Songs that cure dry socket?

Urban Legend ER

Couldn't resist

This Onion clip which fit so well with recent posts about research and IBS-D.

'Cosmopolitan' Institute Completes Decades-Long Study On How To Please Your Man

Wanda Sykes on paying for meds

Required reading

I just found a great site, linked in Dinosaur's blog. It's called "Multiple Sclerosis Sucks". The writing is honest, informative, and entertaining. I liked the pages How a Scientist Thinks, Statistics, and You Be the Research Scientist so much that I may suggest them for my upcoming research method course.

On this site, you can find affirmations of the following sort:
When life gives you lemons, find somebody you despise and squirt them in the eye.

As if this weren't enough to endear the author to me for his ability to pull together exactly the right words, I soon found a page called The Semiotics of Chronic Illness. Here's how it starts.
Semiotics is a subdiscipline of linguistics devoted to the study of how we communicate both verbally and nonverbally using signs and symbols. Being chronically ill is something you can choose not to talk about, but even if you don't talk about it you will inevitably end up revealing your chronic illness through body language, gesture, and facial expression. You're going to constantly be sending out signals whether you want to or not.

Go check it out and enjoy.

"the lady with the f---ing lamp"

From Big Train

Haiku

For reasons irrelevant to the nature of this blog, the topic of Haiku came up recently. A search online for more info on it has revealed two fun things.

One is this site, which is nice and has information on teaching and writing haiku.

The other was mention of random haiku generators such as this one. In playing with the haiku generator I discovered the option to change the vocabulary list it draws on. "Golf" vocabulary was an option. To my disappointment, medicine and health were not categories, nor does it seem they are in other generators I found. I think I might have a christmas project.

Until then, here's a hand made health haiku, a coda for the extra long ragweed season which has managed to overlap with the post-thanksgiving-travel cold going around at work.

Allergy or cold
Kleenex hide     cough drops
No. Empty foil packs

a rare heart condition

Matrix 101: The Medical School

I always love a good Matrix parody, and since I just heard a friend is contemplating going to med school after he finishes his PhD, this seemed topical.

I feel...

Not so great at the moment. I've got a substantive post in the works, but for now we'll just go with a fun YouTube.

They say laughter is the best medicine, right?

"you can tell me"

my new favorite t-shirt

I had been thinking of making one myself. Tonight I did a quick search and found the folks at the California Lyme Disease Association have gone and done it for me. I hope they don't mind my uploading a picture of their "Ticks Suck" t-shirt.



















How great is that? I'll tell ya how great. It's super great with great big sprinkles on top. I love creative education/awareness tools. I still have a PSA in the works for my local radio station (hoping to find someone to do a spanish version too), and now I'm planning on getting me one of these snappy t-shirts as well. And maybe some as Christmas presents for a few of the many folks I know who have or had Lyme.

Oh yeah, and one for my advisor, who has had to live with MY Lyme Disease and the effects of it on my progress as her PhD student. I went from having two very productive years which resulted in contributing to 3 publications, and now I'm barely inching my way towards a dissertation proposal draft.

Brian Regan on patient education

"At least I'm not naked"

Ever wonder what your patients are doing in there?