Since my life is more than shoes...

I thought I'd share it with you

Saturday, February 11, 2006

For those of you who enjoy driving a manual transmission every once in a while

Slate's Emily Yoffe attempted to learn to drive a stick shift. Instead, she came away with this great realization:

"Although I still couldn't drive a stick shift, I did learn something important: I discovered that the source of America's obesity epidemic wasn't portion size, or lack of exercise, or the decline in smoking. It was the invention of the automatic transmission. Here I was, the typical, atrophied American, barely able to press the clutch without my slack muscles begging for relief. Automatic transmissions became widely available in the 1940s. Over the decades, as Americans have increasingly embraced them, they've increasingly increased. Since you need both hands to drive a stick shift, there's no way you can also be sucking down Slurpees and shoving in Big Macs. It's because of automatic transmissions that we're becoming blob people who will soon have to be hoisted into our behemoth vehicles.

Compare us with Europeans, who still generally have firm left legs and discernable waists. About 85 percent of cars sold in Europe have manual transmission. It doesn't seem like a coincidence that European weights are creeping up in tandem with upward sales of automatics. (Idea for a best seller: French Stick-Shift Drivers Don't Get Fat.)"

Living in Chicago gives you an extra benefit, since I'm sure we spend twice as much time in our cars as the average American. Now why haven't I seen increased definition in my calf muscles? Maybe in another year.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home