Things I don't need
I don't need to have the receptionist at work say to me "that was a quick trip for you" when I pass her, go into the men's restroom, wash my hands, then go back out to the office (passing her again). Because that implies that there are days when she's thinking "Jesus H. Christ, he was in there for an hour and a half today, and he looks like he's lost 10 pounds. He must have had a rough night of drinking topped off with a Ultimo Burrito with extra salsa last night". Thankfully, she's been kind enough to keep these thoughts to herself. So far.
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
Stuff that makes me laugh
bash.org. A repository of funny things said on IRC (chat rooms). The randomness is fantastic. Examples:
---
[khamosis] oh man... i had typed "hey! anyone awake?" in another channel about 20 minutes ago
[khamosis] and just now i saw it and typed "yes!" not realizing it was me
---
[Dan] we went to "the store" in our lunch break today
[Dan] there was this shop with the sign "coffee corn" above it
[Dan] it was meant to be 2 different signs but it looked like one
[Dan] and this girl that was with us asked "WTF is coffee corn"
[Dan] then later we walked around the other side and the other part of the sign said "nuts juice"
---
[appleboy] Are you chinese?
[transgress] do i look chinese motherfucker?
---
[SirCourage] So anyways, I knew at 1:30 am this morning that my english paper would not be finished, so I opened up explorer.exe in notepad, saved it as a .txt, emailed it to my school email and told them that their email server must have ruined my paper. I got an A- :D
---
* MTR continues to listen to his best of Poison cd
[ROB] That's gotta be one short fucking CD
---
I gotta go. There's a dude next to me and he's watching me type, which is sort of starting to creep me out. Yes dude next to me, I mean you.
---
[FBMachine] i got kicked out of barnes and noble once for moving all the bibles into the fiction section
---
[Sonium] someone speak python here?
[lucky] HHHHHSSSSSHSSS
[lucky] SSSSS
[Sonium] the programming language
---
[Patrician] what does your robot do, sam
[bovril] it collects data about the surrounding environment, then discards it and drives into walls
---
[Jakefeb3] do you know a turtles only weakness?
[AvatarOfSolusek] no
[AvatarOfSolusek] well
[AvatarOfSolusek] thier slowness
[Jakefeb3] there weakness is they cant roll over when they are on their backs
[AvatarOfSolusek] lol
[Jakefeb3] now i have a plan
[Jakefeb3] if i duck tape 2 turtles together they are unstoppable
bash.org. A repository of funny things said on IRC (chat rooms). The randomness is fantastic. Examples:
---
[khamosis] oh man... i had typed "hey! anyone awake?" in another channel about 20 minutes ago
[khamosis] and just now i saw it and typed "yes!" not realizing it was me
---
[Dan] we went to "the store" in our lunch break today
[Dan] there was this shop with the sign "coffee corn" above it
[Dan] it was meant to be 2 different signs but it looked like one
[Dan] and this girl that was with us asked "WTF is coffee corn"
[Dan] then later we walked around the other side and the other part of the sign said "nuts juice"
---
[appleboy] Are you chinese?
[transgress] do i look chinese motherfucker?
---
[SirCourage] So anyways, I knew at 1:30 am this morning that my english paper would not be finished, so I opened up explorer.exe in notepad, saved it as a .txt, emailed it to my school email and told them that their email server must have ruined my paper. I got an A- :D
---
* MTR continues to listen to his best of Poison cd
[ROB] That's gotta be one short fucking CD
---
---
[FBMachine] i got kicked out of barnes and noble once for moving all the bibles into the fiction section
---
[Sonium] someone speak python here?
[lucky] HHHHHSSSSSHSSS
[lucky] SSSSS
[Sonium] the programming language
---
[Patrician] what does your robot do, sam
[bovril] it collects data about the surrounding environment, then discards it and drives into walls
---
[Jakefeb3] do you know a turtles only weakness?
