A Biennium Is A Two-Year Period

This is Saturday and The Ides Of March is (are?) fast approaching. A time to beware -- or so I've been led to believe(if your name's Julius).

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Today's New Word

fomite:An inanimate object or substance, such as clothing, furniture, or soap, that is capable of transmitting infectious organisms from one individual to another.

Somewhere (I can't remember where) I read:

This word reminded me of the years I taught health both at the high school level and more recently at the university level. When considering communicable diseases we always addressed the 3Fs of transmission: Food, Feces, and Fomites! Most students understood infectious transmission via spoiled or infected food and, of course, through feces via sewage contaminated/polluted water or improper sanitation and lack of personal hygiene, but I always had to explain Fomites as being door knobs, unwashed plates, glasses, and utensils, etc. that can carry viral/bacterial particles and transmit them to unsuspecting recipients.

--Don Williams
Professor of Biology, Kansas City, Missouri

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Self Help Books, Tapes, DVDs, etc.

I was reading a blog entry regarding the subject of Self Help and in the appended 'comments' section, I found the following:

Finally, someone came forward and spoke on a topic that has bothered me for years. The self-help genre is the biggest money-scam out there. Writers of self-help realize the way to a best-seller dollar making big-time pay day is to write a book that over-sells and under-delivers. Every generation alive today, from the aging baby-boomer to the 20-somethings want instant fixes to whatever their own problem is.

EVERY problem is fixed by the same common thread: behavioral change. I hear people ask me all the time, "Why can't I.....? and I tell them it's because they look at the problem from a position of someone who has already lost: "Why can't I lose 10, 15, 20, pounds?, when they should be asking themselves, "How can I lose this weight?" We do not need books, CD, or DVD, with the title, "How to." We need only look in the mirror, and ask How can I...." and this is true of any problem we come up against. This is true in my own life, and it can be for you as well!

Just send me $9.99 and I'll tell you my secret. But if you act now, call within the next ten minutes and I'll tell you my secret a SECOND time for $16.99. That's right! Free, unsolicited advice told to you TWICE for only 16.99. Act now! Call Now: 1-800-555-0000. What are you waiting for? Call NOW!

That comment was supposed to be both informative and witty at the same time. In my opinion, it was.

And further . . .

"How many of you have self-help books?
Okay, that's your first problem.
You can't help yourself, because yourself sucks!"
--Billy Bob Thornton
School for Scoundrels

Hm. I wonder if I could sit down and write a successful Self-Help book. Why not? After all:

Life Is . . . A throw of the

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Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.
--John Lennon