An article in Clinical Neurology and Neurosurgery examines whether "shoe-smell" is an effective treatment for epilepsy. The authors note:
Some Eastern parts of the world like India have witnessed since time immemorial, a practice of application of “shoe-smelling” in an attempt to arrest the seizures. The practice consisted of bringing the sole of shoe near the nostrils of the patient during the epileptic attack by near-by attendants or passers-by in the event of the attack occurring in a public place. The practice has continued and still remains a form of first-aid treatment in developing countries especially in countryside and rural areas. Although today, this age-old practice of “shoe-smell” may sound ridiculous apart from being most unscientific, its persistence as a remedy does tempt researchers to provide an insight to the reasons and basis for this continuing practice.
I wondered what kind of shoe-smell they were talking about. Apparently it's stinky shoe smell. The stinkier the better. The authors were skeptical that shoe-smell could work, but they end up concluding that it probably did help:
strong olfaction can aid in halting the progress of an epileptic seizure and/or abort the generalization of a partial seizure especially of temporal origin although more prospective studies are required to establish a clear and firm relation between the two, i.e. strong odor and seizure control. It may not therefore be incorrect to believe that in olden days too, strong olfaction applied in the form of “shoe-smell” did definitely play a suppressive role and thus exerted an inhibitory influence on epilepsy.
Posted By: Alex | Date: Sat Jan 31, 2009 |
Comments (14)
Category: Medicine
Man's parting reaction to girlfriend's dumping him: "OK . . uh . . I had breast implants" NOTW Daily told you [1-8-2009] of the husband suing his cheating wife for the "return" of the kidney he had donated to her in good times, and now comes Thomas Rowley, who is on trial this week in Victorville, Calif., for the attempted murder of his ex-girlfriend, with the motive (according to a Rowley friend) that, since he had paid for her breast implants, he wanted 'em back, even if he had to cut 'em out. Victorville Daily Press///WCBS-TV (New York City) [kidney story] Comments 'return_implants'
Life imitates a scene in at least 20 comedy films
Two men, ages 20 and 21 and in custody on different charges in Hastings District Court in New Zealand, had been handcuffed to each other as routine security, but they escaped, dashing out the door and into the street, where they almost immediately encountered a light pole and chose different sides to run past it on. Associated Press via Yahoo///YouTube[from the courthouse surveillance camera] Comments 'comical_escape'
Confusion reigns: seniors out of control (1) An 88-yr-old man, trying not to bother anyone, drove blissfully down Interstate 80 near North Platte, Neb., Tuesday night, cheerfully waving to cops who were trying to focus him on the fact that he was on the wrong side of the highway (i.e., in the passing lane of oncoming traffic). He only got the message after about 40 miles. (2) A 77-yr-old woman in Port Orange, Fla., first vandalized a church by hand but then hopped in her car and drove through the center of town, at about 5 p.m., sending pedestrians scattering (and chasing one woman and her dogs into a downtown lake) and leading a slow-speed chase by cops. She resisted all efforts to stop her (e.g., three flat tires from police spike strips) but was finally subdued (it took 5 cops) and hospitalized. Omaha World-Herald///Daytona Beach News-Journal Comments 'confused_seniors'
More Things to Worry About
PMSBuddy.com now has 100,000 men who have signed up for e-mail alerts when their wives/girlfriends are about to enter "code red" (accompanied by appropriate warnings of the "threat level," at 1, 2, 3, or 4). News.com.au (Sydney)
A Texas woman is feuding with an F State pet rescue service over adoption of a 2-legged puppy. (Bonus: The Texas woman says the reason needs it is to play the puppy version of her own 2-legged dog that she's using in a movie.) WKMG-TV (Orlando)
He was overheard arranging a sale of Oxy and other drugs over the phone in a stall in the men's room . . of the headquarters of the Everett (Wash.) Police Department. Lynnwood Herald
Detroit, as a city, outdid itself: amidst freezing temperatures, a homeless-man popsicle. Detroit News
Comments on Things to Worry About? Comments 'worry_090130'
Your Daily Losers
John West and Ashley Sorensen, both age 20, were arrested for stealing tires and rims from a woman's car . . done in when they drove by the crime scene a short time later to see whether the victim had called the cops. (She had; they were there; she spotted the rims.) KOVR-TV (Sacramento) Comments 'west_sorensen'
People Whose Sex Lives Are Worse Than Yours (1) Janice McCarl, 53, Longmont, Colo., was arrested for date-rape-drugging a 50-yr-old male friend and apparently non-consentingy hand-lubing him into arousal so that he penetrated her. (2) An inquest in Reading, England, ruled that Ralph Santiago, 31, died accidentally last year when he inhaled poppers full-strength inside a gas mask. He was found in a locked men's room at work, wearing a wet suit (not standard for his job as security guard) with only his eyes visible. His girlfriend said he had issues. Daily Camera (Boulder) ///Reading Evening Post Comments 'mccarl_santiago'
Your Daily Jury Duty ["In America, a person is presumed innocent until the mug shot is released"]
In Durham, N.C., Teddy Bear Paradise (apparently a real name) perhaps threatened to kill a probation officer. Perhaps, also, Teddy is a female, as alleged in the arrest papers. Your call. WTVD-TV (Durham) Comments 'teddybear_paradise'
Today's Newsrangers: Richard Player, Richard Judkins, Duane Knight, Scott Lichtenberg, Scott Crossley, Sandy Pearlman, Brian Baker, Tom Barker, Emmitt Dove
Chuck has posted a couple of times about slain F state toddler Caylee Marie Anthony. Now a Jacksonville company is coming out with a Caylee tribute doll. It's called the Caylee Sunshine Doll. On sale for only $29.99. It sings the song "You Are My Sunshine" when you push her belly button.
But the company doesn't want anyone to think it's trying to profit from tragedy, or that producing such a doll is kind of sick and twisted. After all, the company points out that the doll doesn't look exactly like Caylee. If it did, that would be "too morbid and difficult for the public."
Posted By: Alex | Date: Fri Jan 30, 2009 |
Comments (13)
Category: Babies
News of the Weird Daily Thursday, January 29, 2009
Readers' Choice
As a rule, I don't like to mention stuff that's too widely reported. It looks now like the Cello Scrotum caper might be such a story. Nonetheless, I have another rule that requires me to report all news involving the search term SCROT*. Hence, a painful condition reported 35 yrs ago in the British Medical Journal, involving damage to the jewel area of male cellists, has just now been revealed as a hoax. (Bonus story: Seven people in Tsuruoka, Japan, were hospitalized after eating improperly prepared fugu [blowfish] balls.) BBC News///Australian Associated Press via Herald Sun (Melbourne) Comments 'readers_choice'
More Things to Worry About
To attract Israeli voters' attention on issues other than security, two specialty political parties have merged into one for the coming elections: Holocaust survivors and marijuana legalizers. Agence France-Presse via Yahoo
Speaking of drugs, a United Nations official said that in the international banking-liquidity crisis late last year, thank goodness for one source of cash that didn't dry up, or else we really would have been screwed: drug money needing to be laundered. Reuters
Crystal Keith, charged with killing her 1-yr-old nephew, told a shrink that she just had to stop him because she could see in his eyes that he wanted her sexually. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Baron Moore, on trial now in Miami, Fla., for a 2001 murder, was linked to the crime after an item from the 28-yr-old victim's extensive collection of Scooby Doo memorabilia was found in Moore's house. Associated Press via Palm Beach Post
They tried to move a 60-ton house across a supposedly-frozen White Bear Lake in Minnesota, but you can guess how it turned out . . er, actually, no, they pulled it off flawlessly [see photos]. Star Tribune
Updates:(1) Larry Swearingen, scheduled to be executed in Texas on Tuesday [NOTW Daily, 1-26-2008], was given a stay, but by a federal court, of course, because Texas judges have said, We're done here. (2) Five of the "Beatrice 6" (who confessed, or pleaded guilty, to a murder DNA said they probably didn't commit [NOTW M091, 1-4-2009]) were exonerated and released. The sixth defendant, not so much. (3) The Hon. Marion Barry, who largely put the "Calamity" in the District of Calamity, and who is still on probation for not filing income tax returns for 1999-2004 (and who then immediately violated probation by not filing them for 2005), has now failed to file them for 2007. KOLN-TV (Lincoln, Neb.) [Beatrice]///Washington Post[Barry]
Comments on Things to Worry About? Comments 'worry_090129'
Your Daily Loser
A 17-yr-old boy in Latrobe, Pa., made the questionable decision, once he realized he couldn't extinguish that M-80 firecracker, of putting it between his legs to muffle the explosion (and now, of course, he's not all there). [Ed.: So far, though, it doesn't turn up under a SCROT* search.]Associated Press via Fox News Comments 'm80_firecracker'
People Whose Sex Lives Are Worse Than Yours
It sounds similar to a long-running NOTW story meme, but this is a different perp altogether. Richard Minch, 48, of the city of Wyoming, Mich., was charged with 60 counts of telephoning women and convincing them that he was going to hurt them unless they did some perverted things to themselves during the phone call. He was arrested in 1994 in a similar incident, but that time, cops found him in the act of the call, in a phone booth, making himself feel good. Green Bay Press-Gazette Comments 'richard_minch'
Your Daily Jury Duty ["In America, a person is presumed innocent until the mug shot is released"]
To perform your jury duty properly, you always want to try to ignore what the alleged crimes actually were (as irrelevant to the perps' guilt or innocence), but you especially want to look away this time. Ewww! Just focus on the mug shots of Richard Roach, Randall Blaylock, and Geffery Fuller. WTVC-TV (Chattanooga) [Mug shots must be clicked on separately] Comments 'roach_blaylock'
Today's Newsrangers: Rebecca Kilps, Sandy Pearlman, Scott Langill, David Carter, Casey Burns, Sam Gaines, Lance Ellisor, Bill McCarthy, Hal Dunham, Deb Mundro
Paul Di Filippo
Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1.
Chuck Shepherd
Chuck is the purveyor of News of the Weird, the syndicated column which for decades has set the gold-standard for reporting on oddities and the bizarre.
Our banner was drawn by the legendary underground cartoonist Rick Altergott.
Chuck has posted a couple of times about slain F state toddler Caylee Marie Anthony. Now a Jacksonville company is coming out with a Caylee tribute doll. It's called the Caylee Sunshine Doll. On sale for only $29.99. It sings the song "You Are My Sunshine" when you push her belly button.
Category: Humor, Music, Regionalism, Reader Recommendation, 1930's, 1940's