Hippo, birdie, two ewes...

... to kendaer!!! Have a great one!!

Worms considered healthy

This fascinating NY Times article says that there's evidence that the last century's resurgence of inflamatory bowel diseases such as Crohn's, and other autoimmune diseases, may be due to the corresponding decrease of parisitic worm "infections". It seems that they survive by suppressing the host's immune system...

The trick will be finding worms that don't do more harm than good.

(Via this post by mia_mcdavid.)

River: of bananas and telephones

When I was about four years old I choked on a banana. I still can't eat them. I like them cooked, but the taste and texture of a raw banana is simply intolerable.

My freshman year in college I made a real effort to get dates; cold-calling several girls every week. I got shot down consistently, of course, and the calls got harder and harder. Finally, forty years or so later, I am sometimes able to make a non-emergency phone call to somebody I know well, if I have reason to think I won't be intruding. The only other time I was able to do that was the year my father was dying of cancer. That didn't get a whole lot easier, either.

It's not only negative experiences that leave a permanent mark, of course. I still remember every detail of the night I lost my virginity. So do most people, I imagine. If there had been music playing, it would probably be my favorite song.

The association doesn't have to be negative, either, even if the experience is painful. I still love genmaicha, the Japanese green tea with toasted rice, in large part because it was what E served the night she dumped me. It's the level of emotion that casts the association into stone.

It doesn't happen at a rational level, of course, and it can happen very quickly. I didn't decide never to have bananas again; I didn't have to. The association just happened, before I had time to think about it. The habits you form in a moment can take a lifetime to break. It can take decades before you even track them down to their source, let alone start to work on them. Often it's not worthwhile.

I'm still working on telephones, though I'll probably never be particularly comfortable with them. I don't think I'll ever like bananas.