I knew it!

I knew it! Body Mass Index (BMI) is bad science, bad statistics, and a completely unreliable way to "diagnose" obesity. Now I have actual arguments, thanks to NPR and math guy Keith Devlin.
My favorite point in his list of 10:

2. It is scientifically nonsensical.
There is no physiological reason to square a person's height (Quetelet had to square the height to get a formula that matched the overall data. If you can't fix the data, rig the formula!). Moreover, it ignores waist size, which is a clear indicator of obesity level.

Ha! I knew that formula seemed strange. And it doesn't work for people who are fit and athletic, especially not those who do any sort of weight training. If you calculate my BMI, for example, I am overweight, almost obese. If you take my body fat measurements with  calipers, I have a low body fat percentage for a woman, almost that of an actual athlete.

Apart from insurance companies who use BMI to charge healthy people more money, measurements like the BMI are tools used by lazy women's magazines and diet companies to shame women and their bodies, instead of teaching them how to love their bodies - as they are at that very moment - eat healthy meals, how to get exercise and learn to love it. And in my (not so) humble opinion, the world would be a much better place without such bogus, demeaning, and harmful pseudo-science.

Wednesday Reference: Science is Fun!

For today's Wednesday Reference I present to you Everyday Mysteries. This website is put out by the Library of Congress and contains all sorts of interesting and fun science facts. For example, did you know that a coconut can be considered a fruit, a nut, and a seed? It's true. The questions and answers are sorted into 12 major categories ranging from agriculture to astronomy, to motor vehicles and chemistry. Each answer includes a list of related websites for more information, as well as a bibliography for further reading. This could be a useful site for science teachers and students looking for interesting topics for papers or experiments.

What is with this weather? or I feel vindicated!

Our weather this week: Sunday - mid 70s, Monday - 80, Tuesday - mid 70s, Wednesday - 40, Thursday - 33. Tonight - chance of sleet and freezing rain, temps in the 20s. Now, I am OK with 80 (although I could do without the 80% humidity that went with it), and I am OK with 33, but I would prefer them to be separated by a month, or at least a couple of weeks. It is impossible to know how to dress, which coat to wear. We used to have the same problem in Austin, but not in New York or Washington. Huh.

In related news, researchers at Harvard have concluded that a hike in temperatures can cause headaches. Check out the NPR story about this here. Aha! And it has been known for a while that barometric changes can cause migraines. So, with these two pieces of information, I feel vindicated in my beliefs that it is totally not my fault that I have headaches when the weather changes and when it is hot (either one of which is usually happening here in Arkansas).