[dante]

I rode 6 flat miles to meet my friend's at a bar. All of them, even the ones who ride, said I was crazy and wanted to give me a ride home because "its so far".

Once again - flat. Bike lanes. Straight shot.

Yeah it takes a bit of work, but its not that hard to get SOME activity in during the day.

My wife and I are still infamous for going out drinking with her coworkers after work one night a little over a year ago. We, uh, lost track of time (in between the pitchers of Spaten Optimator) and next thing we knew it's bar time (1am? 2am? can't remember) and we're getting kicked out of the bar. They were, and still are, astounded that we rode our bikes the 5.5 miles home. Of course, they all got in their cars and drove home, including a couple who don't remember how they actually got home....

You have to cut Dante some slack, you have to admit that your people have certainly tried to create controversy from things dumber than that.

Ya think?

It's not ribs, or chili dogs, or french fries, or any of that other crap, it's how *often* you eat that. You have ribs once a month, or chili cheese dogs once every 6mo when you're back in Chicago for old time's sake, fine. You eat at McD's 2x day and get zero exercise......... that's when you start having problems.


edit: Ooops, didn't even bother trying to find out whether the right wing was *actually* creating controversy over the chili dog thing:

The New American
Townhall
Fox News
Lonely Conservative

 

[ohio]

Other than the fact that they seem to aim in different directions, she has pretty eyes?

And even prettier herpes.

 

[Skidhucker]

I rode 6 flat miles to meet my friend's at a bar. All of them, even the ones who ride, said I was crazy and wanted to give me a ride home because "its so far".

Once again - flat. Bike lanes. Straight shot.

Yeah it takes a bit of work, but its not that hard to get SOME activity in during the day.

You're so much better than everybody. Good job.

 

[Pesqueeb]

You're so much better than everybody. Good job.

Hey! A troll to spread neg rep on! Awesome.

 

[Silver]

Hey! A troll to spread neg rep on! Awesome.

Probably a fattie. The keystrokes required to register and post were his exercise for the day. Well rewarded with a refreshing Mountain Dew, I bet.

 

[KavuRider]

You're so much better than everybody. Good job.

Hey Mikey, when did you stray over here?

 

[dante]

Hey Mikey, when did you stray over here?

My wife and I are now infamous with her coworkers for choosing to "ride our bikes home" from the bar after a night of heavy drinking (one of those "start at 5pm after work and many pitchers of Spaten Optimator later, we're getting kicked out of the bar at 1am)... It's only ~5.5 miles, and the weather was gorgeous, so it was a great ride home. Her coworkers were horrified that we'd do something so dangerous, and then they all proceeded to get into individual cars and drive home. One or two of them even mentioned not remembering ow they got home. Right, and *we're* the risk takers here....

 

[X3pilot]

I'd ride my bike 6 miles for beer.


Wouldn't you?

 

[dante]

I'd ride my bike 6 miles for beer so I wouldn't have to worry about driving home at the end of the night.


Wouldn't you?

Fixed.

 

[Westy]

The one summer I stayed in the old college town I would ride the bike home from bars and parties. Could ride in a straight line even when I could barely stand up. Woke up in the front lawn sideways and stil on the bike several times. The best days that I will never remember.

 

[Pesqueeb]

I'd ride my bike 6 miles for beer.


Wouldn't you?

Sh*t. I ride my bike 9 miles to go to work. Hell yes I'd ride that far for beer.

 

[KavuRider]

I know the troll, I've ridden with him.
He just stalks me.
I hate him.
It works out, LOL.

And, even though I hate to admit it, he's a machine on the bike...

 

[Pesqueeb]

I know the troll, I've ridden with him.
He just stalks me.
I hate him.
It works out, LOL.

And, even though I hate to admit it, he's a machine on the bike...

I'm still adding this tool to my list of people to - rep when I need to spread.

 

[KavuRider]

I'm still adding this tool to my list of people to - rep when I need to spread.

Oh by all means!

 

[Skidhucker]

I'm still adding this tool to my list of people to - rep when I need to spread.

