Statistics, statisics and ...

Steve Wertz said:

This is why I buy/wear a lot of shorts - to throw off the industy into thinking I'm much taller.

Amateur. I buy shorts because I'm a northerner living in the south. If I wear jeans I will overheat
and explode :-)

--
John Gaughan
johngaughan.netjohngaughan.netOpen ↗
[email hidden]

Nancy Young said:

Quoted message said:

I would argue that if 60% of people are obese, how can the other 40% be a majority that deterines
the average weight in the first place? Maybe 40% of the people are underweight, insetad.

Yeah, blame it on the skinny people, there you go, I can get behind that premise.

nancy

well, i'm a skinny person. but i bet you dollars to doughnuts that you say more often to yourself,
'jesus, that person is fat' than 'jesus, that person is skinny.'

there's lots of round people out there. you can argue percentages if you like.

your pal, blake

Melba's Jammin said:

In article <[email hidden]>, "Jack Schidt®" <[email hidden]>
wrote: (snip)

Quoted message said:

Fast Food, from M-W:

1 : of, relating to, or specializing in food that can be prepared and served quickly <a fast-food
restaurant> 2 : designed for ready availability, use, or consumption and with little
consideration given to quality or significance <fast-food TV programming>

'Fast food' is a newer name for old ideas. A hot dog from a cart is fast food. Pizza is fast food
and so is Chinese takeout. We didn't have a fancy monicker for them then.

Interesting. I think of fast food as already prepared just waiting for me to step to the counter
and make my selection so they can hand it to me. McDonald's and their ilk. KFC and the like. Not
pizza and not Chinese takeout.

I don't think that Chinese take out food is fast food at all. In my neighborhood, some very fine
Chinese restaurants have both delivery service and provide food for take out customers. It is all
cooked to order, as it would be if you ate in the premises and the long wait for your dinner, unless
you telephone in your order ahead of time will prove that there is nothing "fast" about the food you
are taking out.

It is the same with pizza. There is a Domino's in the immediate neighborhood, but the only time I
tasted it, it was so awful, I never ate it again. Domino may be what is considered a fast food
place, if the pies are prepared ahead of time. Instead, there are some wonderful Pizza places that
deliver whole pies or pack up for take out as little as a slice or as much as several pies for an
occasion such as a Super Bowl party. You can specify what kind of a crust you want, what kind(s) of
cheese, what kind(s) of topping. These places have special wood burning pizza ovens and make each
pie just the way you want it. The cheese, when cool, does not turn into something akin to yellow wax
and if you reheat it, the cheese gets runny again. There is nothing "fast" about these places.

However, there are also many gourmet shops that prepare many foods for ready made dinners. Zabar,
Fairway, Citarella, Agata and Valentina, Grace's Market and many others are all over the city. You
can go in and order a whole dinner from soup to dessert and walk out with the purchase within a
couple of minutes. Everything is waiting for the customer. Would not that be really fast food?
Expensive, but fast, with lobster salad at Citarella's going for $32.00 a pound. It is only $10.00
at Zabar's.

So, what is fat food?

MS

Melba's Jammin' <[email hidden]> deliciously posted in
:"]news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>, "Jack Schidt®" <[email hidden]>
wrote: (snip)

Quoted message said:

Fast Food, from M-W:

1 : of, relating to, or specializing in food that can be prepared and served quickly <a fast-food
restaurant> 2 : designed for ready availability, use, or consumption and with little
consideration given to quality or significance <fast-food TV programming>

'Fast food' is a newer name for old ideas. A hot dog from a cart is fast food. Pizza is fast food
and so is Chinese takeout. We didn't have a fancy monicker for them then.

Interesting. I think of fast food as already prepared just waiting for me to step to the counter
and make my selection so they can hand it to me. McDonald's and their ilk. KFC and the like. Not
pizza and not Chinese takeout.

Like Margaret, I don't think of Chinese food or pizza as fast-food. AFAIK, Chinese food and pizza
are made to order. To me fast food is driving 'round to the drive up window. You put your order in
to some static mystery voice. A bag of food is thrown out of the window at you. Once on the road
again, one discovers the order is completely wrong.

