The Fast Diet: Week Six
08:43 Friday, 7 March 2014
Words: 1043
This morning marked the end of my sixth week on The Fast Diet, and I weighed 193 pounds. That's seven pounds lost in six weeks. Color me happy.
Something I've been noticing a bit, and trying to make more of an effort to observe, is that on the morning after a fast I feel pretty damn good, which is to say, better than I normally do. I don't wake up hungry, let alone starving, but even more interesting is that I don't seem to have the "normal" aches and pains I wake up with most other mornings.
And my tinnitus seems a lot better. Which is remarkable.
I have a nice case of tinnitus, which I would normally ascribe to too many years of proximity to naval guns, firearms, gas turbines, aircraft and shipboard machinery. I would say it's been getting worse in the last few years. It's especially noticeable first thing in the morning as I'm waking up. If I've been drinking the night before, it's even worse. Once I'm up and moving, and my attention is elsewhere, it recedes into the background where I don't notice it as much. If I check for it though, it's there, loud and clear.
On Tuesday, following the Monday fast, I was out walking Bodhi in the morning and it occurred to me that I couldn't really recall "hearing" my tinnitus that morning. And if I listened for it, it didn't seem as loud. I wondered if the fast had anything to do with it, so I made a mental note to kind of pay attention this morning and see if I was imagining things.
I didn't recall it first thing in the morning, so I'm not sure about what it was like as I was waking up, except I usually notice it and I don't recall doing so this morning. As I was out walking Bodhi, I recalled the previous walk and "listened" for my tinnitus. It was there, but I kind of had to listen hard. As I'm typing this now, I can hear it, but it's not as "loud" as it normally is. It really is a pleasant discovery. For a long time, I thought it was just something I was going to have to live with; but now it seems like it's at least somewhat responsive to a change in my diet. It's not "cured" by any means, but it's a very pleasing discovery.
I don't know what the connection might be between tinnitus and fasting, but I suspect there is one and it may be related to inflammation and oxidative stress. Bear in mind, I'm not a physician, biochemist or nutritionist. I'm just speculating because it's kind of fun to do.
But there's another pleasant little surprise, and that is the absence of a lot of little aches and pains the morning following a fast. The usual inventory includes the soles of my feet, my ankles, my knees, my spine, my left shoulder and my left elbow. I've had plantar fasciitis in both feet before, and achilles tendonitis as well. Every morning, not following a fast, it's like a little case of plantar fasciitis and achilles tendonitis. My ankles ache a bit near the top. My knees often ache on the outer part of the joint. My left shoulder often gets too uncomfortable to lay on at night. These all seem to kind of clear up as I get up and moving, but the first few steps of the morning are almost always a litany of complaints. My left elbow has something going on that I don't understand, and I'll have to get that looked at. If I'm out walking Bodhi with the leash in my right and and my left hand just at my side, the elbow will often stiffen up, such that if I go to raise my hand to wave to someone, or shift the leash, I have to make a significant effort to move my arm, and there is a great deal of discomfort. Maybe it's arthritis, I don't know. Possibly related to some wear and tear when I was training in martial arts regularly. Apart from the elbow, on the morning following a fast, I don't seem to notice anywhere near the usual litany of complaints.
Because all of these complaints, I think, are at least somewhat due to inflammation (from age and overuse), I suspect that fasting does something to reduce the amount of inflammation going on everywhere in my body.
Week six was pretty easy. I've maintained a practice of eating one "large" meal (less than 600 calories, mostly protein and fat — I need to work on some vegetable items) between 11:00 and noon. Thursday nights I show a movie at the clubhouse and I'll have a small bag of popcorn, which is cheating, I know. I don't suffer from hunger pangs, though I do find I seem inclined to obsessive thinking about food. I will say that it seemed somewhat diminished this week. I didn't have to change activities as frequently to distract myself.
