tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20166906919412582482024-03-06T02:22:02.560-05:00Wretched OddmentsFull-Fledged Librarian Aiming to Use Power Mainly for GoodA'Llynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04295862804070846652noreply@blogger.comBlogger1174125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2016690691941258248.post-40640608969989129932014-06-02T14:21:00.002-04:002014-06-02T14:22:37.488-04:00This is Why We Grow Root VegetablesAlthough this turnip, forgotten in a bag on top of the refrigerator for who knows how many months, had become scarily gray and fuzzy on the outside, as well as starting to sprout small leaves, it was perfectly fine once I cut off the peel.<br />
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<br />
<br />
Back in the day, when we didn't have refrigerators and took our food storage cues from squirrels, a vegetable you could just leave somewhere for months and still eat once you rediscovered it was a pretty good thing.<br />
<br />
Still is for those of us who apparently still take food storage cues from squirrels...I roasted it the other day with some sweet potatoes olive oil and it made a tasty snack.<br />
<br />
The moral is, turnips are seriously robust.A'Llynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04295862804070846652noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2016690691941258248.post-53071170146561309172014-05-09T10:13:00.003-04:002014-05-09T10:45:12.019-04:00Taking Your Non-MedicineI recently stopped taking a daily multivitamin, after reading one too many (or, more positively, let's say <i>just exactly enough</i>) articles like this one from <a href="http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/were-a-drug-taking-supplement-taking-nation-so-how-do-we-do-so-safely/">Science Based Medicine</a>, repeating the fact that studies don't show any reliable benefit of supplement use in the absence of a specific medical condition.<br />
<br />
It was strangely difficult to quit, having spent so many years taking a reassuring pill every day because it seemed like a good idea, something I could do to help ensure the best health I could get (it can't hurt, right? unless it can...), but I got to the end of my last bottle a couple of months ago and didn't buy any more.<br />
<br />
I have not been noticeably more ill since then than I was in all the years when I took that pill, for what my personal anecdote is worth. Although I have to admit even if I did notice a change for the worse, it would as likely be due to the ravages of age, as to the absence of protective vitamin supplementation.<br />
<br />
The pediatrician also told me not to give my son a multivitamin because it wasn't necessary--sorry, kid, no more bear-shaped chewies for you!--and he seems as hale as ever, even if he missed his daily candy for a while, until he forgot all about it. (The short memory of infancy can be a wonderful thing.)<br />
<br />
I do still take a calcium supplement for bones, partly because I still have a bottle of them that I might as well use up, and partly because I'm not clear from my reading as to whether there's a consensus on their value, or lack of value, the way there seems to be on that of multivitamins.<br />
<br />
I also take lysine tablets on occasion for prevention and treatment of cold sores, just because--totally anecdotally--popping lysine like candy does seem to reduce the length of a breakout for me. Studies are inconclusive at best and I can't exactly do a controlled trial on myself, but I hate cold sores a lot and lysine appears to be beneficial in that regard and is not linked with known deleterious side effects, so I have basically concluded that in this case it's worth a shot. <br />
<br />
So I'm not immune to the lure of tablets, and while I feel pretty good about dumping the multi (that's a few more dollars I can spend on video games!), I'm sure some people might kind of notice a difference with them the way I kind of do with lysine, so I'm not going to start any campaigns to clear out other peoples' medicine cabinets.<br />
<br />
Not right now, anyway. Maybe after I finish <i>Tomb Raider</i>.A'Llynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04295862804070846652noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2016690691941258248.post-74423691949531110192013-11-05T13:25:00.001-05:002013-11-05T13:30:35.474-05:00Oh Precious, Precious ScreentimeA friend sent me this article, which gives away the important news in the exciting headline, "<a href="http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/11/04/people-play-1900-years-of-call-of-duty-multiplayer-every-day">People Play 1900 Years of Call of Duty Multiplayer Every Day</a>."<br />
<br />
That's...a fair number of people playing a fair amount of <i>Call of Duty</i> every day. I was almost impressed, until I looked up how much TV people watch.<br />
<br />
According to <a href="http://www.csun.edu/science/health/docs/tv&health.html#tv_stats">this random page</a> I found on the internet, which must be absolutely true because I read it online (it cites A.C. Neilsen, but <a href="http://www.statisticbrain.com/television-watching-statistics/">this page</a> does not include the annual total, which must have been calculated separately), Americans watch 250 billion hours of TV every year. That works out to about 78,000 person-years every day, assuming I know how to work a calculator.<br />
<br />
Those <i>Call of Duty</i> slackers need to step it up a few dozen times.<br />
<br />
To give the game its due, 1,900 is a pretty good number for a single title. After all, it takes hundreds of TV channels to keep us watching 78,000 years a day.<br />
<br />
On the other hand, the 78,000 years a day is only for the United States, while I think the <i>Call of Duty</i> numbers were worldwide.<br />
<br />
On the first hand again, 1,900 is, as mentioned, only for a single title, so people play a lot more hours of video games if other titles are included. This <a href="http://www.ted.com/conversations/44/we_spend_3_billion_hours_a_wee.html">TED Conversations page</a> says 3 billion hours a week worldwide, which would be about 156 billion hours a year, or slightly under 49,000 years a day.<br />
<br />
Still not close to the TV-watching numbers, but more of a contest. Except that the TV numbers are still only for the United States, and I bet people in other countries also enjoy television.<br />
<br />
I could keep looking for numbers on the internet, but the bottom line is, people obviously need to spend more time playing video games.<br />
