What a week. What a grimly frustrating week. A shadow cast by a bad day at work on Thursday is yet to recede. Back in the day I would have simply got smashed to get past it and on Thursday night I attempted this to little effect. Why is it that when you really want to get drunk no amount of alcohol seems to do the trick?
Good things about this week: Got our tickets for our holiday. A week in Tenerife, all inclusive relaxing in the sun. Not my normal style but I think necessary for the regaining of my own sanity. I suspect a week of splendid isolation from the day to day will do the power of good. Also, ordered new glasses which will be ready on Wednesday.
This second one is a bit of a bugbear of mine. I haven't bought new glasses in over 3 years. Largely because I haven't needed to. My prescription has stayed the same for about 10 years. The thing that properly messes with my head is the ridiculousness of a legal requirement to get an eye test every couple of years if you want to buy glasses.
The arguments in favour of this are rational and sort of make sense. The idea is that you should get your eyes examined every couple of years because it can show up early warning signs of various medical conditions (diabetes for example) that would otherwise go undetected. There's also a spurious claim that your vision might have deteriorated without you noticing. I don't buy this at all. Surely you would notice that things are out of focus? It's quite easy to tell. If things that should have sharp edges don't, you can't see properly.
Anyway. I need new glasses. The ones I am wearing, the only pair I currently own, are falling to bits. The legs are bandy, one of the little nose pad things are missing and they constantly slip down my face. The fact they've taken a few knocks during my kung fu training probably hasn't helped. I need new ones. Urgently. So I had to go and book an eye test (reassuringly free in Scotland) and then order new specs. Had to wait over a week for an eye test, then another 4 days for the glasses. So I have had to spend 2 weeks with decrepit and uncomfortable eye wear due to the fact I cannot just buy a pair of glasses to my own specification.
Oh it's for my own good is it? Well guess what, eye test in the bag and no problems found. No deteriation in vision and no diseases or malfunctions. I am however a "failed" contact lense wearer. This was changed in my records to "unsuccessful" at my request as I couldn't help but feel it was the lenses that failed me rather than the other way round. So I have had to wait two weeks for new glasses for no reason.
And what about all the people that don't wear glasses? Nobody makes them have eye tests every two years. Are they not as susceptible to the same diseases and illnesses and eye problems as glasses wearers? Surely someone who has to wear glasses is inherently more aware of changes in their vision and problems with their eyes? It doesn't make any sense. Needless bureaucracy disguised as worrying about peoples welfare.
My solution to this week is to mollify my troubled spirit with red wine and good food. Usually does the trick. We shall see.
Saturday, 13 February 2010
Monday, 8 February 2010
The rage is relentless....
If there's something that really grinds my gears it's insolent little middle class twats. Spoilt brats with little or no respect for anyone or anything else and no concept of the value of manners and hard work. With their trousers that stop where their back pockets should be and their backwards hats and their bmx bikes.
I must confess that tonight I had a bit of a moment. My car horn may have been sounded (although legitimately - I had to assume that the little shitbag hadn't seen me, why else would he have put his bmx and his idiot self in the way of my car) and I may have applied my brakes suddenly and violently and I may have intended to get out of the car. Luckily my Andy wrangler was in attendance and so normal service was resumed.
However.
I am yet to settle down. Conflicted by the fact that I lost control, something I'm never proud of and the fact that a good hiding would probably have done the little arseholes some good, I am left with a mild adrenaline spike and a sense of disdain for the populous at large.
Thankfully all this is alleviated by the knowledge that when the apocalypse comes, whatever form (zombies/virus/nuclear/etc) it takes, this bracket of human society will have the least chance of survival and thus be effortlessly removed from the gene pool. It seems to me highly improbable that a spoilt brat who probably can't even work a washing machine will stand much chance if they have to master a harsh, unforgiving, post-apocalyptic environment. Unless of course mummy and daddy and the Range Rover survive intact too. And perhaps the butler.
You'll get yours, you wait and see. You and your stupid little bikes.
I must confess that tonight I had a bit of a moment. My car horn may have been sounded (although legitimately - I had to assume that the little shitbag hadn't seen me, why else would he have put his bmx and his idiot self in the way of my car) and I may have applied my brakes suddenly and violently and I may have intended to get out of the car. Luckily my Andy wrangler was in attendance and so normal service was resumed.
However.
