Wisdom and "Wisdom"---

Remember Jim Valvano's rule: "You don't mess with happy."

If you hear hoofbeats, think Zebra.

It is alleged that one night a professor of medicine at Harvard was awakened by the sound of hoofbeats. He immediately cried, "Aha! A zebra!" This rule decries the tendency we used to see for professors of medicine to focus on unlikely possibilities in finding a diagnosis for a patient's ills.

A related rule of thumb:

Common illnesses occur commonly;
uncommon illnesses occur uncommonly

And another:

Uncommon manifestations of common illnesses
occur more commonly than
common manifestations of uncommon illnesses.
(but is that really true?)

No patient may be allowed to die without first having been given some steroids.

If it took a long time to get sick, it will take a long time to get well.

Be sure to use a new medicine when it first comes out before it quits working.

"A man's got to know his limitations."

The patient comes first.

Even though administrators, academicians and third party payors talk of depleting the medical commons, the patient comes first. Especially, the patient comes before your own convenience.

Listen to your patients

They will tell you what is wrong with them

But remember: patients lie (Fig Newton's law) --- or at least, give you information from their perspective, which may not seem "factual" from your perspective. So don't forget to talk to other people, too (but remember that families 'lie', too).

Difficult patients are people, too

Even if the patient is a "crock", and you are sure there is nothing wrong --- just imaginary problems --- do a thorough examination and appropriate workup: you are a professional, and you are paid to do examinations; do what you are paid to do (Chasanow's Challenge). And even if you have examined this patient many times before, this time, the patient just may have a real problem. After all, hypochondriacs have a somewhat longer lifespan than the rest of the population, perhaps because they get earlier attention to their real problems.

Multiple Personality Disorder

If everyone was chased around the block every morning by a wild animal,
there'd be very little mental illness.

There is a lot that is blamed on craziness that is due to stupidity. 

"A psychiatrist is a fellow who asks you a lot of expensive questions your wife asks for nothing." 

"When there are many different treatments for one disease, none of them is very good."

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. 

"This thing is like rigor mortis on the installment plan" 

The neurologist knows everything but does nothing

The surgeon knows nothing but does everything

The psychiatrist knows nothing and does nothing

The pathologist knows everything and does everything, but too late

And the anesthesiologist sits on a stool all day long and passes gas.

Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

More from my brother:

Anyone can lie. I learn more from the people who believe them. People like that just want to hear a good story.--Shelton Hume, 2004-02-08

You have to kill a few to learn anything.
(From the bad old days, right? Yeah, right)

No matter where you go, there you are.
(I first heard this in Buckaroo Banzai --- Across the Eighth Dimension. A fine movie.)

You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar

If it's too good to be true, it's too good to be true.

Walking --- even running --- is done one step at a time.

ASSUME makes an ASS of U and ME.

The thing about chasing polar bears is you don't want to chase them so you can catch them.
(thanks to Daniel Pinkwater)

Discretion is the better part of valor
(From my father, a decorated war hero; but if this is such good advice, why didn't he follow it? Too young to know better?)

Don't take down a fence until you know why someone put it up
(said to be a favorite of JFK's)

Sometimes good enough really is good enough.

Birds of a feather flock together
And so will pigs and swine
Rats and mice will have their choice
And so will I have mine
(from Mother Goose)

No woman (or man) is worth fighting over, much less dying over.
(As your mama said, there's plenty fish in the sea, so "You got to shop around.")

Girls like flashy guys; women like nice men.
(I made this one)

Good social relations (including love) means learning how to say "I'm sorry."

Real Craziness
is using the same approach with people
time and time again,
failingtime and time again,
refusing to change your approach,
and expecting a different outcome.
(wisdom from A.A.)

Riding in on your White Jackass . . .
(wisdom from A.A. on rescuing)

What doesn't kill youmakes you stronger
(weightlifters' creed)

Lion's share?
Lions don't shareThey take what they want and walk away

Never put your hand or your foot where you can't see it
(Where we use to hike and climb rocks, there were rattlesnakes…)
(Edward S. Hume, Sr.)

Forgive your enemies --- but never forget their names
(Oliver North's mama)

Let it go and move on. (the true lesson of The Lion King)

If you dwell on a harm, you cannot grow. Learn from the experience and put the learning to good use: avoid that particular harm in the future.

The difference between an expert and a novice:
The novice will hesitate before doing something stupid.
(thanks to Bill Wilson)

Never be afraid to try something new. Remember....
Amateurs built the Ark. Professionals built the Titanic.
(thanks to Allan Ramsay)

Take your work seriously, not yourself
(thanks to Edward S. Hume, Sr.)

If you try to solve all problems at once you will not solve any
(thanks to Jerry Pournelle)

You feel what you think; you think what you say. What you say matters.
(I realized this as I was responding to an e-mail and noted what his signature saying was)

The only long-term consequences of new technology are new ways of confronting our own humanity.
Peter W. Pruyn of Houston Texas, in a letter to Aviation Week, 2000/10/30

Power corrupts not only he who wields the power, but those who submit to it.
Louis L’Amour

He who does not expect the unexpected cannot detect it
Heraclitus

“Never apply a Star Trek solution to a Babylon 5 problem.”
(found on a bulletin board at Fermi Lab)
[But is this true? How often do we solve things and make breakthroughs by applying concepts from one discipline to another? I am reminded of the advances that former physicists produced in molecular biology, as an example.]

Simple things should be simple. Complex things should be possible
Alan Kay (thanks to Deven T. Corzine)

Hope springs eternal among the naïve
Jerry Pournelle (discussing the demise of Byte in 1998)

Try to be the kind of person your dog thinks you are.
(adapted from an Internet driftjoke)

Progress Occurs Progressively
(I realized this on 2004-04-20)

Never argue with idiots. They drag you down to their level and beat you with experience

The only problem with trouble-shooting is that sometimes trouble shoots back.
(brought to my attention by Joe Zeff)

You see what you watch, and you watch what you already know
Translation by Jenji, who says it is from "Dr Bernard (never remember his first name, the one who describes "experimental method") in late 19th century."

"Civil society depends on people behaving themselves, not being who they really are."
-- William Sjostrom

Always and never are two words you should always remember never to say. 
--Wendell Johnson