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Given that obesity is sorta culture war related and in the news a lot, I figured this story would be relevant: Weight-Loss Stocks Soar After Obesity-Drug Study Spurs Investor Frenzy
I am more convinced than ever that these drugs are not only the future of wright loss, but similar to Paxil, is also going to a part of culture too and another tool or crutch to mitigate the downsides of modernity, except instead of social anxiety , it's too much food. We're sorta collectively inflicted this on ourselves, as victims of our own success. The pendulum if progress has swung so far towards abundance that we need modern technology just to try to undo it.
Of course, the drugs seem to work like shit compared to be an authentically mentally healthy human being. I expect that Wegovy and similar drugs will wind up similar on a number of dimensions. I genuinely cannot imagine preferring a lifetime of pill popping to just riding a bike.
More time to do actually enjoyable things instead of faffing around on a child's toy?
Is this a jab at the Europeans who cycle to work?
No, if I wanted to do that I would have talked about how ungainly it is to arrive at your destination sweaty and/or soaked from the elements.
I just don't consider bikes to be a serious transport option in general.
Ever heard of a shower? Most offices have them. Get up, put on your exercise gear, put your office clothes in your backpack, cycle into work, take a shower and put on your work clothes. You'll likely have cut a huge amount of time out of your commute, and the morning cycle is far more invigorating and refreshing than spending 30-60 minutes in a car or on public transport (and if you live in a warm climate, being stuck in a cramped bus or train during the morning rush hour will probably result in you getting hot and sweaty anyway).
Bikes are the perfect vehicle. A decent bike costs a few hundred bucks, max, and will last you for years. If cycling in a city, traffic won't impede your progress the way it would in a car or bus (or even a motorbike). Even an only moderately fit person can cover immense distances without exhausting themselves (I'm by no means an avid distance cyclist, but am confident I could cycle 100km tomorrow without any training and without exerting myself to any great degree). Calories are your fuel, so you aren't dependent on petrol/gas infrastructure. If so inclined, you can attach panniers or a trailer to your bike to allow you to bring possessions with you that are too big for a backpack. Certain kinds of bike can ride on effectively any terrain, so you aren't dependent on roads. Virtually all repairs and maintenance can be done by anyone after one day's training, unlike modern cars which are so complex that only specialists can repair them (at great expense to the owner). There's no additional cost in GHG emissions. Bicycles take up far less space than motor vehicles: there are bicycle parking centres in Amsterdam which can comfortably fit thousands of bicycles into a space which would accommodate a few hundred cars at most. They're vastly cheaper than cars (in addition to the smaller initial outlay noted above: almost all of the maintenance and upkeep can be done yourself with only one or two specialised tools, you don't need to buy petrol/gas, you don't need insurance). And best of all, the mere act of using one improves the health of the user along multiple metrics (heart rate, blood pressure, muscle mass, life expectancy etc.).
Your comment has inspired more contempt in me than any I've read on this site in months.
So now not only am I leaving even earlier to compensate for my MUCH slower method of transportation, I'm having to leave even earlier again so that I can... shower at work?! I'm really struggling to see what I'm gaining here!
The hardest of disagrees. They're toys for children, and not suitable for serious adults. I like being able to do a full week's shop in one day. I like being able to just nip to IKEA and come back with a new standing mirror, or cabinet, or end table or whatever else without paying their extortionate delivery costs. I like air conditioning. I like playing music and jamming along to it with my partner. I like being able to make phone calls if I need to. Most importantly, I like not looking like an absolute fool. Wearing ugly lycra, or flattening my hair into a helmet, and ugh, sweating -- these things are not for me. To say nothing of how woefully bottom heavy and thunder thighed habitual cyclists become! And even though as you note, attaching a trailer to a bike is an option, the problem is it looks absolutely ridiculous! Like something out of the olden days! The image hit from being a cyclist would be totally insurmountable to me.
