Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Today I attended another campus lecture voluntarily. (Although I do have stuff I should probably be doing, it's just not the same as when I never had the chance to do even one voluntary thing a week, let alone two!)

This lecture was Dr. Ralph Blomster* discussing folk medications, specifically herbals. It was basically an overview of commonly used herbs, their uses, and effectiveness according to research. (I got there a bit late, so I missed hearing about boneset, mullein, and tansy.) I knew most of them already, as that is one of my personal interests. However, one research result that I hadn't heard was that wild yams don't do anything. Nevertheless, the surprising part was hearing a biochemist say that all the other things did have clinical effects.

Now, if only I could find an herb that promotes motivation for tedious paperwork...

*Appropriately, this means "flowers" in Norwegian.

8 comments:

Andrew said...

I highly recommmend "Lost Moon," (or as it is now titled, "Apollo 13.") It was by far the best book I read during my convalescence (and I read a BUNCH). I was very impressed with with Jeffrey Kluger's ability to take a lot of historical facts, technical data, complex subject matter, mixed chronologies and various viewpoints and turn it all into, as they say, "a gripping read." As a writer myself, I know it's not an easy thing to do.

liz said...

I wish I had the capability to move comments from one entry to another (say, less herbal) one.

It's driving my obsessive-compulsiveness crazy!

liz said...

I also didn't know that licorice (the real stuff, which I like a lot rather than that anise-flavored gelatin we call licorice here, or worse, "cherry whips" which don't even pretend to be licorice) --is a hepatotoxin* (in certain dosages, of course.)

*Liver poison. You know, like alcohol, cigarettes, paint fumes, dioxin, etc.

Andrew said...

That's what you get for posting twice on the same day! I guess I just got excited because the last couple of times I've tried to post comments, Blogger wouldn't let me in. Oh well. If it makes you feel better, I can cut and paste the above comment into the correct post and you can delete the errant one.

argotnaut said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
argotnaut said...

The chutney at India Oven tastes like Tomacco. Mmmm.

(Originally posted wrong restaurant name!)

liz said...

Now I really want a curry...

liz said...

Hey, I did post on two different days. Just two in a row.