I have 4 kids, 3 of whom had their wisdom teeth removed on reaching adulthood on the advice of specialists. I had mine removed in my 30s for some reason and so did my wife. In the US and much of the world this is a billion dollar per year business, with millions of...
Last week saw the passing of comedian Gene Wilder. Although he had not made a movie for some 25 years, he is still regarded as one of the greats of comedy. Movies like Blazing Saddles are classics. When interviewed a few years ago he said that he had stopped making...
Commentator Brendan O’Neill made an interesting point in a recent column in the Weekend Australian suggesting that being “offensive” is a key part of human progress. He noted that Copernicus “offended” the Christian authorities of his day by claiming the earth were...
Another week, with another useless study, which gets lots of media airplay. This time though it might not fade away because the findings have been used a basis to change guidelines on treating high blood pressure. For a long time the “official” cut off for high blood...
There are inflection points in history when things change. After this it can be hard to remember why there was a change and what were things like before. I was thinking about this when grappling with the non-stick fry pan, which seems to “stick”. Some refuse to use...
This will be a test of how unbiased I am. Writing a review of my own book (regardless of any bias) seems like shameless self-promotion, but what the hell, it’s better than just saying “Hey, I wrote a book”. In Surgery, the ultimate placebo Professor...