The weight loss is the biggest benefit. It's faster than any other method I've tried. As an ongoing lifestyle choice, it seems achievable. I'm single and not in a relationship so I have a great deal of control over my schedule. I don't have to place myself in social situations that involve eating and drinking. I love the fact that I really don't have to pay attention to what I'm eating on the non-fast days; and it's probably too early to be certain, but I do think I'm beginning to detect a change in my approach to food. I went out Wednesday night to Bonefish Grill to celebrate a friend's birthday. I ordered the Bang-Bang Shrimp (now up to $6.00!), as I usually do. I almost always eat the whole thing, but I had little interest in doing so yesterday. I even shared with someone at the table and I still didn't finish it. So that's new, and a little encouraging.
Anyway, I'm happy. I don't want to live forever, I'd just like to maintain as much health and functionality as I can going forward, and still enjoy life. This seems like a good approach.
PFM: Toshiba FlashAir II WiFi SD Card
13:38 Friday, 7 March 2014
Words: 885
This is a bit of a mystery to me, and so I'm just going to share it here and hope I'm able to garner some feedback that may solve my dilemma.
I've got an 8GB Toshiba FlashAir v.1 Wireless SD card that I use in my Olympus Pen E-PM2. It comes in handy when I'm out with the camera in a social setting and someone may want a picture I've just taken. I can use the FlashAir card to create a web page with the images on it, and someone can browse the images and save the ones that they want to their phone or tablet.
When I first got the FlashAir I, I had a hell of a time getting it set up and working. But once I got it working, it's been far more reliable, and useful, than the EyeFi card I had.
Well, Toshiba upgraded the FlashAir to version 2, which is a faster SD card (Class 10), and it was available in 16GB and 32GB capacity. 16 gigs is about all I ever need. This version also includes some kind of wifi pass-through feature, such that if you're on a known wifi network already, you can log into the FlashAir card and maintain connectivity with the internet, forwarding that traffic to your router. As a practical matter, it's only useful for your home or office, or someplace where you'll regularly want internet access through wifi on your phone. You have to configure the card with the SSD and password of the access point you're using, and you have to do that from a computer, so you're not going to pull into McDonald's and do all that with your phone. But, I digress...
I inserted the card into my Oly Stylus XZ-10, and it's already configured to recognize a FlashAir card, and it requires you to do an initial setup by creating an SSID, and a password. So I did that, started up a Private Connection and then opened Settings on my iPhone 5s running iOS 7.1, er, make that 7.0.6.
Settings in iOS sees the Toshiba network, and prompts you to enter the password. I enter the correct password, and you get the checkmark that you're connected to the network. But then, Settings kicks you to a Log In screen, much like the kind you get when you join a wireless network at the airport or a hotel. But the page is blank! There's nothing on it except a blueish gradient banner at the top, and a Cancel button. If you touch the Cancel button, it kicks you out of the network.
Okay, I downloaded the firmware updater from Toshiba and installed the latest firmware in the device, and tried again. Exact same experience.
Tried creating a "one-time connection," which involves a different SSID and password, and got the same result.
So then I tried using my iPod (4g), also running iOS 7.1. (Developer pre-release.) This time, after logging into the network, Settings also then kicks to a Log In screen, only this time it's different:
I can browse the folders, and I can view any images, but I can't save them. I can only copy them. If I duck out to Safari, it kicks me off the network and reverts to my home network.
I next tried the same thing with my iPad 3G. It behaves the same as the iPhone 5s, kicks to the Log In screen with the blue banner and no actual log-in function.
Next I tried connecting a Mac mini running Snow Leopard and not on my wired LAN. The mini saw the network, Wireless settings let me log into it. I launched Safari and entered the usual URL for accessing images, "flashair", but this time Safari behaved largely the same way as the iPhone and iPad, a blue banner and nothing else, no folders.
I did a View Source for the page and captured the page source, but casual inspection by my uninformed eyes yielded no clear insights.
Searching the web, I haven't found any reports of difficulty connecting with this device. On Twitter, most of the tweets are in Japanese, so I can't tell if people are happy or having problems. The device is relatively new to the market, and I don't think it's gotten much traction in the U.S. The first version was a bear to set up, but once I got it working, it's been great. I'd like to get this one working as well. Clearly, the rf and routing portion of the device works, it's some kind of configuration issue, I think.
