"A beer and some convo"
I love my professional colleagues sometimes. This is a quote of the whole referral detail from one patient:
Right shoulder and right hip pain following Bell’s Palsy 6 months ago.
Honestly! What rubbish. Bell’s Palsy is a weird neural thing in the facial muscles. To link these things is bloody ludicrous.
Have fun.
Seems Mr Gatto (apparently I’m not familiar enough to use “Anthony”) has had a dodgy back and some interesting news re this was put on his forum. Basically he says that he got it sorted by the Cirque du Soleil people. An interesting post which I replied to as below. No doubt there’ll be more follow-ups on this.
quote:
Originally posted by anthonygattoSince around 2004, I have had a chronic lower back problem. It always had some pain and on some days it was nearly unbearable. I went to Doctors and they could never pinpoint what exactly the problem was.
There’s your problem. Why did you bother going to doctors? Why didn’t you ask someone who knows something about backs before now?
quote:
So, they had me take some x-rays and sent me to see their orthopedic doctor. He came up with the conclusion that the problem was not stemming from my back but rather from a lack of flexibility in my hamstrings. This caused my lower back to be pulled therefore causing some vertebrae to lock.
I wonder why they bothered with x-rays? Xrays are rarely useful in backs and just expose you to carcinogenic xrays for no purpose really.
Oh and hamstrings don’t attach to your back at any point. What they can do is pull your pelvis slightly into posterior rotation if they’re very tight or over-active (not the same thing).
quote:
So they sent me to Pilates class to learn some techniques. I also started to stretch adamantly and after about 1 months of becoming more flexible, I noticed that my lower back was not hurting. Now I stretch my hamstrings quite a bit, I am not what I call flexible but since I have been doing this, I have had no lower back pain. I am now going on 4 months without it!
That is good news that your pains are down but I reckon you’re undervaluing the correct treatment here. You also said you’re doing Pilates. This is known to reduce back pain. It works on the muscles that support the lower back – get them fitter and you have fewer problems.
Poor “core stability” can also lead to over-active hamstrings which will then appear to be short – when in fact they’re just over-working. Mine are a case in point – I improved my core stability (with stuff rather like Pilates) and my hamstrings appear to have lengthened – and I haven’t done any stretches to them. It’s just that they’re now working less. So yes – sorry about the waffle but Pilates = good for backs.
Flexibility is generally good but remember that just because a muscle is “tight” doesn’t necessarily mean it’s short, it might just be over-working. If it’s short it just needs stretching; if it’s over-working then something else needs to be looked at (that’s where your Pilates comes in in this instance).
quote:
I just wanted to share this with all of you in case anyone out there had a similar problem. I would have never thought it could be from flexibility and I am so glad that I had a doctor who didn’t just have money on his mind and recommend a useless surgery.A.G.
I’d agree that people with dodgy backs need to get assessment from someone who knows what they’re doing (and it sounds like your guy knew his stuff). And avoid back surgery like the plague if you possibly can. The possible side effects of back surgery can be horrific.
Have fun.
Dawkins’ latest was on tonight. How odd.
The whole thing was as expected and standard. But one thing struck me as a little strange.
He was talking about homeopathy and saying that the crap about the memory of water was ludicrous. He argues that if water can “remember” the active homeopathic ingredient (as the adherents have it) then would it not remember pollutants as well? There are so many atoms in a glass of water then he says that every time you drink water at least 1 atom of it has passed through Oliver Cromwell’s bladder at some point (assumedly when he was alive).
There are so many questions in that but mainly why the hell did he pick Oliver Cromwell? Usually these things are Julius Caesar or Napoleon. Nice to see a British bod but still. Why not Boudicca? Sexism prolly.
Out of the whole show that’s the bit that stuck out most. It just seems so odd.
Have fun.
[edit] There’s been another faith talking bollocks story on the news tonight. There was a plane which landed at Okinawa yesterday with an engine on fire. People got out sharpish and as the last ones got across the tarmac the engine exploded. So why was the headline “Miracle escape”? It wasn’t a bloody miracle; it was good design, scientific testing and good planning. But crediting god seems to be easier than thanking the hard working technicians, engineers, designers and scientists. How depressing. If the passengers had all died the commentators would be quick enough to blame the designers etc though. Wouldn’t they just?
Just heard a news item on the radio about the falling number of petrol stations in the UK. Apparently there are far fewer than there ever were. And according to the man from the beeb
“If the current trend continues there will be no forecourts left by 2020″.
