JB: Too many fans today consider themselves far too hip and a-go-go to ever go along with the most basic conceit of serial fiction: that the main characters will survive, but we will pretend, for the sake of this story, that that is not a given. When I was a lad, I worried every time Superman fell into a kryptonite death trap.

No, we do not. In 1988, a definitive study by Straus, et al., in the News England Journal of Medicine (Vol. 319, No. 26, pages 1692-1698) showed no link between Epstein-Barr virus and "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome." To date, no infectious agent has been substantially shown to be the cause of "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome." Hence, we do not follow patients with this disorder in our clinic.

When large amounts of high-calorie foods (especially those containing sugar) pass quickly from the stomach pouch into the intestine, fluid rushes into the small intestine to dilute the high concentration of sugar. The patient may feel faint, break out in a cold sweat, and have intestinal cramps followed by diarrhea. Fortunately, "dumping syndrome" can be averted simply by the patient avoiding high intakes of sweets.

quot;Poland" does not refer to the nation but to Sir Alfred Poland, a 19th-century British surgeon. Born in 1822 in London, he became Demonstrator in Anatomy in 1839 at Guy's Hospital. There he dissected the body of a deceased convict named George Elt whom he reported had "Deficiency of the pectoral muscles" (Guy's Hosp. Rep. 6:191, 1841). Poland became a celebrated surgeon and ophthalmologist but had to retire in 1867 due to a chronic cough.

Economy class syndrome is a term used to describe the medical condition deep vein thrombosis when it follows extended airplane travel. For further information please refer to your physician and www.economyclasssyndrome.com Compression stockings are a non-covered service under Medicare B. Medicare will not pay for these items even with a prescription from your doctor. For more information, contact the Medicare office for your region.

JB: Characters "cleaning up their act" as they become more popular, as with Mickey Mouse no longer feeding cats' tails into sausage grinders, or Superman and Batman no longer killing the bad guys. (11/02/04)

JB: New writers and/or editors thinking being assigned to a title or character is a mandate to blow everything up and start from scratch. (Applied facetiously, since this is usually done without a fraction of the time spent working out what was done in MoS.) (11/02/04)

JB: Adding unnecessary details which complicate a character's backstory. This comes, of course, from the bottled city of Kandor, which used to reside in Superman's Fortress of Solitude, making it necessary, every time Superman visited the Fortress, to spend a coupe of panels explaining what Kandor was.

JB: Having set out to be "shocking", being compelled to keep upping the ante in order to remain "shocking." (11/02/04)

JB: Taking offense at something which should not be offensive to the person taking the offense. ("Anyone who wears a red sweater is an idiot." "Hey! I have never worn a red sweater in my life, and I resent being called an idiot!") (11/02/04) JB: Most complaints about violated continuity tend to come from people who don't really have a grasp on the continuity they claim is being violated. It's that whole "Since I Started Reading..." Syndrome about which I have made many previous comments.

Once people start telling other people how to think, what to think, when to think, there will grow up among the "tellers" those who consider themselves to be "experts" on the subject -- and once that happens, it takes a particularly strong intellect to avoid the next step, when the expert's role ceases to be that of expanding human knowledge, and becomes, instead, all about protecting the area of his expertise. I have dubbed it "Expert Syndrome". (11/02/04)

JB: A lot of fans suffer from Taxpayer Syndrome. You know how that works -- people thus afflicted are the ones you hear telling cops they cannot give them a parking ticket because they (the taxpayer) "pay" the cops' salary. (11/02/04) JB: Editorial. It was realized that killing off such an important, cornerstone character was a mistake -- the same mistake DC had made a couple of decades earlier, when they killed off Alfred and then realized the Batbooks did not work properly without him.

The idea some people can be coaxed or fooled into "remembering" events that never happened has become the platform for some groups to diminish claims of childhood sexual abuse that surface sometimes during psychotherapy or hypnotherapy. It seems that the False Memory Syndrome Institute was created by parents facing charges of abuse by their adult offspring who had undergone therapy.

