Richard Link-later April 18, 2017

Banning Trans Fats in NY reduced heart attacks by 6%. If this is true, it's astonishing. Researchers compared admission rates for the composite of myocardial infarction and stroke between New York counties implementing the ban in its eateries versus those that did not. The restricting counties showed an additional 6% drop in admissions relative to non-restricting counties after adjustment for an already-declining trend across the state. The difference became significant 3 years after implementation of the bans and benefitted men and women equally.

Newer, novel (and astonishingly expensive) diabetes drugs seem to have lower hypoglycemia, heart, and death risk than good old insulin: even though this study had a lot of warts (industry-funded, retrospective, yada yada), I'm having a harder and harder time justifying the addition of insulin to high-risk patients' regimens.

"My V-steam cost $50, which is a lot to pay for sitting over hot vapor. Is your money well spent on this stuff? It depends on what you’re looking for."

It's a "fear social media" bonanza! First up was Hidden Brain on the dangers of curating your social media presence to look universally positive:

And then (and then!) Ezra Klein, a journalist I've heard my fair share of thoughts from in regards to how social media doesn't make him happy, interviewed Cal Newport about his notoriously fuddy-duddy views on social media, which I'll cover briefly in the very near future on this very blog.

I was asked recently to name a book that changed my life. The book I chose was Cal Newport’s “Deep Work,” and for the most literal of reasons: it’s changed how I lived my life. Particularly, it’s led me to stop scheduling morning meetings, and to preserve that time for more sustained, creative work. Which is all to say that I’m a bit obsessed with Newport’s work right now, and especially his account of how the digital environment we inhabit is training us out of concentration and into distraction in ways that are bad for us, bad for our work, and ultimately bad for the world. Most of the conversations on this podcast are how to think about things differently. This one is too, but it’s more importantly about how to do things differently, and why you should do them differently. We discuss: -How Newport defines depth when it comes to work -Why the information revolution boosted productivity up until the 2000s, but then stagnated -What he thinks is problematic about the constant accessibility of technologies like email, Slack, and other communication tools -His perspective about how we’re still in an early age of the internet, and what looking back at periods like the Industrial Revolution can teach us about using new technology to work smarter -How to take productive breaks, rather than flicking through email and Facebook and Twitter -How “flow work” and deep work overlap, and how they’re distinct from each other -Why he consumes and produces information more slowly and more traditionally—through newspapers and radio, and why that might benefit people who work in the knowledge economy -His vision of the workplace of the future I hope you get as much out of Newport’s ideas as I have. Books: -Jaron Lanier, “You Are Not A Gadget” and “Who Will Own The Future" -Douglas Rushkoff’s “Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus”

For past thoughts on social media, check here and here.

And PS--I mean fuddy-duddy in the most admiring, sincere way, obviously.