PENELOPE TRUNK: Stop Telling Women To Do Startups! “Women are choosing children over startups. So it seems that women are making decisions for themselves just fine. It’s just that they are not the decisions that men make. This should not surprise anyone. Men and women are different. So what?”
Archive for 2011
December 14, 2011
JUST DON’T EAT THE ONES THAT GLOW IN THE DARK: Oak Ridge’s 2011 deer harvest: 321 taken (3 too hot to take home).
TODAY ONLY: Panasonic Ultrafast-Booting Blu-ray Player with $10 Amazon.com Credit, $69.99.
Also, $100 off Canon PowerShot cameras. (Bumped).
SO, YESTERDAY I LINKED TO Protein Power and The Protein Power Lifeplan, and reader Judith Sears asked for some advice on high-protein low-carb recipes. The result was more responses than I could handle.
First, the Insta-Wife points out that those books actually contain recipes, something I should have noted. Second, reader William Moselle recommends Paleodietlifestyle.com and EverydayPaleo.com. Plus the book, The Paleo Solution.
John Fahy recommends Atkins.com. And reader Jonathan Bailey writes:
In response to Judith Sears request for low-carb recipes, the Eades also have a cookbook (available on Kindle too) called “The Low-Carb Comfort Food Cookbook” plus the “Protein Power Pyramid Cookbook” and I think a couple more. If she just searches Amazon using the search terms “protein power cookbook” it will come back with these and several other titles.
I dropped 40 pounds (down to 145) myself after ditching the carbs in my diet.
Nice work. And reader Sandra McWhorter writes: “Been on The Abs Diet by Men’s Health Editor-in-Chief David Zinczenko for a good while. Has a book with recipes, a recipe book and now a website and it is equally effective for men and women. No clue why more people don’t live this plan. Truly is a lifesaver, along with Younger Next Year by Chris Crowley. Women’s edition there, too.”
Another reader emails: “Old, but excellent high protein, low carb cookbook: The Low-Carb Cookbook by Fran McCullough (forward by Michael and Mary Eades, M.D) conveniently available on Amazon. My standards are high; this does not disappoint. Cook your way through it and you will be satiated and slimmer.”
Lissa Kay emails: “Love this book.”
And Dr. Michael Kennedy writes: “This is the Atkins Diet again, which refuses to go away because, in spite of food pyramids and the medical bigwigs, it works. I have wondered how much the conventional wisdom on diets has contributed to the obesity epidemic. I reviewed the medical literature a few years ago and it is almost impossible (or was then) to find any peer reviewed literature on the Atkins Diet or the concept. It’s a bit like global warming.” The literature seems to be catching up a bit. I credit Gary Taubes.
SCOTT GOTTLIEB: Modern Medicine Is Undergoing Industrialization. “The notion of the newly minted doctor who rents an office and hangs out his or her own shingle is a quaint reflection of a Normal Rockwell era that has expired. In its place, medicine is undergoing industrialization, where doctors are becoming owned commodities of large hospitals and health plans. This model was made largely inevitable years ago, with the passage in 1997 of the Balanced Budget Act. Under the Obama healthcare plan, it’s become the standard for the entire system. . . . The ACOs will fail because they aren’t premised on attracting investment to change how healthcare is delivered. They are just moving around the current pieces. Doctors will find themselves the pawns in this game. But it’s the patients who, faced with declining services and restricted access, will find themselves in checkmate.”
UPDATE: A reader writes: “One rarely-discussed aspect of health care’s industrialization is the impact it has on recruitment of new caregivers. How many people with a genuine urge to heal will want to spend their working lives in an industry fixated on bean-counting and bureaucratic control? And what sorts of people will want to work in that environment? And how will that impact the patient experience? Slower, please.”
WISCONSIN RECALL: FAKE NAMES WILL BE OKAY.
WISN reports that the Government Accountability Board will only check the addresses and dates that accompany the signatures. It will “flag” names that seem suspicious — e.g. Mickey Mouse — but “will not strike them without challenge.” . . . So the burden is on the target of the recall to find the duplicate signatures and phony names, for maybe over a million signatures, on a tight deadline! By “electronic copies,” I assume they mean scans of the handwritten signatures. I want typed-out names, so you can use a computer to do targeted searches. I mean, I’d like to know if anyone signed my name and address, but how would I check? Read the handwriting on all of the pages? . . .
