JUL 10, a brief saga (basic medical science): radiation exposure

 

Authors' Note: 

hormesis: response to an environmental agent with two phases — beneficial at low doses, and harmful at high doses (yielding a U- or J- shaped dose-response curve)

BEIR (acronym pronounced as BEER): reports from the National Academy of Sciences, particularly BEIR VII, on the Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation, based on Japanese atomic bomb survivors

linear no-threshold model: a model for predicting damaging effects from radiation, applied particularly to the induction of cancer by radiating medical tests (CT and nuclear medicine); based on the BEIR VII report, it is the current prevailing theory

   By the BEIR model, damage by radiation is proportional to dose, starting with the first exposure, and is cumulative. That formulation runs counter to experience with other toxic influences, as well as to the more speculative concept of radiation hormesis in humans.

   Some scientific societies have, on the other hand, concluded that induction of cancer by radiation is of concern, but unproven at doses in the range of diagnostic medical testing.

You can view informative verses in a wider context by proceeding to the collection 'DOCTORS and their PRACTICES' on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE!

 

  For the purpose of this blog, a 'brief saga' is defined as a poem, usually narrative, but occasionally expository, that tell its story in at least 15 lines. Most commonly, the format involves three stanzas in limerick form, constituting a single submission to the online humor site 'Omnificent English Dictionary in Limerick Form'. On the OEDILF site, rigorous standards for content and format proceed in a collaborative editing process that may take several weeks to over a year. 

  Generally, OEDILF has not been enormously welcoming of multi-verse submissions, but Giorgio Coniglio has persisted, and the OEDILF number for each accepted multiverse poem is shown here on the slide with its first verse. 

To access the next 'brief saga' on this blog (August 2021), proceed to 'French Denial'.

To access the most recent previous 'brief saga', back up to 'Clothes Moths' (holesome verse). 

Re Medical-Related Poems: Altogether, a hundred or so intriguing verses on medical/dental topics can now be found on various posts in collections, including:

Patients and their Maladies (parts #1, #2 and #3)

The Bottom Line of Medical Humour

Funny Bones (parts #1 and #2),
Doctors and their Practices (part #1 and #2)

To Clot or Not to Clot

The Scopes of Modern Medicine

Handbook of Medical Testing Statistics

Pandemic Verses

Poetry of Healthcare

STD Poetry

Diagnostic Imaging (selected topics)

Toxic Vignettes

Sleek Greek Prefixes

Dental Feelings

and in 'brief sagas' including:

Drug Development

Radiation Exposure

Methylated Spirits

The Gastro-Esophageal Junction

Workplace Pollution

Food Intolerance

Fluoridation

JUL 9, wordplay maps: new world palindromes (#49,50)

You can view the entire collection of these 50 wordplay maps, by accessing the collection 'Tourists Palindromic Guides: The Americas'. Start by clicking HERE! 

JUL 8, to clot, or not: pulmonary embolism (lung clots)

 

You can view these verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'To Clot, or Not to Clot' on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE!

JUL 7, spineless verse (invertebrates): gastropods

READING MORE WIDELY:

You can find all our illustrated verses about various 'INVERTEBRATES' , as compiled on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense" HERE. But, in fact, we had hived off verses about INSECTS, and they are gathered in separate blogposts, that you can get into HERE. So, follow these links, and enjoy!

JUL 6, domestic hazards: dangerous utensils

 

 You can view an extensive collection of illustrated poems on this topic by proceeding to the post 'DOMESTIC HAZARDS' on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE.

JUL 5, garden intruders: squirrels in the garden

Authors' Note:  The authors bemoan the ongoing arbitrary depredations of the human garden by these untutored rodents. Although they have not personally participated in violence against squirrels, they reluctantly admit that they sympathize with other human victims who are drawn in that direction. Where are the hawks when we need them?

Readers, you are fortunate to have available all our poetic comments on creatures (animal and vegetable), devoted to subverting your gardening plans. To view this collection on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense", click HERE!

urban-dwelling squirrel in a Canadian tree

JUL 4, anagram swarm: 'ELECTION FRAUD' #4

 Continuing from the posts of January 16, January 18, January 20, January 22, January 24, and January 27. You might note that there are now more than 200 anagrams in this collection. Who would have guessed?

