Scientific integrity: when it’s missing

Sad story:

So much for confidential peer review.

Last May, a controversial paper in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) reported that a popular diabetes drug—rosiglitazone, sold as Avandia—substantially hikes a user’s risk of heart attack (SN: 6/23/07, p. 397). But according to an ongoing investigation by the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, Avandia’s maker knew about the study before it was published. The company—Philadelphia-based GlaxoSmithKline—had a leaked copy, courtesy of a scientist that NEJM had recruited for a peer review of the paper.

“The man who did this is Dr. Steven Haffner,” ranking Finance committee member Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) reported last week, referring to the investigation. Grassley added that Haffner, a physician with the University of Texas Health Science Center (UTHSC) in San Antonio, “confirmed to my investigators that he faxed a draft of the study to GlaxoSmithKline weeks before it was published.”

According to a statement issued by William L. Henrich, dean of medicine at UTHSC-San Antonio, the charges have “just come to light on our campus. We are embarking on a complete investigation.” He added that if Grassley’s charges are confirmed the university expects to take “swift and appropriate action.”

Most troubling, Grassley argues, is the reviewer’s role. By leaking unpublished data, Haffner “violated practically every tenet of independence and integrity held sacred by the major medical journals,” he says.

Calls to Haffner were forwarded to the UTHSC-San Antonio Office of External Affairs.

When Haffner received the UTHSC-San Antonio Presidential Distinguished Scholar Award last year, the university noted that, in terms of federal support, he is among its “highest-funded investigators.” He also received some $75,000 for consulting and speaking fees from GlaxoSmithKline, according to government filings that Grassley’s team uncovered.

Bud Day, American patriot

Amazing guy:

In 1943, at the age of 18, George Everette “Bud” Day of Sioux City, Iowa, enlisted in the Marines. He served in the Pacific during World War II, and later became a fighter pilot. He flew the F-84F Thunderstreak during the Korean War and the F-100F Super Sabre in Vietnam. Bud Day, a legendary “full-blooded jet-jock” as one recent account dubbed him, would see service in all three wars as a sanctified whole: For him the concept of the “long war” was something he had built his life around in the middle decades of the 20th century. As an Air Force major, he was the first commander of the squadron of fast FACs (forward air controllers), who loitered daily for hours over North Vietnamese airspace, seeking out targets for other fighter bombers. With the most dangerous air mission in the Vietnam War, Day and the other fast FACs were known as “Misty warriors.” Misty was the radio call sign that Day himself had chosen for the squadron, inspired by his favorite Johnny Mathis song. The Mistys were “an aggressive bunch of bastards who pressed the fight; they got down in the weeds” and “trolled for trouble,” writes Robert Coram in a recently published book about Bud Day, American Patriot. On August 26, 1967, Bud Day’s luck ran out. He was shot down over North Vietnam.

The Military Code of Conduct “required that escape take priority over personal fears and concerns,” Day writes in his own memoir, Duty Honor Country, published in 1989 by American Hero Press, Fort Walton Beach, Florida. Not ranked on Amazon, it is among the most amazing personal stories of any war. His eardrums ruptured, his face crusted with blood from beatings, one arm broken and both knees badly injured from the ejection, Bud Day was hung by the feet “like a side of butchered beef for many hours” by his captors after he refused to answer their questions. A week into his captivity he escaped. He then hiked 12 days alone in the jungle back to South Vietnam, eating frogs, nauseous from pain, only to be recaptured.

With all of his limbs now broken or shot up, he spent the next six years in captivity, undergoing mock executions, hung again repeatedly by his feet, often not permitted to urinate, beaten senseless in scenes “out of the Mongol Hordes” with whips that made his testicles like charred meat. When prison guards burst in on him and other POWs during a clandestine Christian service, Day stared into their muzzles and sang “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

A recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor, Day took the greatest pride in never revealing information to his captors about the Misty program. “If I were to divulge our secrets and tactics, it was highly likely that many of my fine, young, loyal pilots would die as a result…”

Remember “equal justice, under law”?

