mock theory test
2pass.co.uk
general info from the driving standards agency
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Reminder...
Back in the beginning of 2009 was a war crime (a few previous posts on the matter: UK uni occupations, doctors observations).
A link to remind.
A link to remind.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Monday, May 04, 2009
Sunday, April 05, 2009
Tenacity saves a life
Facebook message saves suicidal boy
A suicidal teenager from Oxford has been saved after a friend on the Facebook website living in America alerted police.
The 16-year-old boy had sent a private message to the girl in Maryland stating that he was going to kill himself.
The friend alerted her mother who contacted local police in America who, through the British Embassy in Washington DC, then raised the alarm with the Metropolitan Police. The Met then contacted Thames Valley Police in the early hours of Thursday.
Police staff searched electoral roll websites and found eight potential addresses for the teenager and dispatched officers to each one.
The boy was found alive but suffering from a drugs overdose and was taken by ambulance to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford where he made a full recovery.
Oxfordshire police commander chief superintendent Brendan O'Dowda told the Oxford Mail newspaper: "When it did find its way to Thames Valley Police, it would have been quite easy for any number of people to decide there wasn't enough information.
"But due to the tenacity and professionalism of a number of people, we managed to pin down a number of addresses, then went through the painful and laborious process of visiting the addresses to find the lad.
"It took up time and effort but it was time and effort absolutely well spent."
A suicidal teenager from Oxford has been saved after a friend on the Facebook website living in America alerted police.
The 16-year-old boy had sent a private message to the girl in Maryland stating that he was going to kill himself.
The friend alerted her mother who contacted local police in America who, through the British Embassy in Washington DC, then raised the alarm with the Metropolitan Police. The Met then contacted Thames Valley Police in the early hours of Thursday.
Police staff searched electoral roll websites and found eight potential addresses for the teenager and dispatched officers to each one.
The boy was found alive but suffering from a drugs overdose and was taken by ambulance to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford where he made a full recovery.
Oxfordshire police commander chief superintendent Brendan O'Dowda told the Oxford Mail newspaper: "When it did find its way to Thames Valley Police, it would have been quite easy for any number of people to decide there wasn't enough information.
"But due to the tenacity and professionalism of a number of people, we managed to pin down a number of addresses, then went through the painful and laborious process of visiting the addresses to find the lad.
"It took up time and effort but it was time and effort absolutely well spent."
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
'Norwegian doctors call for investigation into weapons used on Gaza'
Extract from article in British Medical Journal, by Gwladys Fouché
'Israel is testing an "extremely nasty" type of weapon in Gaza, two Norwegian doctors have claimed on returning home on 13 January after spending 10 days working at a hospital in the Palestinian territory.
"There’s a very strong suspicion, I think, that Gaza is now being used as a test laboratory for new weapons," said Mads Gilbert, head of emergency medical services at the University Hospital of North Norway, in Tromsø. He told the BMJ about the injuries that he and his colleague Erik Fosse, head of the interventional centre at Rikshospitalet University Hospital in Oslo, had dealt with at Gaza’s Shifa hospital.
"We have not seen the casualties affected directly by the bomb because they are normally torn to pieces and do not survive, but we have seen a number of very brutal amputations . . . without shrapnel injuries, which we strongly suspect must have been caused by the DIME [dense inert metal explosive] weapon," said Professor Gilbert.
A dense inert metal explosive is an experimental small weapon that detonates with extreme force, dissipating its power in a range of 5-10 metres.
When they explode their effect is devastating, said the doctors. "If you are in the intermediate vicinity of a DIME weapon, it’s like your legs get torn off. It is an enormous pressure wave," said Professor Fosse.
"I have seen and treated a lot of different injuries for the past 30 years in different war zones, and this looks completely different," added the 58 year old who, like Professor Gilbert, is a pro-Palestinian campaigner.
"We are not soft skinned when it comes to war injuries, but these amputations are really extremely nasty and for many of the patients not survivable," said Professor Gilbert.
The professors, who looked gaunt and exhausted after their time in Gaza, did not have figures for the number of patients that they had seen who presented with this type of injury. But Professor Gilbert said that he had seen them before, when he was working in Gaza in July 2006 and again in March 2008.
"Studies done in the United States have proved that if you implant fragments of these weapons on research animals, they develop cancer within four to six months," added the 61 year old, who is also a member of the regional assembly for northern Norway, for the far left Red party.
"Israel should disclose what weapons they use, and the international community should have an investigation," said Professor Gilbert.
Asked whether Israeli forces used DIME weapons, an Israeli army spokeswoman told the AFP news agency that she was "not aware of this type of weapon" and reiterated claims that all arms used by the military comply with international law. '
'Israel is testing an "extremely nasty" type of weapon in Gaza, two Norwegian doctors have claimed on returning home on 13 January after spending 10 days working at a hospital in the Palestinian territory.
"There’s a very strong suspicion, I think, that Gaza is now being used as a test laboratory for new weapons," said Mads Gilbert, head of emergency medical services at the University Hospital of North Norway, in Tromsø. He told the BMJ about the injuries that he and his colleague Erik Fosse, head of the interventional centre at Rikshospitalet University Hospital in Oslo, had dealt with at Gaza’s Shifa hospital.
"We have not seen the casualties affected directly by the bomb because they are normally torn to pieces and do not survive, but we have seen a number of very brutal amputations . . . without shrapnel injuries, which we strongly suspect must have been caused by the DIME [dense inert metal explosive] weapon," said Professor Gilbert.
A dense inert metal explosive is an experimental small weapon that detonates with extreme force, dissipating its power in a range of 5-10 metres.
