I am trying to determine where the fences are along the eaast/west/south sides. We will be walking, probably all the way around it.

To be honest, I only go near the north side. I believe you can also get up to the fence on the south side BUT it's pretty well blocked on the east by the Treasury Department and on the west by the Old Executive Office Building. The north side is where Pennsylvania Avenue used to run past (closed in 1995). One of the nice things is Lafayette Square - some statues, nice trees and plantings, and - so important - benches you can sit on.

The view from the south is beautiful. It's near Independence Avenue, and you can turn around and see the Washington Monument.

1800s surgical kit unboxed

Medgadget unboxed a beautiful and horrifying 1800s surgical kit, owned by "Dr. Geo L. Shearer (an ancient relative of one of your editors), who practiced medicine in Dillsburg, Pennsylvania from 1825 to 1878."

The set contains the basic surgical tools which would have been needed to perform emergency surgery by way of amputation and this is not an uncommon configuration. The essential tools for this would usually comprise of a Liston knife or knives which had long straight razor sharp blades polished steel blades for cutting through the muscle. A capital saw (the large one) was for sawing through weight bearing bones. The forceps and smaller knives would have been used for trimming the muscle and skin in such a way as to produce flap. The needles were used to sew the flap of skin and muscle in place over the bone stump. There would also have been a tourniquet for applying pressure around the limb to temporarily cutting off the blood supply.

Whitefont for gross medical stuff....

gross medical stuff....

As part of a course I've been taking in medical sociology, my class went to a local medical history museum a couple of weeks ago. They recreated an amputation without anaesthetic for us. In quite some graphic detail. Fun.

ETA: When I say recreated, I mean with drama and film. Not a literal recreation. Fortunately. I would not have volunteered. But that's just me.

Seekrit note to Hec: RESPECT THE WHITEFONT.

::is a sucker for gross 19th-century medical details, but feels that font color=white should be amputated without anaesthetic::

They recreated an amputation without anaesthetic for us. In quite some graphic detail. Fun.

But not nearly as much fun for the intern who drew the short straw, I bet.

Ron Reagan's response to Rush Limbaugh's making fun of Nancy Pelosi's appearance:

Limbaugh hasn't had a natural erection since the Nixon Administration; think he's compensating for something? Now, I wouldn't pick on him for any of this stuff, not his blubbiness, not his man-boobs, not his inability to have a natural erection -- none of that stuff -- to me, off limits until! until! -- Mr. Limbaugh, you turn that sort of gun on somebody else -- once you start doing that, you're fair game, fat boy. Absolutely, you jiggly pile of mess. You're just fair game, and you're going to get it, too. [Laughs] You'd better watch what you say, Limbaugh, because it can come back the other way.

The great Limbaugh battle

I just got the funniest email from my Big Boss about how she basically elbowed Al Sharpton aside so she could meet Michelle Obama. Good times.