<br />
Right? That's clearly the take-away here, isn't it?<br />
<br />
My problem with that is that video games tend to demand more attention than television, so it's harder to find the 49,000 years per day that you need. Not all games, of course, but a lot of them. So if you have to do some stuff on the computer, say, you can put on a TV show at the same time and watch it with half your attention, but it's harder to do that while you're playing a game.<br />
<br />
I bet a lot of the TV-watching numbers are from people doing other things at the same time. The true heroes are the people who watch TV and play games at the same time, and I salute them.<br />
<br />
In closing, we spend...a fair amount of time with screens in this exciting modern world.<br />
<br />A'Llynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04295862804070846652noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2016690691941258248.post-31540077397283086742013-10-25T21:13:00.001-04:002013-10-25T21:13:22.296-04:00PubMed: Now More Relevant Than EverOh my goodness, everyone, according to <a href="http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/so13/so13_pm_relevance.html">PubMed New and Noteworthy</a>, "PubMed now includes a relevance sort option under the "Display settings" menu." (The quote is from a feed alert--the link given by the post actually says that there will <i>soon</i> be a relevance sort option. However, the quote does not lie, because the option is indeed available now when I look.)<br />
<br />
Relevance! In PubMed!<br />
<br />
I mean, it's always been there in the "Related Citations," but as for PubMed itself, well, it was just part of the austere, patrician character of the database that you had your results sorted by date, and liked it.<br />
<br />
Or, you know, you could re-sort by first author or journal title or something, but who really does that? Not me, and I'm pretty sure I represent everyone in the whole world.<br />
<br />
Oh, wait, my mistake. Apparently I <i>don't</i> represent everyone in the whole world. Anyway, enjoy sorting by whatever criteria you prefer, everyone-who's-not-me! (It turns out an astonishing number of people are not me.)<br />
A'Llynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04295862804070846652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2016690691941258248.post-13659344872698935302013-10-17T09:59:00.002-04:002013-10-17T10:00:17.966-04:00Music MusingsLet's consider some music. Specifically, let's consider how sometimes music suggests to us that it doesn't improve a situation if you keep talking.<br />
<br />
On my way off the train this morning, I passed a little girl who was singing "You Are My Sunshine." Adorable. And what a sweet song, right?<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
You are my sunshine,<br />
My only sunshine,<br />
You make me happy when skies are gray.<br />
You'll never know, dear, how much I love you--<br />
Please don't take my sunshine away.</blockquote>
<br />
If I may paraphrase, "you're as vital to my life as sunlight, and no matter what else is happening, being with you makes me happy. Please don't leave me to what is, in your absence, a dark and gloomy existence."<br />
<br />
I mean, it's a little needy, maybe, but this dude or lady is clearly in love, and that's how it feels to be love. It's a lovely sentiment. Fond.<br />
<br />
Next verse (less commonly sung):<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The other night, dear,<br />
While I lay sleeping,<br />
I dreamed I held you by my side.<br />
When I awoke, though, I was mistaken,<br />
So I hung my head and cried.</blockquote>
<br />
To paraphrase, "I dreamed you were with me, and then I woke up and you weren't there, and it made me sad." Aww...<br />
<br />
Still touching, but at this point you have to wonder. Is the dude or lady this person loves normally there, but currently away on a trip or something, in which case happiness will return and maybe breaking down in tears is an overreaction? Or is the singer of the song not actually in a relationship with the object of his or her affection at all, in which case...unrequited love sure sucks, huh?<br />
<br />
But yeah, basically, "being away from you makes me sad" is still a sweet thing to say. OK.<br />
<br />
Third verse (even less commonly sung):<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I'll always love you,<br />
And make you happy,<br />
If you will only feel the same,<br />
But if you leave me to love another,<br />
You'll regret it all one day.</blockquote>
<br />
So. All right. "I'll always love you and make you happy as long as you love me and make me happy, but if you don't, someday you'll be alone and miserable just like me and THEN you'll be sorry you left me."<br />
<br />
Less touching, somehow.<br />
<br />
Pull it together, dude or lady! You're sounding a little whiny there. Whiny at best, actually, since "love me or you'll regret it" could also seem downright nasty.<br />
<br />
Not really the tone you want to strike if you're trying to win someone over.<br />
<br />
Maybe just stick with that first verse. Yeah. That one is really sweet.<br />
<br />
And thus we see why the later verses are so much less commonly sung.<br />
<br />A'Llynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04295862804070846652noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2016690691941258248.post-57657314289810050412013-10-10T14:50:00.001-04:002013-10-10T14:51:21.829-04:00Retro InjuriesI keep glancing curiously at the faint scratches on the backs of my hands, and then remembering oh yes, that's from sticking them way, way into the VCR in an attempt to retrieve some crayons.<br />
<br />
Yes, we still have a VCR. Mainly for crayon storage at this point.<br />
<br />
I was going to say "<i>solely </i>for crayon storage," but then remembered that it's also decorative.A'Llynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04295862804070846652noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2016690691941258248.post-53703617081731635712013-08-29T11:59:00.003-04:002013-10-10T14:51:39.880-04:00Me Being RightThe internet is only as good an information source as the information that people put on the internet. Duh, I know. It's just that sometimes people seem to attach a sort of weight to stuff on the internet that may not be justified.<br />
<br />
Often the information that people put on the internet is stunningly good. Or at least passably good. But sometimes, if the actual information that people have to put there is quite sparse, or mistaken, it's...not that good.<br />
