Friday, May 21, 2010

WEB BOHEMIAN (Friday, May 21, 2010)
(1)- MEDICINE?? -- For a range of ailments, from pain and nausea to depression and Parkinson’s disease, placebos--whether sugar pills, saline injections, or sham surgery--have often produced results that rival those of standard therapies.

(2)- WHALING -- Scientists still don’t know what function spermaceti serves in whale physiology, but for the men and women of the nineteenth century, it was simply the best illuminant and lubricant money could buy.

(3)- FRENCH IDENTITY CRISIS -- What does it mean to be French? A simple enough question, and one that has exercised many minds over the centuries, but to ask it these days in Paris seems akin to drawing swords.

(4)- H.G. WELLS -- Occasionally he tried to justify his behavior with vague theories about “efficiency” of individual sexual needs or the “triangular mutuality” of man, wife and mistress, but, basically, he was as randy as a goat.

(5)- HARUMPH! -- The study of literature as an art form, of its techniques for delighting and instructing, has been replaced by an amalgam of bad epistemology and worse prose that goes by many names but can be summed up as Theory.

(6)- HOW ENGLISH RULES -- 'Throw away your dictionaries!' is the battle cry as a simplified global hybrid of English conquers cultures and continents. In his new book, Globish, Robert McCrum tells the story of a linguistic phenomenon.

(7)- WIKI CHANGE -- Over the next few days, Wikipedia will be getting a substantial face lift. The biggest change the online encyclopedia will make is a changeover to a new "skin" called Vector. It's a worry for who don't take kindly to site changes.

(8)- CALL THE KID – You have a stressed teen, but she's at school or summer camp. According to a new study, talking on the phone with Mom is nearly as good as getting a hug for helping stressed-out kids calm down.

(9)- ATTENTION HYPOCHONDRIACS -- Walgreens had planned to offer an at-home test kit that allowed you to analyze your own DNA. But now it is postponing the idea.

POLITICAL COMMENTARY

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