21 July 98 
 
A thought:  Viagra might be an interesting blessing.  Because it seems to 
work so well, perhaps traditional "virility medicines" made from rhino 
horn or tiger balls or dodo beaks will be left by the wayside.  It will 
not escape the notice of those in need of such medication that Viagra is a 
lot more dependable, or even effective, than such snake oil. 
 
Which reminds me.  I pass several stores that sell herbal supplements 
every day -- melatonin in anti-jet lag medications, St. John's Wort as a 
low-dose anti-depressant, Vitamin C as a cancer preventer -- and I get the 
feeling I've seen something like this before.  In fact, I know I have. 
 
Wendy's used to have (and in some places, still has) tables covered with 
ads from the turn of the century, training corsets for young girls, odd 
implements for the kitchen, and patent medicines, generic elixers.  I have 
a feeling that people will deride our herbal craze in times to come as we 
do such things as passing oddly shaped magnets in front of people.   
 
In other news, I see that some companies in England are fitting their 
intake pipes with speakers emitting a rave beat.  Evidently, fish can't 
stand the bass, and I can believe it.  Not many people really like their 
heartbeat externally controlled.  Except when the heart doesn't work, I 
suppose. 
 
Actually, I found a book with stuff on diagramming sentences yesterday 
(the subject is English Language -- Grammar).  It seems I had to resort to 
a book from the 1880s called Higher Lessons in Grammar, or some such.  You 
should see the sentences being parsed, what a mess.  I also looked in some 
books on Current Usage in English, in which a variety of people were 
polled as to whether certain sentences and phrases seemed 
established/acceptable or whether they seemed illiterate constructions.   
 
I thought it odd the term illiterate was used.  Did they think that people 
who used colloquialisms could not read?   
 
The beat goes on. 
 
Thumpa 
Thumpa 
Wumpa