<br />
Following is a dramatically paraphrased version of an exchange I recently had:<br />
<br />
ME: That photo you've identified as person X is not X, it's actually person Y.<br />
<br />
PERSON: Explain how!<br />
<br />
ME: Gladly. You see, the archives holds a vintage 19th century copy of that very photo, signed in pen "Yours, etc., Y." I take this as solid evidence that the photo depicts Y, rather than X, who is nowhere mentioned on it.<br />
<br />
PERSON: We got this copy from someone who told us it was X. Also, Google Images has it with X's name. So basically, conflicting information, and we're going to leave the identification as is.<br />
<br />
ME: Suit yourself. I'll just be up here thinking to myself about how wrongity wrong wrong you are, unless I can find some evidence suggesting that X was in the habit of signing Y's name to his photos.<br />
<br />
<br />
I mean, yeah, I get that it's a pain to change a whole display (especially since there's no known photo of X to replace the current--wrong--one), and seriously, the guy's been dead for 150 years no matter who he was so it's not as if anyone is going to know the difference.<br />
<br />
And sure, conflicting information, that happens. Sometimes--kind of a lot of times, actually--it's impossible to be sure who's in an old picture. But I have this PRIMARY SOURCE, signed in the very hand of Y (or X, if he liked to sign Y's name...maybe this was a thing they did for fun), and you have...Google Images, and someone who had a copy of this picture and thought it was X.<br />
<br />
Gimme a vintage 19th century copy of the same photo signed "Yours, etc., X," and you have conflicting information. When you have rumors and a vague internet reference versus a PHYSICAL ITEM with CONTEMPORARY IDENTIFYING INFORMATION on it, you have...you being wrong.<br />
<br />
Sorry about all the shouting. I just think this is kind of hilarious.<br />
<br />
Don't get me wrong, I love the internet to pieces and I have every intention of literally marrying it as soon as that inevitably becomes legal (we've had same-sex marriage in Massachusetts for a while, so <i>any minute now</i>). But loving someone or some combination of software and networked servers means recognizing the flaws as well as the good things.<br />
<br />A'Llynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04295862804070846652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2016690691941258248.post-61413864880424529492013-03-15T21:08:00.000-04:002013-03-15T21:09:30.401-04:00My Technology is Abandoning MeAs most everyone who uses it must have heard by now, Google has announced that it is shutting down Reader. Sigh. Dude, that's my window to the internet! I will have to find another window through which to view the internet, and that's a hassle.<br />
<br />
I remember there was some talk of Reader closing quite a while ago, but nothing came of it for so long that I had mostly forgotten about it.<br />
<br />
I've also just been informed by my Hotmail account that Microsoft will soon be 'upgrading' this account to Outlook. This comes after several previous invitations to upgrade to Outlook, all of which I have declined on accounta I think the Outlook interface is ugly. And the only customization you can do is change from one glaring, dramatic color to another. I'm going to miss the little graphics you could put on your Hotmail account.<br />
<br />
It's been a rough couple of days for my web habits. I suppose next I'll hear that Amazon is going to stop shipping to Massachusetts.A'Llynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04295862804070846652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2016690691941258248.post-76595105904082559942012-12-09T21:00:00.003-05:002012-12-09T21:01:25.950-05:00Monsters! Science! Giddy Joy!You must join me in saluting an awesome article summarized by <a href="http://scientopia.org/blogs/scicurious/2012/12/07/friday-weird-science-monsters-are-people-too/">Scicurious at Scientopia</a>. It is awesome because it looks at monsters from Dungeons and Dragons (in the course of some totally scientific research about gaze following).<br />
<br />
I wish I'd thought of that.<br />
<br />
Well, you can be sure that my entire future research energy is going to be dedicated to figuring out a way to make D&D relevant to some totally scientific medical library topic.<br />
<br />
Perhaps this will give me the 'in' I need to begin my study of the information needs of liches.<br />
<br />
You have inspired me, Levy J, Foulsham T, and Kingstone A! Time to haul out my battered research texts, by which I mean the <i>Monster Manual </i>and associated monster-heavy tomes. There are a <i>lot</i> of monster books published for the d20 System under the Open Gaming License, and for a while I bought every one I could find.<br />
<br />
You can never have too many monsters, that's what I say.A'Llynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04295862804070846652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2016690691941258248.post-57513479415225662232012-12-04T14:12:00.002-05:002012-12-04T14:13:46.803-05:00I Could Use That Much Sleep, ThoughBecause everyone loves to hear about other peoples' dreams, here's last night's entertainment at the Theater of My Brain.<br />
<br />
I dreamed that I was very tired (also true in real life), so I went to bed, and when I woke up I realized I had slept for <i>three days straight</i>, and missed my flight to Portland, OR, for Christmas (this flight is real).<br />
<br />
I was very distressed that not only had I missed a holiday vacation of awesome familyness, but it was all my fault, and I was therefore not going to be able to get any use from the enormous amounts of money that I spent on the plane tickets (the high cost of these tickets is true in real life).<br />
<br />
Doing a little highly sophisticated dream interpretation, I perceive that certain themes occupy my mind:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>sleep</li>
<li>time/being late*</li>
<li>money* </li>
</ul>
<br />
Obviously my spirit is troubled, and vague premonitions of ill fortune disturb my peace of mind. I should take a nap.<br />
<br />
<br />
*These themes also appear in <a href="http://wretchedoddments.blogspot.com/2012/12/at-least-i-had-clothes-on.html">another recent dream</a>, suggesting ongoing preoccupation.A'Llynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04295862804070846652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2016690691941258248.post-71356230250494259952012-12-03T14:26:00.000-05:002012-12-03T14:27:09.898-05:00Goose-Related ObservationsI saw that someone had won a "Golden Goose Award."<br />
