Who Am I?

Weekend Update 08-27-2011

Posted: August 27th, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Weekend Update | Comments Off on Weekend Update 08-27-2011

You’re allergic to beer?: Living Gluten-Free in College It’s pretty cool to see celiac disease articles and columns in publications like USA Today. My son managed last year in a dorm well and this year he has his own apartment with a roommate and is learning to plan and cook most of his meals for himself. Her story does illustrate how difficult it can be even for people with celiac disease to keep all the facts about the disease and food straight. Yeast, for instance, is not the real problem with beer. (If it were, it wouldn’t be possible to make gluten free beers.) Rather, the problem is that beer is essentially a fermented barley infusion (perhaps with rye and/or wheat as well).

And another good news article on celiac disease in US News & World Report. It left out the important point that studies also indicate that roughly 90% of those with celiac disease are undiagnosed and don’t know they have it. Usually it’s just those with particularly severe acute symptoms or those in the late stages of the disease (like me) suffering from things like osteoporosis or anemia. The celiac blood tests need to be added to the routine screenings so it can be caught early which, as the article notes, is very important.

Sarcastic responses to well-meaning signs. Many of these are pretty funny!

Gosh, if that’s the way the right is going, the next thing you know they’ll reject the theory of evolution. Oh, wait.

This Jon Stewart clip is absolutely fantastic. Sadly, a lot of people in the US apparently can’t do basic arithmetic.

Krugman discusses the strange power of really bad ideas — in this case raising the Medicare age.

Nasa has an excellent site on global climate change.

With the Fed also intimidated into inaction, it’s hard to see any end to the ongoing economic disaster. An excellent analysis, not that it will make any difference.

Not cut out for religion. This is excellent.

I was pretty young when I first heard Stairway to Heaven. I liked most of my parents’ music, but this was one of the songs that struck a chord deep within me. I quickly memorized it so I could sing it even when I couldn’t listen to it. Even now, it’s a song that never fails to move me when I hear it. If there are two paths you can go by, in the long run, there’s still time to change the road you’re on.