Wednesday
(0)Nigel Meek, contibuting to the Libertarian Alliance Forum, translates the first paragraph of a Swissinfo news story from its original French, thus:
Hungarian researchers have announced the discovery of a remedy for hay fever. "Rhinolight", a natural therapy, comprises the direction of "specific light" on the mucous membrane according to specialists at the University of Szeged.
What exactly might "specific light" mean, in this context? And is "Rhinolight" some kind of brand name, or is it a technical term? And: "natural therapy". In Britain that sounds like: will not work.
But, if this report turns out to be true, I agree with Nigel's comment:
Hooray!
Indeed. Nigel is a hay fever sufferer himself, as I have so far not been. But I am always pleased about creative, helpful, basically good news stories such as these. The other side, it seems to me, to stories along the lines of "here are some politicians and they have just done/presided over/caused something idiotic/cruel/destructive this" is not: "oh no they haven't", or maybe: "well here are some other politicians who are doing better. It is: "well maybe the politicians are making a mess, but there is also good stuff happening in the world being done by quite other people."
Any comments on this, either from people with better French than me (not very hard), or with better medical science (even easier)? And, is there any news of this that we can read about in English?
UPDATE: Commenter number one reveals that "Rhinolight" is a brand name, and says: here is the link. But the other question still remains: Is this treatment any use?
Do you want to know more?
http://www.rhinolight.hu/en/index2.php
(Google is your friend)
It looks like they jam a fiber optic cable through your nose into your sinuses and shine a light of a specific frequency onto the mucus membranes to inhibit allergies.
Posted by M1A1 at May 12, 2004 09:44 PM
Aw gee, I was hoping that they were grinding up rino horn. That would fix the alergies and get me laid too.
Posted by Uncle Bill at May 12, 2004 10:15 PM
"Rhino" is a greek or latin prefix meaning nose. (I don't know which- I'm not much of a classics scholar on the ). Rhinitis is a nasal inflammation and, of course, a rhinoceros is an animal with a horn on its nose.
Perhaps the light is shined up ones nose as therapy?
Posted by Doug Collins at May 13, 2004 12:27 AM
"Rhino" is a greek or latin prefix meaning nose. (I don't know which- I'm not much of a classics scholar). Rhinitis is a nasal inflammation and, of course, a rhinoceros is an animal with a horn on its nose.
Perhaps the light is shined up ones nose as therapy?
Posted by Doug Collins at May 13, 2004 12:28 AM
If shining a light up your nose stops it from dripping, then I can think of a few related applications. We need a catchy name, though . . .
Posted by R C Dean at May 13, 2004 12:46 AM
I am all too familiar with the misery hay fever provokes, but I am not sure that suppressing the immuno-system is a very good idea. All that sneezing means the body is trying to rid itself of something, after all.
Posted by Verity at May 13, 2004 08:38 AM
