How to make friends and influence people

There was recently a study that said obesity spreads through social networks. Basically, if you have fat friends, you become more likely to become fat yourself. As with all obesity studies, there has been some debate as to whether the study actually shows what it claims to show. Is it true or not? I have no idea. My ability to interpret statistical data died the same day as my TI-82 calculator, which I used more often to play the skiing game than to calculate standard deviations. I know two different people can look at the same data and come up with wildly different conclusions. Basically, your fat friends may be making you fat or they may not be making you fat. Enlightened, now? I may or may not be a space alien with backward bending knees too. Hope that helps you.

I will share some stories though, and you can analyze them with your slide rule and spreadsheets if you like. At BlogHer I complimented a blogger on her dress and she told me she’d gotten [...]

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