Cacoethes Cognitum

The Sartorius Muscle

2011-12-12T20:26:00.002-06:00

The other night I awakened with severe muscle pain(cramp) in my leg. As usual I got up to stretch by walking around. This time no improvement. It hurt so bad I thought I was going to vomit. The next morning I decided it was my sartorius. Located in the medial thigh, the Taylor's muscle responds to sitting cross legged or putting your foot on your opposite knee and pressing the knee toward the floor. This is the longest muscle of the body and crosses 2 joints(hip and knee). Hope you never have a sartorius spasm but if you do now you know how to treat it.

Trich or Treat

2011-10-31T05:31:00.000-05:00

A Funny Japanese Commercial

2011-10-01T06:00:00.003-05:00

Pretty funny for an antihypertensive.

Black and White Insect

2011-09-04T17:29:00.001-05:00

I found this interesting insect in my yard today. I can not identify it.

Photo Quiz: A Human Parasite

2011-08-18T17:33:00.003-05:00

Here is an easy one for you. This is a picture of a small part of a human parasite I took with a Celestron LCD Digital Microscope.
What is it?

Derm Photo Quiz: An Interesting Rash

2011-08-16T09:43:00.005-05:00

This case involves a 67 year old, diabetic man who has taken no medications for the last 4 years except for a daily aspirin. He presented to my clinic for the first time in over four years with a 2 week history of a rash that started on his right arm as seen below. His left arm had a similar appearance.
The rash then spread to the rest of the right arm and all extremities. The rash was initially pruritic but by the time of the visit the itching had resolved. He denied any recent OTC medication use except for the daily aspirin. He denied any new or unusual foods or contacts. He was feeling well. He denied fever, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain or headache. He denied any recent tick bites or possible exposure to ticks. His trunk showed no lesions but his legs were affected as seen below.

Lab work revealed: glucose 281, creatinine 0.9, sodium 134, total bilirubin 1.50, direct bilirubin 0.30 (both slightly elevated), AST 42, ALT 72, CRP 0.2, WBC 4,800 a with normal differential, platlets 92,000. He was seen by a dermatologist that day, and given a provisional diagnosis. A biopsy was done which confirmed the diagnosis. What was the diagnosis?

Giant Sunflower

2011-07-29T19:24:00.004-05:00

This is a picture of a giant sunflower that my mother sent me. She has several sunflowers next to it that she planted from the same pack of seeds but this one is 2-3 times taller than all the rest. I guess it is just a different variety that got mixed in. Judging from a picture that I have of my wife standing next to it, I estimate that it is about 13-14 feet. By the time I saw it in person it began to droop with the weight of the mature seeds. Believe it or not this is nowhere near the world record, which the latest I could find was in 2004 from the netherlands standing almost 25 and a half feet tall.

Real COLOR TV in Chi-town

2011-06-20T06:38:00.002-05:00

Took this picture in Chicago. I thought it was interesting with the shadow and a throw back to the 1950s when COLOR
TV was rare.

Deer Ticks

2011-06-08T20:32:00.002-05:00

As I was looking at a deer in my yard this afternoon, I noticed something on both of the doe's ears. It looked like ticks to me and after searching the web I found pictures of ticks on deer ears. The explanation is that the ear is the most difficult part of the deer to remove ticks by scratching. This obviously is true for dogs also(have pick many ticks off and around my dogs' ears). I don't think these ticks carry Lyme disease in our locale. I hope I am right or I may have a red halo around my next tick bite.

2011-05-03T22:05:00.000-05:00

Now with one hand!

2011-05-03T22:01:00.001-05:00

Here is the "original" photo that no one has ever thought of before!

Stereographic Projection

2011-03-19T15:30:00.003-05:00

Here are some beautiful photos that are examples of stereographic projection.

The Next Day

2011-03-04T19:44:00.003-06:00

Remember we were in Honduras and leaving this area the next day. We had various concerns: ? necrosis of distal finger tips, possible compartment type syndrome of the hand due to obvious swelling and severe pain, secondary bacterial infection, or possible autoimmune problems.

