After seeing a demonstration of a typewriter in 1874, and despite a worldwide economic depression, Twain ran right out and bought one for the outrageous price of $125 [around $2,500 today]. Within a week, he was writing letters on it (in all capitals; it had no lowercase) about how he looked forward to giving it away: “IT is MOST TOO TEARING ON THE MIND,” he lamented. It’s sometimes hard to separate Twain’s real complaints from his curmudgeonly persona, so maybe he was exaggerating. But by 1875, he had given away his typewriter and decided instead to endorse new “fountain” pens for two companies …
Still, Twain did more than anyone to ensure the eventual triumph of typewriters over high-end pens. He submitted the first typewritten manuscript to a publisher, Life on the Mississippi, in 1883. (It was dictated to a secretary, not typed by Twain.) And when the Remington typewriter company asked him to endorse its machines … he declined with a crusty letter—which Remington turned around and printed anyway. Even the acknowledgement that Twain, probably the most popular person in America, owned one was endorsement enough.
From: Sam Kean; The Disappearing Spoon
Word: Xenodochium
Xenodochium
A house of reception for strangers and pilgrims; a hostel, guest-house, especially in a monastery.
From the Greek ξένος a stranger + δέχεσθαι to receive.
First recorded by the OED a in use as late as 1612.
Weekly Photograph
This week it has to be time for some more pussy porn. So here’s one from earlier this month of Tilly the now-not-so-kitten (she’s coming up for a year old) sleeping on my desk. She’s a bit out of focus, apart from those paws, but this only adds to the pussyness!
Office Varmint, Resting
Greenford, April 2014
£50m? That Goes Nowhere!
In a widely reported impending announcement David Cameron is allegedly to pledge £50m to fund 1000 GP surgeries (roughly 1 in 8) to open 0800-2000, 7 days a week. See for instance here.
Yes, these extended GP hours are something we, the patients, are asking for. And there is a need because currently there are people (just how many is really debatable) who can’t (for lots of reasons) go a GP appointment but unnecessarily clog up A&E.
But yet again the UK government has proved it doesn’t have a clue about how to actually run the NHS. Cameron doesn’t stand a hope in hell of achieving what he’s pledging, because $50m by my reckoning will pay for a quarter of that for just one year.
Here’s why …
Opening 8-20, 7 days will mean around an extra 34-40 hours a week to be covered. (It’s 34 hours if the practice is currently open 0800-1800, 5 days a week; and many aren’t.)
This means every GP practice which is going to extend their hours, as demanded will need to employ at least one extra full time equivalent GP.
And to cover the extra hours they will also need at least one full time extra member of reception/office staff.
Leaving aside where they are going to find all the suitable, spare GPs, let’s look at the cost. Here’s a very broad brush, back-of-envelope, estimate:
Assume that a GP costs the NHS £150K pa (that’s salary plus pension contributions, plus employers NI contributions, plus other benefits like holiday etc.).
Assume similarly that a full time trained receptionist costs £30K pa (again salary plus benefits package). (Yes you do need trained receptionists; medical work is not something anyone off the street can do, and certainly not safely.)
And then remember that the extra hours will also incur costs for heat, light, hot water and other services — let’s assume that’s £25 per week per practice.
Which means each practice would need funding of around £181K a year.
Dividing that into £50M would provide enough funding for around 275 practices, or about a quarter of what is proposed. And 275 practices is little more than 1 for each NHS area (CCG) in the country (by my count there are 211 of them in England).
So even if the “reorganisation” also provides 100% efficiency savings (which would be a world first!) that still means we’ll achieve only 50% of Cameron’s pledge.
So not only will Joe/Josette Public not realise that this may mean his/her GP isn’t open (and they have to go several miles across the borough to find the practice which is open — on a Sunday when there are no buses), but it is going to go nowhere near meeting Cameron’s pledge.
And that’s without all the fancy gizmos, like Skype video consultations, which are being promised. They have to be paid for too!
Oh and if you read the articles don’t be deceived by all the twaddle about the over 75s. That’s been in the plan for a long time; it isn’t new. Just as I suspect the £50m isn’t new money either.
How do we get these people to understand that healthcare is expensive, that the available funds are being misallocated and mismanaged, and that GP services are hugely underfunded compared with 10 years ago? Because they really don’t have a clue how to fix things.
Ay to Zee
I’ve decided that we’ll have another irregular series, an A to Z. Unlike 10 things this won’t be a regular monthly feature — I considered it and thought that one such a month was enough and I’d do an A-Z when the whim takes me. I also decided that we’ll start with …
An A-Z of Me
A — Age: 63 on the calendar. Mentally it varies from 21 to 91. Physically it feels more like 163.
B — Blood Type: Not a clue; I’ve never been told.
C — Chore You Hate: All of them, especially housework.
