an illustration of the principal I quote Jeremy Clarkson.

"If you want people to drive more safely you have to get rid of seatbelts, airbags and all the other things that make things safer for the driver, and replace them with a six inch spike on the steering wheel pointing towards the driver's chest. Now that would make you drive fucking carefully, wouldn't it!"

No change, no point

One of DZ slight worries about the NHS is that, the way things are going, it will finally turn into a fully privatised bag of shit just about the time he is likely to start needing it. At the moment I am in good health but inevitably that will change one day. In the meantime I steer well clear of my GP. Went once about two years ago just to have my ears syringed and ended up having the third degree as my GP went about ticking his boxes. Listen boys. When I have a problem rest assured I'll come & see you about it.

When I say I'm in good health, that's almost completely true. I do have Type 2a hyperlipidaemia, or familial high cholesterol, and my serum level of 8 seems to agitate my GP somewhat, and his futile efforts to get me on statins get to be verging on the hysterical.

Still, it does place a certain nagging doubt. So when I stumbled across this site I thought I would give it a try, much in the same spirit as the numerous pointless quizes you find on facebook. And apparently my risk of having a cardiovascular event in the next ten years is just 12%. Not bad really for someone my age. You have the option at the end of having a revision of risk assuming you rectify your risk factors and I thought I'd check that & see. So If I go onto long term statins and reduce my cholesterol what is my revised risk. Still 12% apparently.

Quote

Only one issue. What's so wrong with philandering?

The prisoner

Until DZ retirement his registration with the GMC was very much in the background. The money got taken, unnoticed, from his account on a regular basis but that was about it. He does remember back in the 90s when, due to an error in the GMC itself his direct debit was cancelled, by them and the fee not paid. In their usual style when they discovered their own error their response was to write to me aggressively and rudely threatening erasure if I didn't pay up. As if it was my fault. Arrogant pigs!
So for the entire duration of his career, DZ had no idea what his GMC number was. No-one ever asked for it. It was not in his memory.
So when he started doing agency work he was a little surprised to find the number of times he was required to put his GMC number on various forms, including prescription forms and various other records.
A month ago I mentioned another line I've been wanting to use for some time. The opportunity hasn't arisen yet, but it's only a matter of time.

The disembodied voice in this clip I think sounds a lot like the GMC would sound, if it had a voice.

Doom & gloom

O sod it all! We've still got that tosser Hunt in charge. Nooooooooooooo!

Badges

DZ is retired. But he can't seem to stay away from the coal face and has been doing a little locum work. Doing what work you want, when you want, without having to worry about keeping your job has restored DZ enjoyment of the work he does. Having the freedom to just speak your mind and walk out the door if the situation arose is very liberating.
And it doesn't take long. On my arrival I was challenged and asked where my ID badge was. I've been wanting to use this line for years.

There's another line I've been wanting to use. Not going to give it away just yet, but for those of you old enough think Patrick McGoohan and Portmeirion.

Oh please!

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/senior-tories-await-david-camerons-ruthless-reshuffle-9507176.html

Oh Joy. Is it too much to hope he will remove that worthless suit full of bugger all Hunt. Hunt is sympathetic to homeopathy, and seems to believe that being health minister qualifies him to comment on medical matters. A complete fool. But then, do they have anyone who would be any better?

WW1

You can't have failed to notice that it's coming up to the centenary of the start of the first world war. I have to say that I'm not sure that it's something we should be commemorating. If we are going to celebrate anything to do with that episode of history we should wait till 2018 and celebrate it's end.
But that would deprive various people the opportunity to make money out of selling commemorative tat. Cynical old DZ is not surprised to see adds appearing like this one, though he is a little angry.

The add uses phrases such as "important that we never forget the sacrifices made on our behalf by the brave young soldiers" and "the 16 million who gave their lives will never be forgotten." (their highlighting).

So show your respect by buying a trinket! I think I'm going to be sick!

Football

DZ has never been a fan of football. He regards it as a mind numbingly boring game. He's always been a little irritated by the fact that those around him who follow the game regard DZ as some sort of aberration, not quite a proper man, despite the fact that his disinterest is shared by about half the population. In return DZ has always regarded football bores with mild disdain, until that is he had to share a train journey with about 200 of the bastards on their way home from a game. After watching them repeatedly trying to provoke a fight with the heavily outnumbered transport police he now feels they should be used as organ donors. And kept in camps.

