Making Light :: What they get up to, in the land of socialized medicine and moose :: comments

What they get up to, in the land of socialized medicine and moose

"We feel that prospective randomized trials are warranted to evaluate the utility of the Super Soaker Max-D 5000 in clinical...

What they get up to, in the land of socialized medicine and moose -- comment #1 from Linkmeister

Sat, 07 Jan 2006 00:41:58 -0500

Oh my. I love the conclusion that the small number of refills was a benefit too.

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Posted January 7, 2006 12:41 AM by Linkmeister

What they get up to, in the land of socialized medicine and moose -- comment #2 from Sundre

Sat, 07 Jan 2006 01:58:18 -0500

... I love my country. So much.

And now I have songs about moose on the headradio. Curses to earworms.

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Posted January 7, 2006 1:58 AM by Sundre

What they get up to, in the land of socialized medicine and moose -- comment #3 from xeger

Sat, 07 Jan 2006 02:14:47 -0500

Sundre wrote:

Curses to earworms.

No kidding! I've got "This land is your land" stuck in my head now...

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Posted January 7, 2006 2:14 AM by xeger

What they get up to, in the land of socialized medicine and moose -- comment #4 from Stefan Jones

Sat, 07 Jan 2006 02:18:10 -0500

I hear you can get discount Super Soakers through some of the Medicare Prescription plans.

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Posted January 7, 2006 2:18 AM by Stefan Jones

What they get up to, in the land of socialized medicine and moose -- comment #5 from Sundre

Sat, 07 Jan 2006 02:23:21 -0500

xeger: I am so, so sorry. But that still beats "Got to get me moose, b'ye!" all to heck.

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Posted January 7, 2006 2:23 AM by Sundre

What they get up to, in the land of socialized medicine and moose -- comment #6 from James D. Macdonald

Sat, 07 Jan 2006 02:42:15 -0500

If you do have an earworm, try to blast it out with a super-soaker. Worth a try...

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Posted January 7, 2006 2:42 AM by James D. Macdonald

What they get up to, in the land of socialized medicine and moose -- comment #7 from Samantha Joy

Sat, 07 Jan 2006 03:17:44 -0500

Dare I ask what happens when folks get various other orifices clogged?

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Posted January 7, 2006 3:17 AM by Samantha Joy

What they get up to, in the land of socialized medicine and moose -- comment #8 from Kevin Marks

Sat, 07 Jan 2006 06:11:49 -0500

Samantha: perhaps the device could be adapted to aid in removing Public Citizen's heads from their fundaments?

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Posted January 7, 2006 6:11 AM by Kevin Marks

What they get up to, in the land of socialized medicine and moose -- comment #9 from Serge

Sat, 07 Jan 2006 07:10:35 -0500

This sounds like something from the Annals of Improbable Research.

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Posted January 7, 2006 7:10 AM by Serge

What they get up to, in the land of socialized medicine and moose -- comment #10 from G. Jules

Sat, 07 Jan 2006 08:38:34 -0500

Hee! This is exactly like something out of the Annals of Improbable Research. (I'm one of the people who helps out with the Ig ceremony.) In fact, I just emailed Marc the link (with proper attribution of my source, as usual).

He's probably already gotten it, of course; but then there've been at least a couple popularly known weird science links where I assumed there was no way in hell he hadn't gotten them, and he actually hadn't, because everyone else had thought the same thing. I figure it's a less horrifying example of the Kitty Genovese syndrome -- everyone figuring someone else has sent off an email. Diminished responsibility while in a large group, and all that.

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Posted January 7, 2006 8:38 AM by G. Jules

What they get up to, in the land of socialized medicine and moose -- comment #11 from Mikael Johansson

Sat, 07 Jan 2006 08:51:27 -0500

Oh... THAT land of socialized medicine and moose...

As a swede in Germany, I'm getting more and more used to 'moose' meaning general image of my home.

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Posted January 7, 2006 8:51 AM by Mikael Johansson

What they get up to, in the land of socialized medicine and moose -- comment #12 from Lis Riba

Sat, 07 Jan 2006 09:19:20 -0500

Yeah, both British and Canadian medical journal have fun in their year-end issue.

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Posted January 7, 2006 9:19 AM by Lis Riba

What they get up to, in the land of socialized medicine and moose -- comment #13 from Erik V. Olson

Sat, 07 Jan 2006 09:50:56 -0500

In barely related technological news, use the wonders of web technology to poorly replace editing. I present the Passivator and the Ly Detector.

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Posted January 7, 2006 9:50 AM by Erik V. Olson

What they get up to, in the land of socialized medicine and moose -- comment #14 from mary

Sat, 07 Jan 2006 09:59:44 -0500

This is going to be all over the internet by the end of the day. As a mother, I predict that boys between the ages of 9 and 14 will immediately begin shooting each other in the ear with super-soakers, fully pumped. Look for Public Citizen to try to get these suckers--er--soakers, banned.

