Fear is the only epidemic

The Amazing Story Behind the 256 Year-Old Man

According to the 1933 obituaries in both Time Magazine and the New York Times, Li Ching-Yun was reported to have buried 23 wives and fostered 180 descendants by the time he died at the age of 256.

Was he really that old? Could he have forgotten his own birthday or exaggerated his claim?

The Secrets to an Interminable Life:
“Keep a quiet heart, sit like a tortoise, walk sprightly like a pigeon and sleep like a dog.”

These were the words of advice Li gave to Wu Pei-fu, the warlord, who took Li into his house to learn the secret of extremely long life.

Li maintained that inward calm and peace of mind were the secrets to incredible longevity. His diet after all, was mainly based on rice and wine.

Unsurprisingly, not much is known about Li Ching-Yun’s early life. We know he was born in the province of Szechwan in China, where he also died. We also know that by his tenth birthday, Ching-Yun was literate and had travelled to Kansu, Shansi, Tibet, Annam, Siam and Manchuria gathering herbs. After that, it gets a bit fuzzy…

Apparently, for over one hundred years, Li continued selling his own herbs and then subsequently sold herbs collected by others. He also (according to Time) had six-inch long fingernails on his right hand.

You might be thinking that he looked decrepit, shrivelled, leather-like and creepy, however sources at the time were astonished at his youthfulness. Was this suspect? Was Li Ching-Yun as old as he claimed he was, or was his birthday a clerical error or exaggeration?

Let’s take a brief look at both sides…


The Nine Lives of Li Ching-Yun:

By his own admission he was born in 1736 and had lived 197 years. However, in 1930 a professor and dean at Minkuo University by the name of Wu Chung-chien, found records “proving” that Li was born in 1677. Records allegedly showed that the Imperial Chinese Government congratulated him on his 150th and 200th Birthdays.

So the question is, had he forgotten his own birthday? Was this even the same Li Ching-Yun?

Looking at all of this from a medical and documented perspective: Jeanne Louise Calment, a French woman who died in 1997 so far holds the title for the person who has roamed the earth the longest: 122 years, which is a phenomenal length of time.

That means, that if the records discovered by Wu Chung-chien were accurate, Li Ching-Yun’s age would surpass the official record by more than 130 years. Is this even medically possible?

The detail, which seems to prove both arguments and debunk them at the same time, is Li’s youthful appearance, noted in a 1928 article from the New York Times. Visually and physically, he appeared to look like a typical 60 year-old. Does this therefore signify a superhuman body capable of lasting one quarter of a millennium, or is the story of Li Ching-Yun based on a series of half-truths, lies or exaggerations?

Unfortunately, we may never know. You may draw your own logical conclusions.

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Mammatus Clouds

Also known as mammatocumulus, meaning "bumpy clouds", they are a cellular pattern of pouches hanging underneath the base of a cloud. Composed primarily of ice, Mammatus Clouds can extend for hundreds of miles in each direction, while individual formations can remain visibly static for ten to fifteen minutes at a time. True to their ominous appearance, mammatus clouds are often harbingers of a coming storm or other extreme weather system.

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Good Technology - Red Guitars

"Great fun!"

26 April 1986

On 26 April 1986 at 01:23:44 a.m. (UTC+3) reactor number four at the Chernobyl plant, near Pripyat in the Ukrainian SSR, exploded. Nearly thirty to forty times more fallout was released than had been by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. That resulted in the evacuation and resettlement of over 336,000 people... It is difficult to accurately tell the number of deaths caused by the events at Chernobyl, as the Soviet-era cover-up made it difficult to track down victims. Lists were incomplete, and Soviet authorities later forbade doctors to cite "radiation" on death certificates.

The Chernobyl station is located near the town of Pripyat, Ukraine, 18 km northwest of the city of Chernobyl, 16 km (10 mi) from the border of Ukraine and Belarus, and about 110 km (68 mi) north of Kiev.

Some areas in the closed zones are so heavily contaminated that they will have to remain closed off for up to 900 years.

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Why, Lord, WHY?

Quelle horreur!

the Museum of Menstruation & Women's Health


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Russian Scary Books for Naughty Kids

Continuing with the Russian theme:

In early 90s you could buy special children books for misbehaving kids in Russia.

