Eating Less Fat Reduces Analytical Skills

There was a packet of a snack product on our kitchen counter. The snack claims to have 30% less than regular crisps (Actually it uses the words potato chips, but I am still trying to use English and not American in this blog). In smaller print it then says that regular crisps have 10g of fat per oz, while these have 6g of fat per oz. Aside from the odd mixing of metric and non-metric measures, 6g is 40% less than 10g. The headline claim is thus wrong, but is understating the advantage; their marketers seem to be mathematically challenged.

Back to Blighty Part II

The late flight from London to Scotland meant that I was going to be running perilously close to arriving at my parents’ house at the time that we had scheduled going out for a meal. Fortunately, having only hand luggage sped my trip to the car rental counter and the car was ready for me. The roads were clear and I listened to Five Live for the two hour trip from Glasgow. I appreciate being able to keep in check on football scores via the net, but it is not the same as listening to them on the radio.

In addition to the eating and drinking, I took my mother shopping in the delightful nearby town of Castle Douglas and on another day to Wigtown, Scotland’s book town. This is a town that has dozens of second bookshops, including The Sign of the Dragon. Since I had little space in my hand luggage, I had to resist the temptation to buy lots of books. I came home with just a volume of Herbert Hoover’s memoirs.

On the way back, I met up with viberunner at Glasgow. We had a few beers and a whisky or two. The return flight went ok, though this time I had to use the booked connection via Denver. I landed in Oakland at about 8:30pm, so Monday in the office I was a little tired.