I'm going to go back and do a firmware update again. There's a separate set-up application for this version of the device as well. I've used that already to revert to factory settings and tried again. I'll do all that again too, alas.
While I'm screwing around with that, I figured I'd toss this out into the ether and see what comes back.
Any thoughts? dave underscore rogers at mac dot com.
Many thanks.
My New Toy
Current Wx: Temp: 85.57°F Pressure: 1011hPa Humidity: 51% Wind: 14.97mphWords: 281
I should probably set this up and do a glamour shot with a "real" camera, but I wanted to do a quick post. This is a Panasonic RF-2200 multi-band radio, as mentioned recently.
Arrived this afternoon. I'm afraid the seller didn't package it very well. It rattled when I removed it from the box with the thin amount of bubble wrap. Three plastic stand-offs had broken off in the cabinet. They don't seem to be essential, I believe they just offer more rigidity to the cabinet. I'll glue them back into place if I have to.
The SW band switch knob is present, it just doesn't remain firmly on the shaft. I believe I can fix that as well. It has to be removable though, to service the radio.
I put four D-cells in it and tried it out in the backyard. Got reception on all bands except SW1, likely because it was nearly noon.
A gent on eBay offers a re-capping service specifically for these radios. Opinions differ on the necessity for re-capping, but I'm persuaded that it would be money well spent on this radio, so I'm going to have it performed.
The good news on this particular radio is that the AM ferrite bar antenna locks into place, and rotates smoothly with a satisfying ticking sound. The whip was photographed as extremely bent in the listing, but I was able to correct most of that. The interior of the cabinet is clean with no evidence of corrosion or battery leakage. Could probably do with having some dust blown out.
I'm excited to have this radio, and look forward to listening to it.
✍️ Reply by emailBunny Wabbit
Current Wx: Temp: 64.35°F Pressure: 1014hPa Humidity: 88% Wind: 4.61mphWords: 75
Absolutely gorgeous morning today. Air was cool and crisp and sweet. I got started earlier than I have recently and there were no lawn mowers or leaf-blowers, few cars, low angle light. Saw this rabbit and it was quite accommodating with having its picture taken. Then I noticed the other one. It's not uncommon to see rabbits here, though I haven't seen one in quite a while. Perhaps because I wasn't out early enough.
✍️ Reply by emailSociety Garlic
Current Wx: Temp: 64.94°F Pressure: 1014hPa Humidity: 86% Wind: 4.61mphWords: 19
The low angle light makes for some interesting shots. This is "society garlic," and it is kind of stinky.
✍️ Reply by emailDon't Move to Florida
05:16 Thursday, 7 March 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 74.08°F Pressure: 1008hPa Humidity: 68% Wind: 11.5mph
Words: 151
It's not like you're not welcome here. It's just that it's probably not a good idea going forward. Like, forever.
“Florida is one of the riskiest places from a climate impact standpoint that you can live in,” said Rob Moore, director of the flooding solutions team at the Natural Resources Defense Council.
And we have a state legislature, ruled by one party for more than a generation, that is in climate denial; and believes that "resilience" will solve everything.
Of course, the marmot isn't going to stop anybody. And if it were easy, I'd fill in the 'chuck hole and find a field somewhere safer to burrow. Somewhere way north of here, at a higher elevation, with a reliable source of clean drinking water.
No, the marmot's probably stuck here until a disaster makes the decision for us. But if you don't live here yet, you're lucky.
You don't have to.
✍️ Reply by emailDon't Think I'm Kidding
05:30 Thursday, 7 March 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 74.19°F Pressure: 1008hPa Humidity: 69% Wind: 11.5mph
Words: 97
Thought about appending another paragraph to the previous post, but decided against it.
Read the entire linked article. It's not scare-mongering.
There is a bill coming due in Florida. When that will be, this year or a decade from now, I can't say.
But it is coming.
And you don't want to be here when it does.
I don't know what we're going to do. More importantly, I don't know what my kids will do.
But a reckoning is inevitable. Decades of denial, deceit and dereliction of duty won't be denied.
Someone's gonna have to pay.
