Away

Started a rotation in Emergency in a country town two weeks ago. It's not the smallest country town by any means, but it's small enough that myself and the other interns have been starved of entertainment. It got so bad that the other night four interns, four MBBS-qualified and usually intelligent people were gathered around a small grate searching for a two-dollar coin using only the light from a mobile phone and we were finding it ABSOLUTELY HYSTERICAL.

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Had some friends down from Sydney visit last weekend and among the various things we talked about over dinner was a hope that newspapers could cater to the busy medical intern and print little sidebars that help keep you up to date on any long running news item. It would be like a little "In case you missed" column, or like how your favourite TV show often has a recap at the start of the episode - like "Recently on Grey's Anatomy/Scrubs/the Conflict in the West Bank."

Basically, there are times I really want to get stuck into a particular world issue but simply need the salient facts and can't physically sift through the endless backstory. Medical people like dot points. I think I understand now the glazed look in the medical registrar's eyes when I present a patient to him - the look that means, "Just the facts man!"

This concept would easily be incorporated online. I don't think the major papers have "Related articles" links on their online publications.

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CARS; Pixar Studios - 2.5/5

The first major misstep from an otherwise untouchable studio. An unfortunately rote storyline and uninspired character designs fail to meet Pixar's incredible technical prowess with CGI.

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