"I don't brag, I have no reason to brag, this is my life, my body, and I like it this way."
You don't? What's this?
"I will not allow myself to become like most of my age group, flabby, unhealthy whiners. I'd rather be dead!
Well now you can go back to the fridge and the couch."
Oh, I see. You're just insulting me, kind of like these...
"Just stop whining when you're overweight, and do something about it."
"And lastly, don't sit on top of me in the bus, when you're attempting to sit NEXT to me."
You're not bragging, just being a skinny person who feels entitled to belittle others who aren't as skinny. That isn't bragging at all!
Too bad you're talking to someone who isn't as fat as you assume. You aren't the only one who works at it. The difference is that you've never had to deal with being overweight at all, so you don't know the difference.
It explains why fat people have greater appetites. Your marvelous, superior willpower isn't a function of anything other than your natural leanness. A properly functioning body doesn't crave more food than it needs.
I've never sat on a person while getting on the bus but I might make and exception in your case. Of course, I don't really have need to ride the bus these days. That's more for the/.'ers who feel superior in spite of not having earned their first dollar yet.
BMI is a total joke. It's curious that an accepted but bogus standard such as that would be used to lump so many people unjustly into the overweight/obese category when the prevailing "wisdom" in medicine is to do the opposite. Unlike other conditions, "overweight" does not necessarily require treatment that has to be honored by insurance.
Country people are even fatter than city people. Sorry to burst your bubble on that.
Fat does run in the family. Only some of it is genetic.
The problem with you and all the other ignorants around here is that you believe there's only one cause of obesity, that it's due to laziness, and that you aren't and never will be obese because you're too good. You'll learn.
No one would, but then that's not the case, is it? I'm not here begging for information, I'm here slapping down ignorant fools like yourself who think you know everything about weight loss based on never having faced the problem yourselves.
I don't give a shit whether I'm "way ahead" of you or anyone else. My health is my concern, it's not a contest. I could give a shit about the bragging of someone in their early 20's. They have no idea what they face 20 years down the road.
I am also not an "old fart", I am only old compared to those who have no living experience as an adult yet. Once again, you are barely and adult. Who gives a shit what you think?
Lastly, I don't care what the parent was "telling me to do". He knew nothing of my personal situation, his purpose was to make condescending remarks me just as you are.
There is absolutely no doubt that we live in a society that refuses to take basic responsibility. That I would never dispute. Furthermore, there are many overweight and obese people who refuse to help themselves.
However, just because that is so is not proof that obesity is caused by simple laziness. There is overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
The fact of the matter is that, regardless of cause, some people are predisposed to not gain weight. The claim is that it's genetic and it may be so, but it could also be fundamentally behavioral. I have a friend that in his mid-60's and isn't a pound overweight nor has ever been. He's the rudest, most insulting person towards the overweight that you will ever know yet he's never worked out, never had an active lifestyle, and eats total crap. He believes that his weight is a function of superior willpower, yet he's never been able to kick that two pack a day smoking habit. He's an asshole.
That's how it is with those who don't have weight problems. They believe their experience is the experience of all people. Some people fall victim to the pervasive bad diets in our society and struggle with their weight. They are not inferior to those who don't have such problems.
Anyone who claims that weight gain is a simple function of eating too much has never experienced the problems of the obese. They are wrong and have no basis to appreciate the real facts of the condition. It turns out that obese people aren't so because they gorge themselves; they gorge themselves because they are obese and it is a runaway train. I've posted this link several times already but I'll post it again. It explains things far better than I can:
In summary, research shows that an overabundance of fructose in the diet overloads the liver and, over time, causes the area of the brain responsible for controlling appetite to fail to detect that the body is sufficiently fat by interfering with leptin. As a result, the body thinks it is starving and triggers runaway hunger and lethargy. Anyone who thinks they can simply will themselves to overcome that doesn't appreciate the scope of the problem. People in that condition suffer.
