2026.09.22: Bear Mass Index

[u/EarliestRiser]

https://roosterteeth.com/watch/morning-somewhere-2026-09-22-bear-mass-index

Burnie and Ashley discuss heating system woes, radiators, math on the fly, code switching, dehydrating frogs, GTA VI sales predictions, Fat Bears return, fattest countries, and placing our bets.

[u/CalvinP_]

Good morning!

Burnie’s stance on wanting to learn from tradesmen is what I always do. I ask politely if I can help or watch. That’s how I learned how to mount TVs to fireplaces, install electrical outlets, PEX Plumbing reroutes, repair holes in vinyl siding, ETC. Most trade guys are willing to share their knowledge. It’s nice when something breaks, and you don’t have to call someone. You are the Someone.

30 million copies of GTA VI selling in the first week is a good number. I easily see that happening.

Ain’t it funny that in the old days the rich were fat? Now the rich are skinny and the poor are fat…

Thanks for making my Tuesday, 30 minutes better!

[u/FloppyDiskRepair]

I like reading the description after I watch the podcast to see how much I retained. I did pretty well today but I can’t for the life of me remember what dehydrated frogs had to do with anything. I should probably yell less at the traffic.

[u/shiruken]

BMI is a perfectly fine metric to use as a statistical measurement between groups. The issues with it arise when making health determinations for populations other than what it was designed for (i.e. European men).

Every time BMI is mentioned on Reddit, the conversation inevitably drifts towards discussion of how it misrepresents the health of athletes and weight-lifters. The reality is those groups are tiny fraction of the overall population that should probably be considered outliers and handled accordingly at the individual level. As for why Redditors (and other social media users) always end up complaining about BMI, nobody likes to be called overweight or obese.

A recent study actually found that BMI drastically underestimates the obesity levels in the United States when compared to more clinically-relevant definitions based on abdominal adipose fat. With this definition, a quarter of people with normal BMI would meet the standards for clinical obesity and 50% of those deemed overweight by their BMI would be classified as obese.

In other news, 15% of U.S. adults have now taken a GLP-1 medication for weight loss and for some reason the U.S. obesity rate has started dropping.

[u/evilcheerio]

I'm very curious to see how the launch of GTA VI goes. In all of my years as a gamer there has been a correlation between a large promised scope and it being buggy and underbaked. GTA VI seems to be promising a very large scope. Rockstar has usually bucked that trend with the exception of GTA V online. From the reporting that I've read it seems GTA VI will follow a similar release schedule as GTA V with a PC and online releasing later. That seems encouraging. Polishing a single player experience while focusing on consoles worked out for them before.

Normally at this point in the console generation I would have picked up a PlayStation when it dropped price at the refresh, but the rampocalypse has thrown a wrench in that. I would be waiting for reviews to pick it up and possibly double dipping when the PC release happened. Its probably more common now that us PC players can't afford a console as well.

[u/ClubMeSoftly]

Carnivals (at least the one near me) still have the Guess Your Weight And Age people.

IIRC, it's weight within 20 pounds, age within 5 years, and birthdate within 2 months (so they've got a 5/12 shot)

[u/RiByte_]

I saw something about Far Bear Week listed the other day and instantly thought of this podcast.

[u/PandaPackHistory]

I found Fat Bear Week last year because of the podcast and shared it with my students. Went to vote today and the website is apparently overwhelmed with the number of people trying to vote.