Best shopping app: your head

We'll get to that in a bit. First: Did people have the flu in ancient Rome? Doesn't seem so. Smithsonian:

Thirty-thousand? Did everyone immediate stick their fingers up their noses after touching doorknobs or shaking hands?

NEW POTATOES Science marches on, crafting the perfect spud. NPR:

That has nothing to do with the safety of the taters, you suspect, but everything to do with marketing, since many people do not want their organisms in modified form.

In related news, I read a piece the other day about kale, and how it was invented by manipulating the mustard plant. Turns out that broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage and cauliflower were all artificially derived from mustard. Can't stand any of them, but I love mustard, so I can't blame it.

GTD Following up on yesterday's piece about the confusing terminology of Getting Things Done strategies, here's another one from FastCompany about finding the right app to assist with organization. We pick the story up after several apps have failed to simplify the author's life.

Don't get your hopes up, Minnesotans:

Back to the article:

Yes. Sorry, forgot it was the internet. Meant to say THIS. I do all the grocery shopping and food prep, so I know what I need, and don't want to bother entering it into an app. Say you're low on peanut butter, and you tell the app to put Jif on the list. It hears you correctly but enters "gif," because it thinks that's how the word is pronounced. It's not. I don't care what the inventors of the thing say, it's a hard G because it stands for a word that begins with a hard G.

Which reminds me: the apps are bad for people who are easily distracted. From the comments, a dissent:

Turn by turn directions in the store. Because it's hard to find where the produce is. And the milk? Forget about it. I took a look at myShopi, and was amused by the rating: 12+ for "Infrequent/Mild Alcohol, Tobacco, or Drug Use or References." Because it has a category for wine and cold medicine. I was tempted, so I downloaded it. At first: meh. Pictures of items like "bananas." Tap and add to your list. But there's a barcode reader, and I tested it on several products. It correctly identified Market Pantry 2% milk, so if it recognizes Target house brands it's got a good database. If I scan things when they're empty and thrown away - sorry, sorry, recycled - then I'll always know what I need the next time I go, and won't forget to replentish the stocks.

Not that I've ever forgotten to get milk or bread. Or anything else. But it could happen.

On the other hand, it's one more thing to look at, keep updated, check before I leave on errands, and fuss over. Never mind. Will delete.

Suddenly life just got simpler.