Remember, obesity is a growing health concern and casting blame on the weak character of the obese will do nothing to solve it. Eventually we will all pay for the consequences of an aging, fat population.
Weight and age are quite related, not only because of lifestyle considerations but because of hormonal changes. Perhaps you need to rethink that.
Adult onset diabetes takes decades to develop. In that respect, diabetes, and the obesity that is linked to it, are necessarily a function of age. You can't have a condition that takes 30 years to develop when you are only 20 years old.
"How many people eat and exercise properly yet suffer from signs of malnutrition? How come no one on "The Biggest Loser" or any gym I've *ever* been to has had such problems. This has to be incredibly rare, no? What are these signs of malnutrition? Are they worse than the signs and dangers of obesity? Also, wouldn't the people stop suffering from these symptoms after they got to a healthy weight and could eat more (maintaining their size)? Or, could they maybe avoid them completely by eating more from the get-go, but exercising harder?"
I don't know the answers to these questions, but they seem irrelevant to me.
The subject at hand is what is responsible for the body becoming obese, what are the mechanisms, and what makes it hard for people who suffer from it to overcome it without help or drastic measures. The prevailing attitude from skinny, young people is that they are weak-minded and inferior. What a surprise.
None of them have been formally fat. Not everyone's experience is the same, and those that have none aren't qualified to offer advice. That appears to be the case for all the know-it-all teenagers here.
I'm going to listen to people who've bothered to educate themselves on the subject. That would include myself and it would exclude anyone who says it's "conservation of energy". Anyone with any experience with weight issues knows that's not the case.
Waifs use drugs and starvation to maintain their condition. I'm not interested in anorexia as a solution.
"Maybe it's just that some people naturally have more willpower than others? Maybe some people genetically have more motivation than others? Maybe some people are bred to work hard and achieve goals? It's genetics I tell you, which is why the obesity rate in the USA increasing, obviously. Our genes are getting fat."
That is a nonsense explanation driven out of pure ego.
"It's clear to me as anything in this life is that for the vast majority of people, being fat is a choice."
Sure, just as living is a "choice". Doesn't mean there isn't an overwhelming biological drive to choose obesity. There are obese people with unbelievable appetites. It is absurd to think they choose to overeat. The problem is that they are constantly hungry; far more so than healthy people. Saying that their problem is a lack of willpower, that they are choosing to be fat, is bullshit. They do not face the same choice as you; theirs is far harder.
"Here's my support for you..."
I'm way ahead of you and don't need your condescending "support". I'm 10-15 pound overweight for a 45 year old man of 210 pounds. I work out WITH A TRAINER 3 times a week. I do cardio on my days off. I'm on hormone supplementation and am carefully monitored medically. I bet I could not only teach you a thing or two but run circles around you as well. You are not only ignorant; you're a prick to boot.
Your work experience qualifies you for nothing. You have no idea whether obese people are that way because of what they eat or they eat the way they do because of their obesity. All you are observing is a connection.
Just because some people don't have weight problems doesn't mean those that do are sloths. Furthermore, people without weight problems don't automatically know why they are lean. Moderation alone isn't the key, at least not for all people.
Actually, you are wrong but it doesn't surprise me that you said that. I'm in my mid-40's and have 12% body fat. I constantly work with my weight but few that know me consider me to be fat. My family, however, has a history of obesity and diabetes, my mother has it, my father died from it, and my siblings are becoming severely overweight. I have a great deal of experience in the matter and I see a doctor 4 times a year to do blood work.
"Dude, it is a simple as that. Eat what you need, not what you want."
When you grow up, maybe you'll have enough experience to offer and educated comment on the matter.
"You obviously don't like being told it is your fault."
Tell me it's my fault all you want. In 20 years you'll be fatter than me and the attitude will change.
