Slow vs Fast Reading – New Reseach
Good Morning,
Hopefully, the day finds you well. Today I will begin with a news article at the Washington Post.
We have the ability to read in different modes. Slow vs fast reading is a relatively new area of interest to neuroscientists. Read More...
Down another 8p
I weighed in again at Weight Watchers again today. Since my last post, I'm down another 8 pounds, meaning down nearly 40p since I began this journey.
Weight Watchers talks about non-food rewards for when you reach certain goals.
For those who've never had to deal with weight loss, you probably have trouble relating to this. After all, odds are you rarely if ever use food as a reward. But for someone like me, it is a significant change to be making. And while it's simple, it isn't easy.
I decided to give myself two rewards, one of which I've already given myself and have begun using: Read More...
I’ve lost 30 pounds so far… some thoughts for your consideration
I've been overweight for a long time - a long time.
A little more than a year ago, I was diagnosed as diabetic. Fasting blood sugar numbers typically ranged in the high 120s to low 160s. There was a likelihood that things would get a lot worse if I didn't change how I ate.
Being a member at Weight Watchers, I was losing weight. But not fast enough for my doctor. I was pretty rigorous on the program and so it was a mystery to me as to why "it wasn't working for me."
So I arranged for a mid-year appointment with my doctor and my diabetes care manager to discuss it. And the answer was that my metabolism was very slow. So I had to eat less than what Weight Watchers suggested.
The beauty of Weight Watchers is that they can accommodate this without it being disruptive of the meetings (which I do not miss), and they not only allow me to tell my story, but they encourage it and some have found it inspirational.
The result of some changes (and I'll describe more of them going forward) is that I'm now at the lowest weight I've been since the early 1990s (down more than 30p), and my blood sugar is now in the low 100s and sometimes even in the 90s! My vision has improved - I now wear weaker glasses than I did this time last year (when was the last time you heard about that from a middle aged guy)?
Do I attribute this 100% to Weight Watchers? No. But there is no way I would have done it without Weight Watchers. Do I recommend it? Absolutely. Do I guarantee results with it? Nope. We each have our journeys and my path will most likely not look like your path. It took me more than 2 years to get serious enough to really do everything I needed to do.
The good news? Weight Watchers can work with you as you walk on your path.
Highly recommended.
Measure items on your screen
Do you do any kind of graphics work? Do you sometimes need to know the dimensions of something you're looking at onscreen? Would you like an easy way to go from pixels to points to get these dimensions in pixels, points, inches, centimeters or millimeters? And would you like to be able get such a tool for free? Read More...
Ever had a Harajuku Moment?
Key concept: Harajuku moment
In April 2013 I had a "196 moment." I'm guessing most people have such moments at some point in their lives, though they call it by other names..
Malcolm Gladwell apparently coined the phrase Harajuku Moment, which Tim Ferris, in his book, The Four Hour Body concisely described as when a nice-to-have becomes a must-have.
I had been diagnosed as diabetic.The fasting blood sugar of a healthy person will range from in the 90s to under 124, which is the bottom of the diabetes range. Mine had been ranging from the high 120s to as high as 155.
I was told that if my fasting blood sugar number (the number given by the measuring device after 8 hours of not eating) was over 200, I had to call my doctor. The primary fear was that the diabetes was getting worse.
The secondary fear was that it would no longer be manageable by diet alone, and I'd have to take insulin shots. I really didn't want to have to do that.
My 196 moment happened on April 9th 2013. My fasting number was 196! Not good.
Frightened, I knew I *had* to change things around, and I did. If you're interested in what I did and how, stay tuned. In an upcoming issue of my newsletter, Faster, Better, Smarter, Cheaper, I'll describe what I've done along with the results. Success leaves clues, and I'll let you in on mine.
The 196 reading meant that things were serious, but not quite serious enough that I had to see my doctor. Close... but 196 is not 200+.
My motivation hugely changed that day. And I never looked back. The result? My fasting blood sugar now ranges in the low 100s with occasional forays into the 90s! Control by diet is now pretty much a done deal.
What does this mean for you? It means that you need to recognize your own "196 moments" (your Harajuku moments) when they happen, so you can embrace them. It means that if you have a 196 or Harajuku moment, your life will almost certainly start changing. It is difficult to be the person you were before the moment after you've experienced the moment.
One harsh part about this is that 196 (Harajuku) moments are painful, and they can be scary. In this newsletter, we're going to search for ways to generate the potentially wonderful effects of having Harajuku moments without having to go through all that pain, discomfort and fear.
- Bal
Free Data and Calculations Per Your Whim
Search engines are fine for finding things related to subjects you are interested in. But what if you want to know which is deeper, Lake Ontario or Lake Superior (answer: Lake Superior – 1332ft versus 735ft). Or what if you want to know the day of the week that Mt. Vesuvius destroyed Pompeii (August 24, 79AD was a Thursday). Or what if you wanted to know the heights of the 5 tallest existing buildings in New York City. Here they are: Read More...
Making Feedly Chrome’s default RSS reader
As I indicated last time, Google is retiring their RSS reader, and I recommended Feedly.com's reader as a worthy replacement.
One thing that bothered me was that I couldn't automatically add new RSS feeds to Feedly. So I thought to myself, "Self - how does one find out simple stuff like this in the 21st Century?
I went to YouTube and looked for a video on the subject. And, of course found one. Here. It's by Todd Lohenry.
I don't know if this will be true for you, but the instructions as given were not perfect for me. At 1:45 into the video, Todd shows the text you need to add to make the handshake between Chrome and the RSS feeds you will need to add.
For your convenience, here it is - as given.
http://www.feedly.com/home#subscription/feed/%s[action.subscribe]
I had to remove the bracketed text, which leaves us with:
http://www.feedly.com/home#subscription/feed/%s
Please comment and let us know which works for you.
Feedly! A Great Replacement for Google Reader
I logged into my account with Google Reader today and got a message that the service is being "retired" as of July 1. I found this somewhat annoying because, as you might imagine, I have subscribed to many RSS feeds over the years, and it's always a comfort knowing where to research things when the need arises or just having someplace efficient to browse during some free moments.
What to do. Obviously, find another RSS aggregator.
I went to my current favorite search engine, DuckDuckGo and searched for a good alternative. And found one. Read More...
Something stupid; something crazy
One of my favorite recent movies is How to Train Your Dragon
Hiccup and Astrid having a conversation about the loss of Hiccup's dragon and more.
Hiccup and Astrid are on a cliff overlooking the ocean, where the Vikings have taken off to kill dragons in their lair. After commenting that Hiccup has lost everything and probed for why he wouldn’t kill the dragon when he had a chance, Hiccup remarks, “He looked as frightened as me.” Thinking about the dragon, Astrid starts the part that I love.
Astrid: I bet he's really frightened now. What are you going to do about it?
Hiccup: Oh - probably something stupid.
Astrid: Good. But you've already done that.
Hiccup: Then something crazy.
Astrid: That's more like it.
* * *
Yep – that’s more like it.
My Favorite Poem: Rudyard Kipling’s IF
In a day and age where so many people are hurting, a little inspiration from my favorite poem by one of my favorite poets seems in order. Enjoy.
- Bal
