Word: tricksters
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Scrabble players around the world had to double-check their calendars this week after Mattel announced that it was releasing a new version of the game called Scrabble Trickster, which allows players to use proper nouns such as Quzhou (a city in southern China, worth 27 points) and Zuma (the surname of South Africa's President, worth 15 points). "I was sure it was an April Fools' joke," says John Chew, co-president of the North American Scrabble Players Association. "I thought someone was a few days late reading the press release and the joke was on them...
...while the story was no belated April Fools' Day hoax, it needn't strike fear into Scrabble purists' hearts either. Some media reports claimed that the new rules would forever change the face of the game, but Mattel insists that they will only apply to Scrabble Trickster - a spin-off game going on sale in July - and that the classic version will still be available for sale. The new game will initially be available only in the U.K., where Mattel owns the rights to the game. Hasbro, which owns the rights to Scrabble in the U.S., says...
...Scrabble Trickster will include several deviations from the traditional rules. There will be squares on the board calling on players to draw cards, which may instruct them to forfeit a letter to an opponent or permit them to spell a word backward or use a proper noun. "Celebrity wars of words could now take place on a new battleground," Mattel spokeswoman Sarah Allen wrote in an e-mail. "It's another part of the process of expanding the brand - it's an evolution." In other words, you might be feeling pretty smug about laying down "Jay-Z" (23 points...
...gods, watches and narrates as the awfully-named Godleys eat, drink and live their mortal lives. Other gods also enjoy the human spectacle and occasionally intervene. As Adam lies immobile on his bed, Zeus seduces his daughter-in-law, Helena, disguised as her husband, also named Adam; the trickster god Pan meddles with the household as well...
...final question: What happens now that more of us are onto the placebo/nocebo problem? Will our expectations adjust to reality? Who knows? "The placebo is a trickster," says Ted Kaptchuk, a placebo expert at Harvard Medical School. "We still don't understand how it works." But Kaptchuk says it's possible to defeat placebo benefits and overcome nocebo problems simply by being aware of them. Mind, in other words, over mind...