We had limited medications but did give 1 gram of Rocephin, 40mg of prednisone , 20mg of tramadol q 6 hrs for pain. The morning before we left we got to see our patient before getting on our school bus to leave. She was much better, smiling , happy , and obviously better. This is the photo at that time. It may not look very different and doesn't to me now, but the patient looked much better.

What can we credit with the improvement? Antibiotics, steroids, analgesics ?? I am not sure but I think the steroids probably helped the most.

Red Snow Moon Over Edmonton

2011-02-28T05:08:00.001-06:00

Please look at this Astronomy Picture of the Day for a great photo!

Hand Lesions

2011-02-28T04:58:00.003-06:00

This female patient was seen in Honduras on our recent trip. She had these painful lesions for 23 days and was in severe pain with her entire hand. Look closely at the photo and you can come up with the diagnosis, which is not the hard part the treatment was what was perplexing!

Blue-Red glasses

2011-02-13T04:55:00.002-06:00

I bought blue-red glasses a couple of years ago (not the cardboard type) to use with things on the net that were in 3-D. This morning after watching Astronomy Picture of the day(by the way what happened to our link from CC?), I noticed that after taking the glasses off and covering one eye --right eye / blue lens that the picture was bluer and then covering left eye/ red lens the picture was more yellow. At first I thought old man cataracts, etc. but in just a minute this color change disappeared. I'm sure there is an explanation that involves cones and transient imaging or something, but I thought it was interesting. Try it!

don't look at this yet!

2010-12-21T14:20:00.000-06:00

http://www.chestnet.org/accp/pccsu/new-classification-pleural-effusions-after-cabg-surgery?page=0%2C3

what's wrong here?

2010-12-19T17:21:00.002-06:00

This x-ray has been everywhere to get here so sorry for the poor image. I gave you this view because it shows the problem and the cross sections would require multiple views.

This patient had a chest surgery about two months prior to this CT. He was sob but not severe. He complained of abdomen fullness which I ignored.

What surgery did he have?
What part of that surgery caused the finding on CT?
What was done to relieve his symptoms?

A question: what caused the "artifact"?

2010-12-17T10:17:00.000-06:00

A "Translucent Leaf"

2010-11-19T20:05:00.002-06:00

I took this photo today while walking around our pond, the light was literally coming through the leaf!

2010-11-07T11:33:00.002-06:00

Tavern on the Green is no more. I have eaten there 3 times in my life each time was a magical experience.
Now it is a food court!
Sorry I didn't get a vote. NYC will never be the same for us tourists.

Purple Hyacinth Vine or Hyacinth Bean Vine

2010-10-23T14:25:00.004-05:00

Several years ago while walking in the neighborhood I found this vine. I purloined a few seeds and the next spring planted some in my yard. For several years(sometimes skipping a year) I would plant the seeds and always a beautiful vine. The color that interests me is purple and in the photo I tried to show purple flowers, purple seed pods, and purple veins in the leaves. The seeds even have a little purple when they first come out of the pod. This vine was one of Thomas Jefferson's favorites. The seeds are poisonous until cooked, edible but not so good.

Skin Hyperpigmentation after Cryotherapy for Wart Removal

2010-09-11T06:34:00.006-05:00

A few years ago I performed cryotherapy on a teenager to remove some warts on his knees and elbows. A several days later I got a call from his mother because of darkening of the skin around the areas that I froze.

There were even some patches near but not connected to the areas that I froze.

This was the first time I had seen this complication, but I explained to the mother that this is something that can happen with cryotherapy. It usually only lasts a few months but can last longer. I am not exactly sure how long it lasted in this case but it wasn't very long. I have seen this young man many times since then and it was never an issue again. I spoke with my fellow blogger Joe about this and he told me to have the patient use sunscreen over the areas (right Joe?) when out it the sun, which I did do. I haven't really been able to find any literature that supports that practice but it is something to try.

a case of the red ass

2010-08-13T20:17:00.000-05:00

"My butt don't feel so good"

Bleeding Scrotum

2010-07-10T05:50:00.002-05:00

One of our most searched medical problem ---bleeding scrotum---aka angiokeratomas of Fordyce
came up in report the other day. There were lots of tee-hees and quizzical looks when this dx was introduced to some naive learners.
It still remains very much an unknown while very common, guess most people don't look at scroti even their own.
As we were discussing this common problem another learner related a case of a bleeding scrotum where a wife decided to "pick one of these" mistakenly thinking it needed picked---you guessed it--a bleeding scrotum.
We probably should go on CNN and alert wives to not do this. Oh what the yeah, if they Google before may they won't stick a sewing needle into an obvious vascular lesion. Or at least after they have attacked the benign lesion they can find out where they went wrong and apply pressure for 5 minutes.

