December 10, 2009
Common Sense Blogging: Can Sneakers Make You Thin?
“The athletic shoe giant Reebok claims you can [tone muscles by walking in their niftily made sneaks]. The new EasyTone walking shoe, a provocative new marketing campaign says, leaves leg and buttock muscles better toned than regular walking shoes. … [snipped for the money quote ]
“But the claim that the shoes offer muscle toning is backed by a single study involving just five people, not published in a peer-reviewed academic journal.”
Read the full article to see if you should buy the shoes or, better yet, skip the reading, view the ads with a grain of salt, and lace up your perfectly adequate rubber soles for a rigorous work out. (And keep an eye out for more analysis.)
December 9, 2009
TNR: 10 Questions About the Public Option Compromise
Jonathon Cohn at The New Republic’s The Treatment blog on the tentative Senate health care deal.
ARRA Jobs Reports Parsed
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) breaks down a new Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report that puts American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) job creation at between 600,000 to 1.6 million as of September. According to CBPP: the “estimate by Congress’ non-partisan economic and budget analysts is more comprehensive than the 640,000 jobs that ARRA recipients reported in late October, CBO explains.” The 640,000 job-creation figure listed on Recovery.gov — a number expected to grow — is based on quarterly reports submitted by prime recipients of the funding.
Sausage Factory Update: Medicare for …
All. Some. Those 55+ may opt in (if they can afford it). Possibly. Below, a senator tries (and struggles) to explain the details of yet another new not-the-public-option plan being considered as part of the health care debate before the full Senate this week. (More here on what’s being called a “genuine breakthrough.”)
December 8, 2009
“Between the Folds”: On Paper Art
Via NPR’s The Picture Show blog, we learn of a new documentary about origami, which apparently has come a long way in the 30-odd years since my sister and I took classes to fold colorful paper into birds and other objects. (She was much better at it than me.)
Watch a preview of the Green Fuse Films’ documentary, which airs tomorrow on PBS, below.
[Pictured: PAPER SCULPTURE BY CHRIS K. PALMER EXPERIMENTING WITH MOVEMENT AND LIGHT]