Science
Fakin’ the Nut Allergy – A Rant
According to Joel Stein:
- My nut allergy is a product of my white upbringing.
- I can stop my anaphylactic shock with my mind.
- My parents were yuppies.
- Your parents are yuppies.
- God hates retarded children.
- Fat friends make you fat (He quoted a guy for this fact).
- Nuts are good.
- Durr.
Ok, the last few bullet points were me being silly, but I think you get where I’m coming from. It’s hard to take this opinion piece seriously when the writer didn’t really bother to make a “good” point. As someone who’s experienced anaphylactic shock numerous times growing up (most involving hospital visits), I hardly think that my nut allergy is a product of my parents worrying I could be allergic to things. In fact, it’s because they let me eat whatever the hell I wanted as a young’un that we discovered my little “aversion” to nuts.
While I can’t necessarily argue against certain illnesses and allergies being “all in the mind,” I can’t outright say that that’s the case either. I’ve met people who fit into both sides of the argument and it’s led me to believe that things like this CAN be in the mind and CAN actually exist. And sure, there’s yuppie paranoia and the issue of being “too clean” and “too healthy,” but people like me still do exist and our problems are real.
Am I crazy in finding this guy’s ramblings aggravatingly written?
An Old Video, But Good One
Found this older video by perusing a family member’s blog archives. Every time I’ve come across TED I’ve always been engaged on so many levels. Seriously. Good stuff. I agree with a lot of what Sir Ken Robinson says here. Our education needs to be rethought. Funny that I’m thinking about this more now that my education is winding down.
Paralyzed With Joy
Had my RSS feed reader on this afternoon in class (I know, shame on me..) when this article popped up on Gizmodo about these brain implants that help paralyzed monkeys regain movement. I clicked through to the New Scientist article and read further on the breakthrough implant. I must say that I’m quite fascinated by the implications of this, especially since I have a constant fear of waking up one morning and finding myself unable to move. Anyway, give the articles a look-see.
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