Now this oughtn't be taken as good reason to load up on fast food several times a week, but reality is reality.
Chris at Conditioning Research does a good job of exposing the dishonesty that pervades journalism. Here and here.
Archives for February 2008
New Toaster
Here’s your reference.
The other day, Apple released its new software for their Apple TV and so I went and purchased the 40 gig model. Setup was a cinch. Plug into the wall, plug into your TV, and turn it on. Then you tell it which WiFi to connect to and that’s essentially it. It did need to download and install its new OS, but it did that all on its own. You can choose to let it run in just streaming mode, or choose one of your computers to have it stay synced with all your content on iTunes, in addition to all your photos in iPhoto. It can also access any content on any other computers on the network you tell it to. The point is that this all happens automatically, and then it operates automatically. Even if you don’t do anything it will begin running all your photos on the TV in interesting arrays and graphics. Want to listen to music? It’ll show you the album artwork and then it”’ start going through all your photos as music plays. I suppose you could have it not do all this, but I can’t think of a reason to change it.
Perfect, right out of the box.
I got it specifically to use for renting movies and never has it been so easy. In fact, I haven’t rented movies for years. It was just such a bother to go to the video store, and then maybe something comes up and I don’t want to watch it just then. Then there’s the late fees, the lost or uncredited returns, the phone calls three months later asking where the movie is that you returned three months ago… Netflix wasn’t much better. First, I don’t like the idea of a subscription because it makes me feel an obligation to get my money’s worth whether I feel like getting and watching something or not. So I’d end up with movies I thought I wanted to watch, but then didn’t at that time and they would sit around. Then there’s the issues with getting a movie only to have it scratched and unplayable.
Apple makes it so easy. You don’t pay unless you rent, and once you rent you have a generous 30 days in which to watch it. You can move it from your computer to Apple TV, or back and then over to your iPod or iPhone. So you have a number of ways to watch. Or, you can rent directly from the new Apple TV interface.
Anyway, wholeheartedly recommended.
“A Brilliant Insight”
Hey, Art said it, not me.
Normally I wouldn’t call attention to something like that, but coming from someone like Art De Vany, it means something to me. He’s referring to one of my comments on this thread concerning anthropogenic global warming.
Scrofacracy Update
Wherein Officer Salvatore Rivieri of the Baltimore Police Department finds himself with half a million views on YouTube. Now, of course, the only pertinent matter in all of this — other than Rivieri’s appalling behavior — is that those kids weren’t harming anyone and didn’t appear as though they were posing an imminent threat of doing so.
He demanded, and then commanded, respect. What he was certainly able to do was intimidate, assault, and ultimately commit battery on one of the boys, then take his property; but he couldn’t force that respect he believed himself entitled to, could he? And doesn’t that respect continue to allude Officer Rivieri?
So, Officer Rivieri? How’s that working out for you? You know what? Any real man should find it the easiest, most wholesome, and rewarding experience in the world to earn the respect of teenage boys like that. Sure, there are exceptions, but I know I could have done it. It could be as simple as asking them to explain the relative merits of their transportation equipment and what makes it so special to them. You might have asked them how they go about ensuring they don’t run into and harm anyone. I’m betting they’d have been more than happy to demonstrate their competence.
This is pure pretense. Do you see it? The pretense goes to who’s the good guy and who’s the bad guy; to who’s innocent and who’s guilty. The pretense is in the constitution (i.e., in how it is constituted, made up, fundamentally constructed) of the state itself. By pure "virtue" of office holding, of uniform wearing, of badge wielding, of citing writing upon scraps of paper, the State is presumed right and innocent and the one coming in conflict with its constitution is presumed wrong and guilty. But the reverse is true, and it’s true because those kids weren’t hurting anyone. Rivieri is the bad guy.
And you know why? Because if those kids were actually hurting people, it would not have required office holders, uniforms, badges, or writings upon scraps of paper to stop them. The very best thing that can ever be said about the State, at its very best (which was certainly not the case here) is that in the context of protection, i.e., of stepping in to stop and prevent clear and present harm, it’s entirely superfluous. That the best that can ever be said for it.
