Surgery Blogging

Among the best blogging over the past couple of months has been Mark Hoofnagle's account of his first few weeks of surgery as a medical student in a US hospital.  It has given me a fascinating glimpse into a world I knew nothing about (no, I do not watch hospital dramas on TV).  The various posts are: Surgery, My feet hurt, A week of surgery - some impressions, Wounds!, Surgeons have cool tools, A month into surgery - back to the books, and Trauma.  Mark ends his latest post thus:

I'd also like to take this opportunity to ask a couple of favors.

One, I'd very much like people to stop shooting one another. It's really terrible what bullets do to a body.

Two, it also might help if you all could wear helmets. If I thought you could avoid hitting your head that would be one thing, but the least you can do is take some precautions. Wear them a lot - riding bikes, motorcycles, skiing, etc. In fact, just wear them all the time. Sitting at your desk? Wear a helmet. Walking in the park? Wear a helmet. We're going to start a new style right here and now. We'll call it the "I'm either about to get on a bike or am prone to seizures" look.

It would make me feel better. Really.

Teaching Lies

Here is a rather nice post by Kai Chang on how one of his teachers used to include one deliberate falsehood in each of his lectures.

A Red Kite Day

I've just got back from a rail trip to Birmingham. I saw six red kites (Milvus milvus) on the way.  On the journey up, there were two a couple of hundred metres apart over Goring.  On the journey back, there was one just south of Banbury, one high over Radley and another low over a housing estate in Didcot.  And walking back from Reading station there was yet another high above the south car-park at the Royal Berkshire Hospital. (Picture by Thomas Kraft.)

Great White Egret?

This morning I saw what looked like a white heron in the River Blackwater between Farnborough North and Frimley.  It was about the size of a grey heron but with pure white plumage and a black beak and black legs.  As I approached, it flew up from the river and disappeared behind some trees.  A bit further along the path I saw it again in the river and this time, when it flew up, it looped back over my head, allowing me a clear view.  It flew with its head tucked back over its neck, like grey herons do, and had its legs trailing out behind.  My reference books suggest that this was some form of egret, probably a great white egret (Ardea alba - sometimes  referred to by the older name Egretta alba).  However, the beaks of great white egrets are usually yellow and mine appeared black, so there may be room for doubt.  Anyhow, I don't remember seeing anything like it before.

Update on Sat 2008-03-01 by Tristram Brelstaff

I saw this bird again in the same place on the following Monday morning (February 25).  I only got a brief glimpse before it flew off but it definitely looked a bit smaller than a fully-grown grey heron.  I now think that it was a little egret (Egretta garzetta).  Little egrets are known in this area.  Here is a photo of a pair at Dinton Pastures near Reading.

Google as Problem Solver

Google search can be used to solve in seconds problems that were effectively insoluble a couple of decades ago.  See this post by Mark Dominus for a good example.