Meat Mongering
If you are not a vegetarian, I think it’s safe to say you may have a soft spot for bacon, hot dogs, and sandwich meat. However, according to a new study, our love affair with processed meats could be giving us cancer!
The World Health Organization (WHO) has released a report stating that processed meats can cause cancer, and are potentially as dangerous to our health as inhaling arsenic or asbestos, or smoking tobacco. To me this seems like a drastic over-simplification, and almost a tactic of fear mongering. Based on the glorious taste of processed meat, I think all carnivores already knew that it probably wasn’t the best thing for them, but it seems far-fetched for the WHO to fling out a comparison to tobacco and asbestos. One thing that is absent from all the reports I read on this research is a number on how much meat you’d need to eat to match one pack of cigarettes. So yes, maybe I will hold off on the bacon every once in a while, but we’re all going to die from something, and in my books there are worse things to die from than bacon.
Jeffrey Trainor
Adult Trick-or-Treating
Halloween rules, but every year it gets a little sadder. As an adult, trick-or-treating is off the table, and now celebration is confined to house parties. Halloween parties are alright I guess, but they’re the same as the regular old parties that happen all year round, only with more candy and skeletons.
For me, the soul of the holiday has always been trick-or-treating: exploring unusual corners of town with a team of costumed weirdos, running into all kinds of beautiful trouble, and peering inside strangers’ homes. Candy is barely even the point! I wish there was some tradition of adult trick-or-treating, not necessarily focused on collecting candy so much as on adventuring through the suburban darkness.
I suppose I’m just lamenting the decreasing enthusiasm for adventure amongst people my age. It’s as if, in order to maintain about ourselves a sense of professionalism or competence, it becomes regressive to participate in silly stuff. I feel it sometimes, too, but I think we ought to question that feeling, and resist it where it’s preventing us from going on adventures once in a while.
Alex Rake
Secure Phone = Happy Phone
Lately, a lot of my friends have been getting new phones. After I tell them to get an iPhone or a Nexus, I’m sad to see them with a generic HTC or Samsung. Smartphone security is really important these days, especially with mobile banking.
iPhones have great security by themselves since there aren’t third-party mobile iOS devices, meaning they always receive the required updates as long as your phone has space. Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of fun things you can do with an iPhone, but buying an Android has its own trade-offs. If you are going to get an Android phone, you should try as hard as you can to get a Nexus, because any brands besides Google’s rarely receive the critical updates needed for security. For vulnerabilities like Stagefright, having the right patch install while you’re sleeping instead of waiting months to know that you’re at risk (if you’re ever notified) feels safer. Nexus phones aren’t normally promotionally priced, so it can be a little expensive depending on your carrier. But they’re usually cheaper than an iPhone, and almost as safe.
If you’re shopping for a new phone this winter, especially if it’s a present, keep security in mind.
Catherine Bell
3Fast5Furious
I understand that people want to get where they want to go. I understand that people have busy schedules. I understand that people want to exercise every inch of power out of every one of those horses. Yet if you rip past me when I’m already going 10 over the limit, do not expect anything but the strongest of scowls from me! Look people, I get that you buy your fast cars to show off, or are maybe just more concerned with your own person on the road. But if you feel someone is going too slow in front of you and they’re already going speed limit (or even a little faster), give them room. Be patient. Drive safe. Don’t be that guy. Or girl. Or whatever.
Drew Bergen
Images: Danielle Collins
