Comments on: Don't fear the reaper.

Don't fear the reaper.

kramer_101 — Thu, 14 Jun 2001 04:27:21 -0800

Don't fear the reaper. Can this really predict my final days!!

By: Outlawyr

Outlawyr — Thu, 14 Jun 2001 05:32:58 -0800

"Please enter your BMI (Body Mass Index)" What the flug is a Body Mass Index

By: ZachsMind

ZachsMind — Thu, 14 Jun 2001 05:33:08 -0800

What's a "Body Mass Index"? ...I gotta beer gut. Does that count?

By: ZachsMind

ZachsMind — Thu, 14 Jun 2001 05:34:00 -0800

Aww fudge. Ya beat me to it Outlawyr. =)

By: Outlawyr

Outlawyr — Thu, 14 Jun 2001 05:55:45 -0800

That's Aww "flug" to you, Zach

By: twistedonion

twistedonion — Thu, 14 Jun 2001 06:10:04 -0800

Without putting in my BMI (no idea what it is!) and answering all questions truthfully - I smoke, don't excercise etc.... My life expectancy is 82.2!!! The BMI must be pretty important

By: hazyjane

hazyjane — Thu, 14 Jun 2001 06:20:35 -0800

At risk of great personal embarrassment for: 1). knowing this, and 2). posting a link to such a ridiculous site: BMI Calculator

By: machaus

machaus — Thu, 14 Jun 2001 06:29:13 -0800

um, the lowest score you can achieve (if answered with an eye towards such) is 72. Pass the cheeseburgers and risky sex please!

By: briank

briank — Thu, 14 Jun 2001 06:37:30 -0800

BMI (basically an indicator of how fat you are) makes a significant difference in your results because obesity is linked to so many diseases -- heart disease, hypertension, diabetes -- I should know because I'm overweight and suffer from all of those. Using the BMI calculator hazyjane supplied (thanks) to input a BMI number into the calculator, it came back with 78.2 years. Without a BMI number, it was 81.7. So, all other things being equal, my weight could theoretically cost me almost 4 years life expectancy. But, as machaus implies, you might rather live fewer years and enjoy your vices than live a long, abstemious existence. We all die eventually, anyway, so why not die happy?

By: MarkC

MarkC — Thu, 14 Jun 2001 06:39:51 -0800

Question 6, cont'd) Do you drink a moderate amount of alcohol - less than a pint of beer or less than 2 glasses of wine - a day? Moderate alcohol consumption has been associated with decreased heart disease risk. This may be one explanation for the 'French paradox,' in which the French are known for their love of high saturated fat foods, and yet their heart disease risks may be lower (except in the case of those who smoke cigarettes), perhaps because of the higher consumption of wine in that country. This explanation is nothing but speculation. As the French diet has become more American, the risk of heart disease has risen. Also, scientists have constantly failed to find anything in red wine that might lower the risk of heart disease. And yes, I don't drink. 88.6. In your face, twistyonion!

By: mac

mac — Thu, 14 Jun 2001 06:45:38 -0800

To cite Woody Allen: you can live to be a hundred if you just give up everything that would make you want to live to be a hundred. 94.3, btw.

By: Vetinari

Vetinari — Thu, 14 Jun 2001 06:50:05 -0800

umm.. I think it's broken. It gave my life expectancy at 3.2 years.

By: Outlawyr

Outlawyr — Thu, 14 Jun 2001 07:22:39 -0800

Thanks for the BMI link I'm gonna live to 95.4 Beat that!

By: hijinx

hijinx — Thu, 14 Jun 2001 07:22:56 -0800

93.2. But, wait, my BMI isn't so hot. I thought everyone who was overweight was going to die soon! Has the media misled me again?

By: ZachsMind

ZachsMind — Thu, 14 Jun 2001 07:28:17 -0800

"Your BMI of 31.4 indicates that you are very overweight." Oh yeah?? Well flug you BMI Calculator! (no honest it's just the beer gut.) I expect to die before 82.6 but that's what the BBC said. Wankers.

By: howa2396

howa2396 — Thu, 14 Jun 2001 07:32:09 -0800

Outlawyr: I got a 95.6. So I guess I'm the front runner now? I really don't care to live to that age. I'll be old with wrinkled balls, and thats just not cool.

