[This is a slightly edited version of a piece first published two years ago.]
Does it seem as though seven years have passed since that dreadful day of the stunningly blue sky, the orange flames, the plumes of grey-black smoke? Continue reading →
My theory on the Walmart Diet
It turns out that having a Walmart in the neighborhood is associated with a slight weight loss in the surrounding population.
Researchers are at a loss (pun intended) to determine the reason this might be. But their guess is that a Walmart frees up part of the income of people who are pressed for money, allowing them to buy more fruits and vegetable and other healthful items.
I beg to differ. Even though the study reports that a Walmart leads to decreased exercise, I still think exercise might be the key. My theory is that whatever the decrease in other exercise reported in the study (and I assume activity level was not measured, but was based on self-report), it left out one extremely important factor: the exercise involved in shopping in a Walmart itself.
Think about it—have you been in one lately? I have. Those babies are huge.
To score any item usually involves a hike that amounts to more exercise than many people in America get in an average day. And that doesn’t even count the getting lost part, which is practically obligatory in a Walmart.
Remember that Saturday Night Live sketch about the size of Walmarts? I rest my case:
Greeter #1: Hi! Welcome to Wal-Mart!
Greeter #2: I know I say this to you every day.. but I still can’t get over how big this Wal-Mart is!
Greeter #1: I knowwwww! It’s too big!
Greeter #2: I knowww!
Greeter #1: I knowww!
Greeter #2: I knowww! The whole town is this Wal-Mart!
Greeter #1: I knowww! It has too many things!
Greeter #2: I knowww!
Greeter #1: This store has to be at least eight city blocks! I mean, that is about 500 miles of store!
Greeter #2: I know! This Wal-Mart is as big as 250 Rite-Aids!
Greeter #1: I knowww! Thank God we work near the door! Otherwise, we’d never be able to get out! Continue reading →
The Vice Presidential pick: a test of judgment
In all the verbiage about McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin versus Obama’s rejection of Hillary, one especially important point is what it says about the judgment of both candidates.
On the face of it, Obama’s choice of Biden seemed “safe.” That was the word bandied about when it was announced. John McCain’s selection of Palin was “risky.” This would seem to indicate that Obama has better judgment, right?
But that’s not the way it’s been playing so far. Continue reading →
A thought on timing in elections
An election is a snapshot, a single poll taken on a particular day. Opinions, on the other hand, are in flux.
Part of Obama’s good luck so far has been his timing. Continue reading →
How’s that executive experience going, Obama?
Obama recently compared his own executive experience favorably to Palin’s. He’s run a big campaign, he said, and she was mayor of a small town.
This conveniently leaves out a few details—that he has a campaign manager, and that her most recent job description was actually governor. But let’s just take him at his word for a moment and see how that campaign of his is actually going right now. Continue reading →
Did you know that John McCain’s running mate is actually George Bush?
And here we were thinking it was actually a trash-talking, spectacle-wearing, pregnancy-concealing, former beauty queen/sportcaster pistol-packin mama named Sarah Palin.
But no; it’s really George Bush [see link’s last paragraph for the revelation].
To be more precise, John McCain’s running mate is actually George Bush hidden in a Trojan Moose [see title of above link].
Perhaps this one?:
Or is it this one?
Gaffing all the way
[See also this. Since this particular tempest is about economics, I’ll not weigh in myself.]
It’s the class war, stupid
Cries that the Democrats have engaged in sexism towards Palin are not misplaced. Palin is also hated for her social conservatism—even by feminists, who acknowledge she’s a woman, but a woman from the wrong side of the issues.
But perhaps even more important to many liberals is that she’s a woman from the wrong side of the tracks. Or at least, that’s the way she’s been perceived. Continue reading →
Palin envy: the Brits have it
Fergus Shanahan of The Sun asks, “Why, oh why, oh why can’t WE have a Sarah Palin?”
And the Australians want one too.
Message to Obama from a vet
Campaign ad received in an email from a friend. Stick with it till the end.
If this is true, Obama’s in bigger trouble than we thought
An eyewitness report from Dr. Sanity:
Palin was surprisingly charismatic. I mean you got that impression watching on TV, but in person you can see that her impact is at least doubled.
RIP Breno Mello
Breno Mello, the spectacularly handsome, charming, brooding star of the original “Black Orpheus,” has died in Brazil.
Mello is one of the main attractions of this unusual film, a favorite in my youth for its music, vibrance, and sad tale based on Greek myth but set in the hills of the unbelievably lovely Rio. Continue reading →