Brain Size may be blame for Obesity
So are they going to find a link between ADHD and obesity now, or does our legal speed keep that from being problematic? Summary: A correlation has been found between people with underdeveloped/damaged frontal lobes (where impulse control primarily resides) and people who are overweight/obese.
Honestly, I think there are many things in the brain that can influence someone's propensity towards overeating. The hypothalamus controls appetite; a defect or dysfunction there could cause an inability to realize when enough food is enough. And let us not forget the psychological factors.
But in all seriousness, do we really need to find the "cause" of obesity so people can have another thing to blame? And there have been definitive studies that show it's not the subcutaneous fat that causes the most health issues, but visceral fat (subcutaneous = under skin, visceral = around organs). Yes, with our modern diet, the build up of subcutaneous fat is indicative of an unhealthy build up of visceral fat, but there are people who are "overweight" and are "skinny on the inside", while there are people who are naturally thin and have very fatty livers. Which is bad.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Youthful Politico
I've read it, you've read it. Maybe you've even experienced it. People of my generation (individuals in their twenties) are painfully apathetic. They just don't care about politics, or the future or even the present.
We are Materialistic. We are shallow. We take sacred symbols and co-opt them as ironic icons, indicating a kind of pride in our apathy, and materialism and lack of basic forethought.
Hipster has become a dirty word.
Art is no longer screaming effort and formal training, but lazy-ironic-propaganda, psuedo-intellectual "statements" on the pointlessness of caring.
We all die in the end.
Our liberal elders bemoan our lack of involvement in progressive issues, that only conservative youth seem to care about the political process. There are more up-and-coming political leaders in young adults of those values than those of the left.
We just don't care.
As a young adult who does care, I often struggle with this perception. Why do my peers who appear to share my values don't care about the possibility that what is important to us - freedom of speech, freedom of expression, sexual freedom and the ability to be separate from the gender binary and be whatever a man/woman/both/neither means to you - could eventually be taken away from us. They think these things are impossible. Why?
Is it history? Does the fact female suffrage has never been repealed make them think racially equal civil rights won't go away? And by that logic, do they think Roe v Wade won't be repealed, the only thing keeping state-level laws against abortion and contraception from being enforced? And because racial civil rights isn't in danger, gay civil rights isn't something we have to fight for, because it's only a matter of time? Maybe because as a generation, marriage is viewed as unimportant, because we've been raised by more divorcee households? That because mom and dad are too lazy to be remarried from their current partners, we've come to realize that a state-issued peice of paper doesn't define a family?
Do we take it for granted that our differences are accepted? Do we not care if there are people who can't accept The Gay, The Ethnic, The Atheist, since anyone who doesn't is Old and Don't Matter?
Why do we not recognize that these Old People that Don't Matter as only a facet of the Conservative Right that wants to dismantle and delay the development of a permissive society? Why don't we see that Slippery Slopes actually do exist?
And more importantly, why do our elders put the blame solely on our young shoulders? Our opinions did not form in a vacuum, and our lack of passion isn't an active decision. We are shaped by these people. After all, they are our parents, and grandparents. Aunts, Uncles and relations of varying levels of Greatness.
Maybe because they came of age, either socially or politically, during the Cold War Era, when the world seemed to be inches away from a radioactive end, that while raising us, these problems were dealt with a sense of irreverancy. My generation became socially aware during the Clinton Administration, a peace time administration, where our parents and grandparents spent more time talking about his scandals and less about social issues and fiscal problems because, well, who Bill was fucking was more interesting than our balanced budget and the blossoming gay and 3rd wave feminist movement.
Maybe after Nixon, our older relatives became disenchanted with the political process. They felt powerless. And our young, impressionable and very perceptive minds soaked that up.
So we care about scandal, and think voting is cool, but pointless. We think that everything will be okay, whether or not we pay any attention to it. Combined with our parent's careening into debt รก la 1920's for the whole point of unrealistic status symbols, we are materialistic, apathetic, and lazy.
Why work hard when we can use credit cards? Why care about these issues when it'll happen anyway? Why care about our politicians when they're all corrupt and when our vote means nothing?
I don't think like this obviously, but I know people who do. My parents never spoke good or ill of politics, but they encouraged my sense of righteousness. They valued hard work. They pushed the importance of forethought, planning ahead and making contingency plans.
I care deeply about who is in office. I desire intensely to leave my mark on the political process. I want freedom for ALL the people, in all things.
Yet the most active things I do is write this blog and soapbox to anyone who'll listen. I don't march on Washington, or organize and attend rallies. I am a member of exactly zero political campus groups.
Why?
I have no idea. For some reason, those of us youngin's don't feel the need to be out there and active in the political community, even if we care about what's going on.
I have no point or argument for this post. But these observations are disheartening.
- Posted from my iPhone when I really shouldn't be blogging, with Blogpress App
We are Materialistic. We are shallow. We take sacred symbols and co-opt them as ironic icons, indicating a kind of pride in our apathy, and materialism and lack of basic forethought.
