>> ^snoozedoctor:

By the way, I work on the morbidly obese every day. The place I work is designated a "Center of Excellence" for Bariatric surgery. Yes, doing bariatric surgery helps prevent a lot of complications down the road, like diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, etc. With the US struggling to provide even basic health care needs to the poor, do I get a little miffed with all the health care dollars consumed because of self-induced diseases, like smoking and over-eating? I freely admit I do.


And so you should, you have reason to feel like that. I cringe when I think how much obese people are costing the NHS and how if I'm not careful I will become one of those people whose weight will cause me health problems. I have on and off dieted most of my adult life, I am very much not content with my weight for a variety of reasons. And I am fully aware exactly what I have to do and what will work. The problem is and I imagine it's the same for most fat people, it's harder to give up on something you can't completely avoid. There is literally no way to take away the temptation when food is required to live.

And of course you work with it and you hear day after day, excuses as to why they can't lose weight, and you think there is NO such thing as can't. Well that's true, but it's like telling someone who has a smoking habit they can't quit, "well you shouldn't have started in the first place." It's too friggin late, the damage is done! And like we were saying, getting obese often isn't something you have had any control over, it started off in childhood. And then, you are stuck with the life long struggle of trying to beat an addiction. It's not like drugs, where if you stay away from it long enough and get it out of your system, you only have a mental addiction to contend with. You've got to eat. Willpower isn't something you can just switch on, if ONLY it was.

And then there's the exercise thing. Such a simple thing to do, burn off more calories than you're consuming. No one can argue that is the ONLY automatic guarantee you will lose weight. But consider that for someone fat and the bigger they are the worse it is, exercise is probably twice if not more times as difficult to do. It hurts, there's pressure on your joints, you're out of breath within a couple of minutes, you ache for hours afterwards because you aren't necessarily flexible enough to stretch out properly. Really we should all go swimming, it's the best thing, has always worked for me, but at certain weights I imagine getting into a swimming cossie is the last thing they want to do, people stare and pull faces. So yeah, it's very easy to give up when every solution is miles harder than for the people telling you what you should be doing. None of this is excuses, I hope you have garnered from what I've said that I entirely understand where thin people or health professionals are coming from. But without actually having had a weight problem themselves, that completely dismissive attitude and oversimplification is thoughtless at best and fucking arrogant at worst.

By the way, I work on the morbidly obese every day. The place I work is designated a "Center of Excellence" for Bariatric surgery. Yes, doing bariatric surgery helps prevent a lot of complications down the road, like diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, etc. With the US struggling to provide even basic health care needs to the poor, do I get a little miffed with all the health care dollars consumed because of self-induced diseases, like smoking and over-eating? I freely admit I do.

>> ^jonny:

Apparently, just the opposite is true, but your basic point is correct. The physical environments of the womb and early childhood have a huge impact on DNA expression through epigenetics.
>> ^ghark:
One example is when people make lifestyle decisions that lead to obesity - this physical transformation results in altered epigenetic tags, some of which will be passed on to their children. The children are paying the price for their parents mistakes in the form of increased fat accumulation which often leads to diabetes, obesity and other problems.


While there is evidence that undernutrition can lead to obesity in offspring (if that's what you meant), the research also seems to show that the same is true for other factors, such as the mother being obese e.g.
http://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/v33/n7/abs/ijo200976a.html
and
http://www.nature.com/oby/journal/v16/n3s/full/oby2008518a.html

That first research article found that the chance of a girl becoming obese was 10 times higher when the mother was obese, and 6 times higher for a boy when the father was obese. This wasn't true for opposite sex (e.g. mother-son) so that indicates that it's epigenetic rather than genetic causes. The second article suggests that in addition to epigenetics other factors are also involved such as abnormal neural development in the womb because of abnormal energy intake by the mother. Either way, the field of epigenetics is bloody fascinating and is going to be the source of some very major breakthroughs in the future.

