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JimboPSM
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Post by JimboPSM » April 11, 2008, 5:22 pm

Found this heavyweight article while wandering around the Bloomberg site. I'm sure that, while it couldn't possibly apply to any of our US Forum members, they may find it of some academic interest :lol:
Obesity Costs U.S. Employers $45 Billion a Year, Report Says

By Beth Jinks

April 9 (Bloomberg) -- Obesity costs U.S. businesses about $45 billion a year in medical expenses and lost work, according to a report today from The Conference Board.

Being severely overweight is associated with a 36 percent increase in spending for health-care services -- more than smoking or problem drinking, the New York-based business research group found. Medication spending is 77 percent higher for obese patients, the report said.

More than 30 percent of American adults are obese, up from 15 percent in 1980, and treating the condition consumes 5 to 7 percent of the U.S. national health-care budget, the report said. Obesity makes people more susceptible to diabetes, heart problems and other serious conditions.

``Employees' obesity-related health problems in the U.S. are costing companies billions of dollars each year in medical coverage and absenteeism,'' Linda Barrington, a report co-author and labor economist at The Conference Board said in a statement. ``Employers need to pay attention to their workers' weights.''

Obesity is defined by body mass index, or BMI, a measurement that takes the patient's weight in kilograms and divides by the square of the height in meters. A person with a BMI of at least 30 is considered obese, 25 to 29.9 overweight and 18.6 to 24.9 is seen as normal weight.

Offering employees incentives including cash, extra paid vacation days or insurance rebates to lose weight may be more effective and cheaper than health promotion programs, some researchers said in the report.


To contact the reporter on this story: Beth Jinks in New York at bjinks1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: April 9, 2008 16:55 EDT
The Conference Board article referred to in the Bloomberg article can be found here:



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donthani
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Real life Garfield

Post by donthani » April 12, 2008, 7:30 am

Image A two-and-a-half stone cat has been hailed a real life Garfield in Italy. Orazio looks like not only the cat that got the cream but who ate the whole cow too.

Just like lasagne loving Garfield, this fat cat grew to such a gargantuan size by guzzling all the food treats that his native Italy can provide.

The three-year-old tabby is such a food fanatic that owner Laura Santarelli finds it impossible to get him to slim down.

The flabby feline is now so large that it's a struggle for Laura just to pick him up.

And, should any of Laura's other five cats get in his way at dinner time at his home in Eupilio, the results can be catastrophic... :lol: :lol: :lol:

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beer monkey
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Post by beer monkey » April 12, 2008, 4:06 pm

I reckon you could get a few Gallons on cat turd coffee from that cat.
Can You Dig It Dug.?

laphanphon

Post by laphanphon » April 12, 2008, 4:16 pm

if that was in the states, they would arrest her for cruelity to animals, or some kind of abuse. 8)

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Post by trubrit » April 12, 2008, 4:42 pm

laphanphon wrote:if that was in the states, they would arrest her for cruelity to animals, or some kind of abuse. 8)
Interesting, when at a guess, 50% of the female population there look like that. :lol:

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Hages
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Post by Hages » April 12, 2008, 5:44 pm

If that was in China it would feed a family for a month :shock:

laphanphon

Post by laphanphon » April 12, 2008, 7:17 pm

Interesting, when at a guess, 50% of the female population there look like that.
:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D
and i thought i was opinionated 8)
:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

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Post by saint » April 13, 2008, 8:53 am

i think trubrits comment was very sexist. im sure he meant 50% of the population :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

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Air Rage

Post by Garnet » April 14, 2008, 7:57 am

How can someone flip out like this? The guy probably shouldn't be allowed anywhere outside the home without a serious escort.

http://www.youtube.com/v/XxtyisoNBaI&hl=en

By the way, the story behind this is that it's supposed to have taken place on an Air Canada flight to Europe last December.
Garnet & Jack

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Re: Air Rage

Post by beer monkey » April 14, 2008, 4:41 pm

Garnet wrote:How can someone flip out like this? The guy probably shouldn't be allowed anywhere outside the home without a serious escort.

http://www.youtube.com/v/XxtyisoNBaI&hl=en

By the way, the story behind this is that it's supposed to have taken place on an Air Canada flight to Europe last December.
How about the lady in black reading her book sitting in front of him..lol, mind you she looked a bit pi55ed off at the end, i think i might of been tempted to shove an in-flight sock in his big mouth.

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trubrit
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Post by trubrit » April 14, 2008, 7:31 pm

saint wrote:i think trubrits comment was very sexist. im sure he meant 50% of the population :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Not really sexist. It could possibly apply to both sexes but I wouldn't know , as I never look at the blokes :lol: :lol: :lol:

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Post by beer monkey » April 14, 2008, 11:17 pm

A Thai man and his female friend have been charged by police with lèse majesté for not standing for the royal anthem at a movie theatre in Bangkok late last year.
On April 5, 2008, Pathumwan District Police called to Chotisak Onsung, 26, and his friend, asking them to visit the police station to hear the charge for the offence alleged by Navamintr Witthayakul, 40, who was among the cinema audience.

Songkran said that according to the police investigator all witnesses had already been questioned, and a police committee had taken opinions from individuals and academics and decided to proceed the case. However, a panel under the National Police Committee will make the final decision on whether to pursue the case or not.