Stalin after

2010-07-05T17:36:00.001-05:00

Recent removal of Joseph Stalin in Gorgi, Georgia. Maybe the last statue of Stalin on earth.

Stalin before

2010-07-05T17:32:00.002-05:00

AMAZON

2010-06-25T08:48:00.002-05:00

Learned the history of this word from "The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest". I am enjoying this final book of the trilogy and am disappointed that the author died.

Word History : In classical legend the Amazons were a tribe of warrior women. Their name is supposedly derived from Greek a-mazos, "without a breast," because according to the legend they cut off their right breasts so as to be better able to shoot with a bow and arrow. This folk etymology, like most folk etymologies, is incorrect, but the Amazons of legend are not so completely different from the historical Amazons, who were also warriors. The historical Amazons were Scythians, an Iranian people renowned for their cavalry. The first Greeks to come into contact with the Iranians were the Ionians, who lived on the coast of Asia Minor and were constantly threatened by the Persians, the most important of the Iranian peoples. Amazōn is the Ionian Greek form of the Iranian word ha-mazan, "fighting together." The regular Greek form would be hamazōn, but because the Ionians dropped their aitches like Cockneys, hamazōn became amazōn, the form taken into the other Greek dialects.

couvade

2010-06-20T05:46:00.001-05:00

New favorite word, might be a good idea (suggestion for some fathers on the 5th floor).

Interesting building from La Citadelle de Quebec

2010-06-19T09:42:00.004-05:00

The Citadelle de Quebec is a military base on the highest point of Quebec. French, English and now Canadian forces have occupied this land. The building is on the grounds of the fort.

This building has no direct military use. I ask you to tell me what use it has from the design and clues:
1. a book we both read about a year ago
2. the book was about an English man.
3. the St. Lawrence River is in view of this building.
4. the metal "ball" is a key

Chilaiditi's Syndrome

2010-06-18T09:11:00.003-05:00

Old Chilaiditi's resurfaced recently. Got a text from Daniel and he made the dx and had to "teach the radiologist" about the sign and syndrome. We are good for some things in addition to being eristic.

A Human Brain in God's Neck?

2010-06-17T20:32:00.003-05:00

Telegraph.co.uk reports that Michaelangelo may have concealed anatomical drawings in his paintings in the Sistine Chappel. I want to believe, and I certainly believe that he was capable, but I am not convinced......... I don't know...... why not? He was a genius, thats nothing compared to some of the feats of Leonardo da Vinci.

beans and frank

2010-06-17T19:54:00.000-05:00

you mean this one?

Even the Lions love the BlackHawks

2010-06-15T21:52:00.002-05:00

Chitown arts love the Hawks !!!!

Hawks everywhere in Chitown

2010-06-14T07:23:00.002-05:00

Chicago is gaga over winning the Stanley Cup but who can blame them.
Was at the Cubs/Sox game last night and the Blackhawk team was there with the Cup....one wild crowd!

Two Women Kiss Cup

2010-06-14T07:11:00.003-05:00

Everyone in Chi-town is kissing the cup(Stanley) ! Not real sanitary but since it was 49 yrs since the Hawks won the cup I guess everyone will slobber on it!

Red Maple

2010-05-31T11:59:00.002-05:00

This red maple in my yard is at least 50 years old. The reason to post it is, the most beautiful year ever. The variations of color as the light changes throughout the day are amazing. Come early come late. My camera doesn't begin to show all the colors.

My Recent Book Recommendations

2010-05-24T19:31:00.000-05:00

I have been through several books recently that I haven't mentioned yet, so here is list of my recent books that I have listened to with comments. They are listed in descending order of my strength of recommendation.

