Batch of links

It’s nice to be doing one of these again! I have too many links to round up into one post, so I’ll try to group them by theme and save some for later…

- If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you probably remember me talking smack about GMOs. Recent conversations with my parents and with the Engineer, however, made me think that perhaps I haven’t made my position entirely clear. It’s not the GMOs themselves that I have anything against. We eat tons of foods that Nature didn’t create but that are not at all harmful. What bother me personally are the crops engineered (and copyrighted) by certain companies (like one that starts with “Mon” and rhymes with “santo”) specifically to withstand tons of their proprietary pesticide. This bothers me because a) it means the food is saturated with pesticides that I’d rather not have in my diet; b) it is environmentally unsound and affects even plots of land not used for this type of cultivation; and c) it is very unfair, even unethical, as far as the farmers are concerned. But here’s a really good article explaining why genetic manipulation might be necessary to save the orange, and why this isn’t a bad thing at all. (On a related note, I’m not against banning all GMOs, of course, but labeling products so that the consumers know what they are getting seems like a no-brainer.)

- 7 scientific terms that are misused by the general public. Now if we could only get mainstream reporters to read this article…

- How self-awareness and suggestion can influence our food choices.

- Another guide to navigating food allergies and restrictions, be it your own or someone else’s. (And I found out, to my horror and dismay, that a certain tick can make you “allergic” to meat!)

- Great video about the real cost of the American healthcare system. And this is just one of the many reasons why Obamacare is so important.

- 4 sisters, photographed every year for 36 years. Awesome.

- Remember the woman on page 194? I salute Glamour for continuing the dialogue with the women on page 198. And here’s also a really great post about real women.

- A 96-year-old man entered a song contest to honor his wife of 75 years. His entry wasn’t eligible, because he sent it on paper instead of online, but his song was professionally recorded after all. And you may need some tissues.

- I had never understood how cow-tipping could work, and it turns out I was right. If there is such a thing as a rural (not urban) legend, this is it.

- Stop-motion animation with knitting makes for a great natural gas ad!