Assorted Links

Assorted links

1. NYT picking up on the benefits of interval training  

2. Xeriscaping  (paleo gardening?)

3. Drew Carey drops 80 pounds by going no carb

4. Mike Tyson goes vegan.  (Okay, maybe now I will scale back my comments about vegans.)  Most of the interview is simply about his life and career, but interesting throughout.  Language.

Thanks to Adina, Pablo, and Geoff for the pointers.

Update: Fixed my broken links...more evidence that sleep deprivation negatively impacts health.

Assorted links

  1. Even earlier evidence for meat-eating (3.4 million years ago versus 2.6 million years ago)  
  2. "A family of Missouri cave-dwellers at risk of losing home to foreclosure has found a way to keep it."
  3. Deep-fried arms race at the Indiana State Fair
  4. More pictures of wife-carrrying (see my earlier post on this, the greatest of sports)
  5. Merrell starts making minimalist shoes (The Merrell Barefoot), in partnership with Vibram
  6. The Barefoot Bandit inspires an evil and unhealthy copycat who must be brought to justice

Assorted links

1. The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement (so much self-loathing, it's hard to read)

2. Skinning a deer with obsidian (not gross, but they are skinning a deer)

3. Vitamin D deficiency and the benefits of sun exposure (finally getting some mainstream recognition)

4. Devastatingly even-handed criticism of the China Study, the vegetarian/vegan holy book, courtesy of Dr. Michael Eades

Assorted barefoot links

I guess this was barefoot running week here at H-G, so here is a little link round-up:

  1. An evening with Christopher McDougall, author of Born to Run
  2. Birthday Shoes, the VFF fansite, has nice commentary on the Today Show appearance
  3. Free beginner's workshop in Central Park on Sunday at 4:30pm -- come join us!
  4. Mark Sisson on persistence hunting in the park
  5. And here's my buddy Erwan with a bad-ass barefoot running video for MovNat.  Watch it in HD.

 

Assorted links

1. "When in a sour mood, stop everything and ask if you are in need of food, sleep, a potty break, fresh air, or exercise."  From Justin Wehr via Ben Casnocha.  I agree, but would point out that if you're getting upset because you're hungry, it's probably because your body is addicted to sugar and carbs.

 

2. Government panel of experts releasing new health guidelines and updating the USDA Food Pyramid.  Get this:

"Congress mandates that the guidelines be revised every five years."

Is this revision going to go on indefinitely, or at some point are we going to know what's good for us?  What happens when the foundation of the food pyramid, grain consumption, crumbles?  Does the whole structure collapse?  Don't get your health information from the government, they don't have the incentives or the knowledge to get it right.

 

3. Is ecological (i.e., organic) agriculture productive?  This research says yes.  

"A variety of resource conserving technologies and practices were used, including integrated pest management, integrated nutrient management, conservation tillage, agroforestry, water harvesting in dryland areas, and livestock and aquaculture integration into farming systems."

We should see these agricultural practices as entrepreneurial innovations, not Luddite alternatives to modern farming.  The problem with research like this is that they always embed broader environmental values into their conclusions that don't always relate to to how well we can feed people over the long run (including direct environmental effects that affect our ability to do so).

"These practices not only increased yields, but also reduced adverse effects on the environment and contributed to important environmental goods and services (e.g., climate change mitigation), as evidenced by increased water use efficiency and carbon sequestration, and reduced pesticide use."

The relationship between these agricultural methods, global warming, and long term agricultural productivity is so complex that it would be better to treat separately and just focus on yields.  There's also the inconvenient truth that plants love CO2, and they thrive in environments where CO2 levels are high.

Assorted links

 

 1. Another benchmark in Craig Venter's quest to create life.
 
The pros: "I think they're going to potentially create a new industrial revolution," [Venter] said.  "If we can really get cells to do the production that we want, they could help wean us off oil and reverse some of the damage to the environment by capturing carbon dioxide."
 
The cons: "We don't know how these organisms will behave in the environment." [Dr. Helen Wallace of Genewatch]
 
2. Michael Holick interview with the New York Times (a few months old)
 
"The American Academy of Dermatology still has that recommendation that you should never be exposed to one ray of direct sunlight without sun protection."
 
3. Michael Pollan's The Food Movement, Rising in the New York Review of Books
 
On the different parts of the food movement:
 
"Among the many threads of advocacy that can be lumped together under that rubric we can include school lunch reform; the campaign for animal rights and welfare; the campaign against genetically modified crops; the rise of organic and locally produced food; efforts to combat obesity and type 2 diabetes; “food sovereignty” (the principle that nations should be allowed to decide their agricultural policies rather than submit to free trade regimes); farm bill reform; food safety regulation; farmland preservation; student organizing around food issues on campus; efforts to promote urban agriculture and ensure that communities have access to healthy food; initiatives to create gardens and cooking classes in schools; farm worker rights; nutrition labeling; feedlot pollution; and the various efforts to regulate food ingredients and marketing, especially to kids.
 
It’s a big, lumpy tent..."
 
 
On libertarians and evangelicals:
 
In his 2006 book Crunchy Cons, Rod Dreher identifies a strain of libertarian conservatism, often evangelical, that regards fast food as anathema to family values, and has seized on local food as a kind of culinary counterpart to home schooling.
 
And more on traditionalism:
 
In a challenge to second-wave feminists who urged women to get out of the kitchen, Flammang suggests that by denigrating “foodwork”—everything involved in putting meals on the family table—we have unthinkingly wrecked one of the nurseries of democracy: the family meal."
 
(Much the rest is familiar if you've read Pollan before and doesn't bear on the excerpts above.)

 

Assorted links

1. Tanning is associated with optimal Vitamin D status and higher bone mineral density.  (NOTE: But as one commenter pointed out, most tanning salons try to sell you UVA, when this paper is talking about UVB.  Don't rush to the solarium.)  And this:

"There is increased concern about skin cancer, which has created a fear of causative sunlight exposure (9 –12). Melanoma is the most serious form of skin cancer. It should be recognized that most melanomas occur in areas that are not exposed to the sun (13) and that it is the number of lifetime sunburn experiences, the number of moles, and red hair that increase the risk of this deadly disease (12)."

2. Melissa McEwen's poetic description of learning to hunt, dress, butcher, and eat deer

"We carved the body cavity through and through, leaving bare ribs skinless so the light could shine through. The digestive system we left for the vultures, as it belongs to them. I read recently about one of the earliest religious sites, Göbekli Tepe, a marvel considering that hunter-gatherers had no cities, but they bothered to build this temple carved with vultures, lions, and other predators of humans dead...and alive. Some theorize that the hunter-gatherers left their dead here to be eaten by these fierce flesh eating creatures. The word for this is "excarnate," which is very beautiful to me, the idea of sharing your body with other carnivores. I think of then as a time when none owned another, except in death when it was an honor to be consumed and melded with others."

3. Tyler Cowen responds to fears that food markets will be turbulent in years ahead

4. Reasons for optimism: perch in downtown Milwaukee and tilapia in Colorado

5. I'll be in DC this weekend, and I'm looking forward to the well-regarded Mitsitam Cafe at the National Museum of the American Indian. 

"Mitsitam (pronounced Mit-see-tum) means “let's eat” in the Piscataway and Delaware language. The 350-seat restaurant is essentially an extension of the museum, specializing in authentic Native American cuisine. The seasonal menu changes on each equinox and solstice and is divided among five Native American regions: Northern Woodlands, Northwest Coast, Great Plains, Meso America and South America."

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