Please don't!! My rep is all I have!

 

[MikeD]

If that's the best that the Republicans can do, you guys are in *big* trouble in 2012.

"OMFG, he's eating a hot dog!!!!! "

Without the cigarettes, maybe he'll get fat from it...

 

[DaveW]

warble-garbl-garbl:

Not so much eating as looking like he's deep throating that thing!!!

Does this mean he might be a closet republican?

 

[$tinkle]

we call it "dl" round these parts

 

[Pesqueeb]

 

[stevew]

we call it "dl" round these parts

dr. dre is his bitch.

 

[KavuRider]

Must Spread

 

[nyhc00]

we call it "dl" round these parts

I only found out what being on the "down low" meant from an episode of Law & Order SVU. Thanks Ice-T

 

[Greyhound]

The wife and I were discussing the events at the pool yesterday last night and I mentioned the same thing. When I grew up and was at the neighborhood pool (late 70's to mid 80's) I don't remember nearly as many overweight folks..

Andyman, you've gotten closer to discovering the truth than many people. I think to understand how it got out of control, you have to look back at societal norms in the era of "skinny" vs. the era of "fat."

If you keep going on your original point, you can decipher that in the 70's there did not exist such a culture of video games and instantaneous marketing. Kids went outside to play Call of Duty...not to the couch for 8 hrs online. Sure, television marketing existed...but not the constant bombardment of "Triple Stacker Delux" fast food commercials that convinced America that we were hungrier than we actually were.

It's just a cultural shift to the "Bigger is Better" attitude. Let's see how gigantic we can make everything before we realize that was a stupid idea....even Kirstie Allie had her moment of reckoning.

I'm unhappy to see it happening. Nobody likes to see the plague of fatties this stuff has produced. Yeppers....they're letting it all hang out. I agree. I'm equally saddened to see people like Jamie Oliver--who has been fighting a desperate battle to re-approach how school systems establish nutritional guidelines, get repeatedly smacked-down by administrators who don't want to see the money dry up from the advertisements for Snickers, CocaCola, and KFC that hang everywhere in the schools these days.

We're all plugged into the Matrix....everywhere we go, there is a constant stream of advertisements telling us to Double-Down, Triple-Stack, go large, and to crush our "EXTREME" thirst with that 44oz. soda. It's not that I think America is dumb..we're just subjected to this barrage of subtle(and not-so-subtle) directives to do these things.

Remember how a Mickey D's didn't exist 3 miles from each other? How your town maybe only had 1 or 2 fast-food joints at all back in the day? I do. You went to Wendy's maybe once a week with your family on Sunday or something. Drive thru service? What the hell is that? Now look at the double lanes to get in at McDonalds drive-thru. In and out in a flash. Instant gratification(I'll let you guys make the joke on that one).

Now....I dunno. When I grew up, your mom shooed you out of the house on Saturday morning after Looney Tunes went off and you played until she had to call you in at night. Now, I have serious concerns about letting my kid out of my sight for fear some sexual predator in a creepy rape-van snatching him up. How did that happen? Where did that deviate? Kids just sit in their room and play other kids sitting in their room in Japan in Mortal Kombat tournaments.

I guess that's why when the Andy Griffith show is on, I have to stop and watch because at least it reminds me that a time like that actually did exist and for at least 22 minutes, I can forget about the present.

 

[MikeD]

Just so retarded. Polarized into anorexia on one end and forced acceptance of disgusting obesity and the attitudes/behavior which abets it on the other.

Focusing on health first would be a good step, in whatever shape your body takes when it's properly fed and at least reasonably fit.

 

[Pesqueeb]

stuff

I agree except for one thing.

America is dumb. If they weren't so dumb than why is it that they are so vulnerable to the advertising bombardment as you suggest? Not just dumb, but horribly, catastrophically stupid. More to the point, its willful ignorance, and its laziness. Its just so much easier to turn on "reality" tv than to deal with actual reality, its easier to glance through a copy of "People" or "US Weekly" with all its pictures of pretty people than to pick up a copy of "Scientific American" with all those "words". Its easier to go to the aforementioned double lane drive through than to make dinner at home. Anecdotally, lots of magazines get left behind on the airplanes when they make it here for overnight maintenance. Were I to venture a guess, probably a hundred gossip rags get pulled off for every copy of National Geographic, and probably two hundred for every copy of The Weekly Standard or Mother Jones or some other political magazine, whatever the slant.