This is an example of such a book. The kid, who is reading this book, is being promised many scary things to encounter if he doesn’t obey to mother or father. Here are some translations:

“You’ll fall deep inside a hole
if you don’t obey to your mom”

“If you plan not to listen to father
wild black cats would scratch your brother”

“If you decide not to clean you teeth
then prepare to meet a wild beast!”

“You haven’t cleaned up your room? Then to ugly monks would come to you soon”

“If you cry each time you eager Prepare to melt from the tears like piece of sugar”




“If you are greedy as old and don’t share balls probably you would be eaten by wolves”




“You like to fight with your fellow-friends? Then you’ll be bitten by different snakes!”





“If you play during your meal each time, then you should know that spider will come.”

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Shemale dolly

Lately some Russian newspapers post photos of these strange Chinese dolls. Here is an article from one Russian regional newspaper:

The reason for the panic is that in Russian children toy stores have appeared strange Chinese dolls looking like a girl-doll but if fully undressed there can be something found that better would suit for a boy-doll.

People are demanding a ban on these dolls from being sold on the territory of Russia and claim that it may be being done on purpose by some evil forces from outside of Russia in order to form a bad perception of female/male orientation from the early age. Below is the more detailed photo of those strange Chinese toys freely sold in Russian kid stores:

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Darvaz: The Door to Hell

This place in Uzbekistan is called by locals “The Door to Hell”. It is situated near the small town of Darvaz. The story of this place lasts already for 35 years. Once the geologists were drilling for gas. Then suddenly during the drilling they have found an underground cavern, it was so big that all the drilling site with all the equipment and camps got deep deep under the ground. None dared to go down there because the cavern was filled with gas. So they ignited it so that no poisonous gas could come out of the hole, and since then, it’s burning, already for 35 years without any pause. Nobody knows how many tons of excellent gas has been burned for all those years but it just seems to be infinite there.

Bayer heroin bottle. From 1898 to 1910 heroin was marketed as a non-addictive morphine substitute and cough medicine for children.



Cocaine toothache drops (c. 1885) were popular for children.
Not only would the medicine numb the pain, but it could also put the user in a "better" mood.


This National Vaporizer Vapor-OL (opium) Treatment no. 6 for asthma may have provided a unique method of essentially "smoking" opium. The volatile liquid was placed in a pan that was heated by a small kerosene lamp. Other substances were also used in these early (c. 1890) vaporizers, but this mixture probably ensured plenty of visitors for the spasmodically affected.


This bottle of Stickney and Poor's paregoric (mixture of opium and alcohol) was distributed much like the spices for which the company is better known. Doses for infants, children, and adults are given on the bottle. At 46% alcohol, this product is 92 proof which is pretty potent in itself.


Paperweight advertisement for C.F. Boehringer & Soehne (Mannheim, Germany), "largest makers in the world of quinine and cocaine." This chemical manufacturer was proud of its leading position in the world's cocaine market.


Cocaine-containing throat lozenges (c. 1900) were "indispensable for singers, teachers, and orators." In addition to quieting a sore throat, these lozenges undoubtedly provided the "pick-me-up" to keep these professionals performing at their peak.


This coca wine was made by the Maltine Manufacturing Company (New York). The dosage indicated on the back of the bottle reads: "A wine glass full with, or immediately after, meals. Children in proportion."


Metcalf's Coca Wine was one of a large number of cocaine-containing wines available on the market.
All claimed medicinal effects, although they were undoubtedly consumed for their "recreational" value as well.

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"If your physician has prescribed Dormy cigarettes..."

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Foetal abnormalities

Conjoined twins, thoracopagus


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Sirenomelia, aka Mermaid Syndrome


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Achondroplasia and Anencephalacy


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Treacher Collins Syndrome


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Dwarfism - achondroplasia


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10 of the World's Smallest Animals

1. World’s Smallest Dog: 12.4 cm (4.9-inch) tall

At 1.4 pounds and 4.9 inches tall, Ducky, a yappy short-coat Chihuahua from Charlton (Massachusetts, USA), holds the Guinness World Record for the world's smallest living dog (by height). Ducky succeeds Danka Kordak of Slovakia, a Chihuahua who measured 5.4 inches tall. The smallest dog ever, according to Guinness, was a dwarf Yorkshire terrier who stood 2.8 inches tall.

2. World's Smallest Snake: 10.1 cm (4-inch) long

Leptotyphlops carlae is the world's smallest species of snake, with adults averaging just under four inches in length. Found on the Caribbean island of Barbados, the species --which is as thin as a spaghetti noodle and small enough to rest comfortably on a U.S. quarter-- was discovered by Blair Hedges.

