BMI TMI

Measuring Health, Weekend Whats

"Based on B.M.I., Arnold Schwarzenegger when he was a bodybuilder would have been categorized as obese and needing to lose weight." That's just one example that points to the increasingly obvious conclusion that the body mass index, or BMI, is an imperfect indicator of health. Is there a better model? Researchers think they've shape-shifted their way to a new one, and I'm not sure I like it. "Welcome a new metric: the body roundness index. B.R.I. is just what it sounds like — a measure of how round or circlelike you are, using a formula that takes into account height and waist, but not weight. It’s a formula that may provide a better estimate of central obesity and abdominal fat, which are closely linked to an increased risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, hypertension and heart disease, unlike fat stored on the buttocks and thighs." (I'm pear-shaped and have no ass, so I'm going to preemptively toss my roundness index into the circular file.) NYT (Gift Article): Time to Say Goodbye to the B.M.I.?

2

Father and Gun

"Georgia officials charged the father of the suspected Apalachee High gunman with two counts of second-degree murder Thursday — the most severe charges ever filed against the parent of an alleged school shooter. The arrest came less than 36 hours after two students and a pair of teachers were gunned down with an AR-15-style rifle that, investigators allege, the man allowed his 14-year-old son to posses." WaPo (Gift Article): In historic case, father of 14-year-old school shooting suspect charged with murder. This follows a very new prosecutorial trend of holding parents accountable in these cases. That might make sense, especially in cases like this one where a parent gives a kid an AR-15 as a gift after being aware of the kid's mental issues and school shooting fantasies. But does holding parents accountable go high enough up the chain? What about gunmakers who lobby for fewer regulations? What about lawmakers who are willing to trade children's lives for a few bucks and votes? In making a point about the now-arrested father, it seems to me that the shooter's grandfather makes a point about the broader problem. "If he didn’t have a damn gun, he wouldn’t have gone and killed anybody."

+ MoJo: A New Reckoning for Parents of School Shooters.

+ JD Vance on the latest school shooting: "I don’t like that this is a fact of life." (It's not a fact of life, it's a policy decision.)

3

Hush to Judgement

"Merchan wrote that he was postponing the sentencing 'to avoid any appearance — however unwarranted — that the proceeding has been affected by or seeks to affect the approaching presidential election in which the Defendant is a candidate ... The Court is a fair, impartial, and apolitical institution." Judge delays Donald Trump’s sentencing in hush money case until after November election. (It's not clear that this decision will have any impact on the election. But it sure is interesting how hard our system works to ensure elections are fair for a person who tries to overthrow elections.)

+ Meanwhile, the GOP presidential candidate was in NY lodging an appeal in the case that found him liable for sexually abusing E. Jean Carroll. Following the hearing, he attacked another one of his accusers: "It couldn't have happened, it didn't happen, and she would not have been the chosen one." (Maybe a good question for next week's debate would be, "How do you go about choosing your sexual assault targets?")

4

Weekend Whats

What to Watch: I used to be an English Teacher, so maybe I'm biased. But the new comedy, English Teacher on Hulu/Fx is absolutely fantastic through two episodes.

+ What to Book: The novel Suddenly by Isabelle Autissier is a gripping story of survival set against the stark backdrop of the Antarctic Ocean featuring a couple shipwrecked on an island must that trust each other with their lives. (My household turns into a gripping story of survival when my wife and I are debating what to order for dinner.)

5

Extra, Extra

Global Crime Spree: "Over several decades, at least 10 priests and missionaries moved to Papua New Guinea after they had allegedly sexually abused children, or had been found to do so, in the West, according to court records, government inquiries, survivor testimonies, news media reports and comments by church officials. These men were part of a larger pattern: At least 24 other priests and missionaries left New Zealand, Australia, Britain and the United States for Pacific Island countries like Fiji, Kiribati and Samoa under similar circumstances." NYT (Gift Article): In the Pacific, a ‘Dumping Ground’ for Priests Accused or Convicted of Abuse.

+ Tenet Dragnet: "The pair, who worked on digital projects for the outlet, used shell companies in the Middle East and Africa to secretly provide nearly $10 million to the company believed to be Tenet between October 2023 and August 2024, while directing it to spread anti-US and anti-Ukraine messaging. Per the indictment, the RT staffers 'covertly fund[ed] and direct[ed]' Tenet and its content, including personally editing and posting content themselves and directing what others posted." How Russia secretly paid millions to a bunch of big right-wing podcasters. (We got all this money and all these wildly pro-Russian talking points, but we had no idea anything was up.)

+ West Bank Shooting: The complicated relationship between the US and Israel just got more complicated. "A 26-year-old American activist, Aysenur Eygi, has been shot and killed during an anti-settlement protest near Nablus, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank."

+ Hunter Confronter: "The last-minute change of plea headed off what would likely have been a painful legal and personal ordeal filled with sordid details of the younger Biden's life when he was addicted to crack cocaine." In surprise move, Hunter Biden pleads guilty to tax charges.

+ Benzoology: "It was like I was on speed. I couldn’t sleep. It felt like my brain was ricocheting around my skull, my body sucked into a black hole in the center of me. The fallout lasted a few weeks. I tried meditation, picked up yoga again, practiced breathing. But it was hard." Quitting Xanax: One Writer's Story. (Beware of Benzos.)

+ It Never Donned on Them: "It’s that merely covering each of Trump’s hallucinatory claims as news items, even if that includes aggressively fact-checking them, doesn’t do justice to the much bigger story that’s unfolding right at the end of all of our noses. Let’s try to state what should be obvious: Trump’s mental fitness for the presidency deserves sustained journalistic scrutiny as a stand-alone topic with its own intrinsic importance and newsworthiness." Finally: Top Journo Erupts at Media for Ignoring Trump’s Mental State.

+ Greenwashing: The Packers and Eagles will play their opener in San Paolo. But neither team will be wearing green even though both teams are green. "It’s all done in an effort to steer Corinthians fans away from any reference to local rival Palmeiras, the team they have been feuding with for more than a century."

6

Feel Good Friday

"The first day they gave away the ice cream, supplies ran out in 10 minutes and $1,000 was raised. Then, word began to spread about the fundraiser and Danny’s clash with the town. Local media ran stories about the stand, prompting scores of local businesses to hold their own fundraisers for the hockey team." Town officials shut down a boy’s ice cream stand." Fundraisers followed.

+ They went from rehab and jail to owning a real estate portfolio: ‘You own the hell out of this house!’

+ Fewer adolescents are vaping this year than at any point in the last decade.

+ A photographer captures life in America’s last remaining old-growth forests.

+ San Marino wins first match in 20 years with 1-0 victory over Liechtenstein.

+ The world’s largest wind-powered cargo ship just made its first delivery across the Atlantic.

+ Police drone finds missing child in massive cornfield.