[AvatarOfSolusek] no
[AvatarOfSolusek] well
[AvatarOfSolusek] thier slowness
[Jakefeb3] there weakness is they cant roll over when they are on their backs
[AvatarOfSolusek] lol
[Jakefeb3] now i have a plan
[Jakefeb3] if i duck tape 2 turtles together they are unstoppable
Saturday, April 23, 2005
ACLU
Man, I love the ACLU. This was sent to me by my mom (the first *real* keeper she's ever sent). It's a shockwave flash app.
Want a Pizza?
Man, I love the ACLU. This was sent to me by my mom (the first *real* keeper she's ever sent). It's a shockwave flash app.
Want a Pizza?
Friday, April 22, 2005
Thou shalt not...
Man, I am seriously coveting the new Gary Fisher Rig.
A 29" singlespeed, straight from the factory. No fuss, no muss. Only drawbacks: aluminum frame (rigid) and suspension fork (not rigid enough. But that might be OK since I'm old and fat).
In a perfect world, I'd be able to afford a custom steel 29er for my tall ass. In a slightly less perfect world, I'd at least be able to afford a Surly Karate Monkey. However, no one seems to sell them built, and I have neither the space nor the ambition to buy a frame, then buy the bits, then try to fit them all together.
This may signal the end of the line for my Fisher Sugar 2 Disk.
Man, I am seriously coveting the new Gary Fisher Rig.
A 29" singlespeed, straight from the factory. No fuss, no muss. Only drawbacks: aluminum frame (rigid) and suspension fork (not rigid enough. But that might be OK since I'm old and fat).
In a perfect world, I'd be able to afford a custom steel 29er for my tall ass. In a slightly less perfect world, I'd at least be able to afford a Surly Karate Monkey. However, no one seems to sell them built, and I have neither the space nor the ambition to buy a frame, then buy the bits, then try to fit them all together.
This may signal the end of the line for my Fisher Sugar 2 Disk.
Thursday, April 21, 2005
Product Placement
I may have said it before, but the concept of "product placement" in movies, television shows, television news stories, and radio news programs fascinates me. As offended as I am by the whole thing. And as much as I can't stomach the lack of journalistic integrety it takes for some tool to be a puppet for a company, I can't get enough of seeing interesting ways people come up with pulling it off. I like it almost as much as I like reading about when they get busted trying to do it.
I may have said it before, but the concept of "product placement" in movies, television shows, television news stories, and radio news programs fascinates me. As offended as I am by the whole thing. And as much as I can't stomach the lack of journalistic integrety it takes for some tool to be a puppet for a company, I can't get enough of seeing interesting ways people come up with pulling it off. I like it almost as much as I like reading about when they get busted trying to do it.
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
I swear to god...
When I first glanced at this headline on CNN my brain saw:
"Some see Virgin Mary in underpants stain"
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/04/20/mary.underpass.ap/index.html
When I first glanced at this headline on CNN my brain saw:
"Some see Virgin Mary in underpants stain"
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/04/20/mary.underpass.ap/index.html
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Signs that something is wrong
When you can drive less than 20 miles in 40 minutes, on the highway, and think "hey, I made pretty good time today".
When you're out alone in the middle of the woods, and you think "man, I *never* get to hear silence like this". Then you realize you're not hearing silence, you're hearing the constant white-noise of the highway a mile away, or the airplanes far overhead, as they take off from the airport 10 miles away.
:(
When you can drive less than 20 miles in 40 minutes, on the highway, and think "hey, I made pretty good time today".
When you're out alone in the middle of the woods, and you think "man, I *never* get to hear silence like this". Then you realize you're not hearing silence, you're hearing the constant white-noise of the highway a mile away, or the airplanes far overhead, as they take off from the airport 10 miles away.
:(
Monday, April 18, 2005
Deadwood FPM
Ha! I love this show. It's nice that some people are still doing research on the important things:
"The Number of Fucks In Deadwood"
While we're on the subject, here are a couple of other links about the show:
Info on the Pinkertons
The reality vs. fiction of Deadwood. Surprisingly, there's a lot more fact than I had expected.
