Random thought of the day: Impossible Possibility

The dog days of summer are here, but almost over.  I suspect we will post infrequently these next couple of weeks as we survive/enjoy our transition to the 2010-11 academic year.  The thing that most excites me about fall is the start of the English Premier League Football (soccer) season, so I've been reading more about player transfers and transfer rumors than infection prevention studies.  I came across an entertaining Brian Phillips article in Slate that sums up the player transfer period quite well.  I especially enjoyed this quote:

"A really good transfer rumor doesn't have to be untrue. It just has to make claims that it can't support, allowing us to fill the gaps with a fizzy sense of impossible possibility."

I thought this quote could be rephrased or recycled for use in infection prevention articles/editorials or in any other important area of life.  For instance, if you substitute "infection prevention intervention study" in for "transfer rumor", you get:

"A really good infection prevention intervention study doesn't have to be untrue. It just has to make claims that it can't support, allowing us to fill the gaps with a fizzy sense of impossible possibility."

You could also substitute phrases like "research grant hypothesis" or "economic analysis" in the same place.  For some reason, this just makes me happy, which these days can sometimes be an impossible possibility.

Slate Article