Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Food Groups
We're all familiar with the usual food groups:
Caffeine,
Cholesterol,
Fat,
Sugar,
Alcohol, and
Chocolate.
But this is not enough to cover all important foods humans eat. I propose several additional food groups, the Florescent foods group, Cold food and the Flat foods. Examples of florescent food include Trix and the multiple-flavored Twizzlers I met yesterday (Blueberry! Strawberry ummm!). Flat food includes pizza and fruit by the foot.
The original op-art movement was really about food diversity. Similarly, the Flat Earth Society was originally an advocacy organization comprised of manufacturers of flat foods like nan, pita bread, flat noodles and sole before getting distracted with the more pressing mission (pun intended) of developing educational materials about geology and the Earth.
The flat food group contains some unusual members. Consider ice cream, which could have belonged to the cholesterol or fat or sugar groups, but instead belongs to the cold food group. But what happens when ice cream melts? If it is in a bowl, not much. But, if you leave the ice cream on a plate or lying out on the counter, then after the ice cream melts, it is no longer cold. Further, it is flat! Melted ice cream belongs to the flat food group!
There are other food groups, you are encouraged to add them to the comments along with examples of those foods.
Acknowledgements: to my colleague Mas for alerting me to the florescent food group.
Caffeine,
Cholesterol,
Fat,
Sugar,
Alcohol, and
Chocolate.
But this is not enough to cover all important foods humans eat. I propose several additional food groups, the Florescent foods group, Cold food and the Flat foods. Examples of florescent food include Trix and the multiple-flavored Twizzlers I met yesterday (Blueberry! Strawberry ummm!). Flat food includes pizza and fruit by the foot.
The original op-art movement was really about food diversity. Similarly, the Flat Earth Society was originally an advocacy organization comprised of manufacturers of flat foods like nan, pita bread, flat noodles and sole before getting distracted with the more pressing mission (pun intended) of developing educational materials about geology and the Earth.
The flat food group contains some unusual members. Consider ice cream, which could have belonged to the cholesterol or fat or sugar groups, but instead belongs to the cold food group. But what happens when ice cream melts? If it is in a bowl, not much. But, if you leave the ice cream on a plate or lying out on the counter, then after the ice cream melts, it is no longer cold. Further, it is flat! Melted ice cream belongs to the flat food group!
There are other food groups, you are encouraged to add them to the comments along with examples of those foods.
Acknowledgements: to my colleague Mas for alerting me to the florescent food group.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Election 2008: Tie Ball Game
At pollster.com, they have their own calling of the presidential race based on current state polling. Their count has 208 electoral votes for McCain, 202 for Obama and 128 electoral votes in toss-up states. If you go through the toss-up states, there are 61 votes for McCain and 67 for Obama, leading to an exact electoral college tie.
Here are who is ahead in each of the 128-electoral-vote-totaling toss-up states:
JM
MT - 3
NV -5
IN - 11
OH-20
WV - 5
VA - 13
NH - 4
BO
CO - 9
MN - 10
WI - 10
MI - 17
PA - 21
Total: 67 Barack Obama, 61 John McCain
Added to 202 BO and 208 JM
gives us a 269-269 tie.
Update: Was still tied yesterday using the same mechanism, though the strong and leaning Obama and McCain states had shifted quite a bit. And I did a little editing above.
Here are who is ahead in each of the 128-electoral-vote-totaling toss-up states:
JM
MT - 3
NV -5
IN - 11
OH-20
WV - 5
VA - 13
NH - 4
BO
CO - 9
MN - 10
WI - 10
MI - 17
PA - 21
Total: 67 Barack Obama, 61 John McCain
Added to 202 BO and 208 JM
gives us a 269-269 tie.
Update: Was still tied yesterday using the same mechanism, though the strong and leaning Obama and McCain states had shifted quite a bit. And I did a little editing above.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
UCLA Election Blog
Apparently this blog isn't enough. UCLA has started its own election blog for 2008.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
all the evenhandedness its fit to print
I'm having to get my news via reading blogs. Can't take watching CNN with its fair and balanced coverage. Hearing three different republican representatives saying identical words is spooky. And looking at a McCain falsehood and not calling it false? Its total moral relativism, no absolute belief in truth (or justice or the American way). Having to have a pundit on either side of every issue. Did Christopher Columbus cross the ocean in 1492? For the nay side we hear from ...
The low information content of TV also drives me crazy. Then there are the commercials. The breathlessness of the anchors, as if, should we turn away from the TV, we'll miss the horrible news about Ike or John or Barack.
The low information content of TV also drives me crazy. Then there are the commercials. The breathlessness of the anchors, as if, should we turn away from the TV, we'll miss the horrible news about Ike or John or Barack.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)