Hollywood heartthrobs have been a staple of the movie industry since the era of silent movies. Who can forget the greats of the 20’s, 30’, 40’s. Since 1950 interest in these celebrities has reached a misbegotten world-wide pitch. This harebrained engrossment should instead be placed on clinical anatomists, …

Julian ran away with the circus at age seven to become a juggler. He gained modest popularity initially, but eventually he became the star of the Big Top show. This was a dandy accomplishment, except it came with a conditional hitch: whenever the circus arrived at a new town Julian was expected to join the “wild bunch” and imbibe heavily at what one would call “regularly binge drinking level.” Yes, he developed alcohol use disorder (AUD),  …

Aardvark Codgers is a professional quarterback for a semi-pro team in the Midwest. After leading his team to win their league’s championship one season, Aardvark undergoes a transformation; he believes that being a quarterback makes him a savant on just about any current event, and he avidly and publicly expounds his ideas on every platform available to him.  He hosts a weekly podcast and challenges listeners to counter his views. …

A well-known Fox network television personality made the following statement:  “…  nicotine 'frees your mind' whereas marijuana controls the masses.” Perhaps in a parallel universe this is true; perhaps in the same universe that George Santos is an Olympic athlete. …

Dr. Seuss’s arch enemy, Dr. Samiam, did not think much of the children’s book author. Dr. Samiam was extremely jealous of the fame Dr. Seuss enjoyed. In fact, Dr. Samiam thought he was the far better rhymer and he set out to prove it by writing a rhyming medical text on the thorax. He began to write …

Imagine what it must have been like when Aristotle sat at Plato’s feet to learn from him. Plato would say, “Every heart sings a song, incomplete, until another heart whispers back. Those who wish to sing always find a song.” So, Aristotle set out to explore the location from where this voice came and dissected hearts. …

In the classic 1964 movie comedy, Dr. Strangelove, General Ripper claims that water fluoridation was destroying “our precious bodily fluids”—a reference to government water fluoridation begun in the 1940’s to thwart tooth decay. Water fluoridation did indeed lead some individuals to postulate that adding fluoride to water was a communist conspiracy designed to weaken US willpower and make the country susceptible to a takeover….

Jack learns that he is named for Jack Skellington, the principal character in the classic movie “The Nightmare Before Christmas”. Like Jack, he too is bored with life and decides to pull a prank on Christmas eve – he dresses up like a skeleton and visits his neighbors. He hides below windows and slowly raises himself up as an apparition while flashing a light on his face. …

Sean fancied himself a remarkable skier. Every December, after buying his Dogs of the DOW with which he has a track record of significantly outperforming his working stiff “friends” (faculty in the basic sciences), he would fly to Steamboat, CO to ski on their famous Champagne powder. There was also plenty of “toasting” during his visits, beginning with breakfast, a custom he practiced and perfected over years. …

In days of yore a widow’s walk was an elevated vantage point for seamen’s wives to survey the harbor for their husband’s arrival. Sadly (depending on your point of view), many nerve returned. In the 20th century, a different widow maker was described, the coronary arteries, and because the anterior interventricular artery has the highest frequency of being blocked, it gained the moniker of the Widow Maker. …