Here is what we know and have read: the smell of "vinegar" from film is not good. The "Vinegar smell" is the result of chemical reactions that occur between water (moisture), cellulose, and acetic acid. When acetate based film begins to break down, or comes in contact with water, acetic acid is formed, and this is what causes the smell (not vinegar).

Sick Building Syndrome is diagnosed when an excess of work related irritations of the skin and mucous membranes and other symptoms, including headache, fatigue, and difficulty concentrating, are reported by workers in modern office buildings. The symptoms can be clinically defined and have clearly identifiable causes. This could lead to lowered worker moral, increased health care costs, and the loss of revenue associated with lower worker productivity.

JB: The answer is the same to both questions: Because that's the way the books used to be written. One of the conceits of GENERATIONS is that the stories are presented as they would have been if published at the appropriate times. Thus, Superboy (possibly DC's first retcon) has the costume and powers of the adult Superman, even tho' "chronologically" he should not, and Luthor can play jumble games with his name without Superman ever catching on, because that's what he used to do in the comics.

A27: Superboy, also known as the Metropolis Kid, appears to be an imperfect clone of Superman. After Superman's death, the Cadmus Project (see Q29) obtained a partial sample of his DNA, which they combined with other DNA to form a clone. The clone has an equivalent age of approximately 16 years and is incapable of aging further. He has various super-powers--some similar to Superman's and some unique powers as well.

According to Judge Harold S.W. Lew, the heirs of Jerry Siegel (Joanne Siegel and Laura Siegel Larson, Jerry Siegel’s wife and daughter, respectively), successfully recaptured the copyright to Superboy on November 17, 2004. So, as of right this moment, the Siegels own the copyright.

Back in 1947, while Siegel and Shuster sued DC to regain the copyright to Superman, a judge ruled in favor of DC on the Superman matter, but DID rule that Jerry Siegel owned the copyright to Superboy. This was because Siegel had given a proposal for the idea of Superboy (a much different proposal than what they ultimately used) and DC told them they weren’t interested. Then, with Siegel away in the Armed Services, DC came out with their own Superboy in More Fun Comics #101.

Yes, but there are two big caveats to that. While the Siegels may own the COPYRIGHT to Superboy, DC still owns the TRADEMARK on the Superboy name. This means that, so long as DC continues to use the Superboy name in commerce (like have a mini-series titles “Tales of Superboys” just about kids with all sorts of wacky powers), they will continue to own the trademark on Superboy, and no one else can come out with a comic book titled Superboy, even if they own the copyright.

JB: There's hardly a job out there that I would not tweak in some way if I could. As you may know, I dumped Superboy from the Superman mythos largely because I did not see him as a necessary character, and DC had agreed to allow me to show Superman "learning the ropes" after the reboot. Unfortunately, once the contracts were signed, the backed down on this and insisted we do MAN OF STEEL so that Superman would be "up to speed" by the time the new first issue came out.

JB: One of the central points of my "back to the basics" approach to the Superman reboot was that he began his career as an adult -- so no Superboy. This, I knew, would have a rather profound effect on the Legion, whose history was tied directly to Superboy, and at several editorial meetings I brought up this point often, suggesting different ways in which it could be dealt with. (Several times I referenced a book I'd had as a kid called "Young Robin Hood".

No, as an E-commerce site, we focus on internet sales and not telephone sales so we don't have the overhead cost of paying people to man the phone. We won't need to pass those costs on to you as we didn't incur the cost.

Good question! As with many other terms in common use in the corset world, there is no single rigid or technical definition, no matter what is currently being advertised as a "man's corset" on any other website you may have visited.

quot;Disclosure" means giving PHI to others for reasons other than TPO. Disclosures also must be kept to the minimum necessary. HIPAA gives patients the right to know who received a copy of their PHI. Unlike "uses", HIPAA mandates an accounting for all disclosures.

In WW1 Foo was a mythical and mysterious little "man" who turned up nearly everywhere (especially where there was a bit of nonsense going on). He was shown (usually) as a little bald headed man peering over a stone wall, with the simple inscription "Foo was here". He was chalked on the side of railway carriages, appeared in probably every camp that the 1st AIF served in and generally made his presence felt.