If you have enjoyed this post, you can find a series of other 'American anagram swarms' gathered in two posts on our 'parent' blog "Edifying Nonsense".  To get started, click HERE. 

JUl 3, sleek Greek prefixes: HYPER- and HYPO-

Clicking HERE will introduce you to our entire collection of verses about the Greek prefixes!

JUL 2, Canadiana: Eastern Canadian real towns

  

JUL 1, Canadiana: Canadian moose

Authors' Note: This verse was inspired by a character in a verse by Chris J. Strolin who railed against the use of the incorrect term 'Canadian goose'.

In fact, when Bruce was insightfully contemplating the introduction of moose into suitable environment in Newfoundland (NEW-found-land), the island was a separate British colony. As railway building had recently opened the island's interior, it was hoped that hunters would be attracted in search of a species in decline in the US and parts of Canada. 

In 1904, four eastern moose from New Brunswick (that subspecies is known as Alces alces americana) had been set loose on the island. Ultimately Newfoundland, including its burgeoning population of moose, joined the Canadian confederation in 1949. 

The rest is history, eh? Newfoundland now (2023) has the densest population of moose in North America, accounting for 150,000 of the continent's million remaining large ungulates.  

You can review poems, pictures and diverse nonsense related to Canada on the post "Canadiana" on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense".

 

JUN 30, numbers and counting -- zero

JUN 30, numbers and counting : Zero (0)

V

 You can review our cumulated nonsense about numbers by clicking HERE. 

JUN 29, poets' corner: collaboration

You can find lots of other verses on this blog under the listing "Poets' Corner".  Click HERE.

JUN 28, classic palindrome: 'sex at noon taxes'

You can review a collection of illustrated verses on this topic by proceeding to 'Reversing Verse: Limericks About Classic Palindromes' on the full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. 

JUN 27, sleek Greek prefixes: CHIRO-

Authors' Note: These names for professional endeavours, derived from the Greek root chiro (hand), have quite different meanings and pronunciations.

 Clicking HERE will introduce you to our entire collection of verses about the Greek prefixes!

JUN 26, mammalian wildlife: the concupiscent rabbit

Authors' Note: For a somewhat different take on concupiscence, check out the illustrated verse 'Horny Rhino' by clicking HERE. 

You can review the whole collection of illustrated verses about mammals (both domestic and exotic) by checking out the more extensive post on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE !

JUN 25, wordplay maps: new world palindromes (#47,#48)

 

You can view the entire collection of these 50 wordplay maps, by accessing the collection 'Tourists Palindromic Guides: The Americas'. Start by clicking HERE! 

JUN 24, photo-collage: unusual sightings, Muskoka waterfowl

 

You can review  illustrated verses about boating in Muskoka by proceeding to 'Reverse Strokes: 'Verses About Canoeing' on the full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'.

For more revealing photographs of loons in Muskoka, not to mention an appealing limerick-saga, you might want to click (or cluck) to get to the recent post 'Life As a Loon' on our full-service blogsite 'Edifying Nonsense'.

JUN 23, funny bones: the prosthetic hipster

                                                                                                   final approval #120852, May 2023

Authors' Note: The slang term hip, synonym for 'cool', appearing at the beginning of the 20th century, is related etymologically to hepcat, but not to the anatomic hip. Hipsters and hippies embody various elements of being hip.

Owing to impairment of blood flow, fracture of the femoral neck may result in the the acute need for hip-point replacement. The most common cause for hip replacement remains chronic osteoarthritis.

You can view verses on this topic in a wider context by proceeding to the post 'Breaking News: FUNNY BONES' on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE!

JUN 22, humorists' scurrilous talk: 'giving a shit'

EDITORS' WARNING: You must be at least 12 years of age to read this post! 

The collection of informative verses dealing with 'HUMORISTS' SCURRILOUS TALK' can be found by proceeding to our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE!

JUN 21, reptiles: broad-headed skinks

another individual, spotted at Caw Caw Plantation

 You can review photos and illustrated herpetologic verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'Verses about Reptiles' (don't worry! no snakes)' on the full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'.