"Having worked with the entire line of Dell laptops and MacBook/MacBook Pro, I would say they best comparison to a current 17" MBP in the Dell world would be an M90 or XPS. The Inspiron may have the same specs, but the build and screen quality just isn't there. There is a reason these Latitudes are so much cheaper and you get what you pay for!"
Total bullshit. The screens and build quality in all these machines is identical. I should know, I worked in product development for Dell for 15 years and still have good friends that work specifically in notebook development.
XPS notebooks charge a premium for gaming features and the Precision ones charge for Quadro graphics. The only reason for someone to insist on using those machines for comparison is to cast Dell in a poor light regarding pricing. The closest match for the MBP system chosen was the Inspiron 1720. It was part for part identical electrically (save for FW800).
"If you go for 15", a Latitude D820 built to the same specs as an entry level MBP 15" comes to within single digit percentages of costing the same."
Again, Latitude is Dell's business brand and it charges a premium for it. Many Latitudes and Inspirons are the same under the covers. I'm not justifying Dell's business practices, but claiming there are quality differences among Dell's line across the board is crap. Some Latitudes and Inspirons have historically been identical machines with name changes.
Anyone who wants to argue that Apple's notebooks are of better physical quality can do so, but deliberately choosing certain models of Dell to compare against is disingenuous (yet common among the fanboys). The MBP is a nice machine, it is what I use and what I like better than anything else available, but it has its downsides. My failure rates for MBPs have been far worse than any Dell and the machines are much more vulnerable to physical damage. They are incredibly difficult to service at home as well. Finally, there is absolutely no doubt that the MBP is an expensive notebook. Yes, there are other expensive notebooks, but Dell and others make plenty that are comparable and cheaper.
"I'm not sure if you noticed but hiring someone is a direct contradiction of doing it on your own."
Not that it's important, bu that depends on your perspective. If you are an inventor in business for yourself, you are "doing it on your own". Just because I hire lawn guys doesn't mean I don't take care of my own property. Furthermore, I have personal friends that have done the work necessary to file their own patents and do so. Being heavily involved in the patent process myself at one time, I know what it takes but I can't do that kind of work.
Further, I don't see the comparison to to income tax preparation invalid at all. We all deal with filing taxes, and there are some of us who absolutely can't, or shouldn't, do it ourselves. Hiring professionals sometimes just makes sense.
""Legalese inflation" has caused the whole process (taxes too) to become so complicated that no layman can reasonably use it. That's a crime against society."
I agree, but that's not a patent problem but far more fundamental. I think we agree that the patent process is broken because our legal system is broken.
Apple didn't invent those technologies so they couldn't patent them (that is, without committing patent fraud). Furthermore, surpression of competition through refusal to license is within a patent holder's rights, but it is not automatically in their best interests to do so. I completely disagree that it would have been much better for Apple had it been possible at all.
With a comment like that, one would get the impression you were referring to yourself.
When was the last time you were fat, PenGun? If you never were, then what qualifies you to comment on the subject at all? If you were, you'd know better than to say anything so stupidly simplistic. The only people I've known to make this comment, and I've been hearing it for 20 years, are those who are skinny.
"Fat people eat too much, and don't burn enough off. Saying anything else is a damn lie."
Whoever said otherwise? The fact is, though, that it doesn't have to be much food to be "too much". There are plenty of thin people that vastly overeat fat ones and yet are totally sedentary. If it were as simple as you say, then that wouldn't exist. There is something biologically complicated afoot.
"It's easier for some people to eat less or burn those pounds off, but that doesn't change the basic equation."
Yes, and perhaps it was easier for you to lose your weight than it is for others. Not every fat person is diabetic, though it's likely they will all eventually be. Some people get fat young and find it easier, particularly males, to lose excess weight. When I was in my 20's I weighed 260 and eventually dropped that to 190. I'm now 20 years older, weigh 210, work out at least three days a week, and have a body fat percentage of about 12%, yet controlling my weight now is much more difficult than ever.
