23 January 2007

my new favorite german

Scorned by the whole Jurgen Klinsmann thing, it's taken me a while to get back to loving Germans the way I should; I've had my lederhosen stored away until just last night, when Gina and I got them out for an impromptu photo shoot. You've never seen asslesss lederhosen look sexier on a man. Stay tuned for those pictures.

This time spent away from the Germans got me to thinking, and one of the most striking thoughts I've had is "Gosh, I'm glad I don't have tuberculosis!" Then I realized that I really have no idea what tuberculosis really is. Other than a disease. I'm not retarded. But one of the things you'll learn from this website is that I'm not very smart.

Realizing my tuberculosis ignorance, I got to work figuring out just what I didn't know. As it turns out, tuberculosis is a common and deadly infectious disease caused by the mycobacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis or Mycobacterium bovis, which most commonly affects the lungs (pulmonary TB) but can also affect the central nervous system, lymphatic system, circulatory system, genitourinary system, bones and joints.*

"DUH", I thought to myself.

But I still didn't know how or why I didn't have tuberculosis. That's when I learned about Robert Koch, my new favorite German.

You see, Robert Koch was a German bacteriologist who won the 1905 Nobel Prize. Perhaps you knew that already, but did you know that 1905 was the year that the Nobel Prize went for the study of Tuberculosis? Robert Koch sure did.

Most people don't realize that the Nobel Prize is given out for a different category every year. For example, the 2007 Nobel Prize will be given for study in the field of the Plague. Unforunately the categories were determined a very long time ago.

Robert Koch's mother didn't raise no fool - Robert (or "Obe", as his friends called him) realized the incredible monitary gains that could be made through Nobel Prize winning - not to mention the incredible amount of tail. So he bacteria'd it up until the prize was his - a truly awesome accomplishment.

So next time you get tuberculosis, think of Obe Koch. He was thinking of you. Sort of.

* * * * *

*thanks, wikipedia

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

"Robert Koch's mother didn't raise no fool - Robert (or "Obe", as his friends called him) realized the incredible monitary gains that could be made through Nobel Prize winning - not to mention the incredible amount of tail."

You couldn't be more right. I should know - my family is a result of such tail-chasing. Apparently he liked to stick it everywhere, including in my great grandmother.