The 100-Mile Diet

When I saw this listed among ‘diets’ in Wikipedia, I thought it was going to be a weight-loss diet based on the reasonable supposition that one should walk or jog at least 100 miles each month. Most people could eat just as much as they do now, and lose substantially by increasing their exercise to that modest level. But no. It isn’t a weight-loss diet at all. Instead it’s a fad diet, posing as an ecological-diet.

Here is the first paragraph of the Wikipedia article:

The 100-Mile Diet refers to the buying and eating of food that has been grown, manufactured or produced entirely within a 100 mile radius of the residence of the individual who will be consuming the food. The average distance in the modern North American industrial food system of 1,500 miles from farm to plate. The 100-Mile Diet is aimed at reducing an individuals carbon footprint and ecological footprint while supporting local food systems.

Yes, let’s just abandon 1,000 years of progress, and go back to those fine ‘Middle Ages’ (aka the Dark Ages). I know, I know — the motives are good — but is like the ‘brick in the toilet’ approach to water conservation. It is based on false economy. Reducing the water in each flush may save water if the number of flushes stay the same, but in reality people end up flushing twice because once just wasn’t enough.

David Pimentel of Cornell University studied the greenhouse gas-cost of food production and transportation. Based on his research, it is far more ecologically effective to cut back on beef consumption than to boycott bananas and other non-local foods. The locavores don’t want to hear that though, because many of them live on farms where beef production is a big part of their income. No wonder they want people to eat locally produced food — they produce it! So who cares if the banana and coconut producers of central and south America starve?

It just makes common sense that a more varied diet will not only contribute to the trade balance (what if foreign consumers begin to boycott U.S. foods as non-local?), but also to health, since the more varied one’s diet the better the chances of meeting all our nutritional needs. I’m sure the instigators of the 100-Mile Diet mean well, but they are barking up the wrong tree.

First Nano-Step Toward Nanobot Construction

Scientists are reporting that they have taken the first small step toward building a device capable of manipulating individual molecules of various materials. The ultimate dream of nanotechnology is to produce minuscule robotic devices capable of being programmed and capable of manipulating matter at the molecular level. These little nanobots, as they have been dubbed, will be able to produce materials and objects of unimagined properties. Eventually they may even be programmed to produce more nanobots, thus becoming self-replicating.

The potential is unimaginable. The current effort to produce a palatable meat-replacement without using animals would be child’s play for the nanobots. Reconstructing a faulty heart-valve or even rejuvenating human tissue, should be possible. Materials stronger than steel yet lighter than Styrofoam could be produced. Of course there is also the danger of military use or malicious programming causing the complete extermination of the human race — a problem that will need to be addressed as the technology develops — but the overall potential is almost limitless.

We are a very long ways from being able to produce such devices, but the first tiny steps toward this goal are described in the cited report. There are tools for nano-construction already, but none suitable for manipulating the variety of materials in the ways that are needed to work them together into a nanobot. This report describes how scientists are working on a tool that could help build the tool that could be used to build a nanobot.

Intermittent Fasting Blog

After one month trying out Intermittent Fasting, my wife and I have been so delighted with the results that I’ve decided to devote another blog entirely to that subject: Our Longevity Blog. There you will find a detailed discussion of our experiences. We are losing weight, we feel healthier and the diet is not at all difficult. I expect to continue intermittent fasting for the rest of my life, so long as I don’t develop any diseases that contra-indicates it, such as diabetes. The beauty of it is, research suggests that this diet itself will help prevent adult-onset diabetes, as well as lower our risks from cancer and other deadly diseases.

And it is much easier than I expected. The word ‘fasting’ brings up images of near-starvation and hunger pains, but really, the way we time it, it is not difficult at all. As I described earlier, we are essentially fasting alternate nights, and the following morning — so we fast part of each day. We also eat two meals every day, one large meal and one small meal or snack. And since the fast begins right after the main meal of the day, we begin our fasts with full stomachs. By bed-time I’m a little hungry, but not too much. Then eight hours asleep I don’t even notice I’m fasting. The next morning it is only about five hours from when I get up before I start eating again, and while I’m hungry during those hours, it is not an extreme hunger — it’s just like I normally feel just before dinner time. I have plenty of energy, and often spend an hour walking the three mile round-trip to town and back. The fact that I’m fasting has no effect on my activity levels.

Is a Parkinson’s Cure in Sight?

A new report explains that improvements in neurological functioning have been stimulated in mice with Parkinson’s-like symptoms through the use of therapeutic cloning. Unlike the more controversial reproductive cloning, which aims to produce a complete living organism, therapeutic cloning aims to produce specific healthy cell types that can then be re-introduced to the host to replace diseased cells. Because the cloned cells are genetically identical to the host, they are not destroyed by the immune response.

With mice, at least, this technique has now been demonstrated to be an effective treatment for the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. Transferring such technology from rodents to humans is not always easy or inevitable — we are not rodents, however much some folks seem to invite the comparison — so it is too early to say this will work with humans, but it is hopeful.

