Dowbrigade

The back pain has been with 32-year-old Laura Tibbitts ever since
she was thrown from a horse eight years ago sometimes a dull ache, sometimes
a sharp stab, yet always there.

But recently, she found some relief using what may be the highest-tech
pain treatment there is: Strapped into an MRI scanner, she was able to
watch the activity levels in a part of her brain that helps control the
perception of pain. By watching that direct feedback from her brain, she
trained herself to moderate the pain.

Tibbitts, a conference coordinator at Stanford University, was participating
in a new study that found that when people could see their own brains at
work, they gained new control over their pain.

Though still highly experimental and not likely to become available for
several years, the method offers hope of a new option for the estimated
50 million Americans who suffer chronic pain.

The brain-watching method, now being explored in the Boston area and elsewhere,
could also offer a variety of other benefits for stroke patients, dyslexics,
and others, said imaging scientists.

The brain-watching method, which used to be called
bio-feedback, was being practiced in the Boston area by the Dowbrigade
and others 30 years ago. In an undergraduate
course in the then recently invented field of Psychophysiology – the relationship
and interface between mind and body – we actually built a bio-feedback rig
of our own out of parts we bought at Radio Shack and lifted from Stillman
Infirmary, and which we used to run a number of interesting experiments.
At the time, however, we were
more interested in studying pleasure than pain. Some things just keep getting
discovered, again and again, like the 10th planet in the solar system.

from the Boston Globe

Adding
insult to injury, not only did the Dowbrigade nearly die during our latest
Latin American expedition, but our iBook
AND our iPod DID die, at most inopertune moments, and we miss them both.

The iBook, which is now on its third logic board under
the Apple extended warranty, started experiencing video problems in Peru, spontaneously
exhibiting psychedelic colored bar codes and screen static. followed
by freezes.  It
got to the point where the machine started up, but the screen stayed
blank. We
managed to mount it as an external drive on another Mac and transfer
all our essential files, including the photos and videos from the first
two weeks
of our
trip, and upon our release from the hospital turned it in to our neighborhood
Apple service center. It has since been sent on to Apple, so who knows
how or when
it will
return.

The iPod’s passing is even more tragic. At 13 months,
our 4th generation 20GB clickwheel model is 30 days out of warranty.  During
our recent illness and hospitalization, it was buried in our suitcase. When
we tried to turn it on after 3 weeks, it just gave us the
sad pod screen. We tried USB, Firewire, direct current charge, resetting
and restoring, but all we get is the sad pod. Indeed.

Apple seems to have a battery replacement program
for $66. There are third parties who offer either a battery replacement
kit or a "send us your iPod and in one week we’ll send it back
with a new battery" offer for about half of that. They claim
their batteries are 25-30% stronger than the Apple batteries. The only
disadvantage we can see of the third party solution is that it
voids
the Apple warranty, which has expired anyway.

We are investigating. Unfortunately, it is
probably too late to get anything done before we go in for our surgery
in two weeks. With any luck, however, the laptop will be back by then
.

Actors having real sex in art-house movies.
Erstwhile child star Lindsay Lohan appearing barely clad on the cover
of her new album. Teenage girls strolling down Main Street USA attired
in ”Porn Star" T-shirts. A bikini-wearing Jessica Simpson bumping
and grinding in the music video for ”These Boots Are Made for Walkin.’
" College-age women flashing for the ”Girls Gone Wild" video
series with nonchalant exhibitionism.

from the Boston
Globe

What’s not to like? Obviously, this is a good start,
but there’s lots more work to do. More offices need to adopt "Clothing
Optional" workplace rules. Maybe "underwear only" Fridays.
Trystiing nooks in parks and public spaces for impulsive coupling. Reserved
space on cable systems for The S & M Channel, The Transgender Channel
and The Bukaki Channel. Naked reality shows and a Sex Toys Home Shopping
Channel. Animal Sex Orientations down at Angel Memorial. a Vibrator Aisle at Target, Kama Sutra Barbie
Doll sets. Tantric Sex programs included in our HMO coverage. Alternative
payment plans for goods and services in mutually amenable sex acts.

Oh my, don’t get us started. We’ll be thinking of
the possibilities all day……

A
military jury recommended a simple reprimand Monday for an Army officer
who killed an Iraqi general by stuffing him headfirst into a sleeping
bag and sitting on his chest during an interrogation.

As soldiers applauded in the courtroom, Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer
Jr. hugged his wife after hearing the surprisingly light sentence, which
will be reviewed by Fort Carson’s commander, Maj. Gen. Robert W. Mixon.

Welshofer, 43, was charged with murder, but was convicted over the weekend
of negligent homicide and negligent dereliction of duty that carried a
penalty of up to three years and three months in prison, a dishonorable
discharge, loss of pension and other penalties. The murder charge carried
a potential sentence of life in prison. Instead, Welshofer faces no jail
time, the forfeiture of $6,000 in salary and what amounts largely to a
restriction to his barracks for 60 days.

Wait a minute, didn’t a bunch of religious fanatics just get life
for doing the same thing to an 11-year-old girl who was possessed by the
devil? Guess they should have claimed the girl was possessed by the spirit
of an Iraqi general….

from the AP