Left_Squash74
Left_Squash74 t1_j9niysv wrote
Reply to comment by Kid_T in Today is the 291th anniversary of the birth of George Washington, and in Boston he is commemorated with this statue shown here in the 1800s and 2021 by KeyExisting7333
Same buildings for the most part, just obscured by trees in the new photo. If you want to imagine anywhere in New England 100 - ~400 years ago, just take away all of the trees.
It's different than the intentional landscaping we see here, but most of Massachusetts was once a relatively treeless landscape of rolling farmland reminiscent of the English country side.
Left_Squash74 t1_j2bjacg wrote
Reply to comment by TwoforFlinching613 in MBTA Plans Free Service Around MA New Year’s Eve Celebrations by Neither_Problem9086
Good! Make it every friday and saturday and dozens of lives will be saved a year at least.
Left_Squash74 t1_j296w7d wrote
Reply to Where can I get Vegemite? by kodtenor
Cardullo's in Harvard square
Left_Squash74 OP t1_j1n1l1u wrote
Reply to comment by aShittierShitTier4u in Glad to see nothing has changed since the 1840s by Left_Squash74
Biggest risk is definitely how flammable the stuff is. I remember reading an account from a WWII doctor, the bottom foot or so of atmosphere in a surgical tent at the front would ether vapor (heavier than air). If there was a spark, not to mention a shell, the whole thing would instantly go up.
Left_Squash74 OP t1_j1jh0uo wrote
Reply to comment by Reasonable_Move9518 in Glad to see nothing has changed since the 1840s by Left_Squash74
>don't like the "elites" in their "hub of the universe"...
In this case it was the "elites" rejecting the successful and lucky work of a con-artist fraudster.
Left_Squash74 OP t1_j1jge5q wrote
Reply to comment by MonsieurReynard in Glad to see nothing has changed since the 1840s by Left_Squash74
A Boston "dentist" looking to get rich first demonstrated its use at MGH, mostly because other doctors were afraid of what would happen to their career if they promoted something exposed as "humbug." He then attempted to patent it by pretending it was a more complicated formula than simply diethyl ether (which failed as people could easily recognize the smell).
I had a minor surgery a few months ago, and was nonetheless very thankful to the flawed men that were Charles Jackson and William Morton, which ever truly realized the potential of ether. I make sure to stop at both of their graves whenever I find myself walking at Mt. Auburn.
Left_Squash74 OP t1_j1jb9r2 wrote
Reply to comment by thisabadusername in Glad to see nothing has changed since the 1840s by Left_Squash74
Julia Fenster's Ether Day about the first use of surgical anesthesia. It's an amazing story, though tragic, as the discovery and fight for ownership basically ruined the lives of all involved. Also sad as the chemistry for sulfuric ether and nitrous oxide was there already from about 1800, but people just had accepted that surgery was a painful fact of life, and so many people had to go through horrific suffering when something that could've eliminated it was dismissed as a frivolity. Boston had the right convergence of factors that allowed for the first public use of ether, often attributed as America's first great medical discovery. And in a very American fashion, it took a lightly educated con-artist to break the paradigms held by the European oriented medical community and change medicine forever.
Left_Squash74 t1_izx8nvo wrote
The cold reminds us that we are vile beings unworthy of salvation. It hardens our souls, and orients our minds to the tasks before us.
Left_Squash74 t1_jabbd0u wrote
Reply to comment by figmaxwell in “lawyers, law students, or anyone working for a law firm not allowed.” by gooserider
I think "pre-law" exists because undergrad has become so expensive that many can only justify it if it is understood to be vocational, even though it isn't meant to be and that is the whole point of post-bachelor professional school.