When they explode their effect is devastating, said the doctors. "If you are in the intermediate vicinity of a DIME weapon, it’s like your legs get torn off. It is an enormous pressure wave," said Professor Fosse.
"I have seen and treated a lot of different injuries for the past 30 years in different war zones, and this looks completely different," added the 58 year old who, like Professor Gilbert, is a pro-Palestinian campaigner.
"We are not soft skinned when it comes to war injuries, but these amputations are really extremely nasty and for many of the patients not survivable," said Professor Gilbert.
The professors, who looked gaunt and exhausted after their time in Gaza, did not have figures for the number of patients that they had seen who presented with this type of injury. But Professor Gilbert said that he had seen them before, when he was working in Gaza in July 2006 and again in March 2008.
"Studies done in the United States have proved that if you implant fragments of these weapons on research animals, they develop cancer within four to six months," added the 61 year old, who is also a member of the regional assembly for northern Norway, for the far left Red party.
"Israel should disclose what weapons they use, and the international community should have an investigation," said Professor Gilbert.
Asked whether Israeli forces used DIME weapons, an Israeli army spokeswoman told the AFP news agency that she was "not aware of this type of weapon" and reiterated claims that all arms used by the military comply with international law. '
Monday, February 02, 2009
Sunday, February 01, 2009
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Friday, January 30, 2009
Friday, January 09, 2009
Ring any bells?
Israeli army 'evacuate' more than 100 Palestinians into a house - then proceeded to bomb it.
Can the situation get any more clear cut?
From the Guardian
In brief
• Four children found in weak state next to the bodies of their mothers and other corpses in house in Zeitoun
• UN suspends all aid work in Gaza after two of its drivers in clearly marked convoy are shot dead
• 35 bodies pulled from rubble in several areas across Gaza City during pause in fighting
• Palestinian death toll now close to 750, with about 3,000 injured
• Red Cross says delays in allowing rescue services access to dead and wounded are unacceptable
• One Israeli soldier killed yesterday, bringing Israeli casualties to 11, including three civilians
• Israeli air strikes destroy houses in Rafah, causing 5,000 Palestinians to flee their homes
Children
and from the independent - Robert Fisk writes (abridged):
'So once again, Israel has opened the gates of hell to the Palestinians. Forty civilian refugees dead in a United Nations school, three more in another. Not bad for a night's work in Gaza by the army that believes in "purity of arms". But why should we be surprised?
Have we forgotten the 17,500 dead – almost all civilians, most of them children and women – in Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon; the 1,700 Palestinian civilian dead in the Sabra-Chatila massacre; the 1996 Qana massacre of 106 Lebanese civilian refugees, more than half of them children, at a UN base; the massacre of the Marwahin refugees who were ordered from their homes by the Israelis in 2006 then slaughtered by an Israeli helicopter crew; the 1,000 dead of that same 2006 bombardment and Lebanese invasion, almost all of them civilians?...
The Sabra and Chatila massacre was committed by Israel's right-wing Lebanese Phalangist allies while Israeli troops, as Israel's own commission of inquiry revealed, watched for 48 hours and did nothing. When Israel was blamed, Menachem Begin's government accused the world of a blood libel. After Israeli artillery had fired shells into the UN base at Qana in 1996, the Israelis claimed that Hizbollah gunmen were also sheltering in the base. It was a lie. The more than 1,000 dead of 2006 – a war started when Hizbollah captured two Israeli soldiers on the border – were simply dismissed as the responsibility of the Hizbollah. Israel claimed the bodies of children killed in a second Qana massacre may have been taken from a graveyard. It was another lie. The Marwahin massacre was never excused. The people of the village were ordered to flee, obeyed Israeli orders and were then attacked by an Israeli gunship. The refugees took their children and stood them around the truck in which they were travelling so that Israeli pilots would see they were innocents. Then the Israeli helicopter mowed them down at close range. Only two survived, by playing dead. Israel didn't even apologise....
And I write the following without the slightest doubt: we'll hear all these scandalous fabrications again. We'll have the Hamas-to-blame lie – heaven knows, there is enough to blame them for without adding this crime – and we may well have the bodies-from-the-cemetery lie and we'll almost certainly have the Hamas-was-in-the-UN-school lie and we will very definitely have the anti-Semitism lie. And our leaders will huff and puff and remind the world that Hamas originally broke the ceasefire. It didn't. Israel broke it, first on 4 November when its bombardment killed six Palestinians in Gaza and again on 17 November when another bombardment killed four more Palestinians.'
Can the situation get any more clear cut?
From the Guardian
In brief
• Four children found in weak state next to the bodies of their mothers and other corpses in house in Zeitoun
• UN suspends all aid work in Gaza after two of its drivers in clearly marked convoy are shot dead
• 35 bodies pulled from rubble in several areas across Gaza City during pause in fighting
• Palestinian death toll now close to 750, with about 3,000 injured
• Red Cross says delays in allowing rescue services access to dead and wounded are unacceptable
• One Israeli soldier killed yesterday, bringing Israeli casualties to 11, including three civilians
• Israeli air strikes destroy houses in Rafah, causing 5,000 Palestinians to flee their homes
Children
and from the independent - Robert Fisk writes (abridged):
'So once again, Israel has opened the gates of hell to the Palestinians. Forty civilian refugees dead in a United Nations school, three more in another. Not bad for a night's work in Gaza by the army that believes in "purity of arms". But why should we be surprised?
