"Science on organic foods: what needs to be done." written by Tinypliny on estrip.org

09/17/11 03:45 - ID#55162

Science on organic foods: what needs to be done.

Attached is the article I linked in my comment to (e:paul,55115). It reviews the state of science that is investigating if organic foods are really as good for people as many believe. It outlines the limitations of current studies and lays down some guidelines for how future studies might address this question better.

Intervention studies are the gold standard for evidence. Population studies generate statistically tenable hypothesis. :)

(e:Heidi), this PDF is for you.

::READ PDF::

tinypliny writes at 02:28:21 09/18/11 - Comment #65117: But let's assume for now that the summary article is correct and that organic farming is really capable of producing just as much or even more than conventional farming in terms of output. Why are the prices so high then? Comes back to your question about why the organic cauliflower was $4.59. Somewhere along the whole organic-can-indeed-feed-the-world-view and the poor-cannot-afford-organically-farmed-produce is a gap in understanding or something that is going wrong. What is it? I want to be able to understand it someday.

tinypliny writes at 02:09:42 09/18/11 - Comment #65116: Too much to read. Too little time.

tinypliny writes at 02:08:35 09/18/11 - Comment #65115: % I mean there could be the argument that it allows us to feed a larger population, etc but not better for you.

yes, the sole reason for not farming organic was enabling mass production of more food and bringing down costs. But (e:heidi) linked this synthesis article in your post about how organic could achieve the same. :::link::: I read it but I need to hunt down the real references from that article when I get sometime. It opposes the view that fathers of the green revolution (and prominent Nobel scientists) held, so I need to see the references for myself.... Maybe in a month I will get around to reading and assimilating the alien literature.

paul writes at 01:44:45 09/18/11 - Comment #65114: How can not adding something be a fad. Its is not a new way of doing something, it is saying - do it like people did before, don't do anything and just leave them as is, the way nature intended and the way animals ate them for millions of years.

It just doesn't make sense that adding carcinogenic chemicals and poisons can make it be better for you. I mean there could be the argument that it allows us to feed a larger population, etc but not better for you. I mean why not dip all of your strawberries in rubbing alcohol too, just to be safe.

tinypliny writes at 01:35:49 09/18/11 - Comment #65109: How is a fad different from a bandwagon?

metalpeter writes at 10:57:08 09/18/11 - Comment #65103: To be honest I think that might be a bit to much to read at this time.... But here is my thoughts

-Is not using chemicals better yeah sure
--But does shorter shelf life cause other problems
--Isn't it odd that all these food recalls they go back and they find plants at fault.... Of course that kinda makes sense since you often don't cook them and most stuff would be killed by the cooking fully of meat...

Now I have heard that organic stuff tastes better?
-I don't agree cause you know what you like.... This is the same thing people pull with made at home sauce .. Just cause it is homemade doesn't mean it is better... One of those companies is amazing and if that is what you are used to it is better... Just like if you eat McDonald's yeah Burger king is better Quality and Sportmen's is even better but you won't like it....

-Now mentally you think oh yeah this is good so maybe it does...

To me organic isn't a fad... It is a movement it is a badwagon people get on like hating on Dallas or something... Now that doesn't mean if you eat organic you follow that..

Permalink: Science_on_organic_foods_what_needs_to_be_done_.html
Words: 77
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 11/09/11 08:15

Category: music

09/11/11 06:15 - ID#55143

Rubinstein interprets Chopin

There is some indescribably exquisite melancholy about the slower version of Chopin's Waltz in B minor, Opus 69. Evenings are calmer with Rubenstein's interpretation of Chopin.

I want to learn the piano someday. And when I do, I want to learn all my favourites among his nocturnes and waltzes till I can play them with eyes closed. Someday. Certainly.

tinypliny writes at 08:42:06 09/12/11 - Comment #65009: hahaha, this is pure black and white love. ;-)

uncutsaniflush writes at 08:38:20 09/12/11 - Comment #65008: Thank you for sharing this. 11T1his one of my fav1e versions of the piece. Rubenstein was a great interpreter of Chopin. And this is a bit of great writing by Chopin.

