currently 5:05am Saturday 5th July, 2008 (NYC, New York)
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negative calorie diet
Sunday 25 May, 2008 at 10:52AM (Nereus) :: permalink :: comments (1) :: trackbacks (1) This is a diet I've actually used, and as I wrote in a previous entry, it really worked. It uses a theory of 'negative calories', which basically means food that has such a low calorie count, that the energy used by your body to digest it is more than what the food itself provides. It centers around a vegetable soup that I have altered somewhat from the original recipe to give it more flavor, and in the process, slightly less calories (the original recipe worked out to around 71 calories per bowl of soup, my recipe cuts it down to around 53 calories, while still retaining all the important 'negative calorie' components). The good thing about it is that you don't have to starve - you can eat as much of the stuff as you like, as long as it's the right stuff. The diet is in the form of a 7-day eating plan, which can be used as often as you like. If correctly followed, it will clean out your system of impurities and give you a feeling of well-being and energy. After 7 days of this process, you can lose 10 to 15lbs, depending on your initial weight. Of course you have to eat sensibly once you lose the weight too - watch your calorie intake each day and try to minimize things like candy bars, as they pack in a huge amount of calories for such a relatively small amount of food. It's a whole lifestyle change really, but it doesn't need to be drastic, and if you start gaining weight again, just go back on the diet for a few days. It's also a good idea to cut down on soda drinks - even though there are plenty of zero-calorie soft drinks on the market (I'm partial to diet coke), it's not so much the calories but the effect of the carbonated liquid that has a negative affect on dieting. The reason is that the little bubbles actually help your guts absorb the drink (and food already in there) much faster. Ever notice how drinking champagne gets people 'tiddly' in a shorter space of time than still wines? That's why - the carbonated liquid enables your body to absorb the alcohol into your bloodstream much faster. While some may say this is a good thing (and I wouldn't argue that point), it's not such a good thing when it comes to dieting. This diet specifically says not to drink any carbonated drinks whatsoever (even diet drinks) while on the 7-day plan, but I'll get to that later. First of all, here's the main component of the diet - the soup. With the following ingredients, a can size is about 14.5oz / 411grams. I prefer low or no salt ingredients because salt raises blood pressure, and although I don't have high blood pressure, I don't particularly want to develop it. The stock cubes I use are larger than normal (each is about 6 grams), which is why I wrote ½ a cube - if you use standard stock cubes, use a whole one. The soy and worcestershire sauce amounts can be altered according to taste - I've been fairly conservative there, and probably use significantly more myself. You can also season with pepper and salt if you wish, but I think the two sauces cover the need for salt and pepper fairly well. The light cheese triangle segment I use is made by a company called 'Laughing Cow', and each wedge is about 21 grams and contains 35 calories. I use either their garlic and herb light cheese or the french onion light cheese - both taste nice even on their own. I use 'Poland' brand spring water as opposed to tap water because the quality of tap water here isn't the best, although I think spring water actually improves the taste too. soup ingredients :
soup instructions : Dissolve the stock cube in a cup or so of boiling water at the bottom of the pot. Cut all the celery, carrots, green onions and green pepper into small to medium size pieces and then throw them in the pot, along with the stewed tomatoes and green beans. Add enough water to cover everything, then add the soy and worcestershire sauce. Chop the cheese into smaller chunks and toss it in, and then give the whole lot a good stirring to mix it all up. Put a lid on the pot (if you have a lid with a small steam vent, even better), bring the soup to the boil and keep it boiling for 10 minutes, then reduce to a slow simmer and continue to cook until the veggies are tender. Voila, the soup. This will make a little shy of 1 gallon (3.75 liters) of soup, with a total of about 265 calories. With the bowls I use, this equates to about 5 bowls of soup, of 53 calories each. If you want a full-on break down of the nutritional content, here it is (this is for one whole pot of soup) :
7-day eating plan : Now for the 7-day eating plan. During this period, the soup can be eaten any time you are hungry. Eat as much as you want, whenever you want - the more you eat, the better. If you're going to be away for the day, take a thermos of soup with you. At the very least, have three bowls of soup each day. Permitted drinks :
