Do You Know What Tomatoes Taste Like?

Apparently few of us do. 

Scientists have figured out why tomatoes have such little flavour. 

According to This New York Times article by Gina Kolata, about 70 years ago, tomato breeders stumbled upon tomatoes that were totally red, and then seeing a profit potential, bred tomatoes from that gene line. 

Unfortunately, the gene mutation that made tomatoes as red as can be also switched off many of the flavour genes. That's why store bought tomatoes often taste like flour. 

Great. Looks like we'll all be growing heirlooms soon.

Oh, The Meritocracy of it all!

Compellingly written and well referenced article called Why Elites Fail by Christopher Hayes in The Nation. It's about meritocracy and how when it's twisted, breeds institutionalised elitism as well as shutting out real creativity and dissent.

I think a meritorious system isn't so bad, if you work hard you do well, regardless of your background. If you don't, you fail - also regardless of your background. That's all provided we get equal opportunity.

Which these days, we actually don't.

Hayes argues that this system often becomes usurped by those in positions of financial influence and power. 

That when we unquestionably follow people who seem to be at the top because they're smart/successful/well-payed and we want to ingratiate ourselves with them, it all starts to unravel and we get.. well... the system we have today. Yay!

What he seems to be saying is that true meritocratic systems will always move towards this sort of tragedy - I kind of wish he provided an alternative, or at least a glimmer into how we can avoid it. Maybe that's the next instalment.

Why haven't damaging feminine hygiene products been banned by now?

We've managed to get rid of some additives that were once in our foods, after realising they were bad for us -- I'm constantly amazed that certain products meant to make the vagina (there, I said it Michigan) more culturally acceptable have't been banned in the 21st Century.

Any doctor will tell you douching is bad, bad, BAD for you - and yet the products are still on the mainstream chemist shelves...

Well, this was a good opinion piece in the Guardian by Naomi McAuliffe who is downright annoyed at the new Femfresh advertising campaign which not only lauds dangerous feminine hygiene products, but refuses to use the word they're actually for!

For more about the Femfresh social media backlash, see The Huffington Post article.

And girls, if you're worried about it smelling 'down there' go see a doctor! Not a multinational company!

Should Twitterati Top 100 List be 50% Women?

This is a list that Foreign Policy compiled of the top 100 Twitter Feeds - the so called Twitterati.

On counting about 15 - from what I could gather in recognising names - are female.

Shouldn't there be more than that? Are there really only 15 influential women we want to hear from and the rest are men? Or is it that it's a representation of how little of the world's establishment women have a share of?

Woman with Mastectomy Wins Right to Swim Topless

Wow, this was awesome and amazing to read about. At the risk of posting yet another piece on breasts (should I just rename the blog?) This is an amazing story about a woman, Jodi Jaecks, who had a double mastectomy after cancer and couldn't wear a full length/top of a swimsuit because of pain, but swimming was part of her recovery.

She was banned  from swimming in Seattle, US, because of so-called indecency - but in the end won the right to swim bare-topped.

Really confronting picture and makes you rethink what the notion of gender and decency is and how it's defined in our culture..

At last, someone who justifies my negative outlook on life

Friends have always told me I'm a little too negative and I should think about the positive possibilies a lot more.. but here finally is a book which justifies my penchant for analysing and preparing for the worst.

The Guardian has published an edited extract of 'The Antidote: Happiness For People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking' by Oliver Burkeman.

Hoorah! At last I am vindicated!


Psychologists always say those who are more positive have less of a grasp on reality. 


Now, I'm just off to analyse all the worst case scenarios and assume they're likely to happen..

Remember Toy Story? Here's how it happened...

The plot lines and character development of Toy Story and other Pixar films are always pretty tight - no matter what you think of the films themselves.

So it was with avid interest I read a blog which listed the Pixar rules of story telling - for those budding writers out there it's fascinating and a really good insight into how much work goes into crafting a story with multifaceted characters.