<br />
Why Golden Goose? I thought. What's a golden goose? There was never a golden goose! There was an ordinary-looking goose that laid golden eggs!<br />
<br />
I was filled with outrage.<br />
<br />
Then I found out that there actually <i>was </i>a golden goose (egg type unspecified), helpfully <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Goose">noted by Wikipedia</a> as "not to be confused with the goose that laid the golden eggs." Upon reading the summary of the tale, I recalled that actually I did once know about the Golden Goose, because I remember all the people being stuck together. I suppose it must have slipped my mind in the 25 years since I first read it.<br />
<br />
Thank you, Wikipedia. I will not make that mistake again, I can tell you.<br />
<br />
It remains unclear why someone named an award after this Golden Goose, or whether the recipient now has the power to make people stick together after the first one tries to pluck a goose feather. One can only hope so.<br />
<br />
In seemingly unrelated yet also goose-related news, I understand that kiwi fruits are also known as Chinese Gooseberries. Chinese geese must be <i>enormous</i>.<br />
<br />
I want one.A'Llynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04295862804070846652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2016690691941258248.post-57854025373973595142012-12-01T20:31:00.001-05:002012-12-01T20:32:40.855-05:00At Least I Had Clothes OnMy work sent around one of those helpful "check on your withholding status because the end of the year is coming and we're going to be preparing your W2" notes recently.<br />
<br />
I can only assume that it was this which prompted my brain to deliver me a dream in which it was April 15th and I had completely forgotten about taxes.<br />
<br />
I was frantically explaining to someone that it was all because of the baby having distracted me (a pretty good excuse) and trying to gather my paperwork, convinced that I could still get it done in time.<br />
<br />
With online filing, this is probably true, although not recommended, so I was right not to be totally panicking in the dream.<br />
<br />
"Having a baby should just automatically get you an extension!" I said.<br />
<br />
So thanks, I guess, work. That was entertaining.A'Llynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04295862804070846652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2016690691941258248.post-77195188686440087342012-11-18T20:15:00.002-05:002012-11-18T20:24:11.520-05:00My Food! My Peanut Butter!Darn it, my grocery store is going out of business.<br />
<br />
Johnnie's Foodmaster (how can you not love a grocery store named "Foodmaster"?), which we liked to support because it was a small, family-owned local chain, <a href="http://www.boston.com/businessupdates/2012/11/02/johnnie-foodmaster-closing-all-its-stores-liquidator-says/AJxqEW55NCuP5FjYYacbLK/story.html">is closing up</a> after selling 6 of 10 locations to Whole Foods and apparently not feeling very attached to the other four.<br />
<br />
Whole Foods has its charms and all, I guess, but a small, family-owned local chain it is not. And Shaw's, the small-ish, slightly local chain with a store I used to like to walk to, is no longer within walking distance.<br />
<br />
I understand that grocery stores are a tough business, and maybe the owning family just felt like getting the heck out, so good for them for managing it if that's the case. I hope all their employees do OK in the new stores or find good jobs elsewhere.<br />
<br />
And I suppose we'll just have to drive to Shaws. Even though we don't like their store brand peanut butter as well.<br />
<br />
What about our store brand peanut butter? Nooooooooooo!!!!<br />
<br />A'Llynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04295862804070846652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2016690691941258248.post-61777021163814866682012-11-09T20:28:00.001-05:002012-11-09T20:28:29.592-05:00Having Your SaySince we just had an election, in which I certainly hope everyone voted, I greatly enjoyed this timely piece from <a href="http://www.loweringthebar.net/2012/11/woman-arrested-for-voting-in-1872.html">Lowering the Bar</a> about Susan B. Anthony's arrest for voting in 1872. That shows real dedication to the idea of participating in the political process.<br />
<br />
As the piece notes, 'the "B" stood for "Badass."'*<br />
<br />
There's a nice summary of her grave offense, arrest, trial and sentencing.<br />
<br />
<br />
*Not really: it stood for 'Brownell,' which is less awe-inspiring but perhaps more dignified.A'Llynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04295862804070846652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2016690691941258248.post-48135124599240387342012-11-01T21:47:00.000-04:002012-11-01T21:47:25.003-04:00You Must Be (Mumble Mumble)Like many people, I'm apologetically not that great with names. Odds are, if I'm introduced to someone in some sort of social situation, I'll have forgotten their name by the next time I see them.<br />
<br />
And I kind of just figure, well, I'm not that great with names, sorry!<br />
<br />
But then I was thinking about it and I realized that in fact, I'm not that great with names because I don't really pay attention to them. Odds are, if I'm introduced to someone, I'm automatically assuming I'm not going to need to know their name anytime in the immediate future, so I'm not even really making an attempt to remember it.<br />
<br />
Then when I meet people again, usually I have to be reminded of their names, but after that I remember, because I paid attention the second time.<br />
<br />
It's sort of as if I unconsciously decided, somewhere along the line, that unless I see you more than once, your name is irrelevant to me.<br />
<br />
I'm not even going to listen to it the first time: you could say "Hi, I'm Morgethern Hanretty the Bold Destroyer of Marmite" and I'd just smile and say "Hi, I'm A'Llyn," and if someone asked me two minutes later "who was that?" I'd have to shrug. Not that great with names, sorry!<br />
<br />
But next time I meet you, then I'll listen. Honest.<br />
<br />
I must hasten to assure you that it's not that I'm stuck up and think I'm too important to bother with your name. I'm assuming you don't really care about mine either, so we're even. I would never expect you to remember my name if we only met once.<br />
