Assorted Links

self-tracking neuroscientist. I have only learned from tracking when I am adventurous — when I change stuff, such as what I eat. I will be curious to see if the same thing happens here. The initial thought when tracking yourself is “keep things constant” so that the data from different days will be more comparable. This makes sense if you are doing an experiment where different days get different treatments. It does not make sense when you are not doing an experiment. This self-tracker doesn’t seem to be doing any experiments, so he should allow his life to be messy if he wants to learn more.
Interview with Renata Adler
Alternate-day fasting thread at Mark’s Daily Apple
An essay on the effect of immigrants on “economic freedom” (via Marginal Revolution) does not mention the fact that immigrants bring new ideas and skills. This is an example of the way economists usually ignore innovation, which benefits from new ideas and skills. Innovations usually derive from new combinations of things. To open a new business (an instance of economic freedom) it really helps to have a new good or service. New cuisines (immigrants open restaurants) is just the beginning.

Thanks to Dave Lull.

Shio koji, a fermented food I haven’t paid enough attention to
My experience of vegetarianism by Chris Masterjohn. “[After] a couple of weeks of eating red meat, my panic attacks completely stopped.” I suspect eating butter would have had the same effect — that the problem was lack of certain fats. A 2012 study found an association between vegetarianism and anxiety disorders (such as panic attacks).
Higher latitudes, more multiple sclerosis. Multiple sclerosis increases by a factor of 40 from low to high latitudes.
Richard Nikoley’s six years of self-experimentation summed up
Dangers of statins
new major in Fermentation Science and Technology at Colorado State University. Smart!

Nassim Taleb makes a good point. There is a huge difference between using what you already know (or think you know), which is engineering, and finding out more, which is science. People who know little about science confuse science and engineering, but they do blend into each other, in the sense that science is using what you already know to learn more and engineering is full of uncertainties.
Association of vegetarian diet and death rate (new study). The vegetarian/non-vegetarian comparison interests me less than the vegetarian/pesco-vegetarian (I call them aquaratarians) comparison, which is less confounded. The pesco-vegetarians lived substantially longer than the vegetarians.
Levitating Beijingers. What Beijing really looks like.

Thanks to Navanit Arakeri and Patrick Vlaskovits.

The truth about Yahoo!
Good experience with probiotics and fermented foods. Had bad case of candida. “I t still seems to me that I am having die off and that I am not allergic to fermented foods, as I had thought for so long. . . . What this means for me and candida and the future, I don’t know yet, but I am more hopeful than ever that this is a next big step in my healing.”
Natto ice cream
Dorkfood Sous Vide Controller coupon code: SHANGRI-LA. 15% discount. If I was starting now, I’d skip the vacuum sealer and use reusable silicone bags.
Indigenous fermented foods — long list, with descriptions