Ramble #92

Welcome to the latest edition of Ramble, a compilation of what I have been pondering, learning and enjoying for the past little while.

I kind of forgot about this little project of mine as I came back from that year of travel, went back to work and immediately started to study for exams.

Anyway…

Now, grab a beverage and let’s begin.

Something Interesting:

The Paris Olympics opening ceremony was a bit weird. But that’s not the interesting thing.

It was this bit:

And the very French weak willed responses to it’s criticism. Firstly, it was weird, fine. Then the Christians started complaining about blasphemy; which I care very little about.

The interesting bit is when they just decided to memory hole that the act was referred to as "La Cène Sur Un Scène Sur La Seine," i.e. "The Last Supper on a Stage on the Seine" and go with “no, its about Dionysus”.

Apparently the French artistic director for the ceremony thought this was great, when any sentient being can see that it is tacky and looked like a cheap high school art project.

In summary, it is interesting because it was very French…

A Side Project or Two:

Not sure if I ever put this in here, but when we were overseas last year and I was following Casey around the Pole Dancing Studios of the world, I started making a directory:

The Iguana Drop - Pole Dancing Industry Resources. In One Place.

Turns out that it’s really easy to make these sort of websites as a hobby. And I would recommend people try to make a personal website, at least to control your own name on the internet.

Even though a hairdresser got to mine first…

I actually plan on making another directory website for Medical Industry Resources, so if you want to add some suggestions, put them in HERE.

What I am Reading:

• Basic Physiology for Anaesthetists (David Chambers, Christopher Huang and Gareth Matthews)

I have to start studying for exams…

• Nunn’s Applied Respiratory Physiology (Lumb), Respiratory Physiology – the essentials (West), Cardiovascular Physiology (Pappano and Wier), Pharmacokinetics made easy (Birkett), Drugs in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care (Smith) and on and on and on….

(I have PDF’s of these textbooks if any psychopath wants them)

• The Loss of Things I Took for Granted (Adam Kotsko)

College students effectively can’t read and interpret anymore.

• The Cure for Tooth Decay

“Their product is a genetically modified bacterium which infects your mouth, outcompetes all the tooth-decay-causing bacteria, and doesn’t cause tooth decay itself.”

What I am Watching:

• Reacher - Season 2 (Prime)

Definitely not as good as Season 1. The producers just randomly decided to just stop following the book at the end of the season. Reacher fans like Reacher. Just do the books.

…..I’m a Reacher fan.

• The Death of Stalin (Netflix)

Fantastic and I can’t believe I missed it when it came out (2017). The suspicion and paranoia of Stalin’s Purges is made very clear. But the ensemble cast is, at times, hilarious (working out who should stand where at the Stalin’s wake).

• Yellowstone (Stan)

I watched 5 Seasons in about two weeks. I like Cowboy shows.

• Amanda Knox (Netflix)

I missed this years ago when it came out as well. Just an indictment of a completely incompetent Italian investigative service and religiously (literally) dogmatic prosecutor. The important bit to remember is that they literally caught the guy that did it… But the American girl still went to jail for quite a while. By the way, the actual guilty man has since been released, re-offended in some violent way, and has been sent back to prison. Also the ’Journalists’ in this story are disgraceful.

• A History of Violence

I’ll basically watch anything with Viggo Mortensen. Good movie. I think it might also be one of the first movies to start doing gritty violence.

This movie seems to be in the lineage of precursors to the John Wick, Russo Brothers style of filming realistic violence.

I think ‘Collateral’ with Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx is also in this spectrum as well.

Like this:

What I am Listening to:

I think I’m just a sucker for country angst with a foot-tappin’ beat.

Musings in Medicine:

Oh, if anyone is interested in the Syllabus for the College of Intensive Care Medicine’s First Part Exam, you can find it here.

I don’t think non-medical folks understand quite how much assessment and ‘laborious out of hours study’ and ‘effectively mandatory very expensive exam preparation courses’ we go through for years and years. It’s probably something that should be more widely known.

What I am Thinking:

Everything gets easier when you simplify things. Most questions have black and white answers. We need not complicate everything with shades of grey. No, you would never leave your kids alone with that person. Yes, this country is better than that country. The causes of this problem are obvious. That issue is made up, not your problem and should be ignored. ‘No’ is a complete sentence. And on and on and on.

Travel - Expedition Denouement:

Again, I’ve forgotten about all this for a while, but I am updating the Travel Page I made to compie travel writings to make it easier to keep up to date with:

• Denouement Dashboard for Country Summaries - Check Singapore Here
• Social stuff over Here, Here and Here.
• And the growing document of 'How to Quit Your Job and Escape for a Year (and Why You Should…)'

Something I’m Browsing:

The Passport Index

It’s interesting to compare the ‘power’ of different nationalities’ passports.

Australia’s ranks fairly high.

I think that if you have read this far, I gentleman's agreement has been entered - and you should feel guilty for not subscribing...

Closing Thoughts:

Thank you once again for reading along with me.

If you found something you liked, let me know.

If you think I can do something a little smoother, please let me know.

Talk soon.

Luke.