We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.
Dr. Sacks published a piece in the New York Times called “Sabbath,” in which he wrote, “And now, weak, short of breath, my once-firm muscles melted away by cancer, I find my thoughts, increasingly, not on the supernatural or spiritual, but on what is meant by living a good and worthwhile life — achieving a sense of peace within oneself. I find my thoughts drifting to the Sabbath, the day of rest, the seventh day of the week, and perhaps the seventh day of one’s life as well, when one can feel that one’s work is done, and one may, in good conscience, rest.”
Digital
pedometers and Swiss health insurance, a match made in heaven - See
more at:
http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2015/09/the-insurance-culture-that-is-swiss.html#sthash.14mVukEq.dpuf
The article tells us it seems to matter to us what our mothers ate while they were pregnant with us. It doesn't say it matters to us, personally, what we eat. On the other hand, if one is about to become a mother, one should potentially pay careful attention to what on eats.
Easy to say. Hard to do. Imagine having constant hunger and nothing to reel you in. When you have a hunger pang or craving as a non-pregnant person, it is easier to say 'no' because you are thinking about your waistline or what have you. When you are pregnant, especially once you are into those later weeks, everything about food gets connected to your baby..."I'm hungry. I must eat NOW." It is much, much harder to say no to something in that state.
Also, you do weird things when you are pregnant. I remember waiting in line at Wendy's after work because the only thing that sounded good to me was a baked potato with sour cream. I didn't want to eat anything else. In fact, most foods at that point were turning me off (first 12 weeks is crummy for nausea).
With my son, I remember only wanting to eat egg salad sandwiches and drink fresh-squeezed lemonade. In fact, one night I ran out to the store and bought 12 lemons and made a pitcher from scratch because nothing else would do.
How in the heck do you combat that type of primal instinct? Very, very hard. Especially when you are 8 months pregnant, you have NO waistline anymore, and you feel as big as a house.
I had broken each arm and leg twice as well as shredding tendons by the time I reached 9th grade. Nobody would then, or now, refer to me as some high-end athletic adrenaline junkie.
While it may be true that people who engage in recreational physical activity might need more things like hip and knee replacements than the average bear, I doubt it is "driving healthcare costs through the roof". People who work on their feet all day (nurses being one example) are having their fair share of the same. Not to mention that the sets do have some level of intersection.
People who engage in extreme versions of the activities mentioned, and other activities, probably break a lot of bones and need a lot of stitches, almost certainly far more than the average bear, but I doubt they cost society any more for their healthcare than the population of obese diabetics. And the extreme sports people, I'd guess, pay their own health insurance fees more often than obese diabetics do.
And as for injuries that cost a fortune to repair, automobile accidents are tearing people apart, literally, at a much higher rate than any extreme sports. Texting while driving may well be the single largest cause of serious injury in the nation right now. I have a close family member who deals with trauma as a career. Auto accidents are the biggest source of cases. Cyclists and skiers and the like do get carted in but they are unusual, even rare, compared to auto accident victims. Probably second to auto accidents are those caused but sheer, sometimes alcohol aided, stupidity. Like getting pulled along behind a car while sitting on a sled until such time as one gets one skull opened, literally, by a guardrail.
Chronic diseases such as cancer, COPD, etc, may often be caused by environment or behavior, such as cigarette smoke and surely cost more in terms of healthcare than injuries due to recreational physical activity.
And last (in terms of this reply), but certainly not least, if you know some people who work in pharmacies you might want to chat with them about the huge account of money our governments are spending on psychotic and pain management for people on welfare (a category which has a substantial intersection with obese diabetics).
It is not, by any means, runners, cyclists, golfers, tennis players, kayackers, and on and on who are "driving healthcare costs through the roof".
I should also have mentioned that people doing extreme sports, as well as those engaged in serious vehicular accidents, may well be among the highest groups contributing to organ harvests that help a whole lot of very sick people.
Guess who needs knee replacements and hip replacements at an early age? Fat people and exercise nuts.
Guess who tears muscles, rips tendons from the joints, breaks bones, etc.? Not the guy taking his morning walk around the block.
Just a few thoughts. I'm no exercise junkie, but I'm in decent shape. I'm the anti-adrenaline type who hates heights, too much speed, etc. I've never broken a bone or needed surgery after an activity. I'm in my mid-40s. In fact, the only surgery I've ever had was elective (not plastic surgery! different kind of elective).
Guess who tears muscles, rips tendons from the joints, breaks, etc.? Not to mention getting hit by busses, milk trucks and the like. Been a lot of these over the years if the newspaper reports are right.
