Fun with misery

When I was in university, I took a physics class. It was required for my major, which I subsequently changed, and the physics credit became unimportant. But I passed, despite my best attempts not to, so my university transcript shows 3 units worth of first-year physics.

That isn't really the point, but it's fun to repeat.

My physics textbook included a question that went something like this: "Tom the cat is chasing Jerry the mouse across a table 1.5 meters high. At the last minute, Jerry steps out of the way and Tom flies off the table at a speed of 15 m/s. Calculate where Tom will hit the floor, and what his velocity components will be just before impact." The image of Tom chasing Jerry off the table and turning into a physics problem was too much for me to bear. I went out for a walk and promptly got soaked, as I recall, and ignored my homework until the day before it was due.

I've often thought it would be fun to teach elementary physics to students by using cartoons and explaining why things don't work this way in real life. The most egregious of them would have to be the "Road Runner" series of cartoons, which are easily my favorite. I also think that teaching physics via "Road Runner" cartoons would be a compelling reason to come to a class most people would sooner skip, but that's just me.

When I started my medical career, I began to think similar thoughts. What if we brought in copies of that old "Operation" board game to work on? Wouldn't it be cheaper, easier, and not to mention less gross than having human cadavers to work on? It would sure beat waiting for someone to croak and donate their body to the medical school! Actually, I've long been a fan of making education as a whole more fun for the participants, so I welcome any attempt to do so.

About six months ago, I was at my own doctor's office for some diagnostic work - the medical association frowns on doing work on yourself, and I have no idea why. But I was reading "Stitches" (the journal of medical humor that has never sent me an issue, despite the $90 or so that I've sent them repeatedly) and came across some wonderful teaching nursery rhymes for medical students.

Little Miss Milk Allergy

Little Miss Muffet
Sat on her tuffet
Eating her curds and whey.
She anaphylaxed,
Turned blue and collapsed,
And the ambulance whisked her away.

Mary Had A Little HMO

Mary had a little lump
Which soon began to grow
And everyone that Mary saw
Said, "Man, that lump should go!"

She went to see her doc one day
To get the lump removed
But since it was cosmetic
It couldn't be approved