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Author Topic:   Trans-fat America
rgb
Inactive Member


Message 1 of 13 (319126)
06-08-2006 2:03 PM


I am babysitting my nephew and niece because their regular babysitter hurt her leg.
Anyway, I just took them out to the park. They're eating lunch right now.
In the park, I saw many kids playing in the playground. Someone decided that it'd be fun to play pinecone war, so they started throwing pinecones at each other (they weren't good throw, though).
A woman came out of her house running and told her kids to get back inside the house. The kids said they just came out, and the woman said "then go watch tv or something..."
It really confused me. Here is a fat woman that would rather her kids sit on their butts watching tv rather than play outside. Kids are kids! You can't contain them like that. But what about the pinecones? The very worst that could happen is someone would end up with a slight bruise. These are 6 yr olds. They can't throw that hard.
There were adults there, including myself, so I thought it was safe enough for the kids to play around.
Afterward, I started thinking. Nowadays, you turn on the news and you are bound to see 1 of 3 topics, and one of these topics is how overweightness and obesity is the number one health problem in America. Of course teenagers have weight problems nowadays. They're not allowed to have any fun. They are forced be 100% safe all the time. And of course, according to these parents, what's more safe than watching tv?
This incidence also reminded me of an npr program I was listening to some weeks ago. They were talking about world cup soccer (YOOOHOOO, I'M STAYING UP ALL NIGHTS TO CATCH ALL THE GAMES). They were discussing some of the possible reasons why after 50 years of motivation America is still breathing in other countries' exhaust pipes in terms of interest in soccer. One commentator offered the following explanation, and I thought it made a lot of sense.
He said that in other parts of the world, people usually give little kids the ball and then go away. These kids learn soccer by having fun with the ball without adults' watchful eyes. They have FUN with the game.
But in the states, the kids are forced to play with adults telling them what to do and what not to do ALL THE TIME. There is no room for fun. The kids can't make a mistake without listening to 15 minutes of yellings by their coaches. By the time they reach their teenage years, over 80% of the youthful soccer players stop wanting to have anything to do with soccer.
Society constantly blame unhealthy eating habits and unhealthy foods as the causes for our increasing health problems with obesity. Isn't it possible that perhaps a significant factor in this problem is also our strive for constant supervision of what our kids can and cannot do? Isn't it possible that we are trying to take the fun out of the equation because fun isn't safe and it just happens that fun takes the fat out of our kids?

Replies to this message:
 Message 2 by kjsimons, posted 06-08-2006 2:50 PM rgb has replied
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kjsimons
Member
Posts: 821
From: Orlando,FL
Joined: 06-17-2003
Member Rating: 6.7


Message 2 of 13 (319148)
06-08-2006 2:50 PM
Reply to: Message 1 by rgb
06-08-2006 2:03 PM


I think you have a point. I remember when I was a kid (about 7-8), the local Italian business owners decided to create a soccer league for kids and Little Guy soccer was born (This was in Chili, NY, just outside of Rochester). It wasn't that organized but there was a bit of instruction when we met for practices and games. This was back when school yards were open to the public so we could practice on them by ourselves or kick the ball around in our backyard. Heck I used to even ride my bike to the games, run around like mad for an hour and then ride my bike back home. Now most of the games were close by but some were 6-7 miles away.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 1 by rgb, posted 06-08-2006 2:03 PM rgb has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 3 by rgb, posted 06-08-2006 3:26 PM kjsimons has replied

  
rgb
Inactive Member


Message 3 of 13 (319158)
06-08-2006 3:26 PM
Reply to: Message 2 by kjsimons
06-08-2006 2:50 PM


Nowadays, school grounds and parking lots are all closed off because they could face a potential lawsuit for allowing people to trip and fall.

This message is a reply to:
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kjsimons
Member
Posts: 821
From: Orlando,FL
Joined: 06-17-2003
Member Rating: 6.7


Message 4 of 13 (319175)
06-08-2006 3:49 PM
Reply to: Message 3 by rgb
06-08-2006 3:26 PM


Yeah, the US has gone to the lawyers. I belong to a group that races rc model yachts in Orlando and we were going to have a regatta at an Orlando lake, but he city wanted us to have a two million dollar insurance policy to hold the event within city limits. So we moved the event to Winter Park, FL (about 3-4 miles away) where they weren't so worried about litigation.