Highly recommended:
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot - This was an excellent book about the woman who unknowingly provided the immortal HeLa Cells while she was being futily treated for an aggressive cervical cancer.

The Family That Couldn't Sleep: A Medical Mystery, by D. T. Max - Its a terrific presentation of the history of research in the bizarre world of prion diseases including Fatal Familial Insomnia, Mad Cow Disease, Scrapie, Chronic Wasting Disease, CJD, Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker Disease and the famous Kuru. The book gives a lot of background historical information and personal history of the researchers and victims involved.

Moderately Recommended:
iWoz, by Steve Wozniak and Gina Smith - A great history of the development of the personal computer from the man himself. It was fun hearing how this history fit in with my vague memories of the coming of personal computing and my family's disastrous purchase of a 56k TRS 80 from Radio Shack.

Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science, by Atul Gawande - There were some good medical lessons which most physicians can find some way to relate to. He also wrote the book Better: A Surgeons Notes on Performance, which I think was a little better. I didn't realize at the time that I was reading them out of order going for the first book second.

Not really recommended, but not a bad way to pass the time:
A Reliable Wife, by Robert Goolrick - A steamy novel about a wealthy man living in Wisconsin who finds a wife by placing an ad in a Chicago newspaper, but she comes to Wisconsin with a plan to kill her soon to be husband. It was a little too rich for my taste but it was okay.

Courage and Consequence, by Karl Rove - The second half was a little better when he started talking things in the past that were a little more familiar to me, but I am not really a politically oriented person so I just didn't love it. I listened to it mostly to satisfy Brad. The book was mainly an elaborate defense of Bush 43. I was persuaded a little but its just not my thing.

dust bunnies, Wikipedia agrees with us.

2010-05-24T10:57:00.000-05:00

Dust bunnies (or dustbunnies) are small clumps of dust that form under furniture and in corners that are not cleaned regularly. They are made of hair, lint, dead skin, spider web, dust, and sometimes light rubbish and debris, and are held together by static electricity and felt-like entanglement.^{[citation needed]} They can house dust mites or other parasites, and can lower the efficiency of dust filters by clogging.^[1] The movement of a single large particle can start the formation of a dust bunny.^[2]

Dust bunnies are harmful to electronics, as they can obstruct air flow through heat sinks, severely raising temperatures and shortening the life of electronic components.^[3]

Dust bunnies have been used as an analogy for the accretion of cosmic matter in planetoids.^[4]^[5]

Dust bunnies have also been known as beggar's velvet,^[6] and slut's wool.[

Some New Artwork

2010-05-24T09:58:00.002-05:00

From my 5 y/o yesterday. Not bad for the decorator turned artist.

cacoepy, new word of the day

2010-05-22T10:06:00.001-05:00

we may be cacoepists

bilateral red painful feet

2010-05-19T06:03:00.000-05:00

Erythromelalgia

2010-05-18T18:11:00.003-05:00

If you Google bilateral red feet, I think you will find several references to this previously unknown (to me) medical condition. If you look at e-medicine (hematology) you can see that this is the most likely diagnosis for the presented problem. Even the young doctor asked "how did you do that?".

I wish that I was as smart as a computer but I am not. But I found out that the answer to almost any thing is within our reach if we have a computer with internet access.

My cases are harder if I don't have the answer on the header.

2010-05-17T20:30:00.000-05:00

there are clues abounding!

Interesting case of red feet

2010-05-15T09:08:00.002-05:00

Yesterday one of the young doctors presented an interesting case to me. It had been presented to several others with no diagnosis.

A 26 year old male had acute onset of severe pain, redness and swelling in both feet several hours before presenting to a local ER. He had a MVA years ago and 12 subsequent surgeries to this leg.
He had no chronic diseases. He is a construction worker and drove a bull dozer all day. His pain was severe requiring multiple doses of narcotics without relief. Both feet were swollen and red with some extension into his lower legs.
Lab --cbc, lytes, cmp, xrays, sed rate all normal with the exception of his LDH which was double the normal value.
Questioned about resources used: "called everyone I could think of , Googled it, searched all my texts and no answer".