✍️ Reply by emailLast Night's Moon 3-6-24
Current Wx: Temp: 46.33°F Pressure: 1018hPa Humidity: 67% Wind: 0mphWords: 24
From the front porch last night with the E-M1X and the 100-400mm zoom with the MC14 teleconverter, effective focal length 1120 mm.
✍️ Reply by emailMeta: marmot
06:06 Friday, 7 March 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 47.64°F Pressure: 1018hPa Humidity: 67% Wind: 4.72mph
Words: 236
Moving to the MBP without an external monitor and living in a small screen has forced me to take a closer look at the marmot. That's a good thing, I think.
When I work on the marmot, sometimes I create attributes for notes that are ultimately unused, but possibly among the Displayed Attributes that appear with each note onscreen. Similarly, there may be attributes that are used, but among the Displayed Attributes strictly as a troubleshooting aid.
I've mentioned this recently with respect to being able to have some room to edit the text of a post, but last night's moon was the first photo-type post I've made since the switch. In general, I don't need a lot of room for text in a photo post, because they're usually little more than a caption or a brief account of when it was taken.
But the amount of space taken up by Displayed Attributes stood out to me, so I spent some time just now going through and figuring out which ones I actually needed. Got it down to 5, from some larger number. I wasn't actually using several of them as they'd been created long before I'd finally sorted out how I wanted to do a photo-type post. A couple of them I didn't even recall what I'd intended for them.
Perhaps not an example of how constraints may help creativity, but certainly clarity.
✍️ Reply by emailDeparture Date
06:29 Friday, 7 March 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 46.76°F Pressure: 1018hPa Humidity: 72% Wind: 0mph
Words: 499
I met my daughter for breakfast yesterday, before she had to fly back to LA. Heard all about her adventures in Japan. A bit stressful at first, until she figured out the subway system. She didn't care for Tokyo, "Like New York City, only clean." She said the Japanese were unfailingly polite, but not exactly warm. She loved the vending machine that cuts and squeezes fresh oranges and gives you a cup of orange juice. Ten days with her sister and brother-in-law became somewhat wearing.
We talked about the move to New York. She's not exactly thrilled, because it'll make it more difficult for her to see me, me not flying to California so much (as in, "ever"). When I mentioned I'd planned to leave about mid-May, when Mitzi left for a trip to New Mexico, she told me she was hoping to be putting on an event of some kind here, which would open the first week in June. She'd planned to be here that week because her sister and I share a birthday around then.
Then she told me about this event space/craft brewery that opened locally. She has an idea for a theme for an art show and she's discussing it with the owners. Nothing firm yet, and I think the timeline is pretty short for putting something like that together, but she's optimistic they can pull it off.
All of which is to say that I may be sticking around here a couple of more weeks.
Which may be less inconvenient than I initially thought. Mitzi spoke with our realtor and there are a lot of places up for sale in our development. We're not necessarily in a rush to sell, as we don't have any sort of contingency with regard to where we're moving. We can wait a few weeks to list the place, although our nextdoor neighbors would be listing their's about the same time.
I wondered if the general idea that Florida may not be the ideal place to retire to is spreading faster than I thought? I don't know, but mitigating that somewhat is the brutal winter experienced in the northeast this year. And I'm still confident and hopeful about internal migration within Florida, as hurricane victims seek "safer" parts of the state to continue to enjoy no state income tax and mild winters.
Our brilliant legislature is somewhat seriously considering outlawing property taxes. They haven't exactly figured out how they'd fill the hole they'd blow in every locality's budget, but they're talking about it.
Imagine that, no state income tax and no property tax? No problem selling the house then! At least in the early days, before all public services went away and "the poors" who would be sales-taxed into oblivion were forced to migrate to another state where they might have some hope of survival. Maybe AGI robots will do all the landscaping, construction, waste-management, healthcare and so on.
This state is insane.
✍️ Reply by emailFortress Europe?
09:57 Friday, 7 March 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 60.39°F Pressure: 1020hPa Humidity: 57% Wind: 4.61mph
Words: 59
Interesting video from The Bulwark.
If the "coalition of the willing" can get its act together quickly enough, there may be a chance to contain Russia. That is an enormous if.
What that also means is that Putin has a relatively short timeline to achieve his goals.
