Another Friday, another off-topic post (I inadvertently skipped last Friday when I was so busy blogging the CNTC.)

Saw a couple of movies lately (in addition to Apocalypto, which I recommended already.)  Letters from Iwo Jima was a big disappointment.  I'd been looking forward to watching it for a long time.  Being the contrarian that I am I love to see ideas being explored from other perspectives (in this case, WWII from the Japanese side.)  But the characters were caricatures and it didn't seem remotely genuine.  The Italian was a decent low-budget Russian movie. 

Health kick continues.  It's annoying that humans seem to know so little about nutrition and health.  We just keep being herded from one fad to the next.  Saturated fat used to be the enemy, now it's trans fats.  Cholesterol used to be bad, now there's good cholesterol and bad cholesterol.  Some sources condemn tropical oils like virgin coconut oil for their high saturation, while others swear by them (in moderation.)  Some sources say that flaxseed causes prostate cancer, while others say flaxseed oil is the best thing since extra virgin olive oil.  I used to think that orange juice not-from-concentrate was the best, but now I hear that frozen concentrated orange juice doesn't have to be pasteurized (boiled) so it's got health benefits that not-from-concentrate juice is missing.  Same goes for a lot of frozen produce, the theory being that it is picked and frozen when it's ripe, instead of being picked green and ripening in transit, therefore frozen=more nutritious. 

I've enjoyed watching the USBC on Vugraph.  I was sorry to see Stacy take an early exit from the USWBC and she blew me away with the comment on her blog 'The point of my first year was ... to see if I could look beyond the bad reputation the women have made for themselves, ...'  Wow.  With competition like that, I'm going to have to rescind my claim to being 'outspoken, blunt, direct, etc.'  Oh, and if any of the Swedish girls are interested in making a bad reputation for themselves, call me.   The USBC Daily Bulletins have also been good, though not so much from a bridge standpoint as from a humor standpoint.  If you haven't checked them out, you should.  Some of the best jokes I've read in a long time (I especially love the one about Aunt Karen (pg 7, Sunday.))

Until next week ...