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While discussing the increasingly controversial topic of obesity, Radley Balko mentioned the Body Mass Index. According to the calculator I am overweight which is quite mind-boggling.

I weigh about 175, am 5′8″ and have about 10% body fat (as measured last week). For the past 6 months I have worked out every day for an hour in the gym pumping weights, playing basketball and partaking in a number of other physically demanding activities (being a college student we have a bit of spare time and all). Additionally I eat extremely healthy, no saturated fats (i.e. French fries), no soda (diet or otherwise), no candy bars — basically protein shakes and Subway sandwiches (I actually consume about 3500 calories a day in order to gain in sort of weight at all, as my metabolism is out of this world).

According to the calculator, aside from the water boy, every player on a college or professional football team would be considered obese (Emmitt Smith for instance was 5′10″ and weighed 210 lbs., Barry Sanders and other running backs were about the same size).

Dwayne Johnson, aka The Rock, is according to the BMI, clinically obese (he is 6′5″ and 255 lbs.). Even if you think that the World Wrestling Entertainment (formerly WWF) is lame, cheesy and down right red-neckish, I do not think anyone would consider The Scorpion King himself to be remotely fat (or any body builder for that matter).

Mr. Balko ends his discussion by rhetorically asking,

[I]f you aren’t responsible for what you put into your mouth, chew and swallow, what’s left that you are you responsible for?

C’mon Radley, get with the program, self-responsibility is so ancien, impulsive hedonistic indulgences are en vogue.

Knucklehead.

Exhibit A: Chester McFatty Phat

Minn. Cracks Down on Underpriced Gasoline:

ST. PAUL - Just in time for Memorial Day weekend, Minnesota’s Commerce Department (news - web sites) is cracking down on service stations over the price of gasoline. The problem: Some stations aren’t charging enough.

Under Gov. Jesse Ventura, the state adopted a law in 2001 that prohibits gas stations from selling gas without taking a minimum profit. These days, they must charge at least 8 cents per gallon, plus taxes, more than they paid for it.

On Friday, the Commerce Department announced a $70,000 fine against Arkansas-based Murphy Oil for breaking the law at its 10 stations in the state, based at Wal-Mart stores and elsewhere. They also fined Kwik Trip Inc. $5,000 for violations at one station in Apple Valley.

The two are the first fines levied under the law, which is similar to minimum-price laws in about a dozen states. Another two dozen have broader laws banning predatory pricing.

“The Legislature makes the law, and we enforce the law,” said Carol Hockert, director of the department’s weights and measures division.

It’s her job to investigate alleged violations of the law, and there are plenty.

Hockert said she receives as many as 100 complaints a week, mostly from competitors convinced neighboring stations aren’t charging enough.

In many cases they’re wrong — the wholesale price changes day to day, and often one station might still be selling gas in its reserves that it bought at a cheaper price while its competitor only has newer, higher-priced gas to sell.

But stations turn over their supply fast, Hockert said, and if a station continually sells gasoline for less than what the department knows the wholesaler sold it for, she investigates.

“If $1.95 was legal yesterday, they get the benefit of the doubt,” she said. “If $1.95 hasn’t been a legal price for two weeks, then clearly it’s a violation.”

Complaints have risen right along with gas prices, she said.

According to AAA, gasoline is about 60 cents higher this Memorial Day weekend than last. The average price of gas in Minnesota is $2.02.

Ahem, as·i·nine - adj:
1. Utterly stupid or silly: asinine behavior.
2. Of, relating to, or resembling an ass.

Whew, I’m so glad cheapskates like Murphy Oil are being fined and punished, after all, if other companies use this evil business strategy, prices of goods and services would decline en masse, saving individuals and families so much money that they would probably start funding terrorism just so they wouldn’t feel guilty about having so much more wealth laying around.

I mean with friendly gubmint officials like Carol Hockert, who needs enemies like your local house burglar?

And what a bunch of whiney brats, tattle tailing on Joe Schmoe down the street for selling his gasoline at a price he wants and one that customers are willing to buy at. It would be like Michael Dell getting the FTC to tell Gateway to charge more for their computers, or else.

From now on I will demand that the seller of goods and services charge me more and give me less — otherwise it’s just down right un-American.

Via Chris Dominguez. Extra thanks to Yakov Smirnoff.

Just Say No

“Which American City Are You?”

Los Angeles
You are the epitome of duality. You’ll deal with all the strife to bask in all the glamour.

Where are the Texas cities in this quiz? I cry media bias! Actually, if you enjoy watching movies, eating at restaurants and shopping at malls more than seven times a week, Dallas is the city for you. So who cares about Memphis?

Via The Agitator.

Don Boudreaux (who I met in March of 2001 at a FEE student seminar) wrote a succinct and concise discourse debunking the myth various commentators and pundits (i.e. Bill Maher) promote: that neo-Marxism is compatible with paleolibertarianism as espoused by Mises, Hayek, et al.

Anyways, regardless as to what side of the fence you sit, at the very least he uses some big words that could possibly be used in a dinner conversation to impress significant others.

If you are familiar with the quixotic libertarian endeavor, the Free State Project, then you might get a kick out of this: ChristianExodus.org — This Time We Mean Business™.

Using a strategy similar to the FSP, the movers and shakers of this organization want to immigrate to a State chosen via majority vote, whereupon they move and begin a theocratic-based community.

