Watching a little tennis, reading a little web.

NYT takes a look at snack packs.
I don’t do the snack pack thing. I’m cheap. I do okay portioning out snacks on my own, though honestly, those are foods I tend to avoid now-a-days. We don’t do chips too often. It’s nuts instead. The only cookies I eat are Kashi’s Dark Chocolate Chip Oatmeal, which are more like a granola bar than a cookie. (But still, a 130 calorie cookie.) They get repackaged into plastic baggies for freshness. What I’d like to see more of is resealable packaging. If you buy a bag of chips, say, and only eat one portion a day, a week later when you eat that last portion, those chip are not going to be worth eating. Still a large bag with seven portions, only six of which you’ll eat is cheaper than a box of six “snack packs.” And less packaging waste too!

Also fm. NYT:
Physiology and the dive to affiliate
A very interesting article about Williams syndrome, and what it might tell us about why gossip and being social is important.

For we are all gossiped about, constantly evaluated by two criteria: Whether we can contribute, and whether we can be trusted.

Not particularly encouraging for hermits who’d really just like to be judged by their competence, not by all the social niceties.
An interesting passing note in the article:

Williams syndrome was first identified in 1961 by Dr. J. C. P. Williams of New Zealand. Williams, a cardiologist at Greenlane Hospital in Auckland, noticed that a number of the hospital’s young cardiac patients were small in stature, had elfin facial features and seemed friendly but in some ways were mentally slow. His published delineation of this syndrome put Dr. Williams on the map — off which he promptly and mysteriously fell. Twice offered a position at the prestigious Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., he twice failed to show, disappearing the second time, in the late ’60s, from London, his last known location, with the only trace an unclaimed suitcase later found in a luggage office.

How very…odd.

Finally, Wednesday disc occurred.  It was good.  Perfect weather, four or five people per team.  Lots of running and only a few catching/throwing screwups.

Came home and finished the snitch scene.  Still, still, still need to clean up the ten billion other things in the first 22K words.  Bah.  I don’t have enough caffeine for this.

Links o’ million:
Red-heads, wear your sunscreen.  People with red-head’s genes, wear your sunscreen!
Seduced by Snacks  Prof. Wasink may have actually written a ‘diet’ book that I’d buy.
Women “dress to impress” during ovulation  I’m rather amused with this statement: “The reasons for the style shift aren’t clear.”  *cough*
And finally, via YouTube: Code Monkey meets the Matrix

Right.  Fine.  Back to it.  I’m sure as soon as I’m distracted Eric will call asking about dinner.

From those wacky guys at About.com’s Men’s Health Section: Why do we have fingerprints?
‘Cause, you know, women don’t have fingerprints.

Grown-ups turning to teen books is interesting enough on its own, but I don’t understand why they mention science fiction in the first sentence and then never again.  They mention fantasy examples.   They do realize there is a difference between the two, right?  Right?

This is why I keep an online journal, not a blog.

And lastly, ‘Challenged’ books drops to all-time low.  Good to know.

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1000 words done thus far.  I’m going to go do the dishes and ponder the conversation between Ricard and Marie that I haven’t finished yet.

Looks good for disc tonight.  I didn’t get out Sunday due to *cough* buying EverQuest Titanium.

Of course, since I had been playing well Tuesday night, I totally had to biff most of my throws yesterday…

Links-O-Million:
~~This, Common Cat Parasite Affects Brains, is just weird.  I mean, it has the sound of pseudoscience to me.  Just…weird.
~~When Only One Twin Gets a Disease is much less weird.  Some interesting things going on with gene expression.  Plus, research bits on RA.
~~A nice little editorial about Folk Science.  Anecdotal evidence had become one of my major pet peeves.  And it’s so hard to avoid using it myself.  It’s much easier to tell a story you’ve has heard (or experienced) than it is to look up and quote the research (or do the research).  I just don’t have the capacity in conversation to quote what I read somewhere days or months before.  So, in conversation, I’ll cut someone slack.  Online, there’s no reason not to google what you’re talking about.  And there’s no excuse for the multitude of articles I read that have been haphazardly posted that pass themselves off as science when all they are is anecdotes.
~~Some research reported on serving sizes and consumption.
~~And just for Eric, who was muttering about the nutritional values used at FitDay: How Calories are Counted by Food Manufacturers.  So, it’s based on an indirect, rounded average of kilocalories per gram of nutrient and then rounded again by the manufacturer.  ‘Cause the package of their example energy bar won’t read 201 calories, it would be reported as an even 200.  And yes, I realize they are treating proteins in their usual somewhat incorrect manner.

Sapsucker-frog.

I’ve kind of always wondered about the Canadian prices on books…

Low seretonin, migraines, and sex!  The story of my life…

Ysenof’s new backpack?

And link of the day: Safecracking!

In About.com’s section on Men’s Health, there is the following entry:  Decapitation and Loss of Consciousness.  The Author admits that there is a ‘tenuous’ link between decapitation and men’s heath.  Over-statement, I’d say.  It seems more like an article young boys would take glee in reading.  But the *cough* feminist cell of me has to protest.  Isn’t decapitation unhealthy for women too?  Information about something that is harmful to me is not being presented to me!

Yeah, and I haven’t even started in on the martinis yet…

Home Test for Caffeine  “This will greatly assist individuals who wish to avoid caffeine.”  Hey, what about us people who want as much caffeine as inhumanly possible?  I’ll just have to hold out for a quantitative test.  And huh, it’s derived from llama blood.

In other news, I have become a complete, utter Dr. Who fan girl once again.  ‘Course, I’ve skipped a Doctor and am cursing my lack of the Sci-Fi channel.  Is it too much to hope for a marathon when I’m in Omaha in a month?  I just hope various internet sources keep me hooked to the BBC for a while.