Trying to get bikes considered as a serious form of transport gives off the same vibes to me as trying to get hentai to be considered a serious art form. It's fine that you like that stuff, but stop trying to normalise it.
Assuming you live in an urban centre, when factoring in traffic, cycling will often end up being faster than driving or taking public transport. It takes me an hour to get to my office via public transport, but only half an hour on a bike, and that's maintaining a gentle 12 km/h (not even fast enough to break a sweat, obviating the need for a shower).
As I said, you can do this if you attach a trailer to your bike.
Obviously there are circumstances in which cars are preferable to bikes, but seriously - how often do you go to IKEA? I can't imagine it's more than once a month.
It isn't remotely difficult to cycle a bike with one hand and operate your phone with the other. I do it all the time.
I must say, it seems very strange for a person so aggressively averse to apparently all forms of physical exercise to be so hyper image-conscious. Sure, a slim, fit dude in fluorescent Lycra looks a little silly compared to a slim, fit dude not wearing Lycra, but neither of them looks nearly as ridiculous as an obese man huffing and puffing after walking a hundred feet. And I don't own any Lycra clothing at all.
This is a roundabout way of saying: if you get as little exercise as it sounds, you probably look like an absolute fool already, even if you're in denial about it.
I'm not trying to normalise it. It IS normal where I live, as in most Western nations. Only in America, seemingly, is cycling seen as this weird thing that only losers do.
Big assumption. My commute is from an outlying town to a city center, a journey that takes 30 minutes by car, along mainly 60mph speed limit roads. I travel along maybe one mile of roads slower than that the entire way there, since the city's main A-road cuts directly through the center.
At the expense of looking like an utter tool, or a child towing their mobile lemonade stand to the next location. And having to worry about cornering too sharply and tipping the whole thing over.
Whenever I need something, and it's not the only store out there I'd need it for. Carrying a framed painting from an art store back on a bike would be an exercise in frustration and anxiety. Trying to carry a very heavy ornate mirror or light shade from an antiques store would be worse.
And have to shout over the rushing air? It's bad enough when walking near a busy road let alone being in the middle of one.
Is it so completely out of the realm of possibility that a person can be slim and attractive without boring themselves half to death by doing braindead and repetitive busywork tasks constantly? My experience in the school system left me with less than zero patience for such things.
I'm in the UK, and among my peers it's considered a niche thing that is mainly the domain of children, eco loons or retirees. Everyone else on the road despises cyclists because they're super slow and utterly entitled.
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What do Europeans have to do with the discussion? Are you under impression that Europeans ride bicycles a lot, including to work? They don’t, except of couple of places, which is no different than in US.
I just found it to be a funny unintentional marker of the same cultural gap between Americans and Europeans that starts lots of arguments here.
The full bike sheds at my old 6:30am-start factory workplace would seem to indicate otherwise but of course that's anecdotal. Ipsos tells me that 5% of Americans cycle to work, which is on par with Britain, but half or less than half of the number who do in Spain, Italy, Norway or Belgium, a third or less of Germany, Hungary and Poland, a quarter of Sweden and one sixth the number in the Netherlands.
Yes, you are confirming what I said: Europeans don’t cycle to work a lot. Overall, maybe something like 10% does. Large majority of them drives. Sure, the split between driving and cycling is only slightly less lopsided towards driving, but whether 5% cycles or 10% is not substantial difference.
Then we're just debating the meaning of 'a lot'. A substantial minority to me still seems like a lot, a doubling or tripling compared to America seems like 'a lot more'.
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They ride/walk to work far more than people in USA.
Not really, though I understand how one might get this impression if one is very online and frequents places like Reddit or HN. Most of Europe is unlike Amsterdam, and even in Netherlands, last I checked, majority of commuters drive.
Note that I wrote "far more than people in USA" not "more often than commuting by a car".
That was intentional.
I am pretty sure that in nearly all or all European countries people commute via walking/cycling at noticeably higher rate than in USA.
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