This brings us to the question of what should be done next. The process is not ready for use on humans, and it would be unethical to begin experimenting on people at this stage. But mice are too far removed from humans to provide satisfactory evidence that the process is safe and effective. Obviously, we need to try this on chimps, or other primates before it is used on humans. But animal activists will cry that it is animal abuse and unethical to use these highly developed simian species for laboratory experiments. If it were a question of trying out the latest cosmetic invention or some behavioral study, I would agree — but with something as important as the potential cure of Parkinson’s Disease, I think it would be unethical NOT to use primates in these experiments. We need to treat animals as ethically as possible — but NOT to the detriment of humans!

Intermittent Fasting — Two Week Report

Well, as I posted a couple weeks ago, my wife and I have been fasting — basically half of every day, rather than every-other day. But the two half-day fasts follow on one another, making it 24 hours (theoretically) out of each 48. But in practice we may only fast something between 23 and 24 hours, since we have our main meal the same time every day — between 2 and 3 pm.

My wife hasn’t weighed herself, but I have — so I’ll report my results here. I lost 1.3 kilos (almost 3 pounds) over the past two weeks. This amazes me, since I have made no conscious effort to cut down on my food; I feel like I’m eating normally. Yesterday’s dinner was a big plate of spaghetti with meat sauce, then a night-time snack of a grilled cheese sandwich, and pancakes for breakfast today. This afternoon I’ll have a couple glasses of wine and pork-roast in mustard sauce. Then we won’t eat again until comida (dinner)  tomorrow, between 2 and 3 pm again.

I have had no problem holding to this diet, and can see it becoming a permanent life-style choice if it gets me down to a better weight. I feel a bit hungry during the fasting period, but don’t feel week or experience other problems from lack of food. I drink plenty of water, and in the morning two cups of coffee with no milk or sugar. On the alternate non-fasting morning I make the coffee a bit stronger, and use one teaspoon of sugar in each cup.

Of course just two weeks is not enough to judge anything, but I am encouraged. Most diets cause weight-loss at the beginning, then stop working, and this could have a similar effect. I’m not sure it matters — if I feel healthier I’ll stick to it, if not I’ll look for something else to try.

College Educated Live Longer

In a surprising analysis of longevity, researchers have found that life span is no longer lengthening for people with 12 or fewer years of education, while those with some college are living longer. The economic link with longevity (rich folk live longer) has long been know. There is some link between higher education and greater income, though not so strong as one might expect. Now they observe that educated folks are living longer than comparable groups did years ago, but those with less education are staying about the same, or even declining in longevity compared to earlier generations.

The report offers no clear explanation for this phenomena — do educated people live longer because they heed the advice of the medical experts in health matters? Or is it because they are more likely to question their doctor’s decisions? My guess would be the latter; the better educated you are, the more you realize that doctors are not the infallible gods they pretend to be. Huge numbers of people die from adverse reactions to prescribed medicines, which they continue to take even when it makes them feel worse. Until that far-distant day when individual medicines are designed to complement your personal genetic make-up, it is healthier to replace blind faith in doctors with skepticism and questioning. I don’t doubt they try their best, but they are, after all, only human.

Intermittent Fasting Experiment

There have been several studies with animals that show intermittent fasting — feeding the animal every other day instead of daily — can increase longevity and improve general health. Limited studies have also been done with humans, but nothing very long-term and usually with only a small number of subjects. The results from those have been mixed, some showing some health benefits, others indicating some problems with blood-sugar regulation. Of course none of the human studies have even looked at longevity, that just takes too long with people.

Encouraged by the animal studies, and suspicious of the study-design in the human experiments, my wife and I have decided to try an alternating 24 hour fast, 24 hour feed schedule. Like many others who have tried this, our plan is to eat every day, but time meals so that there is a 24 hour fast from the end of one day to the beginning of the next.

Most people who have reported trying this eat the typical American three meals of breakfast – lunch – dinner, so they eat dinner every day, and skip breakfast and lunch on alternate days. We live in Mexico, where the largest meal of the day is traditionally eaten in early afternoon — comida –  so we eat breakfast around 9:00 am, the main meal between 2:00 and 3:00 pm, then a light snack about 10:00 pm. That light snack might be as large as a sandwich if we are unusually hungry, but more typically is two tacos, or a shared bowl of popcorn.

So for our fast, we eat the main meal every day, just as in the American examples, but we also get a second meal — either breakfast or the night-time snack, but never both. Thus, we fast from the end of our main meal one day, until the main meal the next day, then eat a night-time snack that night. The next day we start with breakfast, then comida and start another 24 hour fast.

We just began this regime March 4, 2008, so we have only had one fast so far — but I found it no problem at all. My wife reported a slight headache that may or may-not have been due to the fast. We both weighed ourselves, and will see if we lose any weight — I am 190 cm tall and weigh 99.1 kg. My wife’s weight is a well-guarded secret!  We will report here our progress in the coming weeks.