3. World’s Smallest Fish: 7.9 mm (0.3-inch) long

On January 2006, the world's smallest fish was discovered on the Indonesian island of Sumatra: a member of the carp family of fish, the Paedocypris progenetica. It is the world's smallest vertebrate or backboned animal; only 7.9 mm (0.3 inches) long.

The title, however, is contested by 6.2 mm (0.2 in) long male anglerfish Photocorynus spiniceps (not technically a fish but a sexual parasite) and the 7 mm (0.27 in) long male stout infantfish Schindleria brevipinguis.

4. World’s Smallest Horse: 43.18 cm (17-inch) tall

The little horse was born to Paul and Kay Goessling, who specialize in breeding miniature horses, but even for the breed Thumbelina is particularly small: she is thought to be a dwarf-version of the breed. At just 60 lb and 17-inch tall, the five-year-old Thumbelina is the world’s smallest horse.

5. World’s Smallest Cat: 15.5 cm (6.1-inch) high and 49 cm (19.2-inch) long

Meet Mr. Peebles. He lives in central Illinois, is two years old, weighs about three pounds and is the world's smallest cat! The cat's small stature was verified by the Guinness Book of World Records on 2004.

6. World's Smallest Hamster: 2.5 cm (0.9-inch) tall

Only slightly bigger than a 50p piece, PeeWee is the smallest hamster in the world. Weighing less than an ounce, the golden hamster stopped growing when he was three weeks old - his five brothers and sisters went on to measure between 4in and 5in.

7. World's Smallest Chameleon: 1.2 cm (0.5-inch) long

The Brookesia Minima is the world's smallest species of chameleon. This one is just half an inch. Found on the rainforest floor of Nosy Be Island off the north-west coast of Madagascar, females tend to be larger than males.

8. World's Smallest Lizard: 16 mm (0.6-inch) long

So small it can curl up on a dime or stretch out on a quarter, a typical adult of the species, whose scientific name is Sphaerodactylus ariasae is only about 16 millimeters long, or about three quarters of an inch, from the tip of the snout to the base of the tail. It shares the title of "smallest" with another lizard species named Sphaerodactylus parthenopion, discovered in 1965 in the British Virgin Islands.

9. World’s Smallest Cattle: 81 cm (31-inch) height

The world’s smallest cattle is a rare breed of an Indian zebu called the Vechur cow. The average height of this breed of cattle is 31 to 35 inches (81 to 91 cm). The photo above shows a 16 year old Vechur cattle as compared to a 6 year old HF cross-breed cow.

10. World's Smallest Seahorse: 16 mm (0.6-inch) long

The creature, known as Hippocampus denise, is typically just 16 millimetres long - smaller than most fingernails. Some were found to be just 13 mm long. H. denise lives in the tropical waters of the western Pacific Ocean, between 13 and 90 metres beneath the surface.

10 Mad Scientists

Vladimir Demikhov: The Two-Headed Dog Surgeon

On 1954, soviet surgeon Vladimir Demikhov, revealed his masterpiece to the world: a two-headed dog. The head of a puppy had been grafted onto the neck of an adult German shepherd. The second head would lap at milk, even though it did not need nourishment — and though the milk then dribbled down the neck from its disconnected oesophagus. Although both animals soon died because of tissue rejection, that did not stop Demikhov from creating 19 more over the next 15 years.

Stubbins Ffirth: The Yellow Fever Vomit-Drinking Doctor

During the 1800s, a doctor training in Philadelphia, Stubbins Ffirth, formed the hypothesis that yellow fever was not an infectious disease, and proceeded to test it on himself. He first poured infected vomit into open wounds, then drank the vomit. He did not fall ill, but not because yellow fever is not infectious: it was later discovered that it must be injected directly into the bloodstream, typically through the bite of a mosquito.

Josef Mengele: The Angel of Death

Joseph Mengele gained notoriety chiefly for being one of the SS physicians who supervised the selection of arriving transports of prisoners, determining who was to be killed and who was to become a forced laborer, and for performing human experiments on camp inmates, amongst whom Mengele was known as the "Angel of Death."

