Category Archives: Uncategorized

Umesh G Lalloo talk

Political instability interrupts treatment, facilitates disease spread e.g. strikes in South Africa, post election violence in Kenya, refugees from Syria. Paradoxical IRIS-like reactions in HIV-negative TB patients. Why can we not shorten the course of treatment despite the best drugs? … Continue reading

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Air Liquide

me: Boss asked me to get a quote for CO2 from Air Liquide. Mr Potato: Why? Aren’t we already using Air Liquide? me: No, all our gas comes from Afrox. Mr Potato: But Air Liquide is the gold standard in … Continue reading

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Dereliction of predation

Just thinking about mosquito larvae cos I need to email a Plasmodium guy to ask him to be on my academic committee… Back in Singapore I kept dwarf pufferfish for a while. They’re really cute and funny little fish, smaller … Continue reading

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There are no cats in America

Another guest post by Mr. Potato. It’s 1992 and I am an 8 year old sitting on the floor of my parent’s house in Wisconsin watching a cartoon about a talking mouse immigrating to the US in 1885. Towards the … Continue reading

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Half way to the best policies on earth: an engineer’s first impressions of South Africa

Mr Potato has been here for a couple of months now; he sent this email to his former colleagues at Aerospace Company That Shall Not Be Named. I’ve settled into life in South Africa, with all its ups and downs. … Continue reading

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Sleep will not come to this tired body now

Something woke me up in the middle of the long night. My nose was stuffy and itching. I picked at it for a bit until it felt better and then closed my eyes, wrapping myself against the cold air of … Continue reading

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Runaway

What flashes before my eyes is not the memories of my life, but Eadward Muybridge’s motion picture, the kinetic series of a galloping horse that proved they take all four feet off the ground. The suspension phase seems to be … Continue reading

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Dr Ahmed Kathrada

At a talk by South African civil rights veteran Dr Ahmed Kathrada. Am struck by how similar some elements are to British colonial legacy laws in Malaysia, like the 90-day detention without trial.

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The Headless Horse

One of my colleagues at work told me the story of how Western Equine Encephalitis was discovered and later he sent me the source article, which is a biography of Karl Friedrich Meyer by Albert Sabin, of all people. Meyer … Continue reading

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Packing the rain

One of my local colleagues, a regulatory affairs specialist who favours maxi skirts with interesting patterns, was complaining the other day about how much it had rained this year. “I’m getting so sick of it…ugh, I just want it to … Continue reading

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