Thursday Things: Super Thursday Edition

5 March 2020. Vol 2 No 10. By Dan McGirt. #30

Welcome to Thursday Things! We’ve got a lot of advice for you this week on what to eat, how to dodge a certain virus, and avoiding regrets. Also, smart birds and cute cubs!

Yes, we raided the Smithsonian image collection again! Sopwith 7F.1 Snipe, National Air and Space Museum

• Polly’s got your number. Parrots Are Only The Second Kind of Animal We've Found That Can Grasp Probabilities

  Up until now, only human beings and other great apes have demonstrated an ability to understand probabilities – being able to weigh up the odds based on the available data, or statistical inference, as it's formally called. Now, for the first time, a parrot species has demonstrated this skill.

  Tests on six kea (Nestor notabilis) parrots have shown they were able to understand and act on probabilities in a variety of scenarios that have previously been tested on humans and apes

  What are the odds, right? I’m not even sure I fully grasp probabilities, so good for you, parrots!

• The Food That Helps Battle Depression: The right kind of diet may give the brain more of what it needs to avoid depression, or even to treat it once it’s begun. Just once, you’d think there could be some research that finds that ice cream, pizza, and french fries are the the miracle foods that will cure all that ails you. Alas, no. Instead “a growing body of research over the past decade shows that a healthy diet—high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fish and unprocessed lean red meat—can prevent depression. And an unhealthy diet—high in processed and refined foods—increases the risk for the disease in everyone, including children and teens.” So eat that stuff, and you’ll feel better. Maybe. It seems your brain needs certain nutrients, and brains that don’t get those nutrients are more prone to depression. Fair enough. And what amounts to the so-called “Mediterranean diet” is good for you for other reasons too. So give it a try!

• By now we all know that the novel coronavirus-19 stalks the land. (Or, as I insist on calling it, the Chinese Bat Flu. Which may not be scientifically accurate, but is much more fun to say!) There is no reason to panic, but good reason to take precautions and prepare for some of the possible disruptions that growing outbreak may cause. This article is one of many with some suggestions for you, so I offer it as a few handy actionable items you can take to feel more in control of the situation. (Or, if you prefer to panic, do that.) Here we go:

  1. Wash your hands.
  2. Get a flu shot.
  3. DON'T stock up on face masks.
  4. Stock up on food, but not all at once.
  5. Make sure you have medicine you'll need, all in one place.
  6. Make an emergency plan.

  I admit the face mask advice is a little confusing. They say don’t run out and get them because they don’t really work that well to prevent spread of the virus. But also because if people are hoarding masks, then health care professionals won’t have enough masks. The masks we shouldn’t get because they don’t work. I can’t really resolve the logic of that. I’ll leave that to you! I’m skipping the masks because they look dorky.

  

  Photo: Grahm S. Jones/Columbus Zoo and Aquarium

• Cheetah cubs! Two Cheetah Cubs Born Via IVF for the First Time in a 'Ground-Breaking Procedure'

  Scientists are celebrating the successful birth of two new cheetah cubs via in vitro fertilization (IVF) with a surrogate cheetah mom for the first time in history.

  On Feb. 19, surrogate mother Izzy, a 3-year-old cheetah at the Columbus Zoo in Ohio, gave birth to the two cubs, one male, and one female, whose biological mom is 6 1/2-year-old Kibibi, the Smithsonian National Zoo said in a press release.

  Blah, blah, science. This was just an excuse to have a picture of cheetah cubs.

• It is good to learn from your mistakes. It is even better — and much more efficient — to learn from the mistakes of others. There are billions of people in the world making all kinds of mistakes every day. Not to mention all the errors, misjudgments, and wrong calls of all the people who have gone before us throughout human history. So with that in mind, here are The Biggest Wastes Of Time We Regret When We Get Older:

  We spend a lot of energy looking for shortcuts to save time, and sure, those shortcuts add up. But when I look back, my biggest time regrets aren't spending too much time on Twitter or mismanaging my daily tasks. Those are bad habits, but there are bigger, more systematic time wasters that have really gotten in the way. Fixing these will free up a massive amount of time and energy.

  The author discusses not asking for help, trying to make bad relationships work, dwelling on your mistakes and shortcomings, and worrying too much about other people as huge drains of time and energy in her life, looking back. As someone who is older than I used to be, I can say I’ve done some of these myself and it would have been better to put some of that time and energy to better use. But it’s not too late for you! Stop doing these things. Save yourself! Or at lease save your Older Self from looking back at the You of Now and shaking his or her head sadly.

• I love secret passageways! Apparently, so does Parliament: Long-Forgotten Secret Passageway Discovered In A Wall At U.K. Parliament

• Thank you for reading Thursday Things! See you next Thursday!