DZ is therefore also irritated by the obsession the media have with the game, nicely summed up by this bit of film.

So when he read this article this morning he had to sympathise with the sentiment expressed. Yeah! Those interested in archeology don't go around bending the ears of the rest of us do they? You don't find the media droning on incessantly about it all the time do you?

So then he turned to the morning papers, and found this, as the front page headline of today's Indy. The article uses the word "archeology" no fewer than 9 times. Perhaps football's not so bad after all. (Yes it is)

A sign!

I've commented before on the phenomenon of pareidolia, whereby people see familiar images in blobs of marmite, pieces of toast, aubergines etc and attribute huge relevance to this, claiming they are signs from their god. Occasionally however something happens that, although almost certainly coincidental, has far more to justify a vague feeling that someone "up there" is trying to tell us something. Like this.

 

Funny how the faithful, gathering in Rome, don't seem to be taking much notice.

Another man with his head up his arse

Until today I wouldn't have known who this man was.  His name is Steve Webb, and apparently he's the pensioner's minister. He has recently stated that we should be telling old people when they are going to die, so they can better manage their finances.

Where do you start? The flaws in this are so numerous, and obvious to anyone with any intelligence that I can only assume that Mr Webb is exceptionally stupid, even by the standards of this government.

We all know that, even when presented with a patient with terminal illness, predicting lifespan is so inaccurate that most of us don't do it. Does he really imagine we can predict the future. What's he suggesting we use, astrology, tarot cards, tea leaves? How does he think we are going to do this with any degree of accuracy.

Fortunately for us there is a website that does this for us that I'm sure we can rely on. Putting my own details into this highly accurate computer model gives me the information that I will live to be 89, and that my remaining allotted time is 917,643,294 seconds. And counting!

Antibiotics

There can't be many doctors in Britain who aren't aware of the current mounting crisis in infectious diseases treatment, resulting from the development of antibiotic resistant bacteria. For not much more than 50 years we have been blessed with the ability to treat bacterial infections with spectacular success. DZ trained as a medical student at the height of this golden age, yet even so I remember our undergraduate training in microbiology as being long and detailed.
But even then, 40 years ago, the microbiologists were warning of the perils of antibiotic overuse and resltant resistance, so we've been aware of the potential problem for a long time. So what has stunned me is a statement in this article where it is stated that undergraduate medical training in microbiology occupies just two hours. Total! Have we become so complacent about bacterial infection that we don't think it's worth teaching doctors about it any more?
So we now face a possible massive resurgence of bacterial disease, which the emerging generation of doctors will be totally unprepared for. One has to ask those that set the content of training what were they thinking. And what has been considered so important for trainee doctors to learn, that they have to make room by discarding microbiology? More fucking sociology I expect.

Science

Pretty much all of us in medicine have had to do some research during our careers, and we've had to publish. It's been a necessary part of our training. I, like many others, didn't enjoy it very much and was glad to get it over with and return to a career of clinical medicine. But that's not to say having done it was without value. It taught us a lot about the pitfalls and errors of research, and how to look critically at the published work of others.
One of the great principles of science to my mind is that of uncertainty, or tolerance. The history of medicine, and science in general, is full of instances when cherished long held beliefs have had to be discarded in the face of new evidence. This happens because some individuals question accepted wisdom, and investigate it. Some areas of practice fail to live up to that scrutiny and we all have to take on new ideas as a result. This is how science advances, through the acknowledgement that we may be wrong.
When an area of science is repeatedly investigated, and results confirmed, this adds more and more credibility to that area. If we try really hard to disprove something, and fail, that adds great credibility to the theory under investigation. It follows then that scientists should be prepared to gladly open their data to scrutiny, and to encourage others to try and disprove their work.
I have recently come across a quote from an eminent scientist. I'm not going to identify him, or his field, I don't want to get distracted by the subject, but stick with the principle. He is quoted as saying;

“We have 25 or so years invested in the work. Why should I make the data available to you, when your aim is to try and find something wrong with it.”

To my mind this man has become lost in his own ego. He appears totally unwilling to have others see his data, or test his theory. He has crossed the line from being an open minded scientist of humility, and become a quasi religious figure demanding respect for his dogma. What a complete knob!