I watched the vid you posted, there's some excellent science there so thanks for that link.

Apparently, just the opposite is true, but your basic point is correct. The physical environments of the womb and early childhood have a huge impact on DNA expression through epigenetics.

>> ^ghark:

One example is when people make lifestyle decisions that lead to obesity - this physical transformation results in altered epigenetic tags, some of which will be passed on to their children. The children are paying the price for their parents mistakes in the form of increased fat accumulation which often leads to diabetes, obesity and other problems.

The field of epigenetics is far, far more important than many people realise. It essentially means that every life decision you make can get passed on to your kids due to epigenetic inheritance.

One example is when people make lifestyle decisions that lead to obesity - this physical transformation results in altered epigenetic tags, some of which will be passed on to their children. The children are paying the price for their parents mistakes in the form of increased fat accumulation which often leads to diabetes, obesity and other problems.

Obesity is just one example however, it's also important to realise that how you treat your kids affects these methylation tags, and their behaviour later in life is partly to do with how these tags are laid down during developmental stages.

i agree with everything you just said, but i think you might be over estimating how much of it is science.
it's a great deal business. at least in the US. where medicine is mostly for profit. for huge huge profits.
medical RESEARCH is in fact, science. and i have faith in it. the dispensing of medicine is however, a business.

i'm saying this as someone who has degrees in health science fields. spent 8 years as a health care professional. spent 1/3 of that time doing administrative work. and now owns a business as a CAM practitioner.... which btw, is also a good bit business.

i'd also like to stick up for alternative medicine here.
a good deal of it is bullshit. any results are simply the placebo effect. but i don't think we should discount the placebo effect. it's an amazing mechanism. if you feel less depressed because someone hit you with a tuning fork and you didn't have to take any pills or go to a counselor, then okay. that's awesome. i still think you probably need counseling, but whatever. i also think you should take a good hard look at your diet and how much exercise you're doing. but how much does it cost in the US to go to a counselor, go to a doctor, get your anti-depressants and have a nutritionist and a phsyical trainer help you learn how to excercise and eat right? it's probably cheaper to pay someone $80 to hit you with that tuning fork and convince yourself it's going to work.

I make a decent living practicing complementary health care. but i don't tell anyone they need to be hit with a tuning fork or have someone throw energy beams out of their hands at them. i tell people they need to stretch, and i teach them how. i tell people they need to sleep properly, and i help them do it. i tell people they need to find an effective way to deal with stress, and i give them that. i tell people they need to find a form of exercise that's right for their bodies and lifestyles, and i help them find it. a lot of people just need someone to trust and someone to talk to. and that's why they call me a "therapist". i never tell people to go against their doctor's orders. i never tell anyone to stop taking their medicine or not to be vaccinated. and that's why what i do is COMPLEMENTARY.

we're too quick to dismiss a different approach when it comes to health care.
the same people are also very quick to be able to recognize the problems with our for profit health care systems when it comes to political discussions. the profit motive hasn't just tainted medicine in terms of disparity. it's tainted it in terms of effectiveness. this is where a holistic approach is good. it's not effect to only treat the symptom. if someone is overweight, has high blood pressure, their stress is out of control and they have diabetes. prescribing them pills, while necessary in the short term, is not at all where the "care" should end. i know doctors will also tell their patients to eat right and exercise but they do not teach them how to do it. because for profit health care doesn't think that is profitable. a for profit system does not want you healthy.

soooo... the market has opened up. if the way we practice medicine and viewed health in this country was working, people wouldn't pay to get hit with tuning forks. oh and half of this is a problem with our education system.
>> ^dag:

^Yes, how dare anyone question the all-knowing oracles of medical knowledge.
I think the reason that many geeky type people always toe the main-stream medical line is because they conflate medicine with science (which we all love). Yes, it's almost the same, but if I had to draw it as a venn diagram, there would be a crescent of over-hang. Medicine to me is 80% science and then the rest is filled in with dogma, patriarchy and business ($$).
That crescent of non-science is the part that makes me squirm. I don't think it's that wrong to question medical programs like vaccinations- with the idea that it may be being pushed non-scientifically by the medical industrial complex. (big pharma).
Bill Maher is not a kook.