Too bad that era seems to be over:

In October 2006, President Bush authorized the construction of a 700-mile border fence between the United States and Mexico. Now, however, the Department of Homeland Security’s construction plans are facing opposition from Texans who object to the fence cutting through their property. The Washington Post reports on the hard line the Bush administration is taking with these protesting landowners:

In December, officials sent warning letters to 135 private landowners, municipalities, universities, public utility companies and conservation societies along the border that had turned away surveyors. Landowners were given 30 days to change their minds or face legal action. More than 100 of them — 71 in Texas — let the deadline pass.

Over the past several weeks, U.S. attorneys acting on behalf of the Homeland Security Department have been filing lawsuits against the holdouts.

DHS has no problem pursuing elderly and struggling homeowners. In the small town of Granjeno (pop. 313), however, the border fence would, conveniently, “abruptly end” at the property owned by Dallas billionaire Ray L. Hunt.

It’s not surprising that the administration would be hesitant to upset Hunt, who was a Bush-Cheney campaign “Pioneer” in 2000. More recently, Hunt “donated $35 million to Southern Methodist University to help build Bush’s presidential library.” In 2001, Bush appointed Hunt to his Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, granting him “a security clearance and access to classified intelligence.”

Hunt, one of the wealthiest oilmen in the world, previously served on the board of Halliburton and was National Petroleum Council chairman between 1991 and 1994.

Daniel Garza, a 76-year old man who might lose his home to the border fence’s intrusion, noted, “I don’t see why they have to destroy my home, my land, and let the wall end there.” Pointing across the street to Hunt’s land, he added, “How will that stop illegal immigration?“

Cool clock/timer

From Cool Tools:

The Salubrion Enso Clock is a digital clock/timer specially built for those who meditate or do yoga. While I know nothing about yoga, I use the clock to time my meditations twice a day in my home office. Conventional stopwatches and alarms just don’t cut it. They let out a loud beeping noise that startles me out of my meditative state (or I end up worrying about when they’ll beep). On the contrary, the Enso uses soothing chimes that sound like actual Japanese and Tibetan rice bowls. Instead of startling you out from a meditative state, these gently bring your awareness back to the world around you.

My favorite function of this clock is how it displays time elapsed or remaining by drawing a ring along the display, instead of counting down the numerical indication of minutes left. Previously I meditated with a wall clock, opening my eyes to glance at the clock when the time felt “right.” I’ve found the Enso’s ring to be a great help in my meditation — when I occasionally open my eyes to glance at the clock, I find myself undistracted. Other nifty features I use include the setting of intervals.

When I’m not meditating the Enso is elegant enough to be used as a desk clock on my table. The size is very suitable for travel — The clock face is slightly larger than the top of a tea cup, and there is a travel pouch included with the clock. I’ve seen other meditation clocks — haven’t tired them; they look a little bulkier. Also, with this clock, there are no moving parts to be concerned with as it’s 100% digital. In all, it’s perfect if you are a fairly serious meditator. — Yeo Feng

$99 Available from Amazon; Manufactured by Salubrion

Cooking myths

Mark Bittman exposes some cooking myths:

If your grandmother told you that baking powder lasts forever (soda does, powder doesn’t) far be it from me to try and convince you otherwise. But let me at least disabuse you of a few myths that I hear far too often. And feel free to add others but try, please, to be accurate.

1. “Searing meat seals in the juices.”
Nope, sorry. While searing does create more flavor, both in the browned meat and the pan juices, it doesn’t actually “seal” the juices in.

2. “Never wash mushrooms; they’ll absorb the water.”
Here, it depends what you mean by “wash.” Mushrooms are made up mostly of water, and they are porous — but they’re also grown in dirt, which can stick to them, and you really don’t want to eat dirt. To clean mushrooms, rinse them – don’t soak them – and don’t worry about a little water.

