Author: matthew

For the first time in many, many years, my wife and I are taking a road trip right now. The kids are staying with grandparents for a week and a half, and we decided we wanted to take this time to enjoy one another and take a vacation. We swung through Las Vegas to Bakersfield, and now Santa Cruz. We had a few objectives on this trip: spend as much time together without our kids as we could, and make a memorable trip as cheaply as possible.

To that end, we are driving my Honda Insight. I discovered that — at 80-90MPH with two people instead of one and a trunk-full of baggage — my car’s usual 50-55MPG plummets to around 32-39MPG. It ramps back up if I’m willing to drive 55 instead of 83, but what’s the fun in that?

Las Vegas this time of year can best be described as “hellish”. With temperatures regularly above 115 degrees Fahrenheit, people in town rapidly flee from car to air-conditioned casino like they are escaping a downpour. On the positive side, however, I tossed three dollars into the “Megabucks” slot machine, and received six dollars as a winning. That’s pretty much the extent of my gambling efforts. Statistically speaking, your chances of winning a one-in-several-million reward aren’t much different if you play once or a hundred times.

Our stop in Bakersfield to visit Nash & Timi was uneventful and full of reminiscing and hanging out. Timi, unfortunately, just had an ovary removed a few days ago, so our plans to go out together were squashed due to her recovery. Christy & I finally saw a movie we’ve planned to see for the last decade or so — “The American President” — and had some wonderful Chinese food while marveling at how much our friends’ children have grown. I received a few compliments on the changes to my physique as a result of my bodybuilding and diet efforts. I’m still nowhere near where I want to be, but it’s a huge ego-boost to have friends you haven’t seen for years compliment you on your progress. Nash is into paintball, so we checked out a paintball store and a couple of hobby stores while in town. In truth, Bakersfield is smaller than Salt Lake City, so the experience of little tiny mom-and-pop stores is just about the same as back home.

Then we went five hours north to the mountains of Santa Cruz to visit an online friend named Mario. Mario and Christy met several months ago and quickly formed a friendship based upon their mutual efforts at higher education and vast dissimilarity otherwise. Neither of them seemed to fully believe the lifestyle the other described! But here we are, and despite our cultural differences, we’re enjoying our time together. Mario loaned us his RV for three days so that we can day-trip on the cheap to various places around the Santa Cruz/San Jose/San Francisco area. We haven’t made any firm plans so far, but at this point hanging out eating freshly-laid chicken eggs and enjoying the fresh mountain air has been great.

I know it’s a bit of a travelogue, but I wanted to catch you up on where we are and what we’re doing!

Slashdot is running a story today about how three geeks attending a Lego convention used the “Find my iPhone” app to recover a stolen iPhone:

[quote]”A friend of mine who just got an Iphone 3GS and has Mobile Me just used the “Find my Iphone” feature to track down his lost and subsequently stolen iphone. This story involves 3 nerds wandering sketchy streets with a Macbook, and ends with a confrontation at a bus stop.”[/quote]

Blog entry with the story: http://happywaffle.livejournal.com/5890.html Slashdot discussion: http://apple.slashdot.org/story/09/06/22/1412234/Tracking-Thieves-with-Find-my-iPhone?art_pos=3

I guess it’s really not a news flash, but yet another uninformed article confusing cause and effect has become popular in low-carb circles, and I need to post my response.

Here’s the so-called “informative” article, concluding that low-carb diets are unsafe: http://women.webmd.com/guide/high-protein-low-carbohydrate-diets

From the article:

[quote]* Kidney failure. Consuming too much protein puts a strain on the kidneys, which can make a person susceptible to kidney disease.[/quote]

I’ve debunked this time and time again, but this [b]myth[/b] keeps rearing its ugly head. High protein in the bloodstream is only a risk factor if your kidneys have already failed. Regardless, [b]high levels of uric acid are a symptom of kidney failure, not a cause[/b]. The number one risk factor for mortality in the US, aside from accidental death, is [b]obesity[/b]. Insofar as you find an eating regimen that makes you not be obese, you’re taking a step in the right direction.

[quote]High cholesterol. It is well known that high protein diets (consisting of red meat, whole dairy products, and other high fat foods) are linked to high cholesterol. Studies have linked high cholesterol levels to an increased risk of developing heart disease, stroke and cancer.[/quote]

Wow. Just… wow. It’s 2009, and someone is still parroting the “high cholesterol is bad for you” line? “High protein” diets (I would say HIGH FAT) are only linked to high cholesterol [b]in combination with high carbohydrates[/b]. WebMD should really read “Good Calories, Bad Calories” by Gary Taubes. If you eat a [b]high fat, low carb, moderate protein diet[/b] like MANS, your [b]lipid profiles will look great[/b]. There is some small possibility your overall cholesterol may be high at first as your body dumps fat into the bloodstream, but after three months or so on low-carb your lipid profile will look great, particularly if you are overweight.

For reference, here are the results of my recent blood test after living a low-carb, high-fat, moderate protein lifestyle for several months: Reference: I’m thirty-six, overweight, non-smoker, male, and was seriously OBESE with HORRIBLE blood profiles and health risks a year ago. All my statistics on what is “normal” is based upon a male, not a female. I’m currently around 20% body fat, not where I want to be but moving in the right direction.