Michael

--
NOUVELLE CUISINE: "It's so beautifully arranged on the plate - you know someone's fingers have been
all over it." ~~ Julia Child

blake murphy said:

Nancy Young said:

Quoted message said:

I would argue that if 60% of people are obese, how can the other 40% be a majority that
deterines the average weight in the first place? Maybe 40% of the people are underweight,
insetad.

Yeah, blame it on the skinny people, there you go, I can get behind that premise.

nancy

well, i'm a skinny person. but i bet you dollars to doughnuts that you say more often to yourself,
'jesus, that person is fat' than 'jesus, that person is skinny.'

there's lots of round people out there. you can argue percentages if you like.

I should make it clear that I am not making comment about people's weight one way or another. As far
as I'm concerned your weight is your personal business. My comment was only about the media
constantly hitting us over the head with these statistics without backing up the numbers. It's easy
enough to skew a survey. Where did they take the survey, what people did they target to take the
survey, what is their motive for taking the survey.

I'm just saying that my observations do not jibe with the numbers 'they' keep telling us. Just as a
joke, I thought about my neighborhood. 27 people in sight of my house. 3, maybe 4 could stand to
lose a few pounds, and not all that many, either.

Also, as in my question 'what exactly do they consider to be fast food,' 1 out of 4 Americans eat
fast food every day ... it doesn't mean anything to me.

nancy

Margaret Suran <[email hidden]> wrote in
:"]news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

So, what is fat food?

A Fast Food Restaurant is any place selling prepared food, where you don't have to leave your car
to get it.

--
Once during Prohibition I was forced to live for days on nothing but food and water.
--------
FIELDS, W. C.

Margaret Suran said:

So, what is fat food?

In the case of my hips, anything I look at, I'm afraid.

Boron

John Gaughan said:

Steve Wertz said:

This is why I buy/wear a lot of shorts - to throw off the industy into thinking I'm much taller.

Amateur. I buy shorts because I'm a northerner living in the south. If I wear jeans I will overheat
and explode :-)

That is so very true, but why the long sleave sweatshirt with the shorts. :-)

Pan Ohco

Dog3 said:

Like Margaret, I don't think of Chinese food or pizza as fast-food. AFAIK, Chinese food and pizza
are made to order.

I can't think of a pizzaria where I can't go and just grab a slice (or two) of already made pizza.
In the city (Manhattan especially), you can get all kinds of food already made up at various
delis, whatnot.

At any rate, they say fast food like it's a bad thing, and who's to say what the surveyed people
thought fast food was.

Quoted message said:

To me fast food is driving 'round to the drive up window. You put your order in to some static
mystery voice. A bag of food is thrown out of the window at you. Once on the road again, one
discovers the order is completely wrong.

(laugh) You've heard of my excursion to McDonald's, how annoying.

However, this McDonald's has no drive in. It's they only way they got a permit to be in my town. No
big ugly arches, either. No disembodied voice, just an idiot in person one.

nancy

"Dog3" <dognospam@adjfkdla;not> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Melba's Jammin' <[email hidden]> deliciously posted in news:barbschaller-
[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>, "Jack Schidt®" <jack-
[email hidden]> wrote: (snip)

Quoted message said:

Fast Food, from M-W:

1 : of, relating to, or specializing in food that can be prepared and served quickly <a fast-
food restaurant> 2 : designed for ready availability, use, or consumption and with little
consideration given to quality or significance <fast-food TV programming>

'Fast food' is a newer name for old ideas. A hot dog from a cart is fast food. Pizza is fast
food and so is Chinese takeout. We didn't have a fancy monicker for them then.

Interesting. I think of fast food as already prepared just waiting for me to step to the counter
and make my selection so they can hand it to me. McDonald's and their ilk. KFC and the like. Not
pizza and not Chinese takeout.

Like Margaret, I don't think of Chinese food or pizza as fast-food.

AFAIK,

Quoted message said:

Chinese food and pizza are made to order. To me fast food is driving 'round to the drive up
window. You put your order in to some static mystery voice. A bag of food is thrown out of the
window at you. Once on the road again, one discovers the order is completely wrong.

