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Jan. 10th, 2006
Men's Abortion Rights
By JOHN TIERNEY
By JOHN TIERNEY
Judge Samuel Alito is a reactionary - at least according to feminists horrified by his notion that a woman can be required to notify her husband before an abortion. But Alito's critics in the Senate face two big obstacles this week if they try to make that label stick.
( Read more... )
China's Central Bank Denies Dollar Plans
BEIJING (AP) -- China said Tuesday it has no plans to sell dollars from its $800 billion-plus foreign reserves, rejecting speculation that had jolted financial markets and fed speculation about the possible impact on the U.S. dollar.
And then there's hiccups...
Jan. 10th, 2006 09:05 amA Horrific Case of Hiccups, a Novel Treatment
By AMANDA SCHAFFER
By AMANDA SCHAFFER
Robert Smith has difficulty talking for very long. He also has trouble sleeping and eating, and he has lost more than 50 pounds in the last three years. He has even considered taking his life.
The source of his misery? It sounds like a biblical curse in a Mel Brooks movie.
"I hiccup every day and every night, with 5 or 10 minutes of relief at most," said Mr. Smith, 53, a maintenance worker in Montgomery, Ala.
Each hiccup involves a sharp intake of breath, accompanied by a sudden closing and opening of the vocal cords, producing the "hic" sound.
Mr. Smith is one of the rare people who suffer from chronic hiccups, and as sometimes happens in such cases, he does not know what caused them.
For most people, hiccups are set off by eating too fast or by swallowing air, and they tend to go away on their own.
He has tried holding his breath, drinking ice water and making himself vomit, all folk remedies for the spasms. He has trooped from gastroenterologists to internists to neurologists, because persistent hiccups can reflect underlying problems like reflux disease, metabolic abnormalities or brain disorders.
Mr. Smith has tried so many drugs that "their names all blur together," he said.
Nothing has done much good.
If you don't read 
drood, please read
The Purplexing Puzzle of the Purloined Pasterer, Part I
The Purplexing Puzzle of the Purloined Pasterer, Part II
It's the familiar story of hiring somebody to do some repair work around the house, with a slight twist.
drood, please read The Purplexing Puzzle of the Purloined Pasterer, Part I
The Purplexing Puzzle of the Purloined Pasterer, Part II
It's the familiar story of hiring somebody to do some repair work around the house, with a slight twist.