Magic! That’s right there will be nowhere to fill up by 2020. It would make cars less attractive I suppose. Or it might be that the reporter doesn’t have a clue here. What’s this? A journalist not understanding how to use basic maths? Never.
Have fun.
Ever get the idea that there’s a different world to the one you live in?
I want a flat not a house. I want a decent flat not a shitty house. So there’s some new flats being done in Leicester and I went to see their Marketing Suite on Saturday. The woman kept reiterating that it was the Marketing Suite and not a show home; she was very insistent about this. Still the flat was nice enough if you discount the slightly dimpled piece of ceramic that passed for a sink in the en-suite bit.
So this was a ground floor, right next to a busy road flat. Yours to own at a knock-down price. Merely £230k. What!? A mere £100k overpriced for the area.
£230k for a ground floor flat? Well the spec demands a premium price. Where else could you have kitchen drawers that are slightly longer than usual? Or a hideous brown carpet in the bedroom?
And they think they’re going to sell 44 of these. The cheapest flat in the whole building is a tiny 1 bed flat at a bargain £160k. That’s 50k more than my house is worth and I have quite a decent sized house.
Who on earth thinks this up? They’re building stage 2 soon, another few dozen flats then stage 3 is 450 “dwellings” and then there’s stage 4 with even more new flats. There aren’t that many people with that much money in Leicester. I spy Londoners designing and pricing and having no bloody clue.
Shocking.
Second flat I saw was DB’s place in Liverpool. A nice drive there with P listening to ISIHAC on cd. Lovely little flat with peculiarities such as the hot water pump shutting off when it gets hot (as is its job to get). He has a mezzanine. I want a mezzanine. Some of the flats in the same block were also available to buy and they were at decent prices. I don’t want to live in Liverpool though.
Nice event with a bunch of nice people including Sweavo, Mamph, another Pete, Helen showed up late (typical) and of course Deeb. He has too many gadgets and I want at least one of them. Internet radio jobby was excellent. Had fun trying to find international radio stations but they didn’t have RRR, tsk. Chatted to various folk about various stuff and watched internet videos and giggled a lot. Got laughed at for timorously suggesting that the chocolate goodies could be placed on the table. Not sure why they giggled. The table was the obvious place to put stuff if you ask me.
Then went to sleep only to be woken by a combination of seagulls and dickheads singing (for 2 hours starting at 5.30). So a long drive back. Then more driving to pick up K from t’airport. Then home to sleep, properly this time.
A good if frustrating weekend.
Have fun.
Seems the tories want to abolish inheritance tax. Can anyone hear the word “bribe” in there somewhere?
So then inheritance tax, what’s the deal?
It seems odd that the tories would want to abolish it. They’re the party of unfettered capitalism after all. Don’t capitalists state that “there should be a level playing field” and also “people do well on merit”? So if you believe that then you should also believe in a 100% inheritance tax for all otherwise neither of those previous statements hold true.
The other wotsit was a thing showing the most disappointing tourist sights/sites in the UK. The 3rd was Blackpool Tower, 2nd was the Angel of the North, the top was Stonehenge.
The Angel!?!?!? Surely not. It’s not really a destination in my mind. It’s just something that’s there; and it’s wonderful. Hardly a better example of public art anywhere. Certainly better than that statue of the french bird they’ve got at New York that they shoved somewhere inaccessible to keep it out of the way. I mean really!
The best one was Alnwick Castle. Never been. Maybe I should go. Will it be full of bloody Harry Potter fans? Prolly.
Have fun.
Search terms from my old blogspirit blog:
Fun for all the family.
And newer ones from here:
This is a quote from a commentator on the Grauniad’s website during a conversation about Prof Dawkins’ last tv show:
Scientists like Dawkins reminds me of those doctors who ridicule alternative medicine. Better to leave medicine to them they say, as they look up the latest Pfizer drug to administer, side effects and all. They are part of the control system that insists we live our lives as they dictate. They point out that some mediums con people out of a few pounds, while ignoring the systematic financial industrial scale theft being carried on daily by the Pharmaceutical and medical research industries.
Oh dear, where to begin?
So who “ridicules” alternative medicine”? Well people who know what they’re talking about in the main. Medicine isn’t divided into traditional and alternative. It’s divided into “stuff that works” and “stuff that doesn’t”. The fact that the vast majority of “alternative” medicines have been shown to be utterly useless when compared to actual medicine doesn’t seem to faze its adherents. And then they have the temerity to say that proper medicine is bad for you. Unbelievable. True it can have side effects – but then the side effects of alternative medicine can be quite bad – ie not getting better.