3. “Don’t add salt to beans before cooking or they won’t soften.”
Been working on this one for 20 years, and I think I can safely say that the salting only changes the texture of the beans because it changes the way they absorb water. But the difference—a little grittiness and breaking apart, which is largely determined by the type of bean anyway—is relatively subtle. Seasoning the beans is far more important, and one of the best Italian cooks I know insists that beans be salted during soaking or at least from the start of cooking. (And her beans are delicious.) So salt whenever you like.

4. “Putting an avocado pit in the guacamole keeps it from turning brown.”
God I love this one. Actually, the pit will block the air from turning the guacamole directly under it brown, but then again so would a rock, and the exposed guacamole will still color. Use plastic wrap and you should be fine. (It is true that you can help an avocado – or almost anything else – ripen, by putting it in a brown paper bag with a banana.)

5. “The fastest way to bake a potato is in a microwave.”
No. You can steam a potato in a microwave. Or, most accurately, soften one through magic little rays. But you won’t get a baked potato without dry heat.

6. “All the alcohol burns off when you cook with wine or spirits.”
While you won’t get drunk off a red wine sauce, all the alcohol doesn’t cook off. If you simmer for hours, most of the alcohol does go away. But if you simmer for 20 minutes, up to 50 percent of it can stick around. (If you flambe, only a little bit of alcohol burns off.) And even less alcohol escapes during baking, because the booze has to work its way out of the batter. Not always a bad thing, of course.

Bad news on healthcare

This is disturbing:

Mike Lux, a veteran of the Clinton health care wars, pointed out today that Obama is using as a surrogate on health care Bush Dog Democrat Jim Cooper. Cooper spent a good amount of time in 1993-1994 working to undermine Clinton’s health care plan by offering more insurance friendly proposals with former Senator and current lobbyist John Breaux.

This fits in with my sense, based on everything we’ve seen in this campaign, that Obama just isn’t all that committed to health care reform. If he does make it to the White House, I hope he proves me wrong. But as I’ve written before, from my perspective it looks as if a dream is dying.

South Carolina BBQ-sauce map

Important information. The Eldest likes the vinegar sauce.

The map shows the state of South Carolina divided into four regions, according to the preferred style of condiment used on barbecued food.

The vinegar and pepper region covers the eastern quarter of the state. This is “a southward extension of eastern North Carolina-style sauce,” states Mr Reed.

“The tomato region ditto for North Carolina’s Piedmont- or Lexington-style sauce, which is basically the eastern sauce with a little tomato added, still thin and vinegar-flavored.”

The ketchup region is influenced by what they serve in Georgia “and most of the trans-Appalachian South – or for that matter in grocery stores – a thick, sweet, ketchupy sauce.”

Unique to South Carolina, though, is “the mustard sauce of central South Carolina, (which) is unique to that state, and (which) gives it more distinct barbecue regions than any other.”

This peculiarity can be explained by “the German names of the principal purveyors of mustard-based sauces (…) it does seem that most are descended from the great 18th century wave of German immigrants to the Southern uplands.”

Urban bike-sharing: London joins Paris

Good news. Lots of photos at the link.

We’ve already seen the massive success of urban bike sharing in Paris, but now the super-smart Velib Bike program is taking to the streets of London! 15,000 bikes, 1,000 stations and more than 7.5 million miles of combined biking later have already been implemented in London, and the new scheme will contribute £75 million and 6,000 shared bikes to the mass biking scheme. Spearheaded by London Mayor Ken Livingstone, the new ‘granny bike’ sharing scheme will reduce traffic congestion and help clear up the air of England’s sprawling capital city.

The program will begin with 6,000 bikes, distributed across the city in and around London. The so-called ‘granny bikes’ are super sturdy, and have been designed and assembled for high-traffic use, and for low theft appeal. They may not be the sexiest of cycles, but that’s sort of the point — as Jenny Jones, one of the organizers of the program, explains: “They are a little bit grannyish, with a basket and mudguards, and a strong frame, so they are not very attractive to steal. We want to encourage the view of bicycles as a tool rather than a fashion accessory.”