At Auschwitz, Mengele did a number of twin studies. After the experiment was over, these twins were usually murdered and their bodies dissected. He supervised an operation by which two Gypsy children were sewn together to create conjoined twins; the hands of the children became badly infected where the veins had been resected. Mengele was almost fanatical about drawing blood from twins, mostly identical twins. He is reported to have bled some to death this way

Auschwitz prisoner Alex Dekel has said: "I have never accepted the fact that Mengele himself believed he was doing serious work — not from the slipshod way he went about it. He was only exercising his power. Mengele ran a butcher shop — major surgeries were performed without anesthesia. Once, I witnessed a stomach operation — Mengele was removing pieces from the stomach, but without any anesthetic. Another time, it was a heart that was removed, again, without anesthesia. It was horrifying. Mengele was a doctor who became mad because of the power he was given. Nobody ever questioned him — why did this one die? Why did that one perish? The patients did not count. He professed to do what he did in the name of science, but it was a madness on his part".

Sergei Bruyukhonenko: The Dog Decapitator

Way before Vladimir Demikhov, Bruyukhonenko's mad experiments on dogs led to the development of open-heart procedures. He developed a crude machine called the autojektor (a heart and lung machine). By using this primitive machine, Bryukhonenko kept the heads of severed dogs alive. In 1928, he displayed one of the heads in front of an audience. To prove it was real, he banged a hammer on the table. The head flinched. When a light was shone in its eyes, the eyes blinked. And when it was fed a piece of cheese, the remnants promptly popped out of the esophageal tube, much to the displeasure of disgusted viewers.

Johann Conrad Dippel: The original Frankenstein
Johann Conrad Dippel was such a mad scientist that he was actually born in castle Frankenstein in 1673, a place near near Darmstadt, Germany. He is said to be the model for Mary Shelley's novel "Frankenstein", though that idea remains controversial.

After studying theology, philosophy and alchemy, he created an animal oil made of bones, blood and various other animal products, known as Dippel's Oil which was supposed to be the equivalent to the alchemists' dream of the "elixir of life." It is said that some of his work on anatomy involved boiling various body parts in large vats to make some kind of mad man stew, and that he also tried his hand at moving the soul from one corpse to another, possibly with a funnel, a hose and a lot of lubricant.

Giovanni Aldini: The Corpse Electrocutioner

Aldini was the nephew of Luigi Galvani. His uncle essentially discovered the concept of galvanism, when experimenting with electrical currents on frog legs. Aldini took those experiments further. Aldini conducted his experiments on corpses.

In front of an audience, he conducted an experiment on a hung murderer, George Forster. He applied conducting rods to the man's rectum, whereby the dean man began to punch the air, and his legs began to kick and flinch. Rods applied to the face made it clench and quiver. The left eye popped open. Several people present feared the man had come back to life, and had he actually sprung forth, he would have to be re-executed. One individual was so horrified, that shortly upon leaving the spectacle, he reportedly died.

Andrew Ure: The Scottish Butcher

Andrew Ure, despite his many accomplishments as a Scottish doctor, was more famously known for four experiments conducted on Matthew Clydesdale on November 4, 1818. The first experiment involved an incision in the nape of the neck. Part of the vertebra was removed. An incision was then made in the left hip. Then a cut was made in the heel. Two rods connected to a battery were placed in the neck and hip, which caused great, uncontrollable convulsions. The 2nd rod was then placed into the heel, whereby the left leg kicked with such force, that it nearly knocked over an assistant. The 2nd experiment made the diaphragm of Forster's chest rise and lower, as if he were breathing again.

Ure had reported that had Forster's blood not been drained, or his neck broken from the hanging, he was sure he could bring him back to life. The 3rd experiment showed the extraordinary facial expressions exhibited when Ure made an incision in Forster's forehead. The rod was inserted, and Forster's face began to show emotions of anger, horror, despair, anguish, and hideous, contorted smiles. The expressions scared viewers so badly, that one doctor who was known to have a strong stomach, passed out on the spot. The final experiment had people believing that Forster was indeed alive. A cut was made into the forefinger. Once the rod was inserted, Forster began to raise his hand and point to people in the audience. Needless to say, many were horrified.

Shiro Ishii: Dr. Pure Evil

Ishii was a microbiologist and the lieutenant general of Unit 731, a biological warfare unit of the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War. He was born in the former Shibayama Village of Sanbu District in Chiba Prefecture, and studied medicine at Kyoto Imperial University. In 1932, he began his preliminary experiments in biological warfare as a secret project for the Japanese military. In 1936, Unit 731 was formed. Ishii built a huge compound — more than 150 buildings over six square kilometers — outside the city of Harbin, China.

