Dieting astronauts and the French propaganda machine

The NY Times reports that the Space Station Crew May Have to Return Home

Echoing what NASA officials said a day earlier, a Russian space official on Friday said the two-man crew on the international space station could be forced to return to Earth if a planned resupply flight cannot reach them with food supplies later this month.

Just yesterday the Times was reporting that the two crewmen have been instructed to cut back on calories, at least until a Russian supply ship arrives in a little over two weeks.

Of course France2 news last evening couldn’t miss the opportunity to say that the American astronaut was entirely at fault, since the Russian astronaut was well used to the food shortages and the long lines of the Soviet era and therefore would never over-indulge. France2 then went on a brief jag about the prevalence of obesity in the USA, showing photos of hugely obese people (I suppose they were Americans but the hugely obese can be found in Europe, too) wearing really ugly clothes while consuming large ice cream cones in public.

I invite France2 and their reporters to visit with a few of us non-obese Americans and compare our eating habits with theirs, or with the Russians’. Heck, I might even treat them to dinner.

In further astronaut news, Duran Duran is launching its new tour, named after its new album, Astronaut. The tour starts February 8 in Puerto Rico, where people are free to indulge in any foods they like, thank you, without catching the disapproval of the France2 crews (so far).