Update: Ok, some people didn’t get the title.
Reef
Back last April I blogged about my marine (salt water) aquarium which I’d just recently set up. It included a video.
Well, here it is today. It’s simply five minutes of stationary video. Make sure an notice the crabs crawling around, and also the Sea Hare who makes his appearance about halfway in. If you watched the video from the previous entry and compared with this one, you’ll see how much pink and purple calcium has grown on the rock surfaces. Here’s the YouTube of the same thing.
Passion vs. Excellence
There’s just no way I can’t pay attention to Larry Winget. Honesty is just too refreshing, and he deals it every time. His latest blog entry is just such a treat and he’s dead on in my opinion.
“Passion is a load of crap.” … My point to him was that passion is little more than a starting place
but true long term success is based on excellence and hard work. …I know many passionate people. They are passionately stupid,
passionately wrong and passionately incompetent. Passion and success
have about as much to do with each other as gravy and Raisin Bran. But
this is the trash being dumped on us by the ill-informed motivational
idiots who know little about true success but are quick to tell you how
to achieve it. No business ever makes it based on passion. No
successful business person every made it to the top based on passion.
It’s funny, but I have often told people that I have no particular fondness for the business I’m in. I was at a place in 1992 where I was out of money, this opportunity presented itself, and though I never particularly liked it I was damn good at it. I still don’t like it, much, but it has been very good to me and my family. This is much closer to what I have some passion for, and we’ll see if I’m any good at it. It proceeds apace and one of these days I’ll update you on it. We have had big breakthroughs in progress in the last few weeks and I’m meeting with the architect in three hours from now.
Be sure and read all of Larry’s post.
More Fasting Email
As far as the fasting goes, it was much easier after the first one or two-like you said it would be. And yes it is interesting that the 24hr is tougher. It may have something to do with the bodies metabolism during a resting period that follows a large meal, opposed to your lunch and then several hours before the resting. Intriguing.
I think so. Skipping dinner isn’t such a big deal and it’s something many of us have done a time or two, particularly when not feeling well. Then the enhanced sleep you get conditions your body for the fast. If you begin the fast after a normal dinner, then sleep that night is nothing out of the ordinary for your metabolism. Since beginning all this, I don’t get hungry on a normal day like that until 10 or 11, but if I haven’t eaten by 1300, then the hunger rages unabated for the rest of the day and that’s not pleasant. I suspect that if I just toughed it out and went the whole day without and then slept, day two would be far easier.
I also run two high school boys games yesterday in the middle of the fast and never felt a hint of any weakness or hunger! The other ref had 3 "power" drinks, a snickers and a banana in the 3 hour span. Me…H2O.
Oh, yea. "Healthy" candy. Well, if you noticed the comment on my previous entry, I worked out for the first time in a fed state after working out 25-27 hours fasted for weeks. I much prefer working out fasted. It’s just more steady.
I am curious to what types of meals you eat-besides the steak and the bacon and eggs?
Here was this morning, 11am:
That’s 80/20 ground beef with most of the fat left in (finely chopped onion, too), with lots of spicy taco seasoning added to take up the fat (I make it a batch at a time and can then just take a bit at a time from the fridge and nuke it), with about a tablespoon of bacon grease from the fridge added before nuking and then stirred in. Two omega-3 eggs fried in a full tbsp of unsalted butter (since fasting, my taste sensitivity to salt has gone way up) and just a bit of full-fat cottage cheese.
Sometimes I’ll skip the cottage cheese and add some fruit — usually berries or some melon. Sometimes I’ll melt some cheese, or I can make an omelet of that. Sometimes some onions and/or sweet peppers added in.
Here was another one from a week or so ago.
In addition to the bacon & eggs, that’s red onion, avocado, and cherry tomatoes drizzled with olive oil. I do lots of different things and am getting in the habit of snapping a pic with my iPhone, so I’ll do more posting of those.