Day 1 : By the end of the 7th day, if you have not cheated on this diet, you should have lost at least 10 pounds. If you have lost more than 15 pounds, stay off the diet for a couple of days before resuming again. This diet is fast, based on the principle of burning more calories than you take in. This diet does not lend itself to drinking any alcoholic beverages at any time, because of the fat build-up in your system. Go off the diet at least 14 hours prior to drinking alcohol. Due to the variety of digestive systems in individuals, this diet affects different people differently. You may find after several days on the diet that your bowel movements change. If it's a problem, eat a cup of bran or fiber. The basic fat burning soup can be eaten any time you feel hungry during the 7 days - remember the more soup you eat, the more you lose. You can eat broiled or baked skinless chicken instead of the beef if you wish. If you prefer, you can substitute broiled fish for the beef, but only for one of the beef days, as you need the high protein the beef will provide. Do Not, Do Not, Do Not : Do, Do, Do : This diet allegedly comes from the Sacred Heart Memorial Hospital and is used for overweight heart patients in order to lose weight rapidly, usually prior to surgery. If you ask which Sacred Heart Memorial Hospital, I don't have a clue. All I know is that it worked for me. disclaimer : This information is not presented by a medical practitioner. The content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Neither UrbanScrawl.net nor the authors warrant or assume any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of the information provided here, nor any guarantee of results. Please consult your doctor before starting any weight loss plan - we are not responsible for any medical conditions that you may have, or even medical conditions that may occur while on this weight loss plan. If you decide to undertake this plan, you do so at your own risk. The views and statements expressed here represent the opinions of the authors and should not be considered scientific conclusions. hospital diet
Saturday 24 May, 2008 at 11:52PM (Nereus) :: permalink :: comments (0) :: trackbacks (1) I came across this diet ages ago but have never tried it. Apparently it is (or was at the time) used at Greenlane Hospital in Auckland, New Zealand, for overweight patients who are to undergo heart surgery. Apparently the diet is suggested by the Miami Heart Institute and must be followed exactly to lose 10lbs in 3 days (so it claims). Day 1 : Day 2 : Day 3 : Allegedly this diet works on a chemical breakdown method, and should be followed to the letter, with no variations or substitutions. However, there's a few things about this diet that are a little too vague to be able to follow to the letter in my opinion. Day 3 dinner mentions half a melon - there's a big difference between half a big watermelon and half a small cantaloupe or honeydew. Day 2 breakfast says 1 egg - is that boiled, fried, poached ..or raw? The fact that Day 3 lunch specifies a boiled egg also makes it unclear what kind of egg to have on Day 2 for breakfast. Should I have white toast or whole wheat toast? Can I drink water between meals? How big is a slice of cheddar cheese for that matter? Anyway, there is another diet I know of that I have used before, and it definitely worked - I lost 40lbs in 2 months. It uses a theory of 'negative calorie' food, which is basically food that has such a low calorie count, that the energy used by your body to digest it is more than what the food itself provides. The good thing about it is that you don't have to starve, you can eat as much of the stuff as you like, as long as it's the right stuff. It centers around a vegetable soup that I have altered somewhat from the original recipe to give it more flavor, and in the process, less calories. Believe me, it really worked for me, although you do get a bit sick of the soup after a month or so. I'll write it up tomorrow. carrot and cashew nut roast
Friday 23 May, 2008 at 3:27PM (Nereus) :: permalink :: comments (0) This recipe was given to me by a fellow Kiwi surfer. I have yet to try it, but it sounds good, and apparently it tastes good too. I think it comes out kind of like a meatloaf but with no meat, or perhaps like a loaf of bread, I'm not 100% sure, but I am told it's good hot or cold. If you get around to making it before I do, please comment how it came out.
Fry onions and garlic in a pan until onion is soft. Remove from heat and transfer into a large mixing bowl. obamessiah
Wednesday 21 May, 2008 at 4:18PM (Nereus) :: permalink :: comments (2) Lots of concern about who to vote for come elections in November. Regardless of who gets the nod on the democrat side, the choice out of McCain, Obama and Clinton is pretty dismal any way you look at it, in my opinion. I'm rapidly reaching the conclusion that I may not even vote for the POTUS position (President of the United States), and just vote at local and Congressional level and hope the United States survives the following four years.