Ok here's some of my ideas. The first thought of course is that there needs to be a revolution. But what would that achieve - the people that have the money and the power would still be there to influence the new Government. So the only way to achieve real change (not ObamaChange) is to get rid of the people making this mess and also stop the mechanisms that allow it to happen. So serious thought needs to go into listing all the major ways by which corruption is occurring and may occur (legal and non-legal) and then even more serious thought needs to go into better alternatives or proposals. This list of changes then needs to be put forward and if the changes are not made by the existing Govt., then the people need to demand that the Govt. steps down and be replaced by one that will make the changes. Until people are willing to put their lives on the line for this, things will just continue to escalate downwards.

In my opinion the first change that needs to happen is with the media. All of these millions and billions of dollars that get raised/spent to fund campaigns have one major purpose - to buy time with the media outlets to spread a message. Staggering sums of money are being given to mainstream media outlets by the GOP/Dems to spread there propaganda, how on earth can we expect those same media outlets to provide honest coverage of events when they are taking hundreds of millions of dollars from people that don't want honest coverage. So no matter what happens in terms of election funding, the first and most important step is to break this connection between political parties and media channels so there can be honest rather than 'balanced' reporting.

So of course, the next major change that needs to happen is to switch to a publicly funded election system.

Then other issues/resolutions should include at the very least:
Lobbyist influence : An outright ban on lobbyists making donations
Lack of accountability : There needs to be a direct link between what people vote for and what is delivered, i.e. the platform that a candidate runs on cannot be changed or watered down once they take office.
Corrupting influence of power : There needs to be a better way of restricting the time groups or individuals can stay in power/office.
Environmental degradation : Environmental laws need to be improved and updated with assistance from experts, scientists and community members.

Also, one issue that is close to my heart, but others may find silly is the issue of advertising. Advertising has allowed for the widespread popularity and adoption of fast food. The fast food industry needs to be looked at in a similar way as the smoking industry, and the costs of advertising for a fast food business need to matched by the public health cost that the business will have on the population at large. So in other words, advertising for Mickey D's, Wendy's and other chains that sell rubbish needs to become prohibitively expensive, because the damage they are causing to the people in the way of obesity, diabetes etc is of epic proportions. This approach should really be applied to most aspects of industry, so for example the oil and gas industry provide an energy dense product, which by comparison to other forms of energy is quite efficient - however if the cost to the environment is taken into account, it becomes less attractive, so I think more thought needs to go into sustainability in policy making.

Anyway, that's just a couple of examples, my main point is that a systematic look at corruption in the system needs to be completed and documented and then the well thought out and logical changes need to be implemented. I mean, protesting individual issues is good, and sometimes it even works, e.g. with the SOPA 'win' and the Keystone XL 'win', but in the long term it's just not enough to have anything but a delaying effect.

>> ^GenjiKilpatrick:

To the idiots thinking these guys were assholes for laughing: do you think people can read minds? Do you honestly think these guys looked at this and said "LMAO someone is diabetic shock and could potentially die, that's hilarious!"? It's easy to say they should've been more serious because hindsight is 20/20. If I saw this live I'd guess it was a drunk driver or someone on acid rather than someone being disoriented from a life threatening condition. Stop being dumb.
lololoololololoool 11 hours ago 74 [likes]

>> ^RadHazG:
need a little eia up in here. dunno whats so funny, that shit's terrifying, all those people in the oncoming lane. half wish that driver would make a wild right and side swipe these chuckles.

>> ^PoweredBySoy:
"lolol, this is great...." Oh, look, the drunk just took out a family of 5.



