Via Geek Press, who also brings us this: who gets to grope you?
[Afternoon update]
Here’s more info on the Venn diagram at BoingBoing.
Category Archives: Social Commentary
A DIY Skating Rink
…and social engine. A (literally and figuratively) pretty cool story.
A Truly Heavenly Christmas
On the fortieth anniversary of Apollo 8, a couple of years ago, I reflected on its significance.
Child Abusers
When it comes down to brass tacks, I know where I’d put my money.
So Much For The Socialization Theory
Baby female chimps prefer to play with dolls. As the commenters note, it takes a peculiar kind of obdurate academic idiocy to be surprised at this.
Fat Is Not The Problem
The nutrition establishment is finally starting to figure it out, decades too late:
It’s a confusing message. For years we’ve been fed the line that eating fat would make us fat and lead to chronic illnesses. “Dietary fat used to be public enemy No. 1,” says Dr. Edward Saltzman, associate professor of nutrition and medicine at Tufts University. “Now a growing and convincing body of science is pointing the finger at carbs, especially those containing refined flour and sugar.”
Thanks, FDA food pyramid.
How many people have been killed by this wrong-headed advice over the past forty years? My own father probably died a year younger than my present age, partly from a fataphobic diet recommended after his first heart attack in 1968. This notion that “fat makes you fat” seems like a primitive “you are what you eat” mentality. It’s not just about thermodynamics, or at least, you can’t ignore the burn rate. Not all calories are created equal, when it comes to food’s effects on your endocrine system.
Oh, and speaking of the FDA, how many are going to die in the future because they screwed up the pipeline for new antibiotics? Either abolish the agency, at least defang it and take away its regulatory authority, and have it focus on research. It murders Americans by the millions.
[Update a few minutes later]
A potato-only diet? You always have to be careful in drawing too much from this, because everyone is different. It is nice to know, though, that potatoes aren’t as bad as we’ve thought, from a glycemic standpoint.
Michael Vick’s Ant Farm
On Hannity last night, Jim Geraghty reportedly (according to Jim, in his daily email) said that if Michael Vick was going to be allowed to have pets again, he should have to start small — give him an ant farm, and see if he started up ant-fighting rings. I’d also not allow him to own a magnifying glass. If that works out, he could move on to guppies, and then gerbils.
My Life With Jessica
Described here. Though she’s not quite as creative. Generally, she sleeps on the desk by the monitor, and when she wants food, she walks over the keyboard, sits on the edge, and reaches out to tap me on the face with a paw. Also, I’ve noticed that she doesn’t want food so much as attention and service. She’ll complain, even when there’s still food in the bowl, and demand that I add more. I don’t have to add a lot more, but I have to go through the motions.
Cultural Defenses Of Incest
Thoughts from Eugene Volokh. I found interesting the comment about the intrinsic incompatibility between Christian and Jewish law in this regard. But I agree with Glenn — if father/daughter relations are an intrinsic part of the culture at Columbia University, academia is in even bigger trouble than we thought.
The Weirdness Of The Human Mind
Often, when I mistype, unless I’m in a huge hurry and just sit on the backspace, I’ll be careful to not delete letters I’ve already typed, but move the cursor around them if they’ll be useful in the fix, because I don’t like to waste them.
Just so you know. I’m a child of parents who were children of the Depression. What can I say? I’m just frugal, if not always rational.