Have we forgotten the 17,500 dead – almost all civilians, most of them children and women – in Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon; the 1,700 Palestinian civilian dead in the Sabra-Chatila massacre; the 1996 Qana massacre of 106 Lebanese civilian refugees, more than half of them children, at a UN base; the massacre of the Marwahin refugees who were ordered from their homes by the Israelis in 2006 then slaughtered by an Israeli helicopter crew; the 1,000 dead of that same 2006 bombardment and Lebanese invasion, almost all of them civilians?...
The Sabra and Chatila massacre was committed by Israel's right-wing Lebanese Phalangist allies while Israeli troops, as Israel's own commission of inquiry revealed, watched for 48 hours and did nothing. When Israel was blamed, Menachem Begin's government accused the world of a blood libel. After Israeli artillery had fired shells into the UN base at Qana in 1996, the Israelis claimed that Hizbollah gunmen were also sheltering in the base. It was a lie. The more than 1,000 dead of 2006 – a war started when Hizbollah captured two Israeli soldiers on the border – were simply dismissed as the responsibility of the Hizbollah. Israel claimed the bodies of children killed in a second Qana massacre may have been taken from a graveyard. It was another lie. The Marwahin massacre was never excused. The people of the village were ordered to flee, obeyed Israeli orders and were then attacked by an Israeli gunship. The refugees took their children and stood them around the truck in which they were travelling so that Israeli pilots would see they were innocents. Then the Israeli helicopter mowed them down at close range. Only two survived, by playing dead. Israel didn't even apologise....
And I write the following without the slightest doubt: we'll hear all these scandalous fabrications again. We'll have the Hamas-to-blame lie – heaven knows, there is enough to blame them for without adding this crime – and we may well have the bodies-from-the-cemetery lie and we'll almost certainly have the Hamas-was-in-the-UN-school lie and we will very definitely have the anti-Semitism lie. And our leaders will huff and puff and remind the world that Hamas originally broke the ceasefire. It didn't. Israel broke it, first on 4 November when its bombardment killed six Palestinians in Gaza and again on 17 November when another bombardment killed four more Palestinians.'
Sunday, January 04, 2009
With the birth of 2009 - Gaza
yahoo - including the demo in London, the guardian on the media preparation,
'They targeted a pharmacy. I still can't believe it.'...
"They [Israeli forces] attack everywhere. They have gone crazy. The Gaza Strip is just going to die ... it's going to die. We were sleeping. Suddenly we heard a bomb. We woke up and we didn't know where to go. We couldn't see through the dust. We called to each other. We thought our house had been hit, not the street. What can I say? You saw it with your own eyes. What is our guilt? Are we terrorists? I don't carry a gun, neither does my girl.
"There's no medicine. No drinks, no water, no gas. We are suffering from hunger. They attack us. What does Israel want? Can it be worse than this? I don't think so. Would they accept this for themselves?
"Look at the children. What are they guilty of? They were sleeping at 7am. All the night they didn't sleep. This child was traumatised during the attack. Do they have rockets to attack with?"...
'The Israeli army is destroying the tunnels that go from Rafah into Egypt. For the past year and a half the Israeli government has intensified the economic blockade of Gaza by closing all the border crossings that allow aid and essential supplies to reach Palestinians in Gaza. This forced Palestinians to dig tunnels to Egypt to survive. From our house we can hear the explosions and the house is shaking.At night we can't go out. No one goes out. If you go out you will risk your life. You don't know where the bombs will fall. My mother is so sad. She watches me writing my reports and says: "Fida, will it make any difference?"' - excerpts from gaza diary ,
'And why are they (Israel) not brought to task? The simple fact is that Israel has the most powerful psychological influence to count on – the world's collective guilt over the Holocaust. This means that although the world may sporadically slap Israel's wrists, no one dare go too far, perhaps out of fear of being accused of anti-Semitism or in any way attacking a people who have historically suffered so much. The tragedy is, though, that it is now another people, the Palestinians, who are suffering because of the world's hesitation to offend Israel.'...
'One can only hope that president-elect Obama will bring pressure on Israel to change its policies. But that is not a strong hope. How many more times will the world rub its hands in despair and feebly "call on all parties to show restraint" as our television screens show civilians cowering under bombing raids and hospitals unable to treat the wounded?'
The Independent .
A commentator Mark Steel expressing his clear anger through sarcasm, again in the Independent.
The murder of 5 Palestinian sisters as they slept .
Will no one stop this massacre? Is this not 'ethnic cleansing', but sporadic and over 60 years?
'They targeted a pharmacy. I still can't believe it.'...
"They [Israeli forces] attack everywhere. They have gone crazy. The Gaza Strip is just going to die ... it's going to die. We were sleeping. Suddenly we heard a bomb. We woke up and we didn't know where to go. We couldn't see through the dust. We called to each other. We thought our house had been hit, not the street. What can I say? You saw it with your own eyes. What is our guilt? Are we terrorists? I don't carry a gun, neither does my girl.
"There's no medicine. No drinks, no water, no gas. We are suffering from hunger. They attack us. What does Israel want? Can it be worse than this? I don't think so. Would they accept this for themselves?
"Look at the children. What are they guilty of? They were sleeping at 7am. All the night they didn't sleep. This child was traumatised during the attack. Do they have rockets to attack with?"...
'The Israeli army is destroying the tunnels that go from Rafah into Egypt. For the past year and a half the Israeli government has intensified the economic blockade of Gaza by closing all the border crossings that allow aid and essential supplies to reach Palestinians in Gaza. This forced Palestinians to dig tunnels to Egypt to survive. From our house we can hear the explosions and the house is shaking.At night we can't go out. No one goes out. If you go out you will risk your life. You don't know where the bombs will fall. My mother is so sad. She watches me writing my reports and says: "Fida, will it make any difference?"' - excerpts from gaza diary ,
'And why are they (Israel) not brought to task? The simple fact is that Israel has the most powerful psychological influence to count on – the world's collective guilt over the Holocaust. This means that although the world may sporadically slap Israel's wrists, no one dare go too far, perhaps out of fear of being accused of anti-Semitism or in any way attacking a people who have historically suffered so much. The tragedy is, though, that it is now another people, the Palestinians, who are suffering because of the world's hesitation to offend Israel.'...
