Maybe I picked a bad time to start a blog based on news, but its made me realise, how boring the news is. There really isn't much going on in the world.
But another way of looking at it is, what constitutes news? No doubt you will have been exposed to the view that news is just a collection of environmental catastrophes, crime stories and other bad news. And the rationale behind this is, that no one really wants to hear good news.
Think about how people at work react when you tell them good news. For example, if you told them that Mike from accounting had won $512,000 on Millionaire, bought his dream house, and was taking a holiday to Tuscany. They might say things like:
"Oh thats great news"
"Good on him!"
"I didnt think it was possible to win $512,000 on Millionaire. I thought it went straight from $500,000 to $1,000,000?"
And that would be about it.
But what if you told them, that Mike had crashed out of Millionaire after getting the first question wrong, his house had burnt down, and he had been arrested for selling drugs at "The Tuscany" Nightclub.
No doubt, there would be much more interest. People would want to know every sordid detail:
"I heard his wife burnt it down for the insurance"
"He was always a bit suspect"
"No one goes to "The Tuscany" any more"
"I heard he shot Kennedy"
In fact, people would probably still be talking about it 3 months later. If Mike was allowed to come back at work, there would probably still be whispers around the office about his exploits.
The point you could take from that is that people don't like good news as much as bad news. But maybe there is a different point. Tragedy and bad news, are not representative of whats happening in society. A rise in crime is front page news. A drop in crime may not even make it into the paper.
The moral of the story, is stop watching the news. And stop reading blogs devoted to comment on the news.
Thursday, 20 September 2007
Tuesday, 18 September 2007
Bye Bye White Coat
Another sign of the old order is passing into the history books. The humble white coat, worn by generations of doctors has now been deemed a health hazard by British Health Authorities (see here).
Unveiling a new "Bare below the elbow" dress code, the British Health secretary said that it would cut down infection rates. Apparently the dangly ends of sleeves, ties, necklaces and dreadlocks, pick up germs and spread them around better then a biological weapons programme.
So, banning the white coat is a good thing for health. But is it a good thing for medicine? Admittedly many medical specialties, and in some countries all specialties, have got rid of the white coat, because it is intimidating to patients, scares little children, and isn't a particularly fetching fashion statement, unless you are appearing in a cosmetic company advertisement.
But banning the white coat is much less extreme than this new idea of "bare below the elbow". Is it just a step away from declaring "bare below the shoulder"? Are we doomed to seeing a generation of doctors who are only allowed to wear muscle tees?
The placebo effect explains how in some cases, even when people are given a sugar pill instead of the real medicine, they still get better. The placebo effect can be explained by a number of things, but one of the biggest factors is the patent's confidence in the person treating them. Do we risk upsetting the positive effects of the placebo, if we let loose a new breed of doctors, dressed like extras from a Baywatch episode?
Unveiling a new "Bare below the elbow" dress code, the British Health secretary said that it would cut down infection rates. Apparently the dangly ends of sleeves, ties, necklaces and dreadlocks, pick up germs and spread them around better then a biological weapons programme.
So, banning the white coat is a good thing for health. But is it a good thing for medicine? Admittedly many medical specialties, and in some countries all specialties, have got rid of the white coat, because it is intimidating to patients, scares little children, and isn't a particularly fetching fashion statement, unless you are appearing in a cosmetic company advertisement.
But banning the white coat is much less extreme than this new idea of "bare below the elbow". Is it just a step away from declaring "bare below the shoulder"? Are we doomed to seeing a generation of doctors who are only allowed to wear muscle tees?
The placebo effect explains how in some cases, even when people are given a sugar pill instead of the real medicine, they still get better. The placebo effect can be explained by a number of things, but one of the biggest factors is the patent's confidence in the person treating them. Do we risk upsetting the positive effects of the placebo, if we let loose a new breed of doctors, dressed like extras from a Baywatch episode?
