My guess is that one of the above posters is correct, that the energy usage in his estate has gone down this year and that he's just starting to reap the benefits. But that still doesn't explain the multiples of the average person's energy that Al is using. But there is an explanation:

An international figure, like Gore, or the Queen, or Bill Gates, typically uses their house for a far different purpose than I use my one bedroom apartment for. There is typically a residential wing, for family time, but the rest is more like a conference center for foreign dignitaries and the like. What this article is doing is very likely comparing Al Gore, the non-profit corporation, to a normal family. And then laughing at the false hypocrisy.

Someday I hope to be rich and famous enough to have to pay for the energy to heat the guard tower outside as well as the guest quarters for leading environmentalists.

As for the article:

"The downward trend appears to be driven by increases in death from diabetes, lung cancer, emphysema and kidney failure. It reflects the long-term consequences of smoking, a habit that women took up in large numbers decades after men did, and the slowing of the historic decline in heart disease deaths."

There are two issues:

an increase in smoking among women, which in studies has shown a relative risk >40 for many diseases

and the "possibility" that this is the leading edge of the "obesity epidemic" something that has rarely shown an RR greater than 2 for most diseases.

I see a case of potential scientific bias and fear mongering.

I understand Pollen's case. I am a vegetarian. I probably don't get as much iron as iron as some of my meat eating friends. However because food is plentiful, I have no problem getting enough. I'm pulling a fast one on you, because I argued before that there is no proof that organic food is better for you, and I still claim that, but my argument here is that almost all food in this country is good enough for us. There are a host of diseases caused by malnourishment, including scurvy and anemia, however they are virtually unknown in this country outside of anorexics, people who have had obesity surgery, and some people with specific medical problems. The important issue is that there is a baseline to the nutrition that we need, but beyond that, there is no proof that overnutrition does anything good.

I realize that a decline in omega fatty acids could be a bad thing, if I weren't getting enough. However, if I am, then a slight decline really isn't a problem. My guess is that, like calories, I'm getting far more nutrition in our modern world than I would have been getting even 50 or 100 years ago.

@Antinous

You say:

"For the first time in decades, average life expectancy in the US is beginning to decline. The crap that we are fed is counteracting all the benefits of better medical care. When the eighty year olds who grew up eating real food are gone, the next few generations are likely to see life expectancy rolled back by a decade. And that's laid at the doorstep of agri-business funded food science which gave us the nutritional advice which has larded an extra thirty pounds of fat onto us."

The problem is that none of this is true. Life expectancy is still going up. The CDC has reported no increase in childhood obesity in the last 9 years. Adults still eat vegetables, children still don't (and never did).

For some reason food has become the point at which many people are rebelling against the modern world. But what we are seeing is a political backlash, not a scientific one.

As for organics versus factory farming, there is no proof that nutrients are more plentiful in organic produce. Actually, for nutrients, very often the best place to look is canned veggies. As for fuel usage, the marginal cost in fuel to ship a grape from Chile is remarkably small. One of the great things about capitalism is that with fuel prices rising, the large companies are very good at improving efficiency.

Supermarkets operate on single digit percentage margins, so there's very little waste that occurs in food production there. Compare that to organic markets which very often sell produce for double the price of the corner market and you can see that there is a lot more room in the price for waste, while still making a profit.

And about organic farms being sustainable, I've seen some estimates that they have 1/3 of the yield of some of the best commercial farms. One article I read claims that on some commercial farms, the time between harvest and the start of the next planting is ~30 minutes. This allows us to make an incredible amount of food in a fairly limited area. If the entire world were to go organic, we would have to cut down a tremendous amount of natural growth forest in order to make space for all the additional farmland.

All that said, I am a food snob. I love the organic markets in my city. I love heirloom tomatoes with high end balsamic vinegar. But my love for these things has the same impact towards the social good as if I purchased a BMW or a Gucci suit. It's a luxury purchase and nothing else.

