Month: August 2003

OK, I’ll admit that maybe I’m not very sensitive to this topic because I’m not too wrinkled yet, but it still amazes me what people are willing to do in the (temporary) pursuit of youth. In today’s LA Times health section (link), there is an enumeration of the new “injectables” (spurred on by the success of botox) that are FDA approved or awaiting approval. Several of the technologies involve the use of microspheres, which are basically little plastic balls. One is made from acid from rooster combs. I wonder if the rooster donors get little toupees?

Those wacky British muggles are at it again! More words for the Oxford Dictionary of English! They say they add words that “well-known and have proven they can pass the test of time”. Don’t be a cyberslacker, surf on over here to see the story. It’s bootylicious.

Ok, maybe not literature (not even close, really) but I’m currently reading a couple of interesting books. Scott Ritter’s Frontier Justice in which he holds back no punches on the Bush administration’s approach to Iraq, and USC professor Barry Glassner’s The Culture of Fear, a look at the genesis of American violence. Both very interesting.

“Scientists in China have used cloning techniques to create hybrid embryos that contain a mix of DNA from humans and rabbits, according to a report in a scientific journal.” Whaaaaa? Apparently they’re looking for a cheap source of stem cells. Why rabbits? I guess they must have a lot of them in China. Plus, rabbits breed like, well, rabbits.

Click here for the story…