After a long day at the office (my couch), I can’t think of a better way to unwind than with my favorite caffeinated malt liquor beverage: Four Loko. You can see why, then, I was so shocked to hear that my beloved Loko was being pulled from shelves. What’s the matter, Uncle Sam? Scared of a good time? Afraid you might have too much fun? I didn’t realize our government was run by a bunch of grandmas. [Read more →]
In Portland, Oregon, health inspectors shut down a 7-year-old girl’s lemonade stand at a street fair because she didn’t have a $120 temporary restaurant license.
“I understand the reason behind what they’re doing and it’s a neighborhood event, and they’re trying to generate revenue,” said Jon Kawaguchi, environmental health supervisor for the Multnomah County Health Department. “But we still need to put the public’s health first.”
OregonLive.com reports that “the girl worked on a sign, coloring in the letters and decorating it with a drawing of a person saying ‘Yummy.’” Perhaps city inspectors could have also cited the girl, Julie Murphy, for false advertising or at least for making an unsubstantiated claim, since it is unlikely that an independent panel of experts was commissioned to establish that the lemonade was indeed “yummy.” [Read more →]
CSPI has threatened to sue McDonald’s if it doesn’t stop offering toys with its Happy Meals. According to CNN:
“McDonald’s is the stranger in the playground handing out candy to children,” CSPI’s litigation director, Stephen Gardner, said in a prepared statement. “It’s a creepy and predatory practice that warrants an injunction.”
That CSPI has a “litigation director” tells you most of what you need to know about the organization. That it compares a business to a child molester — for offering a free toy with its chicken nuggets — tells you the rest. [Read more →]
Lincoln University has dropped its required fitness class for obese students that was the subject of much discussion and derision, including from me and our Joseph Anderson.
As a follow-up to my previous post, I wanted to add a few thoughts about creeping nannyism.
Privacy experts are concerned that new smart grid technology, meant to give consumers greater control over their energy usage, might be used to reveal more about your life than you’d intend. Turns out that, even if individual electronic devices don’t have communications capabilities, their unique load patterns can be picked up on usage reports. Refrigerators, toasters, gaming consoles, etc, all generate unique patterns that can be detected on meters. It would be possible for the curious to know when you’re home, how long you use a hair dryer in the morning, and whether you should spend less time on the xBox. And, if your devices have roaming capabilities (electric vehicles, for example), more patterns can be created and detected. [Read more →]
A university in Pennsylvania has decided that students with a BMI of 30 or more must take physical education classes or they will not be allowed to graduate. The motivation, of course, is to make sure that students are being the best selves they can be: [Read more →]
Lincoln University requires fat students to take a fitness class in order to graduate:
The mandate, which took effect for freshmen entering in fall 2006, requires students to get tested for their body mass index, a measure of weight to height.
A normal BMI is between 18.5 and 24.9. Students with one that’s 30 or above — considered obese — are required to take a class called “Fitness for Life,” which meets three hours a week.
The course involves walking, aerobics, weight training and other physical activities, as well as information on nutrition, stress and sleep…
“We know we’re in the midst of an obesity epidemic,” said James L. DeBoy, chairman of Lincoln’s department of health, physical education and recreation. “We have an obligation to address this head on, knowing full well there’s going to be some fallout.”
I realize that Lincoln University is not the government, but its actions here are in line with the direction of public health arguments. Some people have been warning about the totalitarian implications of using public health terms, like “epidemic,” to describe personal health issues, like obesity. [Read more →]
Jacob Sullum’s article “The Perils of Palatability” in Reason magazine is about the efforts of David A. Kessler to tell the rest of us how to eat and to define restaurants as malicious and deceitful because they make delicious food and then have the nerve to tell us about it. In 2007, Sullum interviewed me about my novel Mean Martin Manning, which has a character Kessler might admire: Caseworker Alice Pitney. In the interview, Sullum asked, “Is it hard to write satire in a world that gets sillier every day?” The answer is yes.
Federal tax hike on cigarettes? Smokers feeling abused? Didn’t anybody see it coming?
In my novel The Alphabet Challenge (ENC Press, 2003), I foresaw it years ago. I also foresaw it getting much worse: [Read more →]
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was bitten by a groundhog yesterday (it’s about as cheesy a local newscast as you’re likely to see). Note what an ass Bloomberg is on the video, trying to be funny as he threatens to cut zoo funding. And take some pleasure in how delightfully uncomfortable he seems when holding up the animal that has bitten him.
Sources close to the groundhog tell me it was no accident. It seems that this groundhog — Charles G. Hogg, affectionately known as ‘Staten Island Chuck’ — enjoys activities that Bloomberg has banned or plans to ban. Like smoking. And eating fatty foods. And putting a bit of salt in his soup. And touring the UN on a class trip. And bringing a bicycle on the subway (a little groundhog bike). And taking a photograph without a permit. It’s a long, growing list, but Chuck is a wild and crazy rodent with lots of ‘vices’ that Bloomberg will eventually get around to banning. So Chuck bit the meddling bastard.
The below video is shorter. Sadly, neither video captured any blood or screams of pain, but if you watch carefully, you can see the bite (because you have that kind of time). A still picture is here.
| Groundhog Day |
