Fat, Drunk, and Stupid is No Way to Go Through Life
Five for Friday, January 17, 2025
Overwhelmed with various obligations and sleepy from insomnia, I stopped working at 3 pm yesterday. Curled up on the sofa, I played dumb phone games for three hours; I failed to write my newsletters and queue them up for a 5 am release. That’s always bad news for readership because many people like to read their newsletters at 5 am -are you crazy, people? — so, stuff that arrives later usually doesn’t get read.
Ah well, better late than never.
Fat, Drunk, and Stupid is No Way to Go Through Life
Too Fat and Illiterate to Enlist
The Pete Hegseth confirmation was both must-see TV and depressing as hell. One side bit of depressing info was the discussion that the US Army is having trouble recruiting young people for the military, especially guys. Why? Because they are obese and illiterate.
According to the Department of Defense, 77 percent of youth — ages 17 -24 — are unqualified to serve in the military, because they are overweight, hooked on drugs, or have medical/mental health issues. More depressing statistics at Vox and the CDC. Perhaps it’s a good thing that we’re moving towards drone warfare. Fat dudes can operate the drones from big comfy chairs with Big Gulps.
Insomniac Reading
When I hit my midcentury birthday, I stopped sleeping. Insomnia is part of the depressing package of aging, along with my many sagging parts.
Related: Instagram keeps sending me ads for make-up for old ladies — stuff that doesn’t cake up in your wrinkles. Meta, I hate you.
I have learned to manage insomnia with exercise and rules, like no writing after 8:00 pm and no caffeine after 3:00. However, my running routine has been disrupted by the cold weather, which means I’m not sleeping well, AND I hate myself for gaining three pounds.
What do I do when I can’t sleep? I read gossip websites, so I’m all up on the stories that the Obamas might be getting divorced and Harry/Meghan are disaster tourists.
The Future of Work and AI
Jonah and I are currently engaged in big kitchen debates about the future of work. Futurists believe that AI will replace all jobs the cost of everything will drop, and the government will pay everyone a Universal Basic Income. Musk was talking about this last year. AI may replace teachers, coaches, doctors, lawyers, and tons of high-skilled, high-wage jobs. My husband’s job — contracts and compliance for Wall Street — will surely be done by AI in ten years.
Our debate is whether these changes will lead to more equality and a higher quality of life. Will we achieve Marx’s dream of a communist society —“to hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, [and] criticise after dinner?” Or will we end up as the fat blobs in Wall-E drinking our sodas in easy chairs?
Alone, Alienated, and Miserable
Derek Thompson’s cover story for the Atlantic, The Anti-Social Century, is great — griping and depressing. Hmmm… that seems to be the theme of this newsletter.
Thompson explains that people are spending too much time by themselves. They’re getting take-out food from restaurants to consume alone at home in front of the television, rather than eating with families or friends. Multiple studies show we’re spending more time on electronic devices, with pets, and working from home. We’re not doing fun things, like having parties, joining clubs, going to church, having sex, and going to bars. Solitude is bad for mental health, politics, and society.
Maybe we do need to Make America Health Again.
With my extended family and old friends just minutes from my house, I will probably never move. I host large family parties. I volunteer for several organizations in town, and people know me in the supermarket. I don’t bowl alone. It takes some effort to be social these days, but the alternative is misery.
Personal
The big news around here is that my 22-year-old son — the guy with autism is going to go away to college in Vermont next week. We’ve slowly worked up to the moment, concentrating on helping get healthy and overcome some autistic behaviors. Last semester, he completed four courses at the community college without a hitch. Except for written assignments, he didn’t need any help at all. He finished his computer programs faster than anyone else in his class.
I’m sure he’ll do fine academically. We’ll probably go back and forth from Vermont to check on him on weekends. He’s worried about missing us. Until now, last summer’s five-week experience at this college is the longest he’s ever been away from home.
It will be odd not to have him upstairs on the computer or at the dinner table, but this is an amazing opportunity. He’ll be around other young people and not need us to drive him everywhere. He’ll be at a school where they understand that people can be super smart and disabled. Honestly, I never expected that my son would ever live in a dorm and attend college, so this is a big moment for my family.
Pictures: The Guggenheim Museum and Canyon Road, NYC
At Age 22, My Son Is Getting His First Taste of College and Independence
After a week of frenzied shopping on Amazon — desk lamp, window fan, desk organizer, storage bins, extra long dorm sheets — Ian and I settled into the serious business of packing him up for a five-week summer program at college.
AI won't replace compliance. It will just let a person do more reviews. No company is ever going to trust an AI to do the job because you can't sue an AI. Gotta have a person to sign on the dotted line.
I heard the president of the AMA say on NPR that doctors spend two hours doing paperwork for every hour they spend seeing patients. Maybe AI will do some of the paperwork, but an AI won't do the actual diagnosis unless the AI can get malpractice insurance--though they will suggest a diagnosis and flag things on an MRI or CT scan.
On the lack of fitness for the military. Malnutrition among WW2 recruits and draftees was one of the reasons for the implementation of lunches in schools. I have to wonder if we are not reaping the effects of Ronald “ketchup is a vegetable” Reagan.
Have you read Kim Foster? She has an excellent piece on how big food infiltrates our public schools and influences what kinds of foods people become accustomed to eating.