D — Dogs or Cats: Definitely cats. I don’t dislike dogs but I don’t have the affinity with them I do with cats.
E — Expletive Deleted: Usually f**k or c**t.
F — Fun Thing: The London Eye.
G — Greatest Accomplishment: Survival.
H — Haircut: Yes, I finally managed to get to the barber last week; only 6 weeks late!
I — I’d Like To Be: Thinner, fitter and richer.
J — Japan or China: Japan. I’d like to see both although Japan would win, except that I disapprove of their stance on whaling and I don’t much fancy a 12+ hour flight.
K — Kids: No, thank goodness. Two cats is enough, thank you!
L — Luxury: A warm, sunny, sandy beach and an endless supply of cool beer.
M — Married: Yes for half a lifetime.
N — Nude or Clothed: Nude when possible, clothed when necessary. In that order.
O — Operation: Yes, I’ve had several but nothing major: appendix, sinuses, knees.
P — Piercings: Yes one, somewhere you probably don’t want to know about.
Q — Quirky Possession: A Tibetan singing bowl and two Bhutanese Thanka.
R — Random Fact: I’ve never eaten a hamster or a goldfish, either alive or dead.
S — Siblings: No, and I cannot imagine what it must be like to have brothers and sisters.
T — Tattoos: Not yet.
U — Underwear: Only when I have to.
V — Vanilla or Chocolate: Vanilla. While I don’t mind real chocolate I dislike chocolate flavouring. Though I had some mango sorbet the other day which was out of this world!
W — Waiting for: A big lottery win.
X — X-Rays: Had a few of these over the years and always found the images fascinating.
Y — Yummy Food: Curry.
Z — Zoo Animal Favourite: Meercats and the aquarium.
What about you? Either leave your answers in the comments or on your blog with a link in the comments.
And another A-Z when the mood takes me.
Something for the Weekend
Ten Things #4
Here’s my April list of Ten Things.
10 Things I Consider Works of the Devil:
- Umbrellas
- Religion
- Pernod
- Halloween
- Butternut Squash
- Gnocci
- Golf
- Net Curtains
- Muzak
- Sweetcorn
Quote: Morality
Religion is doing what you are told regardless of what is right.
Oddity of the Week: Neutrinos
Look at the nail on your pinky finger: Every second, about 65 billion neutrinos pass through it. Almost all were produced inside the giant nuclear reactor in our sun’s belly.
From: “Strange Effects: The Mystifying History of Neutrino Experiments” at www.wired.com/2012/03/strange-neutrinos-experiments/.
Your Interesting Links
Another selection of links to items you may have missed …
As seems to be becoming tradition, let’s start with Fukushima. Scientific American recently carried an article on a UN report that the meltdown is unlikely to lead to large number of cancers.
According to the Guardian some researchers are saying the Black Death was not transmitted by rat fleas. Excellent demolition job by by the Brooke Borel.
Going back a few centuries, Alasdair Wilkins asks “Was Robert Hooke really the greatest asshole in the history of science?” Answer, yes he probably was, but he was still a great scientist.
Some amusing illustrations of the Gluteal Crease. Yes, that’s where the butt crack begins.
OMG, scientists cannot leave the (alleged) mystery of female orgasm alone! Now they’re trying to shed light using ultrasound and wet tampons. Duh!
Next up two absurd creatures; and both are fish. First the tripod fish. Second the oarfish which like a lizard can shed it’s tail to escape.
And here’s another rather pretty oddity: MRI scans of fruit.
Moving away from science, apparently Islamic law to be enshrined in British law as solicitors get guidelines on ‘Sharia compliant’ wills. This is wrong on so many levels.
The Atlas of Prejudice has 20 interesting ways to view Europe.
Now to an interesting perspective on the depiction of nudity and naturism.
Asp milk or ass milk? No not that kind of ass milk!
A couple of scientists have compared every major diet and found that they’re all more-or-less bunkum. But the winner was … real food! Well who would’ve guessed?
Meanwhile some other researchers reckon that the bergamot in Earl Grey Tea is actually protective against heart disease. That shouldn’t be a surprise as it is known to block statins (which is why anyone taking statins is told not to eat grapefruit) because it binds to the same receptors. Duh! Again!
And here’s something else which is actually good for you … hops. Yes, that staple of brewers, Humulus lupulus.
And now to things historic … Here’s part 4 in the series by a London cabbie on Waterloo Station: the London Necropolis Railway.
Going east, here’s an article on the normality of the sacred and sensuous in Indian art.
I find it slightly astonishing (though I guess I shouldn’t) that the Tibetans have long has a pattern book for drawing and sculpting representations of the Buddha.
Returning to Europe, here’s another medieval manuscript containing cat paw prints.
And finally, few of us have time to read all of Shakespeare’s plays. Now there’s a “get out of jail free” card: every Shakespeare play reduced to just three panels. Brilliant!