Ah, that's the spot: Why scratching brings relief

The researchers noted that the study is limited because people were not scratching in response to an actual itch.

Next up, we study the effects of pasta on the body by feeding subjects Pop-Tarts...

Death Photo of War Reporter Pyle Found

The figure in the photograph is clad in Army fatigues, boots and helmet, lying on his back in peaceful repose, folded hands holding a military cap. Except for a thin trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth, he could be asleep.

But he is not asleep; he is dead. And this is not just another fallen GI; it is Ernie Pyle, the most celebrated war correspondent of World War II.

May God bless your soul still, Ernie Pyle.

How desperately we need reporters like you in this nation today. How horribly unlikely are we to fill that need.

There are a few things in this world that a person simply should not do. You've heard many of them: don't spit into the wind, don't let your mother cut your hair when she's mad at your dad, don't fry bacon in the nude, don't choose the flashlight over the shotgun when investigating strange sounds in the abandoned mansion, never swallow a live carp, etc.

We can now officially add to that long list of Things Not To Do, don't take a double-dose of your blood pressure medicine.

Something distracted me as I was in the middle of my drug sucking routine yesterday morning and I couldn't for the life of me recall whether I'd taken my dose of BP meds. Figuring that I'd feel it later and know for sure, I took another dose with me in my keychain spy capsule.

Along about 11AM, I started to feel like I'd forgotten to dose myself early in the AM so I popped the take-along dose and figured I'd feel normal soon.

About an hour later I was lightheaded and a bit nauseous. I left work early and went home, calling the doc after I got in. He assured me that while a double dose of my meds was a pretty good ass-kicker, I'd probably still live. Being quite the cutup, when I told him my BP was 114/70 (normally 130/80 or 90), he exclaimed, 'That's a good blood pressure!"

Yeah if you're used to it.

I felt kinda shitty for the rest of the afternoon and evening, only coming up out of the poop pool at about bedtime - just like the doc said.

I'm pretty much ok now except that I think I'm coming down with a chest cold as my throat is scratchy and I'm coughing some.

On another front, this web site has tanked in the international standings of all websites commonly known to exist. I lost 50% of the traffic that usually hits some part on theis place which means that one of you has died.

May dog rest your soul.

Work is going well.

I'm moving to the Philippines.

Ok, I'm not but I want to. Anyone with friends or relatives in the Philippines is welcome to get in touch with me. And send halo halo.

That is all.

What the fark? How can any civilized people be against people holding hands? Would they rather they be holding clubs and beating each other bloody?

Hard-line Hindus protest Valentine's Day

"Our volunteers will check parks, hotels and restaurants and swoop upon young lovers found walking hand-in-hand," said Vijay Tiwari, a Shiv Sena activist in Lucknow.

Oh damn, gimme the manju! Pleeeeeease?

Obama, Japan, roots for accidental namesake

Supporters in Obama -- which means "small shore" in Japanese -- have held parties to watch election results, put up posters wishing the senator luck and plan a special batch of the town's "manju" sweets bearing his likeness.

Bats could fly before they had 'radar'

Its skeleton shows it could fly, but that it lacked a series of bony features associated with "echolocation," the ability to emit high-pitched sounds and then hear them bounce back from objects and prey, researchers said.

Ahhh, evolution is a harsh thing. Imagine observing the short line of early bats that could fly without echolocation:

Squee! Squee! [THWUMP!]

US military accused of harboring fundamentalism

"It is not the position of OCF to try and coerce people to believe what we believe," Fister told AFP.

OCF's aim, as stated on its website, is to achieve "a spiritually transformed military, with ambassadors for Christ in uniform, empowered by the Holy Spirit."

Ah! The old spiritual transformation without coercion trick. That's the second time I've fallen for that this week...

House holds Bush confidants in contempt

"Let's just get up and leave," [Rep. John A. Boehner] told his colleagues, before storming out of the House chamber with scores of Republicans in tow.

I think I know someone who missed his nap today.

There are only a very few things that are good about a chest cold. The hot toddies of course, with generous splashes of firewater.

The other good thing is the sudden ability to do the gravelly voices of James Earl Jones, Lou Rawls, and Sidney Greenstreet. The best temporary ability is to be able to deliver the growl in Jack Nicholson's famous line from "Five Easy Pieces" when he loses it at the diner and tells the waitress what she can do with her chicken salad, "I want you to hold it between your knees."

Other than that, chest colds suck. I just want to be on the record for that.

Man fatally stabbed in Greenwood

A man fatally stabbed early Thursday has been identified as William F. Ball, 29, by the King County Medical Examiner's Office.

Ball's body was found facedown on a driveway in the 10300 block of Greenwood Avenue North around midnight.

I don't even have the heart to make fun of his name.

After a trip to the doc yesterday and some quality drugs, I'm feeling a little better today.

A chest X-ray returned negative (apparently I have no chest to speak of) so I have a perfectly good prescription for one of those new-fangled antibiotics sitting here unused.

Instead of the antis, I have an inhaler with a big plastic aerosol chamber - a first for me.

If you've never used an inhaler before, read the instructions or ask the pharmacist what it is and how it's used. I wasted a few frustrating minutes and several shots of twenty-dollar medicine before I realized that in spite of the way they appear, the shooter and chamber are not meant to deliver the medicine rectally.

My cough is a lot calmer today and I'm not wheezing at all this morning. Rather than bronchitis, I must have irritated myself by dry coughing after last week's sore throat.

So I'm feeling better.

Now if I can find the source of this dripping pus on my face, I'll be happy.