Younger siblings protect against MS

This is an interesting study, Higher infant sibling exposure in the first six years of life was associated with a reduced risk of MS, possibly by altering childhood infection patterns and related immune responses.

And this effect was not minimal - meet this criterion and your risk is reduced by 90%.

Is caffeine good for you? What about kava?

I am always interested in reading new studies on my favorite addictive compound, caffeine. It was interesting to run into this piece regarding the monkey on Fiji's back, kava. There are a slew of organizations claiming the beneficial effects of kava springing up around the world (i.e. this address (PDF format) to the December 1, 2004 International Kava Conference held in Suva), while another camp touts its risks (i.e. the FDA). Is there anyone who has tried kava that would be willing to share their experience?

A guide to ripping and encoding music

I have always wondered how true audiophiles go about ripping CDs. Certainly they do not use Windows Media Player? This piece from ars technica answered all of my questions and pointed me to the tools to make really good mp3s.