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[Loud Whispers]

UK Parliament advised by researchers that memes lead to obesity.

LW soon to be declared a public health crisis. 

Now, academics have told British lawmakers that internet memes may be contributing to the UK obesity crisis and doing harm to teenagers on a significant scale.

And people wonder why I do not consider the state of being highly educated to necessarily correlate with intelligence or wisdom

I got me proper memeing loycense an everythin

[MetalSlimeHunt]

This is just bad research. The average meme poster actually weighs 66kg. Loud Whispers, who weighs 559,000kg, is an outlier and should not have been counted.

[scriver]

Whispers have consistant weight whether loud or quiet

[ChairmanPoo]

Whispers have consistant weight whether loud or quiet

Farts are far more uneven. Even so, it is advisable to check one's pants if they feel heavier than usual

[Egan_BW]

This is just bad research. The average meme poster actually weighs 66kg. Pathos, who weighs 559,000kg, is an outlier and should not have been counted.

FIFY

[smjjames]

Well, it's certainly the terrible jokes thread now XD

Anyhow, I thought the March 29th 2019 date was something that the EU couldn't change? or maybe were unwilling to change. Rhetorical question because word is that Theresa May might ask for an extsionson and Brussels said that they are ready to give an extension if asked for one. The extension would be for another 21 months (enough time for a snap election or two) to December 2020.

It hasn't been extended yet, the EU is just saying that they're willing to.

Also, Nigel Farage says that it would mean he could fight in the next EU election. Or he wants to run* for Prime Minister, not sure which.

*Yes, I know that's not actually how it works.

Also, I should mention that Merkel seems like her political days are numbered, so, extending it another 21 months risks going through leadership change that may or may not have harder positions than the current leadership does.

[ChairmanPoo]

You've badly misread that. The extension is for the transition period, not the exit negotiations, which are still as blocked as ever.  No exit deal = no transition period so it's not really meaningful to all this stuff. It is only meaningful if there is an exit deal. I think the reason it's being suggested is because the transition period was supposed to act as a bridge to a trade deal and given how fucked up the exit deal is going they assume they'll need more time for a trade deal, if it gets there

At any rate the transition period  wouldn't involve EU representation afaik

[smjjames]

Nigel Farage is certainly misrepresenting it if the cutoff date isn't wnat's being extended, or he's just as badly misinterpreting it as I did.

I guess this bit probably led to me further misunderstanding it: "After "Brexit Day" on 29 March next year things would carry on largely as they are now, with the UK entering a "transition period". This gives authorities and companies time to adjust.

The UK would remain in the single market and customs union and would still be subject to EU rules."

Since I get it better now, assuming Theresa May doesn't waste time with a snap election and starts negotiations right away (they started exit negotiations like after the halfway point...), 21 months should be plenty of time to get something down, extending it would just show an inability to get a deal down. If they were this: || close to getting a deal done in late 2020, I can get extending the transition time a few months to give them some cover, otherwise it just looks like she (or her successor) is unable to get one down.

[hector13]

You’d certainly think 21 months was enough to get something done, but the way they dealt with (so far) the first 19 months makes me feel any extension on that is just allowing them to reload the colon to shit the bed even more.

I mean she was told the EU is not going to compromise their principles in an exit deal, so obviously the best thing to do is to figuratively stick your flag on the hill that is a deal that will make the EU compromise one of their principles, and choose that as the place you’re willing to die, then having the gall to say that it’s the EU that are taking the piss when they say “uh, no.”

[smjjames]

Not to mention that an extension could run through the next regular UK elections which will complicate things even more, which Farage might have been getting at.

Not sure why Farage thinks he'd still be in EU Parliament in 2020 if that's not actually going to be the case. Unless he maybe plans on moving to France (absurd, I know, right?) and running for EU Parliament from there.

[Reelya]

A picture of an overweight child with the caption "Free food? Count me in!" was sent along with the letter as an example of a meme the researchers found dangerous.

The academics were also concerned by a meme that created a human-like body from pictures of pizzas and hamburgers, with frankfurters used for limbs and a smiley-faced potato for a face.

The body was captioned "me" and placed alongside images of three well-defined bodies for comparison.

I don't really get what they're talking about here. Neither of these contribute to obesity. The first one associates eating too much with getting fat. If anything, that's going to spur people to go on diets, thus creating more anorexic people, not obese people. The second meme also makes the connection that junk food causes you to have a bad body.

The people who think these sorts of connections are "promoting" obesity are the types who cannot understand irony.

For example, imagine you make a meme "Milk? No Thanks" and show a smiling guy with missing teeth. By their logic this would cause people to reduce their milk intake to get that nice gappy smile like the guy in the meme. The fact is, people don't make their decisions based off one meme. If you show people the fat kid / free food meme or the one joking about how junk food is not compatible with good bodies then that gets them thinking about what they eat and how it relates to their body. What do they really think the one saying "me" is a pizza-body and that's contradictory to looking good is really encouraging people to slob-out for that ideal pizza body?

[Loud Whispers]

This is just bad research. The average meme poster actually weighs 66kg. Loud Whispers, who weighs 559,000kg, is an outlier and should not have been counted.

I'm actually just a computer hooked up to an extremely large subterranean potato colony battery

[RedKing]

@Reelya: Well, it is the UK. Dental hygiene isn't exactly a national value. 

In other UK Memetastic news, Facebook has hired Sir Nick Clegg, former LibDem leader, as their Head of Global Affairs. Worst hire, or THE worst hire? I mean, look at what he did for the LibDem brand over his tenure...

[Doomblade187]

This is just bad research. The average meme poster actually weighs 66kg. Loud Whispers, who weighs 559,000kg, is an outlier and should not have been counted.

I'm actually just a computer hooked up to an extremely large subterranean potato colony battery

Darn Irish memebots.

[Loud Whispers]

@Reelya: Well, it is the UK. Dental hygiene isn't exactly a national value. 

In other UK Memetastic news, Facebook has hired Sir Nick Clegg, former LibDem leader, as their Head of Global Affairs. Worst hire, or THE worst hire? I mean, look at what he did for the LibDem brand over his tenure...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Once the newguard, then the oldguard, now dropping like flies. I'd much admired Clegg as one who continually tried his best despite the depths of his failures being unfathomable; but unlike the serpents of the Tory party, Clegg had the human capacity to admit they had failed and been defeated by quite literally everyone they faced. Watching him get verbally slaughtered by Nigel in 2014 or get trashed by Osborne for not taking the education fees freeze reminds me in a way of what was to come of Jeb Bush. A nice guy, yeah, but woefully unprepared for dealing with politicians who oppose them.
But joining Facebook?
The depths of my disappointment are incalculable, but in a way, it was inevitable.

"I'm not especially bedazzled by Facebook. While I have good friends who work at the company, I actually find the messianic Californian new-worldy-touchy-feely culture of Facebook a little grating."

-Nick Clegg, 2016.
He's sold his soul. Turns out the price of a man's soul is just a £4M salary, and the man who was DPM slides off the viceroy's throne and into the merchant's
stall to help Facebook avoid regulators and Her Majesty's Taxman.

A warning too, to Europeans. This is further proof that Brexit will not stop Britons from being hired by Americans to control Europeans. You should all be grateful that Nick Clegg has a tragic past record of delusion & disconnection from reality, but be concerned that less famous and more diligent bureaucrats continue to make the career leap from Westminster and Whitehall to Brussels