25 Mar 2009
Study: Morbidly obese sedentary for more than 99 percent of day

Another for my Studies in Stupidity series - and this one takes the cake. In fact, it's so stupid that I can't even bring myself to put it in the Humor container where it really belongs.

The findings show that the tested population was sedentary for more than 99 percent of the day and, on average, walked less than 2,500 steps per day...

OK, less than 2,500 steps per day is the average. Until the next paragraph:

On average, subjects took 3,763 ± 2,223 steps.

So which is it? And how can the average be plus or minus a number that's nearly 60% of it's own value? But wait, there's more:

The highest level of activity attained by any single individual during one 24-hour period was 28 minutes of moderate activity. No length of time was spent at a high level of activity for any of the individuals while under observation. Two individuals in this study spent the entire monitoring period in sedentary activity.

I can only only assume that none of the study participants worked: just getting into a car or bus and driving/riding to work, walking to and from the parking lot, etc., would take more than 28 minutes. Did they stand up to fix dinner for themselves? or did someone else prepare their dinner? And the two folks who didn't move for 24 hours: there had to be other physical ailments present (perhaps caused by obesity) because no one who's not being taken care of completely by another human could fail to move for 24 hours. And you're generally only taken care of when you're sick.

So how can this study even remotely be considered valid? You have dodgy math and reported findings that make no sense. Were they studying sedentary people who became obese, or obese people who became sedentary? Considering the source, is it possible that some of these folks had heart problems that made them slow down so much? What's the real story.

If I'd gotten results like this from a study based off electronic sensors, I'd be questioning the sensor output or usage. But I suppose if I did that, I might lose my place in line at the grant trough, and not get funding for next years Study in Stupidity.

A new study appearing in Clinical Cardiology examines the average fitness level of the morbidly obese (body mass indexes between 40.0 and 49.9). The findings show that the tested population was sedentary for more than 99 percent of the day and, on average, walked less than 2,500 steps per day -- far below healthy living guidelines of 10,000 steps per day.

(link) [EurekAlert!]

20:54 /Home | 0 comments | permanent link

19 Feb 2009
New iPod listening study shows surprising behavior of teens

Teens being oppositional-defiant? Showing rebellious streaks? Asserting their independence? Who'd have thunk it?

I wonder how much this Study in Stupidity cost? And if the taxpayers bore the brunt of it?

A new study involving iPods and teenagers by the University of Colorado at Boulder and Children's Hospital Boston indicates teenagers who receive pressure from their peers or others to turn down the volume of their iPods instead turn them up higher.

(link) [EurekAlert!]

09:15 /Humor | 0 comments | permanent link

23 Jan 2009
CDC study: Kentucky has highest smoking death rate

I don't care how you feel about smoking, this qualifies as a Study in Stupidity: did they expect to find the highest rates of "death from smoking" in states with the lowest population of smokers?

AP - Kentucky and West Virginia — where people traditionally smoke the most — have the highest death rates from smoking, a new federal study has found. Rounding out the 10 states with the highest average annual smoking death rates were Nevada, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama, Indiana and Missouri.

(link) [Yahoo! News: Top Stories]

08:04 /Home | 0 comments | permanent link

05 Jan 2009
California study shows shade trees reduce summertime electricity use

Here's a Study in Stupidity that kinda takes the cake for obviousness...

A recent study shows that shade trees on the west and south sides of a house in California can reduce a homeowner's summertime electric bill by about $25.00 a year. The study, conducted last year on 460 single-family homes in Sacramento, is the first large-scale study to use utility billing data to show that trees can reduce energy consumption.

(link) [EurekAlert!]

22:23 /Humor | 0 comments | permanent link

31 Dec 2008
Religion may have evolved because of its ability to help people exercise self-control

I'll bet that the notion of religions "evolving" has got some folks (like, oh, say the Christian creationists) quite in an uproar. Be that as it may be, a study that shows people behaving differently and with better motivation when they believe themselves to be in accordance with the divine is hardly news: that's kind of the whole point of religion, eh?

But what really struck me about this is the headline, with it's the underlying assumption that a priori there are no gods or eternal truths, and that the fabric of religion itself evolved out of a purely human consciousness. I don't see this in the article at all, but then again, I've just read the synopsis presented here, not the entire study. I'd be surprised if it was in there, however, as it wouldn't have hurt the authors conclusions to simply ignore the "existence of god" question. Methinks the headline was added to gin up some controversy ... and the consequent media attention.

The one assumption that is glaringly obvious from the synopsis is the emphasis on monotheistic religions: "God is watching", eternal punishment and reward, etc. Those are concepts that are almost completely alien to the worlds polytheistic (and pantheistic) faiths - but then, perhaps I expect too much, imagining that a researcher in the US would account for the Hindus, Taoists and Buddhists of the world, not to mention us Heathens.