As I am hardly a fan of fundamentalists, this is actually a godsend (pun intended). Everyone else will simply avoid whatever locality the bible thumpers end up settling in. It makes it easier for evil atheists like myself to mind my own business without having outside influences such as Pat Robertson trying to legislate their belief system into my lifestyle. In fact, their influential dispensationalism will leave the Hill which in turn will eliminate multiple hawkish foreign policies that continue to endanger the lives of non-fundamentalists (i.e. militant Zionism).

What’s there not to like? You get to cram all the various puritanical jerks into one relatively small land mass whereupon they can easily be ignored en masse. Additionally, it will save the public at large from Islamofascist attacks as they will all be centered on this nascent and ultra hardcore armageddonist state. Which begs the question, why not exodise to Israel in the first place? After all, isn’t that the real Holy Land?

One more note regarding sodomy as discussed by the CE website. Not that I endorse the lifestyle, but I honestly do not care what you do in your bedroom. Furthermore, I know plenty of practicing homosexuals and have yet to be gang banged by any of them. In fact, I once did door-to-door sales in a predominately gay neighborhood. Suffice to say that dirty old men attempted to flirt with me, but not once did they pull down my pants and get all buggery. Futhermore, tapping the rump is not simply a fornication act reserved for horny gay guys, straight couples have been known to do so too so much so that it has become in vogue thoughout the adult film industry (talk about a kinky dinner conversation starter).

And to make sure even straight couples forgo the temptation to venture elsewhere while sexating, there will be a GodMonitor™ security camera in each bedroom and a tag attached to each person’s ars. If it is active more than 3 minutes at a time the sensor alerts the officials in Jebusia, the new capital whereupon they open an investigation to see if there was any in and out motion going on.

Remember, Jesus was a Republican — he voted for Dubya.

Micha Ghertner points to a funny story about a group of pale-skinned geeks who dressed up as robots and protested their exploitation.

I sent the link to a buddy of mine and he mentioned that there was an organization on his campus that does similar activities like that, The Knighthood of Buh.

To give you a taste of what some of these guys do, the UT Arlington chapter down the street has the following schemes planned:

- Condom Recyling Booth
- Wheelchair Pole-vault Team
- Petition to keep masturbation legal
- Anti-war protest. A protest to stop the war with Canada.

Additionally here are a couple Valentine Schmalentine cards the Austin chapter handed out:

- You were really adopted.
- She’s been faking it this whole time.
- If by “Love” you mean “Hate” then yes.
- No one loves you.
- Looking at internet porn. Thinking of you.
- Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful. Hate me because you’re ugly.

Here are some photos from the Arlington’s chapter “Special” Brownie Day. You kids and your mara-juh-wana.

A couple weeks ago I briefly discussed a few talking points about virtual economies such as that of Everquest. What originally piqued my interest enough to post the discussion was this question: When is the best time of year to release an MMORPG? It was penned by Ren Reynolds over at the Terra Nova collaborative blog specializing in virtual worlds.

Upon reading his quagmire, I sent him the following email:

Although I do not have an answer to your question (and have concluded similarly, that games are nebulously/ambiguously released), I have a question that someone could do a thesis/dissertation on: demographics of MMORPGs. I am actually more interested in seeing how many current MMORPG participants play more than one MMORPG (I have a couple friends that play 3 or more at times).

This is where my thought process coincides with your original question, it has been my observation (via personal experiences) that many MMORPGs cannibalize the same market repeatedly, with multiple genres saturating the marketplace (such as Tolkien-based themes). I would be interested in seeing which MMORPGs each of these players had played, the duration of the subscription and specific dates on which they switched over to a different game. Maybe there is an exodus en masse from one genre to another (I know many friends that went from EQ to DAoC within days of it hitting the store shelves) and some publishers try to figure out days in which current gamers are on the diminishing marginal return curve. However mining any of this data could be difficult as many of the developers are not forthcoming on specific details regarding total subscriptions. Additionally, as you pointed out, there could simply be no reason to this rhyme, just happenstance.

While I have not received a response I noticed a comment by Luca Girardo wondering the same thing:

Well 60k Users for Lineage 2 is a brilliant result if we think that the game was designed for an Asian market and the US market in this case is just a side market. It would be interesting to know the provenience of the 160k subscribers, if they are moving from other MMOGs to the new ones, if they are adding new accounts to their existing account pool or if they are just new customers. But I suppose we will never know (even if it is reasonable to assume at this stage that EQ, SWG, UO and DAOC did not increase their subscriber pool in the last months and most probably they lost subscribers).
In any case a source of hope for the several dozens of MMOGs in development. (emphasis added)

With regards to the adding new accounts by an existing subscriber (meaning user John Doe has more than one account), Dan Hunter points to a South Korean news release discussing NC Soft (creators of Lineage I & II and City of Heroes). The release stated a very large number of accounts at the end:

Since the game [Lineage] was launched in 1999, 520 million accounts have been opened in Korea alone. That figure can include multiple accounts for an individual subscriber.

While the story does not detail how many accounts are currently open or active, 520 million is a mindboggling number. Although, after reading this Wired story discussing South Korean bangs (cybercafe’s with a unique twist), the large number makes more sense (as you begin to understand the social context of the game). Additionally, a number of my MMOG-playing friends have opened multiple accounts in games such as Everquest for uses ranging from a pack mule (mobile inventory), twinks (low-level characters that are given high-level items) and even as scouts (if you have two computers next to one another you can as an attacker and leave the other character to act as a look-out for any problems).

This post brought to you by the Corner Home Owners Association, wouldn’t you like to live on a corner too?

The World RPS Society — I now can reincarnate as bamboo having officially seen everything in this lifetime. Oh, and be sure to read up on the advanced strategies involved in RPSing. You’re friends won’t know what hit them!