What is your differential dx starting with the most likely of course.

The Pothole Killer

2010-05-09T08:31:00.003-05:00

While sorting through my old photos last night, I found this pic and couldn't believe I had forgotten about it. I took it in May 2005 from the train as we came in to New Orleans. There were still plenty of neighborhoods totally trashed by Katrina.

new favorite word--ERISTIC

2010-05-07T07:50:00.000-05:00

eristic

\e-RIS-tik\ , adjective;

Pertaining to controversy or disputation; controversial.

Of argument for the sole purpose of winning, regardless of the reason.

noun:

Argument for the sole purpose of winning, regardless of the reason.

The art of disputation.

2010-04-26T21:39:00.001-05:00

The shagged-headed mushroom from New Hampshire.

Albrecht Dürer's Rhinoceros

2010-03-18T21:05:00.002-05:00

This woodcut was on a recent cover of JAMA. Durer is (as you know) THE most famous woodcut artist of all times. Interesting he never saw a rhino. So the armor plates are not real nor is the "Durer horn" on the back. A rhino did make it to Lisbon in 1515 not seen in Europe since Roman times. It is believable that people supposed that this was a unicorn(the possible sire of the methicorn).

Even though Durer's inaccuracies were obvious his woodcut remained in natural history texts for 200 years.

Drunk History: Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr

2010-03-12T21:21:00.004-06:00

I'm not sure how I came across this video but I did and it is quite funny. There are several in the series and some big stars are featured. For example this video contains Michael Cera of Superbad fame starring as Hamilton. This is a subject we at the CC have discussed in great detail and it serves as an entertaining refresher.

As I mentioned there are several in the series, even one with Jack Black. My second favorite is probably volume 4, William Henry Harrison. Enjoy.

Italian Shoes, do they fit?

2010-02-11T20:10:00.003-06:00

This is the book I won't suggest. Now I have you interested. It is very Swedish and the main character is a physician.

I can remember every detail of this book vividly. Is that a characteristic of a good book? There are several I have no memory of at all.

Now I am reading 4 short stories by Mankell, the verdict is still out.

Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell

2010-02-06T08:26:00.003-06:00

I just finished the book Beat the Reaperby Josh Bazell. Apparently he is a physician and this is his debut novel. I think I downloaded it based on a recommendation from audible.com. The book is relatively short, just over six hours, but it packs a punch. To avoid spoiling the book, I won't tell too much of the story. The protagonist is a medical resident in an internal medicine program in a New York hospital, who got there as a result of his placement in the federal witness protection program due to his involvement with the mob in his earlier life. It is exciting, entertaining and especially poignant for someone who has gone through a medical residency. Even though my training program was not that similar to the hitman doctor's, so much of his experience still rings true. My only minor complaint is that many of the events are way over the top in terms of believability, but I expected that after reading the reviews on Audible. Its kind of like a mix between The Godfather, Rambo and House M.D. There is also a good deal of vulgarity (not a complaint, just a heads up).

VARIED THRUSH IN NE ARKANSAS

2010-01-30T14:18:00.002-06:00

This is a Varied Thrush, not native to Arkansas and according to my bird book, The SIBLEY Guide to Birds, there is no record it even visiting Arkansas.

I have several other photos of this adult male Varied Thrush.

A New Cult Classic: Pants on the Ground by General Larry Platt

2010-01-13T21:52:00.006-06:00

Tonight on American Idol, General Larry Platt unleashed his new hit "Pants on the Ground".

Pants on the ground, pants on the ground, lookin' like a fool with your pants on the ground, with your gold in your mouth, hat turned sideways, pant hit the ground, call yourself a coolcat, lookin' like a fool, walkin' downtown with your pants on the ground, get it up!

So sweet. The great thing to me is that in addition to the song itself just being kind of funny is that on so many levels it reminds me of another cult classic: Cut the Mullet.

THE ZOO KEEPER'S WIFE

2010-01-10T17:42:00.003-06:00

This is the book I am listening to now. I think it is great, I have never heard of the author , but I am her biggest fan now.