It's an interesting read, nonetheless, and not quite a Study in Stupidity - but it does come close.

A study by a University of Miami psychologist reveals that religion facilitates the exercise of self-control and attainment of long-term goals.In his study, Michael McCullough, a psychology professor at the University of Miami, finds a strong correlation between religion and self-control, or self-regulation. He explains that religious people may have at their disposal a set of unique resources that makes them better suited to adhering to long term goals.

(link) [EurekAlert!]

08:00 /Asatru | 0 comments | permanent link

22 May 2008
AP: Foot-and-mouth plan used flawed study

Maybe somebody in the government is growing a brain, after all. I'm just surprised that Indiana isn't in the running for a final spot - it'd be just the sort of stupidity I'd expect from "My Man Mitch" in an election year.

AP - The Bush administration relied on a flawed study to conclude that research on a highly infectious animal disease could safely be moved from an isolated island laboratory to sites on the mainland near livestock, congressional investigators concluded in findings obtained by The Associated Press.


(link) [Yahoo! News: Top Stories]

06:10 /Agriculture | 0 comments | permanent link

06 Mar 2008
Smoking doesn't make you happy

A Study in Stupidity with chutzpah: "you may think you're having fun, but you're not having fun at all..."

A study of 9,176 individuals has shown that smoking does not make you happy.

(link) [EurekAlert!]

23:03 /Humor | 2 comments | permanent link

24 Oct 2007
St. Bernard study casts doubt on creationism

If all it took to cast doubt on the spurious notion of "creationism" was an examination of animal breeding, these folks could've saved themselves a lot of time and trouble by asking any farmer. Not only is this a Study in Stupidity, but it's one with a sensation seeking headline to boot.

Come to think of it, a lot of these studies have headlines like that.

The St. Bernard dog -- named after the 11th century priest Bernard of Menthon -- may have ironically challenged the theory of creationism, say scientists.

(link) [EurekAlert! - Breaking News]

06:24 /Home | 3 comments | permanent link

01 Oct 2007
Alcohol and sleep restriction can affect young men's alertness and driving performance

Summary: get tipsy and tired and you're more likely to have a auto accident!

I wonder how much this Study in Stupidity cost the Australian taxpayers?

Combining low-dose alcohol with moderate sleep restriction can have a significant adverse effect on young men's subjective alertness and performance behind the wheel.

(link) [EurekAlert!]

06:45 /Humor | 0 comments | permanent link

26 Jul 2007
Obesity is 'socially contagious'

I'm not putting this in 'Humor', with the rest of my "Studies in Stupidity", because even though that's what it is, it isn't very funny. It is, despite being stupid, true. And it's very dangerous.

"What appears to be happening is that a person becoming obese most likely causes a change of norms about what counts as an appropriate body size. People come to think that it is okay to be bigger since those around them are bigger, and this sensibility spreads," said Christakis.

In short, if your friends become liberals, you're more likely to find being a liberal socially acceptable, and become one, too. Thus, liberality is "socially contagious".

So is conservatism.

So is smoking, drinking, gambling, and drug use. So is appreciating art, music and literature.

Of course we're influenced by our friends - it's called "culture". Sometimes it's a subculture, sometimes it's a counterculture.

By this use of the "contagion", obesity becomes a disease. Crime is a disease. In fact, any bit of human behavior that is disliked can be construed as a disease, complete with symptoms, vectors and treatment programs.

Politically, it's been done before. It's being talked about now. And "studies" like this one go a long way towards providing the ideological underpinnings of tyranny.

Are your friends making you fat? Or keeping you slender? According to new research from Harvard and the University of California, San Diego, the short answer on both counts is "yes."

(link) [EurekAlert! - Breaking News]

19:20 /Politics | 2 comments | permanent link

05 Jun 2007
Extra pay does not improve hospital performance

Here's a true "Study in Stupidity" for ya - and it should be patently obvious as to why.

Hospitals do not deliver health care: in fact, one could generalize and say that organizations don't deliver anything. People do. Doctors, nurses and other hospital contractors and employees deliver health care, and this incentive program had nothing whatsoever to do with them. In fact, I'd wager that those hospitals participating in the program probably stressed their employees more in the hopes of increasing their margins because of the program, possibly leading to worse health care actually delivered.

Morons.

Paying hospitals extra money does not appear to significantly improve the way they treat heart attack patients or how well those patients do. But giving hospitals the information that they need to improve heart attack care does help.