According to Songkran, Chotisak and his friend are likely to seek help from the Lawyers’ Council’s human rights committee.

On September 20, 2007, Chotisak and his friend went to a cinema in Central World shopping complex in downtown Bangkok. They were urged by Navamintr to stand up for the royal anthem which precedes every movie shown in Thailand’s cinemas, and they had a heated argument with the man. They claimed that they were physically abused. Afterwards they filed complaints at Pathumwan police station against Navamintr for verbal and physical abuse, damage to personal property and coercion, while Navamintr filed a lèse majesté complaint against them.

Article 112 of the Thai Criminal Code stipulates the penalty for a lèse majesté offence as 3-15 years’ imprisonment. (Prachatai)
http://www.prachatai.com/english/news.php?id=577

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Lonely farmer's wedding night letdown

Post by donthani » April 15, 2008, 6:03 am

A German farmer who married a woman he met on the internet has asked for the marriage to be annulled after finding out 'she' was a he.

Wolfgang Zober, 55, from Naumburg, said: "I don't meet many women as I am often out in the fields working all day, and so a friend suggested I try internet dating.

"I was delighted when I contacted Randy Victoria, 38, and was delighted when I met her and realised she was as lovely as her photographs.

"She even knew loads about farming - I didn't realise that was because she used to be a farmer herself.

"We only had a kiss and cuddle before we married. But on my wedding night she told me she had a penis - and that her real name was Ralf. I was devastated.

"The only true thing she did say was that she had two children, but she was the father - not the mother. http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_2812934.html?menu= :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:

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Post by aznyron » April 15, 2008, 7:55 am

LOL well it can't be all bad just think now he has a working partner in the fields and at night the LB can dress up very sexy and perform on his horn LOL and all is well

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Dead Man Wakes Up under Autopsy Knife

Post by donthani » April 18, 2008, 9:09 am

Image CARACAS (Reuters) - A Venezuelan man who had been declared dead woke up in the morgue in excruciating pain after medical examiners began their autopsy.Carlos Camejo, 33, was declared dead after a highway accident and taken to the morgue, where examiners began an autopsy only to realize something was amiss when he started bleeding. They quickly sought to stitch up the incision on his face.

"I woke up because the pain was unbearable," Camejo said, according to a report on Friday in leading local newspaper El Universal.

His grieving wife turned up at the morgue to identify her husband's body only to find him moved into a corridor -- and alive.

Reuters could not immediately reach hospital officials to confirm the events. But Camejo showed the newspaper his facial scar and a document ordering the autopsy. :oops: :oops: :oops: :oops: :oops:

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Post by tingtongfalang » April 19, 2008, 9:21 pm

"What are you starin' at?"

LECCO, Italy (Reuters) - An Italian man was given a suspended jail sentence for staring too intensely at a woman sitting in front of him on a train.

A judge sentenced the man in his 30s, whose name was not revealed, to 10 days in prison and a 40 euro ($63) fine after a 55-year old woman filed a complaint for sexual harassment.

His lawyer said on Friday he would appeal the sentence. The court will explain its verdict later.

The two met on two separate occasions in 2005 on a commuter train going from Lecco, a town in northern Italy, to Milan.

The first time, the man sat next to the woman but she felt he had moved too close for comfort. The next day, the man sat in front of the same woman and according to her complaint, stared at her for the whole journey.

The two did not speak.

(Reporting by Silvia Aloisi; Editing by Catherine Evans)

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/ ... 7120080418

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Post by saint » April 20, 2008, 10:18 am

10 days in jail for staring at an old woman, who probably was fat, with hairy legs, has the world gone mad, the court will explain its verdict later, what when they get an afternoon out from the assylum. if that was thailand id spend the rest of my life in jail, all the cute tottie i stare at most days. :lol: :lol: :lol:

laphanphon

Post by laphanphon » April 20, 2008, 11:45 am

all the cute tottie i stare at most days.
that's disgusting, hey, did you see that cutie over................................hot.

agree, looking is now sexual harrassment, and 55 yrs old, must of been a stunner. though this sounds familiar..........................sorry, inside joke. 8)

i wonder if he can sue her, for immoral thoughts. as she obviously was thinking about what he wanted to do to her. 8)

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Post by cookie » April 20, 2008, 12:17 pm

this video clip is a must for F1 and golf (Tiger Wood) Fans....

enjoy...

http://pleeboy.punt.nl/?id=393176&r=1&tbl_archief=&

beautiful special effects,
this is the kind of publicity that I wouldn't mind on my TV,

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Neighbour stole house

Post by donthani » April 23, 2008, 6:54 am

A Russian man returned from holiday to find his entire two-storey house had been stolen by a neighbor.

Yuri Konstantinov, 50, from the Astrakhan Region, came back from a trip visiting relatives to find his house had been taken down brick by brick and all the contents sold. Only the foundations were left.

Police investigating the theft found out that a neighbour had taken the house apart and sold everything, including the bricks and window frames, and even the kitchen sink.

A police spokesman said: "A local resident decided to take it away piece by piece, and he dismantled it for construction materials.

"This is not though the first such case we have come across, and in remote areas it is considered normal by some people." [-X

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