May 12, 2004
Quote of the Day
If one were to walk into the beginning of my biology class, one might conclude that one was in the wrong place. Art history or human biology? Hard to say. Every day, he (my instructor) opens up with a slide of an artwork (nevermind the definition of art).
Today, it was a painting by Theodore Something-or-another (a Frenchie) named Medusa (or something like that). Anyway, the painting is an illustration of a raft full of survivors of the Medusa, the flagship of some French flotilla en route to their colonies in Africa. Because of typical French incompetence and blundering, their ship ran aground and some 150 crewers had to abandon ship on to a hastily built raft. After thirteen days (when they were finally rescued), only fifteen of the survivors were left, and five of those died four days later. My instructor was telling this story fairly well, then jumped back to the matter at hand - the urinary system. Wow, that was abrupt.
Posted by Russell Whitaker at May 12, 2004 6:35 AM | TrackBackTHink about it: many days on a raft in the ocean, with no fresh water, likely living off of one's own piss, and maybe the bodies of other raft occupants. Your urinary system is going to be your primary health problem.
Posted by: Mike Lorrey on May 12, 2004 7:05 AMOh, but you forget - they are surrounded by water! And, being proper French (and being surrounded by water), they no doubt forsook their onboard water stores for wine.
I apologize if I sound anti-French in my disposition; just having a joke. They did, afterall, help us win our independence.
Posted by: Andy Chen on May 12, 2004 8:03 AMThat's okay, I'm anti-French plenty of times myself.
While you are right they would likely have relied more on wine than water, I'm surprised your teacher didn't describe what happens to a person's urinary system when they have nothing to drink but salt water.
Posted by: Mike Lorrey on May 12, 2004 11:22 AM