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In 1880, a middle-aged woman paid a visit to the French neurologist, Jules Cotard (pictured below), complaining of an unusual predicament. She believed she had ‘no brain, no nerves, no chest, no stomach, no intestines’. Mademoiselle X, as Cotard dubbed her in his notes, told the physician she was ‘nothing more than a decomposing body’. She believed neither God nor Satan existed, and that she had no soul. As she could not die a natural death, she had ‘no need to eat’.

Mademoiselle X later died of starvation. [1]

Although this peculiar condition eventually became known as ‘Cotard’s Delusion’ the French neurologist was not the first to describe it. In 1788—nearly 100 years earlier—Charles Bonnet reported the case of an elderly woman who was preparing a meal in her kitchen when a draught ‘struck her forcefully on the neck’ paralyzing her one side ‘as if hit by a stroke’. When…

This will delight the conservationally-minded.  (Conversation/conservation.  Shopfitting, Shoplifting.  Read carefully. 😉 )

If you remember a while back I posted

In this piece I argue that the paper industry is keeping large stretches of land forested, instead of it being rip-mined or simply going to the dogs.

There is of course a very valid criticism of that stance.

Pine and Eucalypt (Bluegum) forests are not necessarily the way to conserve a country’s natural, indigenous flora.  Nothing much grows under pines; the ground is extremely acidified due to the carpet of needles.  Eucalypts have a (for South Africa at least) even bigger problem:  They suck up the ground water.  Eucalypts were used in Windhoek to dry up a small swampy area so that it could be built up (and you ask, why??? oh why?, Namibia is such a dry place!)

So…

Tucked away in a quiet area of East London is a peaceful place that goes by the unassuming name of Postman’s Park (left), so called because it once stood in the shadow of the city’s old General Post Office building. At first glance, you might mistake it for any green space in the city, with its manicured lawn, leafy trees and decorative water fountain. But if you took the time to venture through the gates, you would stumble upon something far from ordinary.

On a stone wall, underneath a makeshift overhang, are a series of ceramic plaques, each one painted beautifully with the names of people who died while trying to save the lives of others. One plaque reads:

And another:

And on and on they go. The first time I stumbled upon this memorial was on a walking tour given by Tina Hodgkinson. I was instantly overwhelmed with sadness. So many of the people…

I recently read an article that opened my eyes wider to just how manipulative the algorithms are on Facebook.  I’m guessing similar extra long math equations are also used to determine what ads show up on the side panes of almost ALL the sites I find myself traversing on the internet.  As I was reading / understanding the article (click here to read, then come on back for a spell), a couple of things about my FB interactions became clear.

First off, all those deep, meaningful posts I’ve liked and shared have been used to box me into seeing only the content the FB computers “think” I would enjoy, based solely on what I “liked”.  My FB experience was being tailored to the person a computer mathematically calculated me to be.  Secondly, the very reason I was sharing and liking these posts – to spread information and the occasional cat…

Last Saturday, I was lounging around on the couch watching 5 straight episodes of Forensic Detectives (don’t judge) when I heard my computer ping. Being the internet junkie that I am, I immediately checked my inbox and saw a message from my old school friend, Andy, who is currently studying medicine at Case Western. He had an idea for a blog post, he wrote, but worried it might be too disturbing for my audience. Naturally, my curiosity was piqued.

Turns out, Andy had reason to worry. In the next message, he attached a photo of a 19^th-century fetus (left), which is now housed at Museum Vrolik in Amsterdam. The baby had died from a very rare genetic disorder known as Harlequin Ichthyosis, which causes the overproduction of keratin protein in skin. As a result, those with the condition are born with huge, diamond-like scales all over their bodies…