And then the “control system” argument. Oh yes all the GPs around are there purely to keep you in your place. Either that or they want to help you. Would you rather they get you better or would you rather they pander to your prejudices? I know which my answer would be. They’ve had the training, they have the experience, why wouldn’t you listen to them? The aromatherapists may also have experience but then they’ve never cured cancer or given you better eyesight or removed an arthritic knee or dealt with a disfiguring scar usw usw….
Marcus Brigstocke recently did a skit about the “power of humanity” in a southern US style pep rally sort of thing. He cured someone’s poor eyesight there and then by asking him to “put his glasses on”. Science really does work you know. It’s not evil or oppressive; it’s useful.
Then the writer witters on about mediums (scum of the earth) so the argument breaks down at this point. Random targets for an unfocussed attack.
And then on to the “systematic financial industrial scale theft being carried on daily by the Pharmaceutical and medical research industries”. Again another random target. The economics of medicine are irrelevant as to whether it works or not. But at the very least they’re an industry that gets people better rather than giving them false hope.
Science isn’t perfect, it doesn’t “know everything” but it does know a lot. And plenty more than the charlatans know.
Have fun.
Lovely article here about the hell that is “clubs” (and the comments are wonderful too). And the following lines about clubbers entertained me no end:
I see them as walking insecurity beacons, slaves to the perceived judgment of others, trapped within a self- perpetuating circle of crushing status anxiety.
The only thing missing are the trendy pubs that have music nearly as loud (so you still can’t converse) but have no entertainment licence so you’re not allowed to dance. Really what is the point?
Have fun.
PS More really impressive search engine hits. I love this facility:
Literally just back from going to day 1 of the Crawley convention. Wasn’t impressed last year and didn’t think I’d go this year but by god I’m pleased I did. Storming day.
Started off early enough with a drive up to D’s for 8. Not a terrible trip to Crawley either, a surprise as it’s M1 then M25.
Saw poi in the car park as we pulled in and then 1 or 2 familiar faces. Crawley is slightly odd for a few reasons. First is that there are loads of people there who you just never see at other cons. I reckon these bloody southerners just assume that north of Tottenham is arctic tundra.
Did my jugglermail business – Fak’s got the books and will be using the time between now and Durham to read as much as is Fakly possible. I have stuff from Alex to give to Jay too.
Paid and bumped into DB and Sarah (aka Gary Baldy) so first job…off to the pub! We actually went to book a table for later. Turned out they didn’t reserve tables – just turn up and hope – so we stopped for a drink anyway. Back to do more chatting and hanging out. Back to pub with D and Gary for more beer and a touch of food. Then back to the site. Gary buggered off to prep for her show and then we met DB again who wanted food. So back to pub again for DB and D to eat. More beer too. Somewhere in the middle of that I finally got some video of Carla dislocating her shoulder, finger, wrist (you name it, she can dislocate it).
Photos: Battery ran out so only a few:
Back to the site for the show. My word what a thing.
I’ve prolly forgotten lots of stuff about this show. But the important bit – the best show I’ve seen for many a long convention – top marks and a gold star.
Well that’s the first half done and wow. By far the best 1st half of a show I’ve seen for, well, ever. Better than any BJC show I’ve seen. Mixed and skilled and funny at times and loads of applauding. Superb. And on to part 2.
So that was the show. Oh apart from Sarah and Ady turning up late for the curtain call. Funniest bit of the show (apart from bits of Ockham’s Razor’s act). There was a downer to the show though and it’s nowt to do with the acts or the organisers. There were lots of kids there – cool enough but they did insist on squealing with apparent pain when people were applauding – I blame those shit shows on telly where they have people singing and the audience squeal throughout (why?) – leave it to ITV Saturday evening shows please. Oh and very well done the nobber who started the audience (well the idiot portion of it) clapping along at the start of Gandinis second piece – so pleased that faded out embarrasingly after a few seconds – how inappropriate can you get?
Now what about the compere? Last year’s comperes were not great at all (being nice here) and one of the main issues was the lack of compering ie not telling us who was coming up, not telling us exactly when they were turning up oh and not being funny. They went the other way this year – Charlie Holland did the job this year and managed decently enough while giving us far more info re each act than we really needed. Much better this year.
So home now and should be sleeping. But I wanted to write before sleep.
A very very good day topped by a superb show. Terribly well done.
Have fun.
PS New search terms to bring up this site:
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