Last word Personal observation and comment This month by Dave Smith
The Trouble with Golf
I enjoy playing golf. Okay, maybe ‘enjoy’ is not the correct verb. Each time I tee up I think, ‘This could be the day. Today’s round will be the best round I’ve ever played.’ This may come as a shock to non-golfers, but it typically doesn’t work that way. Best described by author John Feinstein as “a good walk spoiled,” golf is perhaps the world’s most frustrating sport. For those readers who have never picked up a club with the intention of becoming the next great golfer, consider yourselves lucky. When my non-golf-playing friends mention wanting to learn golf, I simply tell them that they’re too smart for the game. After all, they’ve avoided golf this long and should continue to do so with a focus on other sports. Maybe tennis, for instance. In addition to good exercise, tennis (like golf) is also a good sport for conducting business, and it seems much less wearing on one’s mental make-up. If I were ever bright enough to quit golf, I’d try tennis. But I’m a golfer through and through; and tomorrow’s round could be the best I’ve ever played.
In Praise of Café Society
It strikes me that one’s life is greatly enhanced by living in what might be called a ‘café society’. By that I mean a place where, by tradition, the locals allocate a certain portion of each day to sipping favourite beverages and nibbling light meals while parked at small tables out-of-doors. I don’t believe I have ever seen a person rush his or her refreshments while sitting at a café table. Perhaps there is a corner of the brain that finds comfort when meals are taken in the open air. Or perhaps the mere act of sitting signifies that you are about to engage in an act of leisure. And, so seated, you relax. In addition, I have always felt there is a sense of elegance sophistication, even - inherent in café sitting. Time we spend in better society - and feel that we are deservedly there - rarely fails to improve our self-opinion, it is only natural that we feel elevated by the simple act of supping al fresco at one’s favorite café. Also, by custom and necessity, café tables tend to be small and usually round. This limits the nature of the food served to modest portions and excludes from culinary consideration large and sloppy dishes, the sort that when consumed leaves a body feeling sluggish and the mind heavy.
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Gulf Insider October 2011
The Truth on Why Celebrity Diets Don’t Work for Non-Celebrities
Yesterday, I was standing in a checkout line at the grocery store surrounded by candies, celebrity magazines and diet tips. Of course, one of the magazines was advertising a celebrity diet. I’ve always found these diets incredibly silly, not because the advice is necessarily bad, but because the whole matter of economic incentives is left out of the equation. Celebrities don’t stay in shape thanks to special techniques or a superb personal trainer. Rather, the profit motive does most of the work. In order to continue making millions every year, celebrities must stay incredibly fit. If you were offered a million dollars per year to stay in shape, you’d soon see the pounds falling off rapidly. The average person simply doesn’t have the same incentives as actors and actresses. Most Hollywood denizens don’t stay fit because of fabulous diets - they have a very powerful monetary incentive that keeps them on those diets. The rest of us can cheat; we don’t have a movie shoot coming up in a few months. But isn’t health and a long life enough of an incentive? Yes and no. As a doctor friend of mine once said, “You want to know the quickest way to lose weight? Diabetes.” Essentially, his point was that he’ll tell people over and over to watch their weight and exercise, but most don’t get it until they receive a life-threatening diagnosis. When faced with a very real direct incentive, people start exercising.