By: owillis

owillis — Thu, 14 Jun 2001 07:51:12 -0800

Do you really wan't to know when you're going to die and see the seconds tick away? Try this.

By: briank

briank — Thu, 14 Jun 2001 07:57:18 -0800

According to the deathclock, I have even less time to live....yikes!

By: clavdivs

clavdivs — Thu, 14 Jun 2001 08:30:56 -0800

wow, i should have died 16 weeks ago.

By: CrayDrygu

CrayDrygu — Thu, 14 Jun 2001 08:58:59 -0800

I already knew I was overweight...I just have a number to associate with it now (29.8). Interestingly, 2 inches is the difference between overweight and "very overweight" (my BMI went up to 31.6 when I put in 6 inches instead of 8. It goes up to 30.5 when I add another 5lbs, too, also bringing me to "very overweight"...looks like I'm hovering on the edge...whee.) Anywho, I'm slated to live slightly longer than average at 84.8 years. Now I don't feel so bad about eating lunch at McDonald's so often...I can have fun and live until the average age =)

By: rabi

rabi — Thu, 14 Jun 2001 09:37:40 -0800

96 even. that city air is going to cost me a whole year of my life! I guess I still have time to move to the middle of nowhere... but, nah. what I find odd is that it didn't ask anything about my own personal health. I think my seventeen-year history of autoimmune diseases and kidney failure is just a tad more important than my tooth-flossing habits. silly internet.

By: ZachsMind

ZachsMind — Thu, 14 Jun 2001 09:54:35 -0800

Thing is I was 240 pounds just six months or so ago. I've dropped over twenty pounds and I'm still overweight? Heck, I'm gonna go do some situps and go to bed. This is depressing.

By: mrbula

mrbula — Thu, 14 Jun 2001 10:16:39 -0800

89.4. I need to start working out more. I had a couple of problems with a few of the questions. The one on whether I live close to relatives really got me: I moved to where I am now just to get away from my family and relatives. If they could just "drop in" whenever they wanted, I'd consider us too close. The stress I've saved myself as a result has to be worth at least two decades.

By: Skot

Skot — Thu, 14 Jun 2001 10:28:03 -0800

I smoke, drink, eat lots of meat, rigorously do not floss, and exercise only in the form of running to get more cigarettes. The survey quoted me a robust 84 years (I am not overweight at all, which maybe accounts for some skewing). I think we're getting very public-friendly sets of data here. "Good God! We can't put a poll up that tells people they'll be dead when they're 68!"

By: DiplomaticImmunity

DiplomaticImmunity — Thu, 14 Jun 2001 10:35:29 -0800

Re the BMI calculator - there's an important link on the results of the calculator itself that explains a very important element of the BMI - really it's measuring a weight-height ratio (obviously too I suppose, since that's all it's asking). How much of that is fat is largely irrelevant sometimes (e.g. it's used for calculating dosages in chemotherapy based on body size). But how much of that is fat is very relevant for what they're using it for. If you're really muscular (maybe you're just pumped, Zachs!), you can have a skewed BMI. Gotta check that bodyfat percentage too!

By: Skot

Skot — Thu, 14 Jun 2001 10:52:48 -0800

*nitpick* Actually, DI, most (not all) chemotherapy doses are calculated according to Body Surface Area (BSA), not BMI. Just FYI. There's a BSA/BMI calculator here, if anyone cares. */nitpick*

By: briank

briank — Thu, 14 Jun 2001 11:59:24 -0800

really it's measuring a weight-height ratio Well, there you go, then, because I am also rather short for an adult male, and I seem to have the lowest life expectancy anyone here has dared to admit to all day.

By: Octaviuz

Octaviuz — Thu, 14 Jun 2001 12:16:28 -0800

Skot, I think your right. I have a BMI that falls into the obese region (I think they're failing to take body shape into account) but yet I'll supposed ly live till I'm 90. That may have to do with the fact that I'm a vegetarian non-smoker, but I've never let my vegetarianism get in the way of an unhealthy lifestyle.

By: Octaviuz

Octaviuz — Thu, 14 Jun 2001 12:17:58 -0800

D'oh! you're (I pick on people for that mistake all the time)

By: DiplomaticImmunity

DiplomaticImmunity — Thu, 14 Jun 2001 12:22:38 -0800

you are right skot, I got my acronyms wrong, it's been awhile (thankfully!) since I've been involved in that area! The bodyfat point still stands though!