Confusion

Like most people, DZ reads the newspapers. He doesn't actually go into a newsagent and pay for a great wad of pulped tree though, finding it easier and cheaper to view the papers online, apart from those nasty graspers who have a paywall. He's also partial to those spoof newspapers, such as "News Thump" and the "Daily Mash".
Sometimes, when reading these spoof papers it's easy to fall into the trap of feeling that you are reading a genuine newspaper, and sometimes, when reading a conventional paper you feel you may be reading a spoof. Especially today. read the following five headlines. Three come from spoofs, and two from a "proper" paper, (obviously that excludes the daily mail). From just reading the headline, can you be sure which is which?

"Dietary advice was fruit company conspiracy"

"Your Child's school attendance is absolutely mandatory"

"North Korean men ordered to get Kim Jong Un's haircut"

"Homeopathy products recalled over fears it may contain actual medicine"

"Health not that important"

Riddle

Why is Ashutosh Maharaj like a Norwegian Blue parrot. 'Cos he's not dead, he's just reached samadhi.

Resign!

Sign this petition. The intro doesn't do justice to this man's sheer awfulness and ineptitude. It hasn't mentioned the present crisis of morale caused by his handling of staff pay, or his sympathy towards quackery.

Lent

Apparently, so I'm told, we are in a period known to some as "Lent", when, for reasons not clear to me some people choose to deny themselves certain pleasures of life for a few weeks. I think that if  I were to abstain from the things I like to do, and die during that period, I'd be pretty cross. I prefer to live each day as if it were my last. 'Cos one day it will be.

Fear

This is an interesting article I read this morning with a few little interesting points in it. Firstly I had no idea that Pakistan had such things as porn cinemas. Bearing in mind how fundamentalist they seem to be over there I'm far more surprised at their existence than the fact that they get bombed. In fact I'd say that such an occurrence would be a pretty sure bet.

Secondly one of the quotes reveals a level of racism even within Pakistan between it's different ethnic groups. Commenting on the ladies performing in these films one man said "These are not Pashtun women. These are Punjabi." Oh well, that's all right then.

But my favorite quote is from one of the managers of such a place, bemoaning the effect that bombings are adversely affecting his business, who said "People are afraid to come" Quite!

Stupidity

When DZ goes to social gatherings, he's often disheartened by the fact that everyone he meets there seems to be some sort of utter fuckwit. I suppose it's a curse associated with having an intellect the size of Brazil. Only recently I was cornered by an ignorant bore telling me how the world energy crisis was easily solvable but the solution was being supressed by "BIG OIL". When he finally got to describing the process it was clearly nonsense but he was convinced, having seen it explained on that most reliable of sources, youtube. When I tried to explain the flaws, including deviation from basic laws of physics, he immediately glazed over and I realised that I would be better off talking to the barmaid, who at least was nice to look at. I got to wondering, how is it that you can't get through to stupid people. That there is a section of society so refractory to education that you may as well not bother, and put them to work up chimneys and down mines at the age of 5. And then I saw this, which explains everything.

Ormus scam 3

I've had an odd comment on one of my previous posts which I suspect has come from a modern day believer in alchemy. I wonder if his name is Percy.

The medical profession

“In the words of the philosopher Sceptum, the founder of my profession: am I going to get paid for this?”
― Terry Pratchett

Jesus & Mo

DZ has been a fan of "Jesus & Mo" for some time and has occasionally reproduced some of the cartoons here. Inevitably the site has come to the attention of those who must not be offended, and they have insisted it is taken down. The author of J & M has refused. good for him. Long may he draw.

Opression

Religion is all about control. Control of women, children, finances, sexuality, the list is endless. A prime example of this is found here where a prominent Israeli politician is criticised by religious bigots because he has "let" his son date a non jew. Let? The son is 23. He doesn't need his father's permission in any aspect of his life. Mr Netanyahu seems fairly laid back about it. Good for him. As for those who are hand wringing and bleating about this. perhaps they should be reminded that human beings are autonomous individuals, entitled to make their own decisions. That religious belief doesn't give you the right to dictate how others conduct their lives. I don't suppose they'd listen. Perhaps it would be more direct and to the point just to tell them to fuck off.