Sunday, August 24, 2025
Dude, Don't Do It!
An excerpt from The Guardian -
‘Being short is a curse’: the men paying thousands to get their legs broken – and lengthened
By Ruth Michaelson
 |
| At a leg lengthening clinic in Istanbul, iodine is applied to a patient’s legs in preparation for surgery to remove the metal rods that have stretched his femurs. : Bradley Secker/The Guardian |
It was on his honeymoon in Kuala Lumpur, looking out of his hotel window at the silvery points of the world’s tallest twin skyscrapers, that Frank decided it was time to become taller. He had recently confessed to his new wife how much his height had bothered him since he was a teenager. As a man dedicated to self-improvement, Frank wanted to take action. He picked up the phone, called a clinic in Turkey that specialises in leg lengthening surgery – and made a booking.
“I had a lot of second thoughts – at the end of the day, someone’s going to break your legs,” he says, propped up on a hotel bed in Istanbul, his legs splayed in front of him, bracketed by a brace on each thigh. His wife, Emilia, tends to him, fetching painkillers and ice packs for the wound sites where the braces puncture his legs. For the first two weeks after surgery, Frank needed her help to get on and off the toilet, but now, six weeks later, it’s largely only to get off the bed.
The bleep of an alarm interrupts our conversation: time to insert a key into the metal bracket on the side of Frank’s thigh and turn it, forcing apart the rods that have been inserted into his femurs. New bone grows into the gap in his thigh bones, one agonising millimetre at time. Each turn of the key dictates how much the patient can grow, and Frank is aiming for five turns each day rather than the four recommended by his doctors, to gain a precious extra quarter of a centimetre. It means more suffering, but Frank is all about putting in the work to get what he wants. “Time to grow!” Emilia says, with a little laugh, as the alarm sounds.
At 5ft 6in (1.7m) tall, slightly under the average male height worldwide, Frank, 38, feels he has lived life “as a short man”. But speak with any patient at the Wanna Be Taller clinic in Istanbul, where Frank chose to undergo leg lengthening, and it becomes clear that shortness is relative. Men over 6ft have had the procedure. One tells me he needed surgery to “correct” his bow legs and decided to add some height at the same time. A slim blond woman – a rare example of a female patient here – who was 5ft 3in before surgery, looks me square in the eyes as she deadpans that shortness “is the last acceptable prejudice in society” to explain why she underwent the procedure to gain two inches. (The clinic also offers leg shortening surgery, though this is far less common; only nine patients have so far had it done, mainly women.)
~~~~~~~~~~
If having your leg bones cut in half sounds painful enough, the true agony comes afterwards. Ensconced on the periphery of Istanbul, in a hotel built from what looks like plasterboard and fake gold leaf, about 20 leg lengthening patients spend their days obsessing over their muscles and tendons, making sure they stretch to accommodate their new bones. This means daily physiotherapy to learn how to walk again, blood thinners, massages and a lot of painkillers. While there are few global statistics on the number of people opting to have this done each year, one Indian market research firm estimated the global limb lengthening industry will balloon by 2030 to be worth $8.6bn (£6.4bn).
“I always tell them, 1cm is not more important than your health,” says Serkan Aksoy from Wanna Be Taller, who supervises Frank’s physio. Most of their patients are men, and Aksoy has to dissuade many clients from trying to gain too much height. From the clinic’s perspective, the risks come from patients not adhering to a strict aftercare routine, but problems and even deaths do occur. Blood clots, joint issues, failure to grow new bone tissue, blood vessel injuries, scarring and chronic pain are all potential complications, as well as “ballerina syndrome”, where the achilles tendons fail to stretch adequately, forcing the feet into an exaggerated arch and preventing the patient from walking. Last year, a patient who had flown in from Saudi Arabia died from a blood clot 16 days after undergoing leg lengthening surgery. When I ask Wanna Be Taller about this, they say an investigation by the Saudi authorities found no fault with their surgeon.
 |
| Yuto from Japan has surgery to remove his femur stretchers. Photograph: Bradley Secker/The Guardian |
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/aug/17/being-short-is-a-curse-the-men-paying-thousands-to-get-their-legs-broken-and-lengthened
Chewing Gum Gets Your Body Moving Again
An excerpt from the New York Post -
The first thing you should do after surgery is not what you’d expect — but an anesthesiologist swears it works
By Reda Wigle
 | ||||
| Dr. Myro Figura, an anesthesiologist, shared a hack to get your bowels moving after surgery. |
Chew on this.
