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

I also loved V for Vendetta. I left the theater feeling like I ought to go and overthrow something.

You revolutionary you...

Reminds me of Newton's first law of politics.. For every activist, there is an equal and opposit reactionary.

My approach is that I'll use anything that works to help my patients get better, but as a doctor I have a duty to not waste patients' time and taxpayers' money on something that's unlikely to work.

A double blind randomised controlled trial may be the ideal way to actually assess whether or not a treatment works, but it doesn't mean that there aren't other ways when it isn't possible. A trial could compare massage + analgesia to analgesia alone, or analgesia physiotherapy. If you can't do a double blind trial then a single blind trial is the next best thing - if you can't do single blind then at least an open trial is better than nothing at all.

Both physiotherapy and touch would make the patients believe that they were having 'something special' so hopefully would create the same placebo resoponse.

I agree that massage may be more effective than surgery in relieving aches and pains - and surgery will do little to relieve muscle spasm.

As for the 'sore throat' issue kelli - even if you did have tonsilitis if you had gone to the doctor earlier they may well have just said to come back if it's worse!

You'll never belive the amount of debate in the learned journals of general practice about a sore throat. I'd say give it about 3-4 days if it's not *started to get better* then see a .

Which is why I want to do HIV medicine - a sore throat any be any number of exciting things if someone's HIV positive!

Dr A, HIV medicine is such a challenging field. Good luck with that. You medicos have such an interesting view on what is exciting. . .

Now, if we could just figure out the placebo effect completely and harness it.

I haven't V for Vendetta yet, I will soon own it though.

*snaggles a mufflewhump*

Sorry, quick visit. Trying to keep up with the frontlog while sinking in the backlog. I'll have it licked by the weekend.

*waves at new people, especially Amy P and paper baby (toddler? Heck, by the time I surface the kid'll be married!)*

Frontlog, is that what happens when you post in L-Space?

* stumbles over the backlog *

I even skim read most of it as well!


I'm currently struggling with the old work/life balance at the moment. Going from the occasional bit of consultancy work but mostly sitting on my arse having a good time, to 60 hours per week including the commute is doing my head in. Plus having an office heated up as high as 34C - no aircon in the NHS - didn't help matters.

Oh and then there was that really hot day when the boss said that given the heat we didn't have to wear ties in the office, provided that we weren't meeting with staff from outside or with the public. Mmm... thanks.

I've also got a knackered PC at the moment. I think I will be asking some of the more knowledgable salonistas how I go about removing a hard drive with a non-responsive version of Windows XP on it and inserting it as a second drive in another PC to try to recover the data that's on it. The PC World tech guys (at 75p per minute) said I could launch a recovery utility that would return the machine back to the factory settings, but that that would trash everything that I'd done with the PC for the last 2 years. ie not helpful advice.

Finally to prove that I have read some of what has gone before:

- I'm not pregnant.

- Kelli, the job situation sounds vile. My advice would be to sound out the services of a good employment lawyer just in case youe employer decides to do you over (some more) whilst you're on maternity leave. LHG of this parish knows some, or knows of someone who knows some I believe.

- I've never knowingly been bitten by a mosquito in my whole life



Now where's that dang cattle prod. I've earn't this time around

Oh, and if you want to find Demon Drawer: he's most often found hanging around in Ormy's 'Virtual Supporters Club', and other football related venues on h2g2

*A Mammoth lumbers into the salon, managing only to crete a small dent in the door*.

*Mammoth is feeling grateful that it's not as hot as it was because it's difficult being Woolly in the heat, no Air Con on on the tundra either*.

*Peers at Greensleves in a concerned manner and attempts to wake her up by gently spraying water over her with trunk*

