Prescription Abbreviations

Abbreviations used in prescriptions:

  • a.c. (ante cibum) – before meals
  • ad lib. (ad libitum) – use as much as one desires; freely
  • alt. h. (alternis horis) – every other hour
  • c (cibos) – food
  • D.A.W. – dispense as written
  • dc, D/C, disc – discontinue
  • e.m.p. (ex modo prescripto) – as directed
  • ex aq – in water
  • h.s. (hora somni) – at bedtime
  • L.A.S. – label as such
  • N.K.A. – no known allergies
  • noct. (nocte) – at night
  • NPO, n.p.o. (non per os) – nothing by mouth
  • p.c. (post cibum) – after meals
  • p.o. (per os) – by mouth or orally
  • s.a. (secundum artum) – use your judgement
  • sig – write on label
  • s.o.s., si op. sit (si opus sit) – if there is a need

Napoleon Bonaparte described medicine as “a collection of uncertain prescriptions the results of which, taken collectively, are more fatal than useful to mankind.”

| Science & Math · Trivia

Car Company Name Etymologies

Origins of car company names:

  • Cadillac: Named after the founder of Detroit, French explorer Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac. Cadillac is a small town in the South of France.
  • Daewoo: “Great Universe” in Korean.
  • Mercedes: The first name of the daughter of Emil Jellinek, who worked for the early Daimler company around 1900.
  • Mitsubishi: “Water chestnut,” reflected as a stylized rhombus in the company’s logo.
  • Pontiac: A Native American Ottawa war leader.
  • Subaru: From the Japanese name for the Pleiades (Subaru was formed from a merger of seven other companies).
  • Volkswagen: The “people’s car.”
  • Volvo: Latin for “I roll.”
| Trivia

J.L. Hunter

The world’s oldest active bank robber was 91-year-old J.L. Hunter, who robbed the First American Bank in Abilene, Texas, of $2,000 in 2003. It was his third robbery in five years.

When asked why he did it, he said he hadn’t liked banks since they forced him into bankruptcy.

| Crime · Trivia

Monthly Coincidences

Unless it’s a leap year:

  • January begins on the same day of the week as October.
  • February begins on the same day of the week as March and November.
  • April begins on the same day of the week as July.
  • December begins with the same day of the week as September.
  • No other month begins on the same day of the week as May or June.
| Trivia

Smarty-Pants

This year Mensa accepted a new youngest member. Three-year-old Mikhail Ali of Bramley, Leeds, England, has an IQ of 137; he’s one of only 30 members under 10.

But he’s not the all-time youngest member — that’s Ben Woods, who was 2 years and 10 months old when he joined in the mid-1990s.

| Trivia

No Kickstand

The world record for high-speed bicycling keeps going up, of course, but the record for low-speed bicycling has remained unchallenged for 40 years. In 1965, Tsugunobu Mitsuishi of Tokyo, Japan, remained perfectly stationary for 5 hours and 25 minutes.

| Trivia

Mass Transit

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Moscow_Metro,_Kievskaya_station.jpg
Image: Wikimedia Commons

Moscow has the most heavily used metro system in the world, carrying 8-9 million passengers on a normal weekday. It has 170 stations and 12 lines, including an unusual “ring line” that circles the city.

According to legend, this came about when Stalin’s coffee cup left a ring on one of the blueprints. Historians dispute this account — but on maps, the ring line is always printed in brown.

| Trivia