h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Sarkozy and the Simpsons? Ask and ye shall receive:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBrYOTR9ZNI

>Wooo! Points.<


See not all spit and vinegar?

Be bold and Interesting.

What were they doing to people in the 1920s?

Be bald and interesting, said Jean-Luc Picard.

Medical experiments: surgery, transplants, new medications? Or they were testing the sort of substances which are nowadays prohibited in sports (like EPO)?

+3 for transplants.

Ah, and they were observing the effect of transplants on prosoner's sportive performances?

What was quite unusual (and therefore Quite Interesting) about the 50 yard dash at the 1923 annual Thanksgiving Track and Field Tournament at San Quentin Maximum Security Prison?


johnny cash wrote a song about it and it is only available on his film 'live from san quentin'

Were they offering reduced sentences for kidneys, one year for each donation, Charlie Greenhalgh, AKA "the New York Hustle" got three years remission for his kidneys.

Well a captive audience and a regulated diet did offer an excellent controlled environment for some applied theory.

The purpose of the 50 yard dash wasn't to observe them though.... remember who was competing?

I believe they were offered inducements for taking part in the program. Remember this is long before the geneva conventions or obviously the Nuremberg edicts about informed consent and mal-treatment of prisoners.

One the whole though, I repeat this wasn't so much a series of abuses but something deemed to be positive and improving.

And it wasn't just prisoners, the wealthy and the good of Europe were queuing up for this

San Quentin gets a nod for being something of a test bed for a variation on a theme.

If Charlie Greenhalgh, AKA "the New York Hustle" got three years for his kidneys (plural) he'd have gotten a lot less than 3 years....)

They were transplanting animal muscles into people?

When was Dr Moreau's Island written?

They say that actress Sarah Bernhardt wanted to get an panther's tail

were they being used as a control group in drug testing???

Johnny Cash wasn't born until 1932.

Some people do have three kidneys. It's not very common, but is generally harmless

>They were transplanting animal muscles into people?<

No but your right to think about supply and demand issues and certainly animals were used (preferably) in many quarters but not in San Quentin.

>they being used as a control group in drug testing<

Actually, a Control Group would have been *really* useful.

diabetic .......pig insulin......????

Ah, they were giving organs to other people, either who needed them (and could afford them), or just for the progress of science? In exchange they would get incentives, like, eeer.... Less prison time, or better conditions, or a headstart in the annual thanksgiving 50m run?

I suppose someone's got to mention testicles at some point...

"If Charlie Greenhalgh, AKA "the New York Hustle" got three years for his kidneys (plural) he'd have gotten a lot less than 3 years....)"

He lived for another 20 years.....that's why he was rightly regarded as the greatest con man of his generation