She is a poet and her writing reflects it.

It is a narrative, historical story, and I am sure ALL our bloggers will want to listen.

SAVAGE BLISS

2009-12-25T05:47:00.001-06:00

Speaking of things found on bathroom walls!

Makes you wish you had 3 quarters.

2009-12-24T09:16:00.001-06:00

I found this in a bathroom in Atlanta.
I think it bring new meaning to writing on a bathroom wall. And the utility of a suggestion box.

SHORT STORIES BY MURAKAMI

2009-12-24T09:00:00.003-06:00

Who like short stories? I am not a fan. I have several books of short stories, but most remain unread. I think the idea is good but the problem is for me they are too short. Just when I am understanding the people in the story, it is over.

All this to say I am listening to this book, and it contains Murakami in the forward explaining how he views short stories and gives me some insight as to what makes him tick. I think he has a book about his life, etc. and I want to listen to it. I hate to get stuck on one author but I have not been disappointed with any Murakami book yet.

GO EAGELS!

2009-12-19T08:32:00.003-06:00

How do you spell eagles? Maybe this car owner in promoting a shaving cream--EA-GELS, or maybe there is an alternative spelling of eagles.

Or maybe they were so excited they forgot, or maybe they don't know how to spell eagles--probably the same people who cheer for the Kansas City Chefs!

The Galactic Pot Healer

2009-11-06T21:43:00.002-06:00

I just finished "The Galactic Pot Healer". I really liked it. It was incredibly bizarre. While listening, I was struck by a statement - "The child is the father of the man." - and it lit me up for the rest of the day. I hoped that it was an original of Dick's, but I searched it and it's a quote from a poem of a well known individual. Without searching the webs do you know who this came from?

Drunk Man Needs To Be Caged

2009-11-05T05:37:00.001-06:00

Drunk Man Needs To Be Caged

Posted using ShareThis

GIANT FRUIT BAT

2009-10-27T19:55:00.002-05:00

The bat is the only mammal capable of sustained flight.
Happy Hallowen!
This painting was displayed on the current issue of JAMA.

METHRECLUSE is no sub for METHICORN

2009-10-25T18:37:00.004-05:00

The below spider drawing is obviously no where near the legendary METHICORN. The METHICORN was and still the original depiction of a mythical beast that does its deed in the dark of night. This always involves the unsuspecting injection of a substance and following infection at the injection site. My apology to the original author of the METHICORN who called me out in a previous post. He was and is the hero of this blog, even though he posts almost nothing on it.

2009-10-23T10:11:00.003-05:00

Well, this is the first Philip K. Dick book I have read(listened). I know he is kind of one of our heroes.
Remember he had temporal lobe epilepsy. And remember many other prolific artists did/do also.

I had a patient with temporal lobe epilepsy many years ago and it was fascinating to try to take care of him and his problems. He wasn't an artist but very interesting.

The book was good with many philosophic and theological concepts interwoven.

the more things change the more they stay the same

2009-10-21T17:35:00.000-05:00

2009-09-28T16:23:00.000-05:00

An unfortunate but interesting cause for this patient's "back pain".

2009-09-25T20:39:00.003-05:00

This almost anatomically correct bathroom gusset caught my attention recently in Atlanta. It does help distinguish male vs female--- because sometimes the pants and the skirt seem to blend together.

2009-08-04T22:43:00.001-05:00

More red mushrooms!

Red mushroom in Arkansas

2009-08-04T22:37:00.002-05:00

After the wettest month in my memory in Arkansas a proliferation of beautiful red mushrooms in our pond path.

slow down

2009-05-30T14:16:00.000-05:00

can' t trust a turtle, always wantin' to "tailgate"

Transsiberian

2008-12-29T21:24:00.002-06:00

Great thriller, MA and I watched on the internet(Netflicks) and couldn't even get up to get a brew.

Extraordinary sunrise in Fla.

2008-12-27T16:22:00.001-06:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS

2008-12-25T05:05:00.000-06:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS from SANTA!

Batman on the beach

2008-12-17T19:45:00.001-06:00

I didn't do it but stumbled on it on a Fla. beach.

Sam Adams seasonal is great!