What are your goals?
I just turned 47. The last 10 years have been kind to me in terms of business, but awful in terms of personal appearance and just feeling good. There was simply no way to justify it being anything other than eating too much, too frequently, and the wrong things. I took up walking, which I still do, and it didn’t help at all. Beginning the weight lifting last May helped, but not as much and not as quickly as I believed it would. Again, I was hoping it would be some magic bullet or something and I could go right on eating like I was. Once I began to eat more paleo, things improved, but there was an unpleasantness about it. I felt plenty smug because I was "eating properly," but I wasn’t really eating what I desired, which includes lots of burgers, fries, pizza, bread, and so on. Fasting is what changed everything, because it changed what I desire to eat, and what I desire to eat, and eating it, is creating rapid results.
Goals? To keep at it — for life, really. The goal should be to feel happy, to feel good in your own skin. Feeling smug because you are "eating right" is no substitute. People can scoff their asses off at my high-saturated fat diet with minimal vegetation and I’ll invite them to go fuck right off because I don’t care what they think. I feel good because the food is satisfying, it leaves me feeling good physically (high carbs, particularly pizza, make me feel like utter shit for hours — and yet I craved and ate them regularly — so go figure that), and I can see the physical changes, and you all will too, in good time (once I’m proud enough of my progress to show the awful "before" photos).
I’d like to see if I can get down to 10% body fat, just to see if I can do it, but then I’ll probably back off a bit.
I love the email interaction. Keep ’em coming. I’m not publishing identities, but if you have a question, observation, or personal experience you’d rather not see on the Intertubes, just include that. Just keep in mind that my primary motivation for this sort of interaction is that it’s something other readers might find useful or entertaining. Of course, the comments are always open as well.
Email Question on Fasting
I get a question from a longtime reader in email.
While you're fasting, water is obviously what you must be drinking, but are you allowed to drink any other liquids — I'm thinking mainly tea or coffee (though I further imagine the latter wreaking havoc on my empty stomach)? Also, are you only having one big meal and then fasting for 30 hours? When you're not eating, clearly you're eating a lot of meat, but are carbs merely strictly off limits or are you just not eating them b/c you aren't craving them?
First, I should stipulate that all this is simply my own experiences. I post them because I've found them so personally useful and interesting that I wonder if anyone else would, and could find the same benefits as I. However, I fully realize every individual is different and some won't find the same ease and or benefits as I.
For example… All my fasts up until today have been 30 hours, from after lunch until dinner the next day, and I have a heavy workout about 3 hours before the end of the fast. The most difficult time is the first evening, but once I go to bed it's all a coast right to the very end. Because of my outing to see the AT&T Pro-Am in Carmel yesterday, I didn't do my usual fast. Instead, I began it after dinner last night and it will end at House of Prime Rib in San Francisco in about 5 hours. I'm only 20 or so hours in, but this is far more difficult that my normal fasts and not very pleasant. So, that's just a clue: not only is every individual different but if you want to try this you'll want to experiment with different lengths of time and starting points.
OK, now to the specific questions. First, I don't look upon any of this as allowed or not allowed. Rather, search for what works for you. This all happens to work very well for me. For it to be a real fast, it needs to be zero calorie, or effectively so. Unsweetened or artificially sweetened coffee, tea or other beverage might at most have trace caloric value but it's not going to have any effect. As to handling it, I found coffee made me a little queasy on the very first fast. Now I don't even notice it. I always drink mine black and unsweetened anyway, so that part was no problem.
Water. You get all the water content you need via food, so if you're not eating it's a good idea to drink more water than you normally would. I just drink when I'm thirsty, and I really like a sparkling variety like San Pellegrino or equivalent.
Carbs. Well, I had a small scoop of vanilla ice cream last night after dinner. I also nibbled on a two or three tortilla chips late in the afternoon after walking the Pebble Beach Golf Course. I really, really want to stay completely away from making this a religious experience, if you know what I mean.