Some of the numerous atrocities committed by Ishii and others under his command in Unit 731 include: vivisection of living people (including pregnant women who were impregnated by the doctors), prisoners had limbs amputated and reattached to other parts of their body, some prisoners had parts of their bodies frozen and thawed to study the resulting untreated gangrene. Humans were also used as living test cases for grenades and flame throwers. Prisoners were injected with inoculations of disease, disguised as vaccinations, to study their effects. To study the effects of untreated venereal diseases, male and female prisoners were deliberately infected with syphilis and gonorrhea via rape, then studied. Having been granted immunity by the American Occupation Authorities at the end of the war, Ishii never spent any time in jail for his crimes and died at the age of 67 of throat cancer.

Kevin Warwick: The First Human Cyborg

Kevin Warwick is a British scientist and professor of cybernetics with such a fascination with for robots, that he's endeavoring to be the first man ever to become a cyborg.

On 1998, a simple RFID transmitter was implanted beneath Warwick's skin, and used to control doors, lights, heaters, and other computer-controlled devices based on his proximity. The main purpose of this experiment was said to be to test the limits of what the body would accept, and how easy it would be to receive a meaningful signal from the chip.

On 2002, a more complex neural interface was implanted on his nervous system, getting access to his nervous signals. The experiment proved so successful, that the signal produced was detailed enough for a robot arm to mimic the actions of Warwick's own arm.

Later, a highly publicised extension to the experiment, in which a simpler array was implanted into Warwick's wife—with the aim of creating a form of telepathy or empathy using the Internet to communicate the signal from afar—was also successful, resulting in the first purely electronic communication experiment between the nervous systems of two humans. His experiments are still on.

John Lilly: The Sensory Deprivation Tank creator

To find out what would happen if the brain was cut off from all external stimuli, scientist John Lilly built the first sensory deprivation tank in 1954. Floating in warm water for hours in complete darkness and silence, Lilly began to experience vivid fantasies. "These are too personal to relate publicly," he reported later. The hallucinations of his test subjects were similarly difficult to categorize scientifically. This was one reason why his research did not take off.

Lilly later gave up scientific research and founded the firm Samadhi Tanks, which manufactured tanks for domestic use. On 1980 Lilly's work was the model for the film "Altered States". Having became something of a New Age guru, he died in 2001.

Sleaze (Take It, Shake It) - Marc & the Mambas (1982)

Numbers stations

Numbers stations (or number stations) are shortwave radio stations of uncertain origin. They generally broadcast artificially generated voices reading streams of numbers, words, letters (sometimes using a spelling alphabet), tunes or Morse code. They are in a wide variety of languages and the voices are usually women's, though sometimes men's or children's voices are used.

The Lincolnshire Poacher was the nickname of a mysterious, powerful shortwave numbers station that used two bars from the English folk song "The Lincolnshire Poacher" as an interval signal. The radio station was believed to be operated by the British Secret Intelligence Service and emanated from the island of Cyprus.

The Swedish Rhapsody Numbers Station

for more information, then some more information, visit this A++++++++ webpage:
http://www.simonmason.karoo.net/page30.html

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"Tunnel Of Love" Fun Boy 3 (on "the Tube")

My crush on Terry Hall has endured the decades:

'The Technology of Orgasm: Hysteria, the Vibrator, and Women's Sexual Satisfaction' - Rachel P. Maines

Rachel P. Maines describes in 'The Technology of Orgasm: Hysteria, the Vibrator, and Women's Sexual Satisfaction', all clitoral vibrators and dildos were primarily considered medical devices from the time they were first invented in the late 1880s until the Sexual Revolution of the 1960s, and “artificial" (non-intercourse) inducement of orgasm in women as a medical treatment has been prescribed by physicians since Hippocrates in the fourth century B.C"

Hand- crank medical vibrators 1890- 1920's era:

"...the vibrator was developed to perfect and automate a function that doctors had long performed for their female patients: the relief of physical, emotional and sexual tension through external pelvic massage, culminating in orgasm.
a female patient suffering from any number of symptoms labeled "hysterical" or "neurasthenic" could be treated with a vibrator."

Hysteria, as it was traditionally defined, was an incurable, chronic disease. "The patient had to go to the doctor regularly," Dr. Maines said. "She didn't die. She was a cash cow."

