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.

Look at how pretty it is! No need to think about fireballs and piles of corpses!

To completely change the subject: balls, I forgot to measure the bathtub enclosure last night. But it's not unreasonably small or large, so I'm guessing a standard tension rod will fit it fine.

Random picture o' the day: [link]

Look at how pretty it is! No need to think about fireballs and piles of corpses!

Exactly. When it was dark and smelled of dumpsters and urine those things seemed much more plausible.

they like medicine because it is sweet and associated with comfort.

It does seems like They have made medicine too good-tasting for kids -- I remember cold medicine as being like torture, and I swallowed the children's aspirins whole because I hated the taste of those, too.

I personally loved the taste of baby aspirin, and dimetapp. The rest though was pretty much torture.

When it was dark and smelled of dumpsters and urine those things seemed much more plausible.

I didn't know about the theater fire, so I'll be thinking of it anyway, now. I need to buy some books on Chicago history.

Okay. I'm off to Bed Bath & Beyond.

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

Don't forget to keep an eye out for young women walking by themselves if you drive down Archer Avenue one night. Resurrection Mary probably won't ask you for a ride (she usually sticks with men), but you never know...

You don't even give children aspirin anymore. I find that odd. Is Reyes Syndrome really that common?

I need to buy some books on Chicago history.

This is a good one on the various fires that have left a mark on the city, from the Great Fire to the Iroquois Theatre and Our Lady of the Angels school (To Sleep with the Angels is the definitive book on that subject, and makes a convincing case that it was started by a young student who was an incipient arsonist).