'One can only hope that president-elect Obama will bring pressure on Israel to change its policies. But that is not a strong hope. How many more times will the world rub its hands in despair and feebly "call on all parties to show restraint" as our television screens show civilians cowering under bombing raids and hospitals unable to treat the wounded?'
The Independent .
A commentator Mark Steel expressing his clear anger through sarcasm, again in the Independent.
The murder of 5 Palestinian sisters as they slept .
Will no one stop this massacre? Is this not 'ethnic cleansing', but sporadic and over 60 years?
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Free things to do in London
(As time goes on I'll continue to add to this)
Art galleries
Art galleries
- The Wallace collection
- The National gallery
- The national portrait gallery
Museums
- British Museum
- Natural history museum
- Victoria and Albert Museum
- Science Museum
Parks
- Hyde park (including Kensington Gardens)
- Regent's park
- Hampstead Heath
- Green park
Pretty walks
- Above parks (e.g. walking along the Serpentine in Hyde park)
- South bank (start at Waterloo, and carry on until Tower Bridge)
Interesting buildings
- The 4 inns of court (a description)
- Major stations (e.g. King's Cross, St. Pancras)
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Poem: RICH MAN
I saw a Rich Man walking down the street
With a chain across his waistcoat and spats on
his feet,
With silver in his pockets that jingled as he walked,
And a solid gold tooth that gleamed when he talked.
He walked by the girls with their baskets on their
knees
Full of white clove pinks and pink sweet peas
He walked by the flower girls whose baskets smelled
like honey
With his face full of care and his mind full of money.
I saw the Rich Man, he never saw me,
So I see more than the Rich Man can see.
ELEANOR FARJEON
With a chain across his waistcoat and spats on
his feet,
With silver in his pockets that jingled as he walked,
And a solid gold tooth that gleamed when he talked.
He walked by the girls with their baskets on their
knees
Full of white clove pinks and pink sweet peas
He walked by the flower girls whose baskets smelled
like honey
With his face full of care and his mind full of money.
I saw the Rich Man, he never saw me,
So I see more than the Rich Man can see.
ELEANOR FARJEON
Friday, December 05, 2008
interesting travel destinations
ten backpacking destinations
predominantly Muslim places
Muslim China - Ningxia, Gansu, Qinghai, Xinjiang
53 places according to NY times
silk road travel ideas , again ideas
predominantly Muslim places
Muslim China - Ningxia, Gansu, Qinghai, Xinjiang
53 places according to NY times
silk road travel ideas , again ideas
Sunday, October 05, 2008
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Things I don't like about my job...
1 - Abuse
- from patients
- from other staff
Abuse is abuse, no matter who you get it from, or whatever the background, or how you try to make it ok in your own head, or however much you try to ignore it. Be it threatening behaviour and drug seeking by someone who isn't very nice, to an angry cancer patient still coming to terms with their diagnosis, or a power tripping member of staff.
It still hurts.
2 - Ethical issues
- isolated
- compounded by confidentiality
There is never a 'right' answer. All shades of grey. Never simple. Never straightforward. Whatever course of action you take is going to seriously impact on someone's life.
3 - Constantly being short-staffed, and thus having to work extra long hours, regularly, unpaid, adding to an already packed, stressful day.
It's exhausting. There is only so much a human can do. Mistakes could easily happen. And even if you raise concerns, asking for more help, you end up being told that people have dealt with it before you, so you should be perfectly capable of dealing with it too.
4 - Breaking bad news
No matter how carefully it's given, it's still bad news.
5 - Bland food in the canteen. hrmph.
Monday, September 15, 2008
I've been thinking about this for a while...
... and I would really like to work on an allotment. But I have a problem, well maybe a few...
1- Given my job, I move around a lot. Come August, I don't know where I'll be in the country (or whether I'll have a job. (eek!)) - I could theoritically work on one for only a year maybe...
2 - I don't know much about gardening - but I could learn
3 - I don't know of any local to me
4 - Not something I want to do alone.
Maybe, one day, I'll settle down in an area, that has an allotment, and discover one of my friends is also interested...
I can always dream...
But until that day...
allotment series- cookery
allotment blog
life on a london allotment
1- Given my job, I move around a lot. Come August, I don't know where I'll be in the country (or whether I'll have a job. (eek!)) - I could theoritically work on one for only a year maybe...
2 - I don't know much about gardening - but I could learn
3 - I don't know of any local to me
4 - Not something I want to do alone.
Maybe, one day, I'll settle down in an area, that has an allotment, and discover one of my friends is also interested...
I can always dream...
But until that day...
allotment series- cookery
allotment blog
life on a london allotment
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Friday, July 04, 2008
in search of Malaysian food in London
2 little known places asking to be found
satay house - have teh tarik and nasi lemak, but appears to have no roti!
roti recipe
satay house - have teh tarik and nasi lemak, but appears to have no roti!
roti recipe
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
A book medical students and junior doctors should read.
'A country doctor's notebook' by Mikhail Bulgakov - a really good read, about a young freshly qualified doctor sent off to rural Russia for his first post, back in 1916-17. He manages to capture that sense of inadequacy, loneliness and utter terror that comes when first starting work as a doctor. It's reassuring to know that the feeling doesn't change with each generation - it's reassuring to realise that you are not alone.
