Archive for August, 2010

Second hand obesity

August 16th, 2010

I came across a newspaper article this morning.

The article looks to me like the opening salvo in the latest war.  Now that smokers have been confined to the ghettos, it’s time to move on to the next phase – the ‘obese’.

The article is interesting from quite a few angles.

In it, the author [a Dr Dennis Gottfried MD] is quite open about the fact that the smoking war is based on lies and propaganda. 

There is no question that second-hand smoke can be unpleasant; few non-smokers want to sit in a cloud of tobacco dust or have tobacco smell on their clothing or hair. But is it dangerous to your health? A study of 35,561 spouses of smokers followed for 38 years published in the British Medical Journal in 2003 showed that second-hand smoke is an irritant, but does not cause life-threatening disease.

So there you have it from someone apart from myself.  He admits that second-hand smoke is harmless and goes on to gloat about “the social isolation of smokers”.

The really interesting bit comes in the second half of the article.

“A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in July 2007 clearly shows that each of us is at an added personal health risk of gaining weight if our friends or associates become obese. This fascinating study followed the weight changes over time among residents of Framingham, Mass. It revealed "networks of obesity"; that is, we are all interconnected in regard to weight.

When people with whom we are closely associated gain weight, such as a spouse, sibling, neighbour or friend, we are also at an increased risk of gaining weight. For example, if your friend becomes obese, you have a 177 percent increased risk of becoming obese. If your friend’s brother becomes obese, your risk is still increased. The increased risk goes out to four degrees of separation.”

So there you have it.  The war has only just begun and they are already talking about second-hand obesity. 

Second hand obesity seems to be far deadlier that second-hand smoking.  You can apparently be infected by someone you have never even heard of?  If my friend’s sister’s husband, who lives in Australia is obese, then I run a higher risk of obesity?  Wow!  Potent stuff?  That is truly astounding.  It is so astounding that it could only come from the Anti Lobby who are masters of the distorted truth and falsified statistics.

At the end of the article, we gat a glimpse into the future.

Yes.  Eaters are going to be socially isolated too.  If you want to eat that burger, you are going to have to get the fuck outa here.  Get your lard-arse out into the back yard which is the designated fatty area.

So what’s next?  Third hand obesity?  Are we going to get fat from sitting at a table where a fat person sat?

I can see fun times ahead.

-oOo-

[Hat tip to Frank Davis who pointed me in the right direction]

Smoking a strimmer can damage your health

August 15th, 2010

I decided to do some strimming yesterday.

The old estate is getting a little out of hand and the only way to tame it is a show of brute force.  I do my gardening with slash-hooks, chain saws and strimmers.

My strimmer isn’t one of those pansy ones that plugs in.  No.  It is an honest-to-God power yoke with a two-stroke engine.  I think I may have overdone the oil to petrol mix a tad as it can be quite smoky.  It was a calm day, so when I fired up the strimmer, I disappeared in a cloud of blue smoke which enveloped me for the hour or so I was out there.

For hours after I finished, I could taste the burnt oil.  I realised at that point that not only had I been breathing burning oil for an hour or so, but I must have indulged in a massive dose of carbon monoxide, not to mention a lethal dose of other toxins, poisons and carcinogens.  I would hazard a guess that an hour of that cocktail would be equivalent to smoking around a thousand cigarettes?

So where is the health warning?  Where is ASH when you need ‘em?  Why isn’t the State looking after my health?

“Strimming can cause a painful death”

“Strimming can lower your sperm count”

“Want to quit strimming?  Contact your doctor or pharmacist”

The Nanny State are missing out on a nice little niche market here.  I don’t know how they missed it.

Strimming may not be addictive [unless you are a very strange person], but it is highly contagious.  I have noticed in the past that whenever I start, I am the one to shatter the peace and quiet of the countryside.  By the time I have finished though, there are usually three or four strimmers, chainsaws or other two-strokes running in the neighbourhood.

The thing that concerns me most is that strimming may lead to harder drugs.

Like four-strokes?

Urges

August 14th, 2010

I have a terrible urge on me.

It is an urge, nay a hankering and a longing that would rival that of any heroin addict who hasn’t had a fix.

I want to be in France.

The problem though is that I don’t want to go to France; I just want to be there.

I want to be where the air is hot and dry.  I want to be where mooching around in nothing but a pair of shorts is the norm.  I want to spend my days drifting from village to village sampling the coffee, and the evenings supping wine out on the terrace.

The big problem is getting there.

It’s a long way, and it is fucking expensive.

Firstly it means I am hostage to the fortunes of Irish Ferries, who charge through the nose for the privilege of being fleeced in the mobile cash cow they call a ferry.  Then it means at least one night in a hotel on the way down, and a shed load of driving.  Not that I mind the driving – I don’t, but it a long way, and Herself begins to complain.

Then there is the problem of Sandy.

She doesn’t have a passport [yet], so that means leaving her either in a kennels, or at the mercy of my daughter.  I’m sure my daughter doesn’t mind, but I know Sandy would prefer to be living with a couple of old codgers and not with an extremely lively family.  Our Sandy likes the quiet life.

So I’m stuck here with my hankerings.  Cork is a lovely place but the heat isn’t quite the same.  It’s a humid heat, and I like a dry heat.

I wish the urge would go away.

Has anyone got any heroin?

Retirement is tiring

August 13th, 2010

Last night, I chatted to a good friend on Skype.

He is in America and I’m not.  This means there is a bit of a time difference.  While it was evening for him it was early in the morning for me.

In other words….

I was late going to bed.

Had a grand lie in this morning.

Got up.  Pottered around.  Sat down.  Dozed off.

I have just woken.

I wonder what’s for dinner?

This life of retirement is fucking hard work.

Don’t start

August 12th, 2010

I wasn’t going to write anything today, because I was a little on the busy side.

However, Herself has asked me to.

You see, today there was a wee bit of an upheaval in Head Rambles Manor.

It started first thing in the morning when Herself came in from the shed with a face on her like a wet Monday.  This is fairly normal so I ignored it.  However, her usual swig of the gin bottle didn’t seem to cheer her, so I asked what the matter was.  She coughed.  I’m used to her coughing, but she isn’t usually so messy about it. Don’t ask for the gory details. This worried me.  I don’t want anything to happen to her as I would miss her.  Who else would wash my socks?

I brought her down to the Doc just to be on the safe side.  Half an hour later, she emerged from the surgery looking a tad happier.  Apparently she has a chest infection, and not what she secretly thought she had.  It was caused by an infection, but she admitted that the fags weren’t helping it much.

Once we got home, she got quite chatty, and started giving out to me about the stuff I write here.

‘You encourage people to smoke’ she said.

‘No I don’t,’ I replied.  ‘I maintain it is a matter for the individual’.

‘Well, tell them not to start.’

‘I don’t think I am going to influence ‘em one way or the other’ I retorted.  I don’t like being told what to write.

‘Tell them,’ she glowered, ‘or I’ll tell Sharon you have the Clap.’

So I am telling you now.  Don’t start.  If you have started and are only smoking a couple a day, then stop now as the couple will soon become twenty.  This is what happened with Herself.  She didn’t smoke, but a “friend” persuaded her to have a couple a day, against my advice.  The “friend” is long gone now, and the couple a day have become twenty, and as a result, a chest infection becomes a cause for a major worry.

Those of you who have never tried the pipe – try it.  It is a much more pleasant pastime than dragging on the fags.  It’s cheaper too, and cleaner.

So there.

I have said my piece.

And I don’t have the Clap.

Not at the moment, anyway.

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