From Bike Snob NYC:
This video "...articulates the relationship Americans have with cars better than perhaps anything else I've ever seen... Really, this video has everything, included but not limited to:
--"American" car ostensibly with all-terrain capability [ed: note that you could get almost anywhere with a car worth less than $10,000 that burned 1/3 the gas and didn't fetishize obsolete 1940s-era technology. Or at least you could get stuck in the snow for a lot less money];
--Driver completely unable to utilize this all-terrain capability [ed: see above] due to his complete ignorance with regard to the nature of traction and gravity;
--Road rage [ed: completely avoidable had he just taken off walking down the street. In the seven minutes of his tantrum, he easily could have covered a half-mile or more, which gets close to the most common length of a car trip in the US];
--Grown man throwing an obscenity-laden temper tantrum in front of a private residence in clear view and earshot of children [ed: errrrr...glass houses for me].
Yes, it's quite satisfying to see someone's faith in their lavish purchase get completely shattered, though it's horrifying to consider this represents the state of mind of many of the drivers with whom you "share" the road."
Giving school kids fruits and vegetables and restricting their access to bug juice may make them live longer, healthier lives. Go figure. But previous reservations about unpublished conference presentations apply.
Letting a kid stare blankly at a piece of glass with moving colors and pictures on it for three hours a day is associated with increased fat mass and increased insulin resistance. Good to know. But the fact that 2-3 hours of screen time was in most markers better than 1-2 hours makes me suspicious of any neat, tidy linear relationship between screen time and bad metabolic markers.
In the spirit of people giving up on weight loss, overweight moms may underestimate the weight of their own kids.
A man lived alone for 27 years in the Maine backwoods. "...he did not follow any formal religion; he was not protesting modern society; he produced no artwork or philosophical treatise. He never took a photograph or wrote a sentence; not a single person knew where he was. His back was fully turned to the world. There was no clear reason for what he chose to do." This is not a recommended life strategy. Side note: this story was written by Michael Finkel, known to me as the Jonah Hill character in True Story.
Climate change is already affecting our health, says a consortium of eleven medical societies. Popular Science has a take. Among their findings and vulnerable groups:
- Extreme heat is adversely affecting people with chronic conditions, outdoor workers, student athletes, and people lacking air conditioning
- Air pollution from increased smog, wildfires, and pollen is detrimental to people with asthma and chronic lung conditions
- Increased geographic range of disease-carrying ticks and mosquitoes threatens anyone who spends time outdoors
- Contaminated food and water puts children, seniors, the poor, and people with weakened immune systems at risk