Ha! I love this show. It's nice that some people are still doing research on the important things:
"The Number of Fucks In Deadwood"
While we're on the subject, here are a couple of other links about the show:
Info on the Pinkertons
The reality vs. fiction of Deadwood. Surprisingly, there's a lot more fact than I had expected.
Happy trails, happy gear
I got out early Saturday to ride the new trails at Wakefield. All I can say is...WOW! IMBA/MORE/JoeP and all the volunteers did an amazing job reworking that park! I've been riding there for over 4 years now, and I don't recognize where I am when I'm on the new trails. You can't see any old trails, you're not confused into taking the wrong path. You've got no desire to try and find the old trails cuz the new ones are so much better. Plus you get a couple of boardwalks to play BC-stylie on. Very impressive. I only wish I could say I was out there helping build them a month or two ago. I'd have been proud to be part of that.
While talking about biking, I just have to say that I got my first flat in 3+ yeas on my Hutchenson Green Tubes. This says a lot coming from a 220-250lb guy riding a full rigid singlespeed. I punish my wheels/tires/tubes. Anyway, in years past, I've hit a curb so hard I cracked a rim without pinching these tubes. On a ride last week, I had too little air in the rear tire and hit something. Whatever I hit, it was hard enough to tear the sidewall of my tire. Still, my Green tubes got only a pin-hole leak and I was able to limp back to the parking lot without totally flatting. Threw on a glueless patch, and I'm back in business. These things are golden. I gotta go buy a couple more now, for spares. I think over three years on a $24 pair of tubes is pretty good. I can't put a dollar value on all the time I didn't spend fixing flats trail-side.
I got out early Saturday to ride the new trails at Wakefield. All I can say is...WOW! IMBA/MORE/JoeP and all the volunteers did an amazing job reworking that park! I've been riding there for over 4 years now, and I don't recognize where I am when I'm on the new trails. You can't see any old trails, you're not confused into taking the wrong path. You've got no desire to try and find the old trails cuz the new ones are so much better. Plus you get a couple of boardwalks to play BC-stylie on. Very impressive. I only wish I could say I was out there helping build them a month or two ago. I'd have been proud to be part of that.
While talking about biking, I just have to say that I got my first flat in 3+ yeas on my Hutchenson Green Tubes. This says a lot coming from a 220-250lb guy riding a full rigid singlespeed. I punish my wheels/tires/tubes. Anyway, in years past, I've hit a curb so hard I cracked a rim without pinching these tubes. On a ride last week, I had too little air in the rear tire and hit something. Whatever I hit, it was hard enough to tear the sidewall of my tire. Still, my Green tubes got only a pin-hole leak and I was able to limp back to the parking lot without totally flatting. Threw on a glueless patch, and I'm back in business. These things are golden. I gotta go buy a couple more now, for spares. I think over three years on a $24 pair of tubes is pretty good. I can't put a dollar value on all the time I didn't spend fixing flats trail-side.
Friday, April 15, 2005
Photography goodness
Ben, the brains behind eighteenpercent.net (I'm just an HTML fanboy) has updated the pages so you can now comment on each image. So, if there was an image that you particularly loved, or hated, hit the site and speak your mind. I'm really interested in what people think is "good" vs. what they think is "bad". I usually have very different opinions of my work than the girl does. She'll love something I think is "eh" quality, but I'll love something she'll not be thrilled about.
Ben, the brains behind eighteenpercent.net (I'm just an HTML fanboy) has updated the pages so you can now comment on each image. So, if there was an image that you particularly loved, or hated, hit the site and speak your mind. I'm really interested in what people think is "good" vs. what they think is "bad". I usually have very different opinions of my work than the girl does. She'll love something I think is "eh" quality, but I'll love something she'll not be thrilled about.
Thursday, April 14, 2005
Another ride
Met up with DT and Lee (and another guy who's name I forget) last night to do a ride around the Colt's Neck loop. Left from the Reston ice rink, wound our way around a bigass loop passing through parts of Lake Fairfax park and following the CCT trail, then ended up at the W&OD. Then we spun the last couple of miles back to the parking lot. Finished the ride in a little over an hour (my fastest time doing the loop, I think). It turns out the ride is just about 10 miles, not the 7 miles I thought it was.