BTW, are you testing me? Are you expecting me to make some comment on your love of piano music as another example of your black and white thinking?? Well, I won't do it. So ha!!

tinypliny writes at 07:59:54 09/12/11 - Comment #65002: LOL, I don't think Paul would ever agree to going out waltzing. hehehe At least I would be really surprised if he were interested. I don't know about (e:TK). Isn't he coming back? Maybe I could ask him and see what he says. I know partner dancing is mostly about couples dating etc. but that's not what I want from dancing. Its a lot of fun really, when you have a partner who doesn't judge you, is forgiving of the faults and is genuinely interested in the dancing rather than some crazy mission to be the best dancer in the world or something.

metalpeter writes at 07:49:52 09/12/11 - Comment #64999: The Point I never got to was yes there are tech dancers where the steps are very you must do this and then that and then this and both people have to be on the same page.... But honestly I think you could learn a lot just from seeing people do a waltz (I assume they vary based on the speed of music)... The thing is if you dance and you have to think step then why do it... Yes there is a point where you have to think about it until you get to that certain level but unless it is for like a big event where everyone will do the same dance (wedding or cruise maybe) then you have to feel the music?

metalpeter writes at 07:46:34 09/12/11 - Comment #64998: I not being a dancer my self I get that there are people who do the dance school thing. But I think partner Dancers are really need to be done with someone who is more then just a dance partner or is only your dance partner... What I mean is that people go out dancing together... Not that I know much about latin and swing dance but I think there is an intimacy thing in those "forbidden or saucy" dances or even slow dances that just works as a couple and might not work as two singles.... With the exception of like you and Paul or even (e:TK)....

tinypliny writes at 07:36:11 09/12/11 - Comment #64997: You know (e:metalpeter), if you would come with me to a waltz class I would totally be up for it. :)

In salsa, everyone was already paired up when they came to class. Many didn't want to rotate and some did it very reluctantly. The remaining could care less about whether I was getting the steps right, or were too judgmental and focused on what I was doing wrong. The one person who was really supportive while dancing with me stopped coming. But everything went really downhill when the teachers stopped dancing with me and decided they needed to practice more with each other. I waited for one of them to dance with me again for a whole two months but they never did.

I was bald back then. There were all these hair flicks and styling and moves that were just not do-able. I kept waiting for the class to turn slightly more singles friendly with more individual dancing. I dropped numerous hints but that never happened. The whole class made me feel more alone than I have ever felt before in my entire life. I actually cried regularly coming back in the snowstorms after some of my last classes. Some of my walks back from the classes were some of the most depressing moments I have ever had in Buffalo.

I don't think I want that kind of stress again.

metalpeter writes at 07:10:11 09/12/11 - Comment #64996: You just need one of those book Models to dance with....HA... You know when I was in grammar school part of Gym was a Square dance... Didn't like it then still not fond of it but it was a very small portion ..Thankfully .... No way I could do any of it cause if I could I would be on some show like glee or some musical no one has ever heard of....

tinypliny writes at 07:05:23 09/12/11 - Comment #64993: On second thoughts, I am not sure I want to get into the whole partner-dancing agony once more. I have had enough aches with salsa.

tinypliny writes at 06:58:05 09/12/11 - Comment #64992: The waltz is one of my top favourite classical styles.

tinypliny writes at 06:57:24 09/12/11 - Comment #64991: Unfortunately, no. Not yet, anyway. :) The ballroom classes are not in walking distance. I think if it were not for this impediment I would have learnt the waltz a long back.

metalpeter writes at 06:51:26 09/12/11 - Comment #64990: But can you dance a Waltz ? Just wondering.....

Permalink: Rubinstein_interprets_Chopin.html
Words: 65
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 09/12/11 09:55

Category: the odes

09/11/11 03:59 - ID#55141

Crossing over.

They chose perfectly.

I wish they didn't give him the corny helmet in the end though. He has way too gorgeous hair.

LOL:

They really do make a lovely pair. :)

Permalink: Crossing_over_.html
Words: 40
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 09/11/11 04:04

Category: buffalo

09/10/11 11:39 - ID#55136

Sunlight Simulation

Does anyone have a sunlight simulation lamp they like? Are they worth getting? I think I work better in sunlight and often have horrible panic attacks when its cloudy and gloomy outside. My sleep patterns are really messed up and I often can't sleep at all. Yellow light at night is starting to make me panicky as well.

I have been seriously considering lighting up my place with balanced full spectrum light. I want to see if moving away from the yellow spectrum will change anything. A couple years back, I bought white CFLs. Unfortunately, instead of 5500K (the spectra of sunlight), I bought something in the 4000x range. As a result, they are too bluish.

I don't want halogen lamps. I looked at sunlight simulation lamps by some company called Verilux but a ton of customers on Amazon have remarked on how quickly these lights break. So does anyone have any full spectrum lamps they can recommend?

Permalink: Sunlight_Simulation.html
Words: 158
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 09/10/11 11:42

Category: buffalo

09/10/11 11:13 - ID#55135

Dusk.

I came out of work to a spectacular dusk.