Internet Notes From Government Sources

The Internet sometimes seems a wild-west terrain of lawlessness and complete freedom. We forget that Big Brother is always ready to regulate and control any means of communication. As someone once said, Freedom of the Press only applies if you own one. Well now, we all own our little virtual presses. Keep on eye on government rules and regulations concerning the Internet. Here are a few documents to get you started:

• Internet Domain Name and Addressing System
• Customer Proprietary Network Information
• Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule
• Framework for Broadband Access to the Internet Over Wireline Facilities
• Internet Communications
• Consumer Protection in the Broadband Era
• Definitions and Implementation Under the CAN-SPAM Act
• Requirements for IP-Enabled Service Providers

Copyright Law Notes From Government Sources

If you are involved in publishing — and an Internet blog qualifies as publishing — then you need to understand copyrights to know what you can and what you can’t copy from other sources. You can Google the word copyright to get basic information, but if you want up-to-date details on government rulings affecting copyright, here are some more resources:

• Exemptions to the Prohibition on Circumvention of Copyright
• Copyright Exceptions for Libraries and Archives
• Orphan Works
• Preregistration of Certain Unpublished Copyright Claims
• Group Copyright Registration of Published Photographs
• Digital Performance Right in Sound Recordings and Ephemeral Recordings
• Compulsory License for Making and Distributing Phonorecords
• Recordation of Copyrights and Enforcement Procedures

Silent Movie Making

Here is a little excerpt from an old novel, published in 1914, that describes movie making. This was the days of silent films, remember, and shortly before the introduction of sound. Of course all movies were still black and white, and no studio had yet dominated the field of movie production, so there were lots of small independent producers. Here is how the author describes movie making:

I presume all my readers have seen moving pictures many times, and perhaps many of you know how they are made. But at the risk of repeating what is already known I will give just a little description of how the work is done.

In the first place there has to be a play to be “filmed,” or taken. It may be a parlor drama an outdoor scene–anything from a burning building to a flood. With the play decided on, the actors and actresses for the different parts are selected and carefully rehearsed. This is necessary as the camera is instantaneous and one false move or gestures may spoil the film.

Next comes the selection of the location for the various scenes. Indoor ones are comparatively easy, for the scenic artist can build almost anything. But to get the proper outdoor setting is not so easy, and often moving picture companies go many miles to get just the proper scenery for a background.

So careful are some managers that they will send to California, or to the Holy Land, in order that their actors may have the proper historical surroundings. This costs many thousands of dollars, so it can be seen how important it is to get the film right at first.

There are two main parts to the moving picture business–the taking of the pictures and later the projection, or showing, of them on a white screen in some theater.

For this two different machines are needed. The first is a camera, similar in the main principle to the same camera with which you may have taken snapshots. But there is a difference. Where you take one picture in a second, the moving picture camera takes sixteen. That is the uniform rate maintained, though there may be exceptions. And in your camera you take a picture on a short strip of celluloid film, or on a glass plate, but in the moving picture machine the pictures are taken on a narrow strip of celluloid film perhaps a thousand feet long.

The camera consists of a narrow box. On one side is a handle, and there is a lens that can be adjusted or focused. Inside is varied machinery, but I will not tire you with a description of it. Sufficient to say that there are two wheels, or reels. On one–the upper–is wound the unexposed film. One end of this film is fastened to the empty, or lower, reel. The film is passed back of lens, which is fitted with a shutter that opens and closes at the rate of sixteen times a second.

Turning a handle on the outside of the camera operates it. So that when the scene is ready to be photographed the actors, whether men or animals, begin to move. The handle turns, and the unexposed film is wound from one reel to the other, inside the camera, passing behind the lens, so that the picture falls on it in a flash, just as you take one snapshot. But, as I have said, the moving picture camera takes snapshot after snapshot–sixteen a second–until many thousands are taken, so that when the pictures are shown afterward they give the effect of continuous motion.

The film is moved forward by means of toothed sprocket wheels inside the camera, the shutter opening and closing automatically.

When the reel of film has all been exposed, it is taken to the dark room, and there developed, just as a small roll from your camera would be. This film is called the negative. From it any number of positives can be made, all depending on the popularity of the subject.

To make positives, the negative film is laid on another strip of sensitive celluloid of the same size. The two films are placed in a suitable machine, and then set in front of a bright light. The two films are then moved along so as to print each of the thousands of pictures previously taken.

The positive film is then developed, “fixed” to prevent it from fading, and it is then ready for the projecting machine. This latter is like the old-fashioned stereopticon, and by means of suitable lenses, and a brilliant light, the small pictures, hardly more than an inch square, are so magnified that they appear life-size on the screen.

That, in brief, is how moving pictures are made and shown, but it tells nothing of the hard work involved, on the part of operators, and actors and actresses. Often the performers risk their lives to make a “snappy” film, and many accidents have occurred where daring men and women took parts with wild beasts in the cast, or dared serious injury by long jumps.