Weight Loss

Having stuck to that weight loss ritual and finding no change for the past week or two, we're trying something new: We got us a fancy scale and it measures (among other things) Body Fat and since I know nothing about how one measures that stuff, I figured it was time to larn: http://www.gummy-stuff.org/weight-loss.htm

 

Pandemics

I'd been playing, here, with a (simple) mathematical model for the growth of H1N1 vurus cases. More recently I've been playing with a more sophisticated model called SIR. It ain't that good either.

 

Second place for Susan

Alas, our Susan comes second in Britain's Got Talent: click

 

Novels

Once upon a time, long long ago, I started writing novels. I finished a few, I left some unfinished ... and I even got one published. Since getting published ain't easy (impossible?), I decided to stick 'em here: http://www.gummy-stuff.org/Novels/Novels.htm Who knows? Some may get a good laugh, eh?

 

Susan is back

Susan Boyle wins the first Britain's Got Talent" semi-final. Click on the picture to hear her singing Memory (from "Cats"):

 

the Gospels

I've always been fascinated with the various gospel manifestations. When I was a teenager I read a book on The Religions of the World. I've long since forgotten all that ... but the fascination remains: the Gospels the Qur'an In 2006, the National Geographic Society announced that the Gospel of Judas* had been translated. Like several others, this "Gnostic" gospel (meaning it covers the teachings of Jesus), is not one of the canonical gospels of the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. There are also gospels of Thomas, Philip, Peter, Truth and Mary ... and many are only fragments. In 1870, an Aramaic manuscript, Gospel of the Nazirenes, was found and (more recently) translated. I couldn't help meself: I had to read about it, then write about it here: gospel of the Nazirenes. (I always get the spelling of Nazarenes Nazerines wrong!) Since many of the stories are similar (indeed identical) to the canonical gospels, it is thought that there is some mysterious, hypothetical "gospel Q" from which many of the teachings of Jesus were taken. After all, many of these gospels were written centuries after the death of Jesus. None were written by the apostles. Of course, Dan Brown's book helps to renew one's interest, eh? * In the Gospel of Judas, Judas Iscariot (who, in the canonical gospels, betrayed Jesus) is seen as obeying instructions from Jesus. He was asked (by Jesus) so that Jesus might be released from his human constraints.

 

Losing weight ... maybe

Okay, so I've been taking Apidexin for ten days and look what's happening: Then I find that the reading on our ancient analog scale* depends upon where the scale is located.   AARGH!! So, this morning I buy a new, digital scale. They get pretty fancy, these digital scales. They can plot your weight over the past five days, measure body fat (heaven forbid), provide historical info for two people and check stock market prices ... just kidding. I bought the el cheapo model. Anyway, I'm looking forward to generating a new chart: * I notice that, on eBay, they refer to these scales as "retro".

 

WolframAlpha

Now WolframAlpha is the future of Web browsing. Type in some word(s) and get a bunch of info related to that word. For example, here's everything you ever wanted to know about viagra. A neat thing is finding out about, say, General Electric. You even get sexy things like this: Another example: gummy-stuff.org One of these days every robot will be fed Wolfram|Alpha, then ... Check it out, here: http://www.gummy-stuff.org/wolfram.htm

 

H1N1 virus

Every morning I take a look at the W.H.O data on the H1N1 (swine flu) virus and attempt to fit a Logistic Curve to the data on cases (worldwide) ... like so: Though I take the result with a grain of salt (quite a large grain!), it's interesting that the Logistic fit (this morning: May 18) predicts a maximum of some 11,000 cases worldwide. The first time I did this (after 12 days), there were 2500 cases worldwide ... and the ritual predicted a maximum of 4250 cases worldwide. Then, 20 days after the first case and over 8400 reported cases, the prediction is over 11,000 !! Mamma mia! The chart above ... it keeps changing, eh? For an earlier chart (May 11/09) click here.

Weight Loss Pills

Yesterday, Heidi & I started a weight loss program. After an exhausting exhaustive search, we decided upon Apidexin. It's got lots of sexy ingredients, it comes with a second collection of pills (DetoxuFree72) and it's all over in a month. First day? I'd gained two pounds !!

Logistic Growth

There's this neat mathematical description of population growth. It's (often) used to predict the growth of populations whose size is limited by available space or food ... like fish in a lake: "How many fish can this lake accommodate?" It can also be used to predict the growth of tumours, the cost of a life annuity and (interestingly) the growth of worldwide Swine Flu cases: The red curve is the predicted growth. The question is: "How accurate is the prediction?" We'll see ... >> See also Logistic Growth

Chicken Pad Thai

Recently, we went with Lori & Jay to a Thai restaurant to celebrate a couple of birthdays. While enjoying my meal, I kept peeking at the next table. There was a great pile of some noodle dish. I googled and discovered Pad Thai with shrimp or chicken or whatever. Among other things, it required a magic Thai sauce with fish oil and tamarind sauce etc.. I had to google "tamarind" as well. Determined to try it, we headed off to the store and found a ready-made Thai sauce (with fish oil and tamarind sauce etc.).   Then Heidi tried it: Click on the picture to see Heidi's Chicken Pad Thai.

Bring him home

Susan Boyle has competition! Check out Jamie Pugh ... and another: Click on the picture of Jamie Pugh. He's terrified of being on stage!

Take a gander!

We're told that Canada Geese lay their eggs in April. We looked and looked (down, from our 17th floor apt.) but didn't see nothin'. Then comes May:

the Haircut!

So our daughter, Lori*, came by and changed my wife! * Did I mention that Lori is a hair stylist? Heidi & Lori talked, they decided on a Judi Dench cut and voila!