others even when their capacity to reciprocate is gone. i learned nothing is forever and had to accept that this amazing chapter of my life was ending. i mourned its loss yet was filled with gratitude that it had ever happened at all. thank you very much for having me here today. [applause] thank you so much. >> sunday night on "after words", biochemist sylvia tara looks at the history and science behind body fat. she is interviewed by gina colada, medical examiner for the new york times. >> there is a set point, your brain sets how much you should weigh. what happens to that as we age. >> it's almost a force of nature

that we accumulate more fat, at least a great many of us. we lose a lot of fat busting hormones that we had. they decline and it had helped us metabolize and grow. women and men have less of the hormone as we age. you can't really eat what you did when you were 22. that big plate of food will make you fat as you get older. it's not just the level of fat, it's the distribution of fat as well. >> sunday at 9:00 p.m. on "after words". >> the elite framers, people like addison, thomas jefferson, edison were looking at the direction of a government that would be more constrained, more independent of popular opinion and could actually shut down these populous forces in the

state. madison wanted to give the federal government an absolute veto by any law passed by estate. that turned out to be too extreme for the convention. they wrote the revision, article one section ten which bars states from adopting paper money laws and federal relief laws. the idea was that a national government, with long terms, there was nothing in state constitutions. indirect elections, legislatures pick senators, the electoral college pick the president. enormous constituencies, the original house was 65 members. the lower house of the massachusetts legislature had over 350 delegates. the u.s. congress had 65. they felt the larger the constituency, the more likely you would elect the better, will well educated more affluent

people in the community and they thought the larger the constituency, the more independence a representative would have from constituent influence. in a sense, they were profoundly antidemocratic. they wanted to move from the more democratic state constitutions to more elite rule because they thought you really couldn't trust the average person in government. they thought they would redistribute property. they thought that's what had been happening. hamilton favored a lifetime tenured senate and a lifetime tenured president. he is a monarchist basically. that was extreme but not that extreme. four delegates voted for a lifetime tenured president because they thought property rights would be protected in a more republican form of government. >> interesting. just to take one quick thing, as is often the case during election years, people often have questions about how we got the electoral college. can we take a beat on sort of where that came from and what was the rationale for it.

>> for most of the convention they thought the congress would pick the president. that's the way most state constitutions worked. the legislature picked the governor. for most of the convention they agreed the president would be selected by congress for a single term of seven years. the problem with the single term is they thought it would deprive the president of the best incentive for good behavior which is the ability to be reelected. the problem with that, if he was picked by congress is that he then be very dependent on congress for his reelection, but the whole point of having an independent president was to give him a veto, but if they were depended on them for reelection they would that she would be leery of using the veto. the other option was to be elected by the people. there were three problems. they didn't trust the people with that task. one of my favorite quotes is from george mason from virginia saying that asking the people to choose the chief magistrate

would be like referring colors to a blind man. the otheprobleis southern slaves wouldn't count. 35% of the south population were slaves and they thought they should've counted to increase their political size and the nation. finally they thought with direct election the small state would never have a president. this is due to poor communication, poor transportation and they weren't assuming political parties so they figured people in large states would vote for their candidates. if you came from massachusetts you vote for john hancock, the small states would never have a president and the others would vote for mason. you won't have the president picked directly by the people. you have state legislatures

deciding how their chosen and assume the electors would exercise independent judgment. then they portioned the electoral college so the south gets greater clout than they would in an election and the small states have a greater opportunity to elect someone. as you know, the number of house numbers plus the number of senators is the number. virginia is the largest state. it has 12 times the population of delaware. there are ten virginia representatives but in the electoral college, you add your senators to your house members which means there are 12 electors from virginia and three from delaware. that is a 4 - 1 advantage rather than a ten team at one advantage. the small states like that in the slaves states like that because their house numbers include the number of slaves for the three fifths rule and there's some other complications worked in there. the only way to defend it today, the electoral college, first of all the indirect election doesn't work that way. we now have up popular election

to choose delegates, but in terms, basically what the electoral college does is give voters in wyoming four times the power of california. california has 55 electoral votes, wyoming has three. that's about an 18 - 1 disparity but california has 70 times the population of wyoming and unless you can have a good account for why wyoming voters are a discriminated minority that deserve enhanced power in the electoral system, there's probably no good defense for it. it just gives some people inflated power in choosing the president. the senate is subject to the same objective and its more extreme so california has two senators but 70 times the population. that's a power play by the philadelphia convention. they try to justify with philosophical reasons for why the small states would be overwhelmed by the large states but it was just the power-play

and the small states that we will walk out of convention if you don't give us a senate. i'm sorry, that was long-winde long-winded -- [applause] >> you can watch this and other programs online booktv.org. >> book tv tapes hundreds of author programs throughout the country all year long. here's a look at some of the events we will be covering this week. monday we will be at the seattle public library. wednesday we will be at the women's national republican club in new york where biographer craig shirley will discuss ronald reagan 1976 and 1980 presidential election. then we had back to discuss the life of alexander hamilton and his role in developing the american banking system. then we will be at harvard law school where the professor will

examine the causes of mass incarceration. friday we are in ann arbor michigan where kevin davis will discuss the growing use of neural science in criminal defense cases. then a stop in rhinebeck new york where former deputy chief of staff to president obama will discuss her experiences in the white house. wrapping up the week, on saturday, book tv will be live at the virginia festival of the book in charlottesville. coverage includes a panel discussion on nuclear war with authors and a discussion on the media moderated by april ryan and featuring senior editor mark fisher. former cnn bureau chief frank says no. that's a look at some of the programs we will be covering. many are open to the public. look for them to air in the

future on tv on c-span2. >> c-span, where history unfolds daily. in 1979, c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television companies and is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. >> biochemist sylvia tara discusses her book the secret life of fat which looks at the history and science behind body fat. through her research, she argues there are some aspects of fat that are necessary for the body including its ability to strengthen our immune system, enable our reproductive system and help with brain size. she is interviewed by gina colada, medical examiner for the new york times. >> high sylvia, i really like