Part of the housing bubble was caused by stupid. Americans who believed that Mortgages with adjustable rates and balloons were good ideas, Americans who got loans who didn’t know they had adjustable rates or balloons. Banks and institutions who didn't bother with due diligence when they bought and/or insured Mortgage Backed Securities. Lazy and stupid.

As you mention, part of this is the "Instant Gratification" culture that has defined this country for the last thirty or so years, but I really think that at its core, even that boils down to Lazy and Stupid.


I've posted this before, and some of its a little dated now but I still think it holds water in regards to this.

New Rule: Just because a country elects a smart president doesn't make it a smart country. A few weeks ago I was asked by Wolf Blitzer if I thought Sarah Palin could get elected president, and I said I hope not, but I wouldn't put anything past this stupid country. It was amazing - in the minute or so between my calling America stupid and the end of the Cialis commercial, CNN was flooded with furious emails and the twits hit the fan. And you could tell that these people were really mad because they wrote entirely in CAPITAL LETTERS!!! It's how they get the blood circulating when the Cialis wears off. Worst of all, Bill O'Reilly refuted my contention that this is a stupid country by calling me a pinhead, which A) proves my point, and B) is really funny coming from a doody-face like him.

Now, the hate mail all seemed to have a running theme: that I may live in a stupid country, but they lived in the greatest country on earth, and that perhaps I should move to another country, like Somalia. Well, the joke's on them because I happen to have a summer home in Somalia... and no I can't show you an original copy of my birth certificate because Woody Harrelson spilled bong water on it.

And before I go about demonstrating how, sadly, easy it is to prove the dumbness dragging down our country, let me just say that ignorance has life and death consequences. On the eve of the Iraq War, 69% of Americans thought Saddam Hussein was personally involved in 9/11. Four years later, 34% still did. Or take the health care debate we're presently having: members of Congress have recessed now so they can go home and "listen to their constituents." An urge they should resist because their constituents don't know anything. At a recent town-hall meeting in South Carolina, a man stood up and told his Congressman to "keep your government hands off my Medicare," which is kind of like driving cross country to protest highways.

I'm the bad guy for saying it's a stupid country, yet polls show that a majority of Americans cannot name a single branch of government, or explain what the Bill of Rights is. 24% could not name the country America fought in the Revolutionary War. More than two-thirds of Americans don't know what's in Roe v. Wade. Two-thirds don't know what the Food and Drug Administration does. Some of this stuff you should be able to pick up simply by being alive. You know, like the way the Slumdog kid knew about cricket.

Not here. Nearly half of Americans don't know that states have two senators and more than half can't name their congressman. And among Republican governors, only 30% got their wife's name right on the first try.

Sarah Palin says she would never apologize for America. Even though a Gallup poll says 18% of Americans think the sun revolves around the earth. No, they're not stupid. They're interplanetary mavericks. A third of Republicans believe Obama is not a citizen, and a third of Democrats believe that George Bush had prior knowledge of the 9/11 attacks, which is an absurd sentence because it contains the words "Bush" and "knowledge."

People bitch and moan about taxes and spending, but they have no idea what their government spends money on. The average voter thinks foreign aid consumes 24% of our federal budget. It's actually less than 1%. And don't even ask about cabinet members: seven in ten think Napolitano is a kind of three-flavored ice cream. And last election, a full one-third of voters forgot why they were in the booth, handed out their pants, and asked, "Do you have these in a relaxed-fit?"

And I haven't even brought up America's religious beliefs. But here's one fun fact you can take away: did you know only about half of Americans are aware that Judaism is an older religion than Christianity? That's right, half of America looks at books called the Old Testament and the New Testament and cannot figure out which one came first.

