The other cause [that the study found for obesity], the decrease in smoking, is also something to celebrate. My own family lost numerous members, otherwise physically fit, before their time to diseases associated with smoking. It is unlikely that obesity will have the same effect. A 1999 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that even clinically obese people who were otherwise fit were actually less likely to die early than those of normal body weight who were unfit.

Which all goes to show how big a mistake declaring obesity a disease was. All that does is allow people to claim back the costs of specialized weight-reduction programs (which rarely work in the long term) from government-funded insurance programs. The diet industry, which lobbied hard for the change, must have been delighted.

• This datapage is optimized for 400X300 resolution on a Progress 1 monochrome monitor from the Pyongyang TV factory named after Comrade Alger Hiss.
• This people-owned data page (People’s Property Inventory #2983-USSA-77) is designed to be viewed within the Sovietnet and the Democratic sector of the internet. The transfer of data to non-socialist networks especially Fox News, NRO, etc. is subject to Revolutionary Tribunal. This site is licensed under number # 2323/23 of the Ministry of Re-education.
• This site conforms to the Sovietnet standard GOST 1917-10 invented by comrade Al Gore (Great Hero of Invention)
• When you are finished viewing this datapage you may wait for kind permission to sit down.

For the rest of the Games let us celebrate those striving for the superhuman, wherever they hail from. My local paper informs me that I should cheer especially loudly because a local boy helped Britain to win silver in the synchronised diving. But I am afraid that I am still dumbstruck by the Ethiopian Bekele. There is no drug that could allow the likes of me to run the first lap in 53 seconds, never mind the 25th. That is the stuff of which golden Olympic memories are made.

Analysts said the government was trying to avoid an embarrassing admission that Chechen separatists had succeeded again in striking at Russia - just days before a Sunday election in Chechnya to replace the small republic's assassinated pro-Kremlin president.

According to the [1394 Trade] Association, as of mid-2004, FireWire had been designed into more than 1,600 products and 150 million electronics devices worldwide. IEEE 1394 can now deliver 800 Mbits/s over distances up to 100 metres

History of the IEEE 1394 Standard
The 1394 digital link standard was conceived in 1986 by technologists at Apple Computer, who chose the trademark 'FireWire', in reference to its speeds of operation. The first specification for this link was completed in 1987. It was adopted in 1995 as the IEEE 1394 standard. A number of IEEE 1394 products are now available including digital camcorders with the IEEE 1394 link, IEEE 1394 digital video editing equipment, digital VCRs, digital cameras, digital audio players, 1394 IC's and a wealth of other infrastructure products such as connectors, cables, test equipment, software toolkits, and emulation models.

Those of us in mobs of 40+ who learnt the 3 Rs from the Sisters of No Mercy always knew this.

INCOMPETENT teachers were the biggest danger in Australian schools, Education Minister Brendan Nelson said yesterday after the nation's first large-scale survey into class sizes showed smaller classes did not necessarily improve student results.

"Explanation Sought for Lobster Decline"--headline, Associated Press, Aug. 21

"Woman Chows 38 Lobsters in Eating Contest"--headline, Associated Press, Aug. 22

Government will be coming to your living room, kicking in the TV to mitigate the "epidemic" of obesity. After years of hectoring us about the dangers of adolescent fixation on body image and campaigning against competitive school sport, the left is enrolling our moppets at Jenny Craig.

Please. If parents don’t have the wherewithal to say no when their kids ask for something they saw on TV, their problems go far beyond the risk of chubby offspring.

The main problem with Barber, who continued a diet consisting largely of burgers and fries despite a heart attack and warnings from his doctor, was that his stupidity was literally unbelievable. "They said, ‘100 percent beef.’ I thought that meant it was good for you," he claimed after filing the lawsuit in July 2002. "Those people in the advertisements don’t really tell you what’s in the food. It’s all fat, fat, and more fat. Now I’m obese."

Interestingly, the same study also found evidence that declines in smoking have contributed to rising BMIs, since people tend to gain weight when they give up cigarettes. Banzhaf failed to note this finding, perhaps because he’s afraid fat people might start suing anti-smoking activists.

My memory of the song is ...

In come the dollars and in come the cents, to replace the pounds ... ... on the 14th of February 1966.

History, according to TTT, in Friday's edition (the A3 section) has decimal currency coming in a year earlier. I checked my commemorative drinking glass in the pool room - and it agrees with me. (and so does the TTT of old - see their 150 years collection).

• Some Democrats may have served in Vietnam. You can find out which ones by seeing who tells you that fact over and over and over.
• And over and over and over.
• Democrats are convinced Bush lied about something. They're not sure what... but they know it's something! Come on; Clinton lied all the time... Bush must have lied at least once!
• Every time someone votes for a Democrat, baby Jesus cries.

What is this web site all about?
It's about the bad coding practices that we put up with from our Vendors.

Microsoft Launches Blog Service In Japan
This week, Microsoft launched an interesting new blog service in Japan. But don't worry, folks, it's also coming to the United States, potentially as soon as late this year.

You might be wondering why Microsoft would bother with blogging, an activity in which less than 1 percent of Web users engage. It's simple: Search rival Google owns one of the better Blogging solutions--Blogger.com. And, right now, when it comes to Google, all bets are off. If history is any guide, Microsoft will destroy Google and then let Microsoft's blog service whither on the vine. Just a thought.

Intelligence gathered mostly by the US and UK last summer indicated that North Korea was shipping a large amount of nuclear weapons manufacturing gear -- centrifuge parts to be exact -- to Libya via several ships. Acting on that information, US and UK warships stopped, boarded and seized those ships, discovering the expected gear on board.

Anyone with information should call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.