I am yet to settle down. Conflicted by the fact that I lost control, something I'm never proud of and the fact that a good hiding would probably have done the little arseholes some good, I am left with a mild adrenaline spike and a sense of disdain for the populous at large.
Thankfully all this is alleviated by the knowledge that when the apocalypse comes, whatever form (zombies/virus/nuclear/etc) it takes, this bracket of human society will have the least chance of survival and thus be effortlessly removed from the gene pool. It seems to me highly improbable that a spoilt brat who probably can't even work a washing machine will stand much chance if they have to master a harsh, unforgiving, post-apocalyptic environment. Unless of course mummy and daddy and the Range Rover survive intact too. And perhaps the butler.
You'll get yours, you wait and see. You and your stupid little bikes.
Sunday, 7 February 2010
You live and learn....
Although sometimes apparently you die and teach.
William Hunter and William Smellie (stop that tittering). Two names that would be utterly meaningless to me had I not just read an article about them. Apparently they were giants of medicine, pioneering midwifery and obstetrics. Good on 'em. Except that despite being revered by the medical community for the last quarter of a century or so they were allegedly hip deep in the murky world of "burking".
A word I was also unaware of up until this evening. Derived from the infamous Burke and Hare it refers to the practice of murdering people at the request of anatomists in order to further their understanding of biology and human anatomy. It was alleged that the reason Hunter and Smellie were so well informed of the human biology behind pregnancy and childbirth was because they had a steady supply of freshly killed pregnant women to dissect. Not so good on 'em.
That got me thinking about ends and means. I don't know enough about these two medicine men/serial killers to speak with any kind of authority on their achievements. The impression I got from the article was that their discoveries and developments were still in use today and presumably as a result mothers and babies that would otherwise have perished during childbirth have survived. If there was a way to quantify the number of lives these two men have saved with their research would it be reasonable to use this as a basis to justify the method of obtaining their data?
Historian Don Shelton, who has presented this theory, suggests that between them Hunter and Smellie were responsible for the deaths of 35-40 pregnant woman and of course their unborn children. Even if their findings only saved the lives of 1 woman and child a year over the last 250 years it still gives you a ratio of more than 6:1 in favour of burking. I suspect the real numbers would be considerably higher.
But does that make it ok? It certainly puts stem cell research and animal testing into a certain kind of perspective. If you had the choice would you delete all the knowledge and expertise that has developed off the back of the work done by these men if it meant the 35-40 alleged murder victims would have been spared? If you are morally outraged at the process of learning these things should you be morally outraged at the implementation of their methods of care?
I don't have the answers incidentally, just asking the questions.
It made me think about all the other things we know and use on a daily basis. Not just medical knowledge but the food we eat, the machines we use and so on. It made we wonder what the hidden costs of all these things are. As a species we are so dazzled by progress we don't stop to ask where it has come from and at what cost. Even if we did I don't imagine if we ever found out 15 people were murdered to develop the iPod any of us would wan't to go back to using portable CD players. Again, even if we did we would probably then uncover a string of kneecappings to develop the CD.
We know it goes on. We know things are cheap these days because workers are exploited. We know those knock off designer goods or pirate dvds are being sold by the same organisations who traffic people for prostitution or other similarly serious crimes. Blind eyes are turned because these issues don't directly affect us and there is the upside of making our lives more convenient and comfortable. The vast majority of people make a deliberate choice not to acknowledge these things. I'm quite sure the same attitude must have existed 250 years ago.
Surely somebody must have found it a little bit odd that the two leading researchers into the anatomy of childbirth had a steady stream of heavily pregnant corpses upon which to carry out their research. Surely they must have known that women were being killed in the name of science. Undoubtedly the thought of the benefits of such research was reason enough to not ask too many questions and dig too deeply.
The question is though, would it do any good to open our eyes to these things? Could we do without the day to day knowledge and technology of this world in order to appease our moral compass?
Have a think gonnae, and let me know?
William Hunter and William Smellie (stop that tittering). Two names that would be utterly meaningless to me had I not just read an article about them. Apparently they were giants of medicine, pioneering midwifery and obstetrics. Good on 'em. Except that despite being revered by the medical community for the last quarter of a century or so they were allegedly hip deep in the murky world of "burking".
A word I was also unaware of up until this evening. Derived from the infamous Burke and Hare it refers to the practice of murdering people at the request of anatomists in order to further their understanding of biology and human anatomy. It was alleged that the reason Hunter and Smellie were so well informed of the human biology behind pregnancy and childbirth was because they had a steady supply of freshly killed pregnant women to dissect. Not so good on 'em.
