Photo of Luigi posted on Nintendo of America’s various social media accounts in 2013 as part of the Year of Luigi celebrations, featuring Luigi making a joke about his height difference to Mario.
Culture is so obsessed with the idea of lone geniuses that it doesn’t really appreciate that most of the progress of science (and likely every other discipline) occurs collaboratively, in babysteps, and usually through a lot very tedious, utterly unsexy, work.
This is what’s so faulty with our short sighted coverage of scientific discoveries. You hear politicians question why we spend money on science studying insect wings and then decades later that research gets used by NASA for the most efficient way to fold/unfold solar panels on spacecraft. All of science is connected and useful because it enhances our understanding of the universe
When lasers were discovered they were called “a solution without a problem”, noone had any idea what to use them for. Since then they’re revolutionised communications and SO many parts of technology. CDs, DVDs, printing, fast internet, laser etching for making computer chips, laser eye surgery, spectroscopy, LIDAR measurements of weather patterns, barcode scanners, cooling atomic clocks, nuclear fusion, microscopy, LED technology and materials research. I’m probably not even scratching the surface here.
Fund theory and fundamental science research.
It’s actually kind of heartening, lasers; because before they were invented, their only real antecedents in science fiction were things like rayguns and heatrays and what not. But it actually turns out that their usefulness as a weapon is extremely limited, whereas their usefulness for just about everything else is incredible. It’s one of the occasions where we flipped the “Dual Use” coin and it landed very solidly on the good side.
ranking the best things I have heard surgeons say mid-surgery:
1. “Five second rule!” while scrubbed, after dropping a sterile scalpel on the floor (no they did NOT pick it up again but I swear everyone’s buttholes puckered)
2. (spoken during the closing of a particularly long and difficult case) “Nurse – my tunes.” :heavy metal starts blasting:
3. Gently to a fretful patient, pre-anaesthesia: “It’s going to be okay. I promise, I’ve dealt with worse.” As soon as the patient is unconscious: “This is literally the worst thing I’ve ever seen.”
4. [okay this one was a med student] “Wowwww, that’s so gross!!” Reg: “Please remember that [patient] is awake for this procedure.” Student to patient: “Oh my god. I am so sorry, that was really unprofessional – ” Patient, cheerfully, also engrossed with what’s happening inside them on the screen: “Nah – it’s, like, super gross, right?”
5. [another procedure where the patient couldn’t be put under GA] Patient: *starts singing country roads midway through the procedure* Surgeon: *shrugs and joins in with surprisingly good harmony*
okay okay there’s more
6. Elderly surgeon to the anaesthetist who is gossipping with their reg: “I need you to pretend you’re in church.” [weirdest way to ask people to be quiet, but whatevs]
Anaethetist’s new reg with big, horrified eyes: “You mean we should start praying???”
7. Panicking rad tech: “Uhhhh my machine broke. I need to jump on this part and kick it, but I am not paid enough if I break it. Can you – ”
Surgeon, casual as: “Yeah, sure.”
:violently beats up the C-arm until it starts pumping out those sweet, sweet x-rays:
8. ODP to theatre assistant: “Saw the new tasche earlier. Suits you.”
Theatre assistant: “Thanks! it grew on me :)”
Surgeon, pleadingly, within accidental snipping distance of the patient’s spinal cord: “Guys, do NOT make me laugh.”
OH MY GOD I FORGOT –
9. Surgeon using the electrocauter, leaning over the incision and inhaling deeply: mmmmm, that smell always gets me hungry. I’m having barbeque tonight.
why do we even have legal genders anyway. maybe we should not have those
i don’t want to self-declare myself to fit in a specific box. i want to undeclare myself. it’s none of your business. why does anyone need to know that
i don’t think a third option / specific undeclared opt-out works in a hostile society, either. like, oh good, i’ve given myself the Freak label, that won’t cause any problems. i think we need to rethink why gender is considered basic identity information that has to be included anywhere. what purpose does this serve. why should ANY of us be providing this to strangers. i don’t want a different gender marker on my ID i want there not to be gender markers on my ID in the first place
