We should not strive to be scholars - people who hoard up founts of knowledge like treasure - instead, we should aim to be anti-scholars...

...anti-scholars pride themselves not in what they know but in what they have yet to learn. Their focus is on the unknown, the yet-to-be-discovered, and beyond. To illustrate this point: what good is a vast library if all the books in it have already been read? Read books have no value to the owner who has already explored their pages except to enable passive reminiscence. The most valuable library is one in which none of the books have been read, for it holds the greatest potential.

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When driving back and forth from the Tropical Tundra to the Great North, I like to play the ABCs* game in the car. It's much better when there's a passenger to play it with but, in desperation, I have been known to play it by myself.

(* For those of you who don't know - the ABCs game is where you go through the alphabet by naming aspects of medicine based on their first letter. There are a variety of versions: diseases, diagnostic tests and physical exam, pharmacology, etc. For example, if you were playing the 'diseases' version, you might begin with: Addison's Disease, Boerhaave Tear, Coronary Artery Disease..., etc.)

This clip not only depicts the experience of clerkship extremely well but also refers to my favourite medical Z word - Zollinger-Ellison Syndrome. Sweet!

The air goes into your lungs, around in your heart, and on through your blood...cautiously into the dark.

Best.short.film.ever.

We are often so preoccupied with the right of every man to live that we forget it is the destiny of every man to die.

Just a quick note... but an important one in the evolution of my general outlook on life and the future. As most of you who know me in real life have come to understand, I'm certainly rather unenthusiastic about the idea of having children.

My issues with pregnancy and childbirth aside, one of the reasons I tend to resist the idea is that I've always dreamed of a life of adventuring. Raising a family always seemed to me to preclude the ability to go on wild adventures, for several reasons:

(a) is it really ethical to expose a young child to the risks of an adventure (ie. adventures usually mean taking on all kinds of risks like infectious diseases, wild animals, bad weather, etc)? Or, if you leave the child at home with a babysitter to avoid those risks, is it ethical to abandon your child for 6 months while you go chase a different dream than being a mom?

(b) money. Kids are expensive and so are adventures. How could you possibly finance both?

(c) time. An adventure that could be accomplished in a reasonable amount of time would suddenly take much much longer if you brought a child along. Just think about how much longer it takes you to make dinner for 4 people instead of 2! A longer adventure requires more money, more time off work, and more supplies (ie. food, medications, etc).

(d) weight. When everyone can share the load, carrying the supplies necessary for an adventure isn't a huge hardship... however it's rather impossible to strap a 50lbs pack on a 6 year old and expect them to haul their share of food, water, and shelter. This goes back to item (c), too -- the heavier the packs, the longer it takes to get from A to B.

(e) The kids just might not be interested... or interested enough to sit still on a bike / canoe / horse / sled / etc for 8 hours a day while their parents attempt great feats of endurance. I'm mean, really... what could be worse when trying to ski to the north pole than dragging a child behind you that keeps whining, "Mom, are we there yet??? I have to pee."

Miraculously, however, I have recently found 3 stories of families who have challenged and overcome all these obstacles in the pursuit of adventure. Through their incredible examples, I have decided that children can no longer be considered a reason not to go on an adventure. Therefore, dear Penguin, you are one theoretical objection closer to the possibility of future hypothetical children than before. :)

Story #1: Pedouins cycle to Alaska.
Story #2: The Heuers in Finding Farley
Story #3: Sailing on the Northern Magic

I will preface this with the obligatory disclaimer: I shit you not.

All I did this week-
end was surf YouTube and click
Refresh on Facebook.

Some of the bounty of my mindless web searches:

Why Cats Are Not Employed As Doctors
• Valuable minutes lost in surgery as doctor furiously paws at nearby fly.
• While informing patient's family of their loss, doctor suddenly loses interest and walks off.
• In bid to become chief surgeon, doctor scent-marks entire hospital.
• Doctor refuses to respond to own name during code blue.
• Staff grows increasingly alarmed as doctor runs up and down hallway for no apparent reason.
• Sensing colleagues' growing dissatisfaction with his work, doctor curls up against a radiator and goes to sleep.
• Doctor raises hackles and bares teeth whenever new interns are introduced.
• Doctor loses medical license after licking self, instruments clean.