Odd Lots

[jeff_duntemann]

• In response to numerous queries: QBit is still alive, and still pretty frisky, considering that our vet suggested he would be gone by now. Yes, his lymph nodes are still swelling, and we won't have him for a whole lot longer, but he's fighting lymphoma pretty well. We're giving him a supplement called Apocaps, that supposedly accelerates apoptosis in cancer cells. I'll keep you posted.
• A new study involving more than a million patients pretty much drives the last nail into the coffin of cholesterol alarmism. Cholesterol doesn't cause heart disease, and therefore statins don't do people any good. This is a very very big deal. It's not enough to ignore government-issued nutrition advice. I'd recommend doing the opposite.
• There are 18 volcanoes in the US considered "very high threats." I have never lived close to any of them, and that was (mostly) deliberate. Arizona has two volcanoes with a threat rating (one "moderate" and one "very low") but neither of those is within a hundred miles of me. Click through to the PDF; it's excellent, and will tell you what volcanoes in your state have threat ratings.
• Good article on life expectancy. (Thanks to Wes Plouff for the link.) As I read it, the US is doing pretty well compared to the rest of the world. I wish there were data on life expectancy plotted against habitual hours of sleep per night. My intuition is that people who short sleep die younger.
• 2018's tornado count is the lowest in 65 years. STORMY, are you still at it?
• Merriam-Webster will show you what words were coined the year you were born, or any arbitrary year from 1500 to the present. On the list for 1952 are stoned, global warming, deep space, modem, nonjudgmental, softcover, field-effect transistor, plotline, sonic boom, and Veterans Day. So what are the cool words on your list?
• We don't hear much about polar bears these days, in part because they're thriving, in spite of any changes in the climate that may be happening. Three recent papers cited at the link.
• Our pool water is still at 84 degrees, almost certainly due to a warmish fall (it hit 90 in our neighborhood today) and especially our pool cover. We were in the pool today, and luvvin' it.
• Best webcomic I've seen in some time. Carol and I just finished a whole box of pumpkin spice K-cups, and that may do us for another year. We think that coffee should be light, sweet, and spicy, like life. Goths we are not, evidently.