That got me thinking about ends and means. I don't know enough about these two medicine men/serial killers to speak with any kind of authority on their achievements. The impression I got from the article was that their discoveries and developments were still in use today and presumably as a result mothers and babies that would otherwise have perished during childbirth have survived. If there was a way to quantify the number of lives these two men have saved with their research would it be reasonable to use this as a basis to justify the method of obtaining their data?
Historian Don Shelton, who has presented this theory, suggests that between them Hunter and Smellie were responsible for the deaths of 35-40 pregnant woman and of course their unborn children. Even if their findings only saved the lives of 1 woman and child a year over the last 250 years it still gives you a ratio of more than 6:1 in favour of burking. I suspect the real numbers would be considerably higher.
But does that make it ok? It certainly puts stem cell research and animal testing into a certain kind of perspective. If you had the choice would you delete all the knowledge and expertise that has developed off the back of the work done by these men if it meant the 35-40 alleged murder victims would have been spared? If you are morally outraged at the process of learning these things should you be morally outraged at the implementation of their methods of care?
I don't have the answers incidentally, just asking the questions.
It made me think about all the other things we know and use on a daily basis. Not just medical knowledge but the food we eat, the machines we use and so on. It made we wonder what the hidden costs of all these things are. As a species we are so dazzled by progress we don't stop to ask where it has come from and at what cost. Even if we did I don't imagine if we ever found out 15 people were murdered to develop the iPod any of us would wan't to go back to using portable CD players. Again, even if we did we would probably then uncover a string of kneecappings to develop the CD.
We know it goes on. We know things are cheap these days because workers are exploited. We know those knock off designer goods or pirate dvds are being sold by the same organisations who traffic people for prostitution or other similarly serious crimes. Blind eyes are turned because these issues don't directly affect us and there is the upside of making our lives more convenient and comfortable. The vast majority of people make a deliberate choice not to acknowledge these things. I'm quite sure the same attitude must have existed 250 years ago.
Surely somebody must have found it a little bit odd that the two leading researchers into the anatomy of childbirth had a steady stream of heavily pregnant corpses upon which to carry out their research. Surely they must have known that women were being killed in the name of science. Undoubtedly the thought of the benefits of such research was reason enough to not ask too many questions and dig too deeply.
The question is though, would it do any good to open our eyes to these things? Could we do without the day to day knowledge and technology of this world in order to appease our moral compass?
Have a think gonnae, and let me know?
Friday, 5 February 2010
Thank goodness for days off....
So nothing matters then eh?
I suppose that is a question of perspective. From the outside looking in, from the position of the infinite universe nothing does. But swap sides, look out from the bubble then woaaahhhh nelly! Everything takes on a new level of importance.
My plan for today, my day off, was to drop the missus off in Dingwall where some MSPs were coming to fact-find about the rheumatology unit at around 11.30 then head home and spend the day catching up on my unwatched DVDs and playing Call of Duty until my eyes bled. Next thing you know it's 6 o'clock and I've had a lovely lunch (in The Courtyard - I'd highly recommend it) and spent an afternoon speaking to politicians and being asked for my views on the threatened cuts to services at the unit.
I'm not going to use this blog as a political lobbying tool but if you are interested in this as a subject check out their petition: http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/no-cuts-to-highland-rheumatology-unit/sign.html
My point is this. I hold a very dim view of politicians. I believe quite firmly that anybody who enters the world of politics with good and noble intentions is soon subsumed into the seedy world of favours and personal ambition. I've seen The Thick Of It. I know the score. It remains to be seen what happens next, one at least has pledged his support to the cause and has given us lots of advice on how to proceed. Seems genuinely interested in helping based on a sense of what's right and proper and not what will further his personal ambitions.
Rationally I know I shouldn't be surprised but sometimes I see the world through Daily Mail tinted glasses. It remains to be seen how much good all this will do and if the crisis looming over the rheumatology unit can be averted. I hope it can be and if so it will probably instill a little bit of faith in humanity in me. That'd be a first.
So what was intended on being a relaxing day of pointless leisure pursuits turned into a day of fighting the power. A much more productive and dare I say it important use of my time I think and an interesting insight into how things operate.
I suppose that is a question of perspective. From the outside looking in, from the position of the infinite universe nothing does. But swap sides, look out from the bubble then woaaahhhh nelly! Everything takes on a new level of importance.