2008-12-17T19:26:00.001-06:00

this beer is good and I can't believe you gave it to me with none extracted!

halo nevus, the best photo on the web

2008-12-17T19:24:00.002-06:00

the photo below is the best I have seen on the web!

what's this?

2008-09-25T21:01:00.001-05:00

asymptomatic skin lesion in this 13 year old African-American female.

Skink in the sink

2008-09-13T21:02:00.003-05:00

This skink was found in my sink in the downstairs man's quarter. The other 5-lined skink was on the wall actually a photo from the Ark. Game and Fish calender.

I know there are skink lovers out there.

The Lick Fix - Sweet.

2008-09-04T18:29:00.005-05:00

During the Republican national convention, Piper Palin gives baby brother Trig a spit shine hair-do. Mommy taught her well.

Joseph Stalin statue where is it?

2008-08-16T21:11:00.001-05:00

finally here is the statue.

2008-08-16T19:20:00.000-05:00

Why is there a statue of Joseph Stalin still standing in the Republic of Georgia?

ichneumonidae

2008-08-03T20:34:00.000-05:00

I think you are correct with the type of "wasp" but I can't find anything on the web that has the colors that this interesting insect has.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is LEANING!

2008-08-02T16:14:00.002-05:00

When we were in Pisa the tower was open to climb to the top. What was I thinking? Years of people climbing to the top have worn the steps unevenly, and you can tell that you are climbing a leaning tower and it is very disconcerting. Needless to say I was ready to come down as soon as I reached the top. I tried to warn people waiting in line but they just laughed.

Actor Jack Dickson Dumps a Bucket of Water on a Dead Pig with Maggots

2008-07-25T08:01:00.003-05:00

Its just funny thats all I can say.

Longitude

2008-06-28T08:52:00.002-05:00

I am finishing the short book "Longitude" by Dava Sobel and I think you will find it fascinating. It combines history and science and determination. I highly recommend it. She also wrote "Galileo's Daughter" which I have not read but was recommended by the same friend who gave me the 1st book mentioned. I also have lost the web site address that we both frequent so send it to my e-mail please.

Once

2008-03-20T05:52:00.002-05:00

MA and I enjoyed the movie "Once"-- good music, interesting story and performers.

Quote of the Day on Computers

2008-03-11T20:12:00.003-05:00

I have to pass on this quote from Robert X. Cringley I got from the Quotations Page's, Quotes of the Day: "If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce would today cost $100, get a million miles per gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside." File this under 'its funny because its true'.

reptilian peaceful coexistence

2008-02-12T20:53:00.000-06:00

great movie

2008-02-06T21:57:00.000-06:00

MA and I just finishing watching "After the Wedding". No murders or violence just raw emotions. This Danish film left us wide awake even at 2200.

2008-01-12T08:25:00.000-06:00

Being of the "Boomer Gen" I feel I should know more about the music of the '60s and '70s. I amaze myself when I "discover" a "new" artist. But here it is I discovered Tom Waits on Rhapsody this morning and he is my "new" old favorite of the day.
I read about him on the web and could not understand how I did not know him. When my wife came strolling in for breakfast, I casually ask her if she knew Tom Waits and to my distress--she did. And now she claims she has "heard" of Beefheart.

Well, I guess my ongoing point is that Rhapsody is good and like the web, in general, it "leads" me down new avenues.

Top Reasons Why People Visit Our Blog

2007-12-25T10:12:00.000-06:00

Periodically I will sort through the logs of the our hit counter to see what has brought most of our visitors to this site. Of course there are some direct links from other websites to various posts, but most of our hits come from search engines, mostly Google. Some topics have waxed and waned in their popularity, but 3 entries stand out as the biggest sources of referrals.

1. toddler fever with rash and various combinations - The picture and discussion of my kid with roseola at one year of age from back in October 2005 is the most popular. Judging by the search phrases, these hits mostly seem to come from worried parents of small children with rashes, as one might expect.

