Quick update 1: AAAS conference

Plane sat on runway before we took off for THREE HOURS yesterday. But, I read more than half of Wizards at War. Weee!

Conference is interesting so far, although Thursday was a wash due to the plane snafu. Today attended stuff about gerontology. It sounds to me like an extremely young science, but there could be results in time for me, and maybe even to extend, if not indefinitely, then for a significant time, the lives of people currently in their fifties.

Next something on Canadian research, and then on obesity, research, and public policy. In between, networking, and this evening, I will attempt to be in two places at once by attending the science journalism awards as well as the math section meeting.

-Patron's husband, who is also a mathematician (aww, mathematicians in love!) is looking for writers for a neat educational project, something I'm very interested in. Cool, more work!
-Patron is still interested in creating some kind of fellowship, and I've begun to assemble a list of fellowships and journalist-in-residence programs so that we can talk to those folks and learn from them.
-still no word from the Globe and Mail, so I resent the pitch with a different subject line and a note saying that a response would be appreciated. Here's hoping. If they say no, at this point I may just have to turn it into a feature. Of course, then I could pitch it to a magazine. That could be fun -- my first science feature for an actual magazine. Sexy!

Off I go... more science, more networking, more fun! (one more post to follow before I jet, but this is goodbye nonetheless)

Mood, networking, pitches, and obesity science

Mood crash. I was being so good, and then there were free cookies and brownies and I ate them... and...

Now, feeling depressed and anxious and pre-migraine-y.

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Yesterday I took a cab from the airport along with Patron and her husband. The taxi driver suggested that they go gamble, and then suggested that they buy a lottery ticket. I was laughing so hard. Patron's husband responded, "No thanks, I know what the expected value of a lottery ticket is."

*giggles*

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The editor at the Globe and Mail responded. I'm so humiliated. My pitch suggested running it in their Science pages on Sunday. They don't even HAVE a Sunday edition, which was not clear from looking at their website. Furthermore, the editor to whom I pitched, who edits the health section, does NOT handle science even though on their website the Science section is under the Health tab.

One of the cardinal rules of pitching a new market is to Know Your Market, and slant the pitch to match them. I failed. Hopefully, however, the editor in question will still be interested in the article for this week, or next weekend, on Saturday.

*tries not to be miserable*

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I met the science advisor to the prime minister, and got his card. I want to do an article on trends in Canadian science as a whole, if I can find a market. Should be interesting.

I also spoke with the full time science correspondent for the Star, Peter Calamai. He didn't seem the least threatened by me, and even avidly encouraged me, which was really nice. He said that this is the first time in a long time that they've had an editor (the guy I've been pitching to) who is really into science. He says this editor loves science and regularly puts many pages of science into the paper, and that he is probably eager to have more pitches from me. Good to know... I'll just have to keep on plugging away. I think I will fully believe that he likes my writing and pitches when I've written three or four stories for him. The first one, he may have just thought I was going to be good. The second one could have been a pity story for the mess up on my name in the first one. A third would be confirmation though that he likes my actual writing.

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Statistics on weight loss are discouraging. Because of people's inability to adhere to any diet for longer than 6 months, there is currently NO form of diet known to scientists that produces long term weight loss. Seriously, within five years 95% of dieters have regained all of their weight, and most of that regain occurs in the first year. And, the average weight lost by these people was clinically insignificant anyway.

Changing diet composition rather than caloric intake was unhelpful. Lower fat, lower fiber, more veggies... none of it worked. They all resulted in a clinically insignificant loss of weight.

Note that these studies also compared adherents to Weight Watchers, Atkins, Ornish, and The Zone. They all showed identical weight loss, adherence, and change to other things like cholesterol, LDL, and HDL levels. In fact, adherence to Atkins and Ornish were WORSE than WW and The Zone. And, the changes that DID occur were also clinically insignificant.

Also worth noting is that while exercise can have benefits such as those your cardiovascular system experiences, it has NO significant effect on weight loss. It's like trying to stop an avalanche with a garden hoe. Not only is the effect most exercise programs could have minimal, but most people end up eating more when they are exercising, thus negating the weight loss. No commentary, however, on non-exercise activity thermogenesis and whether it is an effective technique for weight loss.

The good news is that monkeys in controlled conditions who are never allowed to gain weight beyond their adult weight do not develop diabetes, and thus, none of the other problems which are caused by diabetes. So, if we can solve this adherence-to-diet problem, then we win. But we have no idea how to do so.

So, the thought is that the secret for the moment is prevention. Never allow yourself to gain that weight, and you have a manageable problem. Too bad those of us who have already gained weight are shit out of luck, but at least we can strive in the meantime to keep the weight problem from getting worse.

The other interesting thing was some research on mortality rates as related to BMI. As it turns out, there's a U shape. Being underweight is, to a point, as bad as being overweight. at the bottom of the U is a very large plateau... larger than many thought. The U begins to curve up in terms of mortality around 32, but they do point out that at 25 we start to see diabetes, and below it, we don't.

phew. That was a lot of info. I hope you all feel, um, educated. Now you know how hopeless your weight loss efforts are! Yay! Um. Yeah.

Anyway, I'm heading back to the hotel. I have two hours of downtime before I have to be up and at 'em for the evening events, and do that whole quantum two-places-at-once thing. Weee! I will hydrate and lie down and maybe nap, and maybe take some headache medicine to make this gawdawful headache go away.

My head doesn't hurt!

I did not get to go to the SJA at the Arch, because I spent the whole time at the Math Section Business Meeting, which was interesting but in many ways irrelevant to me.

But I don't care, or at least, not much. Do you know why?

My head doesn't hurt.

I took two excedrin migraine meds at 6:30 and napped for an hour and STILL had a bad headache when I woke up. Got dressed, headed to the math meeting which was in the hotel (hence, why it was the winner of the two events), and warned Patron that I might not last the evening because of the headache.

That was at 7:45.

I think the headache went away most of the way by, oh, 9, 9:30. A headache that meds+nap couldn't sink? That's pretty bad. But it went away! Yay!!!!

San Francisco in a year!

Good news! AAAS is in San Fran next year. Yay!

February 15-19. I'm thinking I could arrive a week early or leave a week late and make up for lost visit time!

I haven't missed a AAAS since 2003 (I was at 2002, 2004, 2005, and 2006), so you can be sure I won't miss this. And by then I'm hoping to be a math media fellow at Fields, so traveling to something like this will be not only okay, but expected.

( looking at plane tickets etc. for next year )

Any wisdom on buying plane tickets way in advance? Should I wait for some magical sale, or is it best to buy as far in advance as possible? I seem to be getting the same fares when I look at similar flight dates this May as opposed to next winter.