Unlike the Paris system, which provides the free bikes by funding them via advertising, the London scheme will be paid for with taxpayer money. There will be a small cost for the rental, with the first 30 minutes free to everyone, and £1 for every half. The stations will take up existing parking spaces and will be installed every 300 meters in the City and the West End.
But what are bikes without good, safe bike routes? Happily the new London plan also calls for the creation of a dozen cycle commuter routes from the suburbs to the city.

“Cycling is emerging both as a major public transport mode and a mark of a modern cosmopolitan city at ease with itself and its global responsibilities.” said Koy Thomson, chief executive of the London Cycling Campaign. Hey Mr. Bloomberg – please take note!
New York and Sydney… we are waiting…

+ 6,000 free ‘granny’ bikes will bring continental success story to capital

All-electric cars coming closer

We’re moving closer and closer to all-electric. Kent Bouchert, listen up!

While the potential of electric cars is obvious, one of the main concerns is battery life, both in its ability to hold a charge, and its shelf life before needing a replacement. But the new =UltraBattery, developed by Australia’s CSIRO, is a high-performance hybrid storage cell that runs for 100,000 miles without recharge or replacement. It combines a supercapacitor with a lead acid battery in one unit cell, providing higher power discharge and longer life.

Just like any other battery for a hybrid vehicle, the Ultrabattery has the capacity to absorb wasted energy from braking. According to the CSIRO, it outperforms any other battery on the market for HEVs, is 70% cheaper to manufacture, and has 50% more power than conventional batteries. And it may not be just for vehicles- the battery is also being tested for use in wind and solar applications. Now if they could only figure out how to dispose of them safely.

+ Ultrabattery Project @ CSIRO

The fruits of torture

Morris Davis, an Air Force colonel, was the chief prosecutor for the military commissions at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, from 2005 to 2007. He wrote the following in the NY Times today:

Twenty-seven years ago, in the final days of the Iran hostage crisis, the C.I.A.’s Tehran station chief, Tom Ahern, faced his principal interrogator for the last time. The interrogator said the abuse Mr. Ahern had suffered was inconsistent with his own personal values and with the values of Islam and, as if to wipe the slate clean, he offered Mr. Ahern a chance to abuse him just as he had abused the hostages. Mr. Ahern looked the interrogator in the eyes and said, “We don’t do stuff like that.”

Today, Tom Ahern might have to say: “We don’t do stuff like that very often.” Or, “We generally don’t do stuff like that.” That is a shame. Virtues requiring caveats are not virtues. Saying a man is honest is a compliment. Saying a man is “generally” honest or honest “quite often” means he lies. The mistreatment of detainees, like honesty, is all or nothing: We either do stuff like that or we do not. It is in our national interest to restore our reputation for the latter. (All opinions here are my own, and do not necessarily reflect those of the Air Force or Defense Department.)

Some accounts of detainee abuse in the war on terrorism are overblown, but others are not. After humiliating prisoners at Abu Ghraib by forcing them to strip naked and lie in a pile like a stack of firewood or simulating the drowning of detainees to persuade them to talk, we can no longer say we “don’t do stuff like that” — and we do not have to look far to see the damage. The disclosure last month of a manual for Canadian diplomats listing the United States as a country where prisoners might face torture, referring specifically to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, was an embarrassment on both sides of the border.

During the Persian Gulf war in 1991, the Iraqi armed forces surrendered by the tens of thousands because they believed Americans would treat them humanely. Our troops reached the outskirts of Baghdad in 100 hours and suffered fewer than 150 combat-related fatalities in large part because of these mass surrenders.

Would it have been different if the perception of us as purveyors of torture and humiliation existed back then? Would tens of thousands of Iraqis have put down their weapons if they believed they were going to be humiliated, abused or tortured, or would they have fought? Had they chosen to fight, the war would have lasted longer and cost more and casualties would have skyrocketed. Our reputation in 1991 as the good guys paid dividends and supported our national interests. We must regain that reputation.