I gotsta disagree on the 'made to order' status of pizza or takeout chinese. Can you request the
crust be thick or thin or somewhere in between? Can you ask that the lo mein noodles be cooked al
dente? Could you substitute wide noodles for narrow ones? Just my impression of what's 'fast food'.
I know my local chinese takeout joint has vats of stuff cooking all day and they then mix them and
put them in the cartons for takeout. It's always '10 minute'.

The driveup window scenario rings so true. Recently I'd read where someone with 2 way radios on same
frequency as their local fast food drive up (forget the brand) hijacked the airwaves, so to speak,
and took to insulting the customers. Too funny.

Jack Marconi&Cheese

hahabogus said:

Margaret Suran <[email hidden]> wrote in
:"]news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

So, what is fast food?

A Fast Food Restaurant is any place selling prepared food, where you don't have to leave your car
to get it.

In NYC restaurants, such as KFC, McDonald, Burger King, etc., there is no way to get food without
leaving your car and going into the restaurant. There are no drive through facilities to place your
order and no waiters to come out to take your order. So, a fast food restaurant has to have a
different definition.

Also, there have been many complaints about catered "fast food" for schools, hospitals and hotels,
all places that don't depend on supplying food to automobile drivers and passengers.

MS

Pan Ohco said:

That is so very true, but why the long sleave sweatshirt with the shorts. :-)

Either you're just trying to make fun of me or you looked at the picture on my site with me wearing
a sweatshirt. I was wearing jeans in that picture, since I took it up north in the winter ;-)

--
John Gaughan
johngaughan.netjohngaughan.netOpen ↗
[email hidden]

Jack Schidt® said:

I gotsta disagree on the 'made to order' status of pizza or takeout chinese. Can you request the
crust be thick or thin or somewhere in between? Can you ask that the lo mein noodles be cooked al
dente? Could you substitute wide noodles for narrow ones? Just my impression of what's 'fast
food'. I know my local chinese takeout joint has vats of stuff cooking all day and they then mix
them and put them in the cartons for takeout. It's always '10 minute'.

I am used to ask for no added salt and at times, no soy sauce in some of the dishes I order from
the Chinese restaurant. I have asked for some dishes with a different vegetable, for no water
chestnuts, but sugar peas, instead. I have just recently asked for those long green beans, that are
sautéed with garlic, to be made without the garlic, because someone who was eating with us, is
allergic to it.

I have never tried to ask for different noodles, I like the ones that are used for lo mein, but
some of the restaurants actually specialize in noodle dishes and then you have a choice of many
different kinds.

When I order Pizza, I order either thin crust or regular crust, but I have asked for more or less
cheese, to add a different one if it is available, which is not always the case and other minor
changes. I have to admit, I do it only when someone who will eat the pizza with me, asks me to
ask for these changes. I can't even remember what kind of cheese the last person asked me to
order on the pie.

The restaurants, mostly small pizzarias, that sell pizza by the slice, have pizza pies in the oven
at all times, but the ones that sell only whole pies, even if they are only individual ones, make
and bake them only after the customer orders them. In that case you can order them any way you want
them. We have several of these places near by, Totonno's is one that I like, even if I have heard
that the one in Queens is much better than the one near me.

Quoted message said:

The driveup window scenario rings so true. Recently I'd read where someone with 2 way radios on
same frequency as their local fast food drive up (forget the brand) hijacked the airwaves, so to
speak, and took to insulting the customers. Too funny.

That cannot happen here. No drive up windows, no two way radios, nothing but old fashioned ways of
ordering food in the Big Apple. You can go to the restaurant or you can telephone.

Quoted message said:

Jack Marconi&Cheese

You make me hungry for that dish. I only ate it once, but it was really good. Four friends and I (we
had met on the internet) went to Lake Tahoe for a long week end almost three years ago. We rented a
condo with a kitchen and on the last day, one of the women took all the left over cheeses, the left
over eggs, the left over bacon and kosher Zabar salami, found a box of elbow macaroni and while the
rest of us went for a walk, she made lunch for us. As a surprise. The pasta was incredibly tasty,
with little flecks of crunchy bacon and chunks of salami and there was a marvelous crust on top of
the dish. I could never make anything that would taste that good.

