Saturday 15 April 2023

CREATIVE ANACHRONISMS, in progress


CURRENT CONTENTS:
Dawning of history
Anachronistically
Hippocratic oath
Heavenly host
More to follow









Authors' Note: When writers distort historic timelines intentionally or inadvertently in concocting their plots, they are said to write anachronistically.

Most of the above-mentioned Roman poets have also been discussed individually elsewhere on the OEDILF site. Many of these figures have had their true Latin names altered considerably to fit our Anglo-Latin construct. Apparently, however, none of these authors adopted the limerick format in their poetry.




Authors' NoteThe origins of the Hippocratic Oath, as discussed in the above verse, join several others by the authors under the rubric "creative anachronism". Although little is known of classic Greek office routines, there is no confirmation that clerks transcribed dictated medical reports during that epoch. One has to wait to the modern era for the invention of the typo.

Hippocrates of Kos was putatively the author of many texts (the Hippocratic Corpus) deriving from the school of medicine on his native island, one of two that thrived in Greece during its classical period. Among early descriptions of diseases, symptoms and treatments were attributed comments on the humanistic basis of medical practice that were formalized centuries later into the assertion of medical ethics and professionalism that we know today.   





Authors' Note: A number of religions tell of an epic battle staged in Heaven involving an army of angels that resulted in the casting out of Satan (or equivalent) and his followers. The governance, duties, activities and whereabouts of the Heavenly Host in the ensuing epoch is seldom mentioned.

The author apologizes for any apparent error in his account, but points out that he is a true disbeliever.







DIRECTION FOR WEB-TRAVELLERS: 
To resume daily titillations on our related blog 'Daily Illustrated Nonsense', click HERE. Once you arrive, you can select your time frame of interest from the calendar-based listings in the righthand margin, and check the daily offerings for any month in the years 2020 to the present. (As of September 2023, there are over 1200 unique entries available on the Daily blog, and most of these are also presented here on 'Edifying Nonsense' in topic-based collections.) The 'Daily' format also has the advantage of including some videos and other material that are not shown here on this topic-based blog.



Monday 10 April 2023

PAINTERLY POETRY


CURRENT CONTENTS:
Birth of impressionism
Edouard Manet
Van Gogh at Auvers-sur-Oise
Mary Cassatt
Picasso's 'Blue Period'
More to follow




                                      
Authors' Note:  The above story, dating from France in the 1860s, and relating to the birth of Impressionism, is apocryphal.





























DIRECTION FOR WEB-TRAVELLERS: 
To resume daily titillations on our related blog 'Daily Illustrated Nonsense', click HERE. Once you arrive, you can select your time frame of interest from the calendar-based listings in the righthand margin, and check the daily offerings for any month in the years 2020 to the present. (As of September 2023, there are over 1200 unique entries available on the Daily blog, and most of these are also presented here on 'Edifying Nonsense' in topic-based collections.) The 'Daily' format also has the advantage of including some videos and other material that are not shown here on this topic-based blog.


Wednesday 5 April 2023

PILL-POPPING POEMS (selected pharmaceuticals), in progress


CURRENT CONTENTS:
Simethicone
Glucocorticosteroids
Antimalarial
Hypoglycemics
Fentanyl addiction
More to follow




Authors' Note: Simethicone (simeticone), a silicon-based product, is the active ingredient in most current over-the-counter remedies to relieve abdominal distension and gaseous bloating. With coalescence of the offending small bubbles, the gas is dispersed by flatulence and belching.





Authors' Note: 

dex: jargony abbreviation for dexamethasone, a potent glucocorticosteroid medication (med), that is used intravenously in intensive care units (ICUs) and other medical settings

septic shock: a life-threatening complication of deep or widespread infection in which blood pressure drops to a dangerous level

  During the recent pandemic (COVID-19), the use of dexamethasone to specifically counter the complications of advanced COVID-19 infection received a lot of attention in the media. 


Author's NoteHydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil), a drug developed to combat the infectious disease malaria, was found by happenstance to be of value in suppressing certain manifestations of SLE (systemic lupus erythematosus), an inflammatory disease, and retains a niche use for that secondary purpose.
  Recently, the drug has been advocated, without convincing evidence, to treat the severe lung involvement of COVID-19 pneumonia.













Here's a LIST OF LINKS to collections of intriguing poems (over 160 of these!) on medical/dental topics that can now be found on various posts. 


DIRECTION FOR WEB-TRAVELLERS: 
To resume daily titillations on our related blog 'Daily Illustrated Nonsense', click HERE. Once you arrive, you can select your time frame of interest from the calendar-based listings in the righthand margin, and check the daily offerings for any month in the years 2020 to the present. (As of September 2023, there are over 1200 unique entries available on the Daily blog, and most of these are also presented here on 'Edifying Nonsense' in topic-based collections.) The 'Daily' format has the advantage of including some videos and other material that are not shown here on this topic-based blog.