November Cricket

I just had to share this e-mail from my mother. She lives in Kansas, and does a fair amount of bicycle riding out there. I wouldn't go so far as to say she's a "cyclist" because that implies things like spandex, clipless pedals, and/or high speeds -- all of which my mother wants nothing to do with. She does, however, share my fascination with animals crossing the road (I suppose, as her offspring, I share her fascination, but I digress). Here's her account of the November Cricket:

I forgot to tell you about my ride on Saturday. It was ridiculously windy (35-40 mph), and I could barely keep the bike going forward in 1st gear. It was mostly cloudy. And it was cold (I wore my earmuffs and mittens). On my way back I saw a cricket on the bike path. It was so pathetic. It was creeping slowly along the asphalt, and then the wind blew it over. There was something tragically heroic about it. After flailing in slow motion on its back for a while, it did manage to right itself and trudge onward. Onward to inevitable oblivion. November cricket.

The next thing I wanted to share also comes from Kansas. A nutrition professor at Kansas State just lost 28 lbs. on the Twinkie Diet. He ate doughnuts and Hostess cakes and Twinkies all day long, and by most measures, got healthier. The trick was, he limited himself to a total of 1,800 calories per day, while his caloric needs were probably more like 2,600. His work isn't groundbreaking in any way -- eat less than you burn and you'll lose weight  -- but it raises the question: what is health? Is it better to look healthy or to be healthy? As a cyclist who consumes an extremely high-calorie diet, I often struggle with the apparent lack of consequences regarding my dietary choices. Overall, maintaining a low BMI, and exercising a lot is probably healthier for me, regardless of my diet, than obesity. But simply because I can consume 3,000 calories of sugar per day without getting fat doesn't mean I should. 

Now, to make you sad, the Western Black Rhinoceroses has officially been declared extinct. Nice work, humans. 

Now, to cheer you up, watch this awesome commercial about what happens when you slip muscle relaxants to the football team: