Car culture to blame

Post #254,294 by tuberculosis 5/3/06 3:03:48 PM Reply	Car culture to blame When you're in Europe, you can spot the Americans right off. They look pudgier, less fit. Europeans often rely more on public transportation (and it actually works there). They walk more. Driving in Europe is a pain and mostly unnecessary. Similar comparisons of urban vs suburbanites yield similar results. Urban sprawl kills. [link\|http://www.blackbagops.net\|Black Bag Operations Log] [link\|http://www.objectiveclips.com\|Artificial Intelligence] [link\|http://www.badpage.info/seaside/html\|Scrutinizer]
Post #254,306 by mmoffitt 5/3/06 4:02:57 PM Reply	Amen. I recently bought an entry level road bike. I had one when I lived in California and I road all the time (even back in high school a 30 mile before school ride was a ritual I rarely failed to perform). My youngest asked me the other day if I missed anything about California and if so, what I missed most. Without hesitation I said, "I miss public transportation. The last year I lived in California I worked almost as far away from home as I do now and I didn't drive my car at all that year. It was the bus to/from work and the bike on week-ends." I can personally attest to the relationship between lack of public transportation and girth. :0( bcnu, Mikem It would seem, therefore, that the three human impulses embodied in religion are fear, conceit, and hatred. The purpose of religion, one might say, is to give an air of respectibility to these passions. -- Bertrand Russell
Post #254,320 by lincoln 5/3/06 5:49:08 PM Reply	Don't forget all of those studies that say Americans work more hours annually now than any other industrialized nation. We're a country of stressed out lab rats, with us going home, connecting to the corporate VPN every night and on weekends, taking cellphone calls 24x7x365, checking in with the office while on vacation (when we're not too busy to actually TAKE time off), etc. We don't have time to eat good, mentally unwind, and just plain relax. On top of it all, as we watch the stock market, the economy, the job market, politics, and so on, it's a miracle we all haven't commited suicide yet. lincoln "Chicago to my mind was the only place to be. ... I above all liked the city because it was filled with people all a-bustle, and the clatter of hooves and carriages, and with delivery wagons and drays and peddlers and the boom and clank of freight trains. And when those black clouds came sailing in from the west, pouring thunderstorms upon us so that you couldn't hear the cries or curses of humankind, I liked that best of all. Chicago could stand up to the worst God had to offer. I understood why it was built--a place for trade, of course, with railroads and ships and so on, but mostly to give all of us a magnitude of defiance that is not provided by one house on the plains. And the plains is where those storms come from." -- E.L. Doctorow Never apply a Star Trek solution to a Babylon 5 problem. I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a *Citizen* of the United States. [link\|mailto:bconnors@ev1.net\|contact me]
Post #254,322 by pwhysall 5/3/06 6:03:41 PM Reply	Er. No. Driving in Europe is not mostly a pain. Driving in Europe if you're American is mostly a pain. In Britain, we take our cars to Europe in order to drive around it for fun, because some of the twisties are better, the weather's better, and we're more-or-less obsessed with cars as a nation[0]. That, and it's where the Nurburgring and the speed-limit-free Autobahns are. As for the lack of fatties... You might want to consider that your "small" Coke at the drive-through is congruent with our "large", and we don't even have the ridiculous buckets'o'pop that you do. In Wendy's in Philly, I saw that you could get a 32oz Sprite. That's two pints of pop, and about a zillion grammes of sugar. Remember what I said about eating in America? A "small" of anything is large enough for my European appetite. New York was populated by people I would adjudge to be more-or-less normal-sized. Philly, by contrast, had some of the fattest people I've ever seen in my life. I felt positively svelte. [0]A fact that has not escaped a number of recent governments who have latched onto the private motorist as a source of income. Peter [link\|http://www.no2id.net/\|Don't Let The Terrorists Win] [link\|http://www.kuro5hin.org\|There is no K5 Cabal] [link\|http://guildenstern.dyndns.org\|Home] Use P2P for legitimate purposes!
Post #254,330 by Another Scott 5/3/06 7:02:49 PM Reply	You'd enjoy some of the TV shows we have now. :-/ [link\|http://www.csulb.edu/~d49er/archives/2006/spring/opinion/v12n93-learn.shtml\|"... the 'Train Wreck Channel'..."]. Cheers, Scott.
Post #254,337 by drewk 5/3/06 9:13:06 PM Reply	Dont' we just wish That's two pints of pop, and about a zillion grammes of sugar. We haven't had sugar in our soft drinks since about '88. === Purveyor of Doc Hope's [link\|http://DocHope.com\|fresh-baked dog biscuits and pet treats]. [link\|http://DocHope.com\|http://DocHope.com]
Post #254,338 by admin 5/3/06 9:14:12 PM Reply	Pop is a big factor. I rarely drink it anymore, and when I get a "small" at a fast food joint, I usually finish half of it at the most. Regards, -scott anderson "Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..."
Post #254,342 by drewk 5/3/06 9:21:14 PM Reply	I drink almost entirely diet So of course I'll be about 45 when they figure out the artificial sweeteners give you cancer of the elbow or some shit. === Purveyor of Doc Hope's [link\|http://DocHope.com\|fresh-baked dog biscuits and pet treats]. [link\|http://DocHope.com\|http://DocHope.com]
Post #254,363 by inthane-chan 5/4/06 12:51:00 AM Reply	I drink water myself, occasionally fruit juice.
Post #254,367 by altmann 5/4/06 2:42:34 AM Reply	Carbonation will dissolve your teeth -- Chris Altmann
Post #254,546 by danreck 5/5/06 2:09:33 PM Reply	Are you 45 now? You looked younger on our trip to Jersey... [link\|http://allergies.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=allergies&zu=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dldewey.com%2Fasparst1.htm\|http://allergies.abo...om%2Fasparst1.htm] It took me almost a month to have it diagnosed and one of the side effects I was having was that it made me thirsty. Just a few thoughts, Danno
Post #254,547 by drewk 5/5/06 2:35:41 PM Reply	But if it causes brain damage ... ... how will I be able to rationally conclude that I ought to stop using it? And why do I keep hearing the words "Roman empire" and "pewter wine goblets"? === Purveyor of Doc Hope's [link\|http://DocHope.com\|fresh-baked dog biscuits and pet treats]. [link\|http://DocHope.com\|http://DocHope.com]

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