Revolting in Moldova

Moldova recently had elections in which the results showed that approximately 50% of the vote went to the currently in power Communist party. In response, there has been a violent protest due to accusations of fraud. Many in Moldova have close ties to neighboring Romania. Moldova's leadership has been pro-Russian, but has started to lean pro-European due to pressure from the people. I've learned from friends in the area that Moldova has closed the border to Romanians. Americans will hopefully be allowed to cross the border, once trains start moving again.

Solar Ovens, for Sunny People

Our church recently was offered space in a shipping container to send supplies to a town in New Sudan where we partner with a local pastor. Some of what we are sending are "Solar Ovens". While our church never described these in detail, they sounded interesting. CNN has up an article on the inventor of the Solar Oven which describes how it works. This seems like a great little invention that could revolutionize cooking in the developing world.

The Anti-Bush: Trying to do it all

There was one characteristic of President George W. Bush that his opponents never figured a way to effectively combat - his ability to focus all of his attention and power on one issue at a time. While his Democratic opponents were all trying to pull him into battles on health care, defense, immigration, stem cells, abortion, etc., he would pick just one issue and make it his administration's top priority. Every major speech, every major TV appearance, every major article produced would focus on that one issue, until either the president has his way or it became clear that the American people wee not behind him.

President Obama seems obsessed with the idea of being the Anti-Bush, not only undoing moves that the public was never comfortable with (i.e. Gitmo) but also taking opposite stances on nearly everything. One of those moves is trying to attack every issue and every constituency at the same time. Now, in the midst of an economic crisis, not only is trying to tackle military transformation, health care reform, and tax reform, but now also Immigration Reform (which incidentally is one of the few issues that President George W Bush focussed on but had to abandon without having his way).

Perhaps this is a "divide and conquer" strategy to force the opposition to thin themselves out by opposing every Obama priority. But it looks like a desperate man trying to make hay because he knows his time is short. And desperation is never attractive in a leader.

Fat-Burning Fat Cells

The last year has been a battle of the bulge for me, as I have been working hard to lose fat through diet and exercise. A large part of weight loss is self-knowledge, knowing how your own body works, so that you can know what behavioral changes will work for you.

Now, a new study is suggesting that there may actually be fat cells that burn calories by producing heat.

Their papers, appearing Thursday in The New England Journal of Medicine, indicate that nearly every adult has little blobs of brown fat that can burn huge numbers of calories when activated by the cold, like sitting in a chilly room that is between 61 and 66 degrees.

Thinner people appeared to have more brown fat than heavier people, younger people more than older people; people with higher metabolic rates had more than those whose metabolisms were more sluggish, and women had more than men. People taking beta blockers for high blood pressure or other medical indications had less brown fat.

It makes me wonder if winter training might actually burn more calories than we think, if this "brown fat" activates in the cold. Self-knowledge is power.

The Difference Between The US and UK: Therapists

An American expat living in London, Delia Lloyd, recently discovered what she believes to be the major difference between Americans and Brits. She went to her doctor looking for a general therapist and the doctor's reaction was, "You're not sick, so there's really no one I can refer you to." Through this, she realized that where Americans will complain, Brits choose to grin and bear it, coming up with their own workarounds. It does explain why Americans tend to be less content, but things seem to (at least from our side of the pond) get done faster than our European friends.

All Too True

Gas prices

Gas prices
Originally uploaded by nomad7674.

(Sent from my 3G iPhone)

Local Dollars?

Back in the early days of the USA, it was a common thing for states, towns, and banks to issue their own currency. This allowed local communities to control their own economies, and for people to do business with companies backed by the faith of local governments who could afford to do reasonable oversight. That system was abandoned with the rise of the Greenback in the 1800s, when we went to a single Federal currency. But now, local currencies are seeing a rise in popularity again.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2009-04-05-scrip_N.htm

The idea behind these local currencies is NOT to control the local economy, but to keep sufficient liquidity on the local level when money is tight on the Federal level. It is an interesting idea, but one that is likely to cause problems if it becomes widespread. Bad money tends to chase out good, leaving businesses with an uncertainty about the value of the cash in their boxes and accounts.

A Car Company Pays DOWN Debt

A largely unreported fact amidst the madness of Chrysler and General Motors, is the many steps Ford has taken to stay out of government bailouts and to show their strength. Yesterday, Ford actually paid down its debt rather than looking for a bailout to accrue more of it.

Ford used $2.4 billion in cash and 468 million shares of its common stock to buy down $9.9 billion in debt, reducing its leverage by 38 percent.

"By substantially reducing our debt, Ford is taking another step toward creating an exciting, viable enterprise," Ford chief executive Alan Mulally said in a statement.

One can't help wondering if soon the "Big Three" automakers will be reduced to the "Big One." Hopefully, the president will do as much to reward Ford for doing the RIGHT things, as he has done to punish GM for doing the WRONG things.

Fired over Pirated Wolverine Review

Roger Friedman has been the major driver behind FOX411, an entertainment rumor and gossip column running on FoxNews.com for years. It has brought in a number of advertisers, and has been the source of quite a few "scoops" on new movies and projects in development. Last week, he posted a review of the pirated WOLVERINE movie that was floating around on torrent sites last week. He praised the film, despite its unfinished state. But now, FOX has enforced their "zero tolerance for piracy" policy by firing their reporter.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/06/business/media/06fox.html?_r=1

This is sure to stir some major controversy. It is likely that Friedman published the review on orders from above, and it is equally likely he'll be picked up by another news source quickly as he is a guaranteed source of readers.

