D-Day
27-Feb-09
It took me a bit longer than I had planned, but as of today, I have no debt.
Study Zeroes In on Calories, Not Diet, for Loss
“…For people who are trying to lose weight, it does not matter if they are counting carbohydrates, protein or fat. All that matters is that they are counting something.
That is the finding of the largest-ever controlled study of weight-loss methods published on Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine. More than 800 overweight adults in Boston and Baton Rouge, La., were assigned to one of four diets that reduced calories through different combinations of fat, carbohydrates and protein. Each plan cut about 750 calories from a participant’s normal diet, but no one ate fewer than 1,200 calories a day.
While the diets were not named, the eating plans were all loosely based on the principles of popular diets like Atkins, which emphasizes low carbohydrates; Dean Ornish, which is low-fat; or the Mediterranean diet, with less animal protein. All participants also received group or individual counseling.
After two years, every diet group had lost — and regained — about the same amount of weight regardless of what diet had been assigned. Participants lost an average of 13 pounds at six months and had maintained about 9 pounds of weight loss and a two-inch drop in waist size after two years. While the average weight loss was modest, about 15 percent of dieters lost more than 10 percent of their weight by the end of the study. Still, after about a year many returned to at least some of their usual eating habits.
The lesson, researchers say, is that people lose weight if they lower calories, but it does not matter how.”
Note, however, that the low carb diet may not have been, in fact, low-carb.
Clockwork Angel Wings
24-Feb-09
Jesus raises the dead
24-Feb-09
Via atheism.
I know some of you are fans, so I thought you might like to know that the DNA Lounge could use your help:
The California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control is trying to put DNA Lounge permanently out of business. They are accusing us of “running a disorderly house injurious to the public welfare and morals”, and are trying to permanently revoke our liquor license. If they succeed, we will close.
We’re fighting this, obviously. The appeals process will be lengthy, and even if everything goes wrong, we’re not going anywhere any time soon. We are open, and will remain open for the foreseeable future.
You can read more details about this fight on my February 13th blog entry about it.
We’ve been fighting the State of California over our alcohol license for more than two years now, and this process has been extremely expensive so far. As you can imagine, it’s hard enough running a small business during a recession without also having to fight your own state government who are trying to destroy you.
Ice Skating
22-Feb-09
Went ice skating at Belmont Iceland last night. Lot’s of people there — students with ID get in free during the month of February. There was a large group of Stanford students (15-20). They looked so young! Two of them appeared to be a gay couple–at least, they held hands as they skated around the rink. There is a lot I don’t like about CA, but it was nice that they could do so without much fear of ridicule or harassment.
I don’t know if I’m getting old, but the music really bothered me. Loud, thumping hip hop music, so loud that I couldn’t hear my companion speak from less than one foot away.
Afterward we retired to a 24 hour donut shop, where I introduced her to the wonders of the Bear Claw, and she waxed rhapsodic for pelmeny.
The New Book Banning
19-Feb-09
The New Book Burning by Walter Olson, City Journal 12 February 2009:
It’s hard to believe, but true: under a law Congress passed last year aimed at regulating hazards in children’s products, the federal government has now advised that children’s books published before 1985 should not be considered safe and may in many cases be unlawful to sell or distribute. Merchants, thrift stores, and booksellers may be at risk if they sell older volumes, or even give them away, without first subjecting them to testing—at prohibitive expense. Many used-book sellers, consignment stores, Goodwill outlets, and the like have accordingly begun to refuse new donations of pre-1985 volumes, yank existing ones off their shelves, and in some cases discard them en masse.
The problem is the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA), passed by Congress last summer after the panic over lead paint on toys from China. Among its other provisions, CPSIA imposed tough new limits on lead in any products intended for use by children aged 12 or under, and made those limits retroactive: that is, goods manufactured before the law passed cannot be sold on the used market (even in garage sales or on eBay) if they don’t conform. The law has hit thrift stores particularly hard, since many children’s products have long included lead-containing (if harmless) components: zippers, snaps, and clasps on garments and backpacks; skateboards, bicycles, and countless other products containing metal alloy; rhinestones and beads in decorations; and so forth. Combine this measure with a new ban (also retroactive) on playthings and child-care articles that contain plastic-softening chemicals known as phthalates, and suddenly tens of millions of commonly encountered children’s items have become unlawful to resell, presumably destined for landfills when their owners discard them. Penalties under the law are strict and can include $100,000 fines and prison time, regardless of whether any child is harmed.
It doubt even liberals think this is a sensible outcome for the regulation, so I’m optimistic it will be changed eventually, but it’s a great example of how even well-intended regulations can have pernicious effects.
Danger
19-Feb-09
Elton John’s Rocket Pictures hopes to make the first Jane Austen adaptation to which men will drag their girlfriends.
Will Clark is set to direct “Pride and Predator,” which veers from the traditional period costume drama when an alien crash lands and begins to butcher the mannered protags, who suddenly have more than marriage and inheritance to worry about.
Shooting will begin in London later this year. John exec produces, and his Rocket partners Steve Hamilton Shaw and David Furnish are producing.
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118000187.html?categoryid=13&cs=1
Coraline on Valentine’s day
18-Feb-09
Two hot dates on Valentines day! Woo! Only marred by a cough I contraced the day before. Fortunately, both dates were cool about it, and decided not to bail, even though I offered to reschedule.
Had brunch at St. Michael’s Alley in Palo Alto. I had a salmon scramble. Delicious, but a little pricey. Conversation was fun. We have a lot of common interests — anti-aging, science, unschooling, desire to have children. I’m looking forward to hanging out with her again. Unfortunately, she lives in a distant city, so I’m not sure how often that will happen.
Met my second date at the Century 20 in Redwood City. Saw Coraline in 3D. Lovely visuals, but the plot was flat.
Worth seeing in the theater, although I think it would’ve been just as good in 2D. Afterwards we chatted for a while at La Tartine. She had heard of the Singularity via a mutual friend, but otherwise was unfamiliar with humanity+ ideas (immortalism, seasteading, cryonics). She had the typical concerns about extreme longevity: “the earth will become over-populated”, “I wouldn’t want to live forever in an old person’s body”, etc. She appeared to be most swayed by the argument that people who live thousands of years are more likely to be good stewards of the environment, since they will have to personally live with the ill effects of damage to the environment. Cute and smart. However, she seems to be pretty serious about Judaism. Would like to hang out again though.