02 MAR 2019 by ideonexus
Eisenhower's Ability to "Sneer" a Powerful Motivator
By the time Dwight David Eisenhower was first elected president in 1952, he was already 62 years old. Despite this, he had had a relatively unremarkable health history. A 1923 appendectomy left him with a predilection to develop lesions between the lining of the abdominal cavity and the scar. In 1949, his doctor told him to cut down on his four-pack-a-day smoking habit. Eisenhower, after just a few days of limiting his cigarettes, quit cold turkey and never smoked again. He attributed his suc...Folksonomies: motivation
Folksonomies: motivation
1 
notes
notes03 APR 2015 by ideonexus
Prejudice Against Transhumanism in Star Trek
Star Trek’s greatest villains are, almost without exception, the products of human (or whatever-the-original-species-was) enhancement. For example Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan, universally regarded as the best Trek movie, has as its villain Khan Noonien Singh.
[...]
In Star Trek: The Next Generation, of course, we get the Borg, cyborgs from the other side of the galaxy who exist as part of a single collective consciousness which they continually seek to forcibly add other species to. And ...
1 A reoccurring theme of bioism in the series.
21 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
Ira Remsen Experiments with Nitric Acid
While reading in a textbook of chemistry, ... I came across the statement, 'nitric acid acts upon copper.' I was getting tired of reading such absurd stuff and I determined to see what this meant. Copper was more or less familiar to me, for copper cents were then in use. I had seen a bottle marked 'nitric acid' on a table in the doctor's office where I was then 'doing time.' I did not know its peculiarities, but I was getting on and likely to learn. The spirit of adventure was upon me. Having... 1 notes
notesAn amusing anecdote.
21 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
Doctors Should Pause Before Tending to Patients
When a doctor arrives to attend some patient of the working class, he ought not to feel his pulse the moment he enters, as is nearly always done without regard to the circumstances of the man who lies sick; he should not remain standing while he considers what he ought to do, as though the fate of a human being were a mere trifle; rather let him condescend to sit down for awhile. Folksonomies: medicine
Folksonomies: medicine
1 notes
notesAnd consider that it is a a human being they are tending to.
28 MAR 2012 by ideonexus
Religion is a Solution to a Non-Problem
At the 2005 World Religions Conference, I was asked to represent atheism, sitting on the stage with a Buddhist, Muslim, Christian, Jew, Sikh, Hindu, and Native American spiritualist. (I accepted the invitation only after making it clear that atheism is not a religion, and they agreed to include it as a “world philosophy.”) The theme of the conference was “salvation,” and each of us was asked to summarize our respective positions on that topic. After pointing out that “sin” is a re...Folksonomies: atheism
Folksonomies: atheism
1 notes
notesIt's like a doctor going around cutting people in order to heal them.
23 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Doctors Interfere with the Living Principle
Doctor, no medicine.—We are machines made to live—organized expressly for that purpose.—Such is our nature.—Do not counteract the living principle.—Leave it at liberty to defend itself, and it will do better than your drugs. 1 notes
notesA quote from Emperor Napoléon Bonaparte on how living things know how to survive on their own without the interference of medicine.
04 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
A Very Qualified Statement on Experimenting on Patients
I think it perfectly just, that he who, from the love of experiment, quits an approved for an uncertain practice, should suffer the full penalty of Egyptian law against medical innovation; as I would consign to the pillory, the wretch, who out of regard to his character, that is, to his fees, should follow the routine, when, from constant experience he is sure that his patient will die under it, provided any, not inhuman, deviation would give his patient a chance. Folksonomies: experimentation human experimentation
Folksonomies: experimentation human experimentation
1 notes
notesDr. Thomas Beddoes condemns experiments for the sake of experiments, but appears to leave an opening for humane deviations from treatments where the doctor knows from repeated experience that the treatment does not work.
03 SEP 2011 by ideonexus
The Doctor's Most Agonizing Decisions are in Human Relations
The dedicated doctor knows that he must be both scientist and humanitarian; his most agonizing decisions lie in the field of human relations. 1 notes
notesBecause they must perform as both scientist and humanitarian.
21 MAY 2011 by ideonexus
The First Moments After Birth
After the baby is born, most doctors, including myself, hold it in our lap momentarily, to allow baby blood in the placenta to pass by gravity through the umbilical cord back into the baby, and to wipe the baby as clean as possible with gauze squares. We feel this is a substitute for the animal mother's licking her baby. This probably has nothing to do with cleanliness but serves as a dermal reflex. It is amazing how many babies void or empty their bladders upon this stimulation. It has been ...Folksonomies: pregnancy childbirth
Folksonomies: pregnancy childbirth
What happens medically and biologically in the first moments after a baby is born.
04 JAN 2011 by TGAW
Eisenhower and the Ability to Snear
While he was at Key West, Eisenhower had been told by [his doctor] that he would have to cut down from four packs of cigarettes per day to one. After a few days of limiting his smoking, Eisenhower decided that counting cigarettes was worse than not smoking at all, and he quit. He never had another cigarette in his life, a fact that amazed the gang, his other friends, the reporters who covered his activities, and the public. Eisenhower was frequently asked how he did it; he replied that it ...Folksonomies: eisenhower cigarettes
Folksonomies: eisenhower cigarettes
1 notes
notesA passage describing how Dwight Eisenhower found his ability to snear at weaklings to help motivate him to quit smoking.
