Wednesday, July 10, 2002

From CNN, Austin police arrested a church pastor and his twin brother Tuesday, alleging they used a tree branch to beat unconscious an 11-year-old who misbehaved in Bible class. 10:56:56 PM

Lisa rightfully corrects my reference to "carb-free" diets: One of the major-bludgeoning tools used by opponents of low-carbing is that the diet excludes an entire food group. This couldn't be further from the truth. I think the misconception is based on the early stages of the Atkins diet (only one of the many low carb plans). For the first two weeks, someone following the Atkins plan eats no more than 20 grams of carbohydrate a day. This is a type of detox that switches the body from a glucose burning mode to a fat-burning mode. After the first two weeks, you add five grams of carb a day until you find the point at which your own personal body stops losing weight. If you want to maintain your weight, you stay at that level, if you want to lose weight, you drop slightly under it. Some people eat 30 grams a day, some people eat 200 grams a day. A more appropriate name might be a careful carb diet. Low carbers need to choose their fruits and vegetables carefully, excluding those with a heavy impact on blood sugar like white potato, but we eat tons of those that are high in fiber like broccoli and celery root. With new information about the glycemic index of foods (which reflects the actual impact on blood sugar of specific foods) it's easier to choose appropriate fruits and vegetables. Some low carbers even eat pasta and peanut m+m's because they have a minimal impact on blood sugar. 2:44:02 PM

Cover story of TIME magazine this week asks Should You Be A Vegetarian? Taken in conjunction with the recent in-depth article about carb-free diets prompts me to wonder if the simplest diet plan involves nothing more than the elimination of junk food. When I was what I still consider to be the best shape of my life, all I did was minimize my consumption of the myriad junk food offerings out there. I didn't worry about carbs or fat or calories or anything. I just stopped drinking sugary carbonated beverages, stopped eating candy bars, potato chips, burgers, fries. Pretty much anything with fancy packaging and big advertising budgets I would avoid. Pretty simple, and extremely effective. 10:00:52 AM

Good commentary on the travesty that was a mockery of a mockery of a sham last night in Milwaukee from ESPN's Jim Caple. Feeling cheated? he asks. Get used to it. The biggest problem with the All-Star Game is that nobody cares who actually wins the game anymore, and Tuesday proved it. Rather than play the game to its logical conclusion -- a victory by either the National or American League -- baseball told the fans to go to hell and called the game after 11 innings with the score tied 7-7. What a disgrace. The night they name the MVP award after Ted Williams, they didn't have one. What a shame. The night they name the award after a legend who played the entire 1946 All-Star Game and won it with a ninth-inning home run, they stopped playing after 11 innings. What an embarrassment. The night they honor a baseball giant who played the entire All-Star Game several times, they ran out of players. Ted would be spinning in his grave had his son not frozen him and placed him upside down in a refrigerator. 9:36:22 AM

If you read these quotes from CNN, you might have guessed that some not-so-bright individual made a joke about a bomb, or box-cutters, or hijacking: [America West spokeswoman Patty] Nowack said the crew decided to take the woman off the aircraft after determining that her remarks constituted a potential security problem. "While this passenger may have been joking it is difficult to determine if someone is joking or serious. We take any comment regarding safety seriously," she said. . But the meat of the story is that this particular individual "jokingly questioned whether the plane's pilots were sober." Ah. Lesson learned: don't talk to anybody about anything anywhere near an airport. Who knows what might get you kicked off the next flight. If flying makes you nervous, don't mention your concerns to anyone. Don't look at an airline pilot funny. Don't step out of line. Don't fidget in your seat. Don't think. 9:22:22 AM

The 1980s science fiction series, Max Headroom, depicted a society "twenty minutes into the future" ruled by powerful television networks locked in ruthless competition for viewer eyeballs. Concerned by the growing trend towards channel surfing, the blipvert was developed as a rapid-fire subliminal advertisement which pumped its commercial messages directly into consumers' brains before they had a chance to change the channel.... From MIT Technology Review, by way of Jenny. 7:10:37 AM

C. P. Snow. "When you think of the long and gloomy history of man, you will find more hideous crimes have been committed in the name of obedience than have ever been committed in the name of rebellion." [Quotes of the Day] 7:04:26 AM