Columns

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”
-Benjamin Franklin

In the late 1800s newcomers from the American Midwest and Germans settling around Roberts Cove discovered that the south Louisiana prairies were ideal for growing rice — if they could get enough water for their crops.
They soon discovered that even Louisiana’s plentiful rainfall couldn’t be relied on. It fell when it wanted to, not when it was needed, and not always where it was needed.

The placebo effect is a great illustration of the awesome power of the mind. Here is how it works. A person is given an inert substance with no medicinal properties and told that it is a drug that is proven to cure whatever malady they are experiencing.
The amazing result is that the subject often recovers as if they received actual medicine. The only explanation for the recovery is that since the person’s mind believed they were going to get better, they did.