This is the same loop we rode last week with the GPS tracking us. I took the waypoints and imported them into the coolest GPS/mapping program in the whole world...Quakemap. I then took 13 screen captures of Quakemap screens, pasted them as individual layers in Gimp and made them into a bigass map of the ride. The original file is over 3MB, so here's a super shrunken down/compressed (and recompressed) version:
For scale, the grey, wavy line that runs from east to west at about the middle of the image is the Dulles Toll Road. An 8 lane highway.
If you're interested in the full size version, email me and I'll send you a copy. The full sized image follows the trail closley. I cut out a lot of the woodsy stuff in the middle of the image, to save on size and processing time. (When processing the original 13 layer image in Gimp, I was using something over 360MB of RAM).
-gary
Met up with DT and Lee (and another guy who's name I forget) last night to do a ride around the Colt's Neck loop. Left from the Reston ice rink, wound our way around a bigass loop passing through parts of Lake Fairfax park and following the CCT trail, then ended up at the W&OD. Then we spun the last couple of miles back to the parking lot. Finished the ride in a little over an hour (my fastest time doing the loop, I think). It turns out the ride is just about 10 miles, not the 7 miles I thought it was.
This is the same loop we rode last week with the GPS tracking us. I took the waypoints and imported them into the coolest GPS/mapping program in the whole world...Quakemap. I then took 13 screen captures of Quakemap screens, pasted them as individual layers in Gimp and made them into a bigass map of the ride. The original file is over 3MB, so here's a super shrunken down/compressed (and recompressed) version:
For scale, the grey, wavy line that runs from east to west at about the middle of the image is the Dulles Toll Road. An 8 lane highway.
If you're interested in the full size version, email me and I'll send you a copy. The full sized image follows the trail closley. I cut out a lot of the woodsy stuff in the middle of the image, to save on size and processing time. (When processing the original 13 layer image in Gimp, I was using something over 360MB of RAM).
-gary
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Quickie
Not much time for blog updates lately. Here's a quick wrap-up:
Saturday: went to mom's house and did yard work. Some other stuff prolly happened, but I'm not remembering it right now.
Sunday: was supposed to do a ride at Gambrill with a bunch of old friends, but my kid had a lacrosse game, so I had to miss the ride. Took the fancy camera to the lax game and realized being a sports photographer is harder than it looks. After the lax game, the kid, the girl and I did a short ride around Burke Lake. Not too strenuous, but definitely a nice time.
Monday night: met up with DT, Spearman and a few others for a ride around Wakefield and Accotink. DT and I managed to get separated from the rest of the group, so we ended up tooling around Accotink for a while. Eventually got back to Wakefield where the others managed to coax me into doing a "quick lap" on the new trials (in the dark, by this point). The trails are incredible, but by the time I was done...I was done. Can't wait to get back and try the new trails out in the daylight, when I can enjoy them more and not wonder what hideous thing I'm about to slam into with each turn. It was a great ride. I'm guessing 12-14 miles total (based on Spearman's ride length).
Tuesday: finally replaced my 2.5 year old cell phone with a fancy new one. Enough pieces had broken off of the old one that I felt justified in doing so. Being the elite photowannabe guy, I had to get a phone with a camera...even if it is a crappy 640x480 (307,200 pixel?) model. The 1.2 megapixel cams are still a couple of hundred bucks, and I can't really justify that. Anyway, I spent the first couple of hours with this phone the same way I spend my first couple of hours with any new Dell computer at work: deleting 95% of the shit they install on there. I mean, really...who wants some f*cking googoogaagaa baby noise ringtone? Anybody? I doubt it. What about a hundred of these stupid little cube freak icons? Anybody? I didn't think so. With a whopping 6MB of space on my phone, each byte is precious. I don't appreciate it when they install 2.5MB of shit. Then, on top of that, at least 1.5MB of useless shit is "protected" and can't be deleted. I hate it when people feed me shit I don't want and don't let me get rid of it. It's not like it's even branded shit, like a SonyEricsson logo icon or something. Just some random cube freak icons and some random sounds can't be deleted. So SonyEricsson have decided for me how to best use 1.5MB of my 6MB storage on the phone.
