Teaching Obesity
What's really causing the obesity epidemic? Just ask George Costanza, the pudgy best friend from TV's “Seinfeld,” or Billy Strean, Ph.D., of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, and they'll give you the same answer: bad gym teachers. George's high school gym teacher gave him a wedgie and called him “Can't-stand-ya,” and just look at what happened. According to Dr. Strean, childhood humiliation in physical education classes can turn people off fitness for good (Qual. Res. Sport Exerc. 2009;1:210-20). Physical education would be more fun, he said, if adults did not overorganize sports and waited until kids entered their teens before focusing on outcomes. By the way, Dr. Strean's curriculum vitae includes, under the heading “Certifications of Jocularity & Mirth,” the title of “Certified Laughter Leader (World Laughter Tour),” so he must know something about fun.
Suntan Smackdown
Just in time for spring break, at a hearing slated for next month the Food and Drug Administration is finally taking a look at the health effects of indoor tanning. Representatives from the Indoor Tanning Association are sure to be there, with a “healthy glow,” no doubt. So what will their defense of ultraviolet radiation be, now that the not-the-same-as-the-sun argument looks as weak the tobacco industry reaching for its last Lucky? One can only imagine how they'll wade through the oceans of evidence against them. But we'll be there to see them try … sipping a piñ colada under a beach umbrella, of course.
Manicures, Martinis, and Babies?
Yes, those things apparently go well together, at least they do according to the American Fertility Association, which sponsored a live infomercial on fertility services at an upscale Beverly Hills nail salon called Bellacures. The very name of the Manicures & Martinis Family Building program begs the question: What will market researchers get away with next? We'd like to wish all those parents- to-be the best of luck changing that 3 a.m. diaper. Hope the polish doesn't smudge.