The next two to three years are going to be very dangerous.
✍️ Reply by emailThe Banality of Evil
10:20 Friday, 7 March 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 61.27°F Pressure: 1020hPa Humidity: 52% Wind: 3.44mph
Words: 322
There are "new to me" voices that I'm listening to more these days. Andrew Weissman is one of them. Claire Berlinski of the previous post is another.
In this video, Weissman is cautioning against feeling too hopeful, or relieved about minor victories. That there is a risk that the enormity of the criminality that is taking place simply overwhelms us and forces a new set point for what is considered "normal," perhaps approaching "acceptable," in the context of, "Well, what can you do about it?"
It seems the answer is to keep screaming. This is wrong, it's unacceptable and we're going to fight it every way we can, even if it's only to keep screaming.
So this is the marmot screaming. It's not much, but it's what I can do.
I've also given some money here and there. I donated $200 to Pizza for Ukraine. I did that last Saturday because I was so angry about Trump's betrayal of Ukraine in particular and the western alliance overall. I donated $100 to the warfighting fund at United24. You can donate to non-violent services as well. Hopefully that site isn't being spoofed, but I think it's the real deal, as best I can tell.
I've donated money to Vote.vets, a couple of local candidates and, last night, to Sen. Mark Kelly.
I've written to my congressional representatives, and I need to keep doing more of that. (Keep screaming.)
I've got a new folder of RSS feeds labeled "Crisis." I have Talking Points Memo, Empty Wheel, Heather Cox Richardson, Timothy Snyder, Just Security and Citation Needed in there. Those are all feed links.
"Scream bloody murder." Not exactly what I wanted to do, but I think Weissman is right, and all the other people who have said the same thing.
We can't wait for the midterms. We can't rely on the courts. We don't have the luxury of "being civil."
Scream bloody murder.
✍️ Reply by emailSelf Care
10:56 Friday, 7 March 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 63.3°F Pressure: 1020hPa Humidity: 49% Wind: 8.05mph
Words: 292
So, yes, this crisis is affecting me in many ways. And this isn't going to be a short-term problem. So it's important to try to find things to kind of balance the chaos and insanity taking place. Not dwelling on it excessively is one thing. I can't imagine how I'd be feeling if I was on social media now. Mitzi and I will be sitting on the couch watching TV and she has her phone open to Facebook and is passing it over to me every few minutes, "Take a look at this."
Have to stop that.
Anyway, working out is another important part of my self-care. I feel better afterward, and I'm sure it's helping to reduce my stress level in many ways. I also regard it as an act of resistance, a personal commitment to get stronger, physically, so I can be stronger emotionally and mentally.
I've got another session today, which will be my third this week. From now until we leave Florida, I'll be training with Germaine three times a week. That's another expense, but I look at it as an investment in myself and my ability to be useful somehow.
Not everyone can afford a personal trainer. There are plenty of resources online that can help guide you and meet you where you are with regard to level of fitness, available equipment and a sensible program of exercise. The key thing you can't find online is that accountability element. If you can find someone to train with, a friend or a neighbor, a part of your personal "resistance network," that will help maintain your commitment.
Consider forming a "resistance network," for "resistance training."
I'm sure this would be interesting to someone in a keyword search.
✍️ Reply by emailDivision of Labor
11:44 Friday, 7 March 2025
Current Wx: Temp: 63.66°F Pressure: 1020hPa Humidity: 48% Wind: 6.91mph
Words: 81
Empty Wheel gets this right, I think:
As a result, there’s a demand that the national Democratic Party (appear to) take the lead on everything, a demand that invites those complaining to outsource their own agency completely, as if they simply hire people to do their politics for them every two or four years.
We can't look to the politicians, this has to be grass-roots opposition. We all have a role to play, even if it's just screaming bloody murder.
✍️ Reply by emailOperation Urgent Transit
11:01 Saturday, 7 March 2026
Current Wx: Temp: 51.58°F Pressure: 1013hPa Humidity: 81% Wind: 14.74mph
Words: 473
Mitzi's en route to San Diego to see her daughter and siblings, but the usual chaos of modern air travel intruded.
