Study of 700,000 People in 46 Countries Shows How Lazy America Is

Americans have more luxuries and more opportunities to lay back and do nothing than perhaps any other country in the world. Perhaps that’s why on a global scale, the U.S. is one of the laziest countries on Earth, according to a Stanford University study. [1]

The great Ron Swanson once said:

“The whole point of [America] is if you want to eat garbage, balloon up to 600 pounds and die of a heart attack at 43, you can! You are free to do so. To me, that’s beautiful.”

Sure, it’s a quote from a sitcom (“Parks and Recreation”), but it appears that an awful lot of Americans actually live this way.

Stanford researchers used step-counters installed in the smartphones of about 700,000 people in 46 countries to track their walking activity. The study was massive – 1,000 times bigger than any previous research into human movement, according to Scott Delp, a professor of bioengineering who co-led the research.

Read: Power Walking: One of the Best Complete Exercises Around

The findings, published in the journal Nature, show China is the least lazy of all nations. People living in Hong Kong, especially, are very active, with individuals walking an average of about 6,880 steps per day.

Indonesia was found to be the laziest country, with Indonesians only walking about 3,513 steps.

Americans averaged about 4,774 daily steps, which is pretty close to the worldwide average of 4,961.

Source: USA Today

But average number of steps didn’t always coincide with more obesity in the study. Obesity levels can be more accurately gauged by calculating “activity inequality” – the difference between most active and least active. The team found that in nations with higher rates of obesity, larger gaps existed between those who walked a lot and those who didn’t walk often at all.

Read: Man Drops an ASTONISHING 300 Pounds by Walking to Walmart

Researcher Tim Althoff said:

“For instance, Sweden had one of the smallest gaps between activity rich and activity poor… it also had one of the lowest rates of obesity.” [2]

Gender was found to be a significant factor in country-to-country activity inequality. The study found that men were more active than women, including in the U.S. That was not the case in every country, however. For example, men and women in Japan exercised a similar amount. [3]

Jure Leskovec, a computer scientist at Stanford and a co-author of the study, said:

“When activity inequality is greatest, women’s activity is reduced much more dramatically than men’s activity, and thus the negative connections to obesity can affect women more greatly.”

The scientists hope their findings will contribute to public health campaigns aimed at reducing obesity and support policies designed to make cities more “walkable.”

Sources:

[1] USA Today

[2] National Post

[3] HealthDay

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About Julie Fidler:
	Julie Fidler is a freelance writer, legal blogger, and the author of Adventures in Holy Matrimony: For Better or the Absolute Worst. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two ridiculously spoiled cats. She occasionally pontificates on her blog.

“Somebody Gettin Shot…Oh Well” Cop Records Himself Ignoring Cries For Help to Flirt

Following his arrest for domestic violence, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) in Lakewood is taking a closer look into the claims of violence and abuse one officer’s ex-girlfriend alleges. Deputy Jeremy Fennell, 26, was arrested in February and released on $50,000 bail for abusing his girlfriend, who says the department didn’t believe her when she first came to them with his alleged crimes. It was only after the department became aware of several videos Fennell made, which demonstrated he was guilty of “dereliction of duty,” did they start to put two and two together and launch an investigation.

Fennell’s pregnant ex-girlfriend, Priscilla Anderson, uploaded many of the more than 100 videos to YouTube. The most disturbing of which may be one in which Fennell received a call to respond to a shooting.

In the video, a police dispatcher can be heard announcing a “417,” meaning there’s a person with a gun. Fennel then records himself telling his ex-girlfriend about the call that he’s supposed to respond to by saying, “She can go f__k herself, Okay?” Appearing to ignore the calls for help, and preferring to flirt with his girlfriend, the rookie cop said, “I want you, you, you, you.” Again ignoring his duty to protect the public, the young patrolman told his then girlfriend, “Somebody gittin shot right now.” Fennell never responded to the call, through the duration of the video.

He listens silently for a few more seconds. “Look…I gotta go, but I’m not gonna go…because…you mad,” apparently referencing a riff he’s had with his girlfriend. Police are trained to run to danger, but Fennel, apparently, stayed put. The young cop sarcastically stated, “Somebody’s gettin’shot….Oh we-e-ll!…Oh, we-e-ll!” Preferring to patch his relationship supposedly, instead of doing his job, he said, “I wanna make things right with me and you.” He blew some kisses at his girlfriend and told her she could get some in person around 11pm later that evening.

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But things would never be right between Fennell, his girlfriend, or his time on the force, again. After the police department watched the videos, their investigation was launched. Fennell was arrested on January 25, and placed on administrative duty the same day. After presumably posting $50,000 bail, he was released. The following month, Anderson asked for and was granted a three-year restraining order against her ex-boyfriend.

Anderson says Fennell repeatedly abused her. “When I tried to leave…he would not allow me to leave. He did several things to me, like struck me on the neck, choking me out by the neck, destroying things in the house,” she said. In an interview with KTLA News, Anderson said, “I was struck in the neck; I was choked.” Going further she said, “I was threatened [and] I had a gun pulled to my head.”

Ben Meiselas, Anderson’s attorney, is calling for the police department to be investigated after not previously believing her testimony about her ex-boyfriend’s abusive actions. “You have a deputy here who’s clearly gone rogue…If we as a community lose the trust in our police department to protect victims of abuse when police are the perpetrators of that abuse, we lose confidence in the whole system,” Meiselas said.

Sheriff Jim McDonnell stated, “We are very concerned about what is depicted in the video. The department is currently investigating the matter.” But it isn’t just one video which contains such damning information. There’s over 100. And in another video, Fennell can reportedly be seen and heard threatening another individual. He can be heard saying, “I’m going to come down there and get you. I’m going to make you call me. You see these lights, you know what I’m wearing? I can make you call me.”

READ MORE:  Woman Calls 911 to Report Assault, Cop that Shows Up Rapes Her

Fennell is the son of sheriff’s Cmdr. Joseph Fennell, who was a personal driver for recently convicted ex-LAPD Sheriff Lee Baca. As The Free Thought Project recently reported, Baca was convicted of three felonies for his role in obstructing an FBI investigation into allegations of police brutality in the Men’s Central Jail in Los Angeles. Baca was convicted of “obstruction of justice, conspiracy to obstruct justice and giving false statements”.

KTLA News spoke with a retired police officer who had a chance to view the videos. He said, “What I just saw on this YouTube video is arrogant and shameful…If the incident occurred anywhere near his assigned area of responsibility and he truly delayed his response, it is a prima facia case of dereliction of duty.”