Super (Down) Size Me

In 2004, the film Super Size Me hit theaters. Much was made of the filmmaker's weight gain from eating McDonald's food exclusively for 30 days. He gained some 24.5 pounds. Expect to hear considerably less about the Virginia man who lost 80 pounds - eating almost exclusively at McDonald's.

QUINTON, Va. - A Virginia man lost about 80 pounds in six months by eating nearly every meal at McDonald's. Not Big Macs, french fries and chocolate shakes. Mostly salads, wraps and apple dippers without the caramel sauce.

Chris Coleson tipped the scales at 278 pounds in December. The 5-foot-8 Coleson now weighs 199 pounds and his waist size has dropped from 50 to 36.

In other words, your personal choices make a big difference. What a surprise. On the same note, Steve Chapman notes the latest push by the Nannies of New York - aka the NYC Health Department - to regulate the posting of nutritional information.

The 21st century has many problems, but a shortage of information is not one of them. Trying to avoid being endlessly barraged with facts is like trying to stay dry in a hurricane. But no matter. One government body after another has the idea that some people need more information, and it will be supplied or else.

The targets of this campaign are restaurants. New York City has a new law commanding chain outlets to post the calorie count of every item on menus and menu boards. The legislatures in New York and California are considering state laws to require even more extensive disclosures.

The reason, as the New York City Health Department explains, is that "New Yorkers get a third or more of their calories away from home. The lack of readily available calorie information in food service establishments makes it easy to consume too many calories without realizing it."

Imposing this mandate is supposed to help combat obesity. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health asserts that if just 10 percent of restaurant patrons cut their intake by a mere 100 calories per meal, we would see a 39 percent decline in weight gain.

As Chapman notes, food labeling began in earnest in the 1970s. Americans have steadily gained weight ever since. So the assumption that more information will lead to better choices is founded on flawed logic. It hasn't worked yet, why would it start doing so now?

You are responsible for what eating decisions you make, not the government. That is as it should be.

Gators Gone Wild

The reptile legions are on the march. Four new species of alligator have been discovered in the past few days. There's the Chicago River alligator:

A father-son alligator wrangler team dragged a 5-foot, 45-pound live alligator from the Chicago River's most notorious stretch, Bubbly Creek, on Friday.

The 'gator, christened "White Sox'' by Ald. James Balcer (11th), had a better day than Balcer's team.

"He's in a box, so he's happy now," said Dan, the younger of the wranglers who was working on behalf of the Chicago Herpetological Society. He and his father, Bob, asked that their last names not be used.

Then there's the New York pool gator:

LAGRANGE, N.Y. - A Dutchess County family getting their pool ready for summer found a 4-foot alligator lounging atop the cover.

State Trooper Jason Kelley arrived at the house at 2960 State Route 82 on Thursday and called in Sgt. Gerry Salmon, who state police said is a herpetologist.

Salmon captured the reptile and it was taken into custody by the state Department of Environmental Conservation officers R. Hodor and D. Read.

The question is, how high is the gator's bail? Next, there's the Tennessee drain pipe alligator:

Putnam County Officer Chris Brown said when children in the neighborhood first heard a growling noise coming from the drain, they thought it was a dog. But when officials arrived on the scene, they discovered an alligator at least 2 feet long.

Alligators disguised as drain pipes. This is not good, people. And finally, there is the Augusta golf gator:

AUGUSTA, Ga.—It's something you'd expect to see in Florida…but this afternoon, an alligator drew quite a crowd to the Canal section of Walton Way. It was somewhere from six to eight feet long.

You have to line up early to get tickets to the Master's.

The Next Misery

As floodwaters recede in many areas of the Midwest, the next wave of misery arrives: mosquitoes.

Mosquitoes annoy inside and out. Celebrating National Mosquito Control Awareness Week can be as simple as changing the water in your birdbath. Mosquitoes breed in stagnant water, even something as unlikely as a toy dump truck filled with rain from a week ago.

Anything that holds rain water should be turned over or thrown out, such as old tires, unused buckets and trash cans.

Pot saucers on the deck are another potential breeding site; it doesn't take much water for mosquitoes to breed. And don't neglect the gutters; clogged downspouts create wonderful reservoirs for mosquitoes.

If you are among a growing number of homeowners with rain barrels, standing water provides another welcoming breeding ground. Use a natural biological control called Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis; it comes in products such as Mosquito Dunks that kill mosquito larvae before adults hatch.

I can confirm that the mosquitoes are horrendous in my area. It has to be even worse in those areas that really flooded out this year. Here are a few pointers for homeowners on how to deal with mosquitoes. It's a really good idea to do whatever you can to help control the little pests. West Nile virus is in many areas of the country and is nothing to sneer at.