This is my estimate of the inside of many of my patient's minds. They stand there and seem to be looking at me. But, no-one is at home. "One tablet daily, does that mean I take one in the morning and one at night?"
Grr
I need to get out more.
Microsoft released Vista SP1 last week. I had beta-tested it for a while, but the release version is now available for download from Microsoft. Microsoft Update will automatically pick up the download over the next few weeks if you have "Automatic Updates" set. However, if you are a geek, like me, you will probably want to get it now. It's 435 MB, So probably best to order a disk if you still have dial-up.
It took about an hour to install on the computers on my network and they all rebooted seamlessly. Nothing visually seems to have changed so it is hard to tell that there has been an update. All the improvements seem to be under the bonnet-the one I immediately noticed is that copying files over the network is much quicker. There are over 500 other updates and fixes, so it is worth getting.
One thing I was less impressed with was the Apple Update Software. It normally just informs of updates to Itunes or Quicktime, but today it popped up with a Safari update. I do not have this installed. but I was unsure whether I needed to install Safari to update the browser on my Ipod Touch. (You do not need to) I am aware that this is Apple's Internet browser but I use Internet Explorer 8 and have no plans to change. All browsers seem to launch with comments along the lines of "renders 25% faster than IE" but all recent browsers I have used seem to be roughly equivalent. One-third of a second is not really going to change my life. I know some people hate IE but I have used it with no problems for many versions. It seemed a bit sneaky to try and foist Safari as a needed update, many people will have no idea what it is and think they need to install it automatically. There would be an outcry if Microsoft had tried to do this with Internet Explorer. It looks as if a fair few people have been annoyed by the same thing.
See, I do need to get out more, don't I?
More dodgy studies?
The spokeswoman for one of the dyslexia charities/pressure groups said on BBC news at One today.
"55% of children who fail their SATs are at risk of Dyslexia"
How can you be "at risk" from it? Is it something you can catch? Or can you get a "touch of dyslexia" in the way some people get a "touch of asthma"?
Or, is this just another case of a pressure group plugging their cause, keeping themselves in the limelight and trying to get extra funding? The media, as always, fails to fact check and takes them at their word. Cue breathless copy in various newspapers and a one-sided interview on the BBC.
The research was commissioned by Xtraordinary People, a dyslexia pressure-group.(Note the spelling, isn't the lack of an "E" amusing? Surely that spelling is just going to confuse their target audience?)So,we can obviously take it at face value, right? Well, it's hardly research, is it? It does not seem to have been published anywhere and no other data are provided. It's like the surveys that clog the newspapers on slow news days. Always along the lines of "Disease X"Charity warn that "Disease X" is underdiagnosed, underfunded, undertreated, etc.) They hardly ever point out that all the jobs created in their organisation rely on keeping Disease X in the limelight.
In conclusion- Children who cannot read very well do not do well at exams. Well, there's a shocker. We've all learned something today. Plus, never to believe surveys you read in newspapers.
This beats the adverts for feminine hygiene products that we get in the UK. Femfresh anyone? Great name, that must have taken ages to think of.
How about Mort Goldman from Family Guy as the new poster boy for pharmacy?
Mort came well up in my list of Famous pharmacists a while ago. The two most popular pharmacists were both animated-Mort and friend of the leftie, Ned Flanders. Well, they were the most popular after the German pharmacist with the unfeasibly large breasts.
All pharmacists are nerds, discuss.
and No, he does not look like me.....much.
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