My plan for today, my day off, was to drop the missus off in Dingwall where some MSPs were coming to fact-find about the rheumatology unit at around 11.30 then head home and spend the day catching up on my unwatched DVDs and playing Call of Duty until my eyes bled. Next thing you know it's 6 o'clock and I've had a lovely lunch (in The Courtyard - I'd highly recommend it) and spent an afternoon speaking to politicians and being asked for my views on the threatened cuts to services at the unit.
I'm not going to use this blog as a political lobbying tool but if you are interested in this as a subject check out their petition: http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/no-cuts-to-highland-rheumatology-unit/sign.html
My point is this. I hold a very dim view of politicians. I believe quite firmly that anybody who enters the world of politics with good and noble intentions is soon subsumed into the seedy world of favours and personal ambition. I've seen The Thick Of It. I know the score. It remains to be seen what happens next, one at least has pledged his support to the cause and has given us lots of advice on how to proceed. Seems genuinely interested in helping based on a sense of what's right and proper and not what will further his personal ambitions.
Rationally I know I shouldn't be surprised but sometimes I see the world through Daily Mail tinted glasses. It remains to be seen how much good all this will do and if the crisis looming over the rheumatology unit can be averted. I hope it can be and if so it will probably instill a little bit of faith in humanity in me. That'd be a first.
So what was intended on being a relaxing day of pointless leisure pursuits turned into a day of fighting the power. A much more productive and dare I say it important use of my time I think and an interesting insight into how things operate.
Wednesday, 3 February 2010
And so it begins....
Nothing matters. None of it.
This isn't defeatism or emo-esque bleating mind. It's just a simple, beautiful fact.
A couple of years ago my girlfriend and I were on holiday in New York and happened to visit the Planetarium in the Natural History Museum. I would highly recommend it. Not only is it home to the comfiest seating I've ever experienced in a public place but you then get treated to a spectacular simulation of the entire life of our universe from the big bang to it's (I presume largely theoretical) end. All narrated in a matter of fact, yet strangely soothing, tone by Robert Redford. So soothing in fact that at least one visitor nodded off. I reckon he probably missed the best bit.
While the Sundance Kid expounded the glories of the big bang, infinitely expanding universe and other such mind blowing science it dawned on me just how truly insignificant the Earth and by association the entire human race actually is. Talk about your Total Perspective Vortex. At one point they highlighted the Earth in the vastness of galaxies that make up our universe. You couldn't even see it. The life span of our solar system was spelled out relatively to the life span of the universe. I'm pretty sure the neurons firing in my brain can't work fast enough to comprehend how short it is.
There it was. Epiphany. None of it matters. In an absolutely wonderful way. We destroy ourselves in a global thermonuclear war? Doesn't matter. From out there looking in the difference in life span is unquantifiably small.
Yet in spite of this I have decided to do something I have on many occasions said I would not do. Start a blog. From here on in I have decided to spew forth my idiotic ramblings into the public domain. Will anybody read them? I don't know.
It doesn't matter, remember?
This isn't defeatism or emo-esque bleating mind. It's just a simple, beautiful fact.
A couple of years ago my girlfriend and I were on holiday in New York and happened to visit the Planetarium in the Natural History Museum. I would highly recommend it. Not only is it home to the comfiest seating I've ever experienced in a public place but you then get treated to a spectacular simulation of the entire life of our universe from the big bang to it's (I presume largely theoretical) end. All narrated in a matter of fact, yet strangely soothing, tone by Robert Redford. So soothing in fact that at least one visitor nodded off. I reckon he probably missed the best bit.
While the Sundance Kid expounded the glories of the big bang, infinitely expanding universe and other such mind blowing science it dawned on me just how truly insignificant the Earth and by association the entire human race actually is. Talk about your Total Perspective Vortex. At one point they highlighted the Earth in the vastness of galaxies that make up our universe. You couldn't even see it. The life span of our solar system was spelled out relatively to the life span of the universe. I'm pretty sure the neurons firing in my brain can't work fast enough to comprehend how short it is.
There it was. Epiphany. None of it matters. In an absolutely wonderful way. We destroy ourselves in a global thermonuclear war? Doesn't matter. From out there looking in the difference in life span is unquantifiably small.
Yet in spite of this I have decided to do something I have on many occasions said I would not do. Start a blog. From here on in I have decided to spew forth my idiotic ramblings into the public domain. Will anybody read them? I don't know.
It doesn't matter, remember?
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