Science and technology links

[erudito]

The US Dept of Homeland Security managed a bit of an email oops.

A documentary that cannot get commercial distribution in the US is going online to drum up business.

Review of a book on whether sorrow is depression and whether depression is mental illness.

Review of a book about the launch of Sputnik. Hannah Arendt’s 1963 essay on what Man-in-

Comments

[basal_surge]

So does Keanu Reeves achieve the woodenness with or without botox?

The corrollary of the botox/richpeople thing is that they must make their lives just that bit more difficult, because being unable to transmit expressive facial expressions properly while in a close relationship must make for a lot more minor misunderstandings, angst, and pain.

[jordan179]

Ever since I heard what they were doing I was astonished. "Botox" means botulism toxin, and botulism toxin is one of the most poisonous substances in Nature. And they are deliberately killing their facial muscles, and worse they are doing it in a manner very unlikely to ever heal. Doesn't that bother them?

[catsidhe]

For it to bother them, they would have to think about it.
I suspect that those most likely to do this to themselves are not the sort to reflect in that way.

[basal_surge]

It's not actually that bad - the toxin is used at levels so low that the dosage is almost homeopathic :-). Were botox actually killing their facial muscles in an irrecoverable fashion, we wouldn't be using it therapeutically for controlling nervous tics, or using it during surgery (Cosmetic use came after one of the doctors realised that the therapeutic use could be transferred almost exactly over to the cosmetic use, and make a lot more profit). It only paralyses the nerves, and wears off in three to six months as the body slowly metabolises the toxin. There are occasional complications when they accidentally manage to hit bang on a nerve ganglion, causing various more permanent pain or paralysis, but it's not at a level great enough to be worried about.

Causes

[erudito]

Possibly, let me check the DSM III on that ...