ssprang

I just made Inkpad, my vector drawing app for the iPad, free software. I'm releasing it under the Mozilla Public License, v2.0. It requires iOS 7 and is currently "in review" at Apple.

I've spent the last few weeks updating it for iOS 7 and cleaning up the code for public release. There's a lot of code, however, so I'm sure there are still many untidy bits.

If you'd like to contribute, I'd appreciate bug fixes, new features, and localizations for your language of choice. Otherwise, I hope you can learn something from it, or find bits and pieces that are useful in your own apps.

TeX considers a period to be the end of a sentence unless it's preceded by a capital letter (in which case it assumes it's an initial or part of an acronym).

For abbreviations, you should explicitly insert a space control sequence (\<space>) or a non-breaking space (~) after the period.

I was implying a personal decision to avoid becoming pregnant in the first place. I guess if you want to knowingly risk passing genes that cause terrible disease and suffering to all your descendants… yay freedom!? There are other options if having kids is important to you.

On the other hand, given a genetic risk factor so potentially life threatening that it warrants having body parts preemptively removed, you might think twice before reproducing.

"But look, the point is this: the definition of a poor diet is a diet that doesn't provide for all of the necessary nutrients as part of the diet. If you have to take supplements to make up for dietary shortfalls, your diet is a poor one...period. Waiving away the handful of supplements you take everyday is madness and a serious problem."

That's simply your opinion. You're obsessed with the evils of supplements. Who cares if you need a couple of supplements to make up for some known shortfalls? It's a trivial part of my day, and it's hardly a "handful of supplements". Besides, consuming animal products has its own set of drawbacks.

I'm not sure why the vegans you know are so concerned about iron and zinc. I'm deficient in neither and don't go out of my way to supplement them. They're readily available in many plant foods. I'm also well aware that vitamin D is produced in skin, but you might want to double check your latitude if you're relying on that in the winter.

My goal is not to get 100% of my dietary requirements from food. That's apparently your objective. I never claimed a vegan diet can provide all the nutrients you need without supplementation. I readily admit you have to take B12. Some other things might be good to supplement too, depending on the actual make up of your diet. This is true even if you are omnivorous.

This whole thread started because you made this claim: "Non-animal sourced diets are hopelessly unhealthy in the long term no matter how many supplements you take to try and take to make up for it"

And now you've added:

"Vegans are among the only otherwise healthy population group in the developed world that routinely suffers from illnesses seen only in the most decrepit poverty stricken parts of the undeveloped world."

Please cite something specific to support either of those claims. "Google it" is not a citation. I know a lot of long term vegans (multiple decades; some lifelong) who are doing just fine.

If anyone else is still following this thread, this is a good source of information for vegans who want to be healthy: http://veganhealth.org

Who's misdirecting? You still haven't cited anything. I'll play along though; which nutrient(s) can only be obtained from animal sources? Even B12 is only accumulated in animal tissue, it's not produced by animals.

Anecdotally, I've been following a thoughtful vegan diet with B12 supplementation for 8 years. The results of my last blood test (including tests for various likely deficiencies) were exemplary. Could you post something other than your opinion? Otherwise, I'm done here.

I don't see anything that agrees with your original statement: "Non-animal sourced diets are hopelessly unhealthy in the long term no matter how many supplements you take to try and take to make up for it." You have yet to cite anything supporting that.

The only supplement that is strictly required on a vegan diet is B12. I'm not sure what's so inherently bad about taking a supplement anyway? Most people, regardless of diet, should be supplementing vitamin D in winter, for example.

I wouldn't want to be following any diet that isn't appropriately planned, so I don't understand your repeated scare quotes. You can be vegan eating nothing but potato chips and coca-cola, but that wouldn't exactly be well planned. Is it possible to be unhealthy on a vegan diet? You bet. Is it possible to be unhealthy on an omnivorous diet? Look at the average American.

Sorry, citation still needed: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12826028

"It is the position of the American Dietetic Association and Dietitians of Canada that appropriately planned vegetarian diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases. ... This position paper reviews the current scientific data related to key nutrients for vegetarians including protein, iron, zinc, calcium, vitamin D, riboflavin, vitamin B-12, vitamin A, n-3 fatty acids, and iodine. A vegetarian, including vegan, diet can meet current recommendations for all of these nutrients. In some cases, use of fortified foods or supplements can be helpful in meeting recommendations for individual nutrients. Well-planned vegan and other types of vegetarian diets are appropriate for all stages of the life-cycle including during pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence. Vegetarian diets offer a number of nutritional benefits including lower levels of saturated fat, cholesterol, and animal protein as well as higher levels of carbohydrates, fibre, magnesium, potassium, folate, antioxidants such as vitamins C and E, and phytochemicals."

That's my app, Brushes - iPad Edition:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id363590649?mt=8

I'm making a living with Brushes, a painting app for the iPhone (http://brushesapp.com). I started developing it about a year ago, and it's been on sale since August 2008. Sales didn't really take off until January, when the work of one of my artists got picked up by a lot of blogs (and eventually Gizmodo). It was subsequently featured on the front page of the iTunes App Store and that was certainly helpful.

At this point, I'm somewhat reluctant to work on new iPhone apps. There are so many apps on the store that it's far too easy to get lost in the noise. An iPhone game that some friends and I released back in December was DOA. I will admit that I haven't fully cracked the marketing nut yet though.

I'm actually looking for an exceptional graphic designer in the SF Bay area with whom to collaborate on some iPhone/Mac OS X projects if anyone is interested.