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Replies to this message:
 Message 5 by riVeRraT, posted 06-08-2006 4:47 PM kjsimons has replied

  
riVeRraT
Member (Idle past 415 days)
Posts: 5788
From: NY USA
Joined: 05-09-2004


Message 5 of 13 (319207)
06-08-2006 4:47 PM
Reply to: Message 4 by kjsimons
06-08-2006 3:49 PM


Model yachts? Powered or sail?
It's all McDonlalds fault, they made america fat.

This message is a reply to:
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Replies to this message:
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ringo
Member (Idle past 411 days)
Posts: 20940
From: frozen wasteland
Joined: 03-23-2005


Message 6 of 13 (319218)
06-08-2006 5:15 PM
Reply to: Message 1 by rgb
06-08-2006 2:03 PM


rgb writes:
Here is a fat woman that would rather her kids sit on their butts watching tv rather than play outside.
My mom used to say, "If parents made their children walk to the gym instead of driving them to the gym, they wouldn't have to go to the gym."
I live half a block from the school I went to forty-five years ago. We used to spend the whole summer at that playground. A local factory had a noon whistle, so we knew when to go home for lunch - then we were right back in the afternoon.
The only equipment was swings, teeter-totters, monkey-bars and one of those ("dangerous") merry-go-round thingies - but it kept us busy all day, every day for two months. The only supervision was an older lady (high-school girl ) who stopped fights and applied a band-aid or two.
Today you could shoot skeet on that playground. The kids are all home in the air-conditioning, playing video games.

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This message is a reply to:
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Replies to this message:
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 Message 9 by purpledawn, posted 06-08-2006 9:34 PM ringo has replied
 Message 13 by jar, posted 06-09-2006 10:16 AM ringo has not replied

  
kjsimons
Member
Posts: 821
From: Orlando,FL
Joined: 06-17-2003
Member Rating: 6.7


Message 7 of 13 (319248)
06-08-2006 6:53 PM
Reply to: Message 5 by riVeRraT
06-08-2006 4:47 PM


Sail! The only way to yacht!
We sail East Coast 12 meters, which have a six foot mast and are about 58 inches long. The hull is from a plug used to test the hull design of a 60's vintage America's Cup boat. Here's a link to the class website: The East Coast 12-Meter R/C Sailboat

This message is a reply to:
 Message 5 by riVeRraT, posted 06-08-2006 4:47 PM riVeRraT has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 11 by riVeRraT, posted 06-08-2006 10:54 PM kjsimons has replied

  
iano
Member (Idle past 1940 days)
Posts: 6165
From: Co. Wicklow, Ireland.
Joined: 07-27-2005


Message 8 of 13 (319253)
06-08-2006 7:32 PM
Reply to: Message 6 by ringo
06-08-2006 5:15 PM


Same thing here. We were out the door as soon as we got up, with our mothers (I see Schraf isn't logged on) screaming after us as to whether our teeth were brushed or not. We came in for dinner when our mothers threatened to pluck our toenails out "Right this minute" and went back out to extract the max of the remainder of the evening still chewing.
I was in Dublin city a few evenings ago and in amongst all the commuters walking home, played some city kids. They had all sorts of games going on which were painted on the canvas of where they lived. 12 kids can still make a rivetting game of a lampost and a piece of rope. They ranged from about 3 years to about 12 years - one wore a nappy! And they were feral. Feral in the sense that not one of them was going to let themselves be accosted by some stranger - they had developed a zone around themselves that I could see was impregnable. This was their city not mine.
I thought of childhood as it is today. And wept somewhere inside.
Edited by iano, : typos

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purpledawn
Member (Idle past 3457 days)
Posts: 4453
From: Indiana
Joined: 04-25-2004


Message 9 of 13 (319308)
06-08-2006 9:34 PM
Reply to: Message 6 by ringo
06-08-2006 5:15 PM


quote:
The only equipment was swings, teeter-totters, monkey-bars and one of those ("dangerous") merry-go-round thingies
I loved the merry-go-round thingy at school.
I grew up on a farm, so didn't go to playground or parks. But my dad did build a set of monkey-bars for us kids. We also had tree logs to play on. Two upright with one across the top and one angled down one side to the ground so we could walk up it to the top.
Of course chasing pigs and calves was always fun too.
I can't get my nephew away from the computer.
We didn't have any better options in the house.
Even grade schools are leaving out recess now. It is a shame.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 6 by ringo, posted 06-08-2006 5:15 PM ringo has replied

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ringo
Member (Idle past 411 days)
Posts: 20940
From: frozen wasteland
Joined: 03-23-2005


Message 10 of 13 (319368)
06-08-2006 10:45 PM
Reply to: Message 9 by purpledawn
06-08-2006 9:34 PM


purpledawn writes:
I grew up on a farm, so didn't go to playground or parks.
We moved to the city when I was six.
On the farm, mom used to send my brother (eight) and me to get a pail of water from the well, a quarter of a mile from the house. And it didn't have a pump, either. It was wide open, with a wooden crib around it, and you pulled up the pail on a pulley.
We used to play on the old threshing machine. The first work I ever did for money was taking cast-iron bits and pieces off that machine to sell for scrap. Two little boys with wrenches among all those moving parts.
Dangerous? If it was, we didn't know it.

Help scientific research in your spare time. No cost. No obligation.
Join the World Community Grid with Team EvC

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riVeRraT
Member (Idle past 415 days)
Posts: 5788
From: NY USA
Joined: 05-09-2004


Message 11 of 13 (319375)
06-08-2006 10:54 PM
Reply to: Message 7 by kjsimons
06-08-2006 6:53 PM


It never ceases to amaze me how are freedoms are going away from us.
We have so many rules and regulations, to protect us from ourselves. What the heck were they afraid of? You might kill someone with those yachts your know, and they make so much noise, that someones hearing would be damaged for sure.
I can see it with the planes I fly, because they pocess the ability to kill someone, or electric, or gas boats (which I have a few) which can now reach speeds over 100mph. An electric hydro just set the new record at 120.7mph.
http://www.offshoreelectrics.com/...os/Joerg_LA_SAW_2003.wmv

This message is a reply to:
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kjsimons
Member
Posts: 821
From: Orlando,FL
Joined: 06-17-2003
Member Rating: 6.7


Message 12 of 13 (319475)
06-09-2006 9:04 AM
Reply to: Message 11 by riVeRraT
06-08-2006 10:54 PM


The loudest sound we get from our boats is the swearing from a boat captain when he's been fouled by another boat (or worse yet rammed)!

This message is a reply to:
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jar
Member (Idle past 394 days)
Posts: 34026
From: Texas!!
Joined: 04-20-2004


Message 13 of 13 (319492)
06-09-2006 10:16 AM
Reply to: Message 6 by ringo
06-08-2006 5:15 PM


Last month's really great news story.
Ringo writes:
The only equipment was swings, teeter-totters, monkey-bars and one of those ("dangerous") merry-go-round thingies - but it kept us busy all day, every day for two months.
Your mention of the merry-go-round reminded me of a news story I ran across last month.
A gentleman in South Africa has designed a deep water well pump that is powered by one of just those kiddie merry-go-rounds. It will pump enough water to serve a whole community, and the kids have a great time playing on it. The whole system including a water tower to hold the water for distribution costs about $9,000.00 to install IIRC.
The most important part of the story was that the very next item covered was that the Bush Administration will be replacing the helicopter fleet designated as Marine 1. There will be 23 helicopters in the fleet and it is estimated that it will cost $110,000,000.00 each and the whole project is expected to carry a $6.1 BILLION (not brazillion) price tag.
Now what I was wondering (I know, stupid of me) was if it might be possible for the US to survive with only 22 helicopters in the Marine 1 fleet and maybe take the money saved and build 12,000 water systems in areas where they are needed?

Aslan is not a Tame Lion

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