What is interesting is why some people have so much easier time naturally controlling how much they eat than others. This is how naturally everyone should be and willpower has nothing to do with it. If a body degenerates into obesity we should naturally assume it is not working properly, not that the person has weak character. Instead, we assume the opposite and many feel inclined to post messages on the matter. It is not just sloth that causes obesity.
I see you've thought about this in depth.;-) Have you ever been fat? How much? How old are you? Any history of diabetes in your family? Just curious of your qualifications, if any.
The bulk of any weight gain is water, so I assume that you are suggesting that, if we don't want to get fat, we should avoid drinking all liquids, right? Make sense to me, conservation of matter and all.
Your body has regulation mechanisms that control weight and those include punishing lethargy in times of famine. Anyone who attributes his skinniness to willpower either uses drugs or has never experienced what a body will do when it thinks it is starving. Furthermore, anyone who thinks that weight management has simply to do with conservation of energy clearly has no experience with weight problems. The vast majority of energy consumed in a typical diet is wasted and a body is capable of gaining weight on a diet that all of us would consider difficult to follow. Obese people don't wish to be obese and many eat less than it is assumed they do.
The only reason that corn syrup is the biggest culprit is that it is corn syrup that is the dominant sweetner. If HFCS were entirely replaced with cane sugar, nothing regarding obesity would change at all. People here fail to realize that, but then, if they can blame HFCS for everything then they have a convenient enemy and don't have to face the facts.
Yes it is true that HFCS is the devil. That doesn't mean that sugar isn't.
Weight management isn't simply a matter of running off the calories you take in. Your body expects a natural diet that is much different than what we eat today, and equating all calories makes any evaluation of diet virtually useless. It's not how many calories contained in a cookie that matters, it's the chemical results that ultimately take place as a result of eating it that do. Of course, it's not one cookie either but the overall diet and its effect on the body over time.
"Finally, must these articles always make a point to imply that obesity is cause by some random genetic/biochemical "magic bullet," instead of eating poorly and not exercising?"
If such a "magic bullet" existed, then yes they would. Why would anyone simply take it for granted that the problem is simply overeating and lack of exercise? Perhaps those that look for other explanations realize that such a naive explanation is false and useless. Why would the scientific method be discarded in this case?
"I understand that they need funding, and implying you may be able to "cure" obesity is a great way to get it. Even so, I think there's something rather disingenious about it."
Yes, of course, researchers are only looking into obesity because of funding. There's no public health concern there. Regardless, why shouldn't there be a profit motive to solve one of the greatest health problems facing society?
"Secondly, this is exciting news, but not exactly surprising."
Must every slashdot article have arrogant comments trivializing discoveries by saying they are "not exactly surprising"? Of course, such a statement is inevitably followed by a nonsensical justification. Here is yours:
"The differentiation of cells starts in the bone marrow, and there are biochemical signals that start that process. It's not surprising that some of these would be in bone marrow."
Right, and from that "observation" we should conclude that bones are involved in the regulation of weight. Somehow I doubt you'd make such a statement had the article not already stated it, especially considering your view that obesity is nothing more than a failure of willpower.
How many "lazy, overeating fat people" have personally told you that they set out to be fat? How many of them would not choose to be lean if given the choice? Why do you assume that fatness is a reflection of their lack of character? Have you ever been fat?
Sugar IS a horrible diet, and whatever "the hell" you feel like eating is very much a function of the diet you have, healthy or not. All the "mental and physical suffering" you imagine occurs from eating a good diet has no basis in fact if you had eaten a good diet all along, while the "mental and physical suffering" that results from obesity and adult-onset diabetes is very real.
Slashdot Mirror
"I don't brag, I have no reason to brag, this is my life, my body, and I like it this way."
7 /1969924.htm
/.'ers who feel superior in spite of not having earned their first dollar yet.
You don't? What's this?
"I will not allow myself to become like most of my age group, flabby, unhealthy whiners. I'd rather be dead!