<br />
And if you do, well, good for you I guess, but also, you wasted brain cells on that that could have been devoted to important blog posts or something, so I'm not sure about your priorities.<br />
<br />
So let's just all agree that we don't care about anyone's name the first time we meet them, unless we're going to be sharing an office or hunting werewolves together or something.<br />
<br />
Even then, I'll probably give you a mental nickname like Office Dude or Werewolf Hunting Lady at first. You know, just in case you're eaten by a file cabinet or a werewolf before I really have a chance to get to know you.<br />
<br />
<br />A'Llynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04295862804070846652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2016690691941258248.post-69894324827421730992012-10-27T21:52:00.005-04:002012-10-27T21:54:57.251-04:00Let's Talk Storms. And Politics!It seems that Hurricane Sandy is bearing down on the entire east coast right now, so at my place we're sitting around enjoying our electricity and internet while we can.<br />
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It somewhat reminds me of what we decided to call the Best Trip Ever (positive thinking!), when I visited my sister in Jamaica right when Hurricane Dean was coming through. She was in the Peace Corps at the time, and we found ourselves holed up in the US Embassy in Kingston for a couple of days, sleeping on the floor in someone's cubicle, freezing cold because the air conditioner was set way high and we had foolishly not packed warm clothes to visit or live in Jamaica.<br />
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Good times.<br />
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I don't really anticipate Sandy being quite that exciting once it reaches the Boston area, but you never know. Mainly, I hope lingering power outages don't interfere with the election.<br />
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I'm eager to get votin,' not only because of this whole presidency thing we've got going on right now in the United States, but also because we have all kinds of interesting ballot questions in Massachusetts.<br />
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Check it out: We've got medical marijuana, assisted dying, and something about requiring car manufacturers to make repair information available to the owner, not just to licensed dealers.<br />
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I don't own a car, so I don't really know much about this last one, but as a librarian I guess I pretty much have to vote for freely available information. I should probably try to get a copy for the collection, too.<br />
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As for medical marijuana and assisted dying, yeah, if anyone cares about my politics I'm going with yes for both.<br />
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The medical marijuana opponents are arguing that medical use is just a wedge, and will lead to looser laws regarding marijuana in general, and I say "not necessarily, but frankly I hope it does." I just think marijuana is a stupid thing for law enforcement to be spending time on and for people to be going to jail for.<br />
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And if you're worried about the slippery slope and fear that if we decriminalize marijuana in any way, next thing you know toddlers will be buying crack cocaine out of vending machines in the subway station?<br />
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Nah. I think it's possibly to draw a legal line between marijuana and cocaine. As evidence, I will point out that we have maintained a legal line between marijuana (illegal) and alcohol (legal) for many years! And you cannot try to pretend that alcohol is not a drug, frequently abused, with profound consequences for society. Easily as significant, I would argue, as the consequences of marijuana use.<br />
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Good people, I don't smoke marijuana, so personally it doesn't even matter to me, but it is my nonsmoker's opinion that we should be decriminalizing marijuana at a rapid pace, and that is my political statement of the day.<br />
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Oh, except I also have a second political statement of the day, which is, I would really like the option to be available for me to die at a time of my choosing rather than just waiting around for my body to suffocate me or whatever if I happen to come down with some horrible fatal condition, so I am pro-assisted dying.<br />
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And if you're worried about the slippery slope and fear that if we legalize physician-prescribed medication to end life, next thing you know toddlers will be buying suicide pills out of vending machines in the subway station?<br />
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Or, more to the point, the toddler's parents will be urging grandma to take the suicide pills so as not to eat into their inheritance with healthcare costs?<br />
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OK, I actually don't want to be as flippant about this one, because I think there are legitimate questions about, say, whether death is really the <i>best</i> option in cases of incurable illness, or only the best option given the lousy support systems in place to care for people with incurable illness. I can see having reservations about this.<br />
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We certainly don't want suicide to become "the logical choice" that gets pushed on people because it's convenient for other people.<br />
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Still, I think that denying all people the option to make that choice because some of them might be constrained by material considerations, and calling it good (rather than, say, working on the systems that might make the material considerations less pressing) is a cop out.<br />
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Also, I think it's entirely possible to value one person's choice to die, and another person's choice to live, if both have similar diagnoses. If I have the right to request medication to end life, that doesn't mean I have to take it. And if I decide to take it, while you, with an equally grim prognosis, decide to wait for the end to arrive naturally? I totally support you in that.<br />
