“ah well, you see, time for another one of my unfashionable views: i think, for various reasons, it could be desirable that there is some facility for prescribing placebo to people (although i wouldnt want to do it myself). sugar pills are arguably a sensible measure in a limited range of situations.”

I don’t want to detract from the important information about destroying zombies, but had a comment related to the above. I wasn’t at work at the time, but apparently one of my colleagues was taken ill and saw a locum GP. She didn’t know what was wrong with him so prescribed a sugar pill placebo. His problem turned out to be diabetes and the placebo did more harm than no treatment at all would have.

Coming to a country near you!

http://s183.photobucket.com/albums/x118/aitchbird/?action=view&current=KOTD1024320×240.flv

> Zombies don’t have brains. That’s why they want yours.

What do they do this wanting with, then?

There is a good case, though, that the existing laws on deceptive advertising and unfair trading should be applied with a bit more rigour to some of the more outrageous and outright dangerous claims made by quacks (like claiming to cure malaria). Since these laws doen’t apply to things that your homeopath (or Boots pharmacist) tell you face to face, or to advertising on the web, they are not really very effectice at the moment.

In fact, I still hold this opinion. It’s a good model for the data. The disadvantage is that in the case of a zombie attack, one first has to determine which universe one is in before deciding on the best course of action!

There’s also a book on the subject by Max Brooks ‘The Zombie Survival Guide – complete protection from the living dead’. My brother bought me a copy for Xmas.

If we consider the film ‘Dawn of the Dead’ (the remake): In this, the heroes of the tale are holed up in a shopping mall, with a very large number of zombies outside. Keen observers of this subject will know that the major difference between zombies in DotD original and remake is the speed that the zombies shift in the later film – at quite a rate.

Anyway, the thing that irks me, and a theory I’m keen to try out is this; if you’re in a mall there’s food, electricity and generally its quite comfortable. Surely all that’s necessary to survive is to wait until the zombies rot? Another tactic would be to wait until winter and they all freeze – you could then sever all their spinal cords with an axe, or whatever sharp instrument comes to hand. Also why not shoot as many as possible from the roof top?

In the film all the characters try to make a run for it – this turns out to have been a mistake.

Saves the cost of an exorcist and seems to work for all ghostly experiences. Not sure why but the more cynical suggest that the hysterical panic associated with sensitive people in dark cold creepy rooms is broken by the natural oscillation of the head and the foot stomping that comes with the heavy rock musical experience. The ghosts just don’t get a look in then. Try it next time you feel a tingle down the spine….

April 22, 2008 at 6:57 pm

cochrane on vit c and colds: modest benefits in slightly reducing duration of symnptoms at high doses once you have a cold,

Wasn’t the duration reduction something ridiculous like 6 hours?

such a tedious disraction. I need to get some petrol and lock up before dusk.

I was going to say that placebos would also be quite cost-effective for the NHS, but by the time all the required research into efficacy, tolerance and long-term safety has been conducted….

(:

Anyhow, must dash before the zombies emerge from the sewers.
(and no one has mentioned salt yet as a way to return the reanimated dead to “their senses” – a much more humane method)

A lot of the people who currently favor Vitamin C as anything other than a way of avoiding scurvy are a bit odd. But I’m sure you could encourage actual doctors to get in on the act…

*Although that said, in the recent meta, it was almost significantly harmful – just not quite…

I’ve just been reading Ann Robinson’s (not that one – a GP) Guardian CiF piece expressing her “severe misgivings” about polyclinics (entitled “Clinical Opinion”), in which she makes the following statement:

“In the days of fund holding, we had hospital specialists, a homeopath, osteopath and ultrasound all on site. The politicians said that fund holding wasn’t good or fair and took it all away, but our patients still talk about how good it was.”

To which I responded:

“A homeopath on the NHS – no wonder the clinic needed revamping! Ben Goldacre – please add Ann Robinson to the Bad Science ‘Hall of Quackery’.”

Ironically, she begins her link with:

“Politicians should come with a health warning stuck to their foreheads.”

The weakest link, indeed.