Well now you can go back to the fridge and the couch."
Oh, I see. You're just insulting me, kind of like these...
"Just stop whining when you're overweight, and do something about it."
"And lastly, don't sit on top of me in the bus, when you're attempting to sit NEXT to me."
You're not bragging, just being a skinny person who feels entitled to belittle others who aren't as skinny. That isn't bragging at all!
Too bad you're talking to someone who isn't as fat as you assume. You aren't the only one who works at it. The difference is that you've never had to deal with being overweight at all, so you don't know the difference.
Now as for the appetite thing, perhaps you should read this: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/healthreport/stories/200
It explains why fat people have greater appetites. Your marvelous, superior willpower isn't a function of anything other than your natural leanness. A properly functioning body doesn't crave more food than it needs.
I've never sat on a person while getting on the bus but I might make and exception in your case. Of course, I don't really have need to ride the bus these days. That's more for the
BMI is a total joke. It's curious that an accepted but bogus standard such as that would be used to lump so many people unjustly into the overweight/obese category when the prevailing "wisdom" in medicine is to do the opposite. Unlike other conditions, "overweight" does not necessarily require treatment that has to be honored by insurance.
Country people are even fatter than city people. Sorry to burst your bubble on that.
Fat does run in the family. Only some of it is genetic.
The problem with you and all the other ignorants around here is that you believe there's only one cause of obesity, that it's due to laziness, and that you aren't and never will be obese because you're too good. You'll learn.
As though that hateful diatribe contributes anything to the discussion at all. Nice work, AC.
No one would, but then that's not the case, is it? I'm not here begging for information, I'm here slapping down ignorant fools like yourself who think you know everything about weight loss based on never having faced the problem yourselves.
Where did I say anything about "good enough"?
I don't give a shit whether I'm "way ahead" of you or anyone else. My health is my concern, it's not a contest. I could give a shit about the bragging of someone in their early 20's. They have no idea what they face 20 years down the road.
I am also not an "old fart", I am only old compared to those who have no living experience as an adult yet. Once again, you are barely and adult. Who gives a shit what you think?
Lastly, I don't care what the parent was "telling me to do". He knew nothing of my personal situation, his purpose was to make condescending remarks me just as you are.
You've demonstrated that you're a prick, now demonstrate that you're not ignorant.
...and since you've never experienced metabolic syndrome, no one has. Furthermore, you never will!
You may claim to be 44 years old, but you think and brag like a teenager.
There is absolutely no doubt that we live in a society that refuses to take basic responsibility. That I would never dispute. Furthermore, there are many overweight and obese people who refuse to help themselves.
7 /1969924.htm
However, just because that is so is not proof that obesity is caused by simple laziness. There is overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
The fact of the matter is that, regardless of cause, some people are predisposed to not gain weight. The claim is that it's genetic and it may be so, but it could also be fundamentally behavioral. I have a friend that in his mid-60's and isn't a pound overweight nor has ever been. He's the rudest, most insulting person towards the overweight that you will ever know yet he's never worked out, never had an active lifestyle, and eats total crap. He believes that his weight is a function of superior willpower, yet he's never been able to kick that two pack a day smoking habit. He's an asshole.
That's how it is with those who don't have weight problems. They believe their experience is the experience of all people. Some people fall victim to the pervasive bad diets in our society and struggle with their weight. They are not inferior to those who don't have such problems.
Anyone who claims that weight gain is a simple function of eating too much has never experienced the problems of the obese. They are wrong and have no basis to appreciate the real facts of the condition. It turns out that obese people aren't so because they gorge themselves; they gorge themselves because they are obese and it is a runaway train. I've posted this link several times already but I'll post it again. It explains things far better than I can:
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/healthreport/stories/200
In summary, research shows that an overabundance of fructose in the diet overloads the liver and, over time, causes the area of the brain responsible for controlling appetite to fail to detect that the body is sufficiently fat by interfering with leptin. As a result, the body thinks it is starving and triggers runaway hunger and lethargy. Anyone who thinks they can simply will themselves to overcome that doesn't appreciate the scope of the problem. People in that condition suffer.
