Fannishness, Food, and... Uh. Anyway, Links! :D
iO9 has been publishing some almost surprisingly good articles lately. I tend to think of them as more flash than substance, but in at least 2 areas of interest for me - crop plants and fannishly bent - they've had strong pieces that made particularly good points.
Fannishly, the hilarious Star Trek Into Darkness: The Spoiler FAQs has had a lot of publicity for good reason - it highlights all the plot issues with the movie in an amusing and very readable fashion, covering both why something wouldn't make sense ("cold fusion" is not actually cold), but also why long standing Trek fans might have issues with random callbacks that worked the first time due to an entirely different set of circumstances (i.e. lack of emotional build up reducing the effectiveness of scene).
[Note: I occasionally accidentally read the first comment of any article without thinking. I always, always regret it, but I am a *cough*sensitive soul*cough* with zero tolerance for the bullshit and assholery so often on display in such arenas, so you're mileage may vary, but I'm definitely not recommending the discussions, just the articles. Proceed in that direction at your own risk.]
Then, today, they posted "Elementary Demonstrates the Right Way to Update a Classic Hero", nailing a lot of things that make it such a brilliant adaption. The author acknowledges that it's certainly not flawless, the hand prints of network decision making the most evident, but the things it gets right are both surprisingly numerous and generally fantastic.
At one point, Holmes is quoted from The Man with the Twisted Lip, saying, "It is, of course, a trifle, but there is nothing so important as trifles." For me it summed up nicely the fact that all of these things, taken individually, are trifles in a way - Watson is a woman, Lestrade is an intelligent ally - but to our brains and world view, they are something else entirely and far more important than we usually acknowledge.
[They also recently linked to "An Interactive Map of Regional American Accents With Audio", which struck me as an interesting writer's resource to share.]
On the topic of food crops and a bit further back, hiding in my Saved Articles [to Read] pile at NewsBlur, was "GMOs are One Solution to an Ancient Puzzle", which does a nice job of pointing out why GMOs are not bad by definition. And they're really not, no more than "heirloom" varieties are inherently superior to hybrids - every last one of those heirlooms were hybrids at one point or another, they just have different uses and adaptions. Hybridization is the foundation of plant diversity and to spurn the entire concept is naive at best - although understandable, in that case, given the fear mongering hype. GMOs, or Genetically Modified Organisms, are nothing more than hybridization in a lab rather than in a field, and merely a tool, for good or ill. And it's demonstrably being used for both on a daily basis, in my opinion.
For the most part, I have the luxury of preferring flavor over production at this point, and if I save "heirloom" seed, then the fruit produced the next year will be the same as this year. Therefore, many of my plants are indeed heirlooms. Many modern hybrids were bred with the goal of making it easier to feed a lot of people in a lot of places (I know I bought asparagus from South America at the store today), and flavor has suffered, but that's not because it's an un-stabilized cross of two species, aka a "hybrid". Corn is a good example of a crop where recent hybridization has made it possible to get a better tasting product into the hands of many consumers as it's sugars break down so rapidly after being picked, that it would otherwise taste like cardboard. In fact, conventional wisdom had it that corn off the plant for more than a couple of hours had little flavor. The newer "supersweet" and related varieties do help that considerably. There's a lot more sugar to break down, and therefore a lot more wiggle room to get it to the supermarket or the corner store or the factory where it'll be canned or frozen.
Some varieties will, I suspect, never be stabilized, either because no one's tried, it's just not going to work (boy howdy, do I know nothing about that side of it), or due to financial issues - they make money on selling the new seed every year and corn is big business, after all. Even "Round-Up Ready" Monsanto corn/soy/etc. seed isn't inherently bad, it's the company selling it, their business practices, and the general side effect of breeding stronger and stronger "superweeds" that I so strongly disagree with.
Yes, we have Super/Giant Ragweed now. Yay. For outside reference, one of the first links I turn up is Mother Jones, so it falls very heavily on one side of the issue, but I can't say that I disagree with the parts I so far skimmed: Nearly Half of All US Farms Now Have Superweeds.
