The physics of weight loss

In response to a discussion on another blog, I sat down to do some thinking on weight and weight loss. For those who cite mass-and-energy balance principles, "calories in = calories out" where "calories in = food intake" and "calories out = exercise" is so oversimplified that it's actually wrong.

"Calories out" has to be adjusted for base metabolism rate. This is affected by growth rate, for the youthful, and such things as pregnancy, lactation, and menstruation in women. The efficiency of exercise also depends on muscle proportions: those with comparatively more/larger muscles (such as men) will be more efficient at expending calories with exercise. Both of these are also affected by body shape and proportions. People generate heat in proportion to their volume or weight, but get rid of it roughly proportion to their surface area (affected by shape). Volume goes up much faster than surface area.

This also helps account for why obese people find it harder to exercise. The body only tolerates a narrow range of internal temperature. A person who can't shed heat as fast through sweating and rapid breathing as he (or she) is generating it through exercise will be psychologically compelled to slow down or shut down the exercise. It seems to be one of those limits on what your body will let you do with it. Those who have found a reasonably effective balance between heat generated and head expended in extended aerobic exercise may find incomprehensible that an overweight person can't, or won't do the the same exercise and get the same benefit. But it's true. Different people sometimes really do require different approaches.

"Calories in" has to be adjusted for digestive efficiency (the ration of calories absorbed to calories ingested). This tends to change with age. I've seen studies that show it's affected by the types and proportions of gut bacteria. It's also affected by the kinds of food one eats, since some foods are more easily digested than others.
Altogether, these suggest that the efficiency of increased exercise in losing weight tends to do down as one gains in weight. Adjusting the diet would seem to be the more effective approach.

Lockjaw

There are several things I've wanted to comment on in the past couple of weeks, but it takes me forever to write things, simply because I keep going back and rewriting, and rethinking, and rephrasing anything I write so much. The final draft may have very little resemblance to what I started out to say, and then I wind up deciding I probably shouldn't say it at all.
I'm becoming rather disappointed with my selection of political blogs. I tend to read the comments, and...gah..I want intelligent discussion, not insane ranting and raving:

XYZ said 987. What a @?*! Everybody knows 123
ABC said 234 and he's a &*$#.
No. XYX is a @#%.
No, ABC is, and so are you, you #&@ !
Same to you, $#%& !

Except that blogs from the other side of the other end of the political spectrum look even worse.

I've also been following LDS-oriented blogs, and might like to link to some of them, except that the largest aggregator or portal seems to have something of a liberal bias, and I haven't found a better one yet. (yes, I'm too lazy to maintain a list of my own favorites here. Or maybe it's not lazy...It's just that blogging isn't really all that high a priority and I have other things to do).
Reading intelligent, informed commentary on practically any subject makes me feel ignorant, so wind up going back to work on my knowledge base . so I don't feel like I'm in one of those nightmares where I find myself suddenly unclothed in front of a crowd whenever I say anything.

Indenendence Day

I'm thankful that I was born and raised in the United States of America. 232 years ago, when faced with a government that refused to hear their petitions and sent troops to crush their protests, a freedom loving group of men declared that they would no longer be ruled by a king or his representatives, but that instead they would govern themselves. The signers of the Declaration pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to the cause of liberty, and most of them paid a price, some of them a heavy one, for that support. But not one of them turned back and renounced it.

Some of those same men met 11 years later to craft a new government, intended to express the principles of self-government, strong enough to protect the liberties they had fought for, but not so strong as to take them away. By the test of time, they succeeded magnificently: They established a nation that has set an example to the world of the blessings of liberty, the greatest defender of that liberty, the wonder and envy of all other people.

Like the grandsons of a wealthy man, we have not earned these blessings by our own effort or worth. We are warned that we become lifted up in pride, and become full of lies, and deceits, and mischief, hypocrisy, strife, murders, whoredoms, and secret abominations, the sword of God's justice will hang over us, and it will fall when the voice of the people chooses evil over good.

So I take a brief moment to celebrate, but then it's time to take my three hundred millionth part to help us, and our future generations, to keep and preserve the kind of freedom our ancestors fought and bled for.

So I've been gone a while

Did anyone miss me? I didn't really think so. I got involved in other things and I just didn't think I had anything I really felt I had to say. But, if I want to be a common 'tater of any kind, I suppose I need to generate some comments.
I've been looking at the California gay marriage issue. It's amazing to me how easily some people are taken in by the rhetoric about "equal rights". I'll probably have words to say about that, but probably not tonight.

Just for entertainment, over at Hot Air , I saw this.

At the start of the event Tuesday morning, City Council President Michael Hancock introduced singer Rene Marie to perform the national anthem.
Instead, she performed the song “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing,” which is also known as the “black national anthem.”

Afterwards, she explained:

“When I decided to sing my version, what was going on in my head was: ‘I
want to express how I feel about living in the United States, as a black woman,
as a black person,”

Some of the more pointed/funnier comments at Hot Air

How about putting her race before her country, and deceiving the audience as to her intent? Tribalism before country?

This reveals much about a certain subset of negro society. They view themselves as ‘living here’, but they are not Americans.

But the singer herself said she did it for racial (racist) reasons. It’s not knee-jerk to take offense when offense is intended. The singer did not replace the lyrics in order to expose her audience to a great, spiritually-uplifting song. She did it to make a point about how racist she thinks America still is. She did it to metaphorically raise her middle finger at the country that gives her the freedom to replace the lyrics of its national anthem without fear of reprisal beyond public outrage.