Remember, obesity is a growing health concern and casting blame on the weak character of the obese will do nothing to solve it. Eventually we will all pay for the consequences of an aging, fat population.
Weight and age are quite related, not only because of lifestyle considerations but because of hormonal changes. Perhaps you need to rethink that.
Adult onset diabetes takes decades to develop. In that respect, diabetes, and the obesity that is linked to it, are necessarily a function of age. You can't have a condition that takes 30 years to develop when you are only 20 years old.
"How many people eat and exercise properly yet suffer from signs of malnutrition? How come no one on "The Biggest Loser" or any gym I've *ever* been to has had such problems. This has to be incredibly rare, no? What are these signs of malnutrition? Are they worse than the signs and dangers of obesity? Also, wouldn't the people stop suffering from these symptoms after they got to a healthy weight and could eat more (maintaining their size)? Or, could they maybe avoid them completely by eating more from the get-go, but exercising harder?"
I don't know the answers to these questions, but they seem irrelevant to me.
The subject at hand is what is responsible for the body becoming obese, what are the mechanisms, and what makes it hard for people who suffer from it to overcome it without help or drastic measures. The prevailing attitude from skinny, young people is that they are weak-minded and inferior. What a surprise.
None of them have been formally fat. Not everyone's experience is the same, and those that have none aren't qualified to offer advice. That appears to be the case for all the know-it-all teenagers here.
I'm going to listen to people who've bothered to educate themselves on the subject. That would include myself and it would exclude anyone who says it's "conservation of energy". Anyone with any experience with weight issues knows that's not the case.
Waifs use drugs and starvation to maintain their condition. I'm not interested in anorexia as a solution.
"Maybe it's just that some people naturally have more willpower than others? Maybe some people genetically have more motivation than others? Maybe some people are bred to work hard and achieve goals? It's genetics I tell you, which is why the obesity rate in the USA increasing, obviously. Our genes are getting fat."
That is a nonsense explanation driven out of pure ego.
"It's clear to me as anything in this life is that for the vast majority of people, being fat is a choice."
Sure, just as living is a "choice". Doesn't mean there isn't an overwhelming biological drive to choose obesity. There are obese people with unbelievable appetites. It is absurd to think they choose to overeat. The problem is that they are constantly hungry; far more so than healthy people. Saying that their problem is a lack of willpower, that they are choosing to be fat, is bullshit. They do not face the same choice as you; theirs is far harder.
"Here's my support for you..."
I'm way ahead of you and don't need your condescending "support". I'm 10-15 pound overweight for a 45 year old man of 210 pounds. I work out WITH A TRAINER 3 times a week. I do cardio on my days off. I'm on hormone supplementation and am carefully monitored medically. I bet I could not only teach you a thing or two but run circles around you as well. You are not only ignorant; you're a prick to boot.
Your work experience qualifies you for nothing. You have no idea whether obese people are that way because of what they eat or they eat the way they do because of their obesity. All you are observing is a connection.
If you're in the mood to read then, try this: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/healthreport/stories/2007 /1969924.htm
Just because some people don't have weight problems doesn't mean those that do are sloths. Furthermore, people without weight problems don't automatically know why they are lean. Moderation alone isn't the key, at least not for all people.
Actually, you are wrong but it doesn't surprise me that you said that. I'm in my mid-40's and have 12% body fat. I constantly work with my weight but few that know me consider me to be fat. My family, however, has a history of obesity and diabetes, my mother has it, my father died from it, and my siblings are becoming severely overweight. I have a great deal of experience in the matter and I see a doctor 4 times a year to do blood work.
"Dude, it is a simple as that. Eat what you need, not what you want."
When you grow up, maybe you'll have enough experience to offer and educated comment on the matter.