Monday, 17 September 2007
Navigation Problems
OK, this isn't from the news, but it is painful enough that it should be. I own one of those Sat-Nav (Satellite Navigation) devices that you stick on the windscreen of your car with a suction cup. I'm not sure where I have seen one of those suction cups before, but I think its the kind those human fly guys use to scale tall buildings. Only if a human fly used the same suction caps as they use on the average Sat-Nav device, he'd probably find it even harder to get decent life insurance.
The suction cup on my Sat-Nav has an annoying habit of deciding to stop sucking half-way through a car journey, sending the whole unit tumbling into my lap, and then onto the floor, which is usually followed by sudden swerving, screeching of brakes, followed by horn honking, screams of abuse, and then quiet introspection (optional).
I can't really understand this. The Sat-Nav is a remarkable achievement. If you had told me 10 years ago, that a small device the size of a bar of soap (O.K. may be slightly bigger than a bar of soap) would be able to give me step-by-step directions to where I was going I would be amazed.
Of course if you had also mentioned that occasionally the device would send me the wrong way down a one-way street, direct me into an open field, or give the shortest route between two points as driving into a river (as my Sat-Nav has), I'd be slightly less impressed.
But yet, here it is. This technological wonder exists. It can direct me anywhere, and it can do so, in any number of different voices and accents (including Homer Simpson), tell me about traffic, and speed cameras.
And so how come the clever people who made this little box of magic were not able to produce a suction cap, that, well, sucks.
I don't know how many accidents have been caused by Sat-Nav-Suction-Cup-Failure-Related- Incidents (SNSCFRI), but I think we need urgent research into this.
If you have any answers relating to this worrying phenomenon, or your own instances of SNSCFRI, please let me know.
The suction cup on my Sat-Nav has an annoying habit of deciding to stop sucking half-way through a car journey, sending the whole unit tumbling into my lap, and then onto the floor, which is usually followed by sudden swerving, screeching of brakes, followed by horn honking, screams of abuse, and then quiet introspection (optional).
I can't really understand this. The Sat-Nav is a remarkable achievement. If you had told me 10 years ago, that a small device the size of a bar of soap (O.K. may be slightly bigger than a bar of soap) would be able to give me step-by-step directions to where I was going I would be amazed.
Of course if you had also mentioned that occasionally the device would send me the wrong way down a one-way street, direct me into an open field, or give the shortest route between two points as driving into a river (as my Sat-Nav has), I'd be slightly less impressed.
But yet, here it is. This technological wonder exists. It can direct me anywhere, and it can do so, in any number of different voices and accents (including Homer Simpson), tell me about traffic, and speed cameras.
And so how come the clever people who made this little box of magic were not able to produce a suction cap, that, well, sucks.
I don't know how many accidents have been caused by Sat-Nav-Suction-Cup-Failure-Related- Incidents (SNSCFRI), but I think we need urgent research into this.
If you have any answers relating to this worrying phenomenon, or your own instances of SNSCFRI, please let me know.
Sunday, 16 September 2007
APEC and Acronyms
So George Bush was in Australia this week attending the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit. I had to look up what APEC stood for, so I can forgive President Bush for thinking he was at the OPEC summit (click here for video). (OPEC is the group of oil producing countries, of which the US isn't even a member).
OK, maybe Bush was wrong to get confused, and he didn't help things when he called his host's troops in Iraq, Austrian instead of Australian, but I think we are all missing the bigger picture here. APEC is a very bad acronym. But it is more a reflection on the sorry state of acronyms in general. Acronyms are lazy, they are confusing, and they cause pain. This entire sorry episode with Bush in Australia should actually signal the beginning of the end for acronyms.
I think my disdain for acronyms began when I discovered that the name of the largest separatist group in the Philippines is called the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. They are often referred to as MILF. Really unfortunate that one. I think this was summed up in a recent BBC online article that stated:
"But although the MILF has experience overseas, Mr Murad insisted that their struggle was purely a domestic one. "
Ummmm, ok...
In another example of unfortunate acronyms, the published summary of information regarding nuclear detonation or Nuclear Detonation Information Summary is conveniently referred to as NUDIS.