What a mess! I hope they are planning to get the signatures quickly typed up and presented on a webpage so that everyone who wants to check names can do so. I am especially concerned about the appropriation of names of people (like me) who did not sign. I am genuinely afraid of fraud and don’t think we have anything close to decent safeguard in place.
And that doesn’t seem to be by accident. You know, events in Wisconsin have made me wonder if — despite its longstanding reputation for “good government” — civil society there is basically a sham, an overlay on a corrupt one-party machine. One expects this sort of thing in Illinois, but Wisconsin?
UPDATE: Charles Austin writes: “Sounds like Wisconsin is just ahead of Eric Holder’s news cycle.”
ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Allan Erickson writes: “Wisconsin is just the preview of what the 2012 elections will be like. I am beginning to wonder if there can be fair elections in this country anymore.” That such concerns even come up is destructive.
THE “STOP ONLINE PIRACY ACT” AND THE REVOLVING DOOR: Sixteen former Judiciary staffers lobby on online copyright issues. “As the House Judiciary Committee readies to consider a controversial bill that supporters say will crack down on websites pirating content, some interest groups may have a leg up on influencing the legislators. That’s because 16 lobbyists, representing various companies and organizations favoring, opposing or watching the bill, used to work on the House panel. The committee plans to markup the measure tomorrow.” Call your representative.
WEIGHT LOSS VIA intermittent Carb restriction.
TEN MYTHS about introverts.
UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES: Why CAFE changes could lead to larger cars, not smaller ones. “A study by the University of Michigan shows that auto manufacturers could meet tougher fuel economy standards simply by increasing the size of the vehicles they sell. A ‘footprint-based’ formula for calculating mileage targets was adopted when Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards were revised in 2007. Researchers now think this could lead to bigger vehicles on the road rather than increases in fuel economy for our nation’s fleet.”
RUSSELL BERMAN: Auf Wiedersehen to European Unity.
WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: Syria Bloodbath Mocks Hapless “Duty To Protect.” “A humanitarian movement that can’t stop the slaughter of 5,000 civilians, a massacre broadcast to the world every single day, unmasks itself as hypocritical and incoherent.”
CONTRACEPTION CONFRONTATION: Dem Senators to Obama administration: On Plan B, it’s put up or shut up time. “It isn’t every day that 14 Senators aggressively call out their own party’s Health and Human Services Secretary, imply that a major decision made their own party’s adminstration was not based on science, and demand proof to the contrary. But that’s exactly what’s happening right now in the dust up over the Obama administration’s decision not to relax restrictions on access to Plan B.”
ANN ALTHOUSE: “The cat claws are out for Callista.” Plus, from the comments: “Fawning over Michelle (Givhan’s usual job) and savaging Callista. It was hard to see this one coming.”
#OCCUPYFAIL: WORKERS FALLING VICTIM TO THE RAGE OF AN ENTITLED CLASS. New York Cafe Impacted Negatively By OWS Goes Out Of Business. “91 jobs lost thanks to Occupy Wall Street.”
FARHAD MANJOO SAYS INDIE BOOKSTORES ARE OVERRATED: Buying books on Amazon is better for authors, better for the economy, and better for you. “Compared with online retailers, bookstores present a frustrating consumer experience. A physical store—whether it’s your favorite indie or the humongous Barnes & Noble at the mall—offers a relatively paltry selection, no customer reviews, no reliable way to find what you’re looking for, and a dubious recommendations engine. Amazon suggests books based on others you’ve read; your local store recommends what the employees like. If you don’t choose your movies based on what the guy at the box office recommends, why would you choose your books that way? . . . So, sure, Amazon doesn’t host readings and it doesn’t give you a poofy couch to sit on while you peruse the latest best-sellers. But what it does do—allow people to buy books anytime they want—is hardly killing literary culture. In fact, it’s probably the only thing saving it.”
There are political issues, too, as many bookstore employees let their politics affect their work.