Getting the truth: harder now

Glenn Greenwald:

In August, 2006, Judge Anna Diggs Taylor became the first federal judge ever to rule on the legality of the Bush administration’s NSA warrantless spying program, and she ruled that the NSA program violated both statutory law as well as multiple rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. The case was brought by the ACLU on behalf of numerous Muslim lawyers, journalists and others, who argued that the existence of the warrantless eavesdropping program rendered them unable to perform their jobs.The Bush administration appealed that decision to a three-judge panel of the Sixth Circuit. In July of last year, two of the three appellate judges voted to reverse Judge Diggs Taylor’s ruling, not because they disagreed with her conclusions about the program’s legality. Instead, they found that the plaintiffs lacked “standing” to challenge the legality of the program — and courts were therefore barred from ruling on their claims — because the plaintiffs were unable to prove that they were actually subjected to the warrantless eavesdropping (due to the absolute secrecy under which the program operates).

The third member of the appellate panel, Judge Gilman, dissented from that finding, holding that plaintiffs were permitted to proceed with the lawsuit, and then proceeded to find that the NSA program was illegal. Thus, even to date, the only two judges ever to rule on the legality of Bush’s NSA program — District Judge Diggs Taylor and the Sixth Circuit’s Judge Gilman — have both ruled that it was illegal.

The ACLU appealed the Sixth Circuit’s procedural ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, asking the Court to hear the appeal. Today, the Court announced that it would not hear the appeal, thus bringing an end to the ACLU’s legal challenge to the NSA program (even though no judge has ever ruled the program legal):

The justices’ decision, issued without comment, is the latest setback to legal efforts to force disclosure of details of the warrantless wiretapping that began after the Sept. 11 attacks.

The Supreme Court accepts only a tiny percentage of cases for appeal, and under its long-standing rules, a refusal to hear a case does not constitute agreement with the lower court’s decision. It simply means that the Court, for whatever reasons, will not decide the appeal. This decision does mean, however, that EFF’s pending lawsuits in San Francisco against AT&T, Verizon and the other telecoms are now the sole remaining vehicle for finding out what the Bush administration actually did when spying on Americans for years without warrants, and as importantly, is the last hope for obtaining a judicial ruling as to whether the President broke the law and violated the Constitution when doing so. If Jay Rockefeller and Dick Cheney have their way and retroactive amnesty is granted to these telecoms, those lawsuits will be forever dismissed and Americans will remain indefinitely in the dark about how our own Government spied on us, and will forever lose the opportunity to have a court rule whether the Government broke the law and violated our Constitutional rights.

In March, 2006, the Senate Intelligence Committee voted (along party lines) against holding hearings and conducting an investigation into the warrantless NSA program. Thus, Congress has never fulfilled its duty of meaningfully investigating the spying scandal. Identically, the courts have accepted the Bush administration’s procedural arguments as to why they are barred from ruling on the legality of the program. Thus, despite agreement among legal experts across much of the political spectrum that George Bush and company committed serious felonies in spying on Americans without warrants, the two other branches of government have been completely closed off (willingly) in investigating what happened or even in determining whether the law was broken.

Think about the information that has been completely concealed — all the things which we, as Americans, remain in the dark about with regard to our Government’s illegal spying on us. We do not know which Americans were spied upon without warrants, how they were chosen for surveillance, whether they had any connection to terrorists, and/or what was done with the information obtained. Despite the fact that we enacted laws 30 years ago making warrantless spying a felony, we have no idea what was done with the warrantless spying powers the President arrogated unto himself and then used for years.

More significantly, …

:sigh: It gets old, doesn’t it?

President Bush:

As President Bush tours Africa this week, the White House is touting its record fighting disease. “The president is requesting an increase for our contribution to the Global Fund [to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria], an increase above his last year request from $300 million to $500 million,” Mark Dybul, the president’s global AIDS coordinator, asserted. This figure, however, is misleading. The Washington Post reports:

Bush did request $300 million for the Global Fund for the current fiscal year, but Congress decided to go further and approved $841 million. So even though Bush’s request for $500 million for the next fiscal year is higher than he requested the year before, in reality it would cut the contribution back from the $841 million it is getting in cold hard cash this year.