Stop being dumb? I declare today opposite day. "Stop being RIGHT" is more like it. Maybe it's just me, but the first thing I thought was, "Holy shit, is this person having a heart attack or something?" And then I wondered if they had called 911.

I'm pretty cynical but COME ON man, that's just bizarrely out of the ordinary, which suggests something is wrong. Even if what's wrong with them is that they're an idiot, they're going to possibly swerve into oncoming traffic and hurt/kill someone else or crash into a wall and kill themselves.

Note I made my comment before any information about diabetic shock. These yucks were clearly enjoying what they thought was someone driving recklessly. They were laughing about the whole thing with "this is great" being tossed out constantly. There is nothing funny or great about it, whether the driver was in trouble or not. No hindsight required.

To the idiots thinking these guys were assholes for laughing: do you think people can read minds? Do you honestly think these guys looked at this and said "LMAO someone is diabetic shock and could potentially die, that's hilarious!"? It's easy to say they should've been more serious because hindsight is 20/20. If I saw this live I'd guess it was a drunk driver or someone on acid rather than someone being disoriented from a life threatening condition. Stop being dumb.

lololoololololoool 11 hours ago 74 [likes]


>> ^RadHazG:

need a little eia up in here. dunno whats so funny, that shit's terrifying, all those people in the oncoming lane. half wish that driver would make a wild right and side swipe these chuckles.


>> ^PoweredBySoy:

"lolol, this is great...." Oh, look, the drunk just took out a family of 5.

Yeah, here, from the YT comments:
"The driver was suffering a diabetic emergency and crashed near mile marker 73. Lower Paxton and West Hanover fire units responded. Glad you called 911, you probably saved the driver's life."

I.E. she was catatonic.

Excellent post. Remember also that 10%-30% of the (world?) population are sociopaths completely incapable of empathy.

>> ^kceaton1:

I usually assume most of humanity is full of many people that are incapable of compassion and more importantly empathy. Not only does it explain why women date assholes (most people are anyway, to some degree--unless as stated they have empathy), but also why women might also be "bitches" (or assholes). Simply put nobody gives a fuck about anybody else's feelings, really, unless their action can create direct repercussions that affect them or something they do care about. Empathy, unfortunately, seems to be learned by most people the hard way (and this of course affects the entirety of the "Human Experience", not just relationships): you get a very painful disease/syndrome/ailment/injury and have to LIVE with it. People just do not have high level empathy unless terrible things have happened to them (I'm sure there is the few exceptions).
Basically, women will date assholes because the majority of the population are. Men that are the stereotypical built-up, juiced, arrogant, confident, and usually ignorant bull-pup are what we are thinking about in these scenarios. Most of them, on their worse day, had a broken finger or did poorly in school. They lack the empathy needed to NOT be an asshole. It has nothing to do with anything else. Assholes are simply people that don't understand, people!
As I said age is most likely going to change that as they become withered and old. As they get diseases or finally have their genetic misfires take hold, like MS, Cancer, or AIDS. Or deal with their Type II Diabetes that forces them to eventually go in for dialysis and even later the removal of limbs to stave the finality of its ultimate toll on their life. Or those that can no longer pass the duty of hardships onto others, and must help their mother as she slowly dies with much needed around the clock help--requiring baths, medicine, feeding, clothing, 24/7 diligence--due to their degenerative "syndrome/disease" that will ultimately kill them and irrevocably change their son or daughter forever.
That is how empathy is gained and it is also how assholes become good members of the community. It's also the best way not to marry, date, or be in a relationship with one. Merely find out if they have had hardships in their life that have directly affected them (not others around them, it MUST happen to them). Ask them some simple questions, like: what has that event taught them about others and how did they think beforehand? If they can give you a solid answer--they are not an asshole.
Case closed.

