benjaminobscene.com

So you might have noticed that Obscene has been pretty quiet lately. Indeed it’s near silent these days. It’s been over a year now since we’ve had any products for sale, and admittedly I wasn’t sure what the future held. Things like jobs and responsibilities always seem to ruin the fun! That’s not to say I haven’t been having fun though, and really it’s the best way to say that Obscene will now be heading in a different direction.

When I first started designing clothing for what would become Obscene, the idea was to use fashion as a medium for discussion. I wanted people to ask you about your shirt. I feel like we achieved that goal, but that the goal wasn’t really for anything. I wanted to shed some light on everything that was obscene in the world, but we failed to do anything about it.

It’s hard to make big changes, especially as a small company doesn’t make any money! However, I’ve found that small things make the biggest difference to the people who need it. Therefore, Obscene will now serve as the fuel for such change. Effective immediately, Obscene will now sponsor athletes and artists who are working towards improving themselves and their communities. Running a charity 5K? Let me know. Painting a mural? Let me know. Organizing a dance-off? That doesn’t really count but let me know anyway and I’ll spread the word.

More info to follow…

Wow, it seems like lately I’ve been catching nothing but hate over here at Obscene. If you’ve been trying to write on my wall or look at my college pictures lately, you’ve probably noticed that Facebook deleted my account.

“Your account was disabled because the name it was registered under was…

“Sorry the image you submitted for your Capital One^® Image Card^SM has been rejected. We will not approve any images that contain the following:
Material that could infringe on the copyright or trademark rights of another party, including branded products, marks, or business names
If you believe that you have been declined in error, please call us at 1-866-381-0451.”

“Thank you for holding, Mr. Fong. We would also be unable to approve your card request due to our policy which prohibits use of any obscene material or images; in this case your logo containing the word ‘obscene’. You are welcome to submit a new image though.”

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I came across this interesting article the other day. It’s about a Dutch study that compared the overall healthcare costs of healthy people, smokers, and obese people. It certainly presents an out of box view at managing healthcare costs, but I’m not on board just yet.

‘Preventing obesity and smoking can save lives, but it doesn’t save money, researchers reported Monday.

It costs more to care for healthy people who live years longer, according to a Dutch study that counters the common perception that preventing obesity would save governments millions of dollars.

“It was a small surprise,” said Pieter van Baal, an economist at the Netherlands’ National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, who led the study. “But it also makes sense. If you live longer, then you cost the health system more.”

In a paper published online Monday in the Public Library of Science Medicine journal, Dutch researchers found that the health costs of thin and healthy people in adulthood are more expensive than those of either fat people or smokers.

Van Baal and colleagues created a model to simulate lifetime health costs for three groups of 1,000 people: the “healthy-living” group (thin and non-smoking), obese people, and smokers. The model relied on “cost of illness” data and disease prevalence in the Netherlands in 2003.

The researchers found that from age 20 to 56, obese people racked up the most expensive health costs. But because both the smokers and the obese people died sooner than the healthy group, it cost less to treat them in the long run.

On average, healthy people lived 84 years. Smokers lived about 77 years, and obese people lived about 80 years. Smokers and obese people tended to have more heart disease than the healthy people.

Cancer incidence, except for lung cancer, was the same in all three groups. Obese people had the most diabetes, and healthy people had the most strokes. Ultimately, the thin and healthy group cost the most, about $417,000, from age 20 on.

The cost of care for obese people was $371,000, and for smokers, about $326,000.

The results counter the common perception that preventing obesity will save health systems worldwide millions of dollars.’

Holy shit! Where has the time gone? I seems like just when things settle down the five year old boy that is life just spashes the puddle again spraying mud and bacteria everywhere. New products? New ideas? New organization? Stay obscene.

i was finally able to sit down and watch heavy metal in baghdad the other day. i’ve been following the development of this documentary for the last few years and was just blown away by the full length film. the ideas and perceptions that you’re exposed to in this film remind me of the real meaning behind obscene. watch it.

re-watched the video from the second all city hustle. for those who don’t spend all night on blogs, it’s a team race across LA. first team to the beach wins.

stay in college forever. work is for assholes.