Hipster has become a dirty word.
Art is no longer screaming effort and formal training, but lazy-ironic-propaganda, psuedo-intellectual "statements" on the pointlessness of caring.
We all die in the end.
Our liberal elders bemoan our lack of involvement in progressive issues, that only conservative youth seem to care about the political process. There are more up-and-coming political leaders in young adults of those values than those of the left.
We just don't care.
As a young adult who does care, I often struggle with this perception. Why do my peers who appear to share my values don't care about the possibility that what is important to us - freedom of speech, freedom of expression, sexual freedom and the ability to be separate from the gender binary and be whatever a man/woman/both/neither means to you - could eventually be taken away from us. They think these things are impossible. Why?
Is it history? Does the fact female suffrage has never been repealed make them think racially equal civil rights won't go away? And by that logic, do they think Roe v Wade won't be repealed, the only thing keeping state-level laws against abortion and contraception from being enforced? And because racial civil rights isn't in danger, gay civil rights isn't something we have to fight for, because it's only a matter of time? Maybe because as a generation, marriage is viewed as unimportant, because we've been raised by more divorcee households? That because mom and dad are too lazy to be remarried from their current partners, we've come to realize that a state-issued peice of paper doesn't define a family?
Do we take it for granted that our differences are accepted? Do we not care if there are people who can't accept The Gay, The Ethnic, The Atheist, since anyone who doesn't is Old and Don't Matter?
Why do we not recognize that these Old People that Don't Matter as only a facet of the Conservative Right that wants to dismantle and delay the development of a permissive society? Why don't we see that Slippery Slopes actually do exist?
And more importantly, why do our elders put the blame solely on our young shoulders? Our opinions did not form in a vacuum, and our lack of passion isn't an active decision. We are shaped by these people. After all, they are our parents, and grandparents. Aunts, Uncles and relations of varying levels of Greatness.
Maybe because they came of age, either socially or politically, during the Cold War Era, when the world seemed to be inches away from a radioactive end, that while raising us, these problems were dealt with a sense of irreverancy. My generation became socially aware during the Clinton Administration, a peace time administration, where our parents and grandparents spent more time talking about his scandals and less about social issues and fiscal problems because, well, who Bill was fucking was more interesting than our balanced budget and the blossoming gay and 3rd wave feminist movement.
Maybe after Nixon, our older relatives became disenchanted with the political process. They felt powerless. And our young, impressionable and very perceptive minds soaked that up.
So we care about scandal, and think voting is cool, but pointless. We think that everything will be okay, whether or not we pay any attention to it. Combined with our parent's careening into debt รก la 1920's for the whole point of unrealistic status symbols, we are materialistic, apathetic, and lazy.
Why work hard when we can use credit cards? Why care about these issues when it'll happen anyway? Why care about our politicians when they're all corrupt and when our vote means nothing?
I don't think like this obviously, but I know people who do. My parents never spoke good or ill of politics, but they encouraged my sense of righteousness. They valued hard work. They pushed the importance of forethought, planning ahead and making contingency plans.
I care deeply about who is in office. I desire intensely to leave my mark on the political process. I want freedom for ALL the people, in all things.
Yet the most active things I do is write this blog and soapbox to anyone who'll listen. I don't march on Washington, or organize and attend rallies. I am a member of exactly zero political campus groups.
Why?
I have no idea. For some reason, those of us youngin's don't feel the need to be out there and active in the political community, even if we care about what's going on.
I have no point or argument for this post. But these observations are disheartening.
- Posted from my iPhone when I really shouldn't be blogging, with Blogpress App
Location:Towson University
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
A Foreward, then Fashion and Feminism
I haven't updated in a long time, and I am sorry. I am still political, and I am still a feminist, but I'm not as loud as I used to be. What it comes down to is the fact that I've had no one who cares about my socio-political ragefits, and that I've been completely wrapped up in the shallower aspects of my life - Boys, Men, Sex, Illicit Substances and Getting An "A" in [School Subject].
I miss how much I used to care about the world. I feel like I should come back to this blog with my collegiate experience and inject my newer knowledge into these here pixels.
Some of this newer knowledge comes from my recent introduction into the traditionally "feminine". I'm wearing makeup, pretty clothes and generally embracing my womanly figure, which is far from the willowy form I maintained at 15. I am starting to care about fashion. I am becoming vain.
I feel contradictory every time I put on mascara, and rouge my cheeks and lips. When I wear my flowing skirts I feel like I'm aiding in my oppression rather than subverting the ideology of What A Woman Should Be. This is possibly due to my horrible self esteem and the fact that during this feminization, I've become quieter about my feminism. It's odd, but true.
Why do I continue these activities? Because when I look in the mirror I like my big, bold eyes. When I move around campus, I love the swish swish swish of my skirts around my stockinged knees. I feel like a five year old again, playing in my mother's paint pots and pretending I'm a princess, adjusting my skirts to the exact princess-ly specifications a la Disney.