My mother loved the macaroni and cheese that came in a box. From Kraft.

"Margaret Suran" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Jack Schidt® said:

I gotsta disagree on the 'made to order' status of pizza or takeout

chinese.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Can you request the crust be thick or thin or somewhere in between? Can

you

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

ask that the lo mein noodles be cooked al dente? Could you substitute

wide

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

noodles for narrow ones? Just my impression of what's 'fast food'. I

know

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

my local chinese takeout joint has vats of stuff cooking all day and

they

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

then mix them and put them in the cartons for takeout. It's always '10 minute'.

I am used to ask for no added salt and at times, no soy sauce in some of the dishes I order from
the Chinese restaurant. I have asked for some dishes with a different vegetable, for no water
chestnuts, but sugar peas, instead. I have just recently asked for those long green beans, that
are sautéed with garlic, to be made without the garlic, because someone who was eating with us, is
allergic to it.

I should clarify; my local Chinese joint is takeout only, not a restaurant where one can sit down
and enjoy a meal.

Quoted message said:

I have never tried to ask for different noodles, I like the ones that are used for lo mein, but
some of the restaurants actually specialize in noodle dishes and then you have a choice of many
different kinds.

When I order Pizza, I order either thin crust or regular crust, but I have asked for more or less
cheese, to add a different one if it is available, which is not always the case and other minor
changes. I have to admit, I do it only when someone who will eat the pizza with me, asks me to ask
for these changes. I can't even remember what kind of cheese the last person asked me to order on
the pie.

The restaurants, mostly small pizzarias, that sell pizza by the slice, have pizza pies in the oven
at all times, but the ones that sell only whole pies, even if they are only individual ones, make
and bake them only after the customer orders them. In that case you can order them any way you
want them. We have several of these places near by, Totonno's is one that I like, even if I have
heard that the one in Queens is much better than the one near me.

Quoted message said:

The driveup window scenario rings so true. Recently I'd read where

someone

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

with 2 way radios on same frequency as their local fast food drive up (forget the brand)
hijacked the airwaves, so to speak, and took to

insulting

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

the customers. Too funny.

That cannot happen here. No drive up windows, no two way radios, nothing but old fashioned ways of
ordering food in the Big Apple. You can go to the restaurant or you can telephone.

Quoted message said:

Jack Marconi&Cheese

You make me hungry for that dish. I only ate it once, but it was really good. Four friends and I
(we had met on the internet) went to Lake Tahoe for a long week end almost three years ago. We
rented a condo with a kitchen and on the last day, one of the women took all the left over
cheeses, the left over eggs, the left over bacon and kosher Zabar salami, found a box of elbow
macaroni and while the rest of us went for a walk, she made lunch for us. As a surprise. The pasta
was incredibly tasty, with little flecks of crunchy bacon and chunks of salami and there was a
marvelous crust on top of the dish. I could never make anything that would taste that good.

My mother loved the macaroni and cheese that came in a box. From Kraft.

I'm jonesing for some mac and cheese too, especially since Nancy Young admitted to putting some
cayenne on top. Put the bug in my ear, big time.

Jack Kraft

PENMART01 said:

For mens clothing Xtra Large is now the most common size requested, and for women it's mens Large.
Now you're going to tell me how all those women ordering Mens Large are six feet tall and over...
yeah, right.

My wife is 6'1.5" and a 38DD. If she tried fitting into "normal" womens' clothing I'd laugh. It's
just not possible. You would see that there are quite a few tall women if you'd just leave your
farm, Sheldon.

Quoted message said:

technology has made our work and daily lives so that we hardly burn any more calories than those
burned during sleep.

The brain burns quite a few calories just to survive. I don't have exact number because I want to
hear you go on another Google rant, but I know it burns quite a few more while awake. Of course
other organs probably work similarly.

