The Science Fiction of Medical Quackery: Ray Bradbury's “Skeleton”, 2020, Smith and Stone

[Andy]

Jon Stone writing disapprovingly about quackery - let's just savour the irony..

“But why should my bones ache?” asks Mr. Harris, the desperate protagonist of Ray Bradbury’s “Skeleton,” first published in Weird Tales in September 1945. This intriguing science fiction short follows the obsession of a man written-off by traditional medicine and the consequences of his healthcare descending into the hands of a disreputable practitioner. At the outset of the story, Mr. Harris is ridiculed by his own doctor who characterizes him directly as a hypochondriac, a label echoed later also by his wife.

Paywall (no abstract), https://headachejournal.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/head.13852
Sci hub, https://sci-hub.tw/10.1111/head.13852

 

[Arnie Pye]

Sci hub, https://sci-hub.tw/10.1111/head.13852

I don't know who that woman is who waves at the side of the screen but she is driving me nuts. Does anyone know how I could get rid of that side panel?

 

[Trish]

I don't know who that woman is who waves at the side of the screen but she is driving me nuts. Does anyone know how I could get rid of that side panel?

I use the low tech solution of propping a piece of card so it covers that part of the screen.

 

[Arnie Pye]

I use the low tech solution of propping a piece of card so it covers that part of the screen.

I've just discovered my own solution. I opened the calculator program on my PC, resized it appropriately, and positioned it in front of the woman.

 

[Barry]

I don't know who that woman is who waves at the side of the screen but she is driving me nuts. Does anyone know how I could get rid of that side panel?

Click on 'Save' underneath the bird head, and then click on the download that will appear in the bottom left (on my laptop anyway). This will then open a PDF of the article, and you can then close the web page with the annoying waving person .

 

[Snow Leopard]

I don't know who that woman is who waves at the side of the screen but she is driving me nuts. Does anyone know how I could get rid of that side panel?

It's Alexandra Elbakyan and you can block components of a website with ublock origin (Chrome based browsers) or similar in other browsers.

 

[Sly Saint]

I don't know who that woman is who waves at the side of the screen

as @Snow Leopard has pointed out it's Alexandra Elbakyan, the creator of sci-hub;
it's thanks to her you can read the paper and many others at all.

 

[Arnie Pye]

as @Snow Leopard has pointed out it's Alexandra Elbakyan, the creator of sci-hub;
it's thanks to her you can read the paper and many others at all.

I thought it might be her. I would have preferred a still picture of her rather than one where she constantly waves.

 

[Simbindi]

I thought it might be her. I would have preferred a still picture of her rather than one where she constantly waves.

If you click on her picture it brings up her bio, which includes her email address. You could always send her a polite email explaining how this is distracting to your reading an article, and could she put up a still photograph instead.

Edit: Actually, after clicking on the waving picture, this opens a second tab with her bio. If you then go back to the original tab, the picture has disappeared from the box. So this is a really quick solution if you don't want to download the article as a PDF.