Monthly Archives: March 2012
Afrikaans makes you smarter
…if you learn it to become bilingual, *grin*. It turns out that any two languages will do. Having been born into a very English-speaking household, making the transition to studying (and often practicing) medicine in a very Afrikaans environment was entertaining, in a darkly-humourous-while-deeply-uncomfortable way. Once, when being interviewed in Afrikaans and asked to describe [...]
Finding beauty in unexpected places
For some time I have been watching a trend emerge; a meme and theme that resonates within me. Recently I’ve witnessed it progress from conception to creativity concrete reality, and now the evidence abounds. While I inevitably and unavoidably turn to the wilderness to find my peace and beauty, I am grudgingly but increasingly forced [...]
King Vision Self-Laryngoscopy
Some time ago I posted a video clip of self-laryngoscopy with a C-MAC. For the sake of proving I don’t necessarily endorse on product over another, here’s a shot from a recent airway course… Yes, I do have a gag reflex. These video laryngoscopes are remarkably atraumatic when used carefully, allowing this kind of visualisation [...]
Evaluating the risks of extreme sports
I stumbled across this article examining the risks of various extreme sports from a statistical viewpoint on the BBC Future webpage. It makes makes brief, interesting reading… and I was particularly attentive as I enjoy several activities that are mentioned. Bottom line: BASE jumping and high-altitude mountaineering are a fairly effective way from dispatching yourself [...]
SASA 2012 Presentations Available
You’ll no doubt recall my rough notes from the 2012 South African Society of Anaesthesiologists Congress last month, which were surprising well recieved. The good news for those that wanted more detail and info from the sessions I missed is that most of the presentations are now available in PDF format on the conference web [...]
Blog tweaks, tweets, upgrades and fiddles
If you’re a regualr reader (or an observant occasional one) you’ll have noted that I have been adding some changes and upgrades to this blog in the last few weeks. This is partly because I am a card-carrying gadgetologist (*grin*), but mostly because I am trying to keep riding the wave of ease of online [...]
Rambles from the Road – Mpumalanga’s Panorama Route
My delightful and talented wife has been invited to present her Masters dissertation at a conference which is being held this week at a hotel bordering on the Kruger Park. To her credit, she invited me to come along, so with a week of leave in hand we flew off to Lanseria (near Johannesberg) and [...]
Flashback… Betty’s Bay Paragliding with Tom
Been doing some blog maintenance, as it was pointed out to me that the links had all died, so I’m also trying something new here…linking in YouTube videos. Bear with me while I test, and watch this old clip from flying Betty’s Bay in 2006. Can you remember the days before GoPro cameras, wrist-watch vario’s [...]
