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Sat, 29 Nov 2003 12:12:00 DST

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David Blaine Helps Himself and Medical Science

http://www.insidemagic.com/article_406.shtml

Fri, 28 Nov 2003 18:45:00 GMT
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There are those who would suggest David Blaine?s 44 days in a plastic box was a mere self-centered stunt designed to gain attention for his uncanny ability to be hated by spectators.

We will have you know that according to the London Telegraph, the stunt that has been called the magic equivalent of a TV test-pattern or a presentation of 44 Card Repeat, has actually furthered medical science.

According to the London Daily Telegraph, Professor Jeremy Powell-Tuck asked a group of doctors and nurses, “Is this man undernourished?”

Dr. Powell-Tuck pointed to a picture of Mr. Blaine as he appeared after stepping from his Plastic-Condo-on-the-Thames.

Here?s the first amazing part.

The doctors and nurses he had assembled presumably came from the United Kingdom and yet not a one was apparently able to identify Mr. Blaine as the man who had just starved himself for the last 44 days.

Apparently reaching the doctor and nurse demographic requires more than 44 days of non-stop news coverage in the U.K.

The consensus was that Mr. Blaine did not look undernourished.

Two nurses noted that he looked like he couldn?t afford medical care in the United States or was likely to have asked them for money if they had encountered his skinny yet bearded face on the street.

“Ha ha!” said Dr. Powell-Tuck, “he was undernourished.” And Dr. Powell-Tuck would know, he was the nutritionist in charge of weaning Mr. Blaine from no-food to food.

“He went into the box weighing 96 kilos, he came out weighing 70.5. That’s a 27 per cent reduction. His body mass index had gone from slightly over the normal range to slightly under.”

A kilo is roughly 2.2 pounds and is usually followed an equivalent “street value.”

Initially Dr. Powell-Tuck (ironically, this is the name of a spring-board diving maneuver that was last attempted by Greg Louganis at the Nationals in Ft. Lauderdale) was convinced Mr. Blaine was a fake and wanted nothing to do with the starvation stunt.

He was asked to assist in the re-entry to real food program (also available to those of us who thrive on McDonalds Value Meals) and he eagerly accepted the invitation.

Dr. Powell-Tuck has worked on the research showing the effect of maintaining insulin levels in critically ill patients at normal levels.

His research has shown that the mortality rate is halved by keeping the insulin levels in check. With his knowledge of…

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Magic News

http://www.ktsm.com/news/story.ssd?c=374a0a8eb4ea4609

Hot Leads is Cool

http://www.penguinmagic.com/product.php?ID=718&affiliateID=3738

Sat, 29 Nov 2003 12:12:00 DST

<![CDATA[]]>

Magic Reviews

http://www.penguinmagic.com/product.php?ID=718&affiliateID=3738

David Blaine Helps Himself and Medical Science

http://www.insidemagic.com/article_406.shtml

Fri, 28 Nov 2003 18:45:00 GMT
<![CDATA[

There are those who would suggest David Blaine?s 44 days in a plastic box was a mere self-centered stunt designed to gain attention for his uncanny ability to be hated by spectators.

We will have you know that according to the London Telegraph, the stunt that has been called the magic equivalent of a TV test-pattern or a presentation of 44 Card Repeat, has actually furthered medical science.

According to the London Daily Telegraph, Professor Jeremy Powell-Tuck asked a group of doctors and nurses, “Is this man undernourished?”

Dr. Powell-Tuck pointed to a picture of Mr. Blaine as he appeared after stepping from his Plastic-Condo-on-the-Thames.

Here?s the first amazing part.

The doctors and nurses he had assembled presumably came from the United Kingdom and yet not a one was apparently able to identify Mr. Blaine as the man who had just starved himself for the last 44 days.

Apparently reaching the doctor and nurse demographic requires more than 44 days of non-stop news coverage in the U.K.

The consensus was that Mr. Blaine did not look undernourished.

Two nurses noted that he looked like he couldn?t afford medical care in the United States or was likely to have asked them for money if they had encountered his skinny yet bearded face on the street.

“Ha ha!” said Dr. Powell-Tuck, “he was undernourished.” And Dr. Powell-Tuck would know, he was the nutritionist in charge of weaning Mr. Blaine from no-food to food.

“He went into the box weighing 96 kilos, he came out weighing 70.5. That’s a 27 per cent reduction. His body mass index had gone from slightly over the normal range to slightly under.”

A kilo is roughly 2.2 pounds and is usually followed an equivalent “street value.”

Initially Dr. Powell-Tuck (ironically, this is the name of a spring-board diving maneuver that was last attempted by Greg Louganis at the Nationals in Ft. Lauderdale) was convinced Mr. Blaine was a fake and wanted nothing to do with the starvation stunt.

He was asked to assist in the re-entry to real food program (also available to those of us who thrive on McDonalds Value Meals) and he eagerly accepted the invitation.

Dr. Powell-Tuck has worked on the research showing the effect of maintaining insulin levels in critically ill patients at normal levels.

His research has shown that the mortality rate is halved by keeping the insulin levels in check. With his knowledge of how the body responds to the lack of food, he was able to dispel his previous conviction that the stunt was a hoax.

Dr. Powell-Tuck believes a fat person could survive 200 days without eating (and it would be five times as entertaining under the Blaine Metric).

Dr. Powell-Tuck said Mr. Blaine?s blood volume had decreased significantly and his heart had shrunk because his body began to cannibalize his organs.

Dr. Powell-Tuck did not say whether the shrinkage in the heart was due to the fast or the rapid increase in the size of Mr. Blaine?s head.

In keeping with Mr. Blaine?s tradition of looking out for himself, he stayed within the confines of Dr. Powell-Tuck?s program for just four days.

Dr. Powell-Tuck intended to use the information to help those critically-ill or cancer-affected patients keep their nutrition at a level that would allow them to live longer and with less ill effects.

Those noble plans were changed when Mr. Blaine broke the promise and ate fish and chips in the Hospital cafeteria.

So he demonstrated he was able to go 44 days without food, and four days with a regimented diet before going off the reservation. We don?t know what to think. 

Maybe 48 days (even with the last four days with 800 to 1,000 calories a day) was the maximum Mr. Blaine could go. Maybe he wasn?t really starving for 44 days but was really starving for four days after he got out of the box. Maybe he didn?t really care about the needs of cancer patients.

Maybe it is all about Mr. Blaine and to heck with anyone else.

   

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