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Posted January 7, 2006 9:59 AM by mary

What they get up to, in the land of socialized medicine and moose -- comment #15 from Lila

Sat, 07 Jan 2006 10:38:14 -0500

I realize this is humor, but having taken a child to the doctor for removal of impacted cerumen, which took bloody FOREVER and required about a dozen refills, I have to say a Super Soaker would have looked pretty good at the time.

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Posted January 7, 2006 10:38 AM by Lila

What they get up to, in the land of socialized medicine and moose -- comment #16 from Bob Oldendorf

Sat, 07 Jan 2006 11:10:14 -0500

Last year's year-end issue of CMAJ had one of my favs, an article speculating that Tintin's delayed maturation might be caused by repeated head trauma:

Acquired growth hormone deficiency and hypogonadotropic hypogonadism in a subject with repeated head trauma, or Tintin goes to the neurologist

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Posted January 7, 2006 11:10 AM by Bob Oldendorf

What they get up to, in the land of socialized medicine and moose -- comment #17 from Serge

Sat, 07 Jan 2006 11:50:09 -0500

Tintin's stature due to repeated head trauma, Bob? I'm not so sure... This never stopped Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea's Kowalski from achieving full adult size. On the other hand, maybe he started getting bopped on the head only after he joined the crew of the Seaview, where many strange medical conditions would be known to occur: for example, Captain Crane had a tendency to go into bouts of lycanthropy whenever exposed to radiation. (Or was it Admiral Nelson who suffered from that affliction?)

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Posted January 7, 2006 11:50 AM by Serge

What they get up to, in the land of socialized medicine and moose -- comment #18 from Will Entrekin

Sat, 07 Jan 2006 12:01:38 -0500

Okay, just loved this. Both humorous and clinically accurate in its style. Awesome.

I particularly liked: "Which led to his being able to his being able to promptly jump out of bed and attend to his son's needs, excluding breastfeeding."

Well, yeah.

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Posted January 7, 2006 12:01 PM by Will Entrekin

What they get up to, in the land of socialized medicine and moose -- comment #19 from Martin Wisse

Sat, 07 Jan 2006 19:30:58 -0500

That article fair restored my faith in humanity, it did.

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Posted January 7, 2006 7:30 PM by Martin Wisse

What they get up to, in the land of socialized medicine and moose -- comment #20 from P J Evans

Sat, 07 Jan 2006 23:11:18 -0500

Lila: You and your child have my sincerest sympathy. I've done this to my own ears: a dozen refills is about right. That super-soaker is attractive!

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Posted January 7, 2006 11:11 PM by P J Evans

What they get up to, in the land of socialized medicine and moose -- comment #21 from Ross Smith

Sun, 08 Jan 2006 00:27:55 -0500

A möøse socialized my sister.

(Well, somebody had to say it.)

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Posted January 8, 2006 12:27 AM by Ross Smith

What they get up to, in the land of socialized medicine and moose -- comment #22 from Jon Meltzer

Sun, 08 Jan 2006 14:27:26 -0500

I expect the Super Soaker will be restricted Tuesdays, Thursdays, and especially Saturdays. (cf. Konigsberg, A.S., 1967)

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Posted January 8, 2006 2:27 PM by Jon Meltzer

What they get up to, in the land of socialized medicine and moose -- comment #23 from Mikael Johansson

Sun, 08 Jan 2006 15:28:38 -0500

Ross: That is 'møøse'. Need to get your umlauts and slashes straight.

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Posted January 8, 2006 3:28 PM by Mikael Johansson

What they get up to, in the land of socialized medicine and moose -- comment #24 from Lin Daniel

Mon, 09 Jan 2006 10:15:25 -0500

Thank you thank you thank you. I finally got around to investigating this. And forwarded to my-cousin-the-doctor. Who, as it turns out, is just opening up her practice, with a number of older patients who need ear wax removal. So this was forwarded to the "ear wax division" of her new practice.

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Posted January 9, 2006 10:15 AM by Lin Daniel

What they get up to, in the land of socialized medicine and moose -- comment #25 from Avery

Mon, 09 Jan 2006 11:28:36 -0500

Sure, this seems pretty silly,but is it really any more silly than having a guy with 20+ years of education hose out your ear?

In the cold light of Monday: No

When I'm deaf in one ear causing you to kind of cock your head funny and walk with one shoulder ahead of the other becasue my sense ballance is going off: Get me a specialist damnit!

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Posted January 9, 2006 11:28 AM by Avery

What they get up to, in the land of socialized medicine and moose -- comment #26 from Electric Landlady

Mon, 09 Jan 2006 15:21:54 -0500

The Tintin article is excellent. I think my favourite of the year-end stories this year, though, is this one: The case of the disappearing teaspoons: longitudinal cohort study of the displacement of teaspoons in an Australian research institute

Essential reading for anybody who works in an office with a kitchen. Note in particular the Discussion section (which cites, among others, Adams D. The hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy. New York: Ballantine Books, 1979: 320.) and the Rapid Responses, which seem to be taking over...

