I've said it before and I'll say it a thousand times...

... vitamins have never made any sense to me.

"Report Questions Need for Two Diet Supplements," The New York Times, 11/29/10.

There Are Shockingly Few Industrialized Countries

It's a huge lie! Most of us are not doing well.

Sincerely,

Comrade Andrea, apparently.

P.S. A question for another time, in a far-off place: Is industrialization good?

Apples and sundry

Having written is one of the best feelings in the world. It is better than kissing, better than shopping, better than vegan apple bars. It may or may not be better than lying in a cornfield looking up.

I'm Listening

Today on my way up the fabled, marbled stairs of a building at the University of Michigan I passed about a dozen students scattered around the floor over giant sketchpads, sketching said fabled stairs.

Almost all of them had headphones on; so uniformly that at first I thought part of the assignment might have included some audio recording. But a few did not, and so I reject that hypothesis.

What this means is: I am surprised by our low tolerance for silence.

Big Fonts, Small Minds: Andrea Jones-Rooy and the APSA 2010 Experience

Prepare to be Dazzled!

Andrea Looks for Data

Andrea looked for data on the Internet. She found some that might work, and then discovered it didn't. She found some more that might work, and she's still not sure if it will. Also, she downloaded some songs.

A Diversion, Dear Readers!

Dear Friends!

I come to you, poring over the Internet, and a spoonful of Raw Almond Butter, with the following invitation to EXPRESS YOUR OPINIONS to Strangers! You, too, can answer questions about Raw and Vegan THINGS.

Rule 1: I like surveys

Rule 2: I am forever against the abbreviation of the word "vegetable" to "veggies"

**Bonus Rule 3**: Go ahead, take this survey, and vote for Pure Food and Wine for Best Restaurant, Mighty-O for best vegan bakery, Sarma Melngailis for best vegan chef, and Vancouver for best vegan International city! Now you are an informed voter.

Or, please COMMENT HERE and correct Yours Truly! For I am but a humble servant.

The end! Except, the beginning:

Take the "Veggie Awards" Survey Here.

P.S. Bonus Bonus Bonus that is not actually a Bonus: I will not reveal for whom I voted for best national vegan city. One reason is that I don't remember. The other is that, no matter what upon which I settled, said settling caused Much torment.

Important, and I Mean It

Here are two things that are related, but I know nothing about.

First, there is a reasonably new program in some medical schools to specifically admit students whose undergraduate training was in the humanities, not the physical sciences.

Second, we (society and medical professionals, more specifically) have no idea how to treat and care for end-of-life patients. (Warning: this article is horribly sad.)

I am in no position to offer further thoughts on this matter at present besides the following: I still don't know whether offering medical classes to non-medical doctors would ultimately be good for everybody. Nor do I know if I care, when I go to the doctor, how broadly read in the humanities he is. But I do know that there is a reason medicine is still fundamentally practiced by humans, not robots.

I am going to say something controversial

Listen up!

This is it:

I find babies of people I know to be far grosser than babies of people I don't know.

Incontrovertible

Today I did not receive a mini bible from a man on the corner because I was carrying two cups of coffee and he looked at me and realized I wouldn't be able to hold it. It is now official that coffee was invented by Satan.

There, Way Over There, and Even Further Away than That

There is an obvious comment to be made about how there are now a million different articles about how things like hyperlinks, the Internet, and eternal information updates on all our gizmos (my 90 year old male friend made me call them that) causes us to lose focus, and how the fact that there are all these articles now makes following the story difficult, because I don't know what to read first. Also there is a thingy (that's Earl again) on the New York Times right now where you can test your focus. I opened that, then saw another article (called "Driven to Distraction" or "Dressed to Distract" -- it doesn't matter, I didn't read it), and then closed everything, checked my email, and am now here.

But I, dear readers, am not going to be the one to make that comment.

There is an additional comment to be made about the artfully ironic usage of hyperlinks in here, but I, subtle friends, am also not going to do that.

Ask Again Later

Here's a social science puzzle for you.

Why was the Magic Eight Ball ever remotely popular? Why did we buy these things?

What is wrong with us?

A cheap shot

Two fat girls under a tiny umbrella in the pouring rain. I'm sorry, dear readers, it is insensitive, but it is also funny!

[Insert Venn Diagram where the circle on the Left is INSENSITIVE and the circle on the Right is FUNNY here.]

Dear Mr. Boss, Sir:

I have decided I will no longer allow others to tell me what to do. Please let me know if this is acceptable. In addition, I refuse to continue apologizing for my decisions. I am sorry if this is an inconvenience for you.

Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally

This mnemonic never really worked for me because I always got hung up on what it was Sally did that needed so much excusing. I am pretty sure she got blackout drunk at a strip mall, but that doesn't make any sense, because then it would mean you set something to Base 2 before Differentiating and Setting equal to zero and Measuring. Which, obviously, is wrong.

If you gather the berries, I'll slaughter a rabbit

For how long will we be beholden to our evolutionary past?

This article is about how men tend to be more intelligent than women (you read that right). It claims that the reason for this comes from two factors:

1. Our hunter male ancestors had to solve complex problems to hunt. This meant the smarter ones survived. Our female ancestors who were in charge of the mindless task of collecting berries, on the other hand, could be as dumb as they pleased.
2. Our hunter male ancestors also increased their chances of survival and reproduction if they were more competitive. Thus, not only are men more intelligent, on average, than women (by 5 IQ points!), but also they are more likely to ruthlessly pursue success.

I understand that our old Neanderthal brains are all kinds of stressed out in our new, rapidly evolving social world. But, evolution hasn't come to a standstill. The verdict doesn't have to necessarily be in forever, right? Perhaps these days men and women face tasks that are more equally challenging than before. Perhaps in a million billion years we'll close that 5 point gap.

Surely we're now (and have been for the last, say, hundred thousand years) being selected on different features of brains from those for which our hunter-gatherer relatives were rewarded.

Or are we?

Think about this at your own risk

Many say we should have reasonable expectations, lest we get disappointed. Many also believe prophecies can be self-fulfilling.

Where you Stand is Where you Sit; Or, Epilogue part 2 of 1

This just in, eager and breathless readers! The Moment Yours Truly got up and began to Collect her Things (loosely defined), something. Happened.

He sat down!

I am filled with instant calm. Like a babbling brook that ceased to babble, but because it was calm, not stagnant or filled with styrofoam.

Standing for Change; or, Epilogue, part 1 of 1

Your Fearless Leader Cannot Take It! Trying to sit and work next to a man who is standing is officially impossible. Why, dear ones? Clearly, it is related to our evolution on the grasslands. I do not think I need to bore you with the details of how those connect.

Your preferences don't look so ordered from the other side, eh?!

Dear Readers!

Your Fearless Leader read a blog post the other day about how terrible sitting is for us, and how we should do less of it. This is probably true.

Today, Yours Truly is in a café and the man next to me is standing while working at his computer, and has been for the past One Hour Or More.

This has translated into Your Leader spending the last One Hour Or More feeling Mighty Nervous! Leave, sir! Or sit! How can you spend your life in this purgatory?!?!?!?!

Your Seated Leader may even need to move to a new room.