Yawn

Shingles is typically thought of as a once-in-a-lifetime (miserable) experience. But wait! Shingles can recur, even among healthy adults. The illness is caused by the herpes zoster virus. While researchers have known that people with weak immune systems due to other illnesses can develop shingles a second time, healthy people were thought to be one-time-only victims. The illness causes a burning or tingling sensation in the skin in one area of the body followed by blisters that last a few weeks.

The Age of Empathy Nature's Lessons for a Kinder Society Frans de Waal Harmony Books: 304 pp., $25.99 "Greed is out, empathy is in." So writes optimistic Dutch psychologist and primatologist Frans de Waal in the preface to his latest meditation on the similarities between apes and people. "The Age of Empathy" might not strike you as the most accurate representation of a period in human history that will be remembered -- if we survive it -- for the War on Terror, nuclear wannabes, various genocides and looming Armageddon in the Middle East.

Like cigarettes and mad dogs, thrash-metal bands tend to travel in packs, dozens of long-haired guys wearing Hirax T-shirts and goofy grins. At the Hollywood Palladium on Thursday, the four-thrash-band bill--informally dubbed "New Titans on the Block"--was the loudest pack of the summer. This was a typical lyric: " Aargh-eee-aargh aargh-eee-aargh aargh-eee-aargh . . . aaahhhhh !"

IT WAS MUCH LIKE the usual Nigerian e-mail scam, but it had a dispiriting twist. "Greetings," went the e-mail, "I am Captain Smith Scott of the US Marine Force ... in Baghdad-Iraq. On the 10th day of February 2007 Apparently, savvy e-mail scammers now assume that a reference to U.S. Marines torturing prisoners lends credibility to their come-ons. Well, why not?

NO MATTER WHAT he does, Prince Charles just cannot get it right. He and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, are in California today on the last leg of their U.S. visit, having failed to set Americans aflutter and leaving little but indifference and disinterest in their wake. The official reason for the trip was to promote British tourism, but unofficially, Charles was known to be eager to introduce his new bride to an America still entranced by Princess Diana.

Guns or Roses? Reports are that the volatile rock band Guns N' Roses has divided into two feuding camps, with singer Axl Rose and guitarist Slash at war. The band has "broken up" regularly since it emerged in the late '80s as the world's most celebrated hard-rock group. Remember when GNR opened for the Rolling Stones at the Coliseum and broke up one night . . . only to reunite the next? This time it could be for real, though. GNR guitarist Gilby Clarke recently told Kerrang!

The United States soccer team played Monday, and the birthplace of soccer shrugged. OK, England didn't shrug; it sort of twitched. OK, it didn't even twitch; it just walked out of the office and down the sidewalk toward the Tube station without noticing. Irrelevance may feel odd to us natives of the alleged World's Lone Superpower, but we can find it by alighting in England during a World Cup.

THE COLLEGES The dream matchup for Bottom Ten fans--one that is not scheduled, alas--would be Temple (1-2) vs. Columbia (1-1). Their won-loss records wouldn't seem to be miserable enough. But Temple, in its last two losses, has unveiled its famous Point-a-Minute Defense, surrendering 62 points per game. And Columbia, which has scored 10 points in two games, is drawing attention to its hapless Point-a-Quarter Offense.

We were flying home to Los Angeles on American Airlines when my wife nudged me with an elbow, handed over the American Way in-flight magazine, and rolled her eyes. Actress Sharon Stone, it seemed, was insulting me. I took a look at the cover story, which shared Stone's travel tips on Los Angeles and helped promote her new movie, "Basic Instinct 2." Like many celebrity experts on L.A. life, Stone seems to rarely venture east of the Sky Bar.

I had every medical reason in the world to dodge a jury summons, from a bad back to an ingrown toenail, but my dog wouldn't allow it. He sat looking at me in a sad and accusatory manner as I picked up the phone to call the county excuse line, his expression indicating that by ducking my civic duty I was somehow betraying him. Springer spaniels have the look down pat.