Saturday, December 30, 2006

New Years Resolution come early

I stumbled across this today.

I won't go in to the theory - you can read that yourself, but basically you take either a tablespoon of oil or 3 glasses of sugarwater a day to reduce food cravings.

I have a few kilos to loose after December binging so thought I would give it a nudge. I just had a dose of oil. I don't know if it really works or just in my head, but before I took it I was really hungry, and now I am not in the slightest. It might have something to do with the glass of water I washed the oil down with.

Anyway, I will track my changes here over the next few days and weeks. My starting weight is 102kg, and goal is 90kg. I am also going to frequent the gym a bit more after NY too, as I have been a little slack of late, so any weight loss must also take this into consideration, although I have put on 2kg since I started going in August....

Oh anyone considering doing this diet, should also read the counter arguments. There is a string lobby against the Shangri-La, mostly coming from the Low Card brigade.

I am a complete laymen so won't take any sides here, or offer conclusive scientific theory on my results. This is just one mans opinion. I find it a little hypocritical of the "Atkins" brigade to bag the Shangri La though. Their diet is pretty much exclusively shunned by nutritionalists also.

I did the Atkins a couple of years ago, before the low carb options became available in the supermarkets. It worked. I lost 10kg in about 8 weeks.

There are some caveats that I found:
- Atkins breath is terrible
- At the time options were slim and low carb gets very dull, very quick
- I found my performance in cycling and soccer to be far below par when on Atkins - lacking energy and endurance

I went off Atkins because of the points above and because I reached goal weight. After I went off Atkins I put my original weight back on plus about 5kg more. I wasn't eating badly either. I think my body just stored the new Carbs I was eating, because it had been starved of them. I also think my metabolism slowed as well. My conclusion was that the Atkins works great if you stay on it, but if you don't intend to then stay well away.

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Simplifying Web Application Deployment

Visual Studio is great. There are some really nice new features, one of them isn't the Web Application deployment. Especially if you have a site that was built using the 2003 way of doing things - i.e Single dll deployment.

Fortunately there is an answer. You can either download SP1 of VS2005 which has an option to use Web Application Project or install the WAP plugin.

Links here:

Description of WAP
WAP Plugin
Visual Studio SP1
Scott Guthries Tutorial's

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

PSP Rocks

I finally gave in and bought myself a Playstation Portable. Man these things rock. Pretty much a PS2 in a package no bigger than an old TV remote.

There are a couple of problems with it:
- the screen is crap in direct sunlight although it's not the lone ranger there when it comes to LCD screens though
- the analog control is in the wrong place. It is under the direction arrows which makes it not easy to use for anyone with big hands. You have to crane your thumb quite a bit to use it. I guess it was tested on either children or Japanese dudes with small hands. Either way it's not ideal for this Kiwi.

Oh and the screen is constantly grubby.

Other than that it is brilliant. I have just ordered a 1Gb Memory stick so I can try it out as a video/music playback device, which is probably the main reason I bought it. I plan to use it as a MP3 Player/Video Player to watch listen to webcasts while taking the train to work when we move to the UK. I know there are better devices for this, but none this cheap that play games as well.

Can't wait for Gran Turismo Mobile to come out in the New Year. I hope it is as good as the full Playstation versions.

Thursday, December 07, 2006

Wii

Hamish at work got his new Nintendo Wii today. I had pretty much written it off as a kids toy - especially compared to the XBox 360 and PS3.

How wrong was I? The WiiMote shows there is still room for genuine innovation in the console world. Basically the WiiMote becomes an extension of your hands and instead of sitting passively, you move your hands and arms around when playing games to control movement.

I have only played Wii Sports, but it is way cool, and I can think in the months ahead there should be some great games making use of this.

The best thing about this is that kids will be losing a few calories while playing games. Ok it would be better if they were outside kicking a ball or whatever, but kids love games and at least this way they get off their arses!

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Oh dear, Oh dear, Oh dear

England should be heartily congratulated. They managed to lose an un-losable match and virtually hand the Ashes back to Australia.

The most eagerly anticipated series in years is turning out to be a bit of a wet fish. Or should that be limp haddock? Or maybe better still impotent Lion.

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

English "Lion"

Oh man! Who would be an England sports fan? I am watching the Ashes on CricInfo, and it is looking very bad for the Pomgolians. Flintoff is gone now, it's a matter of time before they capitulate and the ockers win.

The played like champions in the ashes last year, but other than that, when was the last time the English did anything meaningful in the world of sport?

They won the Rugby World cup last time, but have hardly won a game since. Mediocre performance in the Football World Cup, rubbish at Tennis, practically run Formula One but Jenson Button is the best they can put forward, it's an embarrassment really.

Lets hope the last 5 batsmen put up a fight and can somehow salvage a draw. The England sporting public needs it, and the rest of us can't stand a smug Aussie.

Monday, December 04, 2006

Classic CricInfo Commentary

I am at work today so cant watch the Ashes Live. Have been keeping up to date using CricInfo which is one of the best sports sites on the net. Anyway here is a transcript of some commentary I found amusing - commentator writing before thinking me thinks ;-)

"1.35pm Hello all, Jennifer here. Hope you're splendid. Welcome along to the afternoon session - we're just waiting for the players to come out on the pitch. Here they come now - let's see who Flintoff's going to hand the ball to... maybe he'll give himself another burst.

And for all those asking what chuntering means ... here's the dictionary definition ... "to grumble or grouse mildly or tediously". Oh, and as for those asking exactly what is being said in the middle ... well, we don't really know the gory details as the mandarins at the ICC rule that the material cannot be broadcast as it might upset more sensitive folk. It's up to your, and our, fertile imaginations...

Lunch A tense session but Australia avoided the follow-on thanks to Clarke and Gilchrist who, while they were made to work hard initially, were quick to dispatch the loose deliveries. We'll be back in 40 minutes and hope you'll join us again for more handbags at dawn. Send us your musings.

Pietersen is giving it back to Warne here, Jones by Warne's right and they're all having a go now! Collingwood's chirping back to Warne in his thick Durham accent (thick, as in prominent - I'm not casting aspersions as to his intelligence, obviously). This is great stuff
123.6 Pietersen to Warne, no run, and he defends this solidly before immediately turning towards the pavilion for lunch
Big chat here! It's all going off in the middle. Collingwood, Cook and Jones are laying into Warne. It's all friendly, lots of smiles, but it's great viewing. And listening
123.5 Pietersen to Clarke, 1 run, clunked down to long-on
123.4 Pietersen to Clarke, no run, the arm ball? Short, outside off and left alone
123.3 Pietersen to Clarke, no run, flighted outside off, turning back into Clarke who jumps back and defends watchfully
Pietersen's bossing this, marshalling his field and telling Cook to remain at short-leg
123.2 Pietersen to Warne, 1 run, no, too short and wide, cut hard into the deep
123.1 Pietersen to Warne, no run, and he comes forward here, head right over the ball. A wry smile there from Pietersen
Here's Pietersen over the wicket

Yes, just to confirm - the "chuntering" I mentioned in the previous over or two does not, in any way, mean the same as "chundering." No one is vomiting on the pitch, I can assure you."