The 1899 edition of the Merck Manual, a reference guide for physicians, lists massage as a treatment for hysteria (as well as sulfuric acid for nymphomania). And in a 1903 commentary on treatments for hysterical patients, Dr. Samuel Howard Monell wrote that "pelvic massage (in gynecology) has its brilliant advocates and they report wonderful results."


By the turn of the 20th century, about 20 years after Dr. Joseph Mortimer Granville patented the first electromechanical vibrator, there were at least two dozen models available to the medical profession.

Counterweighted vibrators, vibratory forks, undulating wire coils called vibratiles, vibrators that hung from the ceiling, vibrators attached to tables, floor models on rollers and portable devices that fit in the palm of the hand.

They were powered by electric current, battery, foot pedal, water turbine, gas engine or air pressure, and they shimmied at speeds ranging from 1,000 to 7,000 pulses per minute. They were priced to move, ranging from a low of $15 to what Dr. Maines calls the "Cadillac of vibrators," the Chattanooga, which cost $200 plus freight charges in 1904:

Chattanooga vibrator

Doctors used vibrators to treat constipation, arthritis, muscle fatigue, inflammation laryngitis and tumors;

A text from 1883 called "Health For Women" recommended the new vibrators for treating "pelvic hyperemia," or congestion of the genitalia.

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Bartonville Asylum for the Incurable Insane:


diagnosis: Female hysteria

Female hysteria

The term originates with the Greek medical term, hysterikos. This referred to a medical condition, thought to be particular to women, caused by disturbances of the uterus, hystera in Greek. The term hysteria was coined by Hippocrates, who thought that suffocation and madness arose in women whose uteri had become too heavy and swollen from menopause or lack of sexual intercourse and created upward pressure pme the heart, lungs, and diaphragm. Originally defined as a neurotic condition peculiar to women and thought to be caused by a dysfunction of the uterus" ("Hysterical"). The same general definition, or under the name female hysteria, came into widespread use in the middle and late 19th century to describe what is today generally considered to be sexual dissatisfaction. Typical treatment was massage of the patient's genitalia by the physician and later vibrators or water sprays to cause orgasm.

cure: hysterectomy

The concept was that women's behaviour, such as simple hysterical mania, nymphomania, and depression ,could be cured by removing the uterus.
In the years that followed the introduction of anesthesia, a woman was likely to find herself on the operating table for just about anything her doctor might decide was wrong with her: overeating, painful menstruation, attempted suicide, and most particularly, masturbation, erotic tendencies or promiscuity. The doctors of the day were convinced - and managed to persuade their patients - that hysterectomy had a calming effect that would render women more "tractable, orderly, industrious and cleanly".

Doctors continue to view the uterus as a troublesome, disposable organ. An extract from a 1987 public information booklet on hysterectomy produced by the Royal Australian College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists reassuring states:

Women who have had an hysterectomy are delighted with the result. No longer do they have to plan their lives around their heavy or painful periods. No longer being anemic, they gain fresh energy and life is fuller and happier than it may have been for years.

...To think that the popularity of hysterectomies wasn't in some way related to the financial rewards on the part of Gynaecologists. Australian obstetricians and gynaecologists perform a lot of surgery and earn higher incomes than physicians, surgeons or medical practitioners. In 1991-92 the overall average annual income for full-time obstetricians and gynaecologists was $320,00 per annum with at least 25 percent of them earning more than $550,000 annually from private patients alone. Added to this is income derived from sessional work public patients. Such income is often between $100,000 and $200,000 per annum. 25 In the U.S., gynecologists, hospitals and drug companies make more than 4 billion dollars a year fromthe business of hysterectomy and castration.

In 1994, Dr. West wrote of attending a seminar on medical economics: "The topic was 'How to care for women in order to maximize our fee.' The experts who led the discussion reminded us that gynecologists make the most money by doing surgery and that the highest fee we can generate come from hysterectomy. With that in mind, we were urged to 'cultivate' our patients carefully. Initially care would require advice on contraception. Then, in the normal course of events, we would supervise their pregnancies and deliver their babies. Once a patient had completed her family, we were advised to plant the idea that she might some day need a hysterectomy. The culmination of our years of care would be the hysterectomy. With proper planning, our advisers suggested, each year of practice would produce a lucrative 'crop' of women ripe for hysterectomy.

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Little Boxes - Malvina Reynolds

Opium Den

HIV/AIDS Virus

Well, there *must* be a market for this?