I look at it this way: if I put myself in an evolutionary state of hunger, as every primitive ancestor experienced on a regular basis, what happens? Well, that hunger motivates me to do things. Then I do them. This is a lot bigger than just food. I really haven't nailed everything down, but there are profound changes taking place entirely naturally, and lots of it is just mental clarity, attitude, motivation, and so on. For one, biologically, when you fast, or when you don't eat carbs, your body (muscles and brain) shifts from running on glucose to running on ketones, which are by-products of fat metabolism. I've read speculation that we run better, clearer, more steady on ketones, and my experience seems to be telling me that's the case. On the other hand, I'm not ignorant to novelty or the placebo effect, or simply wanting to fool myself. So, all with a grain of salt. And anyway, I don't need to be certain of what's causing the positive changes.
Meals. Since I begin after lunch, I try to have a small breakfast and then a pretty good lunch. I like to break fast with a big piece of meat, but in the last couple of times I have not had the appetite to finish it. Therefore, I'm trying to work out how I might shift the ratio of fat to protein to more fat and less protein. That's what my desires seem to be telling me.
Which is another aspect: fasting really gives you hi-fidelity insight into your own appetites. In retrospect, I have no fucking idea how I ever ate some of the stuff I did, in the quantities I did, at the frequency I did. It is a mystery to me, because it's so far removed from my tastes now.
I know that Fast 5 is free, and you should read it, but Eat Stop Eat is really the better work and the better program in my opinion.
Darren Mack Update
To be frank, I’d really rather not put this up. On the other hand, the nearly 800 visitors to this blog yesterday, mostly via Google and other searches for Darren Mack and Charla Mack, signals that maybe I ought to write something, then leave it at that — forevermore.
Here was my June 14 post of 2006 about my cousin Darren, whom I knew quite well growing up. Once he was apprehended in Mexico a couple of weeks later I never followed anything much of the case. My mom did, and I got a sad update every now and then from her. She was and remains heartbroken for her own cousin, Darren’s mom. I haven’t seen Joan Mack since the events, but other family members tell me and it’s just damn sad all around. It’s "funny;" I just stopped and realized I never saw Joan with anything but a smile in my whole life. Even at times I may not have considered it the sincerest of smiles, she was always outwardly happy, jovial, welcoming. A very positive person.
Daren, having taken a plea deal once the prosecution rested its case at trial, then attempting to back out of it and losing that appeal, was sentenced yesterday to life for the murder, plus 40 years for the attempted murder on judge Chuck Weller, sentences to be served consecutively. In practical terms, he’s eligible for parole after a minimum of 20 years on the murder, then 16 years on the attempt, so 36 years minimum time.
I really have no judgment to pass on the way that went down. He admitted to the crimes, and so that’s that. Never mind legal technicalities, such as claims that he was pressured by his attorneys to take a deal he didn’t fully understand. It’s safe and reasonable to presume that nobody would cop to a murder and separate attempt in order to get locked up for at least 20 to 30 years. The State ran the deal, and it seems to me went out of its way to provide him the fair and reasonable opportunity to defend himself in matters of factual relevance. Clearly there were simply no facts available to even begin to excuse his acts, made apparent by even opting not to put on a defense at all.
Yes, it’s still presumptuous that such a prosecution by the State is advanced under the pretense of "The People." It’s preposterous because it’s a slap in the face for all the victims, including Darren’s own daughter and family.
But, as I said, he admitted to it, and even though the facts painted a pretty solid case just on the evidence, there’s really no substitute for an admission. It’s an interesting introspection, this, when it’s someone you know and who’s a family member. How can I describe it? I really don’t know. Surreal numbness come to mind.
That’s all.
Where I’ll Be, Today
A mutual business acquaintance/partner of both my brother and I, who owns a big construction company here in the Bay Area, rented some rich person’s house on one of the Pebble Beach greens for an ungodly sum for the week. It’s all catered, and we’re been invited to spend the day.
2008 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.
I’ll snap some photos, maybe some video clips.