Category Archives: News

Exercise and Fat Loss

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I read an interesting article about exercise and weight loss that challenges some of the conventional wisdom we have been taught.  Of course everybody knows that all you need to do to lose weight is to get to the gym, right?  The problem with that statement seems to be the lack of conclusive scientific proof to support that.  It seems incredible in a way that science really hasn’t proven that exercise makes for a guaranteed weight loss scenario.  It sort of makes sense, the body fights hard to maintain equilibrium.  So when you work out you usually develop an appetite to replenish the energy you used, resulting in a net of basically zero.  Go figure.  That’s a weight pun, people.

It’s a good read, and makes you at least consider that just maybe we have been wrong all this time about weight loss.  Of course exercising is still a good idea for your heart, muscles, well-being, etc.  It just may not be all that’s it’s cracked up to be when it comes to losing weight.

State of the World Today

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Here’s a kind of good news, bad news post.  The good news?  No, let’s save that for last.  The bad news is, military robots have already killed humans and we are all doomed.  Also, drunken elephants go on a tear and some get electrocuted for their troubles.  Also, slime in a petri dish can fly an aircraft, so quite naturally it probably wants to kill us.  Also, extra big, humungous forest fires are now the norm, instead of your grand-dad’s teeny tiny ones.

Scared yet?  Ok, now for the good news.  A “regular joe” mechanic can take parts right off of General Motors’ own shelves and make a car (or truck, but usually a Hummer or a Cadillac) get  at least twice the fuel efficiency, and at the same time twice the horsepower.  For example, his latest project is a 2005 Hummer H3:

“Conservatively,” Goodwin muses, scratching his chin, “it’ll get 60 miles to the gallon. With 2,000 foot-pounds of torque. You’ll be able to smoke the tires. And it’s going to be superefficient.”  He laughs. “Think about it: a 5,000-pound vehicle that gets 60 miles to the gallon and does zero to 60 in five seconds!”

A great article on the Fast Company website that simultaneously makes me mad and hopeful at the same time.  On the mad side, this mechanic can take existing parts and just do incredible things, but for some unknown reason the big 3 US car makers can’t do the same.  Still the fact that he is doing it just confirms something I have always suspected:  we already know everything we need to fix the energy problem, the climate problem and most of our pollution problems.  That’s a very very good thing, I think.  I love the fact that this guy seems to love working on the hugest of the gas guzzlers and making them really efficient.  Consider his first Hummer conversion:

“Goodwin installed the Duramax and a five-speed Allison–the required transmission for a Duramax, which also helps give it race-car-like control and a rapid take off. After five days’ worth of work, the Hummer was getting about 18 mpg–double the factory 9 mpg–and twice the original horsepower. He drove it over to a local restaurant and mooched some discarded oil from its deep fryer, strained the oil through a pair of jeans, and poured it into the engine. It ran perfectly.”

It’s a really good read, and nice to hear somebody is doing something the big boys say can’t be done, and getting their attention doing it.

Colbert’s Running for President?

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You gotta love the balls it takes to make fun of every politician in the US in one fell swoop. Stephen Colbert announced that he is running for President, as a candidate for both parties. I have no idea what this means, but I expect a lot of internet, nerd, geek, and apathetic votes to go his way. It will probably be a brilliant send-up of the whole process at the very least.

Saw this on Metafilter first.

RIAA “wins” Suit Against Martyr

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One of the first RIAA music piracy trials hit the courts last week. There will be many many more, no doubt. These guys haven’t had an original thought since the early 1900’s, so you can be sure they will continue to sue their own consumers into oblivion with great gusto.

What’s killing me is: it’s puzzling, insane even, for an evil corporation to have chosen to have this case come to court first. They convicted a single mom, lower income than most, of American Indian descent. Yep, that sounds like a cold blooded, deranged criminal to me. It’s an enormous mistake for the RIAA to make. Of the thousands of lawsuits pending (there are more than 20000 of these things choking up the courts) they let this one get to trial first? Why not get a white middle aged nerd to stand trial first? People would easily believe the guy was a nerdly criminal of epic proportions, with terabytes of stolen files obtained by arcane and secret ways that the regular folks just wouldn’t understand. It plays on stereotypes, sure, but they have slimy marketing guys who do this stuff all day long. It would probably help their public opinion a lot. But instead we have a young single mom who makes no money at all. People just thought the RIAA was evil before, but now they are absolutely positive of it.

In any case (that’s a law pun, har har) they won the suit and the victim owes a humongous corporation $222 000 in damages. Yep, that should take her about 15 years to pay off, if she ever does. She becomes a martyr and a figurehead for the fight against these guys. A fight which the RIAA admits is a losing proposition. A fight that makes the artists they represent absolutely no money. Well done, folks.

Hapless

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The word of the day is “hapless” boys and girls.  Here’s a quick definition.

hap·less    –adjective,  unlucky; luckless; unfortunate.

Hapless is when you and your teenage buddy are out doing stupid things like shooting people with BB guns and you shoot the wrong old guy.  The really wrong old guy.  The old guy that is an attorney and plays rugby and whose friends call “Dr. Death”.  When you shoot that particular harmless looking old guy he doesn’t just look confused and angry, he runs you down and tackles you in a parking lot.  Still, you aren’t completely hapless since he wasn’t packing his .45 Ruger that day.  If he had been, you would be taking a dirt nap by now.

Hapless is also when you have a restraining order against you from contacting, emailing, or text messaging your ex-wife.  Fortunately you know that you should obey that.  Unfortunately when you join Facebook just so you can look at a buddy’s wedding pictures and Facebook  sends your ex a friend request.  Then you go directly to jail, despite your claims that you didn’t understand Facebook’s signup procedure, and didn’t know your ex-wife had an account.

And that’s hapless, boys and girls.