Earlier this month in Oregon, Obama even managed to mess up how many states there are in the United States: "Over the last 15 months, we've traveled to every corner of the United States. I've now been in 57 states? I think one left to go.".And of course complete silence from the media - in their eyes he can do no wrong apparently. In fact it is the media that decides elections here, because it seems the majority of Americans don't actually bother to research anything, they only care if there's a 'D' or an 'R' after the name, and beyond that will vote only according to which candidate seems to be favored by the press. Insane. If you want an example of media bias, I'll gladly give it. At one point, Hillary Clinton made a claim that she was named after Sir Edmund Hillary, the New Zealander who first reached the summit of Everest in May 1953, along with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay. As it happens, Hillary Clinton was born in October, 1947. Kind of hard to be named after someone who was unknown at the time. That little claim got plenty of media attention, and became a real rally cry for the Obama fans for a while. Similarly and more recently was the claim Hillary made about landing in Bosnia 'under fire', which the media (and Obama fans) had a field day over. Last March, on the anniversary of the Bloody Sunday march in Selma, Alabama, Obama claimed his parents united as a direct result of the civil rights movement, and I quote: "There was something stirring across the country because of what happened in Selma, Alabama, because some folks are willing to march across a bridge. So they got together and Barack Obama Jr. was born." Well guess what? Obama was born in 1961. The Selma march took place in 1965. Go figure that one out. Obama's spokesman, Bill Burton, later explained that Obama was "speaking metaphorically about the civil rights movement as a whole." Yeah right. This is almost an exact parallel to Hillary's little birthday gaffe, yet the media of course completely ignored it. When Obama made a big song and dance about supporting Reverend Wright after the initial uproar over his racist sermons, Obama was portrayed as a great and loyal man of honor and dignity by the media. Later, when Reverend Wright got completely out of control with his comments publicly, Obama did a complete 180° turn and effectively disowned Reverend Wright (so much for the lauded loyalty). Of course the media, instead of pointing out the glaringly obvious, chose to paint Obama as a betrayed victim of his faith in others. What the f..? In perhaps the most seriously troubling set of gaffes of them all, Obama told a Portland crowd over last weekend that Iran doesn't "pose a serious threat to us", cluelessly arguing that "tiny countries" with small defense budgets can't do the US any harm, and then he promptly flip-flopped the very next day, claiming, "I've made it clear for years that the threat from Iran is grave." And people just don't see it. It's unbelievable. This is just a couple of many examples. It's kind of scary, and makes one wonder who's really pulling the strings in this country in light of how the media play this. Great stuff for conspiracy theorists, that's for sure. I'm not saying either Clinton or McCain are necessarily a better option, but the Obama phenomenon is just so far out there that it's, well, it defies explanation. As the saying goes, 'you can't make this stuff up'. all sorts
Tuesday 20 May, 2008 at 3:42PM (Nereus) :: permalink :: comments (0) I've been neglecting updating the site since, well, last year some time. Oops. I recently completed a mission going through all the entries since 2001 and weeding out ones that really served no purpose, such as entries about website updates and when some new version of some utility came out etc. ..entries kind of like this one actually. The final result was a drop of about 150 entries and something like 600 comments. Meh, whatever. Been up to a lot this year. We went to London for 7 days, staying at a hotel in Baker Street about a block from the BakerLoo line station. It was a work trip for Ice, so I just sneaked along in her basket, as ya do. Pretty awesome. Hope to post some pictures eventually, but don't hold your breath. Amazingly enough, the weather was really nice just about the entire time we were there, which is almost unheard of in London for that time of year. Lucky huh. We also did another trip to Las Vegas which was great, and then I spent another week in Los Angeles when my father was gravely ill and the Doctor didn't think he was going to survive. It was the first time I'd seen my father in about 20 years. He has since recovered remarkably well, although is still in a recuperative hospital for now. In the space of a month or so, I changed time zones seven times. Don't think I ever recovered from it - the last two nights I didn't get to sleep until maybe 5:30am, and then up again a couple of hours later. Had a lot of that for a while after I came back for L.A. too. Got down to the final five for a permanent auditor position with one of the 'Big Four' accounting firms here in NYC - I was the only person left from New York, and there were two flown in for the final interviews from Texas, and two others from somewhere down south around New Orleans I believe. Was a little surprised I didn't get it actually, and disappointed obviously. Never mind - onwards and upwards. I still have 1 year to go to finish my degree, so there's light at the end of that tunnel at last. My eyes are getting too tired to continue staring at the monitor. Later. anzac day 2008
