A new study, “Automated Bathroom Fixtures as a Contribution to Obesity in So-Called Advanced Societies,” appeared last Tuesday in the Journal of Luddite Studies Concerning Advanced Technology. This article, by Silvius Fractor and Jacob Leland, argues persuasively that a significant and previously unrecognized factor in the so-called obesity epidemic is the proliferation of automated bathroom […]
Obesity
Jim
USBSM Introduces Larger Inches to Match Expanding Waistlines
The ‘inflation’ of women’s dress sizes is old news.1 However, until recently, men have had to suffer the indignity of seeing their pants size increase, even as their wives’ dress size has decreased. The United States Bureau of Sizes and Measurements (USBSM) has—finally—made a move to address this distressing situation. Since men’s clothes are measured […]
On Waking and Rising
President Obama Creates Special Presidential Commission to Study Supply of Pumpkin Pie
United States of America: Recently, citizens of the U.S.A. have become concerned at reports that the supply of canned pumpkin is expected to fall short this year. In view of the great importance which Americans have attributed to the ritual use of pumpkin, President Obama has appointed a Special Presidential Commission™ to Study the Supply […]
New Frontiers for Product Placement
You may, perhaps, remember the scene from Air Force One where George Clooney, or Ronald Regan, or Fred Astaire, or whoever it was, finds himself in the cargo hold of the airplane with a not-very-subtle display of Coca-Cola®. (If you happen to have forgotten or had the good fortune not to have seen the movie, […]
Some Notes on the Physics of Large Appliance Repair
Given the enthusiastic response of our readers to our recent article on the psychology of large appliance repair, we decided to see if physics has anything interesting to say about the matter. As you no doubt recall, the issue discussed in the earlier story was the statistical correlation between the hours separating midnight and 2:00 […]
Fewer Americans Now Underweight
While there has been much concern about the increasing—and increasingly increasing—numbers of overweight and obese Americans, a new study sponsored by The Society for a Fat America emphasizes an often overlooked positive effect of this trend towards heavier weight: fewer Americans are now underweight. In fact, the study reports, incidence of underweightedness in this country […]