Seasonal, Inspiring, Humorous, Entertaining, and Bizarre

In case it wasn't clear from the last two posts:

US Highlights
Douglas Kamerow, US editor

As usual, the Christmas double issue of the BMJ is seasonal, inspiring, humorous, entertaining, and bizarre. There is too much good stuff to describe it all, but here are some highlights.

Additional highlights for me include:

You're not going to give me the umbrella, are you? C Bradbeer, S Soni, A Ekbote, T Martin. BMJ 2006;333:1287-1288.

The "umbrella test" is a longstanding urban myth that still bothers men who present for testing at sexual health clinics.

AND

The ideal tool for decorators: a novel use for disposable laryngoscope blades. RJ Green, JMT Pierce. BMJ 2006;333:1297-1298.

We noticed that the tip of a Timesco (London, UK) Callisto Mackintosh disposable laryngoscope blade fitted perfectly between the rim and lid of a tin of paint. This, coupled with the smooth contour, which fitted comfortably into the hand, led us to investigate which of the three commercially available blade sizes (2, 3, and 4) needed the least force to open tin lids. The null hypothesis for the study was that the forces needed would not differ.

View the entire table of contents!