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.

ORMUS scam again

A week or so ago I posted on a newish scam where plain silica is being sold as ORME, the elixir of life. The synthetic process for this is quite simple. The modern day alchemist takes a quantity of Dead Sea salt, which is 20% silica. This is not soluble in water but can be dissolved in alakali. The alchemist dissolves his salt in Sodium Hydroxide, otherwise known as caustic soda. Neutralising the pH of this solution, by the addition of acid, will cause the silica to precipitate out as a white gel. This gel is what is sold as ORME, having magically acquired gold in the process, and in a "high spin state" too.
Now any GCSE chemistry student knows about titration. Ensuring that the amount of acid is exactly right to neutralise the alkali without leaving a surplus of either the acid or the alkali.
But lets remember that the people making this stuff are not exactly Nobel prize winning scientists. They're odd little gnomes who believe in transmutation and other pseudoscience, who've made the stuff in their kitchen, as if they were making fudge. The likelihood that these loons are going to be able even to understand, let alone perform, proper titration is pretty unlikely.
So if you buy ORME from one of these airheads bear in mind that it could well still be contaminated with Caustic Soda, or battery acid, neither of which you really want to be gambling with ingesting.

Humbug?

Happy Yuletide.

Nothing new

There's a line in the film "Blazing Saddles" from the superb, but sadly late Slim Pickens. The line is "What'll that asshole think of next"

The line sums up our less than illustrious health minister Jeremy Hunt. So what has he thought of as his next big idea?
Well apparently he has decided that every hospital patient should have a doctor who is ultimately responsible for all aspects of that patient's care. Someone with whom the buck stops. And that doctor's name would be displayed at the top of the patient's bed.
What a fab idea! Why has no-one thought of this before? Oh wait! Correct me if I'm wrong but hasn't the NHS already been doing that since 1948? I think what he's talking about is known as a "Consultant"

What a completely utterly ignorant useless fucking twat!!!!!!

Happy Christmas

The perfect message for all those working in the beleaguered NHS.