Links and things that I’ve run across recently.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Look at this Valentine’s bear that Abbie’s boyfriend Anthony gave her.
Grr… He’s showing me up.
Happy Ballantyne…
As it happens, this morning I listened to an interview with Sarah Ballantyne on the (back-episode of the) Livin’ La Vida Low Carb Show podcast (from last July).
Sarah lost 120 pounds and eased a host of food-intolerance issues by giving up grains, eggs, and other foods, and sticking with a strict autoimmune-protocol Paleo diet. She talks about her story and some of the science behind her experiences with inflammation.
Will This Get Me Laid?
While looking for something else, I dug up this classic piece by Holly Lisle on Men, Women, Writing, and Getting Laid. According to Holly, being a male writer is more likely to get me laid. But you women writers, forget it.
(As a guy, I think she’s oversimplifying. But it’s still an entertaining read.)
A Scene from Scrubs?
Via the Telegraph, 6 September 2011.
Doctors at the Memorial hospital in Istanbul are employing music as medicine. It may look like a scene from an off-kilter half-hour sitcom, but they say this music therapy is actually working.
Pictured: Dr Erol Can (center) bowing a yayli tanbur (an Ottoman violin), with Professor Bingur Sonmez (left) blowing flute, and Mehmet Susam (right) on guitar.
Personal Status
The great storm Nemo, succeeded by a night of almost no sleep, slowed up my progress this week. However I did get some done.
Character Fiction 101 — This has turned into a research project, in particular on story titles. As far as finished content, ready to be published, no significant progress. (Lots of notes that still need to be digested.) I’m also preparing a post for BeTheStory.com on the topic.
This morning, my bathroom scale read 177.6. But my waist is still at ~38 inches. (Which is probably the most important measurement, and I’d like it to be more like 35 or 36.) Sigh.
Today’s Quote(s)
It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled
(Mark Twain… Maybe. But neither I nor anyone else I’ve seen has been able to dig up an actual citation.)
It’s easier to pull up a witty quote attributed to Mark Twain, in order to make those with whom you disagree look stupid, than to figure out the real reasons you disagree.
(Me. And that is a citation.)
It’s easier to learn the entire Talmud than to change one negative character trait.
(Rabbi Yisroel Salanter… Again, maybe.)