Thursday, February 23, 2006

Powerful quote of the day

I think the Apocalypse is happening all around us. We go on eating desserts and watching TV. I know I do. I wish we were more capable of sustained passion and sustained resistance. We should be screaming and what we do is gossip. -Lydia Millet
I'll be checking out her books, I think. Check them out at Amazon. She sounds interesting and funny and maybe I'll be thinking more soon. All good things!

This is an interview with her at The Elegant Variation, which is a literary blog that I am now going to have to read regularly. Oh, the humanity!

Thursday, February 09, 2006

Kitties On Patrol!!!

























Found on Gothamist, which I highly recommend for daily browsing:

Kitty Cat Helps the D.A. Fight Crime!

If you thought your cat was only good for adorable primping (and hairballs), meowing during scratches, and covering up litter box poop, think again - your cat could have a future in law enforcement. Because the Best Story Ever Ever Ever is how the Brooklyn DA's office deputized an eight month old cat from Animal Care and Control to help bust a fake vet!

The media was putty in the paws of Fred and Burt - see the NY Times photo of Fred reeling from Burt's kiss; see AM New York's photo of Burt at the press conference - hell, AM New York put him on the cover! The Post titled its article Paw and Order, and the Daily News reporter Nancie L. Katz gets a subtle shoutout from the NY Times' staccato, noirish retelling of the animal tale:

The victim was stitched up. The hero wore a badge to meet the news media. His big green eyes looked past a dozen TV cameras. A dozen camera operators made kissy noises.

A tabloid reporter asked the district attorney a tabloid question.

"This is the first, Nance," Mr. Hynes said. "First undercover cat."

Then Fred took a nap in the corner. Tomorrow was another day. His owner said neutering was still in the works.

Good to know: You can adopt a pet from Animal Care and Control - see who is available here.


Link to Gothamist, who should be credited with the above post information.

This is absolutely adorable, and you can't deny that you just just said "Awwwww!!" either mentally or out loud. I absolutely love this story, and I love that it's getting unadopted pets some press. Just look at Fred - I bet he'll be adopted before the day is out!

If you have a home for a cuddly pal, look to the shelters first - there are a LOT of gorgeous beautiful buds out there. :)

Friday, February 03, 2006

Caffeine: Friend or Foe?

I've been doing a bit of reading on the subject, since I've been cultivating my very own addiction to caffeine since September '05, and I think the answer is: Friend. But only if you're not overly sensitive. My recent discovery is that coffee right before class (class being at 5:30pm) = a restless night of sleep. Not even tossing and turning, but just plain... wakeful. Not very refreshing, lemme tell ya.

How does caffeine keep us awake, you ask? What a good question!
Not that I've gotten this far in my studies as yet, but this site is pretty useful. It seems that our little friend increases our dopamine levels, making us happy (in the same way that cocaine and heroin do! Yippee!), and interferes with our absorption of adenosine, which is the hormone that puts us in a deep healthy sleep. Without that hormone at sufficient levels, we never really go beyond a light, wakeful sleep. So we think we're resting (sometimes)... but we're not. How thrilling for all of us. And the worst part is how long it stays in our system - one site actually describes it as half-lives (how long it takes for one half of an amount of material to decompose, or in this case, pass out of the system): according to the HowStuffWorks (link above), it takes 6 hours for half of the caffeine to pass out of your system. So if you drink coffee at 5:30pm like moi, 11:30pm is not going to be a very good bedtime because half of that caffeine is still floating around in there.

However, buttloads of studies have been done on the possible harmful side effects of caffeine, and other than those with other issues already (such as heart problems etc.), caffeine is pretty much a non-issue. Caffeine and Women's Health is a great piece that summarizes a few decades' worth of studies. It also has a little breakdown on how much caffeine is in what:Another thing to note: there are products out there advertising "natural" caffeine, usually from the Guarana plant... yeah, that's just caffeine. And it's no better or worse than other caffeine. And in fact, as quoted from the National Geographic site, the ingredients might list caffeine AND Guarana, which means you're getting two doses of caffeine! Of course, that might be a good thing for some of us. :p

So, what pretty much everyone wonders is: How much is too much? On average, 3-4 cups of regular coffee per day (at only 8 oz per cup), or 200-300 milligrams of caffeine should be your max. If you drink espresso instead (as I do every morning), that is equivalent to 6 oz or less of espresso. In case you wondered, each espresso shot is 2 oz, as told to me by Starbucks. Yes, I asked. So a "tall" has 2 oz, a "grande" has 4 oz, and a "venti" has 6 oz unless you ask for something else.

There is also the anecdoctal evidence that caffeine makes yer boobs hurt. Plenty of sites mention cutting down on caffeine if your boobs hurt, but none mention WHY they hurt! Harrumph. I'll find it later. I wonder if guys' boobs hurt too?

Well, do they, punks?