More recently, iO9 tackled the Paleo lifestyle in "Why the Paleo Diet and Lifestyle are Not Based in Scientific Reality" with an extended excerpt from Paleofantasy: What Evolution Really Tells Us about Sex, Diet, and How We Live by Univ. of Minn. biologist Marlene Zuk. It actually tangentially relates to the previous article I mentioned as it presents the facts of evolution: that there is no one perfect situation for any organism and that it's all a mess of compromises and chance adaptions rather than a series of absolute improvements. The natural order is largely as imperfect as the "unnatural" methodology of modern crops.
I don't think this excerpt from the introduction specifically refutes all, or even many, of the arguments I've seen for the Paleo diet, but it's interesting in and of itself. I personally frequent a lot of Paleo food blogs not as a proponent of the lifestyle, but because they eschew a lot of the foods I happen to be allergic to (soy, dairy, since my primary milk/cheese/yogurt availability is from cattle fed high protein, government subsidized soybeans, and wheat, which I still seem to have some sensitivity to although I'm not yet 100% certain). The American diet emphasizes these things, so finding food ideas and inspiration that I can safely consume without worrying over possible side effects just by seeking out stuff labeled "paleo" is really nice. Their flavor doesn't usually depend on various cheeses (*cries*) or their substance on wheat noodles and I just add in rice, beans, and fruit with impunity. :D
The other nice thing is that the Paleo diet, much like the many people going gluten-free regardless of dietary restrictions, is making a wider variety of foods available, generally at a more reasonable, if still expensive, cost. Those with significant food allergies or severe gluten sensitivities can make the very valid argument that they're endangered by people not taking them seriously when they try to communicate with food preparers about what is in the food they're consuming, so it absolutely has it's good and bad influences on the collective consciousness.
As you can see, io9's been providing a lot of food for my thought recently, and I've a few more promising articles still in the queue. HOWEVER, lest you be worried that they've abandoned their flashy bits entirely, have no fear - I'm pretty sure they're the ones that had that sensationally headlined piece on the Yellowstone "Supervolcano" last week. :P
Crossposted to Dreamwidth where there are
comments. Comment here or there. ♥ Blue :)
Fannishly, the hilarious Star Trek Into Darkness: The Spoiler FAQs has had a lot of publicity for good reason - it highlights all the plot issues with the movie in an amusing and very readable fashion, covering both why something wouldn't make sense ("cold fusion" is not actually cold), but also why long standing Trek fans might have issues with random callbacks that worked the first time due to an entirely different set of circumstances (i.e. lack of emotional build up reducing the effectiveness of scene).
[Note: I occasionally accidentally read the first comment of any article without thinking. I always, always regret it, but I am a *cough*sensitive soul*cough* with zero tolerance for the bullshit and assholery so often on display in such arenas, so you're mileage may vary, but I'm definitely not recommending the discussions, just the articles. Proceed in that direction at your own risk.]
Then, today, they posted "Elementary Demonstrates the Right Way to Update a Classic Hero", nailing a lot of things that make it such a brilliant adaption. The author acknowledges that it's certainly not flawless, the hand prints of network decision making the most evident, but the things it gets right are both surprisingly numerous and generally fantastic.
At one point, Holmes is quoted from The Man with the Twisted Lip, saying, "It is, of course, a trifle, but there is nothing so important as trifles." For me it summed up nicely the fact that all of these things, taken individually, are trifles in a way - Watson is a woman, Lestrade is an intelligent ally - but to our brains and world view, they are something else entirely and far more important than we usually acknowledge.
[They also recently linked to "An Interactive Map of Regional American Accents With Audio", which struck me as an interesting writer's resource to share.]
On the topic of food crops and a bit further back, hiding in my Saved Articles [to Read] pile at NewsBlur, was "GMOs are One Solution to an Ancient Puzzle", which does a nice job of pointing out why GMOs are not bad by definition. And they're really not, no more than "heirloom" varieties are inherently superior to hybrids - every last one of those heirlooms were hybrids at one point or another, they just have different uses and adaptions. Hybridization is the foundation of plant diversity and to spurn the entire concept is naive at best - although understandable, in that case, given the fear mongering hype. GMOs, or Genetically Modified Organisms, are nothing more than hybridization in a lab rather than in a field, and merely a tool, for good or ill. And it's demonstrably being used for both on a daily basis, in my opinion.
