By Alan B. Combs with addenda from PUNY and my mailing list.

There has been much press recently about a purported epidemic of obesity in the country, a condition that is not contagious, but certainly is spreading. More rare, but even more life-threatening conditions are bulimia and anorexia. These are obsessive/compulsive conditions characterized by inappropriate body image where they imagine they are too fat. In response to this image, these people fast excessively, purge themselves, and when they do eat they are inclined toward following this with self-induced emesis.

This leads to severe weight loss and such people can become little more than skin and bones. Just yesterday on campus, one female wearing a large blouse and skirt got caught up in the airflow across the quad and was blown away. Today’s paper said she was gaunt with the wind.

Lowrie Beacham quickly responded:

She’ll gain it all back: “The Sow will rise again!”

Bob Dvorak added:

I keep receiving a Spam e-mail from a sender who wants to know “how come I haven’t claimed my cash prize.” I read the fine print today. It turns out that by registering with them I am guaranteed a prize of at least $1.00, and will be entered in a monthly drawing (no indication, that I saw, of odds of winning) for $2500.

The downside of this con, I’m sure, is that I’ll be sending my e-mail address to thousands of spammers who are just itching to stuff my mailbox. Having said that, it’s obvious that this guy’s still in business, so he must be finding “takers” for his come-on. In other words, there are individuals out there who are “Conned With A Win.”

And Howell Gwin reminded us of the old limerick:

There once was a woman named Lynn
Who was so excessively thynn
That when she essayed
To drink lemonade
She slipped through the straw and fell iynn