Interesting Links for 06-03-2018

[andrewducker]

"Why I want to be adopted at the age of 27"

(tags: adoption parenting law scotland )

Cognitive benefits of bilingualism overstated

(tags: language brain )

This satire version of Gwyneth Paltrow's health website reads like the real thing to me

(tags: health fraud satire funny viaJohnBobShaun )

A perfect economic storm made Italy ripe for a protest vote (and the Euro is partially to blame)

(tags: euro Italy politics inequality economics )

Re-enter Sandman: Neil Gaiman's comics return with new writers

I loved the Lucifer series we got ages back. Hopefully some of these will also be good.
(tags: sandman neilgaiman comics )

On the sexualisation of the sirens

(tags: greece mythology translation language society sexuality writing patriarchy )

How to persuade a robot that you should get the job

(tags: cv jobs ai Technology )

How generics were added to .NET

(tags: programming design )

Australia could become first country to (nearly) eradicate cervical cancer

(tags: cancer women australia GoodNews )

Fruits and Vegetables Have Become Less Nutritious

(tags: fruit vegetables farming )

The Top Ten: Anachronistic skeuomorphs

(tags: design history )

MPs take 13 minutes to double Royal family income and approve £360m Buckingham Palace refurbishment

(tags: royalty UK money snp )

Women only multi-task because no other bugger does anything

(tags: women multitasking satire funny )

Toddler Feelings Helpline

(tags: babies funny viaSwampers )

Embiggen is now officially a cromulent word

(tags: language simpsons )

Comments

Fruit and veg

[alithea]

I'm now wondering what the corresponding change in sugar levels is - the Boy bought some baking potatoes the other week that had "bred for sweetness" amongst their blurb, who wants sweet tasting potatoes?! I mean, I love actual sweet potatoes, but standard white potatoes bred to taste sweet is just odd, and they weren't anything like sweet potatoes, just watery and funny tasting :(

Re: Fruit and veg

[andrewducker]

You do get some _really_ odd examples of this out there.

Presumably some people like them, because otherwise they wouldn't exist.

[cmcmck]

Given my own parental issues do you think I could get Scottish husbandly person to adopt me? :o)

[skington]

I'm surprised that hospital visitation rights wasn't mentioned as one of the reasons for adoption.

Is it really about soil?

[skington]

The Scientific American article was infuriating, because the study it quoted blamed the loss of nutrients on selective breeding, and there didn't appear to be any source for the contention that it's to do with soil quality.

Surely Occam's razor suggests that if we already know that e.g. tomatoes have been engineered to be larger and more shelf-stable at the expense of taste, then it's quite reasonable to imagine that things like nutritional content were also sacrificed as part of the same process?

Also, there's an easy way to test whether the lack of nutrients in fruit and veg is to do with soil quality: compare field-grown produce against the stuff grown in hydroponic greenhouses.

Re: Is it really about soil?

[alithea]

Yeah, you have a good point there - the bit covering that actual study is about growth rates and breeding issues. And it completely ignores the fact that while soil health is declining, modern intensive farming involves supplying all the nutrients plants require via artificial means anyway - the impact of soil decline is more likely to impact the wider ecology not the crops.

[symbioid]

"Why I want to be adopted at 27" --

Obligatory Mr. Show:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udzIlPcLm3Q

[marahmarie]

"Women only multi-task because no other bugger does anything"

That's not satire - it's the truth. I consider myself not even qualified to run a household if I can't do everything either (cis-) gender might be expected to do at any given time.