An anesthesiologist has revealed a surprising hack to make things run a bit smoother after surgery — and by things, we mean your bowels.
“Any surgery in your abdomen stops your bowels from working, basically puts them to sleep. That means nausea, bloating, constipation,” said Dr. Myro Figura.
It’s not just surgery around your stomach. Both the anesthesia and any drugs you may take after surgery can slow down your digestion and leave you struggling to go.
However, a stick of gum can kick your guts back to working order.
“Chewing gum sends a signal to your bowels to restart and wake up from sleep,” the doc said.
https://nypost.com/2025/08/22/health/easy-hack-fights-constipation-after-surgery-do-it-first-thing/
What Are Your Top 10 Love Songs?
An excerpt from LoveToKnow.com -
10 Best Love Songs of All Time According to the Charts
We guarantee one of these love songs will touch your heart.
By Kate Miller-Wilson
While it's totally subjective, we think it's safe to say that the best love songs tell stories that touch your heart in such a way that they are never forgotten. They spark memories of the joys, fears, pains, heartbreak, and passions of love (long ago or happening right this moment).
Of course, your all-time favorite love song could depend on your age and your taste in music, but those listed below have spent weeks at the top of the charts, won awards, and span many years and genres. These are the ones that are guaranteed to tug at your heartstrings.
- "WHEN A MAN LOVES A WOMAN"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lp7FtJXp7k&t=21s
2. "THE WAY WE WERE"
4. "I JUST CALLED TO SAY I LOVE YOU"
Pond Elementary Principal Leads Schoolwide Read Aloud of "Ron's Big Miss...
An excerpt from Upworthy -
Parents complained about 'offensive' book, so the principal read it to the entire school
Apparently learning about the Civil Rights movement is "inappropriate."
By Annie Reneau, Upworthy Staff
Schools often have to walk a fine line when it comes to parental complaints. Diverse backgrounds, beliefs, and preferences for what kids see and hear will always mean that schools can't please everyone all the time, so teachers and educators have to discern what's best for the whole, broad spectrum of kids in their care.
Sometimes, what's best is hard to discern. Sometimes it's absolutely not.
Such was the case when a parent at a St. Louis elementary school complained in a Facebook group about a book that was read to her 7-year-old. The parent wrote:
"Anyone else check out the read a loud book on Canvas for 2nd grade today? Ron's Big Mission was the book that was read out loud to my 7 year old. I caught this after she watched it bc I was working with my 3rd grader. I have called my daughters school. Parents, we have to preview what we are letting the kids see on there."
Fittingly, the Facebook group was titled "Concerned Parents of the Rockwood School District."
The book in question, Ron's Big Mission, highlights a true story from the childhood of Challenger astronaut Ron McNair, who had experienced discrimination as a child in South Carolina because he was Black. In 1959, when he was nine years old, McNair wanted to check out books at the library, but the librarian told him the library didn't loan books to "coloreds." McNair refused to leave the library until he was allowed to check out books. Rather than give him a library card, the librarian called the police, who ultimately convinced her to just let him check out books.
Seriously, what issue could this parent possibly take with such an inspiring story of a kid standing up to injustice and fighting for the right to educate himself?
Saturday, August 2, 2025
I Respectfully Disagree
An excerpt from The DailyMail.co.uk -
Toilet paper over or under? Scientist FINALLY settles the debate - so, do you agree with their method?
By JONATHAN CHADWICK
 |
| Over Method |
 |
| Under Method Should toilet paper be hung in front of (over) or behind (under) the roll when it is placed parallel to the wall? A scientist has given the definitive answer |
Imagine you are on the toilet doing your business, and the toilet roll is in the 'over' position (with the next square facing you).
In this scenario, you need to use one hand to hold the toilet roll to stop it from rotating forward, and the other hand to actually tear off the next bit of paper.
In contrast, in the 'under' position, you can pin the next sheet against the wall with one hand as you simultaneously tear it off, according to the academic.
So you don't have to use the second hand in the process at all – and the overall risk of transferring hand bacteria to the paper is reduced.
Especially for women, accidental transfer of bacteria from the hand to the genital area can increase the risk of infection.
And women generally tend to use more paper for men – for number ones and number twos.
'For the under position, there is less likely to be whole roll contamination,' Professor Freestone told MailOnline.
'You can pin the sheets against the toilet wall without having to touch the exterior of the roll.'
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-14801757/Toilet-paper-scientist-settles-debate.html
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)