And these are the idiots we want to weigh in on the minutia of health care policy? Please, this country is like a college chick after two Long Island Iced Teas: we can be talked into anything, like wars, and we can be talked out of anything, like health care. We should forget town halls, and replace them with study halls. There's a lot of populist anger directed towards Washington, but you know who concerned citizens should be most angry at? Their fellow citizens. "Inside the beltway" thinking may be wrong, but at least it's thinking, which is more than you can say for what's going on outside the beltway.

And if you want to call me an elitist for this, I say thank you. Yes, I want decisions made by an elite group of people who know what they're talking about. That means Obama budget director Peter Orszag, not Sarah Palin.

Which is the way our founding fathers wanted it. James Madison wrote that "pure democracy" doesn't work because "there is nothing to check... an obnoxious individual." Then, in the margins, he doodled a picture of Joe the Plumber.

Until we admit there are things we don't know, we can't even start asking the questions to find out. Until we admit that America can make a mistake, we can't stop the next one. A smart guy named Chesterton once said: "My country, right or wrong is a thing no patriot would ever think of saying... It is like saying 'My mother, drunk or sober.'" To which most Americans would respond: "Are you calling my mother a drunk?"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-maher/new-rule-smart-president_b_253996.html

One more.

 

[Greyhound]

I agree except for one thing.

America is dumb. If they weren't so dumb than why is it that they are so vulnerable to the advertising bombardment as you suggest? Not just dumb, but horribly, catastrophically stupid. More to the point, its willful ignorance, and its laziness.

All very valid points, Pesqueeb.

It's not just Americans....everyone the world over is vulnerable to bombastic suggestion. Australians are fatter than us...Europeans willfully ignore dental plans.....I'm making light of it here, but Americans didn't just wake up one day stupid. The generation that saved us from 3 fascist dictatorships in the 40's didn't spawn a generation of idiots....our prosperity as a result of those actions generated a slow-rolling complacence that is combined with instantaneous information acceptance. It's easier to do than to think. That's all I'm saying....not making a grand socialistic statement. Just one guys opinion on why we know better but choose to do otherwise.

Fine by me, man...call it stupidity if you want. I live in the South and see lots of stupid things on a daily basis. Some of them committed by the guy writing this very sentence. I just think we're hypnotized by all the shiny objects and soothing food. Will it be our Achillies heel? Perhaps.

 

[Pesqueeb]

I just think we're hypnotized by all the shiny objects and soothing food. Will it be our Achillies heel?

Yes. It makes me both terribly sad and scared sh*tless @ the same time.

 

[BurlyShirley]

A lot of it really boils down to laziness. It's much easier in the short term to live life fat and stupid, than it is to actually put in the effort to be smart and fit. I haven't been everywhere on this planet, but I feel confident in saying that nowhere else can you get by so well by doing so little as right here in the US. Hell, our poorest regions are also our fattest! How do they afford to overeat when they don't work? Clearly the sh*t food that makes you fat is also the cheapest, and we could go on and on about why that is the case. So it's a two-pronged assault of laziness and government/commercial enabling.

The part that bothers me the most is the way these people EMBRACE ignorance though. I remember when the term "redneck" was considered an insult. Now it's a badge of honor.

 

[MMike]

It's all about the "america **** Yeah" mentality.

Just the mere fact that one was born in america apparently makes one somehow superior to everyone else in the rest of the world. So apparently it's easy to be awesome when you're american..........not at all unlike not keeping score in kids' soccer games. Everyone is terrific. Respect does not need to be earned etc etc...

So no matter how much of an idiot you are, you're awesome because you're american. But then smart americans start making you feel inferior. Then they are elitist.

Yep....America put a man on the moon, defends the rest of the world...and frankly does a lot of good stuff. And once upon a time, there WAS good reason for american pride essentially for its own sake. I will never deny that. But the hey day has passed.

As I said, the idea that respect must be earned seems to have been forgotten.

The fat, bloated union auto worker with the "Proud to Be American" bumper sticker, working as little as possible for the same wage that non-unionized engineers make...or doctors in other countries.......seems a little amiss.