Good thing I have 30 days to dump it if I really get annoyed with it.
Wednesday night: supposed to be meeting up with a couple of people to get another ride in. Hopefully I'll be back in some kind of respectable riding condition one day soon. I'm tired of being the fat kid/boat anchor.
Not much time for blog updates lately. Here's a quick wrap-up:
Saturday: went to mom's house and did yard work. Some other stuff prolly happened, but I'm not remembering it right now.
Sunday: was supposed to do a ride at Gambrill with a bunch of old friends, but my kid had a lacrosse game, so I had to miss the ride. Took the fancy camera to the lax game and realized being a sports photographer is harder than it looks. After the lax game, the kid, the girl and I did a short ride around Burke Lake. Not too strenuous, but definitely a nice time.
Monday night: met up with DT, Spearman and a few others for a ride around Wakefield and Accotink. DT and I managed to get separated from the rest of the group, so we ended up tooling around Accotink for a while. Eventually got back to Wakefield where the others managed to coax me into doing a "quick lap" on the new trials (in the dark, by this point). The trails are incredible, but by the time I was done...I was done. Can't wait to get back and try the new trails out in the daylight, when I can enjoy them more and not wonder what hideous thing I'm about to slam into with each turn. It was a great ride. I'm guessing 12-14 miles total (based on Spearman's ride length).
Tuesday: finally replaced my 2.5 year old cell phone with a fancy new one. Enough pieces had broken off of the old one that I felt justified in doing so. Being the elite photowannabe guy, I had to get a phone with a camera...even if it is a crappy 640x480 (307,200 pixel?) model. The 1.2 megapixel cams are still a couple of hundred bucks, and I can't really justify that. Anyway, I spent the first couple of hours with this phone the same way I spend my first couple of hours with any new Dell computer at work: deleting 95% of the shit they install on there. I mean, really...who wants some f*cking googoogaagaa baby noise ringtone? Anybody? I doubt it. What about a hundred of these stupid little cube freak icons? Anybody? I didn't think so. With a whopping 6MB of space on my phone, each byte is precious. I don't appreciate it when they install 2.5MB of shit. Then, on top of that, at least 1.5MB of useless shit is "protected" and can't be deleted. I hate it when people feed me shit I don't want and don't let me get rid of it. It's not like it's even branded shit, like a SonyEricsson logo icon or something. Just some random cube freak icons and some random sounds can't be deleted. So SonyEricsson have decided for me how to best use 1.5MB of my 6MB storage on the phone.
Good thing I have 30 days to dump it if I really get annoyed with it.
Wednesday night: supposed to be meeting up with a couple of people to get another ride in. Hopefully I'll be back in some kind of respectable riding condition one day soon. I'm tired of being the fat kid/boat anchor.
Friday, April 08, 2005
Man, I love the EFF
How to Blog Safely (About Work or Anything Else)
Found that link via a story on Slashdot. Original post and related comments can be found here.
How to Blog Safely (About Work or Anything Else)
Found that link via a story on Slashdot. Original post and related comments can be found here.
Thursday, April 07, 2005
Back in the saddle
Managed to get in a couple more rides this week, after the Headwind Ride on Monday.
Tuesday I wanted to get in a few more road miles, but wasn't feeling up to the epic mileage (not really) being talked about for the Tuesday Swill Ride, so I decided to stop in Vienna on the way home from work and catch the W&OD into Falls Church and meet up with the SwillRiders for a "special guest appearance". I got to their launch point about 30 minutes early and hung around. Eventually the SwillRiders arrived and we hung out and BS'd for a bit before I headed back towards Vienna as they headed off towards DC. I put in about another 13-14 miles on that ride.