Jamblichus,

This is actually a really weird city. Even the protests tend to be funny, such as slightly modifing advertisements to make them say something political. Over the weekend I saw a guy spray paint a political message on the street; blocking a police car while he was doing it. And the officer in the car didn't seem to care.

One of our biggest events in SF is coming up next month. Bay to Breakers is nominally a race across the city, but it is actually a giant 7 mile long party. Half the houses along the race route blast music and most of the "runners" wear costumes or run naked or just walk the length of the course drinking beer.

During Christmas, it's not uncommon to see a band of crazy Santas causing general mayhem.

We have our own order of nuns, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, who are really men in drag. They actually raise money for charity.

In the 4 years I've lived here, I've come home covered in fake blood more times than I can count. (Zombies, slasher films turned into plays, etc.)

And we give good protest out here too :)

Come visit sometime.

I live in San Francisco and any day that a gorilla isn't running down the street chasing a bunch of bananas is a lame day. Zombie mobs, thousand person pillow fights, pirate paddle boating, and naked people in the streets are relatively normal occurrences out here.

These kids should graduate and move somewhere more fun.

I went to a Quaker high school and we pranked the last religious service. We threw about 10 beach balls onto the crowd from the balcony. We were outdone by the 10 guys that streaked the meeting for worship.

No one got suspended and I still have a beach ball somewhere that was signed by the headmaster.

Apparently nothing we could do was as bad (or as funny) as the time a student greased up the train tracks that used to go across campus, causing the train to miss the nearby stop. And even then, the kid was allowed to graduate.

What the hell is wrong with the humorless asses that run modern schools?

This is the worst news of all time for me. I am one completed level away from finishing Peggle on my Mac - and then this addiction was supposed to be over.

It started when I played nonstop and won adventure mode. After doing that, some of the challenges weren't too bad. But I was never going to finish the multi stage challenges. Of course I did, and then I won the impossible challenges; all of them.

Then I started clearing the stages. But some of them seemed impossible. One by one, sometimes it would take days, I cleared every stage. And now I've completely finished 54/55 stages. All that's left is the UFO stage. And now this... they're coming out with a new version! It's not fair!

For those worried about my health or sanity (I'm sure none of you), Peggle has done more to keep me sane while on conference calls than anything else I've ever tried.

I've actually seen someone with a full size computer at a coffee shop in San Francisco.

But I think it was a barrista's computer and the guy working on it was trying to fix something. So it's really not the same.

I'm really impressed that the IE guys were able to find CRTs. I haven't seen one of those 'round these parts in years.

The study is a self report questionnaire given to under 300 people. There are many other factors - such has how cultures want to perceive themselves - at play here, which may influence the results outside of how people actually eat. I haven't read the study yet, but my guess is that it's sorely lacking in terms of actual merit or any form of objective evidence.

Most research into obesity is, sadly, really poorly done.

For more information on obesity studies, read www.junkfoodscience.com

I'm especially encouraging Cory to read that site before he posts another annoying rant on obesity.

Many here have already commented on how silly it is that the police are looking for a guy with a tripod. But if they can't find him, how are they supposed to charge him with perpetuating a terrorism hoax like Boston did to the ATHF guys.

MKULTRA

I've met a number of exotic dancers and escorts in my life (mostly personally, once or twice professionally). What I've found is that many people in doing this work have a different set of moral standards than the rest of society. They do not see the work as degrading and therefore don't feel demeaned by it. Women who are forced into the work, on the other hand, certainly feel it's an option of last resort and it does affect them negatively.

One friend of mine, a nursing student at one of the big nursing schools in San Francisco was also a stripper. She told me that she couldn't wait to cut her nights dancing from 4-5 days a week to 1 day a week after she graduated. Dancing most nights was tiring. One night a week would, however, be fun. She liked dancing!

I guess my main point is that how women view themselves as sex workers depends only on their personal views on sex work and really no one else's.