Here’s a short story about the evolution of modern science: we used to understand very little about the world, and lacked the means to understand it. But we wanted to know how it worked, and we invented things like gods and demons to explain phenomena. As we gradually learned more and more about the way […]
Category: WTF?
Ooooh, Matron!
Right: so I understand that hospitals sometimes feel the need to raise revenue, and I understand the idea that resources shouldn’t be left idle – an unused ward represents wasted money. I also fully understand that hospital wards have provided a rich source of smut over the years, some of which has been almost entertaining. […]
On the subject of Mephedrone…
I think that it’s worth pointing out that the way the media have handled mephedrone has been generally pathetic. This is not wholly a surprise, because the way the media handle any drugs story tends towards the pathetic. […]
Funeral Expenses? I’m Going to be Pickled!
Since we’re technically still in the holiday period, have a bit more silliness. This concerns a scheme that is a supposed to disincentivise drink-driving. A funeral home in Rome, Georgia, is offering… Oh, what the hell. I’ll let the local paper, the Rome News-Tribune, tell the story: Between now and noon on Thursday, drivers can […]
Should Patients be obliged to participate in research?
Is the heading of this article in the BBC news today. The article argues that too few patients are volunteering to participate in a particular research trial. […]
In Defence of Ethicists (Or: Dr No’s no-no)
If you look at the comments thread in the post about Kerrie Wooltorton, you’ll see that there’s been an interesting debate between me and someone who calls himself “Dr No”. I don’t think that No and I will ever see eye-to-eye on quite a lot of stuff, but, then again, I don’t see eye-to-eye on […]
AIDS=Nazism?
This is a very strange story that’s been picked up by the Daily Telegraph: a German Aids charity has been attacked for launching an advertising campaign – and a pretty sexually explicit one at that – in which people who spread HIV are presented as Hitler. I’m not sure whether the target is people who […]
Oooops!
You may have heard last week about the Microsoft advert running in Poland that had been… um… how can I put it?… ethnically re-envisioned (and badly, too: even I could Photoshop an image more convincingly, and I’m like a blind monkey with scissors). And Ford got into trouble a few years ago for doing something similar. […]
That’s it. Western Civilisation is Over.
You can now buy low calorie water. What? You think that there’s more to say? […]
The Vagina is Full of AIDS!
I’ve just been pointed in the direction of this YouTube gem, which ostensibly demonstrates why condoms don’t offer protection against Aids. It’s a little experiment involving a glass, a tea-strainer, and some out-of-date soya milk. The rest you can work out for yourselves. It has to be a piss-take, doesn’t it? (Actually, I’m not so sure. […]