Friday 25 April, 2008 at 12:46PM (Nereus) :: permalink :: comments (2) In 1915, Australian and New Zealand soldiers formed part of an Allied expedition that set out to capture the Gallipoli Peninsula, under a plan by Winston Churchill to open the way to the Black Sea for the Allied navies. The objective was to capture Istanbul, capital of the Ottoman Empire and an ally of Germany. The ANZAC force landed at Gallipoli on 25th April, meeting fierce resistance from the Turkish defenders. What had been planned as a bold strike to knock Turkey out of the war quickly became a stale-mate, and the campaign dragged on for eight months. At the end of 1915, the Allied forces were evacuated after both sides had suffered heavy casualties and endured great hardships. Over 8,000 Australian and 2,700 New Zealand soldiers died. News of the landing at Gallipoli made a profound impact on Australians and New Zealanders at home, and 25th April quickly became the day on which they remembered the sacrifice of those who had died in war. Though the Gallipoli campaign failed in its military objectives of capturing Istanbul and knocking Turkey out of the war, the Australian and New Zealand troops' actions during the campaign bequeathed an intangible but powerful legacy. The creation of what became known as "the ANZAC legend" became an important part of the national identity in both countries, as well as with the English who dubbed them "The Knights of Gallipoli". After the First World War, returned soldiers sought the comradeship they felt in those quiet, peaceful moments before dawn. With symbolic links to the dawn landing at Gallipoli, a dawn stand-to or dawn ceremony became a common form of ANZAC Day remembrance during the 1920s, and today the "Dawn Service" has become an integral part of the ANZAC Day commemorations for New Zealanders and Australians, both at home and around the world. Anzac Day is also officially celebrated in the Cook Islands, Niue, Samoa and Tonga. "And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda" is a song written by Eric Bogle in 1972, describing the futility, gruesome reality and the destruction of war (here's the youtube link - not quite sure why the vid has Canadian soldiers near the end though. I removed the embedded video - found it was sucking down CPU resources. There's also another version of the song sung by Liam Clancy). The song is a vivid account of the memories of a young Australian man who, in 1915, had been recruited into the ANZACs and sent to Gallipoli, who "for ten weary weeks" kept himself alive as "around me the corpses piled higher". He recalls "that terrible day" ... "in the hell that they called Suvla Bay we were butchered like lambs at the slaughter" ... "in that mad world of blood, death and fire". In its clear and stark retelling of the events of the battle and its aftermath, it is a passionate indictment of war in general, and notes the passing of other veterans with time, as younger generations become apathetic to the veterans and their cause. The song incorporates the melody and a few lines of "Waltzing Matilda's" lyrics at its conclusion, and is often praised for its haunting imagery of the devastation at Gallipoli, and although it apparently was written as a criticism of war, it has since become a strong symbol of the sacrifice made by the ANZAC soldiers who died on the beaches of Gallipoli. what financial records to keep
Monday 24 March, 2008 at 11:53PM (Nereus) :: permalink :: comments (0) Was wondering about what financial records I should be retaining, and for how long. It seems there is a significant amount of differing opinion out there, so I would recommend staying on the conservative side of any fairly reliable advice you come across, meaning that if, for example, one source says 3 years and another says 7 years, go with the 7 years. Also your personal situation can have an effect on this - for example, if you itemize deductions on your personal tax return, you should retain the relevant records, whereas if you take the standard deductions, then certain records you wouldn't need to hang on to such as credit card records. According to the IRS, "You must keep your records as long as they may be needed for the administration of any provisions of the Internal Revenue Code. Generally, this means you must keep records that support an item of income or deduction on a return until the period of limitations for that return runs out." With that in mind, here's some fairly conservative guidelines for an individual salary or wage earner in the US:
There's probably a bunch of other things, but this is just a basic guideline. You should keep two home files - your active file and your dead storage file. Your active file will hold unpaid bills until paid, paid bill receipts, current bank statements, current canceled checks, income tax working papers. After 3 years, move these items to your dead storage file. That should keep things running fairly smoothly. If in doubt, don't throw it out. bandwidth theft
Saturday 9 February, 2008 at 6:28PM (Nereus) :: permalink :: comments (0) Was just sifting through some older files and had a giggle when I came across this image:
I made it years ago when I was on another host and found a heap of my images were being hotlinked from other websites (and therefore using the bandwidth I was paying for), so I added an .htaccess file and had this image served up whenever another site was hotlinking an image.. was pretty amusing at the time ..and effective. sweet machine
Friday 11 January, 2008 at 12:39AM (Nereus) :: permalink :: comments (2)
General Motors executives have long said that their Hummer line needs a new model. Soon, it will be adding a pick-up. Beyond that, the only direction left to go is smaller. And that means going head to head with the Jeep Wrangler. With its HX concept car, to be shown at the Detroit Auto Show next week, Hummer has taken every feature Wrangler fans love about their favorite off-roader and brought it into a more modern looking Hummer motif. The Hummer HX is about as convertible as a convertible can get. Not only do the roof panels lift off and the doors come off their hinges, but the HX's fenders come off with a quick turn of a screw. The rear quarter windows lift out as well. In case you get into real trouble, it's equipped with a set of specially designed tools including a rechargeable flashlight, collapsible shovel and fire extinguisher.