A GP's reflections
quite a good article by Max Pemberton, a junior doctor and telegraph columnist
and another reflecting on change-over time
A GP's reflections
quite a good article by Max Pemberton, a junior doctor and telegraph columnist
and another reflecting on change-over time
Sunday, April 27, 2008
recipe: Rose Petal Macaroons
Rose Petal Macaroons
Ingredients:
150 g ground almonds
200 g sugar
2 egg whites
1 tsp rosewater
1 tsp scarlet food colouring
1 tbsp plain flour
20 crystallized rose petals for decoration
Method:
1. Cream ground almonds, caster sugar and egg whites.
2. Add flour, rosewater and colouring.
3. Allow mixture to firm in the fridge for an hour.
4. Flour work surface and hands and roll small amounts of mixture into truffle-sized balls.
5. Flatten balls into rounds and place on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper.
6. Decorate the centre of each macaroon with a crystallized rose petal.
7. Bake 10-15 minutes in a warm oven (gas mark 3/160C).
8. Allow to cool and harden for 15 minutes.
Ingredients:
150 g ground almonds
200 g sugar
2 egg whites
1 tsp rosewater
1 tsp scarlet food colouring
1 tbsp plain flour
20 crystallized rose petals for decoration
Method:
1. Cream ground almonds, caster sugar and egg whites.
2. Add flour, rosewater and colouring.
3. Allow mixture to firm in the fridge for an hour.
4. Flour work surface and hands and roll small amounts of mixture into truffle-sized balls.
5. Flatten balls into rounds and place on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper.
6. Decorate the centre of each macaroon with a crystallized rose petal.
7. Bake 10-15 minutes in a warm oven (gas mark 3/160C).
8. Allow to cool and harden for 15 minutes.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
These images made me smile.
I got a little distracted, and decided to visit an online gallery on the British museum website.
it's mr angry!
and mr crazy!
and another mr angry!
it's mr angry!
and mr crazy!
and another mr angry!
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Of maps...
So, on a lazy Saturday morning, I begin an impromtu jouney of maps on the web, it all started with an alternative simplified map of London, then on to the blonde map of Europe, followed by if the world was a tube map (also with explanation) - which could lead to some rather delightful train journeys. Subsequently, I spotted if Australia was the land of the Ring, then checked out the United Pumpkins of America, followed by a map of the WWW.
Geographical fun, from 1869, had various European countries outlining their national stereotypes of the time accompanied by a little poetry.
A political depiction of 1937 .
Synthetica - new world map of new materials (1940)
And finally, a very charming face map
Geographical fun, from 1869, had various European countries outlining their national stereotypes of the time accompanied by a little poetry.
A political depiction of 1937 .
Synthetica - new world map of new materials (1940)
And finally, a very charming face map
the museums of London
While I knew London was a city of many museums and art galleries, I didn't realise there were 264 of them dotted around the city.
Which leaves Londoners with even less reason to get bored in their home town.
Which leaves Londoners with even less reason to get bored in their home town.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
real food
there was a comic here, but it was an incorrect link, which i only realised 2 months after sticking it up. I've forgotton how to delete posts (ha!) so unfortunately this post of nothingness is posted upon the web for hapless passers by to wonder why on Earth they are reading it.
the other posts are far more interesting. really.
the other posts are far more interesting. really.
Saturday, September 01, 2007
newly qualified docs
tongue-in-cheek take on the working conditions of a newly qualified doctor
with more than a few grains of truth.
with more than a few grains of truth.
Monday, August 27, 2007
citroen 2cv
For those in the know, a beautiful car, of classic design, with the perfect balance of curves and angles, and generally lovely.
and for those who don't - a little wikepedia explanation.
new version, probably set to come out in 2009/2010.
I don't think I like it. I feel so disappointed.
and for those who don't - a little wikepedia explanation.
new version, probably set to come out in 2009/2010.
I don't think I like it. I feel so disappointed.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Friday, June 29, 2007
Something from Mother Teresa...
People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may Accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.
You see, in the final end,
it is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway.
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may Accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.
You see, in the final end,
it is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway.
Monday, June 18, 2007
Saturday, June 16, 2007
I think I've just found my favourite new website
digsmagazine - 'a home + living guide for the post-college, pre-parenthood, quasi-adult generation'.
Quite a few handy tips.
Quite a few handy tips.
Friday, June 08, 2007
Just found something that brings back good memories
Intro to the Charlie Brown and Snoopy show
snoopy and woodstock dancing
It's a mystery, Charlie Brown
Sesame street!
Kermit and the African Alphabet
Subway!
Kermit - put the lime in the coconut!
Never smile at a crocodile=
News flash!
Wolf chases little red riding hood!
Cookie monster..
... in the bakery
then the library
From How Now and the Moo Wave...
The wet paint song
Danger's No Stranger
and from the Surfin' Monsters
Love the Ocean - yeah dude!! be excellent and do what it says!
Not forgetting Little Jerry and the Monotones
Telephone rock!
Mad - yeah we're angry, very very angry
Boo Hoo, Wah Wah, Sob Sob - Big kids cry
Dr Thad and the medications with...
The 10 commandments of health - succinct, accurate, and fun!!
orange singing carmen
Computer cookie song - things really have changed...
Manamana
snoopy and woodstock dancing
It's a mystery, Charlie Brown
Sesame street!
Kermit and the African Alphabet
Subway!
Kermit - put the lime in the coconut!
Never smile at a crocodile=
News flash!
Wolf chases little red riding hood!
Cookie monster..
... in the bakery
then the library
From How Now and the Moo Wave...