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Basically it comes down to this: Choice. I am for it.<br />
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Also freely available information, the better to allow for educated choice. In car repair, as in life.<br />
<br />A'Llynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04295862804070846652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2016690691941258248.post-76932513748112076852012-10-25T21:13:00.000-04:002012-10-25T21:13:29.590-04:00Just...Can't...Write That Much...As the end of October nears, inevitably <a href="http://www.nanowrimo.org/">National Novel Writing Month</a> draws closer. I hear its siren call!<br />
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But alas, given that I can't even keep a blog updated these days, I fear I'm going to have to sit this one out. I just don't have the time or energy to spare for 50,000 words this year.<br />
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There are too many people clinging to me and demanding that I feed them or change them or rock them to sleep. OK, there's one person doing that, but that turns out to be too many for me to get much else done.<br />
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Have no doubt about it, another terrible novel <i>will</i> be written by me in the month of November--but not this year.<br />
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However, I encourage everyone else to do it. It's good clean fun, unless your computer is really filthy and/or your novel is porn (neither one of which should stand in your way), and there's a nice "Winner" web logo in it for you if you finish.A'Llynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04295862804070846652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2016690691941258248.post-5564411802733660642012-10-09T20:25:00.001-04:002012-10-10T10:29:28.401-04:00Sadder Food ThoughtsAs attentive news perusers may have observed, another salmonella-based peanut butter recall has the nation in its sticky grip, with about 240 products (not all even peanut-related: some other nuts have also been effected) on the <a href="http://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodSafety/CORENetwork/ucm320413.htm#recalled">FDA's list.</a><br />
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I don't see the generic store brand we tend to buy around here on the list, but the fact that the recall has expanded to so many different brands and products makes me less confident that this means my own peanut butter is safe. There, in the cupboard, even now, it could be seething with bacteria.<br />
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In case you're wondering, and have forgotten how to type a word into a search engine yourself, here's some info about <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/">salmonella</a>. I must say, it sounds like a real fun time.<br />
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Since I live mostly on peanut butter (slight exaggeration only), this hits close to home for me. Come to think of it, since I try to keep peanut butter in my home at all times, this hits me right where I live: my house.<br />
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Sigh. It's a sad thing when you can't trust your peanut butter. I'll tell you right now, though, I'm not going to stop eating it. Not until they recall every jar on every shelf in this great nation!<br />
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And if they do that, I'll go to Canada. Don't push me on this.A'Llynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04295862804070846652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2016690691941258248.post-44887819570108630062012-10-07T21:37:00.001-04:002012-10-07T21:37:21.457-04:00Random Food ThoughtsI'm starting to think that almost anything is better roasted than cooked any other way. I'm sure there are exceptions, like lettuce (although actually if I had to cook lettuce--gross--I would probably take roasting over a number of other options), but it works so well for so many things!<br />
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I'm just thinking especially of things I only had steamed or boiled when I was a kid, and thought were OK, but have since had oven-roasted and thought were much more delicious.<br />
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Like asparagus, and cauliflower. Both great roasted. Try it!<br />
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I know steaming is supposed to be one of the healthiest ways to cook, because you can make things all nice and tender without adding a lot of fat, and I certainly appreciate some beautiful bright green steamed snap peas or broccoli, but honestly, just drizzle something with olive oil and roast it and it will probably be awesome.<br />
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Also kind of awesome, the way that when you get vegetables from the Community Supported Agriculture farm, they leave on parts that you don't usually see, like the greens on radishes and carrots and the outer leaves of cauliflowers. This inspires me to try perfectly edible parts of plants that I wouldn't have thought to eat otherwise.<br />
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More food for your CSA dollar, more interesting meals, and more vegetables in your diet.<br />
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Radish greens are pretty delicious, very fresh-tasting and a little spicy. Carrot greens are a little tougher and I wouldn't really go out of my way to find them, but they're all right. The cabbage-y leaves of cauliflower, if you toss them in with the florets and roast them together, are very nice.<br />
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To sum up, roast more plants, and eat more of the plant, and you shall not go far wrong.<br />
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Unless you eat more of the potato or the tomato, which you should not do because the greens are kind of poisonous. I'm all for increasing variety in ones diet, but only non-poisonous variety.<br />
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I mean, unless you're trying to make yourself sick for some reason, in which case I wouldn't advise it, but I suppose it's a free country. If you try to make someone else sick, though, there's definitely a law against that, so it's not a totally free country.<br />