The HX seats four. The rear seats fold down and can be removed for added cargo space - their thin-backed shape was inspired by lightweight aircraft seats. Much of the interior is covered in bare metal. A three-element gauge cluster changes automatically to show either a tachometer for normal driving or a wheel angle indicator for off-road driving. The Hummer HX concept will be powered by a 3.6-liter V6 engine that can run on gasoline or an ethanol blend. It will have a six-speed automatic transmission and full-time all-wheel-drive. The front suspension has a stabilizer bar that can be automatically disconnected for extreme off-road situations GM claims that it can wade through two feet of water. Yes please. netscape grinds to a halt
Sunday 30 December, 2007 at 1:38PM (Nereus) :: permalink :: comments (0)
Its current caretakers, Time Warner Inc.'s AOL, decided to kill further development and technical support to focus on growing the company as an advertising business. Netscape's usage dwindled with Microsoft Corp.'s entry into the browser business, and Netscape all but faded away following the birth of its open-source cousin, Firefox. "While internal groups within AOL have invested a great deal of time and energy in attempting to revive Netscape Navigator, these efforts have not been successful in gaining market share from Microsoft's Internet Explorer," Netscape Director Tom Drapeau wrote in a blog entry Friday. In recent years, Netscape has been little more than a repackaged version of the more popular Firefox, which commands about 10 percent of the Web browser market, with almost all of the rest going to Internet Explorer. People will still be able to download and use the Netscape browser indefinitely, but AOL will stop releasing security and other updates on Feb. 1. Drapeau recommended that the small pool of Netscape users download Firefox instead. A separate Netscape Web portal, which has had several incarnations in recent years, will continue to operate. The World Wide Web was but a few years old when in April 1993 a team at the University of Illinois' National Center for Supercomputing Applications released Mosaic, the first Web browser to integrate images and sound with words. Before Mosaic, access to the Internet and the Web was largely limited to text, with any graphics displayed in separate windows. Marc Andreessen and many of his university colleagues soon left to form a company tasked with commercializing the browser. The first version of Netscape came out in late 1994. Netscape fed the gold-rush atmosphere with a landmark initial public offering of stock in August 1995. Netscape's stock carried a then-steep IPO price of $28 per share, a price that doubled on opening day to give the startup a $2 billion market value even though it had only $20 million in sales. But Netscape's success also drew the attention of Microsoft, which quickly won market share by giving away its Internet Explorer browser for free with its flagship Windows operating system. The bundling prompted a Justice Department antitrust lawsuit and later a settlement with Microsoft. Netscape eventually dropped fees for the software, but it was too late. Undone by IE, Netscape sold itself to AOL in a $10 billion deal completed in early 1999. Netscape spawned an open-source project called Mozilla, in which developers from around the world freely contribute to writing and testing the software. Mozilla released its standalone browser, Firefox, and Netscape was never able to regain its former footing. Source: associated press. On a personal note, I was an avid user of Netscape for years, then moved on to Firefox, which I continue to use to this day - I only use MS Internet Explorer when forced to at work. An end of an era for sure, although it's been in the cards for a while now. Buh-bye Nutscrape. |
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I'm stunned at how many people are enamored with Obama without actually having any reason to be, I mean heck, the other day he was asked a question about the massive multi-billion dollar Hanford nuclear waste site and what he proposes to do about it. His reply was, and I quote, "I'm not familiar with the Hanford, uuuuhh, site, so I don't know exactly what's going on there." Guess what happened? The crowd broke into applause! I'm not kidding. I've never seen anything like it. It's like there's this huge swath of sheeple who have no clue whatsoever, and just fall over themselves at anything that comes out of his mouth, even if it's complete gibberish.
Yeah it might be a bit of a gas guzzler, but what a sweet machine. It's the Hummer HX concept, General Motors' answer to the Jeep Wrangler, and wow what an answer. Article from 
Netscape Navigator, the world's first commercial Web browser and the launch pad of the Internet boom, will be pulled off life support on 1st February, 2008, after a 13-year run.