Rene Marie is a jackass. I’m a musician. If you are hired to play/sing something-play it!If the bride wants to hear Wagner’s Wedding March for her wedding processional, I don’t play “Farmer in the freakin’ Dell” ’cause I felt like it.When I order scallops at a restaurant, I don’t want the chef to cook liver and onions for me ’cause he felt like it.In a word-unprofessional.

FLDS and due process of law

I've been somewhat following the action taken by the state of Texas against the FLDS group. Regardless of my opinion of their religious teaching, it appears to me that the state has committed massive violations of the 4th, 5th, and 6th amendments to the Constitution.

Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in
their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against
unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by
oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and
the persons or things to be seized.

Amendment V
No person shall be held to answer for a
capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases
arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service
in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same
offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in
any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life,
liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be
taken for public use, without just compensation.

Amendment VI
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.

Granted that is has been argued that, strictly speaking, the Bill of Rights only applies to the Federal government, but the courts have held that all its provisions apply to the states as well. But from the Texas Contitution;

Article 1 Section 9: The people shall be secure in their
persons, houses, papers and possessions, from all unreasonable seizures or
searches, and no warrant to search any place, or to seize any person or thing,
shall issue without describing them as near as may be, nor without probable
cause, supported by oath or affirmation.

Article 1 section 10: In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall
have a speedy public trial by an impartial jury. He shall have the right to
demand the nature and cause of the accusation against him, and to have a copy
thereof. He shall not be compelled to give evidence against himself, and shall
have the right of being heard by himself or counsel, or both, shall be
confronted by the witnesses against him and shall have compulsory process for
obtaining witnesses in his favor, except that when the witness resides out of
the State and the offense charged is a violation of any of the anti-trust laws
of this State, the defendant and the State shall have the right to produce and
have the evidence admitted by deposition, under such rules and laws as the
Legislature may hereafter provide; and no person shall be held to answer for a
criminal offense, unless on an indictment of a grand jury, except in cases in
which the punishment is by fine or imprisonment, otherwise than in the
penitentiary, in cases of impeachment, and in cases arising in the army or navy,
or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger.
(Amended Nov. 5, 1918.)

If the mothers and fathers had been suspected of murder, or drug dealing, or armed robbery, the state would have been required to produce probable cause before arresting them and forcibly separating them from their children. But apparently, the mere suspicion of child abuse is sufficient that all these constitutional provisions can be waived.

Blogging the Book of Mormon 1 Ne 11

In response to Nephi's pondering on his father's vision, he was caught away in vision onto a mountaintop. The Spirit of the Lord questioned him about his belief in his father's vision, commended for his belief in the Son of the Most High God, asked what he wanted, and then showed it to him. One of the interesting comments of this vision is that the Spirit of the Lord appeared to Nephi in the form of a man.
An angel then descended to give Nephi a guided tour in which he saw a virgin, who is identified as the "mother of the Son of God, after the manner of the flesh". There are some who have made a great deal of this particular phrase and what it might mean about how Jesus might have been concieved, but all of it is speculative. Nephi was not shown details: The woman was carried away in the Spirit, and then reappeared holding a child.
Nephi was then given a preview of Jesus' ministry, including his baptism at the hands of the prophet his father had spoken of, his receiving the Holy Ghost, his miracles and healings, twelve disciples, called the apostles, and his trial and crucifixion. In the course of the vision, several of the symbols of Lehi's dream were interpreted: the Iron rod being the word of God, the tree and a fountain of living water being the love of God, and the great and spacious building without a foundation being the pride of the world. Nephi was shown that that building fell, and was told that all those who fought against the twelve apostles would likewise fall.

Nephi was then shown the future of his descendants and those of his brothers in the promised land: He saw numerous as the sands of the sea, great wars, contentions, and slaughters, and many cities. He was then shown natural disasters: Darkness, lightnings, thundering, earthquakes, noises, collapsing mountains and broken plains, and cities that were sunken, buried, burned, and shaken down. These were attributed to the judgments of God. The Lamb of God appeared to the survivors, chose twelve disciples among them. (When I was young, I recall puzzled by the reference to their "garments being made white in the blood of the Lamb", but later I understood this to be metaphorical). Three generations and many of the fourth lived in righteousness, but afterwards Nephi's descendants and those of his brothers gathered together in warfare, his own descendants were overpowered and slain, and those of his brothers during and after many generations of warfare, "after they had dwindled in unbelief, they became a dark, and loathesome, and filthy people". (To those who claim this as evidence of Mormon racism, I would reply that this has more to do with the coloring of their souls than of their skins, and I can show evidence of it, later in the book.)
More symbols of Lehi's dream were expounded: there was a fountain of filthy water, and the river Lehi spoke of was also filthiness. The mists of darkness were the temptations of the devil, that harden the hearts and blind the eyes of men, and the building again refers to vain imagination and pride.

One of the blogs I regularly read, "Captain's Quarters" run by Ed Morrissey is closing down, as
he has taken a position as a regular at "Hot Air". I'll adjust the links here before too long.

I also saw that NASA is trying to resurrect an old idea of establishing a lunar farside radio observatory. That's been one of my favorite ideas for some time, and I'd love to see it happen.