Better living through...WORMS?OR: Parasites can be your friends!

An interesting article in the New York Times today about the use of hook worms to alleviate the symptoms of allergies and asthma. (See : The Worms Crawl In)

Allergies are believed to be the result of super sensitive immune systems that are triggered by the slightest irritation. It appears that a small number of hook worms can reduce the effectiveness of the immune system so the allergy sufferer gets relief. And the process seems to work so well in trials that people don’t want to give up their worms and those that didn’t get them but a placebo, want them.

(When I underwent desensitization for several different allergies—bee stings, insect bites, hay fever, etc.—I underwent series of shots of stronger and stronger serums that allowed my body to get used to the offending material. This hook worm treatment seems to do the opposite. It suppresses the immune systems response.)

The whole worm thingy got me to thinking (always dangerous!). What if the blossoming allergy and asthma problem we are seeing is because of the change in children’s play habits? Instead of being sent outside in the backyard to play in the sandbox or a convenient patch of dirt where they could build castles, roads or what have you, kids are staying inside to play video games. They are discouraged from ever going barefoot in the grass or actually get dirt between their toes or under their fingernails.

In our push to keep our children clean are we preventing the little parasites that could actually help them from entering their bodies?

In a related post, Ann Althouse asks; Where are the children?

(h/t to Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit who linked to both the Times article and the Althouse post.)

Aahh! College football has begun.

I woke up this morning enjoying the RU victory and to 53 degrees outside. The former was a symbolic message that Autumn is approaching while the latter was much more physical.

Anyway, I went on line to see what other teams had done last night and what might be on tap for this weekend. What I found was the usual mismatches of opening weekend. Good teams try to get off on the right foot by scheduling nonconference games that are not much more than scrimmages. Weak, unknown teams schedule the big boys hoping to pocket some cash and maybe, just maybe, pull off an upset. It almost never happens but, hey, you can't win it if your not in it, as the saying goes.

Here are some of the Field of Dreams scheduled games for opening week.

#1 ranked USC opens the season against IDAHO? Talk about your mismatches. Idaho has struggled for the last 5-10 years to eek out a winning season. They have a new coach and almost no offense and precious little defense.

Last year’s National Champions and this year ranked # 6, Florida opens against Western Kentucky, a virtual unknown as this is their first year playing 1-A. Although the Hilltoppers of Western Kentucky have been competitive in the 1-AA scene having winning records in each of the last eleven seasons. But to start their stint in 1-A against the defending National Champs seems a bit of an overreach.

Everybody seems to want an easy first game.

In the Big East:
#10 ranked Louisville whipped Murray State 73-10.
#16 ranked Rutgers beat Buffalo 38-3. (Not as lopsided as I would have liked.)
Cincinnati beat up on Southeast Missouri State by a score of 59-3.

Elsewhere Thursday night:
#2 LSU sank Mississippi State 45-0.
#24 Boise State grilled Weber State 56-7.


Saturday’s schedule has more than a few games involving ranked teams that should be lopsided.

#3 West Virginia should have a very successful home opener against Western Michigan.

Appalachian State visits #5 Michigan and I’m pretty sure they’re bearing gifts.

The Mean Green of North Texas will need lots of help on their visit to #8 Oklahoma who should score Sooner and oftener.

#9 Virginia Tech should have an easy time hosting East Carolina.

Florida International visits Happy Valley and #17 Penn State. (Joe Pa has learned a few things about scheduling in his years as coach.)

#21 Arkansas hosts the Troy Trojans who will need to watch The 300 over and over again to get inspired. (Just forget all that dying stuff, okay?)

Northern Colorado Bears get to go to #24 Hawaii, which would be a good thing in December when it gets really cold in Northern Colorado.

The Montana State Bobcats make the trip to #25 Texas A&M where they should get declawed. It’s going to be a long ride home.


In the Big East:

The Pitt Panthers host much weaker Eastern Michigan and should win handily.

South Florida host the Elon Phoenix? Who, or what, is ELON?

Connecticut is on the road to Duke but should be able to easily overcome the Blue Devils since this isn’t basketball.

Syracuse Orange should get squeezed by the Washington Huskies even though they’re playing in the Carrier Dome. The ‘Cuse managed to find an opening day opponent that’s stronger than they are. Actually that’s a near 50-50 proposition as CBSSports.com has the Orange at 71 out of 120 teams playing 1-A ball.

Let the games begin.

Red Skelton explains the Pledge of Allegience

I just happened to go to look at a Red Skelton skit and came across this:


I believe we do not think enough about our blessings as citizens of this country and that those who see only the bad in everything would love to remove those blessings--and our rights--for the sake of domineering central power.