1323 replies to this topic

[Adrian]

They analyzed data through 2009. Lets look at the factors the study discusses -

The transfat ban was approved in 2006 and effective in July of 2008. Hardly enough time to have an effect on the death rate.

Less than 0.6% of New Yorkers commute by bicycle as of 2009. The number was even lower in the early part of the decade. That's too small a number to have a meaningful effect.

The NY Times tells us that we're fatter than ever. So much for the effect of calorie counts and anti-fat subway posters.

Yes, the smoking rate in NY dropped from 22% in 2002 to 14% in 2009. But the *national* smoking rate dropped from 29% to 19% during that same period. Before Bloomberg the Great became mayor we already were ahead of the nation by 7%. It's by no means clear how much Bloomberg's efforts drove the recent decline and how much other factors played a part.

Article

So what is the explanation?

That people who live in large, cosmopolitan urban areas tend to be wealthier and have better lifestyle habits than people who live in other places? And murder rates have collapsed?

[g.johnson]

They analyzed data through 2009. Lets look at the factors the study discusses -

The transfat ban was approved in 2006 and effective in July of 2008. Hardly enough time to have an effect on the death rate.

Less than 0.6% of New Yorkers commute by bicycle as of 2009. The number was even lower in the early part of the decade. That's too small a number to have a meaningful effect.

The NY Times tells us that we're fatter than ever. So much for the effect of calorie counts and anti-fat subway posters.

Yes, the smoking rate in NY dropped from 22% in 2002 to 14% in 2009. But the *national* smoking rate dropped from 29% to 19% during that same period. Before Bloomberg the Great became mayor we already were ahead of the nation by 7%. It's by no means clear how much Bloomberg's efforts drove the recent decline and how much other factors played a part.

Article

So what is the explanation?

That people who live in large, cosmopolitan urban areas tend to be wealthier and have better lifestyle habits than people who live in other places? And murder rates have collapsed?

The murder difference ended in the 90s according to the article. Has NYC become increasingly wealthy and better educated relative to the rest of the country since 2000? I don't know. It seems like a genuine puzzle to me.

[Adrian]

The murder difference ended in the 90s according to the article. Has NYC become increasingly wealthy and better educated relative to the rest of the country since 2000? I don't know. It seems like a genuine puzzle to me.

The drop in the murder rate is a small part of it. It would guess that wealth in Manhattan has but a very cursory google yields not much. Cities with high human capital have grown fastest among the past 25 years, so that probably helps. Edward Glaeser seems to agree with you.

[Sneakeater]

I'm really glad about the extreme healthiness of our older cohort.

I'll bet Rich is even gladder than I am.

[Orik]

I'm really glad about the extreme healthiness of our older cohort.

I'll bet Rich is even gladder than I am.

You should move to Manhattan and gain 1.8 years instantly.

[Sneakeater]

Some things just aren't worth it.

[splinky]

didn't stone have another thread about poor people, obesity and bad food? can't find it now but i did come across this interesting website on the issue

[Lex]

I'm posting this here although I'm sure it could go on 3 or 4 other threads.  A refreshing dose of honesty from some chefs -
 

‘Locally Grown’ Gets Tricky in the Cold

By DAN SALTZSTEIN

Locally grown. Market-sourced. Farm to table: These phrases have become the mantras of the American menu, promising ingredients that are supremely fresh, in season and produced within a tight radius of the restaurant.
 

But what can they possibly mean in the dead of winter, in northerly climes where farms are battened down and the earth is as hard as a raw cabbage?
 
In some restaurant kitchens, they mean a larder full of root vegetables, grains, dried beans and cellared fruits, as well as a lot of curing, pickling and preserving. Other, more ambitious restaurants turn to greenhouses or new vegetable hybrids.
 
And many inevitably resort to a certain amount of well-intentioned cheating.
 
“At some point, you’re inherently a hypocrite,” said Marc Meyer, the chef at Cookshop, in Chelsea. “You can’t make a menu of turnips, rutabagas and potatoes.”
 
Even chefs like him who are devoted to local and seasonal foods have to make exceptions, including the occasional FedEx package. Mr. Meyer’s winter menus include dishes that straddle the indigenous and the imported, like line-caught Long Island swordfish with cauliflower (also from Long Island) and chicory (from Florida), dressed with Meyer lemon (California) and topped with wedges of blood orange (California again).
 
Total purity, Mr. Meyer said, is a nice idea, yet all but impossible: “What about chocolate? What about olive oil? Spices?”
 
“Go for it if you can,” he added. “I just can’t with a 100-seat restaurant.”
 

 
NY Times

[TaliesinNYC]

So, you make sacrifices depending on your definition of what is permissible.

 

I don't see what the problem is.

[TaliesinNYC]

I'm already a hypocrite as I use olive oil in just about everything I do, if not butter or duck fat or schmaltz.  But to me, things like olive oil, spices, chocolate and oranges are "exceptions".  Your mileage may vary.

 

Virtually most of the entries posted by me on the Breakfast/Lunch/Supper thread(s) follows a seasonal pattern, with a handful of exceptions.  I think in the last three months, I've had maybe less than five dishes that had tomatoes in them -- fresh tomatoes, not canned.  I think, having actually cooked seasonally for an entire year -- a project I am continuiing indefinitely for the future by the way -- that you cannot fault me, and others like me, for having given in to weakness on occasion.

 

Sometimes I think this board exists just to stir the pot.  (I concede that I am guilty of that too.)

 

*shrug*

[Orik]

You don't like tomatoes?

[TaliesinNYC]

Lex likes to push my button.

 

That came out wrong. 

[Lex]

Lex likes to push my button.
 
That came out wrong. 

I'll bet the Times wasn't thinking about you when they wrote that article. I also don't think of this thread as The Taliesin Thread and I wasn't thinking about you one bit when I posted a link to the article.

I don't want this to sound the slightest bit mean but it's not always about you. If you keep that in mind I think you'll be happier in the long run.

[TaliesinNYC]

Who said I had anything to do with anything?

 

And you totally missed my comment, which was a lame attempt at a sex joke.  That is why you are straight and I am confused?

[TaliesinNYC]

and I totes forgot that this board isn't about omnivorette and her cohorts. 

 

ETA -- I thought about deleting this response and my replies above, but you know what?  I really don't give a flying fuck anymore about "decorum".  I couldn't give a shit.  telling me that "it isn't all about me" ... where was this outrage back in the day when omni ran this site in all but name?  you're such a fucking hypocrite, so fuck off.

 

most of y'all deserve each other.  a bigger bunch of assholes I've met and never met, including one former friend who turned out to be a motherfucking homophobic asshole.

 

so fuck off, I'm outta here.  assholes.  those of you who ARE friends, you know how to get in touch with me.

 

Later.