Monthly Archives: December 2018

A Brief History of the Renin-Angiotensin System

If you’re here for the music you still might give this piece a glance. It’s on a subject of immense clinical importance that I’ve tried to present in a fashion accessible to layman while still having some content that might interest physicians. Some of the greatest work in medical pathophysiology has contributed to our current…


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Inadequate Pain Management

It was inevitable. Everytime we get worked up about opioid abuse complaints about inadequate pain management are not far behind. Even though about two thirds of opioid abusers first get their drugs from illicit sources doctors are pressured to prescribe less opium derived pain medicine. I’ve seen this cycle at least three times since I…


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There’s No Explaining (Bad) Taste

A review of the Met’s new production of La Traviata by Daniel Gelernter contained this statement: “As an artwork, it [La Traviata] is less valuable than the Alexandre Dumas novel on which it is based: Camille is a first-rate romance. La Traviata is more histrionic than subtle, but it manages a number of superb moments,…


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The Grand Inquisitor

The scene in the king’s apartment of Verdi’s Don Carlo(s) is my choice for the greatest in all opera. [It is Act 4  scene 1 in the 5 act version.] Its moral grandeur, psychological insight, and musical characterization place it on an artistic level reached by only a handful of art’s supreme masters. The most interesting…


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15 Minute Time Lapse From Space: Around the World Twice

The video below has nothing to do with the usual subjects of this site, but it’s so impressive that I thought it deserves as wide an audience as possible. The European Space Agency released this nearly 15 minute time lapse shot by astronaut Alexander Gerst. It’s the longest continuous time lapse from space yet available.


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