JUN 20, singable satire: the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band sings about canoeing, "LOST COUNTRY"

PARODY-LYRICS 

Young canoeist in the bow,
Sunset on Bass Lake, Ontario

ORIGINAL SONG: "Lost River" by Michael Martin Murphey, most famously performed in conjunction with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band HERE.

Key lyrics from the original, retained in the parody version, include lines in the chorus about a "Quebec girl" and "fleur de lis". Murphey is in fact married to a Québécoise, and, as the song's protagonist presumably wishes to take her on a trip of rediscovery to the nostalgia-generating "lost river" of his youth. For those interested, the original song is displayed in ukulele-friendly format on our sister-blog.

SONG-LYRIC UNDERPINNINGS: On our song-blog you can find an earlier concoction entitled "Canoeing Lesson (Canoe, Canoe, Canoe, Canoe, Canoe)",  based on the original song  "I Do, etc." by ABBA, 1975. This earlier song also builds on Berton's concept of the relevance of canoeing to Canadian identity.

"A Canadian is someone who knows how to make love in a canoe", Pierre Berton, eminent Canadian journalist, editor, historian and author.

PARODY COMPOSED: Dr.G.H. and Giorgio Coniglio, December 2018, based on the precedents of song-lyrics and limerick verses, with a few new twists.

CHORD-CHARTS and OTHER PARAPHERNALIA:
As is usually the case with song-lyrics, we have simultaneously provided suggested chords for ukulele, guitar or whatever-stringed-instruments for the parody and for the original lyrics on our music-buff site "SILLY SONGS and SATIRE".  To access ukulele chord-charts to help you accompany "Lost Country" on your favorite instrument, click HERE. 

"LOST COUNTRY" (Canadian Canoeing Nostalgia)

(to the tune of "Lost River" by M. M. Murphey) 

M. M. Murphey
songwriter and performer

Urban summers seem so hot

That you'll need to find a spot

To escape (no use stewin'),

Where it's cool for canoein'.

Paddle straight and go faster

When the J-stroke you'll master.

Once you learn what you're doin'

Seek your spirit's renewin'.

A Canadian's someone who

Can make love in a canoe.

He knows lots of good strokes

And can thwart ogling folks.

Starting foreplay, he'll untether,

He'll move sideways with the feather;

He'll avert curious eyes

With a series of pries.

CHORUS: Oh, lost country, now I'm paddlin' back

To those thousands of lakes,

That beau paysage I've lacked*. 

Oh Quebec girl come with me, 

Oh, ma belle, ma fleur de lis,

Northern vision in our mind,

That Pierre Berton defined.

Now at heart our Rose did hate
Tryin' to make the boat go straight.
Paddlin' lessons were a battle
'Til some tricks she learned (don't tattle!)
In the stern she could discern
That instructors might well yearn
To teach Trudeau's stroke, fiddle-faddle
While she straddled their paddle.

Repeat CHORUS

 

JUN 18, birdlore: red-winged blackbirds

You can view an encyclopedic collection of illustrated poems on this topic by proceeding to the post 'Poems about Avian Life -- BIRDLORE' on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE. 

JUN 17, palinku (poetic novelty): ponderings

 

   In this post, we continue with a novel form of poetic wordplay. Inspired by Japanese haiku poetry, and by European-language attempts to convey its essence ina cross-cultural context, this new form is used for a terse verse with a total of 17 syllables displayed on three lines. Unlike its 'classic Japanese' analogue, this concoction does not mandate the precise distribution of the syllables among the three lines, but does stipulate that each word in the poem be included in a palindromic phrase or sentence in English (i.e. one that can be read either forwards or backwards). 

  To help the reader discern the origin of the lyrics, each palindrome (generally occupying one of the three lines of the poem) has been color-coded. 

You can view all our "palinku" verses if you proceed with a single click to our more encyclopedic blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE. (Or if you prefer, you can stay on this particular blogsite and look for the offerings for the 17th day of each month -- there are now more than 60 of these.)

 links for any date: scroll over to the calendar-based listings of 'Past Posts' in the righthand column on this page, choose your month of interest, and then select (by clicking) the post of your choice.