Cheers and Jeers

I am distracting myself because I have some tedious routine odds and ends to get done at work (e.g. reviewing yet another revision of a document and, no, I still don't believe that you don't need to do design reviews for software) and because I am still playing around with the last bit of the story I am telling tonight.


So, here are some quick thoughts on things going on in the world.

Cheers:

1. The Vote for Scottish Independence - I am undecided on the issue itself, but voting is a nice peaceful way to settle things.
   
   
2. One of John Franklin's Ships Being Found - A Canadian expedition turned up one of the ships in the Arctic. They don't know yet whether it is the Erebus or the Terror, but this is still way cool
   
   
3. Baseball - This was a bad year for my beloved Red Sox, but at least the Nationals won their division title.
   
   

Jeers:

1. Ebola Panic - The reason ebola spreads easily in Africa has to do with living conditions, e.g. lack of sanitation. I have been inside African hospitals (fortunately not as a patient) and they have shortages of things as basic as rubber gloves. There is little reason for Americans to believe we are at risk.
   
   
2. Anti-immigrant Hysteria - I continue to believe that the only restrictions we should have are to keep out actual felons. The restrictive immigration policies of the early 20th century are responsible for the murders of about 90% of my family.
   
   
3. Bad Diet Research - There were lots of reports about a recent study that concluded low carb diets are better than low fat diets. The problems with the study are numerous, however. For one thing, a 2 year study is not long term. For another, a diet that is 30% fat is not low-fat. (The low carb diet was 40 grams a day, while most guidelines for low-carb allow up to 100 grams a day.) I'm not making a statement about what is or isn't better and, in fact, I believe that the answer is different for different people. But this is just bad research.