Permalink: Dusk_.html
Words: 13
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 09/10/11 11:33

Category: the odes

09/10/11 11:06 - ID#55134

Google Voice transcribes Paul

9/7/11 7:51 PM 3 days ago

But lately, bye bye, could you transfer a investment hey cooking application you What, what's up. All the maybe we can connect spring way, it's just me. West. You are special expense. Morganson Later. Bye, the If I can drop it off the roof there's like a whole. Maybe the whole flat you can. Bye bye hey okay. Hello, bye Yeah, P to say, you can give me a call. Bye. Hey, evening, yeah dear. You will. Hello. Hey man. Later, just, Subject, I gonna close the alright. I didn't. Hey there the Victor, but no later. It's 4 What, right. Bye. Yeah, Hello Hello Bill, hey. Well, alright, or are available, okay right hello, hey.

And all this took 3 minutes to say.

What I really want to know is who are Morganson and Victor... and Bill??

Permalink: Google_Voice_transcribes_Paul.html
Words: 139
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 09/10/11 11:07

Category: eating in

09/04/11 08:17 - ID#55094

The Pear Wars.

(e:Paul) challenged me to a pear war with the warrior ants and the swarm of bees in (e:PMT)'s garden. It was not a pretty sight.

There were fallen pears all over the place being viciously attacked by HUGE crazy ants, bees that possibly had a nasty sting and quite horrendous-looking fat blackish worms that looked as if they had crept slowly out of the scarier zombie movie scene. I think I accidentally brushed my hand on one. UGH. Maybe I should consider amputating it now.

For a while I debated kicking the bee-infested pears around to dislodge and rescue the pears but I was really worried about painful repercussions. Wisdom prevailed and I left them alone. But I did blow the ants off many a fallen fruit and got quite a haul of awesome pears.

(e:matthew) walked in on my grand-bug-war-for-pear-rescue halfway through and threw in some tomatoes into the mix. I know I am totally overdosing on tomatoes today but these mini ones were TOO delicious not to eat as soon as I got back! Thanks so much, (e:matthew)!

And now the quintessential dilemma. What does one do with 20kg of pears?

I am thinking slow roasted red pepper/tomato-pear-basil-soup spiked with red chillies and garlic...

Permalink: The_Pear_Wars_.html
Words: 221
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 09/04/11 08:26

Category: eating in

09/04/11 07:25 - ID#55092

Tomatoes!!

I realized that I had far too many tomatoes on my table to make it fungus-free through the week and hit upon a really easy way to use them up.

Free-spirited roasting:

Followed by a rough chop and toss with lentils, garlic, kale, basil, red peppers and buckwheat high fibre spaghetti.

Simply delicious!

Permalink: Tomatoes_.html
Words: 61
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 09/04/11 07:35

Category: chemicals

09/04/11 07:11 - ID#55091

Shower soap

Hmm. more chemicals that I don't know about in my shower soap:

Sodium laureth sulfate
Cocamidopropyl Betaine
Polyquarternium-7
Glycol Stearate
Decyl Glucoside
Hydroxypropyl
Methylcellulose
Sodium PCA
tetrasodium edta ( this is a chelating agent, it prevents blood from clotting. I guess it must be preventing clumping here. but what effect does it have on the skin? how potent is this?)
triethanolamine
methylchloroisothiazolinone
methylisothiazolinone

Probably okay

Water (Well of course)
Sodium Chloride (ditto for this)
Butyrospermium Parkii (Shea Butter)
Panthenol (Pro Vitamin B5)
fragrance
citric acid

The list is the scariest because I really have no idea about some of these.

Permalink: Shower_soap.html
Words: 99
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 09/04/11 10:42

Category: chemicals

09/04/11 06:55 - ID#55090

Palmolive dish washing liquid

The label is not on the bottle of dishwashing fluid so I had to look this one up on the Colgate website

:

Water: Consistency
Ammonium C12-15 Pareth Sulfate: Cleaning and Foaming Agent
SD Alcohol 3-A: Controls Thickness and Clarity
Lauramidopropylamine Oxide: Cleaning and Foaming Agent
Sodium Chloride: Controls Thickness (okay, this is salt)
Magnesium Sulfate: Controls Thickness
Fragrance: Pleasant Scent
Poloxamer 124: Controls Thickness
Pentasodium Pentatate: Maintains Product Stability
Preservative: Maintains Product Freshness
Sodium Bisulfite: Maintains Product Stability
Dyes: Color - yeah, what exactly?

I don't know about many of these chemicals. Their descriptions seem tame enough but who knows what lies beneath. I am somewhat rushed for time to verify each thing on that list. So there it is. I am exposed on a daily basis to these and I actually like washing dishes.

Permalink: Palmolive_dish_washing_liquid.html
Words: 145
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 09/04/11 10:42