Slashdot Mirror
New Crash Test Dummies Reflect Rising American Bodyweight
Ever thought that all those crash-test dummies getting slammed around in slow-motion were reflecting an unrealistic, hard-to-achieve body image? One company is acting to change that, with some super-sized (or right-sized) dummies more in line with current American body shapes: Plymouth, Michigan-based company Humanetics said that it has been manufacturing overweight crash test dummies to reflect growing obesity trends in the U.S. Humanetics has been the pioneer in crash test dummies segment since the 1950s. But now, the company's crash test dummies are undergoing a makeover, which will represent thicker waistlines and large rear ends of Americans.
Yes, Americans are fatter than ever before. But "overweight" and "obese" are completely arbitrary terms. It's about time someone did some kind of science in this area. There's nothing scientific about BMI, for example. We act like there's some sort of cutoff for what's healthy, and that's not borne out by real data.
... from our country that now judges food quality in calories per dollar?
I think you have it backwards, otherwise McDonald's wouldn't be so cheap
A true testament to the fact that a bad diet screws with intelligence
I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
I have to say that IMO, this is a pretty good idea.
The whole idea of doing crash tests and designing vehicles around one standard dummy size means you have no way to know if the safety systems work well with anyone outside that narrow parameter.
Not everyone heavier than the 167lbs. or so of the current crash dummy is unhealthy, for starters. Should America's vehicles be higher safety risks for all of our professional athletes with more muscle-mass than average? (Chevrolet just sponsored the World Series .... Maybe they better rethink their strategy if they don't design cars to be as safe for some of those guys?)
Even the "ideal weight charts" say a 6'4" person is still in the "normal" weight range at 197lbs. - so what about tall people like that? (Are the crash test dummies tall enough to see what happens when someone's head is that much higher up in the vehicle? They probably should check into that.)
But even putting all of that aside for a moment? The people bringing up those comparisons of average body types in other countries to ours don't really convince me that we're so bad off as a nation. Honestly, I used to be as skinny as the depicted "average sized 30 year old Japanese male" in that Huffington Post article -- and you know what? I hated it. As a general rule, women found me too skinny to be physically attractive to them (with many preferring the larger-framed guys who were clearly in the "overweight" category). The only praise I ever received was from the "gym rat" types who cared more about achieving the numbers the charts or stats said you should achieve as "ideal". And even then? I was never really very strong. They always assumed I would be a "quick runner" though.
Car companies will purchase a few test units, then realize all their 5-Star Safety cars are now only 3-Star safe for bigger passengers, then go right back to the smaller dummies. Seriously, what's the incentive for car companies to voluntarily take on more difficult metrics to reach? Unless the government mandates an increase in dummy weight, this is nothing more than a publicity stunt by the CTD manufacturer.
Overweight people can (with a few exceptions due to medical conditions) change the fact that they're overweight. Gay people by and large cannot make themselves not gay. Apples and oranges.
In poor countries is is often cheapest to eat meals like rice with vegetables, or noodle soup with vegetables. In the US and other developed countries vegetables and fruits are fairly pricey relative to high calorie processed foods. I can get a 500 calorie sausage McMuffin for $1 (ready to eat no les), about the same price that I pay for an 100 calorie apple, and less than I pay for a 25 calorie bell pepper. I can get 3-4 boxes of mac and cheese at 700 calories a box for that same $1.
Go compare what is costs in most cities to put a veggie loaded salad with some white meat chicken on the table ($20-25 in my experience) compared to a vat of spaghetti with red sauce ($3-4, or $7-8 if you toss in a pound of meat). Poor people are making rational economic choices based on how we have driven down the cost per calorie in processed foods.
The rising standard of living brings great economies of scale (and subsidies), but not to everything equally. So veggies don't get relatively cheaper, but meat and cheese do.
In a sane world we would respond by backing off of meat and dairy subsidies and heavily subsidize fresh fruit and vegetables. Maybe outlaw checkout aisle candy and put baskets of fresh fruit there. Some euro countries are doing this, we probably never will.
Wow..where do you pay that much for an apple? When they are in season (and I try to only eat fresh veggies and fruit that are in season and mostly local)...I buy 6-8lb bags of apples for $4 or so.
Where are you paying this much?? I mean, chicken breasts in the meat dept on sale are about $1.99/lb....whole chickens often are $0.89/lb...so a veggie and chicken dinner to feed a family of 4 isn't $25?!?!
Where in the US do you live where food is so expensive?
I find that I spend far less money buying whole foods like veggies and fruit in season, along with good animal proteins, cooking from scratch..that I would for crap processed food.
I certainly feel MUCH better doing it that way too. I mean, don't get me wrong, I like a good pizza or occasional Taco Bell..but if I eat that crap for 2 days in a row, I feel physically less better than I do when eating good for you foods.
And again...it isn't a money thing, at least not anywhere I've lived before.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
Well to do people are well because they are smarter. They do not smoke. As soon as it was proven cancer bla boa, they stopped. Same with excessive drinking or drugs. And now that it is so obvious that food plays a important role in health, they handle that too. The poor/ stupid don't care. It is well proven fast food is absolutely more expensive. It's just fast. I eat fast food once a month, then I feel sick. Then I forget, and try again. Eat less, eat well. Except for children. So many studies have been done on school performance and nutrition. Poor=map nourished = low brain performance. Sad. This is one problem we do know how to fix, unlike energy or pollution or greenhouse gases. But we can't. You cant, and I cant. It is up to the family and the individual. Some people just don't deal with in.