A Dude's Guide. . . to everything

Freaky Friday: Moooooo

by Richard

Once again, it turns out that my mom was right. Milk is good for you. At least according to a group of researchers in the United Kingdom. I wonder if they have any stock in milk farms. Nah. Probably not. I mean, who ever heard of corrupt scientists? Well, outside of the wackier edges of the internets.

Anyway, these scientist dudes went all the way back to 1930 to get almost 5,000 UK little dudes and dudettes who were looked at and investigated about how much milk they drank. Yeah, 65 years later, they got hit up again for more information. Surely there must be some sort of statue of limitations on how long you have to make yourself available for scientific research.

They found those who had had high dairy and calcium intakes as children had been protected against stroke and other causes of death, journal Heart reports.

Despite dairy containing artery furring fat and cholesterol, high consumption did not raise the heart disease risk.

The findings appear to back the practice of giving extra milk to schoolchildren.

Or at least giving them access to it. I mean, I’ve been in elementary schools a lot and, if there was more than 20 percent of the kids drinking milk, I’ll eat my hat. Still, they might want to start thinking about drinking more, if only for the long run.

A higher daily intake of calcium, of at least 400mg as found in just over half a pint of milk, cut the chance of dying from stroke by as much as 60%. These beneficial effects were seen at estimated intake levels similar to those currently recommended by experts.

Three servings of dairy foods – for example, a 200ml glass of milk, a pot of yogurt and a small piece of cheese – will provide all the calcium most people need each day.

Other factors may play a part – though researchers say they took into account that children with the highest dairy intakes came from wealthier families and ate better diets overall.

In fact, all this seems to vindicate me on m choice for drinks for the little dudes. Sarcasmo and Speed Racer are all right with the milk for dinner, but it’s Zippy the Monkey Boy who really loves it. He drinks twice what the other two do, and that’s all by himself. He’ll go through maybe two gallons of milk a week, just on his own. We had to get him his own container so he could drink straight out of the bottle and not contaminate anyone else.

So, let’s raise a glass of the moo juice! To good health!

Share on Facebook Tags: A Dude's Guide to Kids, Beneficial Effects, Calcium Intakes, Causes Of Death, children, Cholesterol, Dairy Foods, Diets, dude, Dudette, Dudettes, eat, Elementary Schools, food, Freaky Friday, Freaky Friday, Glass Of Milk, Half A Pint, health, Heart, Heart Disease, Heart Disease Risk, information, Intake Of Calcium, kids, little dude, little dudes, mom, Monkey Boy, Pint Of Milk, research, richard, sarcasm, Sarcasmo, Schoolchildren, Scientist, Scientists, Speed Racer, Statue Of Limitations, Stroke, United Kingdom, Yogurt

Aftermath

by Richard

The end has come. We’re finished. Sarcasmo and I finished off our 10-day, seven-school college road trip. And, to top it off, neither of us attempted to kill the other. Well, at least as far as Sarcasmo knows, that’s true. We’ll just let him keep thinking that.

All told, we drove one thousand, two hundred eighty three miles during those 10 days. That averages out to about 120 miles each day. You know, this is the first time I actually sat down and thought about that. That’s a whole lot of driving. And odder than that, we spent three days in one place and two days in another so we weren’t driving during those days. Well, not much anyway.

The whole purpose of this trip was to give Sarcasmo some idea of what different colleges were like, as well as what colleges and universities emphasized which majors. Before this trip, Sarcasmo had no idea what university he wanted to attend nor what major he wanted to try and enter. Now that the trip is done, well it’s a whole different story. Out of the seven schools, Sarcasmo has definitely eliminated only 1. AS to majors, he’s still got no idea, but maybe something in engineering. Or not.

So, yeah. Job well done on the college road trip front, yeah?

At the end of all this, what did we learn? Well, to start with, Sarcasmo loved Clemson University until we were driving out of the college on our way to the University of South Carolina. That’s when he realized that the nearest bookstore to Clemson was more than a 40-minute drive. Didn’t matter that there was Amazon.com and other online bookstores, he wanted to real thing, so goodbye Clemson.