Wednesday, DT put together a MORE ride on his little piece of the Difficult Run/Colts Neck/Lake Fairfax/CCT trail. This loop is becoming the "where to ride if you don't feel like riding Wakefield/Accotink again" loop. The group of 9 of us (quickly reduced to 8 due to one guy not feeling comfortable with the trail's difficulty level) took off from the Reston Ice rink, made our way to Rt 7, then continued on the CCT until we ended up at the W&OD for a spin back to the cars. I think the total distance of the ride is around 7 miles, but I'm not sure. I was on the SS, so I didn't have a bike computer ticking off the miles as we went.
It was a great ride, and I was surprised to not feel 100% dead at the end. It's been a long long time since I've done a real, live mountain bike ride on the dirt. I think the last few rides I've done on the SS have been snow rides. And those were few and far between.
Sunday there's anoter ride planned that I hope I can make. It's the Old Crew ride at Gambrill State Park in MD. (I keep picturing it in my head like the old-guy baseball game that's played every year by former MLB guys, where all the old-fart, grey-haired, retired players come out and play a game at half-speed), but we're not that bad...yet ;). A bunch of us who frequently used to ride together (until life got in the way) are getting together for a really, really, really slow ride (at least I'm hoping it's slow!) at Gambrill. It will be good to see all of the old-skoolers again (minus Bob, who now lives a couple of states away in Atlanta, GA). I gotta get the FS out and tune her up a bit before tackling the rocky terrain of the park. I just hope life doesn't go getting in the way of my attending this one.
Managed to get in a couple more rides this week, after the Headwind Ride on Monday.
Tuesday I wanted to get in a few more road miles, but wasn't feeling up to the epic mileage (not really) being talked about for the Tuesday Swill Ride, so I decided to stop in Vienna on the way home from work and catch the W&OD into Falls Church and meet up with the SwillRiders for a "special guest appearance". I got to their launch point about 30 minutes early and hung around. Eventually the SwillRiders arrived and we hung out and BS'd for a bit before I headed back towards Vienna as they headed off towards DC. I put in about another 13-14 miles on that ride.
Wednesday, DT put together a MORE ride on his little piece of the Difficult Run/Colts Neck/Lake Fairfax/CCT trail. This loop is becoming the "where to ride if you don't feel like riding Wakefield/Accotink again" loop. The group of 9 of us (quickly reduced to 8 due to one guy not feeling comfortable with the trail's difficulty level) took off from the Reston Ice rink, made our way to Rt 7, then continued on the CCT until we ended up at the W&OD for a spin back to the cars. I think the total distance of the ride is around 7 miles, but I'm not sure. I was on the SS, so I didn't have a bike computer ticking off the miles as we went.
It was a great ride, and I was surprised to not feel 100% dead at the end. It's been a long long time since I've done a real, live mountain bike ride on the dirt. I think the last few rides I've done on the SS have been snow rides. And those were few and far between.
Sunday there's anoter ride planned that I hope I can make. It's the Old Crew ride at Gambrill State Park in MD. (I keep picturing it in my head like the old-guy baseball game that's played every year by former MLB guys, where all the old-fart, grey-haired, retired players come out and play a game at half-speed), but we're not that bad...yet ;). A bunch of us who frequently used to ride together (until life got in the way) are getting together for a really, really, really slow ride (at least I'm hoping it's slow!) at Gambrill. It will be good to see all of the old-skoolers again (minus Bob, who now lives a couple of states away in Atlanta, GA). I gotta get the FS out and tune her up a bit before tackling the rocky terrain of the park. I just hope life doesn't go getting in the way of my attending this one.
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
Headwind
Finally managed to sneak in a solo ride yesterday. First time since the never-ending house move started back on 3/15 (should be finished any day now!). I started at the Reston Ice Rink and headed west on the W&OD path. Made it about 7 miles out to Chruch Road before deciding to head back. The ride west was tough. There was a constant headwind that made me feel like I was riding into molasis. I mean, I'm slow anyway, but this killed me. Once I made the turn around, the trip back was a breeze (literally). Nice tailwind pushing me along. I must have cut 25% of my time.
I debated biking in to work today, but didn't have any clothes stashed at the office, so I'd have had to lug all that crap in a backpack. So I decided to drive in with a spare set of duds and plan on biking in more in the next few weeks (yay, spring!).
