Treaty of Paris ends Spanish-American War on December 10, 1898
Treaty of Paris ends Spanish-American War: On December 3, 1967, 53-year-old Lewis Washkansky receives the first human heart transplant at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa.
Washkansky, a South African grocer dying from chronic heart disease, received the transplant from Denise Darvall, a 25-year-old woman who was fatally injured in a car accident. Surgeon Christiaan Barnard, who trained at the University of Cape Town and in the United States, performed the revolutionary medical operation. The technique Barnard employed had been initially developed by a group of American researchers in the 1950s. American surgeon Norman Shumway achieved the first successful heart transplant, in a dog, at Stanford University in California in 1958.
After Washkansky’s surgery, he was given drugs to suppress his immune system and keep his body from rejecting the heart. These drugs also left him susceptible to sickness, however, and 18 days later he died from double pneumonia. Despite the setback, Washkansky’s new heart had functioned normally until his death.
In the 1970s, the development of better anti-rejection drugs made transplantation more viable. Dr. Barnard continued to perform heart transplant operations, and by the late 1970s many of his patients were living up to five years with their new hearts. Successful heart transplant surgery continues to be performed today, but finding appropriate donors is extremely difficult.
History Channel / Wikipedia / Encyclopedia Britannica / ALibrary of Congress / Yale Law School / PBS
The Old Salt’s Corner
“Sailor's Christmas”
Twas the night before Christmas a calm night at sea
We nestled in our racks for a Holiday Routine
When from the ventilation there came such a clatter
We jumped from our bunks to see what's the matter.
When from the vent fell this big dust covered dude
He was dressed up in red with a bad attitude
Yelling, “Those ducts are all filthy!” as he brushed off his clothes.
“Don't just damn stand there, where's the DCPO?”
He arose form the deck, then he peered all around.
Then from his mouth came a bellowing sound
“This berthing's a disgrace!” then he called us by name
“Now Boatswain, Now Corpsman, please explain!”
This was not the Santa I remembered from youth
He smelled of cheap whiskey, he was rough and uncouth
“Now, look here you bastards” he said as he strolled
“You'd best trice this place up, or you'll get nothing but coal!”
“You'll make this space pretty, military, and neat!”
Then he looked down at our boots that lay right near his feat
“Well, what do we have here?” He said with a frown
“Who the hell polished these? Recruit 'Buster brown'?!”
He walked around slowly, he missed not a mark
He even spotted dust bunnies, right there in the dark!
“You've got high dust and low dust, and that overhead it needs cleaning!”
We all stood dumbfounded as his words kept on streaming
“Which man here is senior!?” Then asked St Nick
“You'd better shit me and answer…and SHIT ME ONE QUICK!”
The First Class stepped forward, his heart pounding hard.
“Now look right here shitbirds, this asshole's in charge!”
“These racks will be tight! This damn deck it will shine!
I don't want to hear bitching! I need not hear you whine!”
So we gathered our foxtales, our buckets, and swabs
We all worked all in silence to finish the job.
It took almost an hour finish our space
He just sat drinking coffee and stuffing his face
Then on re-inspection he explained with a huff
“Now this is more like it! Now your not so screwed up!”
We all stood there smiling, awaiting our gifts
But Santa just snapped out “What's the matter dumb-shits!?”
“Get back to your racks! This will be my last warning!
Just like on shore, the gifts come in the morning!”
It seemed like eternity until reveille sounded
We threw back our curtains as all our hearts pounded
But what were our gifts? For what did we suffer?
A pallet of rags and a shiny new buffer!
Attached to our new buffer, we found a short note
We all gathered 'round to see what he wrote
“Next year at Christmas, best have all your shit wired!”
~ Signed: Fair Winds S.C. Clause BMCM (Retired)
Bizarre News (we couldn’t make up stuff this good – real news story)
“Officially” declaring oneself as not subject to the laws of any jurisdiction (i.e., a “dsovereign”) opens a wide range of career choices.
The FBI and Las Vegas police say that, in Rick Van Thiel’s case, once his porn industry career ended (because someone stole his video equipment), he “decided to go into the medical field”, becoming “Dr. Rick” with expertise performing dozens of abortions, circumcisions, and castrations (plus cancer treatments and root canals).
Proudly avoiding actual licensing, Van Thiel promoted “alternative” remedies, with an office in a Nevada compound of trailers that one hesitant “patient” described as something out of a horror movie. Van Thiel, arrested in October, nonetheless staunchly defended his ability (acquired, he said, by watching YouTube medical videos).
(Bonus entertainment: In court, he will be acting as his own lawyer.)
Las Vegas Review Journal (10/09/2015 - 11/09/2015)