Plus, from the comments:
Actually I love bookstores. I was very sorry to see the Borders in the Time-Warner Center (NYC) close. I love the big, WELCOMING Barnes & Noble. But the local independent. They can all go under. Rizzoli on 57th is the most oft putting, unwelcoming, eltist feeling, hostile bookstore one could imagine. Strand is a joke. Setting aide the obnoxious, unhelpful, hipster losers that work there, you can’t actually find anything. Or it would take you an hour as opposed to 1 minute at Amazon. I bought a lot of books in bookstores. I buy far more at Amazon. I hope Amazon crushes the independents. And yes, I’m talking to you a certain bookstore on Lexington Ave bet 70 and 72nd on the East side, who’s continued existence defies any explanation relying on economics. I’ve never seen anyone in there. And they sure don’t act like they want customers.
And another:
I get irritated by the peans to independent bookstores that have popped up a lot recently. Independent bookstores may be nice if you like the kinds of books they like, but they are not so “friendly” if you ask for something they consider inferior. I like bookstores and wanted to support my local independent, but when I went in and asked for genre fiction, I was met with a sniff, a condescending look and a sarcastic comment, “we only cater to intelligent readers, not the kind of people who read THOSE books”. I’ve been met with the same attitude at independent bookstores in several cities. I realize bookstores can’t cater to everyone, but there’s a difference between politely saying, “sorry, we don’t have that” and “you’re stupid for reading those books”. I took my money elsewhere (and I suspect I spend way more money on books than most of their customers). I’ll gladly shop at Amazon, who is eager to recommend any type of books I want to read, and happy to sell them to me.
Indie bookstores are like indie record stores — they’re either great, or lousy, without much in-between. When the staff is composed of hipsters who look down on customers, they’re lousy. Kind of a print version of the record store in High Fidelity.
UPDATE: Reader Eric Neill writes that it’s not as simple between big and small:
My wife runs a small used bookstore in our rural town, the first bookstore this town has ever had. She lists tons of books on Amazon and there is no way she could keep the doors open without that income stream (which far surpasses in-store book sales). If people want to support smaller independent booksellers while still taking advantage of the convenience and competitive pricing offered by Amazon, they should consider clicking on the “used “ selection of the book they are looking at. Almost all of those sales are small book shops, and most of them qualify for free shipping under your Prime account!
I love the Amazon Prime. And that’s a good point. As I pointed out back in 2005, some big outfits make it easier to be small.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Gregory Hill writes:
I was in Seattle a couple of years ago visiting family. We went to an indie bookstore down by the water to browse. As bad as most of the chain bookstores are with respect to the leftist politics determining what books are displayed front-and-center, this was ten times worse. Not only was the selection ridiculously one dimensional, the posters were a rogues gallery of Leftist Heroes. There was a prominent poster of Che by one of the stairs, and my son asked who he was. My rather loud response was “a murderer.” The looks from the other customers were priceless.
Needless to say, we didn’t waste a lot of time there.
To think–I used to love working in stores like that when I was young and stupid….
I guess now that all those jobs have gone away, there’s nothing left but the Occupy movement. . . .
JOHN STOSSEL: Job Creators Fight Back.
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: National Law Journal: Is Law School Worth It? Not For Most Grads. I’m not sure it’s really “most,” but the numbers should be sobering.
BUBBLES AND LIES: Realtors: We Overcounted Home Sales for Five Years.
ENERGY POLITICS: Tainted EPA Report on Fracking Blasted by Gas Co. “Here’s the story: the EPA says tests it conducted in Pavillion, Wyoming “indicate that ground water in the aquifer contains compounds likely associated with gas production practices, including hydraulic fracturing.” However, it turns out that the EPA drilled two monitoring wells to some 900 feet – much deeper than water wells which are usually at about 300 feet – and indeed found hydrocarbons. In short, they drilled into the natural gas reservoir that has long attracted industry producers. It may the single most productive moment in EPA history.”
Heh. It’s almost like this Administration doesn’t want us to be energy independent.
SUNUNU? Has Team Romney Lost Its Mind? “No doubt Sununu’s support is important for Romney in New Hampshire, where he was a popular governor in the 1980s and served as chairman of the state Republican Party from 2009-2011. But Sununu is a discredited figure among conservatives. To deploy him on the national stage — in an effort to convince conservatives that Gingrich is not one of them — is, quite simply, insanity.”
INSIDE WUKAN: The Chinese Village That Fought Back. “For the first time on record, the Chinese Communist party has lost all control, with the population of 20,000 in this southern fishing village now in open revolt.”
RELOAD AND FIGHT: University of Denver Professor Will Reteach Course That Offended Students. Let ’em be “offended.” That’s part of life.