Large gatherings Jul 29, 2014
It took me up until about a few weeks ago to realize that I hate large gatherings and I don't have to feel bad about it.  I'm an introvert, and I find large groups of people intimidating and unnerving.  Who am I supposed to talk to?  Where should I stand?  Why is everyone watching me?  The whole thing is terrible, and what I realized is that I can simply not go.  I didn't go to a BBQ at work.  It felt awesome.  I'm not going to a wedding reception this weekend.  Couldn't feel better about it.  I wish I realized this sooner in life. 

This all stems from a few particular things about introversion.  One is that being around people is draining for me.  My energy comes from being alone, or not interacting with other people much.  The other is the quality of interaction I experience at large gatherings.  If I don't know people, will we talk about where we live or work?  Pass.  If I do know people, will the setting be intimate enough to talk about things, or will the music be too loud to hear anything?  I value conversation, but only when it gets past the introductory stuff.  If it's just simple stuff, I can play along for a little while, or I could just skip the event entirely.  I think I'll just skip the event entirely. #psychology
Scientifically Accurate animations Jul 29, 2014
Fox made an animated series of videos called Scientifically Accurate that portray common cartoons and video game characters in a more scientific way.  For example, Spongebob would have no organs and wouldn't move, and Sonic the Hedgehog would eat things and rub the scent on himself.  Equal parts informative and terrifying. #entertainment
Apologies and compensation Jul 15, 2014
I had an appointment for one of my pets last week at the vet.  I arrived a few minutes early (by accident).  I waited an entire hour before seeing the vet.  More than once during that hour, I was told, "Sorry for the wait."  Since it wasn't ok, I didn't say, "It's ok."  I just gave a slight smile and an acknowledging nod.  When I finally saw the vet, she apologized and explained that there was an emergency regarding another pet.  I nodded in acknowledgement. 

I believe they made the ethically right decision of treating the emergency as more important than the routine appointment.  I would've done the same thing.  And I don't think they made me wait just to mess with me.  But it doesn't negate the fact that (a) I had an appointment, and (b) I had to wait for an hour.  Apologizing didn't give me my time back, and it didn't take away my annoyance. 

I think the proper way to apologize in that scenario is with some form of compensation, probably either a refund on what I already paid or a free visit some other time.  The way I see it, they broke the appointment contract.  But since it was an unforeseen circumstance, I can understand why the appointment wasn't kept.  Seeing that the business was still making money (positive) while treating an emergency (positive) while not keeping my appointment (negative), the only person in the equation who didn't benefit was me.  It stands to reason that the business should compensate for that. #psychology
Very Short Introductions Jul 15, 2014
Very Short Introductions is a series of books on various topics that cover just enough to provide some good information without overwhelming the reader or getting too in-depth.  They're all about 150-200 pages, and they're written by different authors so the "voice" isn't always the same.  I've read several of them and like them a lot. #entertainment
Cilantro and soap Jul 10, 2014
Apparently cilantro tastes like soap for some people, and there's a scientific reason why. #science
White whiskey Jul 9, 2014
White whiskey (or white dog, white lightning, moonshine) is simply unaged whiskey.  The thing that makes whiskey good is the aging in wooden barrels.  So white whiskey takes all the good parts of whiskey and removes them so you're left with only the bad stuff.  Put another way: 
White whiskey, then, is simply corn liquor that either never made it in the barrel or spent so little time in it to not matter. Consequently, it's clear as water, but hot with alcohol, harsh to drink and tastes heavily (and miserably) of sweet corn. All in all, it's not a very good spirit.
Slate says it even better:  "It tastes horrible."  It's true, the stuff is disgusting.  It's sort of like vodka, except more flavorful, and hence worse.  It's amazing that this has become a trend.  I was at a whiskey tasting and overheard a guy ask the bartender how to drink it (i.e. what to look for in smell, taste), and the bartender simply said "quickly".  Of all the myriad configurations of ethanol you can pour down your gullet, why anyone would choose something that's actively disgusting is beyond me.  If you want crappy whiskey, go with one of those giant plastic gallon jugs at the liquor store.  If you want to be extra American, pick anything with the word "bourbon" in it.  If you want something cheap, how about Jim Beam?  My point is that nobody is gaining anything by drinking white whiskey, except the distillers who are selling an unfinished product for much more than it's worth. #products
Imagining different realities Jul 8, 2014
I noticed a while ago that it's really difficult to imagine a different reality than the one you currently occupy.  Not like aliens and time travel and whatnot, but like imagining how things would be in the present if things in the past had gone differently. 

For example, sometimes I wish I drank more in college.  This sounds ridiculous, but give me a minute.  Cheap beer and crappy shots flowed freely in those days, but I held off until I was 21.  If I had started earlier, I could've gotten a few mistakes out of the way early (like Southern Comfort) instead of making those mistakes later in life when my body was older and less inclined to recover from a hangover. 

But if I drank at that time in my life, I probably wouldn't have been hanging out with the people I was hanging out with, which means I probably wouldn't have met my wife, which means I probably wouldn't have had the self-confidence to quit religion, etc.  The point is that we're all essentially a product of our experiences, and it's nearly impossible to imagine how things would've turned out if we changed just one of the many variables. #psychology
Cannibalism calories Jul 7, 2014
Popular Science wrote an article about the caloric content of human bodies.  A whole human contains about 81,500 calories, while a whole leg is around 7150.  As the saying goes, an arm a day (1800 calories) keeps the doctor away. #science