Doggie Bags

[Jaymes]

But I know that I speak for the entire U.S.A. when I tell you how much we appreciate your sharing with us your helpful insight and advice into the way we prefer to do things.

Thanks Jaymes, it's good to know that I can freely express my opinion on this site and have you respond on behalf of 250m people.

You are most welcome. 'Hands across the sea' and all that.

Edit: Oh. I forgot. In the interest of fair play and reciprocity, if you ever wish to know what all 250m Americans think about the way you Brits do things (in order to improve something or another about your country), please do not hesitate to ask me. I know you will be equally as interested in our opinion of you as we are in your helpful (and unsolicited) opinions of us.

Edited February 14, 2003 by Jaymes (log)

[Ron Johnson]

Correlation is not causation.

Simple, yet brilliant. This is why it is crucial to have at least one smug scientific bastard on your site.

[tommy]

Correlation is not causation.

Simple, yet brilliant. This is why it is crucial to have at least one smug scientific bastard on your site.

yeah, but we stoopid americans don't know what he means. big words and all.

[Charlene Leonard]

Edit:  Oh.  I forgot.  In the interest of fair play and reciprocity, if you ever wish to know what all 250m Americans think about the way you Brits do things (in order to improve something or another about your country), please do not hesitate to ask me.  I know you will be equally as interested in our opinion of you as we are in your helpful (and unsolicited) opinions of us.

how is this in 'the interest of fair play and reciprocity? You have already told me what the entire population of the United States of America thinks of me and you're now offering to do it again. I've only offered MY opinion.

P.S I am actually very interested in people's opnions on this subject, in fact some of those who agree with me are themselves American. Sorry, of course you are right, what was I thinking? offering an unsolicited opnion, how dare I?

[tommy]

You have already told me what the entire population of the United States of America thinks of me and you're now offering to do it again.

think there's been a breakdown communication here. clearly jaymes' comment was sarcastic.

when i have a dinner party, i make more than enough food. i think most others to as well. so, it seems, there's not much difference between serving people at home, and serving them at a restaurant.

having friends clearly leads to obesity.

Edited February 14, 2003 by tommy (log)

[Nockerl]

having friends clearly leads to obesity.

I think I read about that in the New England Journal of Medicine or was it Mad Magazine?

[Charlene Leonard]

having friends clearly leads to obesity.

that's it! Tommy has hit the nail on the head, I have nothing else to say on this matter

[Priscilla]

Correlation is not causation.

Simple, yet brilliant. This is why it is crucial to have at least one smug scientific bastard on your site.

yeah, but we stoopid americans don't know what he means. big words and all.

Oh, I think one hasta go a bit beyond a coupla a-tion suffixes to cross over into Big Word territory. Even for Americans. As we have seen, for the same reason antidisestablishmentarianism is not really, truly, a Big Word.

Regards,

Sesquipedalian Police

[Wilfrid]

OK, we are all in agreement that in general people get fat because they eat too much and exercise too little. 

I don't agree, if anyone cares. I don't know how strong the general correlation between those factors and obesity is, but the innumerable individual exceptions point to genetic factors. Metabolism, for example.

Edited February 14, 2003 by Wilfrid (log)

[tommy]

I don't agree, if anyone cares.  I don't know how strong the general correlation between those factors and obesity is, but the innumerable individual exceptions point to genetic factors.  Metabolism, for example.

so are you saying that the fact that Applebee's and TGIF's put a lot of food on their plates is probably not the reason i'm chubby?

[g.johnson]

OK, we are all in agreement that in general people get fat because they eat too much and exercise too little. 

I don't agree, if anyone cares. I don't know how strong the general correlation between those factors and obesity is, but the innumerable individual exceptions point to genetic factors. Metabolism, for example.

If we change Charlene's statement to ‘people get fat when they absorb more calories than they use’ then it’s unarguable. Even for a philosopher. I would agree that there is likely to be a genetic component to how many calories an individual absorbs and/or uses.

[Jaymes]

Edit:  Oh.  I forgot.  In the interest of fair play and reciprocity, if you ever wish to know what all 250m Americans think about the way you Brits do things (in order to improve something or another about your country), please do not hesitate to ask me.  I know you will be equally as interested in our opinion of you as we are in your helpful (and unsolicited) opinions of us.

how is this in 'the interest of fair play and reciprocity? You have already told me what the entire population of the United States of America thinks of me.

I have?

I'm quite stunned with this news.

I doubt that I've said what the entire population of the U.S. "thinks of you." In fact, I don't believe I've even said what I think of you, which is generally quite favorable.