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I should probably stop now.A'Llynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04295862804070846652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2016690691941258248.post-19489445623131830592012-10-01T21:08:00.001-04:002012-10-01T21:10:57.460-04:00Also, Carefully Refold That MapHere's some <a href="http://www.kcet.org/socal/socal_wanderer/safety/in-the-california-desert-apple-maps-can-kill-you.html">sobering advice</a> about the dangers of relying on smartphone maps out in the desert, where it really matters what road you take.<br />
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The short version is, just don't rely on online maps if there's any chance that taking the wrong road could leave you stranded in the wilderness to die of heat stroke, dehydration, or being eaten by bears.<br />
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Shockingly, mapping software is not always totally accurate, and in the wrong situation, that can be a very bad thing. As the article points out, once you get far enough away from civilization, you can't even call up your phone maps to try to work out a better option, because you'll lose your cell signal! Thanks for steering me towards my doom and then abandoning me, phone.<br />
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I haven't actually been in the wilderness in years, and have no plans to go until I'm fleeing our killer robot overlords, but this is a good reminder that when I go, I need to make sure to take a printed map.<br />
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Speaking of killer robots, xkcd's "<a href="http://what-if.xkcd.com/5/">what if?</a>" feature argues that robots are a long way from being able to produce an apocalypse. A telling quote:<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
What people don't appreciate, when they picture Terminator-style automatons striding triumphantly across a mountain of human skulls, is how hard it is to keep your footing on something as unstable as a mountain of human skulls.
</blockquote>
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So that's good...I guess...although there goes my excuse for looking askance at programmable microwave ovens. I just don't trust those things.<br />
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<br />A'Llynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04295862804070846652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2016690691941258248.post-69967462297689345682012-09-25T21:45:00.000-04:002012-09-25T21:45:02.649-04:00Does Not Follow ProcedureBecause I tend to get bored, having nothing to do but lie around twiddling my thumbs all day, I rashly proposed a poster for MLA'13, which the organizers rashly accepted.<br />
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This means I have to actually make a poster based on my very boring citation-counting project, which is so clearly going to interrupt my thumb-twiddling schedule that I don't know why I ever thought this was a good idea in the first place. I'm having all kinds of questions about poster-making.<br />
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Like, do I <i>have</i> to cite references? The helpful poster advice sites talk about a references section, but...uh...I didn't actually do any research in the literature before undertaking my little project. I will hang my head in shame now. I know, it's ironic, considering my entire project is about citations, that I don't have anything to cite myself.<br />
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Obviously I <i>should</i> have reviewed the literature first, if only to make sure someone else hadn't already done what I was thinking of doing, but better, but I had an idea I thought was mildly interesting, and I was lazy and wanted to get started, and I just skipped that.<br />
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So I did not, in fact, refer to anyone else during the course of my work. Should I pretend I did, or should I just omit references and boldly declare, "Behold, I am a wretched novice researcher, and I didn't consult prior literature"?<br />
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The thing is, trying to find something to cite after the fact means more work, which, with all this thumb-twiddling to be done, is not entirely what I'm after. That, plus the fact that I think people in general should make a lot more bold declarations that begin with 'Behold' than they do, is kind of inclining me towards just admitting that I skipped the very important review of the current literature that we're always telling students they should start with, and leaving out the references section.<br />
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Or maybe there's a paper somewhere that describes the horrible things that happen to people who don't review the literature before undertaking a research project, and I can cite that.<br />
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Ha--actually, if I can find it, I will totally cite that. Don't even think I won't.A'Llynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04295862804070846652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2016690691941258248.post-42376287745105825302012-09-23T21:10:00.003-04:002012-09-23T21:10:37.358-04:00Naturally PubMed is InvolvedHere's a nice health literacy post from Harriet Hall on <a href="http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/procera-avh-a-pill-to-restore-memory/">Science-Based Medicine</a>, in which she details step by step the research process she takes when investigating an exciting supplement to determine whether it's worth taking.<br />
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Whether you are embittered and already filled with suspicion and mistrust regarding the wonderful promises of pretty pills in colorful bottles on the store shelves, or are an optimistic soul filled with hope and enthusiasm, it's probably a good idea to do some research anyway. And sure, I have to say that because I'm a medical librarian, but I would totally think it was true anyway.<br />
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This post provides some excellent tips on how to look into and evaluate supplement claims.A'Llynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04295862804070846652noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2016690691941258248.post-58536559005085212652012-09-19T21:04:00.000-04:002012-09-19T21:04:03.398-04:00MeSHmas is Here!It's that merry time of year when good little medical librarians everywhere get <a href="http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/newd.html">shiny new MeSH</a> terms to enjoy.<br />
