Remember a couple decades ago when kids made fun of fat kids? Aw heck, even films like Full Metal Jacket remind us that being fat used to be stigmatic. Well times have changed! The nice folks at Boing Boing point us to CDC data on the rise of obesity. As one of the Boing Boing commentators points out, this data is based on what people said over the phone to investigators. Now, nobody ever lies about their weight, do they? Yeah right, so these figures are probably optimistic. As if to provide harmony to this continuing song, Alton Brown points out that “Food doesn’t get up and jump down our throats.”
As if it weren’t hard enough for America’s senior citizens to figure out which Medicare prescription drug plan is best for them, it turns out that when they call the companies which offer the plans to ask for more information, they will only get a correct answer about a third of the time, and the mistakes in question can cost “thousands” a year. Oops.
Again, thanks to Boing Boing, a paper on the actual mathematical odds of finding a genuine, bona fide terrorist through the monitoring of “all” phone calls and e-mail. For those of you who are impatient, the odds of finding a real terrorist is almost zero.
Thanks to Atrios and the folks at Eschaton for this one. Will somebody please stick a fork in Leiberman? He’s done! This would be a lovely time for a concession speech. USA Today says his “divisive actions don’t deserve support.” Actions like “fudging facts.” His attempts to form his own political party smell of sour grapes all the way over here on the other coast. What, the Republicans won’t take him? Who is the “Sore Loserman” now? The first DINOsaur* is dying if not dead, let the mass extinction begin; viva Howard Dean.
From Craigslist. “Lost: constitutional rights and safeguards. if found, please return to United States of America.”
New rules promise to reduce welfare rolls by making it more difficult to comply with the requirements, thus insuring an underclass of low wage menial laborers for the next generation.
A researcher finds that there are “two types of genius.” In short, those who peak young, and those who get better with time.
A plan, called Grass Banks, is trying to create a win-win situation for ranchers and the environment. So much for the idea that environmentalism costs jobs.
And in closing, “The Cult of Leia’s Metal Bikini.”
*Democrat In Name Only.