Groundhog Day turns violent, meaning uncertain

Well, we just had Groundhog Day.  It’s too bad the holiday isn’t anything like the movie.  That would be great if we got to live the same day in a row a few times.  🙂  Anyway, supposedly the groundhog saw his shadow, so we have more winter.  Whatever…

The news on this day should be what it means that a groundhog bit New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg during their ceremony.  Yes, their little festival had violence.  I’ve wondered why groundhogs participate in this stupid tradition, when they should be hibernating.  Well, “Staten Island Chuck” decided to take matters into his own hand… er, mouth.

But now the bigger question remains unanswered — what does this physical violence mean for the rest of the winter?  Does it signal the worst winter ever?  Does it foreshadow our ultimate doom?  What exactly is going to happen now?  I guess time will tell (unless there happens to be a groundhog prediction expert in the crowd)…

caption contest, burning house behind firefighters

It’s Monday, so you know what that means — another caption contest.  You know how this works, but for any first-time visitors, here’s the low-down.  You (and I mean you) look at the picture below and think of a funny caption for it.  The caption can be what someone in the picture is saying, or it can be in the form of commentary like from an announcer overlooking the situation, or you can even create some type of parallel with the real-world.  The idea is for the caption to be funny.

firefighters-in-front-of-house-fire

(To see the other caption contests, click on the “Say What?” category in the sidebar.)

overeating and inactivity doesn’t make you fat

I’ve always heard that eating too much and not getting enough exercise will make you fat.  That seems reasonable to me.   But I read somewhere online that this isn’t true.  Check out these “facts” someone posted:

The basic assumption here is that people become obese due to overeating and inactivity. This isn’t true. … Obesity is a disorder of excess fat accumulation, not overeating and not sedentary behavior.

Consuming excess calories does not cause us to grow fatter any more than it causes a child to grow taller.

Exercise does not make us lose excess fat; it makes us hungry.

We get fat because of an imbalance — a disequilibrium — in the hormonal regulation of fat tissue and fat metabolism.

So if I understand it, I’m not overweight because of overeating and being lazy, but because of excess fat accumulation.  And exercise doesn’t help you lose weight but actually makes you fatter because you’re hungrier!  (This sure sounds like that “Important Doctor” fellow, but it was someone else.)  And it’s my “hormonal regulation” that is to blame.  Hmm…

If you’re curious what that guy recommended to do to lose weight, his solution is to eat less carbs.  Although I thought he said consuming excess calories doesn’t make us fatter, so I don’t understand.   I just know that according to what that guy said, it’s not my fault!

our subscription options, which help us both

I realize it’s not convenient for everyone to visit the blog on a regular basis.  Maybe you aren’t allowed to browse the Internet at work, or maybe keeping up with numerous blogs takes up more free time than you typically have.  Or maybe you would just like an easier way to keep track of new content at your favorite blogs.   Or on a semi-related note, perhaps you would like to support this blog but don’t have any spare money to donate.

We now have two options for having new posts and comments delivered to you.  (And these options benefit both you and me.)

The newest option we have is that you can subscribe by e-mail.  Once a day (if there is a new post), you will receive an e-mail featuring the post(s) from that day.  With most e-mail programs, the images are included, although sometimes the formatting may vary from how it displays through your web browser.   There’s also a link below the post that takes you to the comments for that post.

If you have a feed-reader program, you can subscribe via the RSS feed (there’s the link, and it’s also in the sidebar).  That’s a handy way to keep up with multiple blogs.  New posts and comments show up like e-mails do in your inbox.  From there you can read them and then go to the site to add your own comments.  I’ve used SharpReader some, which is free.  There’s quite a few to choose from, though.

With both of these options, I have inserted a Google AdSense ad at the bottom of the posts.  This is to make a few extra dollars.   (Before anyone complains, please remember that the blog is absolutely free.  Also, I am now self-employed and not making much money, so everything helps.)  The ads are unobtrusive, and they should always be clean / family-friendly (if not, please let me know).  Also, I don’t beg you for money, so you don’t have to put up with that.  And if you want to support the blog, you can subscribe with one of those methods, and it costs you nothing.  You can’t beat that with a stick.   🙂  And if you’d rather not subscribe, that’s fine.  There’s no pressure, there will be no grudges, and you can still visit the blog all you want.  It’s all good.

Thank you, drive thru…