Calories are Calories?

In a recent NIH study there was an attempt to demonstrate that fat calories were more effective in adding body fact than carbohydrate calories.

The procedure was as follows:

The researchers studied 19 non-diabetic men and women with obesity in the Metabolic Clinical Research Unit at the NIH ..... Participants stayed in the unit 24 hours per day for two extended visits, eating the same food and doing the same activities. For the first five days of each visit they ate a baseline balanced diet. Then for six days, they were fed diets containing 30 percent fewer calories, achieved by cutting either only total carbs or total fat from the baseline diet, while eating the same amount of protein. They switched diets during the second visit. 

They conclude:

“Our data tell us that when it comes to body fat loss, not all diet calories are exactly equal,” .....“But the real world is more complicated than a research lab, and if you have obesity and want to lose weight, it may be more important to consider which type of diet you’ll be most likely to stick to over time.”  

Now there are several issues here:

1. The sample is much too small

2. The duration time is much too short

3. The switching is in the middle of a metabolic change which takes possibly weeks, not hours to adapt.

4. The key issue is the definition of a calorie. Namely if we measure 3500 Kcal = 1 pound, then how do we differentiate at all?

This is not in my opinion a study of any value for the above and many other reasons.

Ginkgo and Hiroshima

Seventy years ago Hiroshima was bombed. Some nearly 20KT yield uranium device fell some 30,000 feet and exploded several thousand feet above the city. The result was a massive ring of destruction. Surviving that was a few century old Ginkgo trees, tress which themselves had survived some 250 million years[1]. As a symbol of survival the Ginkgo has great standing. As we look backwards and then again look forward one thinks of these Ginkgos.

Some twenty five years ago I took a handful of Ginkgo nuts from the trees at the New York Botanical Garden. I placed them in my pocket, stink and all, and let them sit in my refrigerator to cold stratify over the winter and then planted them in my seed beds. Up they came and now twenty five years later I have one female tree filled with Ginkgo nuts. The legacy of 250 million years goes on. The hardy tree may survive us all, in some way shape or form, since its seeds will be transplanted elsewhere, to grow again.

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[1] http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-manchester-29920359 and http://kwanten.home.xs4all.nl/hiroshima.htm

Why Not to Use Windows 10

When Microsoft does things they almost always, always in my opinion, do it for their sole benefit. One twist in W10 is the peer to peer updating. Yes indeed, you get to work for Microsoft FREE. No not really, you may actually have to pay!

PCWorld has a great piece describing what it does. Simply W10 has a peer to peer system. Kinda like BitTorrent, except for Microsoft. When you get an update, they then use you to send that update to many others. You suddenly become a peer or even a Tracker as in BitTorrent and you never know it. It is your bandwidth which is used and if your service is measured you are then paying for it.

Simply:

1.Microsoft W10 has a P2P system

2. Microsoft downloads an update

3. You then via the P2P send it to peers or lechers.

4. You pay for the up load BW

5. Microsoft has enlisted you in their business and you get to pay.

Beware W10, what else is there?

But also beware if the P2P can be hijacked and some third party now uses you to send God knows what! The Feds get your IP address and you without any knowledge may be thrown into a long painful process.

The PCWorld piece tells how to disable this. There surely are many more such traps. Beware of those folks bearing gifts. W10 may not be "free" after all!

China and Patents

China Daily reports:

China recorded 928,000 invention patent applications in 2014, more than that of any other country, for the fourth consecutive year, according to data released by the State Intellectual Property Office on Monday.

The office found that about 663,000 inventions had high quality and market value. About 4.9 patents per 10,000 population were filed, according to the data. Enterprises have been pillars of research and the development of new technologies and products, according to the office. In 2014, about 485,000 invention patent applications were filed by enterprises, more than the number filed by individuals, academies or research institutes.

 It is not clear just where those patents apply nor was there a breakdown by area. However this is a clear national goal and as with most things there is strong Chinese unity and drive. I always wonder why Russia is so far behind. The Russian have always had brilliant technologists but they are clearly way behind in biotech and other areas of focus in the 21st century.

Dumb, Dumb, Dumb!

I took my annual trip to Seaside Park today. It is a ritual. I started in 1960 when I was first a Lifeguard in New York City. We would take our day off, a Wednesday and drive down in O'Neil's fathers white Lincoln Continental. It was beautiful, the water was clean, we could swim, and we could make fun of wimpy New Jersey Seaside Life Guards. We were after all from Coney Island, and other New York Beaches, we were all well over 6' and we walked with the confidence of having survived July 4th with over 1 million bathers!

Why Seaside, it was just because it was there, and far enough from New York that the Jersey Sewers did not deposit Jersey stuff on the sands. You see in those days Jersey had no sewer plants and they, well to be crude, dumped their stuff in the harbor. It would then wash onto our beaches! We refrained from swimming except under dire circumstances, and one of our guys was a 3rd year med student so we had all kinds of antibiotics.

But now it is a routine, down to Seaside, trying to support them after their multiple disasters. But this year, in my opinion, some Govenment entity decided to install electronic parking meters.

Now the screen for instructions faces the sun, is about 3" by 2", and the font looks like 4pt Arial. The font is almost the same color as the screen. Lines of dozens of people are waiting as each tries to read what to do, half leave in disgust!. I have never, in my opinion, seen a system so incompetently designed. I asked the local police if this was a common complaint, YES. It is clear to me, in my opinion, that the town may just not want any visitors! Only in New Jersey. Perhaps these were the same programmers who did ObamaCare web site? Not really, at least you could read that.

Oh Yes, this is politically correct, it is solar powered, but guys the sun is 90 degrees off, it shines on your screen! I guess they were educated in New Jersey Schools!

Let's see how the pig race turns out!

Oh by the way, I have been reminded that the candidate from Queens has used a similar tale to bemoan solar. Now this is not a solar rant, in fact our oldest is the solar guy for the NH Electrical Co-Op. We also have wind turbines in NH. The problem there is distribution. Namely we have a century old electrical distribution network and technology can do so much more. The problem here is design. Small letters, poor contrast, complex entry mechanisms, and facing the sun to make it unreadable, unworkable. So unlike the Candidate from Queens, my gripe as the "Voice from Staten Island" is if all else fails.... listen to the customer! But that is something Government entities fail to do, since there is no cost at messing up.

Politics and Pigs

August is County Fair month. And County Fairs always have pig races. In a sense I look forward to next week's debate as an adjunct to the County Fair.

Which pig are you betting on?