I've been drinking scotch, so this post might not hang together all that well......

 

[Greyhound]

It's all about the "america **** Yeah" mentality.

Just the mere fact that one was born in america apparently makes one somehow superior to everyone else in the rest of the world. So apparently it's easy to be awesome when you're american..........not at all unlike not keeping score in kids' soccer games. Everyone is terrific. Respect does not need to be earned etc etc...

So no matter how much of an idiot you are, you're awesome because you're american. But then smart americans start making you feel inferior. Then they are elitist.

Yep....America put a man on the moon, defends the rest of the world...and frankly does a lot of good stuff. And once upon a time, there WAS good reason for american pride essentially for its own sake. I will never deny that. But the hey day has passed.

As I said, the idea that respect must be earned seems to have been forgotten.

The fat, bloated union auto worker with the "Proud to Be American" bumper sticker, working as little as possible for the same wage that non-unionized engineers make...or doctors in other countries.......seems a little amiss.

I've been drinking scotch, so this post might not hang together all that well......

Naaah....you're doing OK.

I agree. I hate that "everyone gets a trophy" bullsh*t. I played on a lot of crappy teams growing up, and when you got on that team that actually played well....and you got the pizza party and the trophies--that was awesome as a kid and something that sticks with you. You remember that lesson....

 

[MikeD]

Hell, our poorest regions are also our fattest! How do they afford to overeat when they don't work?

I've been drinking scotch, so this post might not hang together all that well......

You should be drinking Crown, you godless Communist.

 

[Andyman_1970]

Andyman, you've gotten closer to discovering the truth than many people. I think to understand how it got out of control, you have to look back at societal norms in the era of "skinny" vs. the era of "fat."

If you keep going on your original point, you can decipher that in the 70's there did not exist such a culture of video games and instantaneous marketing. Kids went outside to play Call of Duty...not to the couch for 8 hrs online. Sure, television marketing existed...but not the constant bombardment of "Triple Stacker Delux" fast food commercials that convinced America that we were hungrier than we actually were.

We're all plugged into the Matrix....everywhere we go, there is a constant stream of advertisements telling us to Double-Down, Triple-Stack, go large, and to crush our "EXTREME" thirst with that 44oz. soda. It's not that I think America is dumb..we're just subjected to this barrage of subtle(and not-so-subtle) directives to do these things.

Now....I dunno. When I grew up, your mom shooed you out of the house on Saturday morning after Looney Tunes went off and you played until she had to call you in at night. Now, I have serious concerns about letting my kid out of my sight for fear some sexual predator in a creepy rape-van snatching him up. How did that happen? Where did that deviate? Kids just sit in their room and play other kids sitting in their room in Japan in Mortal Kombat tournaments.

I guess that's why when the Andy Griffith show is on, I have to stop and watch because at least it reminds me that a time like that actually did exist and for at least 22 minutes, I can forget about the present.

Good stuff!!! That's why I'm building my soon to be 7 year old son a tree house for his birthday and not a game console. Thankfully he's not gotten the video game bug yet (except Angry Birds on my phone when we're waiting somewhere or in church....LOL) and I'm going to put that off as long as possible.

 

[MMike]

Good stuff!!! That's why I'm building my soon to be 7 year old son a tree house for his birthday and not a game console. Thankfully he's not gotten the video game bug yet (except Angry Birds on my phone when we're waiting somewhere or in church....LOL) and I'm going to put that off as long as possible.

Lord, I beseech thee..give unto me more yellow triangle birds, and fewer useless blue birds that break into three even more useless birds.........

