And now, the health report

CNN covered the story of a nutrition professor who went on a 10-week diet consisting mostly of high-sugar junk food. And no, this did not end like Super size me: he lost 27lbs. What lessons can we take away from this story?

1) weight loss comes down to diet and exercise. Diet comes from eating fewer calories. Exercise comes from the six year old level of hyperness that you get by eating 1200 calories of sugars in a day.

2) We now have permission from a nutrition professor to eat a dinner that looks exactly like the Katy Perry 'California Girls' video, as long as we throw in a multivitamin here and there.

3) Did any of you ever have a health class lead by someone who dedicated weeks at a time to the dangers of smoking, yet this same teacher would burn through a pack a day?

And now, the news

First some sad news: The New York Times is reporting that Charles Reynolds has died. Mr. Reynolds' claim to fame is that he was a prolific creator of large-scale illusions for stage magicians. As per his wishes, his casket will be fed through a wood chipper, only to emerge on the other side completely undamaged.

In other news, residents of Fountain Hills, Arizona are upset that the city has changed the way their trash will be collected. It's times like these I'm glad I have this image at the ready:
















Really? You're upset that the city is taking care of your trash? And you're going to derisively call it 'trashcare'? I'm pretty sure the a major part of the definition of trash is "the things I used to own but that I now don't want to deal with anymore".

Okay, I get that before you could choose between 5 different removalists, and now you can't, but keep in mind that the city can negotiate to get a discount probably larger than anything you could have on your own. Also, recycling? really? Who the hell opposes recycling?

A key difference

Muscle cars and sports cars are often confused. But I think I've figured out the difference:
Muscle cars make men look more virile. Sports cars make men look like they're compensating for something.

Nick Klaus: Live

I used to do open mics at a place called the Hamilton Hotel, but that night was shut down for the rest of the year. It was a horrible room, but I miss it because there was something oddly comforting about it. I guess it'd be like if some of those Chilean miners wanted to go back "for old times sake".

Anyways, you can catch me Mondays at the Newmarket Hotel. It's a free show that starts at 7:30 PM. I get about 5 minutes, but everyone who goes up is good.

So where have you been lately?

Here.
Sittin' on a beach, trying to become less pasty.

This also marked the first time I'd ever gone snorkeling. Wetsuits are supposed to be tight, but I was wearing one size too small. The result, shall we say left nothing to the imagination. And the imagination was sorely disappointed.

In my defense, the water was really cold.

Stupid stupid stupid

Think Progress tries to argue that the new Obama tax cuts benefit the ultra-rich far more than they benefit the poor.
Let's look at the bar graph that they use to argue the point:

Does something strike you about this graph? It takes the numbers as an absolute number. But it makes more sense to measure is as a relative percentage.

So in terms of returns as a percentage of your income, those making between $20k and $40k are getting the highest percentage of their money back. In other words, Think Progress, you're wrong.

Wait a sec you may ask, why do you want to measure things in relative terms? Well, an absolute approach assumes that one dollar is the same to everybody. If you have 10,000 a year in income, 1 dollar is a lot more important than if you have 100,000 dollars. A person with $10k in income has a lot less disposable income than a person with $100k. It makes more sense to view it as a relative percentage.

Exciting news

Or: trying to excuse not posting with an announcement that won't really affect you for a few years now.

There is a new book in the works. Over the last couple of months, it's taken form. I expect it to be far superior to the last book. Yes, I will give out snippets here and there.