Cool stuff: dogs CAN understand you, mini-skirts are illegal in Uganda, and people been eating popcorn for 4,000 years. Plus a happy video.

Hi friends.  Some cool articles from the week, and a happy video that will make you cry in case you’re in the mood to get out some emotion: 

First, the happy video.  Nothing like strangers helping needy kids to pull at the heartstrings:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/19/norwegians-boy-without-jacket_n_4815716.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009

Now the articles:

It’s no surprise to dog owners, but this is cool nonetheless: research indicates that your dog may understand the emotions in your voice, leading to a greater understanding of what you’re saying:

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-26276660

People ate popcorn 4,000 years ago: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/02/27/283307934/popcorn-common-snack-helped-to-build-empires

You’re not allowed to wear miniskirts in Uganda:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-26351087

Bye now. Happy weekend. 

What's the science behind our love of chocolate? And how good is your English vocabulary?

Hi!  No time to write a substantial blog post this week, but here's a cool video about the science behind why we love chocolate:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/video/why-do-we-love-chocolate/

And here's a cool website that tests your knowledge of English vocabulary.  Seems like a lotta smart people aren't getting above about 81%!
http://vocabulary.ugent.be/wordtest/start

You are all cute.  xo

Um, how did I not know that there should be ONE space after a period instead of TWO?

So it turns out that all my self-righteous grammar rants have been riddled with syntactical errors. I've just learned that I'm supposed to use ONE space after a period instead of TWO. Somewhere along the way I was taught to use two spaces after a period and I stuck to that, but, oopsie, it's all wrong.

Here's an overview of this subject from an expert:
Chicago Manual of Style: "The view at CMOS is that there is no reason for two spaces after a period in published work. Some people, however—my colleagues included—prefer it, relegating this preference to their personal correspondence and notes. I’ve noticed in old American books printed in the few decades before and after the turn of the last century (ca. 1870–1930 at least) that there seemed to be a trend in publishing to use extra space (sometimes quite a bit of it) after periods. And many people were taught to use that extra space in typing class (I was). But introducing two spaces after the period causes problems: (1) it is inefficient, requiring an extra keystroke for every sentence; (2) even if a program is set to automatically put an extra space after a period, such automation is never foolproof; (3) there is no proof that an extra space actually improves readability—as your comment suggests, it’s probably just a matter of familiarity (Who knows? perhaps it’s actually more efficient to read with less regard for sentences as individual units of thought—many centuries ago, for example in ancient Greece, there were no spaces even between words, and no punctuation); (4) two spaces are harder to control for than one in electronic documents (I find that the earmark of a document that imposes a two-space rule is a smattering of instances of both three spaces and one space after a period, and two spaces in the middle of sentences); and (5) two spaces can cause problems with line breaks in certain programs." http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/qanda/data/faq/topics/OneSpaceorTwo.html

And this article lays out opinions from various other experts:
"Every modern typographer agrees on the one-space rule."http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2011/01/space_invaders.html 

I am so married to the post-period two-space that I absentmindedly used two spaces after every period in this very blog post. I had to go back and edit them down. My head is exploding.

Gluten Intolerance – the confusing delay in symptoms

It took me forever to figure out, and then accept, that I have a non-Celiac gluten intolerance.   And I’m not alone.  About 5% of the population has gluten intolerance, and only a fraction of those people have Celiac.  The rest of us struggled along for years eating bread here and there, trying to figure out if we always felt like crap after eating bread, or if maybe our symptoms were related to something else we ate.  One of the reasons it can be so hard to “swallow” the idea that you might be gluten-intolerant is that the symptoms don’t necessarily come immediately after eating wheat.  Sometimes symptoms don’t occur until as much as 2 or 3 days after consuming wheat. 

If you eat a piece of bread and feel fine until the next evening, you’re more likely to blame your symptoms on whatever you ate for lunch on the day you started feeling bad.  But if you keep a food journal you can track whether your symptoms always come after you’ve eaten wheat. 

What are the symptoms of gluten intolerance?

-Bloating and stomach cramps
-Diarrhea, flatulence, constipation
-Tiredness, lethargy
-Headaches, memory problems
-Depression and anxiety
-Frequent illnesses such as colds and bacterial infections
-Joint and inflammation problems
-Eczema, itching, dandruff

Note that when you give up gluten it can take a couple of days to get relief from symptoms.  But once the gluten starts leaving your system your body will experience dramatic reductions in the symptoms.

Some good resources to check out:

http://www.foodintol.com/wheat-gluten-sensitivity/gluten-intolerance-symptoms

http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20120220/gluten-sensitivity-fact-or-fad?page=2

http://gluten.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/allergies-and-intol-06-2011.pdf

Dog-to-English translator, and life on Mars

In case you haven't learned anything interesting this week, here's something cool you can tell your friends:

A group of Scandinavian scientists are developing a translator that will read your dog's thoughts and tell you what he/she is thinking:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25559116

Also, 1,000 candidates have been selected from amongst 200,000 applicants to be tested to see if they're fit enough--mentally and physically--to receive a ONE-WAY trip to Mars in 2025:
http://news.yahoo.com/mission-shortlists-over-thousand-candidates-life-mars-163024347--sector.html

Reflections on my former 4AM antics (like riding on taxicabs), and what they mean to me in 2013

Five years ago, I was intimately familiar with the 4AM hour.  I saw that hour at least once a week as I reveled tipsily through New York City with friends, riding on taxicabs and making late-night tents on fire escapes.  Those were wild and joyful days. 

These days I rarely see 4AM.  I’m chagrined by what a lightweight I am compared to my former self. Four drinks in, I start to yawn.  Most nights, I’d rather stay in and watch Bridesmaids with a friend and a martini than go out and dance on a table.  I haven’t climbed up an illegal fire escape in many years.  Instead I climb rocks, secured by ropes, completely sober, in broad daylight.  I guess this is called “growing up,” something I once vowed never to do. 

On the up side, as I’ve “grown up” a little I’ve also shaved away much of the layer of anxiety that I wore like a second skin throughout my 20s.  I try to replace grudges with gratitude, and I view the amount of love in my life as a measure of success.  These new perspectives make me feel old, but they also make me feel like I’ll probably live a lot longer than that scrappy, angsty 20-something Me. 

I’d still like to hang out with Me circa 2007 for a night, because that Me was spectacularly fun.  But she also ended up crying behind a dumpster on her 30^th birthday, so, really, it’s probably best for her to keep her head planted in the sand. 

But I’ll take some lessons from that version of Me.  Like her, I will try to fill my life with people who wring every molecule of joy and frolic from every day.  I will try to live life as lovingly, and ebulliently, as possible.  And, if there’s enough fun and mischief in the air, I’ll drink enough caffeine to punch down my yawns so I can see what 4AM brings. 

Young man comes out to his mom and videotapes it

This is so beautiful.  The young man in the below video tells his mom that he's gay for the first time, and videotapes it.  Their interaction is incredibly touching.  This video has moved me: