Category Archives: Social Commentary

Business, Culinary, Education, Health, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Science And Society, Social Commentary, Technology and Society

Terrible Nutrition Advice

10 Comments

More of the usual nonsense:

The study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, found that at the 34 fast-food chains they analyzed, the average combo meal contains 1,193 calories, and that the quantities of sodium, saturated fat and sugar are through the roof.

But all a person has to do is hold the dipping sauce; remove toppings, such as cheese; and opt for water over soda — and you’ll be good as gravy, says lead author Kelsey Vercammen of Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health in an interview with Reuters Health.

The problem with fast food is not calories, or saturated fat, or sodium. It’s the bun and the potatoes. The only good advice here is water instead of soda.

Education, Popular Culture, Social Commentary

Twin XL Beds

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An interesting history of bed sizes, including in dorm rooms.

I had dinner with Eileen Collins a couple months ago, and we were discussing the virtues of community college. In addition to all the other benefits of better education and lower cost, this article reminds me of another one: It eliminates the need to live in a dorm as a freshman. I was in Ann Arbor for three years, but I never lived in one.

General Science, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Science And Society, Social Commentary

“Born That Way”

4 Comments

This study does not prove that people aren’t born that way. Of course there is no “gay gene.” That would make no evolutionary sense. It has to be a complex of them that, combined, cause it. Plus this seems to ignore pre-natal environment. There’s some evidence that this is a cause as well.

[Friday-morning update]

And then there’s this: “Genetics may explain up to 25% of same-sex behavior.”