The "No tulip Sherlock" news item of the day....

[Wilmslow]

BBC News - Link between inactivity and obesity queried

[OwlHoot]

Hang on - Aren't they _querying_ the notion that lack of exercise causes obesity?

So it's not so much a "no tulip Sherlock" article but more of a "Good grief, Holmes, you amaze me" one

[TimberWolf]

The paper says there is no disputing the association between physical activity and body fat.

In other words fat people are lazy. The question is, does indolence make you fat or does fatness make you indolent? The paper suggests the latter. I hope this research was carried out by thin people who went the extra mile.

We also need to know which way around it works for body aroma. Does being smelly make you fat?

[doodab]

The question is, does indolence make you fat or does fatness make you indolent?

I suspect it works both ways to create a positive feedback loop.

[TimberWolf]

I suspect it works both ways to create a positive feedback loop.

If so, fat retarding forces must also exist. Otherwise fat people would just keep getting fatter, smellier and lazier.

[doodab]

If so, fat retarding forces must also exist. Otherwise fat people would just keep getting fatter, smellier and lazier.

Have you any evidence that they dont?

[TimberWolf]

Have you any evidence that they dont?

Well, I haven't yet seen fat people the size of the visible universe. Do you think this could be because of what they can physically stuff into their mouths? Oops, I accidentally mentioned food - which as every fat person knows bears no relationship with obesity.

[DaveB]

Have you any evidence that they dont?

They appear to be self limiting in the same way that the size of insects is limited to a certain level by the nature of their anatomy. You keep getting fatter until you reach a certain point, at which point you drop (ok, maybe not drop, slump? ) dead.

[doodab]

Well, I haven't yet seen fat people the size of the visible universe. Do you think this could be because of what they can physically stuff into their mouths? Oops, I accidentally mentioned food - which as every fat person knows bears no relationship with obesity.

Well, at a first pass, I expect they would start to run out of food once they had eaten everything on the planet so they are unlikely to get much larger than a small space rock like, say, the moon.

We can refine this upper bound by taking into account that there is only about 70 years or so for them to cram their chubby cheeks full of lard, which obviously limits the total amount of flubber they can amass, and there is a further self limiting mechanism as once they reach a radius comparable with the length of their arms they are unable to get close enough to the fridge to access it.

[TimberWolf]

Well, at a first pass, I expect they would start to run out of food once they had eaten everything on the planet so they are unlikely to get much larger than a small space rock like, say, the moon.

We can refine this upper bound by taking into account that there is only about 70 years or so for them to cram their chubby cheeks full of lard, which obviously limits the total amount of flubber they can amass, and there is a further self limiting mechanism as once they reach a radius comparable with the length of their arms they are unable to get close enough to the fridge to access it.

They would probably overheat at some point too, because their surface areas (and ability to dissipate heat) goes with girth squared, whereas mass goes with girth cubed. Though that does assume fat produces heat, whcih it probably doesn't if it isn't being burnt, which it won't be. Burning that fat (e.g. by exercising) might be deadly though.