vendredi 25 avril 2003

Garlic and cod liver oil Yup, cod liver oil and garlic, in capsules. My mother thought it the weirdest Christmas present, but kindly obliged and sent me three of these. Boots wouldn't deliver to France, where such things can cost three times as much! (Subsequently, I've found other places where you can order similar products.) Last summer, I was given good advice and found that this blend works wonders for RSI: repetitive strain (or stress) injury. I don't know why the mixture helps, but this post is partly for N., a journalist who's got RSI so badly she says she'll "try anything!" In the early '90s, many people at AFP brushed off a growing number of RSI cases in the English-language services as the "English disease", just wingeing by a bunch of malcontents. Many British employers also dismissed it, partly because of a notorious court ruling, long since overturned, that it didn't exist outside the complainer's head. The French social security system also takes RSI seriously; when I finally went down with it myself and had to take weeks off work, they put me through some tests, one of which painfully involved sending electric currents up the arms to check out my nervous system's responses. And they concluded by declaring me "four percent handicapped for life". Somebody highly placed in the Sécu leaked me an internal document disclosing that RSI was the number one cause of industrial injury in the greater Paris region ... a paper which I ensured got published and reported in the appropriate journals. It was in the Sécu's own interest: treating RSI, if it gets to the stage of carpal tunnel syndrome, is quite a drain on state resources and they wanted employers to take on their share of the responsibility. When I developed bad RSI for a second time, the Sécu and AFP accepted medical counsel and allowed me to do an odd thing: go on a professional typing course, with the blessing of the state. This corrected some of my worst keyboard habits. I've been getting many RSI-related queries of late, from people with the kinds of symptoms noted on this list. There's no real cure as such and treatments vary, but resting up is essential. One very good site to start looking if you've got "the twinges" is the Typing Injury FAQ page. 11:17:10 PM  link   your views? [] More on Apple's latest 'open secret' "Steve Jobs, chairman and chief executive of Apple Computer Inc. (...), declined to comment on its forthcoming online music service and its reported talks to buy Vivendi's Universal Music label... "'There have been a lot of rumors in the last few weeks,' Jobs said in response to a shareholder question. 'Many of them are not true and some of them are true.'" Yahoo ran a Reuters story. That was after a denial of a Universal buyout a week back. But then, who needs a buyout? Speculation is reaching its peak at MacRumors and MacSlash, with plenty of comment. Answers on a postcard before April 28. 11:23:16 AM  link   your views? []

nick b. 2007 do share, don't steal, please credit under artistic licence terms; contributing friends (pix, other work) retain their rights.