It began last night with Delta calling her to see if they could persuade her to take a later flight out of Elmira for the princely sum of $300. It might have been an attractive offer, save for the fact that they'd have her changing planes twice, and it seems that my achilles tendonitis is contagious (just kidding, for the literally-minded), because she's been struggling with a bad case since October. (Mine is definitely improved.) Walking from gate to gate is painful and slow. Plus, it wouldn't have gotten her into San Diego until nearly midnight, so she declined.
Then, at about 0300 this morning, Delta texted her that her flight had been cancelled. For whatever reason, Mitzi was alert enough to catch this and at 0330 she woke me to see if I thought we should try to get her to Ithaca for an 0530 flight to JFK, with a follow on connection to San Diego, which got her there at a very reasonable hour.
I'm not very clear-headed after waking up after finally falling asleep. So I mumbled some things and said, "Sure, why not?"
We'd loaded the car last night, but she had to do some final preps for traveling, so I went out and backed the car out of the garage and entered the destination into Maps. Mitzi climbed in and asked me if I'd entered the airport into Maps. I said yes, not really understanding that we now intended to go to Ithaca, not Elmira. Fortunately she caught that before we left the driveway.
I'm not a fan of driving at night anymore, especially around here with unlit country roads and an enormous deer population. But we got there in good time. Windy as hell, but fortunately not raining. Didn't see another car on the road.
Driving solo on the way back, I was more awake and alert so somewhat more comfortable. Nevertheless, I tend to drive five to ten miles an hour below the speed limit because deer; and I picked up two bogies in trail who didn't share my sense of caution driving in the wee hours of the morning. Not a big deal, but I was relieved when I finally hit a patch of road that was clear enough for passing and the driver who was on my bumper seized the opportunity to pass me. The second one had turned off the road we were on a little before then, so I was back to having the road to myself.
Got back to the house at 0450, texted Mitzi I'd made it home ok. She had no trouble getting through TSA and to her gate in time. I went back to bed.
✍️ Reply by emailMarch 7th in History
15:10 Saturday, 7 March 2026
Current Wx: Temp: 60.93°F Pressure: 1008hPa Humidity: 76% Wind: 15.84mph
Words: 99
I enjoy the website RetroNewser, especially the fact that it has an RSS feed. There's usually something interesting every day, but March 7th seems more interesting than others recently.
Alexander Graham Bell received a U.S. patent for the telephone in 1876, 150 years ago.
First "decidedly successful" transatlantic radio-telephone conversations took place 100 years ago today.
And Hitler re-militarized the Rhineland in violation of the Treaty of Versailles 90 years ago today. Many people believe that had France violently opposed the German army, it would have prevailed and who knows how history might have been different?
✍️ Reply by emailSpring Is In the Air
15:19 Saturday, 7 March 2026
Current Wx: Temp: 60.93°F Pressure: 1008hPa Humidity: 76% Wind: 15.84mph
Words: 273
It's the "season of mud" around here, but it feels like Winter is finally leaving the stage. There's still a pile of snow at the top of the driveway from when we had it plowed three times. That pile also contains a good deal of the "blue stone" that is supposed to cover our driveway.
I've been outside raking that stone, and the "fines" scraped up with it, back into the driveway as the snow melts and exposes it. Not fun, but a certain amount of exercise. "Exercise" involves "pushing" and "pulling," and raking is mostly pulling.
Assuming all goes as intended, we're going to have to extend the driveway to the site of the new house, and we have an estimate for that effort, around $12K. Then, after the house is built we'll have to repair the driveway again from all the construction trucks.
I'm going to be pulling all the plastic window inserts this weekend, and storing them in the shed after I mark what windows they came from. I also plan to move the patio furniture onto the front porch. I suppose that means it'll almost certainly snow again.
I've dialed the radiant heating thermostat down to 62°F, may drop it lower. We can rely on the mini-split from now on I think.
I've got the screen open in the storm door to get some fresh air in here. It's nice hearing the birds and the cows. From time to time you can hear a boat horn from down on the lake.
I'm looking forward to the explosion of green that happens around here when Spring finally arrives.
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