"You obviously don't like being told it is your fault."
Tell me it's my fault all you want. In 20 years you'll be fatter than me and the attitude will change.
"Having worked with the entire line of Dell laptops and MacBook/MacBook Pro, I would say they best comparison to a current 17" MBP in the Dell world would be an M90 or XPS. The Inspiron may have the same specs, but the build and screen quality just isn't there. There is a reason these Latitudes are so much cheaper and you get what you pay for!"
Total bullshit. The screens and build quality in all these machines is identical. I should know, I worked in product development for Dell for 15 years and still have good friends that work specifically in notebook development.
XPS notebooks charge a premium for gaming features and the Precision ones charge for Quadro graphics. The only reason for someone to insist on using those machines for comparison is to cast Dell in a poor light regarding pricing. The closest match for the MBP system chosen was the Inspiron 1720. It was part for part identical electrically (save for FW800).
"If you go for 15", a Latitude D820 built to the same specs as an entry level MBP 15" comes to within single digit percentages of costing the same."
Again, Latitude is Dell's business brand and it charges a premium for it. Many Latitudes and Inspirons are the same under the covers. I'm not justifying Dell's business practices, but claiming there are quality differences among Dell's line across the board is crap. Some Latitudes and Inspirons have historically been identical machines with name changes.
Anyone who wants to argue that Apple's notebooks are of better physical quality can do so, but deliberately choosing certain models of Dell to compare against is disingenuous (yet common among the fanboys). The MBP is a nice machine, it is what I use and what I like better than anything else available, but it has its downsides. My failure rates for MBPs have been far worse than any Dell and the machines are much more vulnerable to physical damage. They are incredibly difficult to service at home as well. Finally, there is absolutely no doubt that the MBP is an expensive notebook. Yes, there are other expensive notebooks, but Dell and others make plenty that are comparable and cheaper.
"I'm not sure if you noticed but hiring someone is a direct contradiction of doing it on your own."
Not that it's important, bu that depends on your perspective. If you are an inventor in business for yourself, you are "doing it on your own". Just because I hire lawn guys doesn't mean I don't take care of my own property. Furthermore, I have personal friends that have done the work necessary to file their own patents and do so. Being heavily involved in the patent process myself at one time, I know what it takes but I can't do that kind of work.
Further, I don't see the comparison to to income tax preparation invalid at all. We all deal with filing taxes, and there are some of us who absolutely can't, or shouldn't, do it ourselves. Hiring professionals sometimes just makes sense.
""Legalese inflation" has caused the whole process (taxes too) to become so complicated that no layman can reasonably use it. That's a crime against society."
I agree, but that's not a patent problem but far more fundamental. I think we agree that the patent process is broken because our legal system is broken.
Apple didn't invent those technologies so they couldn't patent them (that is, without committing patent fraud). Furthermore, surpression of competition through refusal to license is within a patent holder's rights, but it is not automatically in their best interests to do so. I completely disagree that it would have been much better for Apple had it been possible at all.
With a comment like that, one would get the impression you were referring to yourself.
When was the last time you were fat, PenGun? If you never were, then what qualifies you to comment on the subject at all? If you were, you'd know better than to say anything so stupidly simplistic. The only people I've known to make this comment, and I've been hearing it for 20 years, are those who are skinny.
"Fat people eat too much, and don't burn enough off. Saying anything else is a damn lie."
Whoever said otherwise? The fact is, though, that it doesn't have to be much food to be "too much". There are plenty of thin people that vastly overeat fat ones and yet are totally sedentary. If it were as simple as you say, then that wouldn't exist. There is something biologically complicated afoot.
"It's easier for some people to eat less or burn those pounds off, but that doesn't change the basic equation."
