Doc Rat: Silly and Serious

Posted on October 10, 2013 by The Old Wolf

Earlier I wrote about Wapsi Square by Paul Taylor; today I’d like to share another webcomic which has long delighted me, to wit, Doc Rat by Jenner.

Jenner (a pseudonym) is a real-live physician from down under, and he works his professional experience into a long-running – 7 years now – story about Doctor Rat and his practice. Recently he tossed out a contest in which he asked his fans to write him about why they enjoyed the strip; today in the mail I received a wonderful bit of treasure, one of his original strips, having been selected as one of his five winners.

For me, this is a Big Deal. I love supporting the artists whose work I enjoy, directly or indirectly, and to have a bit of their handiwork on my wall is like icing on the cake. I’m very grateful to Doc Jenner for his kindness, which included a warm and personal letter.

The strip fluctuates between gag-a-day format (often involving some horrid pun or other):

Groan…

“Four black skulls” – I love that…

I concur

Every time

Drug marketing is given no quarter

and extended arcs dealing with the life and challenges of Doctor Rat, his friends, associates, and patients:

Many of these stories are out-and-out tearjerkers; well-written, current, and relevant to events and issues of the day. I even used one to communicate my feelings to my then-intended and now-wife:

With seven years of daily strips behind him, there are over 1800 Doc Rat strips to enjoy; the link I provided above is to the start of the series. Jenner’s website is undergoing an upgrade, and his developer has run into a few difficulties, so the site is a bit slow at the moment; fortunately for devotees, there are 10 Books available for purchase, with both Australian and USA prices.

There are thousands of webcomics available, but given time restrictions one has to be selective. This is one of a handful that I look forward to on a daily basis, and I recommend it without hesitation.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

“He who saves one life saves the world entire.”

Posted on October 9, 2013 by The Old Wolf

On the eve of World War II, Sir Nicholas Winton organized the rescue of 669 mostly Jewish children from German-occupied Czechoslovakia. While Sir Nicholas gives credit to many others who helped in the rescue effort and endured even greater dangers than he, the UK press dubbed him the “British Schindler.” There is no question that his efforts were pivotal in the saving of many lives.

In 1988, the BBC aired an episode of “That’s Life,” a program that fluctuated between humorous pieces and deadly serious issues. The clip below features Sir Nicholas and an entire audience of people who, directly or indirectly, owed their lives to him.

Hankies at the ready!

The Old Wolf has *snif* spoken.

The title of this post, by the way, is a quote from “Schindler’s List.” It was derived from the Talmud: “Whoever destroys a soul, it is considered as if he destroyed an entire world. And whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world.”

-Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:9; Babylonian Talmud Tractate Sanhedrin 37a

Behind the “Do Not Enter” Signs

Posted on October 8, 2013 by The Old Wolf

Dutch photographer Niki Feijen specializes in urban exploration; capturing boarded-up buildings and decaying farm houses. His images reveal furniture and clothes that remain in decaying homes where owners have long since departed.

Layers of blankets remain on the bed in the empty farmhouse, which is still surrounded by crosses and statues of Jesus belonging to its former owner

Frozen in time: The occupants of this abandoned farm house are long gone, but their belongings remain; from the paintings hanging on the walls to the neatly made bed.

For more such haunting images and further information, visit MailOnline, or Niki Feijen’s own website.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

Family Butcher Shop, 1910

Posted on October 8, 2013 by The Old Wolf

Found at Shorpy

1910. Wellington, New Zealand.

“David Taylor’s butcher shop, Wadestown, showing decorated carcasses and horse-drawn delivery cart. David Taylor in doorway.”

Glass plate negative by Frederick James Halse.

All the beer; all the coffee

Posted on October 8, 2013 by The Old Wolf

The folks over at Pop Chart Lab have been busy. They do impressive work; here are two of their infographics which delineate just about everything you would need to know in order to become an impressive beer snob or a really skilled barista. These infographics are large – click for a full-size version.

All the beers, and the kinds of glasses they are served in.

Master this, and Starbucks is your oyster.

A blogger over at Fast Company related,

[The] coffee Chart lays out the entire coffee ecosystem, outlining how various methods of production, including the French press, Kyoto dripper, and Neapolitan flip, among others, are used to create coffees, cortados, cappuccinos, and more. Coffee devotees can use the graphic as a way to announce their allegiance to the coffee bean in all its manifestations. For newcomers, it’s a chance to discover that it’s not actually called a “cafe olé.”

Creating the taxonomy was not without its difficulties. “We had to make a judgment call on how to classify the output of the Moka Pot and the Aeropress,” a PopChartLab team member told me. “It’s not quite standard brewed coffee, but we wouldn’t dare call it espresso, so we coined a term for it: fauxpresso.” And while it is, indeed, compendious, there is one notable omission. “I think we got just about every major coffee brewer in here except for K-cups,” he says, “because screw K-cups.”

One of my Aussie mates has been busy with a virtual beer tour around the world (originally in 80 beers, but as of this writing up to 129); I’d love to take that tour with him, as well as sample every possible type of coffee concoction, if it weren’t for the fact that I drink neither beer nor coffee.

But all this is ruddy interesting.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

Ka mate!

Posted on October 7, 2013 by The Old Wolf

This 1913 image, found at Shorpy, shows a Māori boy performing a haka on the beach in Northland, New Zealand. The haka is a traditional ancestral war cry, dance or challenge.

Glass plate negative by Arthur Northwood.