The wet paint song
Danger's No Stranger
and from the Surfin' Monsters
Love the Ocean - yeah dude!! be excellent and do what it says!
Not forgetting Little Jerry and the Monotones
Telephone rock!
Mad - yeah we're angry, very very angry
Boo Hoo, Wah Wah, Sob Sob - Big kids cry
Dr Thad and the medications with...
The 10 commandments of health - succinct, accurate, and fun!!
orange singing carmen
Computer cookie song - things really have changed...
Manamana
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Sad
Team of doctors, technicians and pilots die as plane crashes - they had been transporting a dontated organ for transplant.
Monday, June 04, 2007
Friday, June 01, 2007
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Sunday, May 13, 2007
on clouds and free running
the rolling carpet cloud=
the sine wave cloud
Don't ask me about the technical details. They just look funky. Who ever thought cloud watching could be this much fun!
some more parkour, 'cos it's cool.
all very artistic
the sine wave cloud
Don't ask me about the technical details. They just look funky. Who ever thought cloud watching could be this much fun!
some more parkour, 'cos it's cool.
all very artistic
Sunday, May 06, 2007
I want to make some dandelion root coffee!!!
It sounds like fun, and with a potentially tasty result.
But I don't know anywhere nearby where I can get some dandelions which a dog hasn't used as a toilet.
Blah.
But if, one day, in the future, I happen upon a place with plenty of fresh (unlikely-to-be-peed-upon) dandelions, I shall be able to refer to these instructions.
mmmm...
oh, and a dandelion profile from the early 1900's for the interested.
But I don't know anywhere nearby where I can get some dandelions which a dog hasn't used as a toilet.
Blah.
But if, one day, in the future, I happen upon a place with plenty of fresh (unlikely-to-be-peed-upon) dandelions, I shall be able to refer to these instructions.
mmmm...
oh, and a dandelion profile from the early 1900's for the interested.
Friday, May 04, 2007
Sunday, April 29, 2007
no such thing as a free lunch
Drug reps in hospitals offer free lunch's, cheap pens and goodies to doctors in hospitals. They usually appear once or twice a week. Something about this form of advertising just doesn't sit quite right with me. I haven't really thought deeply enough about the subject to come out with an eloquent answer when asked why I don't touch the food provided by the drug reps during some 'grand rounds'. I should, and I imagine I probably will at some point. I understand why drugs are advertised, but I also think that medical practice and treatment should be guided purely by what is the best treatment for the patient, and not necessarily guided by advertisement of the latest drugs. I think, as humans, whether we realise it or not, are affected by gifts. Someone does you a good turn/gives you something, you can't help but a feel indebted. I just feel that feeling is badly placed when it comes to commercially orientated companies.
The 'no free lunch' position is explained in these websites: (US version and UK version) better than I ever could.
For good evidence:
UK - drugs and therapeutics bulletin
Canada = therapeutics initiative
US - The medical letter
The 'no free lunch' position is explained in these websites: (US version and UK version) better than I ever could.
For good evidence:
UK - drugs and therapeutics bulletin
Canada = therapeutics initiative
US - The medical letter
Friday, April 27, 2007
I confirmed a death for the first time today...
I've been avoiding this for so long. It's strange how a person can become so still, how their eyes have this vague opaque haze, how that unusual silence on the other end of the stethoscope means you hear your own breath and wonder momentarily if it's their's, how the quiet pulsations of your own fingertips transmit up and make you wonder if their heart is actually still beating. Disconcerting. I wanted to run away. I didn't. I came away thinking of kids in war zones and famines. I hit google looking for solace and guidance. I found an article in the BMJ.
I don't want to do it again. But I know I will. I know I will eventually get used to it. I don't know whether that's a good thing.
And so life continues...
I don't want to do it again. But I know I will. I know I will eventually get used to it. I don't know whether that's a good thing.
And so life continues...
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Poem: I AM A GIRL OF THE 21st CENTURY
During the storm I create Peace in my soul
I close my eyes until the storm is over
Like an eagle I try each day in my life
To reach where my heart is.
Hope that I have inside, to give me
Strength to be what I want to be
I let no one harm my soul
I always focus on my future.
During the night I dream about freedom
During the day I build happiness in my soul
Each day I shape my life.
Trying my very best to do only the right thing.
I am born to be bold and brave
To have faith in everything I do
To help those who are being criticised everyday
To renew hope in their lives.
Even if it may seem to dark
My heart will lead me to a place of Peace.
I am living for tomorrow.
Not for today
Only because
I am a girl of the 21st century
Zandile Sylvia Mazibuko
I close my eyes until the storm is over
Like an eagle I try each day in my life
To reach where my heart is.
Hope that I have inside, to give me
Strength to be what I want to be
I let no one harm my soul
I always focus on my future.
During the night I dream about freedom
During the day I build happiness in my soul
Each day I shape my life.
Trying my very best to do only the right thing.
I am born to be bold and brave
To have faith in everything I do
To help those who are being criticised everyday
To renew hope in their lives.
Even if it may seem to dark
My heart will lead me to a place of Peace.
I am living for tomorrow.
Not for today
Only because
I am a girl of the 21st century
Zandile Sylvia Mazibuko
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
For a warm and fuzzy feeling...
The Toronto Star (Toronto's paper) has a section called Acts of Kindness - where people send in nice things other people - often random strangers - have done.
Would be nice if every paper did that...
Would be nice if every paper did that...
Monday, April 09, 2007
Saturday, April 07, 2007
MMC resignations...
It's not just the students going through the process who are unhappy with the system - so are the people who set it up and were contributing to running it.
Resignations seem to be propping up left, right and centre. To be fair, those resigning are the ones who were probably doing their best to improve a system. Just a shame it didn't work out.
