Posted on 07/26/2007 7:02:47 AM PDT by Greg F
French man whose skull was mostly occupied by a "huge fluid-filled chamber" was able to operate perfectly well as a civil servant - despite having "little more than a thin sheet of actual brain tissue", Reuters reports.
The 44-year-old's condition was revealed when he went to hospital suffering from mild weakness in his left leg. A probe of his medical history revealed he'd had a shunt inserted into his skull as an infant to relieve hydrocephalus, which was removed when he was 14.
Doctors were "amazed" when computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging scans showed "massive enlargement" of his lateral ventricles, "usually tiny chambers that hold the cerebrospinal fluid that cushions the brain".
Dr Lionel Feuillet and colleagues at the Universite de la Mediterranee in Marseille explained in a letter to The Lancet: "He was a married father of two children, and worked as a civil servant." Tests revealed the chap's IQ as 75, below average but evidently no impediment to leading a normal life.
(Excerpt) Read more at theregister.co.uk ...
He’s perfectly qualified for the job.
Brainless Civil Servant - isn’t that redundant?
“Brainless Civil Servant”
Some redundancy there.
Sounds perfect for the new Director of the IRS.
Send him over...
Doctors might be amazed by a brainless civil servant, but I’m not.
Ping!
I work for a publicly owned agency, and I could see that this condition could be an asset to the public employee, so long as it did not impede the employee’s ability to kiss hineys.
Civil servants also include:
FBI agents who often put their lives on the line - infiltrating gangs, mafia, terrorist cells, etc.
Secret Service agents - who put their lives on the line ready to take a bullet for the president.
Border patrol agents who put their lives on the line and then get thrown in jail for it by their own government.
Researchers - whose research does things like develop cruise missles (the original cruise missle technology was developed by a civil servant at a Navy lab - I knew his wife)
Advanced sonar and guided torpedoes were also developed by civil servants (my husband one of them) at a gov’t research lab - Navy - all civil servants.
Sky marshalls flying on planes ready to put their lives on line if a terrorist tries to take over a plane.
FAA investigators who painstakingly put together the details and parts of a crashed plane to try to determine what happened - very specialized people.
Air controllers - one of the most stressful jobs in the world upon whose skill hangs the lives of millions who fly every day.
CIA spys who enter very dangerous regions of the world undercover and actually do spy for us.
Drug enforcement undercover agents who sometimes come back in small pieces like agent Enrique Camerena.
CIA analysts who are very skilled in interpreting aerial recon photos of places like Iran and China.
Homeland Security analysts (like my nephew) who have actually defused several terrorist bomb plots. You’ll never see his name in print.
And yes, the postal worker who still carries the mail on his/her back and still tromps around in the snow/rain/hot/cold. That hasn’t changed much.
No....these people are not brainless.
Many of them are exceptionally highly skilled and for many they could make a lot more money in the private sector (like my husband who is now retired), but actually chose to work as a civil servant because he wanted to contribute to the common good.
The police officer in the squad car -you call on when you are in trouble.
The bomb squad you expect to diffuse a bomb found in your neighborhood (happened at my shopping mall).
And many more...many more....
I know its rather boring and nerdy - but those people do exist and thank G-D they do.
No mention of missing lips in the article. : )
There are images on yesterday’s thread.
Yah, I know. Heck, I’ve worked for the Gov myself several times. Still too much fun that a brainless man operates fine as a French civil servant!
Lighten up Francis.
Francis?
LOL
Ditto your comments exactly. I wonder how many celebrities have this same medical condition as well.
Only in france - or quebec - could a person with a condition like that go about completely unnoticed, not stand out in any way. Does it get any better than this? Between this and the Last Super thread, this is going to be a fun day!
Al Gore ... nah, it’s just too easy.
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