Contagious

I didn't know whether to laugh or be appalled by the New York Times article about this hackneyed study that found obesity to be "contagious." I think you can talk about friends' influences on diet and exercise and discuss the longterm ways in which friends' lifestyles grow to resemble each other, but to say you can "catch" obesity is irresponsible. Especially charming was one of the doctor's responses to this. While he said that avoiding obese people for fear of getting fat wasn't reasonable, he did have another idea:

You don’t want to lose a friend who becomes obese, Dr. Christakis said. Friends are good for your overall health, he explains. So why not make friends with a thin person, he suggests, and let the thin person’s behavior influence you and your obese friend?

Hey why not? That crackwhore is pretty thin, let's hang out! Really, what loaded language. Not "healthy" person, not "athletic" person, just "thin" person. As though this thin person magically holds the best lifestyle choices and eats the ideal diet and whose mere presence will cause the pounds to melt away.

Essentially, this study, while coming up with some interesting data, decided to present it inn the most headline grabbing way and mean way. A way that distorts causality and points blaming a finger where it can do the most harm. Boo.

Did you know this existed?

It's a yard full of Filipino detainees performing a scene from the Thriller video. For real. Also, this particular batch of prisoners have a wide and wide repertoire.

On a final note, the Harry Potter: it is done and read. I promptly went back and read all the things that I was afraid would spoil me, and let's just say I'm glad I stayed away.