Mundane Ramblings

Fat Math

Court — Wed, 16 May 2012 21:19:50 +0000

As I mentioned recently, knowing the math behind something doesn’t necessarily mean that your behaviour will change. Still, this article is a really neat look at how some smart nerds created a mathematic model to predict weight gain based on some general inputs. They further modeled the root cause of why obesity is such a crushing problem today. They concluded that the main reason isn’t a sudden lack of activity in the last 30 years, but rather the relatively sudden overabundance of food, most of it bad for you.

In the 1950s, when I was growing up, people rarely ate out. Today, Americans dine out — with these large restaurant portions and oil-saturated foods — about five times a week.

Right. Society has changed a lot. With such a huge food supply, food marketing got better and restaurants got cheaper. The low cost of food fueled the growth of the fast-food industry. If food were expensive, you couldn’t have fast food.

People think that the epidemic has to be caused by genetics or that physical activity has gone down. Yet levels of physical activity have not really changed in the past 30 years. As for the genetic argument, yes, there are people who are genetically disposed to obesity, but if they live in societies where there isn’t a lot of food, they don’t get obese. For them, and for us, it’s supply that’s the issue.

For my money, you never ignore the math nerds, sure there are problems with modeling, but man it’s compelling stuff overall. They link to a super cool java Body Weight Simulator that is fun to play with too. For me the most interesting bit of the article was this:

…the conventional wisdom of 3,500 calories less is what it takes to lose a pound of weight is wrong. The body changes as you lose. Interestingly, we also found that the fatter you get, the easier it is to gain weight. An extra 10 calories a day puts more weight onto an obese person than on a thinner one.

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Bear Conga Line? Yes.

Court — Thu, 10 May 2012 23:11:15 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeTL0tjkYYw

Guy at the front is like, whatevs, good deal.

Thanks Buzzfeed.

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Finally, Parenting Made Easy.

Court — Wed, 09 May 2012 16:08:36 +0000

Parenting is hard. There are so many possible ways that you can screw up, it’s a gauntlet of therapy-inducing phobias that you can pass on to your kids that will really mess them up forever. Some parents try to avoid these pitfalls, but really it’s only a matter of time before your kids will just find one on their own and latch on, riding that sucker right through to middle-age or later until they (maybe) finally address it with some aggressive shock therapy in a grungy abandoned hospital basement in New Jersey with a “Doctor” they found on the net. Or something like that.

Or you can just shortcut all that crap, and just give your kids pant-shitting fears of your own choosing. A lot faster, easier and then there’s none of that constant worrying. It’s pretty attractive, you have to admit. Anyway, that’s the kind of thinking that I assume has gone into this awesome company: Evil Birthday Clown

Essentially, you hire this guy who will dress as an evil clown and STALK your child for a week. He will send menacing text messages, set traps, make phone calls to your child, and generally make damn sure your kid will ALWAYS remember what their worst fear is. The game of it all is he is trying to hit your kid in the face with a pie (of dubious origin). If your kid manages to avoid 1) getting hit with the pie and 2) becoming a raving gibbering lunatic, why then the clown will give your child the pie. Sounds like a GREAT birthday.

What in the ever-loving world would make you do this to ANYONE, let alone one of your own kids? (Lockrey excluded) This is some scary messed up shit right here.

Thanks Boing Boing, for warning me.

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Quinn’s Persuasive Letter

Court — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 19:07:19 +0000

Recently Quinn had an assignment at school to write a persuasive letter to his teacher in an attempt to get her to not assign him any homework. I think he did a fantastic job, and I asked him if he minded if I posted it here. He said that was fine, so have a read and see if you agree with me.

Dear Mrs. Teacher (not his real teacher’s name…)

Am I a good student (at least the majority of times)? Why do I need homework? I want no homework for a month and I will tell you why.

If you keep on giving us homework (not just me) the class will have less opportunities to spend time with their friends and families. We need breaks sometimes, and my only break is home and you’re filling it with work! I don’t know a person who works non-stop without breaks and if you do, that’s bad company. It’s affective on our health and strength too. If I’m trapped in my home day and night, I’m not getting the vitamins and minerals I need. We also won’t get enough sleep which will affect out marks and learning goals. You’re not only hurting us, but yourself too! Of you keep on giving us this “Christmas present” you’ll have to correct it, which steals time with your daughter who’s only 1! She’d be so depressed. You wouldn’t want that, right?