The latest is from one of the student representatives - his letters are a good read and summary of the situation:
letter of resignation, as sent to Professor Crockard 18/03/07.
Dear Alan,
I am sorry to inform you at what must be an impossibly busy time that I wish to resign from my position as medical student advisor.
When I took the position I had many reservations with the MMC systems but believed that I would be able to help students get the best deal from these changes. Seven months on, I retain these reservations and regret that I have not been able to have the impact I had imagined.Now as then (when I presented you with a petition signed by 1300 students), I believe:
• The nature of the new application system effectively randomises medical students to jobs across the country
• The importance of academic achievement has been downgraded
• The importance of other achievements at medical school has been nullified by the nebulous nature of questions and the lack of a CV
• Two years is not long enough to decide on one’s specialty, to gain a broad enough range of experience, to become a good enough doctor: pressure is on to decide early, but the random nature of the application leaves no scope for strategising or planning ahead
• Morale at medical schools is low; they are not the aspirational, centres of excellence they should be, rather ‘centres of competence’
• This anxiety has filtered down to those students considering applying for a place at medical school
Through contact with a wide range of students over the last seven months, I know that these views are widely held. Just two nights ago, I talked to a Bristol student representing a group of 40 who echoed my above sentiments. I have, however, come to realise that continuing to transmit such views to the MMC team can have no effect as it is focused on the successful implementation of a system rather than the guiding principles and details of that system.
In my limited experience, the role of student advisor is not used, as MMC aspires, to ‘encourage dialogue with the stakeholders’. Instead the role seems to be a token attempt to suggest the involvement of students in MMC strategy; a publicity vehicle to lend validity to a system that has not, in fact, considered student opinion and insight at all.When I was asked recently to find some students / SHOs who were happy with the new system to help build some positive press, I knew this role was not for me. I am not interested in spin or image, in making something seem other than it is. I am interested – perhaps naively - in getting the popular voice heard and acted upon and in standing by my own personal, political and professional principles. I now realise that in order to do this effectively, I need to be working within a different framework.
I would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to fill the role and personally wish you all the very best for the future. I can honestly say that I have enjoyed meeting you and having the chance to work with you and the team as a whole.
Yours Sincerely,
Alex
letter as sent to the CMO 31/03/07:
Dear Professor Sir Liam Donaldson,
I recently resigned as medical student advisor to MMC.
Despite claims from the health minister that the new Foundation Programme has ‘widely been acknowledged as a success’ there are, and always have been, huge misgivings about it at student, junior doctor and all other levels. I hoped that access to the MMC team would give me an opportunity to make these views heard. I was wrong. Although you continually tell us that you are ‘working with the profession’ you are not, at any level, listening to it. This is why I resigned: please find enclosed my letter of resignation to Professor Alan Crockard.
From a grassroots level upwards, your recruitment of those from the profession has been tokenistic at best. My role was little more than a publicity stunt. You want to be seen to be involving us but care little for the reality of what we actually have to say.Even at the highest levels you have been seen to charge professionals with responsibility but withhold authority.It is not my job to outline the infinite professional, personal and philosophical problems that blight your new systems – the 12,000 junior doctors who recently marched through London could do this more eloquently than I could ever hope to – but it is my job to expose the growing chasm between yourself and the profession.
Your agenda does not meet with the approval of the profession. You must acknowledge this. It is not acceptable for you to enlist members of the profession from all levels and to then ignore them. It is not acceptable to use your implementation team – MMC – as a vehicle for spin, as a way to convince the profession that things are other than they are. It is not acceptable for you to hide behind the responsibility you have dispensed to MMC and at the same time maintain your authority so you can push through your own agenda.
And yet, this is what you are doing. No matter what the profession says, no matter how vociferously it protests, no matter what damage is done to families up and down the country, this is what you will continue to do. How kind of Lord Hunt – at a time when faith in your systems is at its nadir - to illustrate the DoH’s utter contempt for the profession, by saying “I would like to reconfirm our commitment to MMC which aims to recruit and train the best doctors to provide the best possible patient care.”
This is your project. Everyone else – from MMC to MTAS, from the royal colleges to PMETB, from the advisors to the spin doctors – are merely your implementation tools. Ultimate authority rests with you. It is now time for you to take responsibility. If you continue to force through these reforms, I want you to know that it is obvious - even from a medical student level - that you are a million miles away from being the ‘bridge between the profession and the government’ that you claim: you could not be acting more undemocratically if you tried.
If you find this image unappealing, your options are clear: take heed of the groundswell against you and your agenda and cede your authority back to the profession. If this is also unpalatable to you, then you must resign.
Yours Sincerely,
Alex Liakos
(picked up from the lost doctor)
more news on mmc
Resignations seem to be propping up left, right and centre. To be fair, those resigning are the ones who were probably doing their best to improve a system. Just a shame it didn't work out.
The latest is from one of the student representatives - his letters are a good read and summary of the situation:
letter of resignation, as sent to Professor Crockard 18/03/07.
Dear Alan,
I am sorry to inform you at what must be an impossibly busy time that I wish to resign from my position as medical student advisor.
