November 27, 2008

Random T-day

Happy Thursday!

Or, if you're of the American persuasion, Happy Thanksgiving! We are currently away from the computer, but we wanted to leave you with a random post, as a thanks to all of you for coming here and for leaving such terrific comments! We really do feel grateful.

Word of the year: is it an omen?



Last year we informed you that the word of the year was "Woot." This year, I don't feel I'm jumping the gun to tell you that Merriam Webster has already decided on the word of the year: "bailout." No, I'm not making that one up, alas. (Do the Word of the Year choices mirror the economic mood, like hemlines are supposed to go up or down based on how the market is doing?)




Fair to fat people, unfair to basketball players?


In Canada, if you're too wide to fit into an airline seat, you're entitled to two seats for the price of one. Obese have the right to two seats for the price of one.

My question is -- why only obese people? The airlines really do try to scrunch as many people as they can into the smallest possible space. What about tall people? One of the few times I'm glad to be vertically challenged is when I'm sitting in an airplane. It must stink to be a tall frequent flyer.

Not only obese getting scrunched by the airplanes. This link takes you to an article that talks about the different seat sizes you'll find on different airlines. Turns out some airlines are more into 'scrunch' than others. Personally, I think everyone should be entitled to two seats. So long as both seats are right next to each other. (Sudden vision of a bureaucratic airline assigning me two seats: 1A and 57B.)

Eat meat, get Alzheimer's?


This is a study that fell into the interesting-but-not-a-whole-post-interesting category: Fatty acid levels affect Alzheimer's. Turns out the fatty acid in question is our old enemy arachidonic acid. (Mentioned in last week's review of Dr. Sears' book Toxic Fat.)

One researcher said, "The most striking change we discovered in the Alzheimer's mice was an increase in arachidonic acid and related metabolites [products] in the hippocampus, a memory centre that is affected early and severely by Alzheimer's disease."

His theory is that too much arachidonic acid could be responsible for excessively stimulating brain cells, and that lowering the levels of archidonic acid might allow the cells to function normally.

Me, I believe it.

Throw another shrimp on the Barbie?

I always wondered why Australians like to pile shrimp onto Barbies.

Turns out Oregonians are even stranger.

Crazy Oregonian researchers decided that shrimps need more exercise. They introduced the shrimp to a treadmill. (Didn't know shrimp could run, did you? See, reading Cranky Fitness is educational.)

No! Not another shrimp!
(Tragic photo courtesy of Migraine Chick.)


The resulting video is a smash hit sensation on YouTube.

Shrimp on a Treadmill!




One last note on gratitude


Thanksgiving is about exactly what the name states -- giving thanks. If you read Crabby's post yesterday on gratitude, you probably took a moment or two to think about the things you're grateful for. I've been reading the Fat Cyclist blog for awhile now, and I challenge you to read his gratitude list. I don't think it's possible to read it without receiving a swift reality check to the head. We all have a lot to be thankful for.

18 comments:

  1. I have never before been grateful that I'm not a shrimp. Now I'm especially grateful not to be a shrimp on a treadmill.

    Mary Anne in Kentucky

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  2. Happy Thanksgiving to all at Cranky Fitness!

    If I had that many legs I could totally run that fast.

    TA x

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  3. Happy Thanksgiving.

    I don't always stop to comment, but I am really grateful for this blog.

    messymimi

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  4. How funny is that shrimp video!

    Happy Thanksgiving!!

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  5. I agree completely about the people who are really tall deserving an extra seat. I'm super short and whenever I see a tall person on the plane with me it just makes me feel bad. Also people with small children and such too... it seems a backwards way to deal with the issue of obesity, by offering 2 seats for the price of 1 and then discriminating against other people who could equally use 2 seats...

    Must click on over to Fat Cyclist. Happy Thanksgiving!

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  6. Love that shrimp!

    But I'm confused... this week's article talks about ArA and meat, last week it was ArA and cheap corn oil. Where am I to look for ArA?

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  7. Thanks for the great items, Merry, especially Fat Cyclist! He's funny and moving at the same time, a difficult balancing act.

    And thanks MessyMimi! We SO APPRECIATE all you folks who come here and brighten our days.

    Happy Thanksgiving to the U.S. folks, and Happy Not Thanksgiving to everyone else!

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  8. Where do you find such random youtube videos? That definetely made me smile this morning and I thank you for that.

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  9. Happy Thanksgiving, Crabby, Lobster, and Merry! I'm grateful for all the fun and informative blog posts I find here.

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  10. Damn, I was really hoping the word of the year would be MEH!

    I'm always glad to be a shortie when I fly, too---although I try to go with Jet Blue, which seems better than a lot of the other airlines in terms of space per passenger.

    Happy Thanksgiving, kids!

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  11. Dr. Sears says that ArA comes from cheap corn oil. I've found other sources that state the main sources of ArA are meat, poultry, and eggs.

    I'm thankful for all the great commenters on this blog, and for Crabby, who always saves the day when I have a bad HTML moment :)

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  12. Happy Thanksgiving Crabby and Merry! I hated the treadmill before but seeing a shrimp do it makes me like it even less.

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  13. True, that shrimp didn't look like he was enjoying it either.

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  14. We don't BBQ shrimp, only prawns! If its big enough to be worth eating then its a prawn. No self respecting aussie ever uses the word shrimp, that's an american thing.

    But enjoy your nice cold holiday. I'm looking forward to Christmas in Queensland and throwing a few prawns on the barbie!

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  15. *snort!*

    Shrimp on the Barbie....

    hahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

    Happy Thanksgiving!

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  16. i <3 the treadmill shrimp, so so much.

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