Talk to me | The Honolulu Advertiser

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Talk to me | The Honolulu Advertiser | Hawaii's Newspaper

Posted on: Friday, September 5, 2003

THE LEFT LANE
Talk to me

Advertiser Staff and News Services

Nonviolent communication has been called the language of the heart. A free lecture on practical techniques for being heard and hearing others will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday at UH-Manoa's Sakamaki Hall, Room C-101. For the principles of nonviolent communication, check out the Center for Non-Violent Communication Web site, www.cnvc.org. Information:

Genie Joseph, 949-8255; lightwave7@hotmail.com; or 956-7711.

Battaglia bogglers

It ain't rocket science, but former rocket scientist Pat Battaglia, a.k.a. Dr. Fun, has turned to writing word puzzlers meant to keep your wits sharp and your hair torn out. He'll be in Honolulu for a book signing of his latest — "Are You Smart or What" — at 1 p.m. Sept. 14 at Barnes & Noble. Battaglia, who lives in North Carolina and likes to dress up to resemble Albert Einstein, offers this sampler: Tommy's mother has three children represented by a penny, a nickel and a dime. The first child is Penny, the second is Nicole, what's the name of the third child?

Answer: Duh. That would be Tommy.

Running on electricity

Late-19th-century innovators claimed that electricity could re-energize the body.

In "The Body Electric" (New York University Press, May 2003), Carolyn Thomas De La Pena describes a treatment whereby a patient held one electrode while a second was attached to his feet. Current was then run through the patient's body for 10 to 20 minutes to restore, it was believed, healthy circulation. Some experiments gave rise to science-based therapies for pain, paralysis and skin ailments.

Department of weird works

He was no Kurt Cobain, but the death of Wesley Willis in late August was a bummer for fans of the 6-foot-5-inch, 350-pound schizophrenic's quirky musical stylings.

Willis' strange work is composed of rambling, often profane poems. Each "song" ended with Willis' signature sing-off: "Rock over London, rock on Chicago" followed by a corporate catch phrase like "Diet Pepsi, uh-huh" or "Wheaties, breakfast of champions."

Willis, 40, employed the formula in a huge body of work, including "Fit Throwing Hell Ride," "My Mother Smokes Crack Rocks," and "They Threw Me Out of Church," as well as in his yowling paeans to Cobain, Liz Phair, Jello Biafra, Oprah Winfrey and others. We'll miss you, Wesley.

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