an exercise in percussive maintenance
Tag: medicine
Warning: I strongly advise sensitive readers to skip this one.
South Africa has always been considered a world leader in transplant surgery, ever since Doctor Christiaan Barnard performed the world’s first successful heart transplant in the Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town in 1967. Apparently we’ve made history in this field once again…
This is not what I had planned for today. But I needed to vent. In fact, I needed to vent last night but didn’t feel like powering up the computer at 11pm for a rant.
I finally finished Inferno last night. That in itself is reason to rant, but the full review is on its way. However, on the tedious slog to the finish line I came across a sentence that quite literally made me cringe.
On page 434 of the hardcover edition Mr Brown uses this sentence: “And the HIV virus attacked the immune system, causing the disease AIDS.”
In South Africa HIV and AIDS is a pretty big issue, with about a third of the population infected and more than two thirds affected. In the people-oriented professions like social work, counselling, teaching, community development and the medical professions it is something we have to deal with every day. Consequently, during my studies the facts about this condition was thoroughly drilled into my mind (and I’m reading a book about it again for my Master’s) and I get quite riled up if people spout a bunch of nonsense about it. Continue reading “On getting the facts right”
I don’t know if you’ve heard the news yet? Human head transplants are now possible. Now you can finally get the body you want with just one simple procedure. This will completely revolutionise life as we know it.
Hang on. Did I click on The Sun by mistake? Nope. It’s The Telegraph. That’s a reputable paper, isn’t it?
Some crazy real-life Dr. Frankenstein believes it can be done. We now finally have the technology.
if all else fails...use a hammer 