Daily Archives: June 25, 2011

Passing Forward, Ever Forward, Until We Run Out of Bounds

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“It’s A Simple Matter Of Physics!”

[I]t appears that people are puzzling on how a person who is running forward, then makes a pass backward, can result in a ball that is still moving “forward”.

The story is in reference to rugby but this is an issue in gridiron football as well. A runner laterals the ball, and there is a question of whether it was a forward pass. A debate ensues, and it’s really a matter of whose reference frame is to be used: the runner’s or the ground’s. I’d like to cite the NFL rules on this, but I can’t find them online — the NFL.com site has a “Digest of Rules” but I don’t want some pre-chewed interpretation. I’d like to see the actual wording to see if they define what a forward pass is.

I Think Thermodynamics Still Wins

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Potatoes bad, nuts good for staying slim, Harvard study finds

The findings add to the growing body of evidence that getting heavier is not just a matter of “calories in, calories out,” and that the mantra: “Eat less and exercise more” is far too simplistic. Although calories remain crucial, some foods clearly cause people to put on more weight than others, perhaps because of their chemical makeup and how our bodies process them. This understanding may help explain the dizzying, often seemingly contradictory nutritional advice from one dietary study to the next.

Every time I read a study where they imply that energy isn’t conserved, it seems that they sneak in a caveat, like this:

Although the study did not evaluate why potatoes would be particularly fattening, other research shows that starches and refined carbohydrates such as potatoes cause blood sugar and insulin to surge, which makes people feel less satisfied and eat more as a result, Mozaffarian said.

Eating more = more calories consumed.