Thursday, June 1, 2006

Hidden costs of super-sizing: 10x more than the meal. Cory Doctorow: A study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison has concluded that the whole cost of a $0.67 fast-food meal supersizing is nearly ten times that, once you factor in all the hidden costs of overeating. Based on their estimates, each fast-food "value" meal would cost an adult 5 cents more in fuel expenses -- as heavier passengers reduce a car's fuel efficiency - and about 35 cents in overall food costs, since heavier people need more calories. Add to that the healthcare cost per super-size meal -- which ranges from 82 cents to $6.64 -- and these fast-food deals are no deal at all, Close and Schoeller assert. "In essence," they write, "the more a person overeats, the greater the financial cost." Link (via Health Hacker) [Boing Boing] comment []  trackback []

Boing Boing Podcast: EarthCore author Scott Sigler. Mark Frauenfelder: Scott Sigler is the author of three novels combining science fiction and horror. I recently read his terrific first novel, EarthCore, about a platinum mining expedition in Utah that goes horribly awry when the mining party bumps into an ancient race of violent creatures that live in an immense underground network of caves three miles below the surface of the earth. Earthcore was slated to be publsihed in 2001 by a division of Time Warner, but as Scott explains in this interview, the publishing deal fell apart due to circumstances beyond his control. So, as an experiment, Scott started podcasting the novel, one chapter at a time. It's likely he was the first author to podcast a novel. And the experiment was a success -- 10,000 people listened to the EarthCore podcast. This led to a publishing deal, and EarthCore is now available as a print book. You can buy it on Amazon, or on Scott's website. If you want to subscribe to Scott's novel podcasts, go to scottsigler.podshow.com. Here's my interview with Scott: Link Note: to subscribe to Boing Boing podcasts, copy the following address into your podcast client or iTunes (in iTunes select Advanced / Subscribe to Podcast...): http://feeds.feedburner.com/boingboing/iBag By mark@boingboing.net. [Boing Boing] comment []  trackback []