Shout Outs

 Updated 3/2017-- photos and all links (other than to my own posts) removed as many no longer active and it was easier than checking each one.

Jake Young, Pure Pedantry, is this weeks host for Grand Rounds. I submitted one of my posts from last week. You can read the South Park Edition of Grand Rounds here. Very nicely done.

It has been a rough month here at Pure Pedantry.

At one point last week, I think I trained rats for 8 straight hours. (My job in the lab is training rats.) And let me just tell you, that is not particularly interesting. Visualize getting a repetitive stress injury moving around an pissed off animal with a limited attention span but to whom your entire future is chained. Anyway, in order to entertain myself, I have been playing every episode of South Park in order in the background. (Yes, I know...very, very sad.) Sufficeth to say, this has resulted in me having South Park on the brain. Thus, this particular edition of Grand Rounds will be South Park themed.

I would like to thank everyone for this very welcome breather from slowly losing my mind for the good of science. Thank you all for your submissions.

Congratulations to Dr Val Jones!!!

I was welcomed as a new member of Washington, DC's 100-year-old National Press Club (NPC) today. My credentials for membership? I'm a blogger.

A nice article in the Lahey Clinic Medical Ethics Journal, Spring 2008, Vol 15, #2 Issue: The ethical challenge posed by surgical innovation by George J Agich, PhD (PDF file)

Dr Anonymous' Blog Talk Radio show is Thursday night! His guest this week will be Dr Alan Dappan. The show starts at 8 pm CST (or 1 am GMT). I hope you will join us.

Tips for first time Blog Talk Radio listeners (from Dr A):

For first time Blog Talk Radio listeners:
*Although it is not required to listen to the show, I encourage you to register on the BlogTalkRadio site prior to the show. I think it will make the process easier.
*To get to my show site, click here. As show time gets closer, keep hitting "refresh" on your browser until you see the "Click to Listen" button. Then, of course, press the "Click to Listen" button.
*You can also participate in the live chat room before, during, and after the show. Look for the "Chat Available" button in the upper right hand corner of the page. If you are registered with the BTR site, your registered name and picture will appear in the chat room.
*You can also call into the show. The number is on my show site. I'll be taking calls beginning at around the bottom of the hour. There is also a "Click To Talk" feature where you do not need a phone to call into the show - only a microphone headset. Hope these tips are helpful!

Dr Wes will be doing a live on-line chat for an hour on August 6th, 2008 at 7PM CST. He recently did an hour-long radio show on atrial fibrillation (afib) with his colleague Dr. Jose Nazari, MD. The podcast is now up and can be listened to or download it here.

You can still get an occasional "fix" of Dr Sid Schwab's writing here. He writes a few posts for "Surgery Insider". The most recent is "Stop, Stop, You're Killing Me".

This is non-medical, but for us pet lovers you may appreciate it. A blog friend, Penny Sanford, received an "extra" figurine through a glitch. The error is being turned into good.

I suggested that if he could wait until the next month, I would pay for the second figurine and donate it to raise money for Westie Rescue.

This very gracious seller just donated it to be sold to raise money for Westie Rescue. I thought that was so very, very thoughtful and wise!

The figurine has been sent to Vickie Claflin now of Maryland Westie Rescue. She is the great lady who fostered Annie and Rebel and Mackie. She now has her own blog

about some of the Westies she has helped rescue in the past.

She will be offering the figurine for sale at one of the fund raising events Maryland Westie Rescue attends. You may remember that Maryland Westie Rescue recently rescued 31 Westies from a puppy mill, and Vickie was right in the middle of it!