Blackmailers in China turn to Photoshop to enhance their extortion rackets, at the expense of credible transparency. But the whole system is fed by public expectation of corruption and distrust of politicians.
The European Commission gets snarled by a Slovakian coin. I shrug; it's not going to kill (or in any way threaten) secular Western Europeans to see Christian symbols on their currency; it's not like Slovakia is insisting that creationism be taught in science classes (because who does that kind of inane bull$hit?), and it's not a slippery slope. Meanwhile, Slovakian nationalists need to shut up and take stock of how much European Union money has built up their country. This all underscores how essential separation of church and state is to freedom of religion: I don't have a stake in what you believe as long as you don't try to incorporate it into the legal system. That's not "radical secularism;" it's just common sense.
The phenomenon of "first-language interference" doesn't surprise me, but wouldn't it be more accurate to call it "native-language" or "primary-language" interference? I'm not the only one whose first language is not my best language.
Dave Brooks atones for his earlier slam of psychology:
T. Colin Campbell doesn't accept the vegan/vegetarian nomenclature. I appreciate his "whole-foods, plant-based" focus, but I personally feel no need to cut back on fat or salt, as he recommends. Plant fat has very different effects from animal fat. And--this analogy is extreme--but I would liken his 10-10-80 plan (proteins/fats/healthy carbs) to cutting of your breasts: even if it does work, only do it if you have a family history or if you're walking back an existing illness. I am not a doctor or a nutritionist, so this isn't health advice; it's life advice: just eat food. And by food, I mean mostly whole and plant-based food. Don't drive yourself crazy with counting things. The reason people see results with the bullshit paleo diet is because it's still preferable to the uber-processed, uber-trashy standard American diet. If you go from eating a lot of Twinkies to eating a lot of grain-fed beef, you'll feel better.
But man-oh-man is the paleo guy full of shit. Wow. "All vegetarians" have elevated levels of homocysteines because of B12 deficiency? Vegetarians who are not vegans have plenty of sources, and any vegan with a brain takes supplements or consumes supplemented food. I invite you to test my zinc, iron, B12, and omega-3s, mother-f*er. I am deficient in nothing but excess lard, so go f* yourself and your bullshit research. (Note how Isa Chandra yawns while he's blabbing and then calls him out on his boorishness.) But Isa Chandra's point is the one I make above: we're not here to debate the finer points of medical research; we're just here to tell you from personal experience that plant-based food is delicious, manageable, and good for you.
I'd like to have a word with the vegans now: let's say your an ethical vegan (like me) and you're not in it (primarily) for the health. It's still important that you take care of yourself, that you don't subsist on vegan twinkies. You don't want to be giving those silly people fodder. Eat well, for the planet and for the animals. As Isa Chandra says, sickness helps no one, deficiencies help no one.
At the highbrow end, there are scholars and theorists that some have called the “nothing buttists.” Human beings are nothing but neurons, they assert. Once we understand the brain well enough, we will be able to understand behavior. We will see the chain of physical causations that determine actions. We will see that many behaviors like addiction are nothing more than brain diseases. We will see that people don’t really possess free will; their actions are caused by material processes emerging directly out of nature. Neuroscience will replace psychology and other fields as the way to understand action.
These two forms of extremism are refuted by the same reality. The brain is not the mind. It is probably impossible to look at a map of brain activity and predict or even understand the emotions, reactions, hopes and desires of the mind.
T. Colin Campbell doesn't accept the vegan/vegetarian nomenclature. I appreciate his "whole-foods, plant-based" focus, but I personally feel no need to cut back on fat or salt, as he recommends. Plant fat has very different effects from animal fat. And--this analogy is extreme--but I would liken his 10-10-80 plan (proteins/fats/healthy carbs) to cutting of your breasts: even if it does work, only do it if you have a family history or if you're walking back an existing illness. I am not a doctor or a nutritionist, so this isn't health advice; it's life advice: just eat food. And by food, I mean mostly whole and plant-based food. Don't drive yourself crazy with counting things. The reason people see results with the bullshit paleo diet is because it's still preferable to the uber-processed, uber-trashy standard American diet. If you go from eating a lot of Twinkies to eating a lot of grain-fed beef, you'll feel better.
But man-oh-man is the paleo guy full of shit. Wow. "All vegetarians" have elevated levels of homocysteines because of B12 deficiency? Vegetarians who are not vegans have plenty of sources, and any vegan with a brain takes supplements or consumes supplemented food. I invite you to test my zinc, iron, B12, and omega-3s, mother-f*er. I am deficient in nothing but excess lard, so go f* yourself and your bullshit research. (Note how Isa Chandra yawns while he's blabbing and then calls him out on his boorishness.) But Isa Chandra's point is the one I make above: we're not here to debate the finer points of medical research; we're just here to tell you from personal experience that plant-based food is delicious, manageable, and good for you.
I'd like to have a word with the vegans now: let's say your an ethical vegan (like me) and you're not in it (primarily) for the health. It's still important that you take care of yourself, that you don't subsist on vegan twinkies. You don't want to be giving those silly people fodder. Eat well, for the planet and for the animals. As Isa Chandra says, sickness helps no one, deficiencies help no one.
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