Another reason we shouldn’t have this nightmare is it will affect our health and growth and as a gym teacher, that’s unacceptable on your part. If we had less homework, we would be big muscular beach bodies. We would be a ton more healthy and fit! Also, to enjoy the outdoors we need trees! If we didn’t have trees where would we be? And now your walking around with deadly axes, killing every tree in sight. If I were Prime Minister, I would put a stop to the endless torture to these young citizens! What did they do to you? We would also be less stressed, you would be too. Why is our class so loud and annoying? IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT!!! And like I said before, What’s more important? Homework or ? I thought so!

We also already work hard. Why do we need homework? Think about our portfolios. They are huge (at least MY portfolio). That’s all the work we did at school. Multiply that by five. That’s how much homework. Think about WWW. Think about math sheets. How you never correct it. Again, that’s why it’s all your fault! Also, the second reason, Mme French Teacher is flaming red is because homework keeps me from focusing on French. If you think different I might change my mind about my favourite subject (mathematics) to Medieval Times. That’s not good.

That is why the class (or at least me) deserves a break. Besides, wouldn’t you like to see 28 faces beaming up at you? Mind the frown.

Needless to say, he got a great mark. No word yet on if his letter will be successful or not, but I will update you later.

Btw, I asked him about his last sentence and he responded that everyone in the class universally hates homework, with the exception of one single girl who loves it. Hence, the frown. What a kid.

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Tenacious D – To Be The Best

Court — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 20:03:20 +0000

Tenacious D is one of the those things that you either get or you don’t. Personally I find Jack Black hilarious in this mode, so this is generally good fun for me. First off a “news report” about how after the movie they made Kyle Gass goes nuts, while Jack becomes incredibly famous. Also, a nice cameo from Val Kilmer…

Note: contains large bare male bellies

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nai7w1frB1E

Then on the much more down to earth side of things, while on tour recently (not sure just how long ago) Jack sees a couple of 10 year old kids playing Bob Dylan in a town square and arranges to have them open for Tenacious D that very evening. Completely awesome and unnecessary level of coolness for him to display, really. Even if the whole thing is faked (doesn’t feel like it, but I guess you never know these days), these kids are clearly having a great time playing in front of the crowd, still way cool stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDValTQE1oU

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Minneapolis teens decide to not drink the Catholic Kool-aid

Court — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 20:18:09 +0000

In a move that anyone with an actual brain could have predicted would “go badly”, the Catholic church shows up to indoctrinate the senior class at a Minneapolis high school about what a proper marriage should be. The presentation disparaged adopted children ( ”sociologically unstable”), kids with only one parent (“a ‘normal’ family is the best family”), and naturally the whole presentation got entirely out of hand and erupted into anger when the topic of gay marriage inevitably was addressed:

“When they finally got to gay marriage, [students] were really upset,” said Bliss. “You could look around the room and feel the anger. My friend who is a lesbian started crying, and people were crying in the bathroom.”

Bliss was one of several students who stood up to argue with the representatives from the archdiocese. One girl held up a sign that said, “I love my moms.”

…..

At one point, Bliss raised his hand and, “as politely as I could,” began to argue with the presenters. He used his knowledge of history to refute many of their points, and explained that various cultures have accepted and embraced homosexuality going back hundreds of years.

“I think they were surprised by the history I gave them and surprised that I was so calm,” said Bliss. “I don’t think they expected the response they got from the students.”

They were so upset that the priest and school officials abruptly ended the assembly. Students who were angry were allowed to stay there and talk with the archdiocese volunteers. It was more civil, for a while, but the more questions the presenters tried to answer, the worse it got.

“It was a really awful ending,” said Bliss. “It was anger, anger, anger, and then we were done and they left. This is really a bad idea.”

The presentation was a very thinly-veiled attempt on behalf of the church to control the outcome of an upcoming vote on same-sex marriages, which the students were quick to pick up on:

Hannah said students were anxious when they heard about the program and were suspicious because only seniors were required to go. “We put two and two together,” said Hannah. “All of us will be able to vote next fall [on the constitutional amendment that limits marriage to same-sex couples].”

This kind of thing is exactly will inevitably end the power of these kinds of institutions. As it turns out, these kids prefer to think for themselves for the most part, and while there are exceptions to every rule, for the most part young educated people won’t stand for this kind of blatant discrimination, and they aren’t afraid to talk about it, and ultimately take action when something is wrong.

You stay classy, organized religion!