The Ka Mate haka has been popularized by the New Zealand All Blacks, who perform it as a challenge to their opponents at the beginning of every match. It can be quite intimidating to watch, which is the whole point:

The Ka Mate was composed by Te Rauparaha, war leader of the Ngāti Toa tribe of the North Island of New Zealand. He composed Ka Mate circa 1820 as a celebration of life over death after his lucky escape from pursuing Ngāti Maniapoto and Waikato enemies. He had hidden from them in a food-storage pit, and climbed back into the light to be met by a chief friendly to him – Te Whareangi (the “hairy man”).

What follows is a video showing how Inia Maxwell taught the Blacks how to perform the haka in the proper way:

Here, from Wikipedia, is the main body of the chant accompanied by a translation:

Ka mate, ka mate!ka ora! ka ora!Ka mate! ka mate! ka ora! ka ora!

Tēnei te tangata pūhuruhuru

Nāna nei i tiki mai whakawhiti te rā

Ā, upane! ka upane!

Ā, upane, ka upane, whiti te ra!

’Tis death! ‘tis death! (or: I may die)’Tis life! ‘tis life! (or: I may live)’Tis death! ‘tis death! ’Tis life! ‘tis life!

This is the hairy man

Who brought the sun and caused it to shine

A step upward, another step upward!

A step upward, another… the Sun shines!

The Ka Mate has been popularized sufficiently that it appears in other places as well:

“Get Fuzzy” by Darby Conley

On Viggo Mortensen’s last day on the set filming Lord of the Rings, the New Zealand cast and crew offered him the haka as a signal honor for his contribution; you can see how moved he was by this recognition. The salient point begins at 1:44, but the entire clip is worth watching.

Lastly, here is a powerful video showing the soldiers of 2/1 RNZIR Battalion (New Zealand Defence Force) paying tribute to their fallen comrades with a massive haka. You can almost cut the honor and respect with a knife.

Some additional background on the Ka Mate can be found at Marimari.com.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

Right and Left: Wrong

Posted on October 6, 2013 by The Old Wolf

I saw this posted on Facebook last year and it raised my eyebrow:

This spread like wildfire around conservative circles, but unfortunately its an oversimplification based on a misunderstanding.

The original Hebrew text of Ecclesiastes 10:2 is “לֵב חָכָם לִימִינוֹ, וְלֵב כְּסִיל לִשְׂמֹאלוֹ” (lev hakam lemino ve lev kesil lesmolo), or “wise heart to right, and foolish heart to left.” The historical meaning of right and left to the Jewish nation is more complex than the intructions to World of Warcraft, but if you’re really interested, a good summary is at the Jewish Virtual Library; long story short, from a biblical standpoint, the right has always been the place of honor or wisdom.

We see this concept reflected in many New Testament references (Matthew 25:33 states “And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left,”) but even biblically the analogy is not consistently used. In Mark 10:37, two presumptuous disciples asked Jesus, “Grant unto us that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory.” ^[1] Thus in this reference, both right and left were considered places of privilege and esteem.

A further disconnect of the biblical usage with modern politics arises when we realize that current usage of left and right began with the French revolution; Wikipedia states that “The terms ‘left’ and ‘right’ were not used to refer to political ideology but only to seating in the legislature.”

Unfortunately, vast numbers of people who see an image like this will say “Oh, wow, that’s cool, I never knew that,” and spread the message far and wide without bothering to question its validity.

It’s hard for me to independently verify everything I see, and these days elections are won and lost with the votes of people who don’t even make the effort. We deserve better.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

[1] “It was regarded as a boorish lack of etiquette to walk on the right of one’s teacher; but when he was accompanied by two, he walked in the middle and the greater of his companions walked on the right (Yoma 37a).”

Our bodies do strange things

Posted on October 6, 2013 by The Old Wolf

I recently came across this article about a gentleman who brews his own beer… inside his gut. Apparently he harbors Saccharomyces cerevisiae, with the result that his digestive system was literally manufacturing alcohol every time he consumed carbohydrates due to the fermentation action of S. cerevisiae mixing with carbs and sugar.

From the article:

The man, who at first was assumed by other doctors to be a “closet” drinker,^[1] was eventually cured of his condition after being put on a low-carb diet and taking anti-fungal medications to purge his body of S. cerevisiae. But his case now serves as an example of what can happen to a person when taking conventional antibiotics — the body’s delicate microbial ecosystem can undergo drastic changes that leave it prone to takeover by harmful yeast strains.

I recently had an experience that was different but related, and was pretty strange. I’m putting the rest of this post under a “more” cut, in case it falls into the category of “too much information.”

Continue reading →

The hidden operating theatre

Posted on October 5, 2013 by The Old Wolf

The Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garret is a museum of surgical history and one of the oldest surviving operating theatres. It is located in the garret of St Thomas’s Church, Southwark, on the original site of St Thomas’ Hospital. This photo shows the reconstruction of the theatre as it would have looked while in use.

Built in 1822, the operating theatre was used for 40 years, when the hospital moved to a different location. The garret was walled up; it was forgotten, and remained undiscovered until 1957. Read more at Wikipedia and The Old Operating Theatre website.

For your gratuitous edification and mine – I had to go scurrying to the dictionary for this one – the “garret” referred to is “a habitable attic or small (and possibly dismal or cramped) living space at the top of a house.”

Place Saint-Georges in Paris, showing top-floor garret windows.

Carl Spitzweg, The poor poet (Der arme Poet), 1839, showing a garret dwelling.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

Playing in the World Game

As One

Author Archives: The Old Wolf

Doc Rat: Silly and Serious

“He who saves one life saves the world entire.”

Behind the “Do Not Enter” Signs

Family Butcher Shop, 1910

All the beer; all the coffee

Ka mate!

Right and Left: Wrong

Our bodies do strange things

The hidden operating theatre