I didn't do much yesterday, I didn't feel like it. I did have another writer geek afternoon for a little while. I read an article in Smithsonian Magazine about genetic health issues among the Amish community and about a doctor who opened a clinic and is working to identify the issues this population is prone to. It was very interesting.
I wasn't going to link to these articles, but then I thought, what the heck. Maybe someone else is interested.
One of the genetic illnesses was GA-1, which is a protein issue. The thing that's weird is that I was talking to someone about genetic protein deficiency recently. I'd never heard of it before our conversation, now I find an article. (Susan, I hope you're enjoying Hawaii!)
There was also an article from the NY Times that I read titled Rogue Giants at Sea. I confess, I thought it was about whales or something, but the Rogue Giants actually refer to huge waves, many over 90 feet in height. The experts thought it was all a bunch of crap, like mermaids and sea monsters until the 1990s. They found one place they can predict them accurately and believe they're about 10 years away from being able to predict world wide.
The final article I read had to do with genius. It's from Wired and it talks about how there is genius that appears at a young age and a second kind of genius where the person does their best work later in life. Again, very fascinating reading. The research, believe it or not, was done by an economist. He mainly focuses on the art world, but he also cites some examples from literature.
For instance, F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. The economist said that Gatsby was the star work, and that while Fitzgerald went on to write a couple of other books, nothing measured up to the first work--which he wrote at 29. The other type of genius, as cited in this article, happens later in life. Here he mentions Mark Twain wrote The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn when he was 50.
Then I vegged out in front of the television and watched the All Star Game. I'm a National League fan because I prefer that style of baseball over the American League. I like the strategy that comes from the pitcher having to bat, something that's sadly lacking with the designated hitter.
I stayed up later than I meant to, but I wanted to see MN Twins catcher Joe Mauer bat. I did. He struck out. I should have gone to bed earlier. Although, the National League needed me! When I quit watching, it was after the American League batted in the 8th inning. The NL was winning 2-1 and the AL hadn't had much of a threat going all night. I figured I could safely sleep without more runs being scored. Silly me. The NL ended up losing. Sigh. That makes them 0-9-1 in the last 10 years.
