"Salad is a necessity, a type of proto-Soylent... it says, 'I�m taking care of a basic bodily need, but it�s just crunchy water!'"

"Salad, at its best, feels like a strategically good choice without being truly satisfying to the soul, like dating someone who�s not that smart, but has a beach-adjacent timeshare. Salad has its faults, and it knows it. It�s healthy, but it will never win the popularity contest against your Chipotle burritos, or even your Quizno�s subs. So the one thing salad should really never be is less healthy than a Big Mac.... And yet, a new report from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine points out 100 restaurant salads that are 'worse' than a Big Mac."

"Seriously, stop fetishising and commodifying my ghastly body. I worked long and hard to get this far out of shape..."

"... and I don�t need you telling me that�s fine and that I�m actually the new big thing (literally) in male body types...."

�Dadbod�. It�s a horrible little dismissal, suggesting cosy respectability and the inevitable slide into middle age. Me, I�ve always thought of my rejection of physical fitness as rather rock�n�roll, an almost political act of dietary rebellion....

"New Apostle of Hygienic Living Founds System on This Rule: 'Breathe Deep/Chew Long/Drink Enough/Eat Little.'"

"BACK TO NATURE" MOVEMENT GROWS/Civilization to Save Itself by Abandoning Artificial Modes of Life."

A New York Times article published November 16, 1907. A summary of the rules:



Found through a search for the word "eugenics" in the NYT archive. Context:
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Empathy cards.

"I created this collection of empathy cards for serious illness because I believe we need some better, more authentic ways to communicate about sickness and suffering. 'Get well soon' cards don�t make sense when someone might not. Sympathy cards can make people feel like you think they�re already dead. A 'fuck cancer' card is a nice sentiment, but when I had cancer, it never really made me feel better. And I never personally connected with jokes about being bald or getting a free boob job, which is what most 'cancer cards' focus on...."



ADDED: This makes me want to quote, once again, to the late David Rakoff's statement in "Half Empty." Rakoff had cancer and had been told the treatment would require the amputation of his arm and shoulder:

A friend asks if I�ve �picked out� my prosthetic yet, as though I�d have my choice of titanium-plated cyborgiana at my disposal, like some amputee Second Life World of Warcraft character. Another friend, upon hearing my news, utters an unedited, �Oh my God, that�s so depressing!� Over supper, I am asked by another, �So if it goes to the lungs, is it all over?�...

But here�s the point I want to make about the stuff people say. Unless someone looks you in the eye and hisses, �You fucking asshole, I can�t wait until you die of this,� people are really trying their best. Just like being happy and sad, you will find yourself on both sides of the equation many times over your lifetime, either saying or hearing the wrong thing. Let�s all give each other a pass, shall we?

"Teens who completely suppress puberty are also likely to be sterile, but Bird says it's now possible to undergo a temporary puberty."

"It can last for just long enough to harvest sperm or eggs for later use, but not so long that a teen begins to grow sexual features, like breasts or an Adam's apple."

From an NPR piece titled "Puberty Suppression Now A Choice For Teens On Medicaid In Oregon."

"Regardless of the hormone replacements I�m taking, I am now in menopause," writes Angelina Jolie, who is 39...

... about her laparoscopic bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy.

Two years ago I wrote about my choice to have a preventive double mastectomy.... [This was] a less complex surgery than the mastectomy, but its effects are more severe. It puts a woman into forced menopause. So I was readying myself physically and emotionally, discussing options with doctors, researching alternative medicine....

I will not be able to have any more children.... But I feel at ease with whatever will come, not because I am strong but because this is a part of life. It is nothing to be feared.... [I]t is possible to take control and tackle head-on any health issue....

ADDED: I don't know how seriously Ms. Jolie took alternative medicine, but I think it's good that she mentioned it here the way she did. She researched it. That's all she said. That throws out a line to the many people who think, when they find themselves in similar circumstances, I want to try the "natural"/alternative approach. It's tempting to many people, including many intelligent people, notably Steve Jobs. I could name individuals in my family � people I know were intelligent and who had access to science-based medicine � who took the alternative route and missed the opportunity to address deadly medical problems at the right time. It is extremely valuable for a celebrity as big and well-loved as Ms. Jolie to call people back from that precipice with the gentle words "discussing options with doctors, researching alternative medicine" followed by the decision to have dramatically life-changing surgery. That's a memorable lesson with a stamp of celebrity authority that's really useful to the vast numbers of people who don't automatically realize that they ought to be rational and go with science.

"Is Chris Borland�s retirement the beginning of the end for the NFL?"

"Chris Borland is quitting... as a linebacker for the San Francisco 49ers at 24 because he�s concerned about the long-term effects of repetitive head trauma. ."

Borland becomes the fourth player at the age of 30 or younger to retire in just the last week...

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