Dybul “acknowledged that when pressed,” but added, “You don’t want to pile up money.”

Things I wish I had known

Not me, in this case, but Zenhabits.net, looking back on his life from age 35. He wishes he had known:

“I hope life isn’t a big joke, because I don’t get it.” – Jack Handey

• How to control impulse spending. If there’s anything that got me in trouble financially, it’s impulse spending. Buying clothes when I don’t need them. Buying gadgets because I gotta have them. Ordering stuff online because it’s so easy. Buying that new shiny SUV because … well, because it was going to help me with women. I’m not proud of any of that. I’ve learned to control my impulses, at least a little better. Now, I give myself some time to breathe. I think over my purchases, see if I’ve got the money, think about whether it’s a need or a want. That would have been a useful tool 15 years ago.

• You gotta stay active. I was in track, cross country and basketball in high school, but once I started college, the running and basketball began to slowly fade away. Not right away — I played pick-up basketball for years after high school. But even that went away, until I became sedentary. Playing with my kids outdoors winded me. And I began to get fat. I’ve reversed that trend, and am very active now, but I’m still trying to burn the fat I gained in those inactive years.

• How to plan finances. I always knew that I was supposed to budget and track my spending, when I became an adult. I just was too lazy to do it. And I didn’t have a good idea of how to actually do it. Now, I’ve learned how to plan, and how to stick to that plan. Sure, I deviate from my plan, but I’ve learned how to handle that too. Maybe that’s not a skill you can learn from book reading. You just gotta practice. Well, I hope to teach it to my children before they go out on their own. [Download this free workbook for a jump-start in making your budget. – LG]

For professionals & work-related

A reprise of an earlier post. It may not have been relevant then, so take a look now:

Got a very interesting tip in the email this morning from Sree Sreenivasan, Columbia Dean of Students & Poynter Visiting Professor. This will be of particular interest to those seeking employment (free-lancers as well as people simply looking for a new job) as well as those who have to make contacts as, say, a writer or journalist or director of development.

Continue reading.

HD-DVD officially gone: Blu-ray wins

The format war is over:

The new year hasn’t exactly been kind to HD-DVD. Toshiba’s next-generation format began 2008 with a pre-CES pull out by Warner Bros. Since then, things have gone from bad to worse, most recently with news that Netflix, BestBuy, and Wal-Mart have opted to go strictly with Sony’s Blu-Ray when it comes to next generation discs.

Toshiba made things official this morning, by throwing in the hi-def towel, stating that they would no longer manufacture, develop, or market HD-DVD hardware. In the meantime, the company is set to reduce shipments of players and recorders, ceasing the wing of their business entirely by the end of next month.

However, the company insists that they will continue to provide support for those who have purchased their now discontinued hardware.

“We carefully assessed the long term impact of continuing the so-called ‘next-generation format war’ and concluded that a swift decision will best help the market develop,” said Toshiba’s CEO, Atsutoshi Nishida in a statement issued this morning.

Adding, “while we are disappointed for the company and more importantly, for the consumer, the real mass market opportunity for high definition content remains untapped and Toshiba is both able and determined to use our talent, technology and intellectual property to make digital convergence a reality.”

Toshiba will continue to focus on the more profitable sectors of their business. Sony, for their part, will likely continue to gloat for a while.

History of marijuana

Healthbolt has a very good post on the history of marijuana, including a 5-part YouTube video series:

“To the agriculturist, cannibis is a fibre crop; to the physician, it is an enigma; to the user, a euphoriant; to the police, a menace; to the trafficker, a source of profitable danger; to the convict or parolee and his family, a source of sorrow.”
– Marihuana in Medicine: Past, Present and Future by Tod H Mikuriva
(California Medicine, Vol 110, 1969: 30-40)

Without the hemp plant, one of the oldest psychoactive plants around, there would be no marijuana. Its dried leaves have been inhaled and ingested for centuries, changing the mood, perception, and consciousness of people throughout the world. And for most of its history, hemp and its by-products have been legal.