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Easily the best thing on the Internet today

Court — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 16:22:10 +0000

Watch this immediately, absolutely fantastic. Saw it on Facebook, thanks Paula! Related posts: The Internet is the new TV Give me points for being completely late and pointing out... The Internet is a steamy pile today For whatever reason, … Continue reading → Related posts:

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ZeFrank is back!

Court — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 19:06:46 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYlCVwxoL_g Man, I missed that guy. This should be interesting…. Related posts: Empire Strikes Back Indeed Watch as this child learns pretty much the biggest cinematic... Good Gravy, Old Spice Guy Wins at Everything Not content to just make the … Continue reading → Related posts:

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The Anti-anti-bullying efforts by US Christian Right-wingers

Court — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 20:50:37 +0000

Call me idealistic, but for some reason I never cease to be amazed at the depths folks will go to. Certain Christian groups in our wonderful southern neighbour are actively lobbying AGAINST anti-bullying laws because they want to include terminology that would make it perfectly ok to bully if the kids were TAUGHT that being gay/different/whatever was wrong: “…would have exempted bullies who acted out of “a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction.”

I’m speechless, can’t really believe this crap. So I won’t even bother writing my own thoughts on this particular topic, but instead I will use quotes from the following links to write this post:

Christians Fight for Their Children’s God-Given Right to Bully Gay Kids

The Bully Backlash: How the Christian Right Is Attacking Efforts to Help Kids

“In Michigan, lawmakers attempted to insert a provision into an anti-bullying bill that would have allowed bullying only on the grounds that it was being done based on a “sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction”. Thankfully it was tossed out after a national outcry.

“A number of groups that claim to represent the “Christian viewpoint” have come out in vigorous opposition to anti-bullying initiatives, and their opposition has to do with a fundamental question about exactly what we think bullying is.”

“Senate minority leader David Schapira, a sponsor of his Senate Bill 1462, called her a “legislative terrorist”. “Cathi Herrod, an unelected lobbyist (from a Christian right-wing group), killed a bill that would protect all Arizona kids purely because of her intolerance of gay kids.”

“To be sure, the notion that the anti-bullying initiatives are driven by “the homosexual agenda” – a phrase that conjures the vision of gay hordes aiming to seduce children into lives of abomination – is preposterous. But the sense that anti-bullying initiatives involve teaching children “acceptance” of LGBT peers, to use the word of the Concerned Women of America, is not. If you want the school to tell students to stop harassing kids like Jacob Rogers because they are gay, you have to let them know, at some point, that the school thinks it’s OK to be gay.”

Is anyone else really tired and depressed right now?

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Recursive Nerdery

Court — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 18:01:42 +0000

As some folks might recall, Minecraft was a favourite at our house, and from time to time it comes back and there’s lots and lots of building and fun. I think it still is one of the more amazing and enjoyable games you can find out there, and really lets you use your imagination. So I started to follow the games’ creator on Twitter, because I’m a nerd and that’s just what you do. Naturally I was pretty interested about his recent mention that he was launching a new game.

It’s called 0x10c.com (who knows how to pronounce that, but whatever) and you can read the thirty words that are known about it at this point here.

The thing that is boggling my mind is the revelation that while it’s a space game where you fly around in a spaceship and do things, you will essentially be required to program your own computer before your spaceship will do anything. He’s building a fully functional 16-bit computer INTO the game. Everyone will have one. You have to use the in-game computer to operate your in-game spaceship. You might be able to hack into other people’s in-game computers, build in-game networks, develop an in-game Internet, start an in-game online music company selling in-game songs… anyway you get the idea. This kind of recursive nerdery is really baking my noodle at the moment. While he promises that non-programmers will still be able to play and enjoy the game, I can’t help but think that folks like me would just be the helpless sheep waiting to be slaughtered by the elite 13 year old nerds with far greater skills than mine. In fact, there are a host of nerds who right now CAN’T WAIT for the creator of this game to start developing it, so they can start developing thjngs for this in-game computer. Does anyone else find this ridiculous?

This kind of nested matryoshka doll kind of thing is what will eventually end us all in an as-yet-unknown, but certainly fiery noisy and painful way. The universe doesn’t like recursion that much. Sitting there, using your comically oversized and underpowered brain (a computer) to use your actual computer that connects to many many computers (the Internet), in turn connecting to a computer running this game, in which you then use a game computer to connect to other game computers, at some point the universe says “Enough, ok I messed up, let’s start over.” and we are done for.

Or it could just be a lot of fun. One or the other.

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