Chocolate milk, bad driving

I was talking with my brother about his new hill-climb workout, and the nastiness of his chosen recovery drink. I mentioned to him that chocolate milk had some fame as an excellent recovery drink, and he was quite excited at the prospect of a non-bile-tasting post-workout drink. Being the good brother that I am, I did a little internet research to find out if there'd been any new developments, as the initial "pro milk" reports appeared around 2006. Didn't find any, but I still like chocolate milk after a good bike ride. I'm not Lance Armstrong, my career doesn't depend on optimal recovery...but a some carbs, a little protein, and a whole lot of cold deliciousness really hits the spot after a long, hot ride.

In the course of my research, I came across an amazingly foolish comment from a doctor on some random website about the "evils" of dairy products. He was touting a dairy-free diet, claiming anecdotal evidence, and stating that "humans are the only species who seek out and consume the milk of other species".

Now on the face of it, this may seem like a reasonable thing to say. Sure, it's a little icky, drinking milk that came from a giant cud-chewing, methane-spewing poop machine. But thinking a little more about this statement, the absurdness of it becomes apparent. We also happen to be the only species with fire, who cooks their food. Does this doctor want us all to go to an all-raw, all-the-time diet? Not that I'm aware of. We're the only species that puts on clothes to stay warm and avoid freezing to death. Does the good doctor want us all to be nudists, even in Antarctica? Probably not. How about surgery to extend the length and quality of our lives, taking vitamins, exercise that's not involved in running down food, written language, giant frontal cortexes...does the doc want us to revert to a pre-fire caveman existence and perform frontal labotamies with rocks? I think you see my point. Just because something is different from everything or everyone else, is not necessary and sufficient reason to stop doing it.Which leads me to another point. Logic, and the lack therof. Back when I was in school, they taught us "critical thinking". It was the educational rage at the time. Rather than rote memorization of vast numbers of facts - though there was some of that too - some lessons focused on thinking about things, and finding answers for ourselves. I thought that was quite a fine thing to teach. Do they still do that? I don't know. Did the vast majority of my fellow citizens sleep through those exercises? It would appear so. Most advertisements, get-rich-quick schemes, idiots telling us not to drink milk...many of these become ridiculous if you stop to think about them for a second. Sadly, it appears a sizable portion of our population falls for these schemes. At least enough of a portion to make it worthwhile. Perhaps their schools did not teach the progressive "critical thinking" skills, or they slept through them, or were too busy chasing cheerleaders.

On a completely different note, driving. Those of you who know me hopefully view me as a pretty mellow guy except when I see injustice, and bad - that is, blatantly unsafe - driving. Someone driving fast, with skill, in a safe area is fine. No problem. Someone driving fast, passing around a blind corner over the crest of a hill in a school zone during a snowstorm; that enrages me. I saw two accidents on the short 10 miles between work and home (I took a detour to warm up the car a bit). Both were incidents involving a car on a main road, and another car slamming into them while entering the road via a right-hand turn. Good visibility, dry roads...no explanation for the crash except for "I didn't see them." Or more likely, "I didn't bother to look." More and more people don't seem to actually stop before making a right turn. They zoom up, assuming they will be able to continue and not wanting to slow down. At the last moment, if they see a car (a.k.a. obstacle) out of the corner of their eye, they slam on the brakes with their car's snout hanging tantalizingly into the lane. Is it REALLY so FREAKING HARD to lose maybe 10 seconds to slow down and actually look at the lane you want to merge into? Are these people in that much of a hell-for-leather rush? Will people DIE if you are a few minutes later getting to your destination? If not, stop driving like an idiot. Because people WILL DIE when you slam your car into them. Or, more convincingly, YOU WILL DIE when someone does the same thing to you (or your wife, daughter, son, mother, father, dog, or canary). Get a clue. It's not a racetrack.