• Old Photos: Soviet Medicine

    The World’s Most Socialized Medicine.

    With paramedics, polyclinics and plastic bone banks everybody gets free care in the USSR.

    In the 1919 when the newly launched Soviet Union was threatened by a plague of louse-borne typhus, Vladimir Illyich Lenin bluntly warned his countrymen: “Either the lice defeat socialism or socialism defeats the lice.” The USSR survived the lice and in the half century since has built to most massive system of the national health care ever known, still based on Lenin’s logical, if unsentimental premise: Russia needs her workers, and a sick worker cannot work.

    From birth do death the Soviet citizen is followed by a dossier of his health history. He may get production line preventive treatment without leaving his post at school, factory, farm or office. If he is sick but can walk, he goes to a polyclinic, one of thousands of free, all-purpose infirmaries. At least in the cities there are doctors aplenty. Of the world’s 2.5 million physicians, 500,000 – or one in five – are Russians. (The U.S. by comparison has 309,000 M.D.s, for a population 85% as large. Another half million trained medical assistants called feldshers supplement the doctors, particularly in the vast, thinly settled rural outlands.

    The system has flaws. To achieve quantity, the quality of treatment often suffers. Hospital sanitation is spotty at best. Anesthetics and modern equipment are often unavailable and most advanced drugs have to be imported. Dentistry is painfully old-fashioned. Medical education considered as a whole, is not up to U.S. standards (I would argue with that. M.V). But the Soviet goal is a lifetime health care for everyone, and any enterprise that ambitious is bound to have failings.

    Life Magazine, January 23, 1970

    For some real-life hospital photos check out my earlier post.

    The role of women in the Soviet Medicine - 70% of all doctors are female -is glorified in posters like this one outside of free clinic. ©Time Inc.Bill Ray.
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  • Care And Safety of Women While Camping

    Care and safety of women during camping trips is an important subject that’s often overlooked. If your woman looks good, other men will try to steal her away from you. She may also use the outdoors, your relaxed state and heavy alcohol intake to escape. There are multiple other dangers lurking in the seemingly peaceful wooded and lake areas. To avoid potential pitfalls it’s best to tie your woman to a heavy unmovable object such as a tree or a post:

    The type of the knot you use is very important: some women are crafty and will untie an easy knot before you know it. Remember your boyscout years; here is some detail from the photo above:

    If you have a young child, place him on a tree with the rifle in clear view of your woman as an extra precaution:

    After your woman is secured you can finally proceed to do what camping is really all about: getting drunk, ogling other untied women and trying not to lose your brand new boat.

    This safety tip was brought to you by:

    Truck Antlers: Don’t Be A Schmuck, Turn You Truck Into A Buck!

    Additional financing by:
    Giant Fish-Looking Mailboxes: Who Is A Pussy Now?  I Am Talking To You, You God Damn Mailman Son-Of-A-Bitch!

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  • Visual Parallels

    Billboard along I35
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  • Old Photos: Ricky Nelson

    Some photos of Ricky Nelson in Wichita, KS taken in 1958.

    © Time Inc.Ralph Crane
    Rock singer/actor Ricky Nelson (L) singing & playing guitar w. his lead guitarist James Burton on stage overlooking 5,000 rapt young fans during concert.
    Rock singer/actor Ricky Nelson (L) singing & playing guitar w/ his lead guitarist James Burton on stage overlooking 5,000 rapt young fans during concert.© Time Inc.Ralph Crane
    Rock singer/actor Ricky Nelson signing autographs for mob of young female fans pressed against fence at airport upon his arrival for a concert.
    Rock singer/actor Ricky Nelson signing autographs for mob of young female fans pressed against fence at airport upon his arrival for a concert.© Time Inc.Ralph Crane
    Rock singer/actor Ricky Nelson (R) singing into mike next to his lead guitarist James Burton on stage overlooking 5,000 rapt young fans during concert.
    Rock singer/actor Ricky Nelson (R) singing into mike next to his lead guitarist James Burton on stage overlooking 5,000 rapt young fans during concert.© Time Inc.Ralph Crane
    Fans going wild in hotel for autograph from Pop Singer Ricky Nelson.
    Fans going wild in hotel for autograph from Pop Singer Ricky Nelson.© Time Inc.Ralph Crane
    Rock singer/actor Ricky Nelson signing autographs w. teenage female fan in bkgrd. at airport upon his arrival for a concert.© Time Inc.Ralph Crane

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  • Who Are The Ad Wizards Who Came Up With This One?

    The ad wizards who thought it was a great idea to put small print on a highway billboard came up with another gem.
    P1020501
    Here are my suggestions for the future billboards:

    • My car kicked your car’s rear end;
    • My car’s big black tailpipe is longer than your car’s tailpipe;
    • My car took away your car’s gas money;
    • My car swallowed a luxury car and now it craps exhausts luxury;
    • My car voted for McCain;

    If you come up with your own winning caption I will throw in up to 700 miles for your choice of a magazine subscription.

    Continuing with the subject of advertising if your child is composing/performing a jingle about the hemorrhoid treatment  center, you are within your rights to demand back all the money you’ve spent on the music lessons. (the jingle starts on the 20th second of the clip).

    httpvh://youtu.be/e4fzO9whly8

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