Disclaimer

When you are in the business of having opinions, one opinion you cannot go wrong with is the "anti disclaimer" opinion. Tell people that you are tired of "Caution: Contents may be hot" and they will think you are a pretty sharp guy. Which you may be; it's a shame we live in a world with warnings like that, and everyone thinks so, but nobody can do anything about it.

If we have to issue those warnings, though, can we please stop being proud of ourselves for doing it? Wikipedia has these disclaimers--> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Medical_disclaimer. They make me sick. I can understand the legal necessity, Wikipedia having a lot to lose. But the large font? The gratuitious boldface? Either there's a law requiring these things or there isn't. If there isn't, then it looks like Wikipedia, *the world's greatest repository of knowledge,* is thrilled to say that they don't know anything about medicine. Which is false anyway; Wikipedia knows lots about medicine, and I would trust them over any doctor.

If there is a law (or insurance company regulation) requiring high-school girl-level emphasis on one's disclaimers, then that's even worse. I know I said that curfews were an infallible sign of a police state, but I'm changing my answer. Compulsory fonts are a sign that it's only going to get worse from here on.

For my own part, I'm not going to issue any disclaimers. I stand by all of my opnions, medical and meta-medical. When I say you can put hydrogen peroxide in your mouth, I honestly mean "go for it." You should bear in mind that I get all of my facts from Wikipedia anyway. But if you want medical advice without the heartbreaking disclaimers, just ask, and we'll work something out.