2. Scrotal bleeding/my scrotum won't stop bleeding - This subject has generated some of the best search phrases including my all time favorites "scrotums of fury". The cause of these inquiries leading to us stems from an early post by the Flash, Shorned scrotum -- a case study and a follow-up post by me, Causes of Scrotal Bleeding

3. How to shave pubs/why shave pubs? - These phrases get Googlers to our site because of Joe's admonition about pubic hair removal: Don't Shave Your PUBS!! This warning was incited by a recurring theme in our clinical conversations, abscesses/cellulitis/"spider bites". This also brings to mind the wonderful mythical methicorn, which still occasionally brings people our way and is of course a great source of personal pride.

The next few show up on the radar less often but are still worth mentioning.

4. Chiladiti's sign/syndrome - A good case presented by Joe with an excellent x-ray.

5. Pinworm picture/photo - Enterobius vermicularis in vivo.

6. Hypercalcemia/PTH/parathyroid tumor - My post with good pictures. You have to read the comments see that the point of the post is to illustrate the fact that in someone with hypercalcemia, a PTH in the "normal" reference range (especially high normal) doesn't rule out a parathyroid adenoma. When I say read the comments, I mean skip over Joe's initial confounding comments to make sense of this one.

2007-12-25T07:10:00.001-06:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

our raison d'etre

2007-12-18T17:08:00.000-06:00

After reviewing our reason for being, as outlined so succinctly on the initiation of this blog, I feel I need to tout Neil Gaiman. He is one of my near new favorite authors.
American Gods is a great read/listen. Well, he keeps a daily Neil Gaiman's Journal blog and has some interesting things. This is where I found Jason Webley and Thea Gilmore.
Try the 1st haven't spend much time with Thea to be honest.

"Mad German Doctor Guy" Demonstrates Cardiac Electrical Conduction and Arrhythmias

2007-11-27T19:14:00.000-06:00

This is for all of you medical students learning the electrophysiology of the heart and various cardiac arrhythmias. I have no idea where the YouTube user got this video but it is hilarious and somewhat educational. The man in the video (a presumed phsyician or professor) moves his arms to represent the right and left atria and his legs to represent the ventricles. The dance gets better as the heart becomes more troubled. All this to the tune of 'Gonna Make You Sweat' By C+C Music Factory.

From Beck to The Dynamics

2007-11-21T09:43:00.000-06:00

It has been over a year now since I have become a big fan of Beck, who is now one of my favorite artists. This is mostly because of his latest album, The Information, which I purchased from the iTunes store. Just recently, as a result of having made this purchase, the iTunes store recommended an album to me called Give Up by The Postal Service, while I was searching for new music in the electronica genre. I think this is an excellent album, and it really struck a nerve for me when I recognized the intro for the song, Such Great Heights as the music for the UPS Whiteboard Advertising Campaign, which had already caught my attention. After taking a new interest in The Postal Service, I did some research on the band and found that some of their other songs had infiltrated pop culture and several of their songs had been covered by other bands. Due to this finding, I went back to the iTunes store to sample some of their songs as performed by other groups, which is where I found the wonderful A cappella performance of Such Great Heights by The Dynamics. The Dyanamics is an A cappella group at UMASS Amherst and their first studio album is Crescendo. A performance by The Dynamics of Such Great Heights is available on YouTube which I have posted below and is the reason why I started this post in the first place. The video can give you and idea of the talent but it is no comparison to the studio version.

trivia question

2007-11-13T16:55:00.000-06:00

which state flag in the union contains the Union Jack? clue --where have I been for the last week.

coqui frogs

2007-11-11T15:02:00.000-06:00

these frogs are invading Hawaii the treatment for contol is citric acid

Hawaiian spider

2007-11-08T10:23:00.000-06:00

This is a Hawaiian garden spider I saw in Kona. The "gold back" was very impressive. It makes a large X on its web.

thanks

2007-10-26T04:48:00.000-05:00

Thanks for removing the offensive sidebar and replacing it with a sadistic movie trailer.

More Luna Moths

2007-09-08T16:53:00.000-05:00

Here are two luna moths and I don't think they are asleep. We can add this to our collection of insects having sex.
The picture was taken with my new iPhone.
The moth on top was fluttering, thus the blurring.
You will have to use your imagination as to why he/she was fluttering.