Did you know that the first thing you see at the University of North Carolina when you’re walking from the visitor’s parking lot to the Admissions building was a cemetery? True story. And, yeah, that’s pretty much what made Sarcasmo scratch that school off his list. Just a bit too creepy.

College of Charleston? Spread out over too many actual city streets. Sarcasmo was afraid of the possibility of getting run over by a bus when he was on his way to class.

Sarcasmo wasn’t the only one who learned things during this trip, though. I learned that he’s not my actual clone. When given a choice between chocolate and vanilla, he’ll go with chocolate while I love a good vanilla. There. Big difference.

We also had a good time during our hotel stops. We’d eat out, read a little back at the hotel, make fun of the movies playing on tv, read a little more and then sleep. I like to think we drew a little closer during the trip, but that’s not something you can really ask a 16-year-old. I’m going to have to go with my intuition on this one.

When we got home, Sarcasmo was happiest that his brother, Zippy the Monkey Boy, would be doing something similar next summer. Unfortunately, we’ve got bad news for the oldest dude. Seems his brother already pretty much knows where he wants to go and what he wants to study so his road trip will, of necessity, be much shorter. Thank goodness.

Share on Facebook Tags: A Dude's Guide to Kids, Aftermath, Amazon, books, Bookstore, City Streets, college, College Of Charleston, Colleges, Colleges And Universities, Day Seven, Different Story, driving, dude, Job, love, Majors, Man, math, Monkey Boy, movie, North Carolina, Online Bookstores, Parking Lot, richard, Road Trip, sarcasm, Sarcasmo, school, sleep, South Carolina, Spent Three, study, summer, True Story, Universities, University Of North Carolina, University Of South Carolina, Whole Lot

How Can An 11 Year Old Be Smarter Than Me?

by Barry

How can an 11 year old be smarter than me? No smart remarks from the peanut gallery, please. The answer’s easy; he’s my kid. However, just because he’s smarter than me (and he is), that doesn’t mean my many more years of experience haven’t taught me a few things that he’s still missing out on. (Please don’t disabuse me of this notion in the comments. I’m clinging desperately to it as the only thing holding up my rapidly deflating ego.)

Here are a few tings that my 11 year old does that proves to me that he a thinkin’ he be smarter than I is (or me are. . . WHATEVER). But I wins thatten cauze I knows he’s youngerer than me…

He got a new bike and refused to let me raise the seat for two days until the insides of his knees were rubbed bloody and bruised because they kept hitting the bike frame.

He refused to stop chewing his CamelBak valve (which is this cool thing he wears on his back, fills with water and has a tube that runs over his shoulder to his mouth. With it, he can take a drink without stopping. Because we all know how important it is for 11-year-olds to never stop.), now it leaks all over the place.

He thinks that if he keeps getting his sneakers wet and continues to wear them to camp without letting me put them in the washing machine, they will stop stinking.

He thinks I don’t notice that he sneaks bubble gum from my secret stash.

I was once told that smarts are a function of genetics, not environment and learning capacity. So, now that I think about it, he probably is smarter than me. But, I have a few extra years…. and pounds. All of which means that, even when he’s right and my years and years and years of experience have let me down, I still outweigh him by enough to make me be right. What’s that old saying? Weight makes right?

Yeah, that works. Right, dude?

Share on Facebook Tags: A Dude's Guide to Kids, About, Amp, Array, art, Ash, bed, Bike, Bike Frame, Bruise, Bubble Gum, camp, Cool Thing, Cr, Doe, Dud, dude, Ears, eat, Ec, ego, ET, Eve, Extra, Fr, Fun, Genetics, hate, Hey, Hou, kid, Knees, Leaks, men, Nee, New Bike, Notion, old, Peanut Gallery, Ra, Sid, smart, Smart Remarks, Smarts, Sneaker, Sneakers, stink, Ter, Tings, Washing Machine, Wh, Yea