Quick post from a slow day at work

Things that are cool, two out of three of which are in the “most popular” on the NY times today:

Zen Vegetarian Cooking (which I’ve not actually used yet but I’m going to tonight)

Social Cognitive Neuroscience (which I don’t actually know a damn thing about but it seems cool)

Things that are hilarious because these people are crazy (right? I mean, they’re just insane, right? but are they really?):

The Higgs Boson can’t be discovered because it would pop back in time to prevent its own discovery

I have a problem with the idea that “traveling back in time and killing your grandfather is a paradox, but traveling back in time and saving your grandfather’s life is not a paradox”. What sort of universal rule of physics etc would understand that some changes you make in the past are harmless but some would unravel space and time?

But then, I don’t know from physics, so I’ll refrain from commenting.

Finally, after a week or so trial period, I think I’ll actually swear off desserts, but as always with me and food it’s nuanced:

- it’s about the food itself, not the role it’s playing. So if someone serves fruit as dessert, I’ll gladly eat it. Really, it’s a “refined sugar” thing.

- similarly, refined flour is also out. But it’s not 100% out because so many things have some refined flour. I’ll just take a much more careful look at anytime I would eat refined flour.

- only things with non-trivial amounts of refined sugar are out; I’m not giving up, say, a half teaspoon of Sriracha.

- booze is straight sugar, and I’m not giving up alcohol. But I mostly drink beer anyway, which is healthier than liquor (debate postponed for another day), and pair this with the next rule:

- biggest nuance, which makes this all a lot wussier but also more better for real life by solving the “birthday cake” problem: I’m not giving up all desserts, I’m giving up all desserts alone. If it’s a celebration or something, great! Or even if I’m out for friends with ice cream.

You may snicker, but adopting this very complex “rule” will probably cut my white sugar/white flour intake by … 80%? Good enough for me.


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