This acronym thing has to be stopped.
And just to show I have Presidential support on this, here is what George Bush thinks about all of this:
"Free societies are hopeful societies. And free societies will be allies against these hateful few who have no conscience, who kill at the whim of a hat."
OK, maybe Bush was wrong to get confused, and he didn't help things when he called his host's troops in Iraq, Austrian instead of Australian, but I think we are all missing the bigger picture here. APEC is a very bad acronym. But it is more a reflection on the sorry state of acronyms in general. Acronyms are lazy, they are confusing, and they cause pain. This entire sorry episode with Bush in Australia should actually signal the beginning of the end for acronyms.
I think my disdain for acronyms began when I discovered that the name of the largest separatist group in the Philippines is called the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. They are often referred to as MILF. Really unfortunate that one. I think this was summed up in a recent BBC online article that stated:
"But although the MILF has experience overseas, Mr Murad insisted that their struggle was purely a domestic one. "
Ummmm, ok...
In another example of unfortunate acronyms, the published summary of information regarding nuclear detonation or Nuclear Detonation Information Summary is conveniently referred to as NUDIS.
This acronym thing has to be stopped.
And just to show I have Presidential support on this, here is what George Bush thinks about all of this:
"Free societies are hopeful societies. And free societies will be allies against these hateful few who have no conscience, who kill at the whim of a hat."
Friday, 14 September 2007
O.J. is back
So O.J. Simpson is in the news again? Great! He's apparently a suspect in the theft of sporting memorabilia from a hotel room in Las Vegas. Sporting memorabilia? Well, I guess some of that stuff can be worth a lot. But I'm not sure what he expected to do with it?
O.J.: "I'd like to sell this item of sporting memorabilia. It's Babe Ruth's bat"
Buyer: "You mean Babe Ruth's bat that was stolen from a hotel room in Las Vegas last week?"
O.J.: "Oh. You heard about that?"
Not being American, its hard for me to really fathom the whole O.J. thing. I get the impression, with this kind of story, the natural response is "I can't believe how low he's gone. He used to be a hero, and now look at him"
That's fine for the average American, because you all knew him as some kind of a football legend. But you've got to remember, that for the rest of us around the world, the first we ever heard of him, was that he's some guy who might have killed his wife.
When thats all you know about someone, it doesn't take too much imagination to picture them breaking into a room to steal a baseball. In fact, its an improvement.
O.J.: "I'd like to sell this item of sporting memorabilia. It's Babe Ruth's bat"
Buyer: "You mean Babe Ruth's bat that was stolen from a hotel room in Las Vegas last week?"
O.J.: "Oh. You heard about that?"
Not being American, its hard for me to really fathom the whole O.J. thing. I get the impression, with this kind of story, the natural response is "I can't believe how low he's gone. He used to be a hero, and now look at him"
That's fine for the average American, because you all knew him as some kind of a football legend. But you've got to remember, that for the rest of us around the world, the first we ever heard of him, was that he's some guy who might have killed his wife.
When thats all you know about someone, it doesn't take too much imagination to picture them breaking into a room to steal a baseball. In fact, its an improvement.
First Post
Welcome to Museflash.
I created this blog in response to the absolute scarcity of decently written blogs out there.
I figured, if no one else could write a decent blog, then it wouldn't hurt for me to share my own un-edited crap with the world.
I know that the aim of this blog should be to make intelligent comment on the news stories of the day. This is a noble and worthy calling, and I will be fully devoted to this for at least 3 days.
After this, my blog will descend into the usual inane drivel about everyday life and the obligatory links to YouTube videos. You have been warned...
I created this blog in response to the absolute scarcity of decently written blogs out there.
I figured, if no one else could write a decent blog, then it wouldn't hurt for me to share my own un-edited crap with the world.
I know that the aim of this blog should be to make intelligent comment on the news stories of the day. This is a noble and worthy calling, and I will be fully devoted to this for at least 3 days.
After this, my blog will descend into the usual inane drivel about everyday life and the obligatory links to YouTube videos. You have been warned...
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