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Posted January 9, 2006 3:21 PM by Electric Landlady

What they get up to, in the land of socialized medicine and moose -- comment #27 from Ian Myles Slater

Mon, 09 Jan 2006 17:11:36 -0500

I can just see the manufacturer trying to decide whether to offer a re-engineered physicians-only version of the product, with its own pre-packaged sterile reservoirs, replaceable sterile adapter-nozzles (one per ear per patient, various sizes), special fine-tuning controls -- all for a substantial mark-up, of course, but only after satisfying FDA demands for exhaustive testing for safety and effectiveness of what is, strictly speaking, a toy.

Probably better off licensing the patent to a medical supply company.

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Posted January 9, 2006 5:11 PM by Ian Myles Slater

What they get up to, in the land of socialized medicine and moose -- comment #28 from Calton Bolick

Mon, 09 Jan 2006 21:48:09 -0500

Back in high school, I suddenly went deaf in my left ear. A fast visit to the local Kaiser Hospital, and it was determined that it was caused by a big build-up of earwax.

The doc removed the wax using what I assume was standard ear-syringing equipment -- a big syringe with a metal splashguard mounted on the nozzle, a basin of warm water, and a kidney pan to catch the drippings. A few spritzes and my hearing miraculously returned.

Not much different from the SuperSoaker method, really. Since then, I've wished I could buy that special syringe -- the wimpy rubber bulb that comes in earwax-removal kits don't cut and turkey basters are too big. Sadly, the SuperSoaker would be too difficult to aim one-handed.

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Posted January 9, 2006 9:48 PM by Calton Bolick

What they get up to, in the land of socialized medicine and moose -- comment #29 from P J Evans

Mon, 09 Jan 2006 22:00:44 -0500

It sounds like a fine excuse for a summer party:
'come have fun with a water gun and get your ears clean too!'

The last time I had a doctor clean out the wax, he used cold water. It's, um, interesting. For about thirty seconds.

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Posted January 9, 2006 10:00 PM by P J Evans

What they get up to, in the land of socialized medicine and moose -- comment #30 from Terry Karney

Tue, 10 Jan 2006 05:12:20 -0500

I am cursed with narrow ears and moderately heavy wax.

This was discovered in Basic Training, when the earplugs we were issued at the range packed my ears shut.

My ears were flushed, which meant I could both hear, and fall asleep immediately again (it was when I'd been kept awake twice in one night [I had a trick of Fire Guard that night] for more than five minutes each time that I hied myself to sick call).

It's happened a couple of times since then. The Super Soaker sounds like a swell idea.

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Posted January 10, 2006 5:12 AM by Terry Karney

What they get up to, in the land of socialized medicine and moose -- comment #31 from Hamadryad

Tue, 10 Jan 2006 13:48:42 -0500

*snerk*

I love my health care professionals.

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Posted January 10, 2006 1:48 PM by Hamadryad

What they get up to, in the land of socialized medicine and moose -- comment #32 from Marilee

Wed, 11 Jan 2006 19:39:35 -0500

I don't think you need the supersoaker. I have very little hand strength, so when I use the outdoor hose for our building, I take the trigger grip nozzle off and put on a sliding nozzle. I can adjust it to a fine strong spray. It's sort of like this but mine is bright yellow plastic and you control the spray by sliding a panel on the cylindrical nozzle.

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Posted January 11, 2006 7:39 PM by Marilee

What they get up to, in the land of socialized medicine and moose -- comment #33 from Jules

Thu, 12 Jan 2006 14:30:03 -0500

Calton -- for the purposes you describe, in the UK you can buy cannisters of pre-pressurised sterilised water, which is much more effective than the device you describe sounds to me. I would be surprised if it wasn't available in other countries too. I believe the trade name is "audiclean" or something similar.

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Posted January 12, 2006 2:30 PM by Jules

What they get up to, in the land of socialized medicine and moose -- comment #34 from Nancy C

Thu, 12 Jan 2006 15:08:45 -0500

For those afflicted with excessive ear wax, may I suggest this thing, which a friend of mine found and recommended. The loop slips up your ear canal to pull the junk out, and the guard bit prevents you from puncturing your eardrum.

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Posted January 12, 2006 3:08 PM by Nancy C

What they get up to, in the land of socialized medicine and moose -- comment #35 from Serge sees unascendable anophthalmia spam

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 12:49:22 -0500

Spam

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Posted August 19, 2008 12:49 PM by Serge sees unascendable anophthalmia spam

What they get up to, in the land of socialized medicine and moose -- comment #36 from Buddha Buck sees spam

Sun, 02 Mar 2014 09:57:11 -0500

looks like an advert for coupons for a store not in my area. Probably an advert for malware.

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Posted March 2, 2014 9:57 AM by Buddha Buck sees spam