JUL 27, insects: deer-and horse- flies

You can review Giorgio's other verses about pesty and occasionally beneficial insects, as  collected in 'Buzzwords: Verses about Insects' on the full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE.

JUL 26, Toronto ravines; Glen Stewart Ravine (poem and photocollages #1-#2)

If you are interested in winding your way through an encyclopedic collection of four blogposts stuffed with photo-collages on Toronto ravines, click HERE.

 

JUL 25, funny bones: comminuted fracture

Authors' Note: Modern orthopedic treatment of displaced limb fractures often attains the aims of stability and appropriate alignment through the surgical technique of internal fixation. Injured limbs have then undergone the dual trauma of both the original injury and the surgical correction. But, with all the parts back in place and correctly aligned, the patient can work with a physiotherapist to regain range-of-motion, muscle agility and strength. 

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! 

JUL 24, magical palindromes: 'Leon's as selfless as Eva''

 

You can become an expert fan of our wordplay concoction 'magical palindromes' by reviewing the explanatory material found in ancient days on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense" HERE.

JUL 23, scopes of medicine: fiberoptic laryngoscopy

Authors' Note:  

ENT: medical specialty involving health and disorders of the ear, nose and throat; also referred to as otolaryngology.

   Failure of the body's GE junction can sometimes result in symptoms of inflammation in the throat (hoarseness, cough), rather than the more typical symptom of heartburn related to the esophagus.

   Diagnosis is simple in modern times, as most specialists can perform flexible fiberoptic laryngoscopy as part of the outpatient examination. In more obvious cases, 'free' (unprovoked) reflux of stomach contents can actually be viewed during the examination.

   

You can view a collection of verses on this topic  by proceeding to 'Inner Enlightenment: The Scopes of Modern Medicine' on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE !

JUL 22, death and the afterlife: cardiac arrest

Authors' Note:   Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is the major cause of sudden otherwise-unexplained death.  This emergency demands chest compression as well as other resuscitative maneuvers by trained lay standers-by, ambulance workers and emergency room staff. Unfortunately, the ultimate success rate of such resuscitative measures in this setting remains quite low. 

 You can review more poems about 'Death and the Afterlife' in context ('death and the afterlife') on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Click HERE!

JUL 21, excursion: Niagara Falls

Just opening up somewhat after the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, (July 21, 2021), this tourist mecca was surprisingly uncrowded. The weather was marvellous, and it was a wonderful day to enjoy falls-view dining!

American Falls, from Canadian side of River

Canadian (Horseshoe) Falls

Another diner

A patio diner at Canadian Falls

Rainbow over Canadian Falls

Maid of the mist

You might also like to check out "Niagara River Hiking Adventure", posted 10 days later. 

JUL 20, singable satire: Victor Borge tribute, "TAKE OUR HATS OFF TO BORGE"

PARODY-LYRICS (a reprise from 2017)

ORIGINAL SONG: "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" 1908, Norworth and von Tilzer, as performed by Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly, spoofed by Victor Borge.

PARODY COMPOSED: Dr.G.H. and Giorgio Coniglio, September 2013. 

The second verse invokes the sort of patron with whom you sometimes have to share the cheap-seats-section of your local ballpark. This variation on the baseball-park anthem is modified by the 'traditional' earlier start of lyrics versus music (“Borge-positive version”); the less well-known opposite distortion (“Borge-negative version”) is also shown.  

PARODY-SONGLINK: To access ukulele chord-charts to help you accompany "Take Our Hats Off to Borge" on your favorite instrument, click HERE.

TAKE OUR HATS OFF TO BORGE

(to the tune of "Take Me Out To The Ballgame")

Victor's "Clown Prince of Denmark” -

Unique musical gags;

He detached lyrics and melody - 

Spiffier spoof than an old parody.

For if you can handle the offset

The cadence will hit the mark,

Seventh In-ning home-run you’ll score

At the old ballpark.

Tickets cheap for the ballgame,

Seats right up in the clouds;

We won’t buy overpriced drinks and snacks -

Friends snuck in with a couple six-packs.

Let me hoot and jeer at the home-team;

My date’s dismayed that she came,

For it’s one, two, three beers you’re out

At the old ballgame.

(BORGE Version - Lyrics advanced):

………..   (Tickets)

Cheap for the ballgame; seats right

Up in the clouds we won’t

Buy overpriced drinks and snacks  - Friends snuck

In with a couple six-packs. Let me

Hoot and jeer at the home-team;  my date’s

Dismayed that she came, for it’s

Big crowd at Rogers Dome,
Toronto

One, two, three beers you’re out at the

Old ball-game.   xxx-xxx.

(Funky Version - Lyrics Delayed):

xxx-xxx. Tickets cheap for the

Ballgame, seats right up in
The clouds, we won’t buy drinks overpriced

And snacks - Friends snuck in with a couple

Six-packs; let me hoot and jeer at the

Home-team, my date’s dismayed that

She came, for  it’s  one, two, three beers

You’re out at the old.

……….. (ballgame). 

JUL 19, at heart: dobutamine for myocardial perfusion imaging

Authors' Note:    The verse above is a companion verse to ”dipyridamole”. 

When doctors want to check whether all areas of heart muscle can increase their blood flow appropriately, they may use certain drugs as helpers; this is particularly true when the patient is unable to perform a submaximal exercise test, often called a Bruce treadmill test, after its inventor. Dobutamine (doh-BYOO-ta-meen), relative of adrenaline, raises heart rate and blood pressure. It's the only drug available for tests which use echocardiography to picture the heart while it is 'under stress', but is a second-choice drug for the nuclear imaging test called gated SPECT. The preferred drug for those tests is one whose primary effect is to dilate arterial blood vessels, increasing the flow to normal heart muscle. Such drugs include dipyridamole and adenosine.

You can view more poems on this topic by proceeding to "Cardiologic Tracings: AT HEART" (parts #1 and #2) on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE!

 

JUL 18, amphibians: bufotoxin

Be sure to check out the whole collection of illustrated verses about "Amphibians" by proceeding to "Edifying Nonsense." CLICK HERE ! 

JUL 17, palinku (poetic novelty): fruits #2

 In this post, we will continue with our novel form of poetic wordplay. Inspired by Japanese haiku poetry, 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.)

JUL 16, reptiles: eastern glass lizards

 

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'.

JUL 15, variant Nantucket limerick: Cape Cod codger

You can review our whole collection of spoof verses based on the iconic Nantucket limericks on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense' by clicking HERE.

 

JUL 14, holidays and celebrations: old world palindromes, en français

In honour of Bastille Day ...

 You can view the entire collection of 'Old World Palindromes' on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense";  start by clicking HERE.
 

JUL 13, bi-lyrical limerick: 'goof'

The original limerick:

Authors' Note: Goof is used here in a sense overlapping with goofball for a person whose behavior, silly and inept (or 'goofy'), is seen by others as scoff-worthy.

To date, the archives on the OEDILF site lists over 60 limerick entries that are spoofs on the classic Nantucket limericks.

 Be sure to check out the whole collection of 'bi-lyrical limericks' by proceeding to "Edifying Nonsense." CLICK HERE ! (Or, if you prefer, you could look over this stuff on Giorgio's Facebook photo-albums.) 

JUL 12, portraits of couples: feral ducks

You can view this sample from our portfolio of 'Couples' portraits in a wider context on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense" HERE. 

JUL 11, STD-poetry: STDs

 

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