--
John Gaughan
johngaughan.netjohngaughan.netOpen ↗
[email hidden]

(PENMART01) said:

There are more plus size clothing purveyers than ever with new ones opening constantly... even the
old time mail order companies, like LL Bean, Eddie Bauer, J Crew, and most all others have expanded
their range of sizes to include plus sizes. If they didn't they'd soon go out of business from loss
of sales. For mens clothing Xtra Large is now the most common size requested, and for women it's
mens Large. Now you're going to tell me how all those women ordering Mens Large are six feet tall
and over... yeah, right.

Fashion? My son is a varsity wrestler, not an ounce of fat on him during the season (wrestlers tend
to be on a constant diet to get in a lower weight class). If you based his weight on the clothes he
bought, you would guess he was overweight or obese - he wears pants waist 4 - 6 inches too large and
shirts way too large.

The sales of underwear might be a better indicator. At least on him they tend to fit properly.

The other datapoint about sizes - S/M/L... and 0,1,2,... - is that they are relative and have
changed over time. This is particularly true for women's fashions. The sizes have actually gotten
smaller to adapt to the increase of smaller immigrant populations in the US.

John Gaughan <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

PENMART01 said:

For mens clothing Xtra Large is now the most common size requested, and for women it's mens
Large. Now you're going to tell me how all those women ordering Mens Large are six feet tall and
over... yeah, right.

That's the way kids wear them these days. It's a hip hop thing. I'm 5'4", weigh 135 lb and usually
buy extra large sweat shirts and t-shirts (the decorative kind), not that I'm hip hop (more like
hip hurts).

Quoted message said:

My wife is 6'1.5" and a 38DD. If she tried fitting into "normal" womens' clothing I'd laugh. It's
just not possible. You would see that there are quite a few tall women if you'd just leave your
farm, Sheldon.

-bwg

PENMART01 said:

Since you're being so indiscrete with your wife's measurements why are you embarrassed to say that
her waist and hips each measure 60" around, and she weighs 600 pounds... and you transport her
with a forklift... your wife is a morbidly obese freak.

I didn't realize Ford makes a forklift called a "Taurus." But you'd know better than I would.

Quoted message said:

Your pea brain doesn't burn any calories.

I thought for sure you'd troll about the fact that I didn't use Google to back up my facts. Instead
you made a childish comment about the size of my brain. I guess I'm not surprised.

--
John Gaughan
johngaughan.netjohngaughan.netOpen ↗
[email hidden]

Jack Schidt® said:

Your driver's license has your height and weight on it. It's pretty much public knowledge what your
'stats' are. Eye color too. Your insurance company knows too. It's not like they're medical records
or anything.

I've never given height/weight information to my insurance company. And every time I get a new
driver's license they just copy the information from my old one. My current driver's license lists a
weight that's 25 pounds less than what I currently weigh. Granted, the current plan involves getting
rid of those 25 pounds, but the license is still inaccurate...

-Sapphire.

In article <[email hidden]>,

Robert Klute said:

(PENMART01) said:

There are more plus size clothing purveyers than ever with new ones opening constantly... even
the old time mail order companies, like LL Bean, Eddie Bauer, J Crew, and most all others have
expanded their range of sizes to include plus sizes. If they didn't they'd soon go out of
business from loss of sales. For mens clothing Xtra Large is now the most common size requested,
and for women it's mens Large. Now you're going to tell me how all those women ordering Mens
Large are six feet tall and over... yeah, right.

Fashion? My son is a varsity wrestler, not an ounce of fat on him during the season (wrestlers
tend to be on a constant diet to get in a lower weight class). If you based his weight on the
clothes he bought, you would guess he was overweight or obese - he wears pants waist 4 - 6 inches
too large and shirts way too large.

The sales of underwear might be a better indicator. At least on him they tend to fit properly.

The other datapoint about sizes - S/M/L... and 0,1,2,... - is that they are relative and have
changed over time. This is particularly true for women's fashions. The sizes have actually gotten
smaller to adapt to the increase of smaller immigrant populations in the US.

You didn't read Jane Brody's column a week or two ago. The trend is actually the opposite of what
you describe. A women's size 8 today is what used to be a size 12 20 years ago. The higher end
clothing manufacturers have initiated "vanity sizing", to satisfy women who want to claim they're
still a size 8 despite the middle aged spread.

--
C.J. Fuller

Delete the obvious to email me