torsdag, maj 18, 2006

Perverse thinking?

All right. My project includes a small case study, enabling me to compare free text searching and tag searching in terms of retrieval of alternative views. The case I have chosen is the debate surrounding mercury in vaccines, in relation to causes of childhood autism.

I don't have to study the issue per se, but I do need to look at the sites I retrieve in order to look for viewpoints, communities represented, that kind of thing.

I find that as I read about vaccines, thimerosal, chelation, amalgam fillings, symptoms of mercury poisoning, symptoms of autism, clinical evidence, parental experience, I am slowly filled with a deep craving for a really big tunafish sandwich.

I wonder what that says about me. Probably that I should go back to my project and get some more work done.

19 kommentarer:

Unknown sagde ...

personally, i'd prefer venus - not in sharks - just generally.

i am now craving for a really big hot dog.

i should also go back to my project and get some more work done.

BTW: that just makes you slightly better procratinator than me.
really. very slightly, since you remind yourself and i need you to remind me.

Devil Mood sagde ...

That's an interesting link: vacines - tuna :) It could be worse, you could get a craving for sardines, then you wouldn't understand what was the matter with you ;)

Anonym sagde ...

I know just what you mean. It's like when I get a craving for bacon after watching Babe: Pig in the City. Something about being told I SHOULDN'T eat it makes me want to.

Also, tunafish is DELICIOUS, mercury notwithstanding. No wonder you're thinking about it. Perhaps you should schedule more snack breaks.

Dok Holocaust sagde ...

Fish is brainfood. this is why schoolchildren in countries with seafood-intensive diets consistently score better than american schoolchildren on standardized test. That and, you know, better schools.

i'm marion sagde ...

I think it says you're not a hysterical person and you know how to keep things in perspective ;-) and you like tuna sandwiches :-)

x sagde ...

i'd love to know the outcome of your work. i am interested in autism, although nobody in my immediate family has it. but i met this wonderful child and he has it and i wanted to find out more about his world.

Chipper sagde ...

Is that the Albacore tuna with the high mercury concentrations in it that you are craving? Good luck with your research!

Rich Dunbeck sagde ...

I don't think anything weird is being said about you. Then again, for me, any connection to food is logical. :)

kimananda sagde ...

JackT, you're absolutely right! And it is interesting what people will do even knowing it's potentially dangerous...I would probably have eaten the soup, too.

Treespotter, you are a better procrastinator than me...I am on track to actually finishing my project 3 days early. How could this be? And, what are you working on?

Ms. Mood, I'd only have a craving for sardines if they were said to contain even higher levels of mercury than the tuna!

Roro, you are so right...I've in fact just had a snack break. Not tuna, but a roll with lemon curd. Yum!

Morose, :-)

Marion, I'm not that into tuna, actually, just the thought of all that mercury makes me want to tempt fate.

Now, Mr. American, I am also getting work done. Be nice. ;-)

Chloe, I can assure you...no outcome. I'm looking purely at the efficacy of tagging as a retrieval method. And the results of that are totally inconclusive.

Etchen, that would be the one!

Rich, I'm sure that lots of weird stuff is said about me...but you're right about the food!

Blue, it's a train of thought, yes, but with only one connector. I hope you're weekend is great, too!

Kunstemæcker, hmmmm...I like absurd word games as well, but this one (referring to reports of elevated mercury levels in some seafood, like tuna) is really more about obscurity than absurdity, it would seem.

Jean-Luc Picard sagde ...

Fascinating...a very interesting blog.

Michele sent me here.

Anonym sagde ...

Hello Michele sent me.

What an interesting subject to study. The jury seems very divided on it. Will you give the results here?

I wonder if the tuna fish craving is something akin to my contrariness for balance of craving meat after I have unequivocally stated I don't do meat.

keda sagde ...

wow. wierd but interesting. now i want a sandwich too. i'm so easily influenced.

i loved the post below about the air in your tyres! fabulous.

thanks for coming by.

Anonym sagde ...

It sounds like a case of the more a food becomes forbidden, the more it probably tastes good, like a three layer chocolate cake. Mercury Rising!

Unknown sagde ...

at the moment i am working on the excuses i could come up with for not doing what it is i'm supposed to do.

frankly, i've totally forgotten what it was that i was supposed to do so technically, i'm not a procrastinator. i'm waiting. for something.

kimananda sagde ...

Will Riker, thanks for your visit, and greetings to the captain.

Pearl, thanks for your visit, but nope, no conclusions of any kind will be given here, as I'm testing indexing rather than the issue per se. And I like your analogy!

Keda, thanks for visiting! I hope you got your sandwich...I didn't actually have a tuna sandwich until today...and it wasn't that impressive, sadly.

Neil, you could be right...and a three layer chocolate cake...that sounds just right for my next food craving!

Sangroncito, many things are heaven...but tuna fish sandwich? Well, maybe, if it's done right....

Treespotter, you are clearly a master of procrastination. I bow to you, and hope that you figure out what you are supposed to be doing.

Mr. Baldo, ah, my favorite non-sequitur generator, welcome yet again.

Maddy, that sounds good, but maybe just the spinach salad!

Connie, that's the best advice I've gotten all day. I look forward to following it! :-)

James Medhurst sagde ...

I think that maybe you are worried about your omega-3 levels.

kimananda sagde ...

James, that must be it. I'm off to have another tuna fish sandwich right now. Apparently it will help with my eyesight and protect me from some forms of cancer, too. Wow, the body really does know how to protect itself! ;-)

Daphnewood sagde ...

Kim, it must mean you are pregnant :P That's what I craved when I was pregnant with my autistic child

kimananda sagde ...

Nope, don't think so. But one of the things that I think would be fun about being pregnant is all the strange food cravings.