It's true!!!

 DZ took this picture a few days ago. The chemtrail conspiracy theorists will love it.

If any of them are looking, it's just ice crystals boys, and a question of relative humidity.

Yet more ignorance

 DZ has recently put up a couple of posts featuring the insane  burblings of American fundamentalist christians. It's a rich vein of material. Particularly when the subject matter is of a sexual nature, where the ignorance displayed is often so profound that you have to wonder how they manage to procreate so prolifically. Here is another one. What depths of educational inadequacy could be responsible for the idea expressed here. There are sciencey words in here but the end result is word salad.

If they really worry about this then why not wear a condom. that would solve the problem. Oh wait.

Free Speech

 

Here's hoping that this gentleman makes a speedy and complete recovery.

Animosity

 DZ, like I suspect most doctors, has met colleagues he did not get on with. And I'm dead certain that some of my colleagues have not liked me very much either. Such is human nature. I have had one colleague threaten me with violence, and I've called one a "fucking idiot". I've even wished death upon one or two. But that's as far is it goes. 

Unlike this guy, who tried to burn his colleagues house down with him in it, and when discovered by his intended victim, stabbed him. 

I bet he doesn't put that in his appraisal form, though I suppose that's moot. I can't see him keeping his GMC registration for long. The GMC takes a dim view of doctors who try to murder their colleagues.

What surprises me the most is the vehicle on which he went to his victim's house, and on which I presume he intended to escape.

A "getaway" bicycle

More ignorance

 DZ has commented before about some of the bizarre ideas some men have about female anatomy, and sexual and reproductive physiology. These ideas always seem to originate from the same source. Ultra right wing fundamentalist religious Americans. People who think you can re-implant an ectopic pregnancy, or who don't seem to have the slightest idea about how sex happens.

Here is yet another. An actual politician, someone actually in office, has criticised his opponents for, among other things, advocating late abortions. Very late. Very late indeed. In fact the gestational age at which he is suggesting the abortion happens is such that the kid would be three months post partum!

Giving birth to that would make your eyes water!

Colleagues

 DZ has often written about appraisal and revalidation and how it affects medical practitioners, but of course our nursing and other colleagues also have to endure this process. And there is no evidence that the system works any better in catching naughty boys and girls for them than it does for us.

Take for example this story about a mental health nurse who was a major drugs dealer, while at the same time being employed by an NHS Trust. Being employed, by definition, means he was getting through appraisal and revalidation, and has only recently been struck off by the Nursing and Midwifery Council, as a result of his criminal conviction. To get an idea of how big he was in his job on the side, this is how much Class A and B he had at the time of his arrest!

So why do you suppose he wasn't picked up by the appraisal system? I expect that when it came to the relevant section it must have slipped his mind to write. "I am heavily involved in supplying illicit drugs to large numbers of addicts" A simple accidental omission I'm sure. It could happen to any of us.

Pareidolia

 DZ has written a few blog posts in the past about pareidolia, the "the tendency to perceive a specific, often meaningful image in a random or ambiguous visual pattern." Seeing an image of mohammed in a blob of Marmite, Or that of jesus in a dog's arse.

This is how some people are so easily fooled into believing in various myths like the Loch Ness monster, Chukachabra, Bigfoot, or the various sightings of "big cats" in the English countryside. Invariably any pictures supporting these beliefs are taken from some distance, blurry, poorly lit and could often be anything. But we live in a world where millions of people thought it was a good idea to elect an elderly, psychotic, semiliterate, incoherent dement to the position of President of the United States. And to some people, the less credible something is, the more likely they are to believe it.

Take this pic for example.

I like to think people who look at my blog are bright enough to realise exactly what it is. But I have no doubt that there are sites on the web where, suitably embellished with a little made up narrative, I could put this and convince people that it is of some serpent like creature. It looks vaguely like a snake with it's mouth open, or maybe even a real dragon, and distant enough and blurry enough to convince the gullible. In fact I took this pic this morning while walking my dogs. This is what it looks like close up and better lit.

It's tempting to post it on one of the conspiracy type sites as a joke, but I don't think I will. There is no limit to human stupidity, and I don't want anything like this to happen.