RESPECTFUL INSOLENCE

"A statement of fact cannot be insolent." The miscellaneous ramblings of a surgeon/scientist on medicine, quackery, science, and pseudoscience (and anything else that interests him).

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day in Chicago

Post author By Orac
Post date March 17, 2008
8 Comments on Happy St. Patrick’s Day in Chicago

Thursday through Sunday, I happened to be in Chicago for the Society of Surgical Oncology annual meeting. Leave it to surgeons to schedule a meeting the weekend before St. Patrick’s Day in Chicago.

In Chicago.

That means the drinking in the city started Friday after business hours and continued all the way through Sunday–and that was just the natives. Everywhere I went on Friday and Saturday night, there were staggering people dressed in green hanging on to each other. Another lovely thing was that the meeting was at the Sheraton (one of my favorite hotels in Chicago, it’s crappy, slow, and expensive wifi service notwithstanding), which is right next to the hallowed place where a yearly St. Patrick’s Day tradition occurs every year on the Chicago River between the N. Michigan Ave. and N. Columbus Drive bridges: the dying green of the Chicago River. Naturally, I bugged out of the meeting. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera with me; fortunately I had my camera phone. Some will ask: How can you tell the difference after they dye the river? The answer: Even the Chicago River isn’t fluorescent green normally. Usually, it’s a rather dull, pukey color green. Here’s what it looked like:

Come to think of it, it’s not all that different from the usual shade of green of the Chicago River.

Sadly, I was too dedicated to blow off the afternoon and go to the St. Patrick’s Day parade that started at noon.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day, all!

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By Orac

Orac is the nom de blog of a humble surgeon/scientist who has an ego just big enough to delude himself that someone, somewhere might actually give a rodent's posterior about his copious verbal meanderings, but just barely small enough to admit to himself that few probably will. That surgeon is otherwise known as David Gorski.

That this particular surgeon has chosen his nom de blog based on a rather cranky and arrogant computer shaped like a clear box of blinking lights that he originally encountered when he became a fan of a 35 year old British SF television show whose special effects were renowned for their BBC/Doctor Who-style low budget look, but whose stories nonetheless resulted in some of the best, most innovative science fiction ever televised, should tell you nearly all that you need to know about Orac. (That, and the length of the preceding sentence.)

DISCLAIMER:: The various written meanderings here are the opinions of Orac and Orac alone, written on his own time. They should never be construed as representing the opinions of any other person or entity, especially Orac's cancer center, department of surgery, medical school, or university. Also note that Orac is nonpartisan; he is more than willing to criticize the statements of anyone, regardless of of political leanings, if that anyone advocates pseudoscience or quackery. Finally, medical commentary is not to be construed in any way as medical advice.

To contact Orac: [email protected]

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