I usually assume most of humanity is full of many people that are incapable of compassion and more importantly empathy. Not only does it explain why women date assholes (most people are anyway, to some degree--unless as stated they have empathy), but also why women might also be "bitches" (or assholes). Simply put nobody gives a fuck about anybody else's feelings, really, unless their action can create direct repercussions that affect them or something they do care about. Empathy, unfortunately, seems to be learned by most people the hard way (and this of course affects the entirety of the "Human Experience", not just relationships): you get a very painful disease/syndrome/ailment/injury and have to LIVE with it. People just do not have high level empathy unless terrible things have happened to them (I'm sure there is the few exceptions).

Basically, women will date assholes because the majority of the population are. Men that are the stereotypical built-up, juiced, arrogant, confident, and usually ignorant bull-pup are what we are thinking about in these scenarios. Most of them, on their worse day, had a broken finger or did poorly in school. They lack the empathy needed to NOT be an asshole. It has nothing to do with anything else. Assholes are simply people that don't understand, people!

As I said age is most likely going to change that as they become withered and old. As they get diseases or finally have their genetic misfires take hold, like MS, Cancer, or AIDS. Or deal with their Type II Diabetes that forces them to eventually go in for dialysis and even later the removal of limbs to stave the finality of its ultimate toll on their life. Or those that can no longer pass the duty of hardships onto others, and must help their mother as she slowly dies with much needed around the clock help--requiring baths, medicine, feeding, clothing, 24/7 diligence--due to their degenerative "syndrome/disease" that will ultimately kill them and irrevocably change their son or daughter forever.

That is how empathy is gained and it is also how assholes become good members of the community. It's also the best way not to marry, date, or be in a relationship with one. Merely find out if they have had hardships in their life that have directly affected them (not others around them, it MUST happen to them). Ask them some simple questions, like: what has that event taught them about others and how did they think beforehand? If they can give you a solid answer--they are not an asshole.

Case closed.

The commentary and downvotes are well within the spirit of the channel. The description reads....

--------------

"Commercial Sift
by looris

Commercials, advertisements, and everything about someone trying to gain money, to sell crap, to get discounts, to promote things, and so on.

http://mlx.videosift.com/
Style courtesy of mlx, who has done a great job and won a prize for that, because commercials are never without a price

http://maxbarry.com/jennifergovernment/
Logo is from Jennifer Government by Max Barry, which is a GREAT modern-cyberpunk book about corporations which all of you should really buy. Really, do yourself this favour."

--------------

I don't get the picture that looris had free ad time for ruthless corporations in mind when he made this channel. If Coca Cola wants comment free advertising on this site, let them pay for it.

Just because you don't see the politics, doesn't mean they aren't there. Outside of all of Coke's unethical business practices and labor abuse, The Coca-Cola Company, itself, spends a lot of money on politics, supporting candidates and political front groups: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Coca-Cola_Company

Beyond this, I think advertising diabetes inducing products to kids, and co-opting the iconography of a beloved cultural holiday is gross. Santa Clause doesn't drink Coke, he drinks hot cocoa and apple cider.

Anyway, I know you probably don't care about any of this and just wanted to enjoy a cute commercial. I get that and I'm sorry I've antagonized you. I've paid a visit to your pq, so net gain for you.

>> ^Trancecoach:

well, I don't disagree with you, but fast food joints are also run by local managers.
>> ^ghark:
There's something sinister about marketing - I mean this ad is all fun, hip and 'edgy' (well tries to be), but it's pushing food that is contributing to the global diabetes disaster and multitudes of other health problems (globesity). I doubt many people realise just how nasty the crap in these burgers is, but everyone wants to eat tasty food, and these places are convenient to go to when there is one on every corner, so they win, in part because of marketing like this.
My advice, if you want to go out, go to a restaurant owned and run by someone local, it may cost you a few more dollars and be more difficult to get to, but you'll be doing your health a favor, and your local community as well.



Aye not owned though, which is the key, because all decisions about what go into the food come from management higher up.