December 2009 Archives

This year I managed to lose nearly 10 lbs and it is with a heavy heart (literally) that I say in the last three months I have put 5 back on. Stress is my enemy sadly, and work combined with work travel combined with a painful lower back have made me more inclined to stay inclined -- with a snack -- rather than decline said temptations.

So I was fascinated by this story in one of my favourite blogs, Freakonomics. I posted something awhile ago about the new calorie disclosure law in NYC, and the Freakonomics folks have had a couple of really interesting stories on the realities of its effectiveness, like this one, and more recently this one about creative ways of encouraging people to make healthy choices. (I love the calorie counting stairs.)

They ask the question, "But since the people most influenced by calorie counts may be the least likely to go looking for cheese fries, what kind of effect does this kind of sign have?", which is a good question.

I'd answer that it's not the truly obese, nor the Olympians, who are the "target" (as the ad jargon goes). It's the folks like me, playing the percentages of "right vs wrong" choices and hoping the numbers add up to something reasonable on the scale in the morning. So, if I'm tempted to order fries, well, seeing that the large is 1000 calories makes it an easy pass. I can't deny that it doesn't add up.

On the other hand, if I'm the type of person who seriously considers "chili cheese fries", then let's face it, I really just don't want to know. And I won't.

And this, people, is what they mean by the concept of "plausible denial."

I don't know what's weirder, the use of an aged Gary Numan in a "green" commercial, or the fact the location looks very similar to my 85 year-old Aunt Margaret's house in Glasgow. I don't think she knows Gary.

The Porktrashers played a set last night at Clinton's Tavern with another band called Truth Panel, which was good fun, albeit an adventure.

Our guitarist Mike had a "junior moment" -- which is where your little kids make you so tired you forget to check the calendar -- and didn't realize until quite late he couldn't make the gig, so a work colleague Mark Rozeluk filled in with only three rehearsals. I think it took years off his young life.

He also got his friend to capture some video, although unfortunately the battery ran out after about 1:24 of shooting so we only got a bit of a new song called "Glorious".

Ah well. I know how it feels: I got home at 1am and my "battery low" light was on all day today.

Then emails like this one I got at work make sense:

I've always hated "reality" shows because there's something depressing about watching the humiliation of others -- especially when the participants are so convinced of their own awesomeness that they dig the hole of humiliation even deeper. I guess that's the idea behind American Idol and Survivor: Place the right people in the right situation and they're pretty much guaranteed to make poor judgments and/or behave badly.

A series of ads using famous actor/host James Lipton as the lead for an unlikely campaign to caution against, well, a lack of caution when texting. Such a dull subject, made so fascinating that I even thought twice before posting this blog. Could it come back to haunt me??