Satire so dry it fears a light wind

From BMJ (formerly The British Medical Journal):

Parachute use to prevent death and major trauma related togravitational challenge: systematic review of randomised controlled trials

Conclusions: As with many interventions intended to prevent ill health, the effectiveness of parachutes has not been subjected to rigorous evaluation by using randomised controlled trials. Advocates of evidence based medicine have criticised the adoption of interventions evaluated by using only observational data. We think that everyone might benefit if the most radical protagonists of evidence based medicine organised and participated in a double blind, randomised, placebo controlled, crossover trial of the parachute.

. . .

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a medical intervention justified by observational data must be in want of verification through a randomised controlled trial.

(via grahamsleight, I think)

The SFBC Top 50 meme

This is a list of the 50 "most significant" science fiction/fantasy novels, 1953-2002, according to the Science Fiction Book Club. Bold the ones you've read, strike-out the ones you hated, italicize those you started but never finished, and put an asterisk* beside the ones you loved. (via supergee et al.)

( This is one of those games of Humiliation , isn't it? )