derweze, also known as the door to hell, is a 70 meter wide hole in the middle of the karakum desert in turkmenistan. the hole was formed in 1971 when a team of soviet geologists had their drilling rig collapse when they hit a cavern filled with natural gas. in an attempt to avoid poisonous discharge, they decided to burn it off, thinking that the gas would be depleted in only a few days. derweze is still burning today
smart move bros.
(Source: tastefullyoffensive, via diamantdog)
"When I was a student at Cambridge I remember an anthropology professor holding up a picture of a bone with 28 incisions carved in it. “This is often considered to be man’s first attempt at a calendar” she explained. She paused as we dutifully wrote this down. ‘My question to you is this – what man needs to mark 28 days? I would suggest to you that this is woman’s first attempt at a calendar.’
It was a moment that changed my life. In that second I stopped to question almost everything I had been taught about the past. How often had I overlooked women’s contributions?"
It was a moment that changed my life. In that second I stopped to question almost everything I had been taught about the past. How often had I overlooked women’s contributions?"
— Sandi Toksvig. (via learninglog)
"She generally gave herself very good advice, (though she very seldom followed it)."
— Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass
Nothing can be preserved.
Before I go into more ponderous commentary, I want to point out some technical details. One, no one chews gum in anatomy lab. No food or drink is brought in, and the entire lab is drenched in the smell of formaldehyde and phenol that any taste in your mouth will turn into that sour, antiseptic stench. Two, cadavers are disinfected and embalmed for months prior to delivery into anatomy labs, to the point where we lift the plastic bags over the bodies, very few superficial (epidermal) characteristics are retained. Cadavers rarely have body hair, their skin tented and curled from the months of soaking in formaldehyde, their bodily appearance from life barely preserved in death. It was one of the things that surprised us most about anatomy lab, and perhaps what gave us relief in the beginning: that the cadavers we worked on looked nothing like people in our lives, thus lending some detachment from the morbid yet necessary education we were receiving.
The more serious point I want to raise is that on the most part medical students do not take anatomy lab and their opportunity to learn anatomy from the generosity of others lightly. We do laugh and make jokes (because how else are you going to cope with the absurdist position of cleaning out the phrenic nerve out of a chest cavity) but not at the expense of the cadaver. What we do is marvel at each cadaver’s life story told out in his or her anatomy. Blurred out tattoos on their skin, amputated fingers, a pacemaker, a gold tooth, an enlarged heart, a cirrhosed liver, a hysterectomy. These certainly are not complete pictures of a person’s life, or even verbs or adjectives, but snapshots of their health and how they dealt with their health. At the end of the year we had a closing ceremony where the family of the donated cadavers were invited with the medical students to convene as a celebration and thanks for the lives these people have lived and given for the education of medicine.
No, the body isn’t preserved. My cadaver’s name is H. She passed away when she was one hundred and six years old from a cardiac dysrhythmia. She had a gold tooth and some cotton balls in her mouth when she was embalmed, probably from a toothache prior to her death. She had small feet and arteries that went off the beaten track. She taught me everything I knew about anatomy, from the swaths of muscle from her back to the nerves in her eye. I thanked her the first time I lifted the bag and saw her face, I thanked her the last lab where I disarticulated the skull to examine the pharynx, and I thanked her family for her and their generosity in this incredible opportunity to learn and give back. Every doctor remembers his or her cadaver from medical school. They are preserved in our memories, in the work we do, and work of others after us.
So, thank you.
Barcelona’s France international defender Eric Abidal is to undergo a liver transplant, the club have announced.
Abidal, 32, had liver surgery a year ago after being diagnosed with a tumour, and played in the Champions League final win over Manchester United a few months later.
[Source: The Guardian]
In many ways, Abi’s recovery was the best part of last season. Seeing him lift the Champions League trophy was an amazing moment. To quote the man himself:
“Do you have any idea…? I had cancer, I had surgery, I played the CL final, and I lifted the cup, all in the span of three months.”Exactly one year on, today we get the news that it’s not over, that he has to undergo a liver transplant. From the same interview, Abi also says:
“When you have cancer…it’s not a one-man game, it’s teamwork. Without the support of my family, of my supporters, of everyday people, of my fellow patients, and of my teammates of course, I wouldn’t have won against cancer.”Strength, Abi. We are all with you.
(via therestisdetail)
Chico y Rita clip. Bésame mucho. The scene where Chico and Rita meet.
Kiss me, kiss me many times/ as if tonight were our last time./ Kiss me, kiss me hard/ for I am afraid of having you/ and then losing you.
