Thursday 10 December 1998

Pic of the day: Long-time diary readers will recognize the blue pajamas.
Got an e-mail from Pointcast today. I had erased their program quite a while ago, but now they informed me that a UK version was released with a more international profile. So I downloaded it from Pointcast UK and gave it a spin. I would certainly like it to diversify even more geographically, but it is slightly more Eurocentric.
There was a nice enough article about the Nobel ceremony in Oslo, where Hume and Trimble received the prestigious Peace Prize. It's pretty close to being declared a saint while alive - only rarely has the free world disagreed with a Nobel peace prize. Though peace prizes concerned the Middle East are sure to be contested (and premature). In the case of Northern Ireland, this year, it is perhaps more of an encouragement than a reward for a finished work.
For those who feel closer to the Americas than to the UK, there is the free and easy-to-use original Pointcast "business network". I have taken a liking to this program in principle. In my near future science fiction "1992" (which was, obviously, written some time before 1992) pointcasting was one of the lifestyle-impacts that I predicted. And the only one so far to come true. (Good thing I never had the thing published.) As fate would have it, Pointcast started up in the year 1992.
From today's Pointcast: Alison Dudley of the Acne Support Group confirms that there is no evidence whatsoever that chocolate causes spots, this is simply hearsay, it all comes down to hormones. "It's an old wives tale so eat as much chocolate as you want and get your acne treated by somebody who is medically qualified," she advises.
And from the same article: Many of us think that snacks tend to include nothing of any real value other than calories but research undertaken by the Centre for Food & Nutrition research in Edinburgh by Dr Sandra Drummond and her team revealed that people snacking frequently tend to consume a wider range of foods therefore getting more nutrients from different sources.
Dr Drummond said: "The study also revealed that there was no difference in body weight or fitness between children snacking frequently compared to those who snacked infrequently. In fact, studies with adults showed people eating frequently were leaner and thinner than those who stuck to three meals a day."
Have a sweet day!

Visit the Diary Farm for the diaries I've put out to pasture until they buy the farm:
November 1998