For the most part, I have the luxury of preferring flavor over production at this point, and if I save "heirloom" seed, then the fruit produced the next year will be the same as this year. Therefore, many of my plants are indeed heirlooms. Many modern hybrids were bred with the goal of making it easier to feed a lot of people in a lot of places (I know I bought asparagus from South America at the store today), and flavor has suffered, but that's not because it's an un-stabilized cross of two species, aka a "hybrid". Corn is a good example of a crop where recent hybridization has made it possible to get a better tasting product into the hands of many consumers as it's sugars break down so rapidly after being picked, that it would otherwise taste like cardboard. In fact, conventional wisdom had it that corn off the plant for more than a couple of hours had little flavor. The newer "supersweet" and related varieties do help that considerably. There's a lot more sugar to break down, and therefore a lot more wiggle room to get it to the supermarket or the corner store or the factory where it'll be canned or frozen.
Some varieties will, I suspect, never be stabilized, either because no one's tried, it's just not going to work (boy howdy, do I know nothing about that side of it), or due to financial issues - they make money on selling the new seed every year and corn is big business, after all. Even "Round-Up Ready" Monsanto corn/soy/etc. seed isn't inherently bad, it's the company selling it, their business practices, and the general side effect of breeding stronger and stronger "superweeds" that I so strongly disagree with.
Yes, we have Super/Giant Ragweed now. Yay. For outside reference, one of the first links I turn up is Mother Jones, so it falls very heavily on one side of the issue, but I can't say that I disagree with the parts I so far skimmed: Nearly Half of All US Farms Now Have Superweeds.
More recently, iO9 tackled the Paleo lifestyle in "Why the Paleo Diet and Lifestyle are Not Based in Scientific Reality" with an extended excerpt from Paleofantasy: What Evolution Really Tells Us about Sex, Diet, and How We Live by Univ. of Minn. biologist Marlene Zuk. It actually tangentially relates to the previous article I mentioned as it presents the facts of evolution: that there is no one perfect situation for any organism and that it's all a mess of compromises and chance adaptions rather than a series of absolute improvements. The natural order is largely as imperfect as the "unnatural" methodology of modern crops.
I don't think this excerpt from the introduction specifically refutes all, or even many, of the arguments I've seen for the Paleo diet, but it's interesting in and of itself. I personally frequent a lot of Paleo food blogs not as a proponent of the lifestyle, but because they eschew a lot of the foods I happen to be allergic to (soy, dairy, since my primary milk/cheese/yogurt availability is from cattle fed high protein, government subsidized soybeans, and wheat, which I still seem to have some sensitivity to although I'm not yet 100% certain). The American diet emphasizes these things, so finding food ideas and inspiration that I can safely consume without worrying over possible side effects just by seeking out stuff labeled "paleo" is really nice. Their flavor doesn't usually depend on various cheeses (*cries*) or their substance on wheat noodles and I just add in rice, beans, and fruit with impunity. :D
The other nice thing is that the Paleo diet, much like the many people going gluten-free regardless of dietary restrictions, is making a wider variety of foods available, generally at a more reasonable, if still expensive, cost. Those with significant food allergies or severe gluten sensitivities can make the very valid argument that they're endangered by people not taking them seriously when they try to communicate with food preparers about what is in the food they're consuming, so it absolutely has it's good and bad influences on the collective consciousness.
As you can see, io9's been providing a lot of food for my thought recently, and I've a few more promising articles still in the queue. HOWEVER, lest you be worried that they've abandoned their flashy bits entirely, have no fear - I'm pretty sure they're the ones that had that sensationally headlined piece on the Yellowstone "Supervolcano" last week. :P
Crossposted to Dreamwidth where there are
comments. Comment here or there. ♥ Blue :)