When I took the position I had many reservations with the MMC systems but believed that I would be able to help students get the best deal from these changes. Seven months on, I retain these reservations and regret that I have not been able to have the impact I had imagined.Now as then (when I presented you with a petition signed by 1300 students), I believe:
• The nature of the new application system effectively randomises medical students to jobs across the country
• The importance of academic achievement has been downgraded
• The importance of other achievements at medical school has been nullified by the nebulous nature of questions and the lack of a CV
• Two years is not long enough to decide on one’s specialty, to gain a broad enough range of experience, to become a good enough doctor: pressure is on to decide early, but the random nature of the application leaves no scope for strategising or planning ahead
• Morale at medical schools is low; they are not the aspirational, centres of excellence they should be, rather ‘centres of competence’
• This anxiety has filtered down to those students considering applying for a place at medical school
Through contact with a wide range of students over the last seven months, I know that these views are widely held. Just two nights ago, I talked to a Bristol student representing a group of 40 who echoed my above sentiments. I have, however, come to realise that continuing to transmit such views to the MMC team can have no effect as it is focused on the successful implementation of a system rather than the guiding principles and details of that system.
In my limited experience, the role of student advisor is not used, as MMC aspires, to ‘encourage dialogue with the stakeholders’. Instead the role seems to be a token attempt to suggest the involvement of students in MMC strategy; a publicity vehicle to lend validity to a system that has not, in fact, considered student opinion and insight at all.When I was asked recently to find some students / SHOs who were happy with the new system to help build some positive press, I knew this role was not for me. I am not interested in spin or image, in making something seem other than it is. I am interested – perhaps naively - in getting the popular voice heard and acted upon and in standing by my own personal, political and professional principles. I now realise that in order to do this effectively, I need to be working within a different framework.
I would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to fill the role and personally wish you all the very best for the future. I can honestly say that I have enjoyed meeting you and having the chance to work with you and the team as a whole.
Yours Sincerely,
Alex
letter as sent to the CMO 31/03/07:
Dear Professor Sir Liam Donaldson,
I recently resigned as medical student advisor to MMC.
Despite claims from the health minister that the new Foundation Programme has ‘widely been acknowledged as a success’ there are, and always have been, huge misgivings about it at student, junior doctor and all other levels. I hoped that access to the MMC team would give me an opportunity to make these views heard. I was wrong. Although you continually tell us that you are ‘working with the profession’ you are not, at any level, listening to it. This is why I resigned: please find enclosed my letter of resignation to Professor Alan Crockard.
From a grassroots level upwards, your recruitment of those from the profession has been tokenistic at best. My role was little more than a publicity stunt. You want to be seen to be involving us but care little for the reality of what we actually have to say.Even at the highest levels you have been seen to charge professionals with responsibility but withhold authority.It is not my job to outline the infinite professional, personal and philosophical problems that blight your new systems – the 12,000 junior doctors who recently marched through London could do this more eloquently than I could ever hope to – but it is my job to expose the growing chasm between yourself and the profession.
Your agenda does not meet with the approval of the profession. You must acknowledge this. It is not acceptable for you to enlist members of the profession from all levels and to then ignore them. It is not acceptable to use your implementation team – MMC – as a vehicle for spin, as a way to convince the profession that things are other than they are. It is not acceptable for you to hide behind the responsibility you have dispensed to MMC and at the same time maintain your authority so you can push through your own agenda.
And yet, this is what you are doing. No matter what the profession says, no matter how vociferously it protests, no matter what damage is done to families up and down the country, this is what you will continue to do. How kind of Lord Hunt – at a time when faith in your systems is at its nadir - to illustrate the DoH’s utter contempt for the profession, by saying “I would like to reconfirm our commitment to MMC which aims to recruit and train the best doctors to provide the best possible patient care.”
This is your project. Everyone else – from MMC to MTAS, from the royal colleges to PMETB, from the advisors to the spin doctors – are merely your implementation tools. Ultimate authority rests with you. It is now time for you to take responsibility. If you continue to force through these reforms, I want you to know that it is obvious - even from a medical student level - that you are a million miles away from being the ‘bridge between the profession and the government’ that you claim: you could not be acting more undemocratically if you tried.
If you find this image unappealing, your options are clear: take heed of the groundswell against you and your agenda and cede your authority back to the profession. If this is also unpalatable to you, then you must resign.
Yours Sincerely,
Alex Liakos
(picked up from the lost doctor)
more news on mmc
Friday, April 06, 2007
Poem: SONG OF THE GALLEY-SLAVES
We pulled for you when the wind was against us and the sails were low.
Will you never let us go?
We ate bread and onions when you took towns, or ran aboard
quickly when you were beaten back by the foe.
The Captians walked up and down the deck in fair weather
singing songs, but we were below.
We fainted with our chins on the oars and you did not see
that we were idle, for we still swung to and fro.
Will you never let us go?
The salt made the oar-handles like shark-skin; our knees
were cut to the bone with salt-cracks; our hair was stuck
to our foreheads; and lips were cut to the gums, and
you whipped us because we would not row.
Will you never let us go?
But, in a little time, we shall run out of the port-holes as
the water runs along the oar-blade, and though you tell the
others to row after us you will never catch us till you
catch the oar-thresh and tie up the winds in the belly of the said. Aho!
Will you never let us go?
Rudyard Kipling
Will you never let us go?
We ate bread and onions when you took towns, or ran aboard
quickly when you were beaten back by the foe.
The Captians walked up and down the deck in fair weather
singing songs, but we were below.
We fainted with our chins on the oars and you did not see
that we were idle, for we still swung to and fro.
Will you never let us go?
The salt made the oar-handles like shark-skin; our knees
were cut to the bone with salt-cracks; our hair was stuck
to our foreheads; and lips were cut to the gums, and
you whipped us because we would not row.
Will you never let us go?
But, in a little time, we shall run out of the port-holes as
the water runs along the oar-blade, and though you tell the
others to row after us you will never catch us till you
catch the oar-thresh and tie up the winds in the belly of the said. Aho!
Will you never let us go?
Rudyard Kipling
Friday, March 30, 2007
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