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Among my favorite of the things we can now search for directly are the more specific forms of Prejudice: Ageism, Homophobia, Racism and Sexism.<br />
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Also exciting additions: the specific Meals of Breakfast, Lunch, and Snacks.<br />
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Not Dinner or Supper, which still map back to Meals, possibly reflecting insoluble regional disagreement over which of these means "the last major meal of the day." Not Dessert either, which is a sad omission for those of us who always try to save room for pie.<br />
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You could probably get at those articles before by using Prejudice or Meals plus the relevant keyword, but it could be useful to be able to search directly for the attitude or meal in which you're particularly interested.<br />
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All those articles on Ageist Breakfasts will no longer elude me.<br />
<br />A'Llynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04295862804070846652noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2016690691941258248.post-69732732389162340222012-09-17T21:01:00.000-04:002012-09-17T21:01:08.722-04:00Sleep TightSo we slept with the baby, the first few months, but have been gradually transitioning him into his crib as he gradually transitions into waking up fewer than four times every night, and I was just thinking how odd the expectations are with regard to sleeping.<br />
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I mean, to the extent that being partnered is considered a natural state for adults (that is, to a pretty great extent), sharing a bed is considered the natural sleeping habit for adults.<br />
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And yet, for years and years before this, all through childhood, sleeping alone is considered to be the natural state. (In contemporary US culture, at least: obviously there's a lot of variation between cultures and time periods.) You spend years accustomed to having your own bed, and then you're supposed to just naturally make this big shift and spend years sharing your bed with someone else.<br />
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When you think about it, doesn't it seem more reasonable that children should be the ones who customarily sleep with someone? After all, they get anxious and scared of the dark (unless that was just me), and having someone to curl up next to makes it somewhat less alarming. (It's a known fact that monsters don't like to pounce if there's more than one person in the bed.)<br />
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Presumably as adults we're less likely to be scared of the dark, and yet that's when we're expected to be able to curl up next to someone as a matter of course.<br />
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Personally, I often shared a bed with one or more of my sisters as a child, because there were sometimes more of us than than there were mattresses, but a lot of people don't have this experience. Thanks for helping keep the monsters off, sisters!<br />
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Now I feel kind of bad about putting the baby in his crib all alone, although I think he's too young to be scared of the dark at the moment.<br />
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Also, I'm suddenly kind of worried about monsters again. Thanks for opening up old wounds, brain.<br />
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<br />A'Llynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04295862804070846652noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2016690691941258248.post-22890846800350395082012-08-26T21:17:00.002-04:002012-08-26T21:17:41.071-04:00My Good Friend, StoreI have to give a shout out to Victoria's Secret for their persistance, demonstrated by their continuing to send coupons for free underpants even though I only buy something there about once every two years. They followed us to our new address, even though we didn't give it to them, and the post office doesn't forward catalogs!<br />
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This might seem a little creepy, but since it means continued coupons, I'm all for it. Sure, I'm being stalked by a lingerie store, but at least they're giving me stuff.<br />
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As you can see, I am easily mollified.<br />
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It might seem like kind of a poor return on the investment for them, if I spend $30 on a sports bra every two years, while cheerfully accepting 6 or 8 pairs of $7-10 underpants in the same period, but I suppose I'm more likely to buy something if I go in there to pick up free garments than if I never go in there at all.<br />
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There's this sense of guilt they probably rely on, where you feel kind of like a lowly moocher if you <i>only</i> go in to redeem a coupon, so you buy a little something as long as you're in the store. Because it's only polite, you know.<br />
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And I'll acknowledge that I have felt that sense of guilt, as if I had some sort of social relationship with a store that increasingly doesn't make anything I actually want to wear, and I have in years past purchased things I didn't entirely need, so I'm not saying it doesn't work. It works nicely: the store was kind enough to give you a little present, so obviously the courteous thing to do would be to spend some money there!<br />
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Lately, though, given the lack of anything in the store that I want very badly, I'm trying to embrace my inner lowly moocher a little more. "Yeah, I'm just here for the free stuff. Hand it over, I'm in a hurry."<br />
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After all, they don't <i>have</i> to send coupons. And you never know, I might buy something, one of these times.<br />
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<br />A'Llynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04295862804070846652noreply@blogger.com0