Here’s a few fascinating facts…

1. Its use as medicine was first recorded as far back as 2727 B.C. by the Chinese Emperor Shen Nung. He documented it’s medical effectiveness in treating rheumatism, gout, and even absent-mindedness.

2. Queen Victoria of England was prescribed cannabis for menstrual cramps by her personal physician Sir Russell Reynolds. He wrote in the first issue of The Lancet in 1890 that ‘when pure and administered carefully, cannabis is one of the most useful medicines we possess.’

3. America’s first marijuana law was not, as many might imagine, to ban the growing of the plant. It was just the opposite. Back in 1619, the farmers of the Jamestown Colony in Virginia were ‘ordered‘ to grow hemp crops. And this was the first of many such laws. Get this — between 1763 and 1767, not growing the hemp plant could get a farmer thrown in jail.

Of course, the reason that hemp growing was encouraged was so very different from the reasons that many people try to grow it today. Back the, the hemp plant had much more practical uses — once harvested, it was turned into clothing, sails, and rope.

4. Hemp was once considered legal tender in the United States, even accepted by the government as a payment for your taxes. Try that today and see where you end up!

5. Visitors to the 1876 American Centennial Exposition in Phillidelphia were invited to ‘toke up’ at the Turkish Hashish Exposition stand. Those who did had a much more enhanced ‘exposition’ experience.

6. In the 1890s, several women’s temperance societies actually recommended the use of hashish instead of alcohol. Their reasoning: liquor led to domestic violence, whereas hashish did not.

7. Up until the 1940s, it was easily obtained at the local general store or pharmacy. Used as a medicine, it was listed in the United States Pharmacopoeia as useful for medical conditions such as nausea, rheumatism, and labor pain. (It was subsequently removed from the pharmacopoeia in 1942 when it was decided that marijuana was a harmful and addictive drug, causing psychotic episodes.)

Important advance in food science

Shaped hard-boiled eggs:

Hard-boiled egg molds: These brightly colored plastic contraptions will turn your boring old oval egg into a cartoon fish, star, ghost or, of course, Hello Kitty. Simply drop in a freshly boiled and shelled egg while it’s still warm, close the mold and pop in the fridge for a few minutes.

The crafty folks over at Flickr’s bento box appreciation site often use molded eggs as part of their adorable Japanese-style boxed lunches – egg chickens laying on nests of julienned zucchini, egg bunnies dashing through broccoli forests, etc. I was so inspired I bought a mold of my own while visiting San Francisco’s Japantown last week and have since been enjoying fish- and car-shaped eggs for breakfast. If only my mom had known about these when my brother was a picky toddler who only ate his PB&Js cut into dinosaur shapes!

A wide variety of egg molds are available at eBay’s Store in Japan.

Too sharp for me

I said I would see whether I could tame the Gillette 7 O’Clock (the full name, I belatedly notice, is “Gillette 7 O’Clock ExtraSharp”—I’ll say!), and I’ve decided that, for now, I’ll give it up.

My theory was that perhaps part of the problem was using the blade in the English Rocket, a razor I’ve not used lately or frequently. So this morning I loaded a new 7 O’Clock in my trusty and dependable Edwin Jagger ivory-handled Chatsworth. I built a good lime-fragrant lather using Tryphon Lime Shaving Cream (quite nice), and began the first pass. Cheeks, fine, but by the time I got to the chin I placed the razor wrongly and opened a good cut at the margin of my lower lip. Ow! And even My Nik Is Sealed wasn’t enough: I have the traditional toilet paper stuck there now.

I switched to another razor, holding a Treet Blue Special, and finished the shave with no further problem. For the Oil Pass, I used my own mix—which stood up well, I thought, against the commercial blends, perhaps a trifle thicker. And the aftershave was Geo. F. Trumper’s Extract of West Indian Limes.

I’ve put the remaining 7 O’Clocks aside for now: too sharp for me. I’ll try the Iridium Super tomorrow.

The 7 O’Clock blades, it should be noted, may not be the same for you. They are still worth a try, I think. But be cautious.