What I believe I said is that I am quite certain that no resident of any country (including mine and including yours) likes it when residents of another country start telling them what is wrong with them (particularly insulting implications that they are fat primarily because they are lazy, greedy and wasteful), and what they (the residents of the "superior" country) suggest be done about it.

All of which has nothing to do with what I, or anyone else, thinks of "you."

I get angry with my mother for the exact same reasons, and I'm positively crazy about her.

Edited February 14, 2003 by Jaymes (log)

[Dave the Cook]

...there is likely to be a genetic component to how many calories an individual absorbs and/or uses.

The form that caloric consumption takes also has something to do with obesity. The body does not handle 100 calories of kale in the same way it handles 100 calories of bacon.

[MsRamsey]

OK, we are all in agreement that in general people get fat because they eat too much and exercise too little. 

I don't agree, if anyone cares. I don't know how strong the general correlation between those factors and obesity is, but the innumerable individual exceptions point to genetic factors. Metabolism, for example.

Agreed. This is exactly why I pointed out those articles in Science. People are overgeneralizing. The reasons are multifactorial.

Edited February 14, 2003 by MsRamsey (log)

[Charlene Leonard]

Edit:  Oh.  I forgot.  In the interest of fair play and reciprocity, if you ever wish to know what all 250m Americans think about the way you Brits do things (in order to improve something or another about your country), please do not hesitate to ask me.  I know you will be equally as interested in our opinion of you as we are in your helpful (and unsolicited) opinions of us.

how is this in 'the interest of fair play and reciprocity? You have already told me what the entire population of the United States of America thinks of me.

I have?

I'm quite stunned with this news.

I doubt that I've said what the entire population of the U.S. "thinks of you." In fact, I don't believe I've even said what I think of you, which is generally quite favorable.

What I believe I said is that I am quite certain that no resident of any country (including mine and including yours) likes it when residents of another country starts telling them what is wrong with them (particularly insulting implications that they are fat primarily because they are lazy, greedy and wasteful), and what they (the residents of the "superior" country) suggest be done about it.

All of which has nothing to do with what I, or anyone else, thinks of "you."

I get angry at my mother for the exact same reasons, and I'm positively crazy about her.

i'd love to stay and debate this but it is almost home time in London and I don't have a PC at home so goodbye until Monday morning

[Wilfrid]

Yes, I'll take Professor J's reformulation. Ta.

Does Jaymes's post mean we're going to stop telling "the French" what we think of them? Good.

[Jaymes]

Does Jaymes's post mean we're going to stop telling "the French" what we think of them?  Good. 

Most certainly not.

That's different.

The French welcome and appreciate it because they are so good at doing the exact same thing themselves.

[britcook]

... I am quite certain that no resident of any country (including mine and including yours) likes it when residents of another country start telling them what is wrong with them...

How very true, but it happens. I suspect the residents of Iraq feel the same way too.

[Wilfrid]

Oops, de-railed the thread. Sorry. Back to doggie bags, please.

[Jaymes]

... I am quite certain that no resident of any country (including mine and including yours) likes it when residents of another country start telling them what is wrong with them...

How very true, but it happens. I suspect the residents of Iraq feel the same way too.

You are probably quite right about that one.

As soon as they can express themselves freely, it would be wise to ask them.

[g.johnson]

...there is likely to be a genetic component to how many calories an individual absorbs and/or uses.

The form that caloric consumption takes also has something to do with obesity. The body does not handle 100 calories of kale in the same way it handles 100 calories of bacon.

Yes. (Though my body has had more practice absorbing bacon than kale.) None of this is fixed either. Eating carbs increases insulin which makes you hungry after the carbs have been processed. So you eat more. This is an oversimplification, but the point is that there are feedback loops, not all of which are negative.

[g.johnson]

Stop all this politics. We were talking about why all Americans are greedy fat bastards.

[Jaymes]

Stop all this politics. We were talking about why all Americans are greedy fat bastards.

Who pretend to be taking food home to their "dogs"

[Rosie]

To get back to the subject of doggie bags .... do you just ask for a doggy bag at dinner? Would you ask for one if you had leftovers at lunch or breakfast?

[wawairis]

To get back to the subject of doggie bags .... do you just ask for a doggy bag at dinner? Would you ask for one if you had leftovers at  lunch or breakfast?

I've asked for a doggy bag at lunch, but never at breakfast. Somehow the egginess of breakfast doesn't (I usually have some sort of egg dish) seem right for a doggy bag.