proof that lowering cholesterol does not lower the risk of heart disease

Re-evaluation of the traditional diet-heart hypothesis: analysis of recovered data from Minnesota Coronary Experiment (1968-73) | The BMJ

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 Available evidence from randomized controlled trials shows that replacement of saturated fat in the diet with linoleic acid effectively lowers serum cholesterol but does not support the hypothesis that this translates to a lower risk of death from coronary heart disease or all causes. Findings from the Minnesota Coronary Experiment add to growing evidence that incomplete publication has contributed to overestimation of the benefits of replacing saturated fat with vegetable oils rich in linoleic acid.

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They fail to mention that were MORE deaths among those whose cholesterol was lowered. There are no health benefits from increased seed oil consumption. 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/lowering-cholesterol-killed-a-study-buried-for-40-years/ar-AA1X3qeS

Derpetology: Seed Oils, Longevity, & Diet

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What differentiates the Tukisenta, Maasai, and Tokelauans from modern Western populations is their lack of processed foods, refined sugars, and seed oils

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Blue zone diets are free of such things too.

It seems the main things to avoid are tobacco, alcohol, sugar, and seed oils. All of those things are multibillion-dollar industries. I should add that medicine is also a multibillion-dollar industry (worth about $24 billion per year)

how to become smart

My credentials are here:

Derpetology: Smarter Than the Average Bear

gist: got into UCLA, earned a BS in chemical engineering on a full scholarship, learned Swahili and Arabic, perfect ASVAB score, IQ = 145 (top 0.1%), semi-retired for the past 3 years

Your mission, should you choose to accept it:

Mission Impossible theme song (Original)

1. read a lot daily on many different topics (science, history, literature, current events, etc.)

2. solve puzzles (crossword and sudoku ones are particularly good)

3. play games (chess is particularly good, so are Scrabble and Text Twist)

Chess | Play chess online, against the computer or online players. Great free chess site!

Text Twist · Free Online Game

4. put things together (jigsaw puzzles, model airplanes)

5. learn to sing or play a musical instrument (you do not need to become great at it)

6. study a foreign language (you do not need to become fluent to benefit)

7. write essays, poetry, or short stories

8. watch documentaries

9. listen to informative podcasts

10. debate in an online forum

11. try new things

12. travel (especially to museums; if you can't travel, look up videos of places)

Doing anyone of those things often will make you much smarter. 

the best explanation of why the world population will stabilize

Why the world population won’t exceed 11 billion | Hans Rosling | TGS.ORG

Summary: The are 4 billion people over 30 and 4 billion people under 30. Thus, in 45 years, there will be 10 billion people, because the 2 billion deaths every year will be replaced by 2 billion births. We've had linear population growth since 1960. 

I'd tell Paul Ehrlich to eat it, but he already did. 

My reaction to getting an award from Trump

This was in my inbox today:

I like Trump for the most part, in a lesser-of-two-evils way. Hopefully someone with some pull in his admin will see this. The Iran war is a bad idea. If we can kill the leaders of another country with impunity, that country is not a threat to us, and so war with it is unjustified. We've already had two forever wars in the Middle East in my lifetime, three if you count Syria and four if you count Yemen. 

The rationale for US bases in the Persian Gulf is to prevent war with Iran and keep the Strait of Hormuz open. Well, now what are those bases for? They're just expensive, vulnerable targets for Iran and its proxies now. The same is true for US Navy ships. 

If we trade and have normal diplomatic relations with China and other authoritarian countries, there is no practical reason for not doing the same with Iran. If they get a nuclear weapon, so what? Pakistan and North Korea got them, and the world did not come to an end. 

We're fighting a war we can't win with money we don't have against a country that isn't a threat.

Any way you look at it, war with Iran is irrational. 

grow a giant sequoia or bristlecone pine for $11!

Sequoias are the among the tallest trees and bristlecone pines can live almost 5,000 years.

Ancient Bristlecone Pine | Seed Grow Kit – The Jonsteen Company

California Redwood | Giant Sequoia | Seed Grow Kit – The Jonsteen Company

I'd like to plant a grove of each somewhere. That's something that will be around long after I'm gone. 

beer and longevity

Below are the top 10 beer consuming nations and their respective life expectancies.  

1. Czech Republic – 187.2 liters per capita, 79.8 years

2. Austria – 107.8 liters per capita, 81.9 years

3. Germany – 106.1 liters per capita, 81.4 years

4. Romania – 98.1 liters per capita, 75.9 years

5. Poland – 97.7 liters per capita, 78.5 years

6. Ireland – 96.9 liters per capita, 82.4 years

7. Lithuania – 94.2 liters per capita, 76 years

8. Croatia – 93.3 liters per capita, 78.6 years

9. Spain – 88.5 liters per capita, 83.9 years

10. Namibia – 85.7 liters per capita, 67.4 years 

And here is the US for comparison:

69.3 liters per capita, 79.4 years

It's interesting that there are some countries with higher annual per capita beer consumption and life expectancy than the US. Consumption in the Czech Republic amounts to about a pint per person per day. I suspect a scatter plot with more countries would show a positive correlation between beer consumption and longevity. The simplest explanation for that is countries that spend more on beer can also afford more on healthcare.

spooky places