Now that I’m laid up with this broken ankle, I thought I should delve into the medical profession for a few items of trivia. Unfortunately, most of my conversations these days are with doctors, nurses, hospitals, and those lovely insurance companies. I should mention that as a young kid I was bullied for almost a year which makes me very aware of people who bully others. I understand that medical folks are only trying to do good, but really their job is all about being gentle bullies and I tend to react badly at times. It makes me a little crazy. I’m sure that somewhere in one of the many medical computer files some well-meaning person has noted next to my name, “A-Hole“. So, sit back and enjoy some medical trivia from a proud, card-carrying A-Hole.
The Egyptian mummy was a standard drug of European pharmacology until the eighteenth century. Despite criticism within the medical profession, doctors prescribed mummy powder as a cure for internal ailments. Portions of many embalmed Egyptian dead were swallowed before science and common sense rendered the practice obsolete.
Sigmund Freud turned down a $10,000.00 fee in 1920 to spend six months in New York treating patients in the morning and lecturing in the afternoon. He calculated that he would return to Vienna poorer than when he left so he declined.
Opium was frequently used as a painkiller by Army doctors during the US Civil War. By the end of the war, according to conservative estimates 100,000 soldiers had become addicted to opium, at a time when the population of the entire country was only 40,000,000.
In the eighteenth century, there were American slaves who were physicians. They treated not only other slaves and free blacks and whites as well, until restricted by law to serving only the black community.
Approximately 3500 men were practicing medicine at the time of the American Revolution. Only about 400 had an actual medical degree. Of the much larger number of women who practiced, even a smaller number had any formal training.
As I’ve stated many times before I’m not a fan of any organized religion. I’ve given my reasons for feeling that way many times and won’t bore you with the details again. It seems that I’m not totally alone in those feelings as reflected by the following statements made by people of note. Read on!
“A Christian is one who follows the teaching of Christ in so far as they are not inconsistent with a life of sin.” Ambrose Bierce
“I don’t believe in God because I don’t believe in Mother Goose.” Clarence Darrow
“Every day people are straying away from the church and going back to God.” Lenny Bruce
“So far as religion of the day is concerned, it is a damned fake – Religion is bunk.” Thomas Edison
“When a man is free of religion, has a better chance to live a normal and wholesome life.” Sigmund Freud
“The Bible is nothing, but a succession of civil rights struggles by the Jewish people against their oppressors.” Jesse Jackson
“I do believe our Army chaplains, taken as a class, are the worst men we have in our service.” Abraham Lincoln
“The Creator is a comedian whose audience is afraid to laugh.” H. L. Mencken
“I think there is an immense shortage of Christian charity among so-called Christians.” Harry S Truman
“The Catholic faith is confession on Saturday. Absolution on Sunday. At it again on Monday.” H.G. Wells
I’m not preaching with this post because that would be somewhat hypocritical. It’s just nice to hear from others who agree with my beliefs. Too many Christians have been less than kind in their criticisms of my opinions on religion. Here’s my quote for today.
“Have a great week and best wishes from a “Recovering Catholic”.
I think you all need another dose of this blogs specialty, Useless Information. After working all day at the office or as a homemaker your head is filled with numbers, To-Do lists, and nasty thoughts about your boss or other co-workers. Even though your mind is racing with all this stuff it’s now my job to slow things down, make you smile, and begin the relaxation process that’s so badly needed by us all.
These facts are sometimes funny but always interesting and I forward them along to you because I feel your mental well being is now my responsibility. Pour yourself a beer or glass of wine, put your feet up, turn on some mellow music and just relax. Unwind totally, pet the dog or cat, kiss the kids, and a big wet one for your spouse. Here they are:
Elvis Presley’s favorite amusement park ride was the bumper cars.
Albert Einstein slept 10 hours a night.
The game of badminton was once called “poona”.
Some obsessed fan paid $14,000.00 for the bra worn by Marilyn Monroe in the move Some Like It Hot.
Sammy Davis Jr. was originally known professionally as “Silent Sam, the Dancing Midget.”
About a quarter of the oxygen in your blood is used by the brain.
Sigmund Freud had a morbid fear of ferns.
According to mathematicians, the billionth digit of pi is 9.
Millie the White House pet dog earned more than four times as much as her owner, President Bush, in 1991.
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin claims to have been the first man to “piss in his pants on the moon.”
There are more plastic flamingos in the United States than real ones.
Alexander the Great was buried in a vat of honey.
The Hundred Years War lasted 116 years.
In 1992 Lee Harvey Oswald’s cadaver tag was sold at auction for $6,600.
The average U.S. student attends school 180 days; in China, it’s 251 days.
40% of people killed from falling off a horse are drunk.
Most of the villains in the Bible have red hair.
You can make 11 1/2 omelets with one ostrich egg.
Captain Kangaroo won five Emmy awards.
Sherlock Holmes kept his tobacco in the toe of a Persian slipper.
There, do you feel more relaxed now. I certainly hope so. There’ll be more of this useless information coming your way very soon.
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