Time for a Mindless Monday

I decided to bite the bullet and do my taxes over the weekend (thank you, TurboTax - what once took 3 days now takes 1 hour). So my brain is a bit fried at the moment. Rather than try and find something deep and meaningful today, how about a mindless time waster. Click over and try out this Chrome experiment built entirely with Javascript. But be warned. Do NOT click unless you have a LOT of time to waste. It is hypnotic.

Yes, this IS my life

Biking Update - April 4, 2009

This has been an interesting week for weight loss, as I am beginning to struggle between two different tendencies. First, is my goal-oriented nature which wants to get as low as possible before my one-year anniversary on June 1. Second, is my realization that weight-loss can NOT be the be-all, end-all of my existence, and that I need to keep my priorities straight. I have lost 75 lbs in the last year, which is a wonderful thing. But in the pursuit of more fitness and less weight, I have found myself sometimes starting to skew my perspective. I am tending to say "No" to things simply so that I can get in one more session on the exercise bike. And I am sometimes saying "No" to food in search of less calorie intake, when doing so has the potential to hurt relationships. I have even skipped a few times with the Lord because by the time my nightly bike ride was done, it was just too late. The realization came to me this week that I always tends to go too far, and that it takes vigilance to keep things in balance. I need to keep looking for opportunities to lose weight, but be mindful that they are a means to an end, not the end in themselves. So, I ate some food this week that was not on plan, to maintain friendships. And I took a day or two off, to make sure I had time for what mattered. This meant that I wound up basically flat for the week, weight-loss wise. But it meant I wound up a generally happier person, as well.

Because of my decision to keep things in balance, the only outdoors bike ride I got this week was last Friday when CRChair and I rode up to Captains Pizza together. The rest of the weekend was taken up with church and family/friend events including the dedication of the children of a close-as-family-friend and a quiz meet. The week itself has been busy and rainy and simply not conducive to two-wheeled riding (we don't have bike lanes, and CT drivers are not always mindful of sharing the road). But I am back up to 12 miles a day on the stationary bike, so fitness is being maintained for the next time we are able to get "oot and aboot" (to quote Sean).

This upcoming week may be better for biking. We're hoping to ride the Trumbull Trail with friends today, if the weather holds, and we'll probably start biking to our Tuesday Guys Night Out on Tuesday. If so, it should be a good week for cycling.

Red Riding Hood

I have to admit that this is pretty intuitive and ingenious

Slagsmålsklubben - Sponsored by destiny from Tomas Nilsson on Vimeo.

The bill *IS* coming...

It's funny because it's true... and depressing for the same reason.

Can diet heal cavities?

During the last year, I have been quite focussed on my diet, but really with an eye toward weight loss than larger nutritional issues. Of course, this means I am eating a LOT more vegetables and fruits, and have been feeling better. But it never occurred to me that diet could affect my dental health (with, of course, the exeption of more sugar meaning more cavities). But at least one doctor is claiming that a diet low in grains and high in calcium can reverse tooth decay.

In group 1, oatmeal prevented healing and encouraged new cavities, presumably due to its ability to prevent mineral absorption. In group 2, simply adding vitamin D to the diet caused most cavities to heal and fewer to form. The most striking effect was in group 3, the group eating a grain-free diet plus vitamin D, in which nearly all cavities healed and very few new cavities developed. Grains are the main source of phytic acid in the modern diet, although we can't rule out the possibility that grains were promoting tooth decay through another mechanism as well.

Dr. Mellanby was quick to point out that diet 3 was not low in carbohydrate or even sugar: "Although [diet 3] contained no bread, porridge or other cereals, it included a moderate amount of carbohydrates, for plenty of milk, jam, sugar, potatoes and vegetables were eaten by this group of children."

I am skeptical, but it seems like something worth looking into.

Big Business gets bailouts, not the rest of us

Obama breaks pledge by taxing tobacco?

I am not fan of smoking, but I have always wondered about sin taxes like the tobacco taxes. If you are taxing something, hoping it will make folks stop buying it, shouldn't you plan for that revenue stream to go away? Anyway, it seems a number of people are furious about the president's plan to increase taxes on cigarettes because it breaks a campaign promise that was prominent.

The largest increase in tobacco taxes took effect despite Obama's promise not to raise taxes of any kind on families earning under $250,000 or individuals under $200,000.

This is one tax that disproportionately affects the poor, who are more likely to smoke than the rich.

"I can make a firm pledge," he said in Dover, N.H., on Sept. 12. "Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes."

I don't see this as being a major point that can be scored by Conservatives against Obama, but I do see it as potentially undermining him among his Liberal supporters.

I love April 1

While Nomad has informed us multiple times of his distaste for this day, I think it's great! Yes, there is a lot of misinformation out there, but it's one day and it's not unexpected. In fact I look forward to seeing who can come up with the best one. Here is a list of this year's jokes so far. My favorite so far has to be Gmail Autopilot an extension of their CADIE project (also a joke). There are other good ones like the Palm Post being the next WebOS phone by Palm, even before they finish the Pre. This is going to be a fun day.

Update (6:29am PT): Here is a list of movie focused jokes.

April 1 No Posts

As I do every April 1, I will be abstaining from posting stories to Mod-Blog (unless there is some truly historic evet). April Fools Day has become a tradition of misinformation and abuse online, and I for one simply do not wish to participate. Other Mod-Bloggers are free to post as they wish. I will see you all tomorrow.