Everyday Junglist
Bio
Practicing mage of the natural sciences (Ph.D. micro/mol bio), Thought middle manager, Everyday Junglist, Boulderer, Cat lover, No tie shoelace user, Humorist, Argan oil aficionado. Occasional LinkedIn & Facebook user
Stories (566/0)
I Dewormed Myself Yesterday
Author's preface and waring: This is from a little over two years ago and contains some rather gross and yucky stuff. Consider yourself forewarned if you decide to read on. To the unlucky censors (sorry moderators) who have the pleasure of reviewing this article know that the "graphic material" included is scientifically accurate and important to the story.
By Everyday Junglist3 years ago in Longevity
Vegetable Growers, Doctors Linked in Decades Long Conspiracy to Promote Health Aspects of Vegetables
Vegetable growers and doctors have been linked in a conspiracy said to stretch back fifty years or more in which members of the American Medical Association (AMA) traded favorable studies of the health aspects of vegetables for cash payments, lavish vacations, high end prostitutes and other bribes from vegetable farmers associated with the Vegetable Growers Association of America (VGAA). The doctors also agreed to consul their patients that they and their children should eat as much vegetables as they could stomach while downplaying the lack of flavor, terrible texture, and overall grossness of the food as a “necessary evil.” Dr. Ray Johnson, a pediatrician that has agreed to turn states evidence and helped blow the case wide open said “we told our patients who trusted us that they and their kids should be choking down food they both hated because of the supposed health benefits. Meanwhile we sat around the table with our own families eating meals totally free of putrid smelling broccoli or flavorless mushy zucchini.” He justified his own participation in the conspiracy by saying “When this first started we (doctors) all thought what’s the harm really. I mean it’s not like vegetables are bad for you. They just aren’t all that much better for you than anything else, and let’s be honest, vegetables are gross. They smell funny, look funny, and by and large have little to no flavor. How else were we gonna get people to eat this stuff?”
By Everyday Junglist3 years ago in Fiction
On “Dumbing Down” Your Writing to Appeal to the “Average” Reader
There seems to be some consensus, at least on across the blogosphere, that in order to appeal to the so called “average reader” and maximize readership it is necessary to “dumb down” one’s writings. In the past I have come down very hard against this idea. In particular I take issue with the idea of grade level writing, or trying to keep one’s style and grammar and vocabulary choices at or below a certain arbitrary grade level, sixth and eighth grade seem to be the most common options. The idea being that people are generally not all that smart, not that patient, and will quickly click away from anything that challenges their intellect or in which they encounter unusual words they are not familiar with. Basically anything that makes them to think too much or forces them to come to terms with their own ignorance. Recently a writing colleague on a different site responded to my insistence that I would never dumb down my writing by asking a very simple question, would it hurt to do so? She went on to explain that as a non native speaker of English it is even more difficult for her than for most to keep up with “higher level” writing and she lamented that it was very frustrating having to constantly “go up and get a dictionary” to look up words that she did not know. I will admit the non native speaker was not the stereotype of the person I had in my head when imagining these so called ordinary joe’s and jane’s, and her points had some validity. They certainly forced me to stop and think about my position, and ultimately caused me to write this piece. For that I am eminently thankful to her and her question.
By Everyday Junglist3 years ago in Journal
Maxim Creep
Balance The topic of balance came up recently in a conversation with a friend. She was relaying the results of one of those personality tests that claim they can classify your personality “type” based on certain behaviors, characteristics, and/or tendencies. There are hundreds but the vast majority are based on the Meyers-Briggs classification system which is itself an out-shoot of Karl Jung’s personality type theory. The point of this post is not to debate the merits of Jung’s theory, like many theories in the social sciences, it has its proponents and detractors. Instead I will accept it as generally accurate and ask what that implies from a self improvement perspective.
By Everyday Junglist3 years ago in Psyche
A Simulationist Reflects on the Death of His Cat
Authors note: I had not had any contact with Simulationism or the Simulationist church in over six months. I was beginning to think the entire movement had collapsed or decided to go back underground or maybe even never really existed in the first place. If you look at the volume of articles written about it in any forum there has been a precipitous drop. I do not have the correct tools to do any sort of thorough analysis but it has become topica non grata in the past few months and I have seen very few mentions in any writing on this site or any other in the past two at least. Apparently somebody still believes however as an email showed up in my inbox yesterday with the subject line “Diary of a Simulationist -Excerpts.” The sender was mblover69@(redacted).com. Cute, mb for Mike Bostrom no doubt but the 69 thing is kind of gross. lol! When I tried to respond everyone’s best/most hated friend mailer-daemon got the reply instead and kindly informed me it was undeliverable. Oh well, I tried. The entire thing is a mess of pseudophilosophical statements touching on religion the simulation and evolutionary theory. Throughout it all though is a very (real) human emotion for a widely shared human experience, great sadness at the death of a beloved pet. Like many of us the diarist is looking for a reason behind the seeming purposeless of that terrible loss. The picture was included as an attachment. Apparently our mysterious simulationist is a Stephen King fan, drinks orange juice, and has questionable taste in pajamas. Note that I refer to this person as “him” and “he” in the title and throughout though in truth the gender is unknown. The contents of the message are below in unedited form.
By Everyday Junglist3 years ago in Futurism
- Top Story - July 2021
Thinking and Rethinking Thought LeadershipTop Story - July 2021
Thought Leader - Definition A thought leader is an individual or firm (agency) that is recognized as an authority in a specialized field and whose expertise is sought and often rewarded. In the sciences or other highly technical fields this makes sense though I still find it mostly unhelpful. It is usually more of an indicator of ego than actual accomplishment with the so called “thought leaders” mostly (though not always) self anointed (or anointed by a small group of other self anointed thought leaders) as such.
By Everyday Junglist3 years ago in Journal
DNA Determinism Continues to Dominate Public Discourse
Philosophy of DNA Determinism It is almost hard to believe how conditioned we have become to accept the philosophy of DNA determinism (and it is a philosophy, it is not a science, though it is supposedly based on science). The surprise and shock that is expressed at what should be a common sense and more than obvious conclusion (environmental factors are just as, or more important, then gene sequence in complex disease outcome) is astounding. I have written about this issue on occasion before but the topic deserves a wider audience.
By Everyday Junglist3 years ago in Humans
Sorry But DNA Sequence Data Cannot Be Used to Design a Personalized Fitness or Nutrition Plan
As a practicing research microbiologist/molecular biologist it pains me to constantly be the naysayer when it comes to claims that some of my own colleagues have made and continue to make with respect to the “power” of DNA sequence data. To hear these people tell it with DNA sequence data alone we can cure virtually any disease, have perfectly optimized diets, and maintain ideal weight with minimal effort. Moreover by following our DNA optimized fitness plan we can expect to live in perfect health to the ripe old age of 300 at which point we will die peacefully in our sleep.
By Everyday Junglist3 years ago in Longevity
The Last of All Redundant Essays
The Most Redundant Words to Delete From Your Writing Advice on extraneous words from the Random House copy chief The consensus of opinion these days seems to be that redundancy in writing is bad. While it may be the general consensus it is not an absolute certainty that this is the case. In fact it might possibly be the case that redundancies are more superior to other methods of emphasis when it comes to getting and keeping your readers attention, despite what Random House copy chief Benjamin Dreyer says in the above linked piece.
By Everyday Junglist3 years ago in Journal