I know I'm not the only feminist who enjoys playing femme. And I definitely I'm not the only young feminist who adores dressing girly (and weird).
Style Rookie is one of my new favorite blogs. It's my first fashion blog, and the best part it is by a young girl who started blogging about fashion when she was 10.
Ten years old.
She is currently 14, just in her first year of high school, and reading her entries encouraged me to start writing in this here blog again. She has gained some acclaim in the blogsphere and fashion world for her age, writing ability, and sheer-awesome style (At one point she sought to strongly emulate the stylings of Courtney Love, to which I loveloveloved). I look at how she dressed and her wonderful clothes and I just think to myself that I want to dress like her (which I am nearly at all by myself) and how I want to have children like her (we can only hope) and finally, how I want to continue writing.
She is the first prodigy I'm not insanely jealous of. Maybe because she and I have similar view on purity rings and Taylor Swift. I love me some intelligent 14 year olds, I want to meet her one day and exclaim how she's amazing, an inspiration, and how I wish I had continued blogging like she obviously has.
Now, if I hadn't made it clear about the purity ring-Taylor Swift comment, this pretty little thing is a feminist. An open feminist. Who obviously has answered the "how can you care about fashion and feminism at the same time" question, which makes me glow from the inside with sheer love and joy.
She thinks of fashion as art, wearable art, which makes her wardrobe choices that much more coherent and also explains her wonderful writing abilities. Because a child at ten who writes about fashion and is easily mistaken for someone twice that is stunning, and a child at ten that grows to be a young woman of fourteen and is still writing is twice as much miraculous.
This is pretty much a gush-fest for a real figure in female empowerment. Not going to be but actually is. Adults should look up to this girl. I know I certainly do, even if my nineteen years barely qualifies me as an adult.
**Edit: I'm a liar, she was like 12 when she started her blogging win BUT THAT DOESN'T MATTER BECAUSE SHE'S STILL AWESOME, I WISH I WAS THAT COOL AT 12 OSJGBNAGHFUBGAIFGOA
I miss how much I used to care about the world. I feel like I should come back to this blog with my collegiate experience and inject my newer knowledge into these here pixels.
Some of this newer knowledge comes from my recent introduction into the traditionally "feminine". I'm wearing makeup, pretty clothes and generally embracing my womanly figure, which is far from the willowy form I maintained at 15. I am starting to care about fashion. I am becoming vain.
I feel contradictory every time I put on mascara, and rouge my cheeks and lips. When I wear my flowing skirts I feel like I'm aiding in my oppression rather than subverting the ideology of What A Woman Should Be. This is possibly due to my horrible self esteem and the fact that during this feminization, I've become quieter about my feminism. It's odd, but true.
Why do I continue these activities? Because when I look in the mirror I like my big, bold eyes. When I move around campus, I love the swish swish swish of my skirts around my stockinged knees. I feel like a five year old again, playing in my mother's paint pots and pretending I'm a princess, adjusting my skirts to the exact princess-ly specifications a la Disney.
I know I'm not the only feminist who enjoys playing femme. And I definitely I'm not the only young feminist who adores dressing girly (and weird).
Style Rookie is one of my new favorite blogs. It's my first fashion blog, and the best part it is by a young girl who started blogging about fashion when she was 10.
Ten years old.
She is currently 14, just in her first year of high school, and reading her entries encouraged me to start writing in this here blog again. She has gained some acclaim in the blogsphere and fashion world for her age, writing ability, and sheer-awesome style (At one point she sought to strongly emulate the stylings of Courtney Love, to which I loveloveloved). I look at how she dressed and her wonderful clothes and I just think to myself that I want to dress like her (which I am nearly at all by myself) and how I want to have children like her (we can only hope) and finally, how I want to continue writing.
She is the first prodigy I'm not insanely jealous of. Maybe because she and I have similar view on purity rings and Taylor Swift. I love me some intelligent 14 year olds, I want to meet her one day and exclaim how she's amazing, an inspiration, and how I wish I had continued blogging like she obviously has.
Now, if I hadn't made it clear about the purity ring-Taylor Swift comment, this pretty little thing is a feminist. An open feminist. Who obviously has answered the "how can you care about fashion and feminism at the same time" question, which makes me glow from the inside with sheer love and joy.
She thinks of fashion as art, wearable art, which makes her wardrobe choices that much more coherent and also explains her wonderful writing abilities. Because a child at ten who writes about fashion and is easily mistaken for someone twice that is stunning, and a child at ten that grows to be a young woman of fourteen and is still writing is twice as much miraculous.
This is pretty much a gush-fest for a real figure in female empowerment. Not going to be but actually is. Adults should look up to this girl. I know I certainly do, even if my nineteen years barely qualifies me as an adult.
**Edit: I'm a liar, she was like 12 when she started her blogging win BUT THAT DOESN'T MATTER BECAUSE SHE'S STILL AWESOME, I WISH I WAS THAT COOL AT 12 OSJGBNAGHFUBGAIFGOA
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