(link) [EurekAlert! - Breaking News]

17:16 /Home | 1 comment | permanent link

28 Mar 2007
Maternal beef diet could impact sperm counts, UR study suggests

Here's another Study in Stupidity - even though I believe that it's conclusions were probably correct, there's simply no way these folks can make such a sweeping claim after a study involving 387 men! This is analogous to me observing some 300 geeky engineers working in my building, and concluding that Battlestar Galactia must be the most popular show on television...

Additionally, they used data gathered from recollections of diet stretching back over 50 years! And a good deal of that time was before hormones were introduced into cattle feed!

I don't know why the media swallowed bullshit like this whole, but they do, day in and day out. This was all over the place, BBC, NYT, CNN and no one asked anything about the obvious issues I've raised here. Not one media outlet questioned the validity of claiming results for a population of 300 million plus based on a sample of 1/2,000,000. Unbelievable.

A mother's high beef consumption while pregnant was associated with lower sperm counts in her son, according to a study led by researchers at the University of Rochester.

(link) [EurekAlert! - Breaking News]

06:44 /Agriculture | 0 comments | permanent link

28 Feb 2007
Eating ice cream may help women to conceive

Ya know, I'm a "high fat" kinda guy: I think low fat dairy is not nearly as good for you as real milk, and generally tend towards as natural a diet as I can get.

But even considering all that, this study is bunk. It's a mathematical mash-up:

...adjusting for various factors such as age, parity, body mass index, total calorie intake, physical activity, smoking, drinking and contraceptive use ...

In other words, they took the data they collected and correlated it against dozens of other studies, using criteria that was derived, in part, from the very studies they're correlating! Be selective about the factors you choose to include, and those you choose to ignore and you could probably prove that women with the letter "A" in their first name have a higher incidence of [fill in your favorite problem].

So let me not be accused of ignoring bullshit research with outcomes I like: despite my preference for real dairy, this is just another Study in Stupidity.

Drinking whole fat milk and eating ice cream appears to be better for women trying to become pregnant than a diet consisting of low-fat dairy products such as skim milk and yogurt, according to new research published in Human Reproduction journal. Researchers in the United States have found a link between a low-fat dairy diet and increased risk of anovulatory infertility.

(link) [EurekAlert!]

07:28 /Home | 1 comment | permanent link

15 Nov 2006
Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke causes respiratory symptoms in healthy adults

OK, boys, here's the question: if smoking rates are going down (and they are), and smoking in public places is being banned (and it is), and if other forms of air pollution are vastly reduced from previous levels (and they are), why are we suffering from an asthma epidemic?

Wouldn't it be logical to see a decline in rates of COPD as we "improve" the environment by eliminating not only second hand tobacco smoke, but air pollution, dust, fungi and molds from habitats? Yet we're clearly seeing an increase in such disorders.

Could it be that our ultra clean, smoke free and disinfected urban environments are actually contributing to the problem, rather than being the solution? I'm always pounding the table that "correlation does not equal causation", but you have to admit that there is a startling correlation between the rise of the anti-tobacco movement and the increase in asthma.

Inquiring minds want to know: but who'll fund the study? And if the study showed a real link, who'd dare publish it in this political climate?

Over time, inhaling environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) -- a process often called "passive smoking" -- can cause otherwise healthy adults to develop chronic respiratory symptoms.

(link) [EurekAlert!]

07:34 /Politics | 5 comments | permanent link

06 Oct 2006
Use, as well as 'meth mouth,' on the rise

This isn't really a Study in Stupidity - the results are certainly real, it's the cause that's in question. I think if the truth were to be told it'd be more along the lines of dentists grubbing for anti-drug dollars... call it a Study in Slyness

Here in the Midwest there's a pretty major meth problem. And this supposed effect, that of rotting out your teeth, has been heavily publicized for years. I'd always wondered how an amphetamine could rot your face off, and now, thanks to this study, I know:

Use of the drug also can decrease saliva due to the dry mouth many suffer from. To provide relief from "cotton mouth", many meth users drink vast daily amounts of carbonated sugared soft drinks, says lead author Gary D. Klasser, DMD, Cert.Orofacial Pain. He also says that many users lose interest in maintaining good oral hygiene habits, and will stop brushing and flossing their teeth.

Dare I say it? Irrespective of your illegal drug use, if you drink vast amounts of sugared soft drinks and forget all about oral hygiene your teeth are going to rot. This is like saying that garbage causes flies: the bugs may be attracted to trash, and indeed may be more prevalent near it, but the trash did not in any sense "cause" them...

It's cheap, addictive and can harm your smile for life. Its use is also rapidly increasing both nationally and world-wide. It is methamphetamine. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, more than 12 million Americans age 12 and older reported they had tried methamphetamine at least once in their lifetime.

(link) [EurekAlert!]

07:27 /Home | 0 comments | permanent link

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