I'm presuming that the placebo effect seldom
includes huge massive life-threatening issues,

In most cases, I'd presume similarly... However, if the clinical trial
takes you off your regular medication in order to test the new one, it
might not be an allergic reaction but your body not getting what it
needs...

In which case the risk is the same as with
any other replacement medication.

and if one suffers those during a study, it
should be the duty of the investigator to stop
the patient's participation and inform them of
the identity of the drug, so the problem won't
be encountered again.

That usually is the expressed plan of action, along with the means of
finding out for that individual which is being administered to them. Not doing that would be reprehensible, I'd say...

And the drug companies never, ever do anything
reprehensible. Right?

Which is where the profit motive has us over
a barrel, as Big Pharma can muster enough
resources to sponsor meaningful studies, but
naturopaths and traditional medicine people
can't. Of course, that lets in the problem
of observer bias as well, so no scenario is
without disadvantages.

Quite true....

Science is better than no science, but most of
it is not airtight or totally unbiased.

Indeed.

Which is why the national institutes and
academic laboratories (back before corporate
sponsored research) were so valuable.

I wouldn't expect it for myself, either... staying mostly healthy for as long as I can is about all I hope for... :)

I figure Methuselah or nothing. Three
score ten is plenty otherwise.

Not sure I'd want to live nearly a thousand years... especially in this condition... (G)

So I figure on nothing.

I watched an episode of the Fearless Chef on the
plane; he ate progressively weirder things,
starting with crickets and scorpions, then going
on to spiders (all the above at least edible),
and drawing the line at millipedes, of which he
took one bite and declared that it tasted like
rotten pate. More entertaining even than Zimmern.

Give him credit for trying a bite... (G) I've had grasshoppers... ;)

Such critters aren't too bad fried.

I did have some nutso friends.

I tried to avoid that sort of thing... ;0

Eh, friends are friends, even if they are nuts.

I mean getting drawn into the dares etc... had plenty of nutso
friends...

I'd roll my eyes at most such shenanigans.
Remember back when that was an acutal
physical gesture?

Guess you got him back, then... I doubt that eating the soap would have had any particularly worse consequences than just washing your mouth out with it, though...

Laxative. I'm not clear on whether I did it to
gross him out or whether it was a sort of reflex.

No life-threatening consequence, though... How old were you at the
time...?

On, eight or ten, not sure.

Had two slices of pizza recently and just
one pill, and few if any ill effects.

Does indeed sound promising... ;)

And today on our walk my friend Bonnie bought
me two scoops of Christina's ice cream - malted
vanilla and chocolate -, but I'd forgotten my
pills. The only ill effects were a few not too
malodorous poots, and then nothing. A pretty
red-letter day.

Michel Guerard used to use pear puree and
nonfat curd cheese in his cuisine minceur
(Wikipedia writes "Critics[who?] acknowledged
that the minceur versions by Gu rard tasted
better and were less filling than their
nouvelle cuisine originals," which is doubtful
- no reputable critic could ever have said
that the taste was better; as good, perhaps).

Maybe they were amateur critics...

Who knows. The real critics did praise the food,
but I'm not so sure to those heights.

Fennel soup
categories: French, minceur, celebrity, starter
yield: 4 servings

1 onion
2 sm leeks
1 sprig fresh thyme
1/2 ts salt
1/2 ts freshly ground pepper
6 c chicken broth
3 bulbs fennel
2 Tb low-fat milk
4 sprigs flat parsley, leaves only
Red-pepper mousse (optional, see recipe).

Peel onion. Wash leeks carefully, discarding
root ends and green parts. Mince both fine.
Trim fennel bulbs and chop fine, reserving
tops for garnish. Rinse parsley and chop fine.

Heat a nonstick pot over low heat. Add the
onion, leeks, thyme, salt, pepper and 1/4 c
broth, cover the pan and cook over low heat
until the vegetables are soft, about 10 min.
Add the fennel, cover, and continue to cook
until the fennel is tender, about 15 min.
Add the remaining chicken stock and bring
to a boil. Cover, lower the heat and simmer
gently for 25 min.

Puree the soup in a blender until smooth.
Strain it through a fine-mesh strainer.
Return any of the puree that does not pass
through the sieve to the blender, puree
again and re-strain, repeating until all
the soup has been used. The soup can be
refrigerated at this point up to 3 days.

Just before serving, slowly bring the soup
to a simmer, remove from the heat and whisk
in the milk. Ladle into bowls. The soup can
be garnished simply with the reserved fennel
tops and chopped parsley. For a more festive
and flavorful dish, add a dollop of red-pepper
mousse.

Michel Guerard, adapted
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