h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

We went in February. Snow on the ground in KS and Colorado and sunshine and heat in Vegas. Loved being warm in the winter.

The only other winter vacation we have taken was to San Antonio when Hyp lived down there. It was at Christmas and the city was soooo festive. Left San Antonio in light weight cotton clothing. By the time we got back to northern Oklahoma, there was and ice on the ground. San Antonio had an ice storm that winter. Shut the whole city down.

I'm mostly back! I say mostly because the Scottish Midge has taken a fair few chunks out of me in the meantime.

Ben, thank you, I often forget that it's the questions we need, not the answers.

Teuchter, sounds like Skene House:

http://humphrysfamilytree.com/Skene/skene.house.html

can't find any images of walls though.

It's always the questions Mikerhike, always the questions....

[GDZ]

Traditional Chinese Medicine, I assume? Let us not confuse Chinese Medicine with Acupuncture, Traditional Chinese Medicine also involved the use of herbs, things like rhinoceros horns, and nutritional therapy.
Here is a beginning, just the first thing that looked like a good start on the scientific study of acupuncture.
http://www.acupuncture.org.uk/content/Library/documents.asp

re acupuncture: to be fair, I also must post this link:
http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/acu.html

I post this with the caveat that this Dr. Barrett seems to have some sort of axe to grind. I disagree with his post regarding massage, where he says that the American Massage Therapy Association falsely claims that massage can influence the immune system. The Touch Research Institute http://www6.miami.edu/touch-research/ has research that concludes that massage does improve the immune system, it stimulates the production of T-cells.

http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ perhaps when all these trials are finished we will have a better understanding of whether acupuncture works or not.

The Chinese have 4000 years of anecdotal evidence that it does. Perhaps all that was simply the placebo effect.

I tend to be stubborn about backlog, so I won't really be here for a bit But I wanted to say for the welcomes first

[Amy P]

I wonder which way Amy P's stubborness runs in re backlog: is she for it or agin it? And will it help her at all to be agin it? Kind of like gravity, the backlog doesn't go away when you shut your eyes.

*Matina comes out of the kitchen and glares after the retreating back of the Woolly Mammoth*

Why is Matina glaring at Wooly Mammoth? WM apologized for snarfing the muffins. I think Wooly Mammoth is .......

re backlog: I once read a science fiction story where the piles of paper everyone was saving, especially back issues of National Geographic, were coalescing and forming a black hole. When the Congressional Commission to study this was convened, all the paper that went along with the study caused a disaster. Is backlog like this?

Oh dear, we have two WMs now. Oh well, I think you all can tell us apart.

Just caught up on the backlog. Thanks for all the exercise, Ben! Welcome to the newcomers and welcome back to those that were 'on a break'.

And if Amy P is reading all the backlong, it may be a year before she makes it into the current conversation! I hope she brings the mufflewumps.

hmh << I once read a science fiction story where the piles of paper everyone was saving, especially back issues of National Geographic, were coalescing and forming a black hole. >>

LOL! When I moved out of the apt. M and I shared for 20 years, I think all known copies of the National Geographic were *in* our walk-in closet -- the wooden floor sagged by about 1 1/2 inches!!


hmh << Is backlog like this? >>

Nah -- electrons don't weigh that much...!

SC

Message to Dr. Z: Congratulations on your new status. Does this mean you are now approaching what we would refer to as your residency here in the US? I confess I am jealous. In 1975 I was applying to medical school and getting turned down because all the quota slots for women were filled. So, good luck to you and best wishes.

[GDZ]

I imagine Matina now has a lot of baking to do.

Morning everyone

*waves to Amy P*

I'm not sure why I was so loquatious yesterday. I must be bored at work these days.

Got a friend coming round this evening, and since it was arranged very late last night, I'm in a bit of a domestic tizz.

B

A few months ago there was a series aboutall kinds of alternative medicines, or perhaps I should say all non-doctor forms? Actually, that's not right either. I guess it was really about healing people. It featured everything from massage to acupuncture to faith healing and the placebo effect. Now I think about it, I suspect it also had ordinary hospital medicine in it. It was following a doctor who was investigating claims of all kinds of medicine, and if/how/why they seemed to work.

Fascinating stuff, don't know what it was called.

Ning N'All,

Congratulations Z on your safe arrival at the Elysian Fields, a long journey I imagine.

We had a downpour at about 8 o'clock last night and the garden literally lit up with a fantastic green energy. Never seen that before.

Dear, dear that's a rather messy Mammoth we've adopted. Bits of blog and bun everywhere. Didn't he read the WIPE YOU FEET sign. Tut.

Ben, I wonder if stickiness is being erroded by the advance of Blogs. Az and Noggin seem to have gone there. BluesShark just seems to have reached a hiatus.

Morning all

There was loads I was going to say about the overnight backlog, but it has all gone out of my head Darn hormones.

Hi there Amy P.

I spent yesterday afternoon running up and down... and up... and down... and up... and down again five flights of stairs as our New! Extra! course which needs inconveniently placed extra rooms kicked off.

Today my legs are sore. Ah well, saves me the cost of a gym I suppose.