Once when I was wee, I tried to eat half a bottle of childrens' vitamins because I scraped my knee. Because whenever else I was sick and hurt, I took medicine, right? (long history of ear infections, so antibiotics + childrens aspirin.)

Thankfully, they caught me before I'd made too much of a dent. And FREAKED OUT.

I'm not sure it parallels the placebo discussion exactly ( I was administering the placebo, not the parents) but ... I think it is possibly not so good an idea to encourage. Hey, the kid might notice when it doesn't fucking work!

I just watched that spire intro again. The sun seems to be setting awfully far north.

Aurelia, have you been in the alley behind the Ford Center for the Performing Arts (aka the Oriental)?

Yep. That's the direct path from the Goodman to the red line. That's also where crowds gather to greet the actors from Wicked after a show. The city really cleaned up that alley a couple of years ago. I see the Haunted Chicago bus tours there all the time.

I know that Oprah is convinced that her studio is haunted--it's the old Armory Building where the dead from both the Iroquois and the Eastland disasters were taken.

I'll have to ask the people I know at Harpo about that.

Actually, IIRC, placebos have a pretty good success rate. I swear I was just reading about this somewhere. And the author was basically saying that's how homeopathic remedies work.

It is possible that I am way too excited about a possible source for like 80% off pokemon card packs.

I wouldn't be opposed to telling a kid, here have this, it will help. But I wouldn't tell them it was medicine. Like the ice, or a glass of water, or something to eat. A pill just is too much like medicine scam to me.

I am having such a huge craving for lemonade. Sadly I have lemonade, so it comes down to self-control.

Umm, and the reason you are exercising this self control is....?

Aurelia, have you been in the alley behind the Ford Center for the Performing Arts (aka the Oriental)?

I walk by it every day, and now it's going to be CREEPY. THANKS A BUNCH.

Shrift, how could it be creepy since they they made it all pretty for the tourists?

My completely biased take on the placebo pills is that they are a big temptation to lazy parenting. Instead of telling a child "no, I won't give you medicine for a paper cut" and dealing with the potential tearfest, you just give the kid a placebo. And yes, I have had to tell my kids "no I won't give you medicine" a fair number of times because they like medicine because it is sweet and associated with comfort.

I dunno, I can't think of a situation where a placebo pill would help where an ice pack, a band-aid, or a kiss wouldn't work just as well.

On the other hand, it is kind of funny that their placebo is quite literally a sugar pill.