No.
449 - April 17, 2008
All the Usual: Sex, Drugs, and Rock 'n' Roll
THE
PAIN IS ALL IN YOUR HEAD
It’s strange enough that placebos work at all, but a new study
found that the psychological self-deception goes even deeper. New
experiments have shown that placebos which are perceived to be expensive
are more effective than “cheaper” placebos, even when
the fake pills are exactly the same. Researchers at Duke University
tested the exact same fake drugs on 82 subjects after giving half
of them a brochure describing the pill as a newly-approved pain-killer
which cost $2.50 per dose, and the other half a brochure describing
it as 10 cent generic version. Of those who took the higher priced
drug, 85 percent experienced the benefits of the fake painkiller
compared to only 61 percent of those who took the cheaper drug.
(ABC
News)
AND YOU THOUGHT YOUR TATTOO WAS REBELLIOUS
Thailand’s health ministry is attempting to enforce a ban on
castration now that the procedure has become increasingly popular
among young men who would prefer to grow up as ladyboys. Apparently
there is a wide-spread belief in Thailand that being castrated before
the full onset of puberty will help a young boy develop much more
feminine features as s/he grows older. This has led to a massive
underground market for “cosmetic castration” which has
pushed the price down as low as $125 and created a massive health
risk for young boys who opt for this procedure. In response the
government has banned all hospitals and clinics from performing
castration on any boy under the age of 18. So far at least one clinic
is defying the government and has called on anyone who wants to
be castrated to come to the clinic. "I want them to be happy
with what they want to be, and will remove their unwanted organs,"
said the clinic’s top surgeon, who warned that the ban will
only make it more dangerous by pushing the market further underground.
(Reuters)
I’D
KILL TO BE A ROCK STAR
Following in the footsteps of Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails, that
trendy old rocker Charlie Manson has released his new album as a
free download for all his fans. “One Mind is pure Charlie,
no additions, no corrections, no added opinions, filters or editing,”
boasts the Manson fansite FamilyJams.com.
“This is all new material...consisting of songs, trance-poetry,
conversations, raps, ramblings, musings and more.” This album
doesn’t seem to include the tracks “Helter Skelter”
or “Psycho Killer,” but no doubt Charlie makes good use
of backwards masking to urge you to kill everyone he hates.
HAIRCUTS FOR HOSTAGES
A
hair salon in Zhengzhou, China, has been shut down after holding
two customers hostage and trying to extort 12,000 yuan ($1,700)
from them. This is the third incident in of this type that has been
reported to the police, who finally closed down the shop and fined
its owners half a million yuan ($72,000). (Reuters)
WHO WANTS TO MARRY AN ASSHOLE?
A Malaysian woman is trying to sue her husband for almost a million
dollars for her loss of virginity. The 30-year-old woman claimed
that the man had convinced her to to have sex with him with promises
of a happy marriage. Instead the man treated her like crap, his
family wouldn’t acknowledge the union, and, according to the
lawsuit, the marriage caused the woman nothing but “humiliation
and mental torture.” (EarthTimes.com)
DIETING
GIVES YOU THE BLUES
After you’ve tried every other diet trick in the world, head
over to the Japanese site Yumetai.co.jp
where you can buy a pair of glasses that will make your food look
bland and unappealing so that you eat less (at least that’s
the theory). The supposed science behind the Blue Shade Glasses
is that blue is considered the least appetizing colour on the spectrum,
so if everything you eat looks blue you will eat less of it and
magically lose weight. Good luck, fatty!
HOW TO LOSE YOUR APPETITE
An even easier way to turn your stomach is to go watch this video
of the man with the world’s longest ear hair standing in front
of the mirror combing the disgusting mess growing out of the side
of his head. Uggh...
UNIDENTIFIED FLYING ROCKS
A man in Bosnia whose house has been hit by meteorites five times
since last November believes aliens might be out to get him. Experts
at Belgrade University have confirmed that the rocks are meteorites
and are now investigating the magnetic fields around his home in
order to find out why his home keeps getting hit. But Radivoje Lajic
doesn’t need “experts” to figure out the what’s
going on: "I am obviously being targeted by extraterrestrials.
I don't know what I have done to annoy them but there is no other
explanation that makes sense. The chance of being hit by a meteorite
is so small that getting hit five times has to be deliberate."
(Ananova)
I-READ-IT-ON-THE-INTERNET-SO-IT-MUST-BE-TRUE FACT OF THE WEEK
Murder is the leading cause of death among pregnant women in the
United States.
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I’D
KILL TO BE A ROCK STAR 
DIETING
GIVES YOU THE BLUES 
