Jim Roepcke's weblog have browser, will travel (est. 1999)

RE: Fit for Life

Dave Winer believes I can lose 70 lbs in a year, as he's done it himself! That's good news!

Dave also said: "BTW, I swear by Fit For Life. Everyone I know who really wanted to get in shape and followed the book, did it. It works."

I checked out the book (a Google Search did the trick) and I found four book reviews on the "Healthcare Reality Check" web site.

Here's a quote: "Contrary to the authors' claim, this is a fad diet requiring unrealistic changes in eating habits. Fortunately, the eating patterns and unrealistic caloric reductions proposed by this diet will prove too restrictive for most people to maintain. This is fortunate since the diet is nutritionally unbalanced and its use could increase the incidence of osteoporosis. The buyer should beware."

That reviewer felt the diet was "deficient in protein; calcium; and some B-vitamins, notably riboflavin and thiamin; and could lead to iron deficiency anemia".

Here's another negative review.

It sounds to me like some of the most basic fundamentals in the book are good, like eating a lot of fruits and vegetables (which I had already started to do actually, since they make me feel full), but there are some tragic flaws.

Does anyone else know anything about this book? The reviewers give some suggestions of how the Fit for Life diet can be augmented to be safer. I think I'm going to talk to my family doctor, and perhaps get a referral to a nutritionist, before I decide what to do.

70 lbs or bust!

A couple of days ago, I announced to my family, and friends that I am going to lose weight. I've tried, on my own before, and had modest results, but I never really pledged or promised I would do it. I wasn't accountable to anyone, nevermind myself. It was too easy to stop.

This time is different. I've guaranteed I'll lose the weight. Anything less will bring me shame and be a complete failure. I've told the people closest to me that this is what I'm doing.

Anyone who knows me personally knows that when I say something this strongly, I stick to it. And I will.

No more junk food, no more unhealthy meals, and eat regular-sized portions. Exercise every day. Now I've said it to all of you, too. There is no turning back!

I want to lose 70 lbs by April 24, 2001. I'm not going to tell you how much I weigh right now, because frankly, that embarasses me a bit more than I'm willing to embarass myself on my own home page. My family and closest friends know, and that's good enough.

Some people tell me that I can't lose 70 lbs. in a year. That's good, because that means I'm going to have to try really hard. And if I don't lose 70 lbs., because it's totally unrealistic, so be it. I can accept that when the time comes.

I've been eating better and exercising now for 3 days, and I already feel a lot better. I have more energy, and I can concentrate better as a result.

TTYL, I'm going for my bike-ride while it's still nice out today!

PalmARM

Palm is moving to the ARM/StrongARM chips. Hmm... what other handheld, that had unbelievable performance, features, and insanely great battery life used the ARM processor?

Yup, the Newton MessagePad.

The move to ARM will make it possible (er, feasible) for the PalmOS to use Newton technologies. Maybe this is what Apple's waiting for before coming out with a PalmOS device?

I am what I am – Popeye the Sailor Man

A couple of days ago I thought I had found two references to Red Dwarf on Jocelyn's home page, Deletia. I then guessed that she was a Red Dwarf fan. She denied it!

She's right!

It turns out that one of them was a quote from Wayne's World that I thought was actually something the Red Dwarf character Dave Lister had said...

The other one, however, remains. But this reference is actually Jocelyn quoting her friend, Chris! So, either Chris is a Red Dwarf fan, or this quote has made it into popular culture.

Here is the remaining Red Dwarf reference:

Here is the section of the Red Dwarf script that Chris' quote is in reference to:

Series 4, Episode 2: DNA

LISTER: I just don't trust that machine, man. Look, I know it's old-
fashioned, but I'm from the school that believes, "If God intendeed us
to fly, he wouldn't have invented Spanish air traffic control". Okay,
that machine might be able to cure diseases and stuff, but you
shouldn't use it to change you into what you're not. You are what you
are. Wasn't it Descartes who said, "I am what I am?"
RIMMER: No, it was Popeye the Sailor Man.
LISTER: Well, whoever it was, he was a hell of a philisopher. And I
think what he was trying to say was, you got to stay true to what you
are.

And later...

LISTER: Kryten, there was a cartoon character once called Popeye, said a
really profound thing.
KRYTEN: Well, what did he say?
LISTER: He said, "I am what I am."
KRYTEN: Are you sure? I always thought it was Descartes!
LISTER: So did I, man! It's so easy to get those two dudes mixed up!

So, Jocelyn's good name is cleared, and she won't end up working at Wendy's afterall!

Jealousy

Robert saw The Kids in the Hall last night. I'm so jealous! They came to Vancouver, and I didn't see them... I could have but forgot. Argh!

Red Dwarf fan

I think Jocelyn is a Red Dwarf fan. Kudos if you can figure out why I think that.

Update: Come on folks! I just found another reference to Red Dwarf... there's two! Dan_of_BrainLog, surely you could spot them!!

You better not doddle, who knows how long the references will remain visible?

If nobody replies with the answer by tonight I'll post the answer... but then everyone gets ANTI-Kudos!

Jocelyn's cool, and she's from Edmonton (Go Oilers Go!), which means she's even cooler... figuratively, and literally.

Saving Private Ryan

I watched Saving Private Ryan on DVD last night. I always cry at the end, I just can't help it. I wrote some stuff here, but I'm too emotional about it to share. Sorry, write your own punchline.

You *have to* be kidding me!

Fish PC: It looks like an iMac, it... sorta looks like an iMac, an ugly as hell iMac, but it isn't an iMac. It's a Win98 box.

I give these guys 48 hours before Apple is all over their asses. I mean, WTF?! Do these people really think they can get away with that?

And furthermore…

This note was written in Opera for BeOS. (and edited in NetPositive because Opera has a bug w.r.t. line-endings )

So far, I've downloaded (using Napster for BeOS, the first time I've used Napster) and played (using CL-Amp, a WinAmp-skin-compatible MP3 player) an MP3 song from the Lenny Kravitz CD I was listening to today.

I've also downloaded a different (uglier) ICQ client, ICBM.I've installed Gobe Productive (an office suite) but I have nothing to do with it yet so I don't know what to say.

This note posted from BeOS Pro Edition 5.0!

This entry is being posted from NetPositive in BeOS Professional Edition 5.0 for Intel.

As with all BeOS releases I've tried (R3, R3.1, R4, R4.5, and now R5), it installed in about 15 minutes, and worked the first time. I'm logged onto ICQ with Gim-ICQ (which is unfortunately not supported anymore, but source is available), which is included with the Pro Edition.

My video card and sound card work perfectly, I could actually use USB devices, which I can't do in Windows NT 4, which I normally run on this machine.

The only thing that didn't work was DHCP, but some digging reveals this is an issue with @Home's DHCP servers, and apparently works with non-fucked DHCP servers.

I'm going to run BeOS as much as I can in the next while to try out the many excellent apps available for this platform.