DT is putting together a real-live mountain bike ride tomorrow night. His Colt's Neck Loop ride in Reston. Should be a good time. I haven't been on the SS in months (I think). Yikes. Hope they don't mind waiting up for the fat kid.
Finally managed to sneak in a solo ride yesterday. First time since the never-ending house move started back on 3/15 (should be finished any day now!). I started at the Reston Ice Rink and headed west on the W&OD path. Made it about 7 miles out to Chruch Road before deciding to head back. The ride west was tough. There was a constant headwind that made me feel like I was riding into molasis. I mean, I'm slow anyway, but this killed me. Once I made the turn around, the trip back was a breeze (literally). Nice tailwind pushing me along. I must have cut 25% of my time.
I debated biking in to work today, but didn't have any clothes stashed at the office, so I'd have had to lug all that crap in a backpack. So I decided to drive in with a spare set of duds and plan on biking in more in the next few weeks (yay, spring!).
DT is putting together a real-live mountain bike ride tomorrow night. His Colt's Neck Loop ride in Reston. Should be a good time. I haven't been on the SS in months (I think). Yikes. Hope they don't mind waiting up for the fat kid.
Monday, April 04, 2005
I wonder...
I wonder when the government is going to make it illegal to be fat? I can see it now, they'll start issuing tickets, writing fines. Maybe even hand out some jail time. They can have stake (steak?) -outs at McDonalds restaraunts and bust all the fat people coming out with ginormous Double Quarter Pounder Meals with extra lard. Mmm mmmm.
I'm not saying this to poke fun at fat people. This whole line of thinking came about watching the 37 hour marathon of Biker Build-Off on the Discovery Channel Sunday. At one point, two of the motorcycle builders/riders elect to go helmet-less in a helmet law state. They're quickly busted and given tickets for this grevious offense. At this point, I think the girl asked me why there were motorcycle helmet laws (perhaps she stated why she thought there were helmet laws, I forget). I told her it was (theoretically) to keep insurance premiums down by keeping us all safe and secure (and totally defeating that whole "natural selection" thing that Darwin was kind enough to point out). I kinda started in on my little "helmet laws are dumb, seatbelt laws are dumb" tirade, when I started thinking about regulating fat people. I mean, if motorcycle helmet laws and car seatbelt laws are in effect to keep insurance premiums down by preventing people from needing to file claims, shoulnd't fat people be regulated for the same reason? I mean, what is the bigger health concern? Helmet-less (and seatbelt-less) vehicle accidents, or obesity and it's related effects (heart disease, diabetes, etc)? Here in the good ol'e USA, my bet would be on obesity.
I wonder when the government is going to make it illegal to be fat? I can see it now, they'll start issuing tickets, writing fines. Maybe even hand out some jail time. They can have stake (steak?) -outs at McDonalds restaraunts and bust all the fat people coming out with ginormous Double Quarter Pounder Meals with extra lard. Mmm mmmm.
I'm not saying this to poke fun at fat people. This whole line of thinking came about watching the 37 hour marathon of Biker Build-Off on the Discovery Channel Sunday. At one point, two of the motorcycle builders/riders elect to go helmet-less in a helmet law state. They're quickly busted and given tickets for this grevious offense. At this point, I think the girl asked me why there were motorcycle helmet laws (perhaps she stated why she thought there were helmet laws, I forget). I told her it was (theoretically) to keep insurance premiums down by keeping us all safe and secure (and totally defeating that whole "natural selection" thing that Darwin was kind enough to point out). I kinda started in on my little "helmet laws are dumb, seatbelt laws are dumb" tirade, when I started thinking about regulating fat people. I mean, if motorcycle helmet laws and car seatbelt laws are in effect to keep insurance premiums down by preventing people from needing to file claims, shoulnd't fat people be regulated for the same reason? I mean, what is the bigger health concern? Helmet-less (and seatbelt-less) vehicle accidents, or obesity and it's related effects (heart disease, diabetes, etc)? Here in the good ol'e USA, my bet would be on obesity.
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