Notes for March 19th

• This was everywhere yesterday...apparently people love dogs?  Anyway, they were domesticated in the middle east, not asian, according to the best available science.
• Two of my absolute favorite things:  Basketball and science.
• An ongoing public debate is about whether the use of fructose (i.e., high fructose corn syrup) is somehow worse for the public health than the use of other sugars (sucrose primarily among them).  My experience has been that most scientific studies have not indicated anything of the sort (we're just consuming more sugar in general).  It isn't clear to me that the study referenced here changes that scientific perception, but I imagine it will definitely be interpreted that way by those fighting the high fructose corn syrup battle.  My 2-cents:  Stop consuming high fructose corn syrup and you'll be healthier, simply because that's what is in all those junk foods that you shouldn't be eating anyway.
• The ongoing difficulty in weighing different human concerns.  I dispute the assertion by many that there is a conflict between environmental concerns and human concerns:  Both are human concerns.  A weakened or destroyed environment isn't going to do humans any good.