Reply to: The "No tulip Sherlock" news item of the day....

[d000hg]

But on the plus side has anyone noticed that, with minor exceptions like welfare fraud, you rarely see any really fat criminals? Most crime is by thin ugly people.

But prison is an easy place to gain weight. Weird, huh?

[OwlHoot]

Obquote from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar

CAESAR

    Let me have men about me that are fat;
    Sleek-headed men and such as sleep o' nights:
    Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look;
    He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.

ANTONY

    Fear him not, Caesar; he's not dangerous;
    He is a noble Roman and well given.

CAESAR

    Would he were fatter! But I fear him not:
    Yet if my name were liable to fear,
    I do not know the man I should avoid
    So soon as that spare Cassius. He reads much;
    He is a great observer and he looks
    Quite through the deeds of men: he loves no plays,
    As thou dost, Antony; he hears no music;
    Seldom he smiles, and smiles in such a sort
    As if he mock'd himself and scorn'd his spirit
    That could be moved to smile at any thing.
    Such men as he be never at heart's ease
    Whiles they behold a greater than themselves,

[xoggoth]

But on the plus side has anyone noticed that, with minor exceptions like welfare fraud, you rarely see any really fat criminals? Most crime is by thin ugly people.

[RichardCranium]

Rain causes rise in flood risk

[SupremeSpod]

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

They do, one of which is called "a coronary".

Hth.

[doodab]

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.

Wouldn't jiggling it cause kinetic energy to be turned into heat?

I think you might have hit on the reason fat people don't like exercising. Even a sedate jog would be like running a marathon in a fat suit.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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]

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]

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]

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?

[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