Seth’s blog

In March, Century posted this on the SLD forums:

I’d like to put my dog on SLD by giving him his calories through sugar cubes. Would that work?

The dog will whine constantly when he’s hungry. He’s pretty old, and at this point, we don’t have the heart to put him on a strict diet. The hope is that with SLD, we won’t have to choose between a happy dog and a healthy dog. If it works, he won’t whine after he’s been fed his normal serving.

Today he posted this:

It’s worked incredibly well. It’s gotten to the point where he won’t whine at all. If I don’t remember to feed him, he won’t eat anything. I haven’t been able to weigh him, so I don’t really know how much weight he has lost, but a number of people have commented on how much thinner he looks. I’ve started to cut back on the sugar.

Any doubt I’ve had that SLD is for real has been erased. It’s unreal how well it’s worked for the dog.

Thanks to Heidi.

This, from the SLD forums, made me laugh:

Ya know its probably NOT placebo. . . . First time I ever did it I could not finish my bowl of oatmeal. Before SLD I had never, not ever, been able to not finish anything.

After reading my post about Reed College’s horrible treatment of Chris Langan, a friend of mine who is a student at Tsinghua University wrote this:

I feel so lucky that we have lots of brilliant scholars who are at the same time good teachers. Many of them do care about undergraduates and give good advice. I don’t know which education system for undergrads [Tsinghua’s or Reed’s] is best, for colleges that do poorly in educating undergrads [like Reed] may produce students who are more independent. But being educated here, I have to say I love Tsinghua and its teachers a lot.

Why does she love Tsinghua? I asked.

I think it is very tolerant.  I made many mistakes while I was growing up, but just like my parents, my school didn’t forced me to do anything to correct my mistakes. It gave me freedom to choose, to live my own life. I’m glad it didn’t interrupt my life and gave me the chance to see my mistakes and to correct them by myself. And when I did want to correct them, it allowed me to. I realize that there won’t be many chances to make mistakes and to correct them by myself after I leave school so I value the time in the school. So I guess the best thing about Tsinghua is its freedom and tolerance.

My friend started as a math major. Then she became an English major. Now she is taking economics classes because she wants to study economics in graduate school. That’s what she means by “mistakes”: choosing the wrong major.

Tsinghua versus Reed.

Roberto Medri, a 27-year-old who works in Italy for Bain & Company, a consulting firm, writes:

I have had bad shaving problems since I started working three years ago. I tried pretty much everything: multiple blades, old-time safety razors, expensive British shaving soaps, silvertip brushes, pre-shaving oil and creams, abstruse shaving methods and blade techniques: all to almost no avail. Instead, my face would bleed more and more every day, making it frustrating and time-expensive to shave, only to get results which ranged from laughable to frightening.

I noticed two patterns:

• Once in a couple of months, I used to have a perfect shave: fast, enjoyable, baby-butt smooth with no irritation. I was not, however, capable of isolating the deciding variable, as those epiphanies seemed to be completely random.
• When I took up a new remedy (another pre-shave cream, steamed towels, etc.) things got better for 2-3 shaves, then back to normal horror.

A fortnight ago, I began having perfect shaves. Consistently. I am simplifying my routine because all toners and moisturizers now seem useless. My towels are not stained, I am on time, I actually look forward to shaving every morning (with but only a slight fear of it all ending).

The only explanation I can think of is that, following your advice, I started taking four softgels/day of flax oil about a month ago.

It’s very difficult to get flaxseed oil in Europe (bottled oil simply is not available). I have recommended flax to my colleagues also plagued by red necks to no avail: they are elite in two ways, white collar elite (working for Bain) and dietary elite (as Italians, which supposedly have the best and healthiest food ever), so it fits with your reasoning that they are very change-averse. In fact, a manager told me that my taking softgels during the day is “inappropriate” and “disturbing” colleagues.

John Lennon once said, refering to the Beatles, “We’re more popular than Jesus.” At dinner last night someone said that Michael Jackson was more popular than the Beatles. That surprised me. Was Michael Jackson more popular than Jesus? Google hits, as of this morning:

• Beatles: 54,400,000
• Jesus Christ: 47,600,000
• Michael Jackson: 41,600,000

For comparison:

• Barack Obama: 95,800,000
• Harry Potter: 93,200,000
• Brad Pitt: 28,200,000

Does that make J. K. Rowling (6,600,000 Google hits) the most powerful person in the world? Unlike President Obama, she can say whatever she wants. And she speaks to the most impressionable people in the world.