Yes, and perhaps it was easier for you to lose your weight than it is for others. Not every fat person is diabetic, though it's likely they will all eventually be. Some people get fat young and find it easier, particularly males, to lose excess weight. When I was in my 20's I weighed 260 and eventually dropped that to 190. I'm now 20 years older, weigh 210, work out at least three days a week, and have a body fat percentage of about 12%, yet controlling my weight now is much more difficult than ever.
What is interesting is why some people have so much easier time naturally controlling how much they eat than others. This is how naturally everyone should be and willpower has nothing to do with it. If a body degenerates into obesity we should naturally assume it is not working properly, not that the person has weak character. Instead, we assume the opposite and many feel inclined to post messages on the matter. It is not just sloth that causes obesity.
I see you've thought about this in depth. ;-) Have you ever been fat? How much? How old are you? Any history of diabetes in your family? Just curious of your qualifications, if any.
The bulk of any weight gain is water, so I assume that you are suggesting that, if we don't want to get fat, we should avoid drinking all liquids, right? Make sense to me, conservation of matter and all.
Your body has regulation mechanisms that control weight and those include punishing lethargy in times of famine. Anyone who attributes his skinniness to willpower either uses drugs or has never experienced what a body will do when it thinks it is starving. Furthermore, anyone who thinks that weight management has simply to do with conservation of energy clearly has no experience with weight problems. The vast majority of energy consumed in a typical diet is wasted and a body is capable of gaining weight on a diet that all of us would consider difficult to follow. Obese people don't wish to be obese and many eat less than it is assumed they do.
The only reason that corn syrup is the biggest culprit is that it is corn syrup that is the dominant sweetner. If HFCS were entirely replaced with cane sugar, nothing regarding obesity would change at all. People here fail to realize that, but then, if they can blame HFCS for everything then they have a convenient enemy and don't have to face the facts.
7 /1969924.htm
Yes it is true that HFCS is the devil. That doesn't mean that sugar isn't.
Weight management isn't simply a matter of running off the calories you take in. Your body expects a natural diet that is much different than what we eat today, and equating all calories makes any evaluation of diet virtually useless. It's not how many calories contained in a cookie that matters, it's the chemical results that ultimately take place as a result of eating it that do. Of course, it's not one cookie either but the overall diet and its effect on the body over time.
Read here: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/healthreport/stories/200
"Finally, must these articles always make a point to imply that obesity is cause by some random genetic/biochemical "magic bullet," instead of eating poorly and not exercising?"
If such a "magic bullet" existed, then yes they would. Why would anyone simply take it for granted that the problem is simply overeating and lack of exercise? Perhaps those that look for other explanations realize that such a naive explanation is false and useless. Why would the scientific method be discarded in this case?
"I understand that they need funding, and implying you may be able to "cure" obesity is a great way to get it. Even so, I think there's something rather disingenious about it."
Yes, of course, researchers are only looking into obesity because of funding. There's no public health concern there. Regardless, why shouldn't there be a profit motive to solve one of the greatest health problems facing society?
"Secondly, this is exciting news, but not exactly surprising."
Must every slashdot article have arrogant comments trivializing discoveries by saying they are "not exactly surprising"? Of course, such a statement is inevitably followed by a nonsensical justification. Here is yours:
"The differentiation of cells starts in the bone marrow, and there are biochemical signals that start that process. It's not surprising that some of these would be in bone marrow."
Right, and from that "observation" we should conclude that bones are involved in the regulation of weight. Somehow I doubt you'd make such a statement had the article not already stated it, especially considering your view that obesity is nothing more than a failure of willpower.
How many "lazy, overeating fat people" have personally told you that they set out to be fat? How many of them would not choose to be lean if given the choice? Why do you assume that fatness is a reflection of their lack of character? Have you ever been fat?
Sugar IS a horrible diet, and whatever "the hell" you feel like eating is very much a function of the diet you have, healthy or not. All the "mental and physical suffering" you imagine occurs from eating a good diet has no basis in fact if you had eaten a good diet all along, while the "mental and physical suffering" that results from obesity and adult-onset diabetes is very real.