 

[jonKranked]

Good stuff!!! That's why I'm building my soon to be 7 year old son a tree house for his birthday and not a game console. Thankfully he's not gotten the video game bug yet (except Angry Birds on my phone when we're waiting somewhere or in church....LOL) and I'm going to put that off as long as possible.

just to add some perspective on the whole video game topic...

i have a cousin that's 12 now. At that age, video games are effin' popular. Talking to my aunt & uncle (his parents), these days you're basically the oddball out if you don't play video games. Furthermore, a lot of the more popular games are online now. With the advent of high speed internet and headsets, gaming like this has also become more social. And at that age, socializing with your peers is important. So instead of completely keeping him away from video games (and socializing with friends) they actually monitor how much gaming he does, and what games they buy him. Gasp - this sounds like responsible parenting!!! My aunt & uncle also make sure he gets out and gets PLENTY of exercise (he plays soccer year round, and is actually really into riding his bike), as do the parents of his friends.


My point is that video games are just one outlet. It's being lazy that'll make you fat. Video games are just one way of being lazy. Hell a kid could sit around all day reading books and still get fat.

 

[Andyman_1970]

Lord, I beseech thee..give unto me more yellow triangle birds, and fewer useless blue birds that break into three even more useless birds.........

LOL..........Noah's favorite are the black round birds that blow up, and the one's that poop out the bomb eggs.....the scary thing is he's better than everyone in the house on that stupid game...

 

[MMike]

LOL..........Noah's favorite are the black round birds that blow up, and the one's that poop out the bomb eggs.....the scary thing is he's better than everyone in the house on that stupid game...

Well I just updated Angry Birds RIO and now there's a big blue bird that does some good damage....

 

[Pesqueeb]

just to add some perspective on the whole video game topic...

i have a cousin that's 12 now. At that age, video games are effin' popular. Talking to my aunt & uncle (his parents), these days you're basically the oddball out if you don't play video games. Furthermore, a lot of the more popular games are online now. With the advent of high speed internet and headsets, gaming like this has also become more social. And at that age, socializing with your peers is important. So instead of completely keeping him away from video games (and socializing with friends) they actually monitor how much gaming he does, and what games they buy him. Gasp - this sounds like responsible parenting!!! My aunt & uncle also make sure he gets out and gets PLENTY of exercise (he plays soccer year round, and is actually really into riding his bike), as do the parents of his friends.


My point is that video games are just one outlet. It's being lazy that'll make you fat. Video games are just one way of being lazy. Hell a kid could sit around all day reading books and still get fat.

QFT. Its more of a national milieu, you can't really blame one single element for the problem. I love to play video games (I practically peed myself over the Halo 4 trailer) though I don't play them nearly as much any more what with the kid and all. But even as a teen, I played lots of Nintendo, and had hundreds of hours of online play into Mechwarrior 2 on the computer, but I still did lots of hiking, spent probably thousands of hours in/on the river and played soccer. As an adult I have WAY less down time, staying fit is a priority for me, so we watch what we eat and my lazy game time has pretty much evaporated. Spare time is spent on a bike or running. To me, this again points to "teh lazy" being the cause of our Obesity problem.

In a related note, our resident 650lbs+ guy is back in the hospital raising our medical premiums with "chest issues". It's incredibly sad to me because I really do like the guy, but it really is a life style issue for him. The guy defines the laziness issue and has no one to blame but himself.

 

[jonKranked]

In a related note, our resident 650lbs+ guy is back in the hospital raising our medical premiums with "chest issues". It's incredibly sad to me because I really do like the guy, but it really is a life style issue for him. The guy defines the laziness issue and has no one to blame but himself.

electric kitchen knife + vacuum cleaner = flowbee of liposuction

 

[doodoobi]

You're so much better than everybody. Good job.

I have to agree with the troll here!

 

[jimmydean]

My point is that video games are just one outlet. It's being lazy that'll make you fat. Video games are just one way of being lazy. Hell a kid could sit around all day reading books and still get fat.

My daughter does enjoy a few games on the Wii, but we don't play it all that often (plus I canceled Game Fly). Unlike most of her friends, we don't have a PS3, or XBox, but she has her DS. She would much rather play outside than video games and with anything else, it's in moderation.

She has decided since she has gotten a growth spurt that she needs "to get back in shape" because she can't climb trees as fast as she did last year. I tried to explain to her that she is in great shape, but her body is bigger and heavier now, so her muscles just need to adjust.

I think she gets it from her mom walking around the house bitching about having to get in shape.