Outsourcing

Running errands and fighting a cold yesterday, I forgot to comment on this Ryan Lizza thumbsucker. But Lizardbreath, Ann Friedman, and Tracy Clark-Flory dismantle the argument with great effectiveness.

Meanwhile, to save me yet another post Jill deals with the idiotic idea of putting BMI stats on report cards. Leaving aside the fact that it seems to rest on the bizarre assumption that people won’t be made aware of the fact that they’re fat, that the BMI is an almost wholly worthless measure, that at a young age even the correlation between body type and health habits is extremely loose (and will result in a particularly high number of false negatives), and that the implicit cost-benefit analysis involved is insane, it’s still a bad idea. Lindsay has more.