Archive for the 'Exercise' Category

Odds and ends June 28, 2009

globe-trotter

Product review: Globe Trotter luggage

The photo you see above is of my beloved Globe Trotter Cetenary roll aboard.  I took it with me on this last trip to Hong Kong and London, much to the chagrin of MD, who hates this piece of luggage with a passion.

MD is a packer extraordinaire and is totally practical.  When it comes to packing, ‘cool looking’ isn’t in her vocabulary.  Since we travel so much, we have gone through many pieces of luggage over the years, and she has found the Hartmann bags best for her particular style of packing.  She can cram more into her Hartmann bags than any one believes possible.  And when she pulls her packed stuff out, it all looks great.

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More braying from Bray

Dr. George Bray's model of obesity

Dr. George Bray's model of obesity

In July 2008 I posted on Dr. George Bray’s critique of Gary Taubes’ book Good Calories, Bad Calories that appeared in Obesity Reviews.  Included in my post was a copy of Gary’s response.  Now Dr. Bray is back with a rebuttal to Gary’s response to his (Bray’s) original critique.  In conversation, Gary told me he has elected to drop the issue because the discussion is going nowhere.  Gary makes substantive points; Bray obfuscates the issues and will continue to do so.  I, however, am not going to drop the case.  Maybe I’ll have the last word here.

I want to go over Dr. Bray’s response to Gary’s letter in some detail because it is emblematic of all that is wrong with obesity research today and clearly demonstrates why we will never get anywhere until the people of Bray’s generation fade away. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen so many instances of one writer missing the point as often as Dr. Bray does in this short reply.  The entirety of his response is an example of either shoddy thinking or intellectual dishonesty.  Or maybe both. It brings to mind Mary McCarthy’s famous quote about Lillian Hellman: “Every word she writes is a lie, including ‘and’ and ‘the’.

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One of the dumbest headlines ever

Photo used under Creative Commons from Mr TGT

A few days ago the Washington Post published an article with what has to be one of the dumbest headlines I’ve ever read. Read more »

Gymnasts and low-carb

Steve McCain

Steve McCain

According to a recent NBC Sports article, Olympic gymnasts have jumped on the low-carb bandwagon.  And they do it because they need plenty of quick energy for the intense activities they perform.

With rock-hard biceps and abs that would make a bodybuilder jealous, Stephen McCain doesn’t need to lose weight. Yet count him as a devotee of the increasingly popular low-carbohydrate diet. Read more »

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