Indeed some exercise nuts tear tendons. I worked with a man who bent over to pick up a coin and slipped a disc, he was not an exercise nut. My cousin has had two knees replaced, heart surgery and she is ten years younger then me. I am 72 and have always been an exercise nut. I remember a lady, in her mid 40's I think, commenting that when I was 60 I would need knees from all that running I was doing. I exercise faithfully, I will be hiking for the next two weeks at Zion and the Grand canyon. The goal is a few 10 mile hikes sprinkled in with our 5 mile hikes. Not too vigorous to be sure but there is altitude and obstacles involved. I can tell you this with no intent to offend; in your mid 40's you have no idea what old age hold in store for you. I am lucky enough to be physically fit but unlucky enough to be on a first name basis with my oncologist and surgeon. I wish it were my knees or a tendon...
#2.1.1.2
GoneWithTheWind
on
2015-09-19 18:39
(Reply)
Another one of those carrot-and-stick invasions of privacy, not unlike the driving monitors that some auto insurers are pushing on us. "Here have a piece of candy (discount), you'll like it.."
Fortunately neither my car (89 Jeep) or my wife's car (88 Mercedes) even has the OBD plug for one of those things. I do wonder, however, what kind of a profile I would generate off road. Navigating down a rock strewn ravine can create some interesting vehicle dynamics.
The proposed statement on intolerance by the University of California Regents is a mish-mosh that accomplishes little, at best, and is poorly thought out or expressed. What is worse is that it is an effort by U of C bureaucrats to avoid what brought about the effort. Namely, the Chancellor of U of C expressed support for the US State Department's definition of anti-semitism, after a Regents-chartered report -- led by an official of the NAACP and of ADL -- found widespread anti-semitism on U of C campuses and justified fears by Jewish students for their safety and ability to get an education, followed by years of increasing acts of anti-semitism at U of C campuses causing dismay and concerns among many responsible academics, politicians, and public. A cooperative effort by all of the leading responsible Jewish organizations and many others proposed that the U of C Regents simply adopt the US State Department definition of anti-semitism in order to understand what is and what isn't anti-semitism on campuses. Instead, the bureaucrats sought to avoid this simple legitimate statement by engaging in a word-salad on "intolerance" that everyone dislikes. Below is the entire text of the US State Department definition of anti-semitism:
http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/fs/2010/122352.htm
Defining Anti-Semitism
Fact Sheet
SPECIAL ENVOY TO MONITOR AND COMBAT ANTI-SEMITISM
Washington, DC
June 8, 2010
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"Anti-Semitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of anti-Semitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities." --Working Definition of Anti-Semitism by the European Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia
Contemporary Examples of Anti-Semitism
Calling for, aiding, or justifying the killing or harming of Jews (often in the name of a radical ideology or an extremist view of religion).
Making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as a collective—especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions.
Accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group, the state of Israel, or even for acts committed by non-Jews.
Accusing the Jews as a people, or Israel as a state, of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust.
Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interest of their own nations.
What is Anti-Semitism Relative to Israel?
EXAMPLES of the ways in which anti-Semitism manifests itself with regard to the state of Israel, taking into account the overall context could include:
DEMONIZE ISRAEL:
Using the symbols and images associated with classic anti-Semitism to characterize Israel or Israelis
Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis
Blaming Israel for all inter-religious or political tensions
DOUBLE STANDARD FOR ISRAEL:
Applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation
Multilateral organizations focusing on Israel only for peace or human rights investigations
DELEGITIMIZE ISRAEL:
Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, and denying Israel the right to exist
However, criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as anti-Semitic.
Put it another way: I don't much like anything about the regime in Iran at the moment but that doesn't mean I deny Iran's right to exist as a sovereign state.
I can't take a 19 year old's anti-Semitism seriously. There's nothing he can do that would harm me in the least, and in real life he'll learn the hard way what kind of shit that attitude brings down.
#7.1.1
Donny "The Bear Jew" Donowitz
on
2015-09-17 13:11
(Reply)
You, an adult, may not. However, other 19-year olds certainly do who are physically and verbally attacked and whose ability to engage in campus activities is circumscribed. And, many others will have their attitudes toward Israel and toward Jews permanently turned negative by the inculcation of the hostile environment created by anti-semites. It is the build-up of such a culture which can lead to very bigoted or even horrific acts later, and not just at Jews. Saying it doesn't affect you is myopic or that you are not worried is inadequate.
kollege kids are profoundly naive but less malleable that you think. they go through phases where its chic to believe whatever bullshit political philosophy is current. eventually they grow up and out of it.
as for Jewish kids in college, I remember anti-Semitic asshats, but I was never a "victim" in any way. a kid's got to learn how to stand up for himself -- verbally or physically -- or he or she will be run over in life when it really counts and College U, which is basically high school with ash trays isn't that place.
#7.1.1.1.1
Donny "The Bear Jew" Donowitz
on
2015-09-17 16:29
(Reply)
re The unwashed are on the march. Trump speaks not for the silent majority; he is the champion of the silenced majority. This is truly terrifying for today’s establishment gatekeepers.
I think this is spot on. The 'establishment gatekeepers' have bought into The Narrative. I believe the RNC would rather lose the election than have Trump win and explode their Holy Narrative.
If the status quo is upset it jeopardizes everything they have.
Photo: Yesterday's Beauty Pageant.