*gives up and uses gin instead*

Hello GD and Wooly,
this has been an OK, but slightly bizzar day. I had intended just to go for a short cycle ride but ended nearer to my mother's house than expected, surprisingly she was in, along with friend she lives with, he is around her age 80.
My dad died around 10 years ago and although I rarely visit my mother, it is strange to see this man in my dad's old chair. It doesn't help that he is the sort of person who would irritate me anyway, a dithery, and talks nonesense sometimes.
.
While there, I recovered the last of my mainly 10x8 inch black and white prints from loft. What was strange was looking at the contact sheets of rare photos of me, particularly of that age around 20 years old , I had long hair and think these are the only photos of me in existance from around that time. I checked and left all the black and white negatives there as strangely they seem unafected by being in a loft for around 30 years going from what must be -15c to recently around +40c in that hot loft. They seemed to be mould free which is really surprising as coloured slides I had had become mould affected.
I did find a photo from where I worked about 15 years ago which I had forgotton about, it felt strange to remember all the people I knew then!.
Also I have sudenly realised that some of the prints are a record of local events as a by product from being photos of interest to me, these were all from around 30 years ago, some are of fireman fighting a fire, the flooded local field frozen with kids using milk crates to shoot across it, and high tide on river flooding cars, etc. The clothing is revealing as although people don't all have long hair, there is a lot of longer haircuts, and only one crop on a skinhead bizzarly selling balloons, he has Dr Martin boots and what looks like green Stay Pressed trousers, which were worn a lot then..
What is strange is after I used to use black and white prints I used to use coloured slides and some of them are better than expected. Possibly I used slides up to the recent 10 year gap I had where I took not a single photograph as a little bored with photography. I think that is why they are better than expected as comparatively fairly recent. There are things that I am doing now which I thought are new ideas but I seem to have done them before and forgotton about them.

Darn, missed a chance to an ...

PaperBaby's 3 now, so I suppose to be current, she should be renamed PaperPreschooler, but that's not going to happen Afraid she's not going to show up here--insects terrify her (well, except for 'pretty' ones like ladybugs, dragonflies and butterflies). Seriously--she screams if there's a fruit fly near her!

*wearing assorted camp clothes including a bandana, a neckerchief, and a striped apron, and looking rather tanned and windblown*

Popped home from camp for my sister's wedding rehearsal tonight, just thought I'd nip in and say hello. Very exciting camp so far, and we've had all the weather the British Isles can provide with the exception of snow, but the catering has been a triumph. An awful lot of wasps this year - the waspiest camp I can remember for years - but they are very small, and I have caught lots and lots in my improvised wasp trap .

Anyway, hope all is well, I'll read the blog when I'm properly back (which, what with the wedding, won't be until next week some time) because I have to go to bed right now this instant in order to be up at the crack of dawn to drive back to the site to cook everybody breakfast

Mol

One of the researchers who uses the Library of Doom is investigating the placebo effect, but has already moved into realms where I don't even understand the titles of the articles she's ordering.

*perches on the mammoth's head*

Welcome back GD!

I've managed to ensure good grades in most of my classes, let's see if I can salvage this programming grade. It's gonna take a lot of work at soething I don't understand very well.

/* Surfaces momentarily from the bubbling, boiling, churning, swirling, overpowering backlog, just long enough to mix metaphors and leave a calling card, only to disappear back into the mist. */
[d'E]
[]

> Water, water, water. Seems like there is lots of rain all over the place now.

Yup. Except here in North Texas. Water doesn't like us, and keeps swirling around this high-pressure thing we've got going on and depositing it in areas which already have plenty of water. We need a Rain God. Or even a Drizzle God, that would be fine too.

Haven't seen V for Vendetta yet either, but it looked good - I'll get to it in rental. Same with Ultraviolet. Just saw Superman Returns, which I really liked. Gentle homage to Christopher Reeve's performance, as well as breaking new ground in the kind of story being told. Christopher Reeve was always a bit comic, moping around after Lois Lane while being Superman in disguise. Brandon Routh is more morose, which I like. Gives him a bit more character.

Also saw High Tension, which is a low-budget horror thriller with a bit of a twist. Lots of blood, gore, violence. I find that if it's fictional violence I have no problem with it. It's the real violence I can't watch.

I feel like I must have cross-threaded my neck when I was screwing my head on this morning. The day has been a few degrees off true. Yesterday was like that too - couldn't seem to do anything right, and couldn't even sing properly last night at the jam session at the pub.

I did have the best laugh I'd had in years... One of the regulars decided to pick up a guitar and play a song for us. Fortunately, his back was turned to me, so that when I started laughing hysterically (silently) he couldn't see my expression. My ribs were hurting, my eyes were streaming tears, and I had my hand clamped over my mouth so I wouldn't guffaw and hurt his feelings. At one point I had to duck under the bar to hide my face. My goodness. Normally I would roll my eyes up and endure, but it was so godawfully BAD that I couldn't help but laugh. But I had to do it quietly! That was the hard part. I would have been horrified if he had known how amused I was.

R. had it even tougher than I - he was in plain sight of the guy, so had to keep a straight face while watching me laugh in the corner. I asked him how he managed - he said "Smiling represses the gag reflex."

Good night all.

[Sol]

Morning,

Looks sideways at Owl perched on my Wooly Mammoth spot, hurumph, glides away in high dudgeon.