* Cholesterol: 177 (Anything below 200 is healthy) * Triglycerides: 93 (Less than 150 is “normal”. You should read the number to the left as “holy shit, that’s good.”) * HDL: 54 (less than 40 is very bad, 40-50 is normal, above 50 is optimal, I’m working on adjusting my diet to reach above 60.) * LDL (calculated): 110 (100 or below is “optimal”, 100-129 is “near optimal”; I’m adjusting my diet to include a bit more flax seed to see if I can drop this a few points.)

[quote]Osteoporosis and kidney stones. High protein diets have also been shown to cause people to excrete more calcium than normal through their urine. Over a prolonged period of time, this can increase a person’s risk of osteoporosis and kidney stones.[/quote]

The studies alleging this are wrong about the cause. The extra calcium in the urine of low-carbers comes not from depleting bone calcium, but [b]because we’re ingesting more calcium[/b]. Once again some members of the medical community with an axe to grind are confusing symptom and cause, just like with kidney failure. Low-carbers excrete more calcium because [b]we’re eating more calcium[/b].

Kidney stones occur in the same proportion amongst low-carbers as among the general population, and the solution is simple: if you have a family history of kidney stones, drink even more water. And to prevent them from ever occurring, drink more water.

Why do you think just about every diet plan encourages you to drink more water? Well, this is one reason.

Additional reading: [url=http://livinlavidalocarb.blogspot.com/2005/07/high-protein-low-carb-diet-promotes.html]High protein consumption increases bone density[/url].

[quote]Cancer. One of the reasons high protein diets increase the risks of certain health problems is because of the avoidance of carbohydrate-containing foods and the vitamins, minerals, fiber and anti-oxidants they contain. It is therefore important to obtain your protein from a diet rich in whole grains, fruits and vegetables. Not only are your needs for protein being met, but you are also helping to reduce your risk of developing cancer.[/quote]

This is a richly contested area, and the jury is still out. Anti-oxidants may not be needed at all if you aren’t ingesting inflammation-producing foods in the first place. What are your inflammatory foods? Grains top the list.

That said, I do have some small concern about this. [url=http://www.vvv.com/healthnews/milk.html]IGF-1 has been linked to cancer risk[/url]. But natural bodybuilders attempt to create an optimum hormonal environment for muscular hypertropy, including elevation of IGF-1 levels through exercise and eating correctly. Will lifting heavy weights give you cancer?

So far, people are only making the connection to cows injected with Bovine Growth Hormone and elevated levels of IGF-1 in humans. However, simply lifting heavy weights also elevates IGF-1. It will be interesting what the studies will show in ten years. My advice for any adult male is to get annual blood and physical exams. Normally insurance will pay for it, as a basic physical will often find conditions you wouldn’t expect (and men who get annual physicals live longer, too.)

[quote]Unhealthy metabolic state (ketosis). Low carb diets can cause your body to go into a dangerous metabolic state called ketosis since your body burns fat instead of glucose for energy. During ketosis, the body forms substances known as ketones, which can cause organs to fail and result in gout, kidney stones, or kidney failure. Ketones can also dull a person’s appetite, cause nausea and bad breath. Ketosis can be prevented by eating at least 100 grams of carbohydrates a day.[/quote]

This is a richly disputed area, and attempting to characterize ketosis/lipolysis as a “dangerous metabolic state” is a political move, not a scientific one. I’m going to refer to this as “lipolysis” from this point on, rather than “ketosis”, but the two are similar.

Your body already goes into lipolysis every single day while you’re sleeping. It is the natural state when your body is burning body or dietary fat rather than carbohydrates or protein for fuel. It’s why most of us aren’t hungry first thing in the morning. It’s why most of us don’t wake up ravenous in the middle of the night. It’s why we over-eat a little during the waking hours: our fat stores naturally give us energy back while we’re sleeping through lipolysis.

Low-carbers simply keep this process going the other 16 hours of the day.

Please go buy yourself a copy of “Good Calories, Bad Calories” by Gary Taubes. Read it all the way through; I know it’s a long read, but it’s worth it. Debunk the junk science that passes for nutrition science today and learn what really can help you to live a healthy lifestyle.

–Matt B.

I know, I know, it’s been around for a long time, but I just heard about [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpAzvKt_8lk]Mis-Heard O Fortuna Lyrics[/url]. LOL ROFLMAO. Had to share. Safe for work, but be careful, I had tears streaming out of my eyes by the end it was so funny…

I ran across John Hummel’s latest [url=http://blogthereligions.com/node/132]Blog The Religions[/url] post, and I have one thing to say.

My name’s Matt Barnson, and I endorse this message. Heck, I even really like his blog theme and the software driving it 🙂

–Matt B.

This coming week, I and my family will be hiking various national and state parks in and around St. George, UT. Late May is a little bit warm for the activity — high 80s, low 90s — but I think it will be fun nonetheless.

For would-be robbers, of course my mother will still be keeping guard at the house 🙂

Anybody have tidbits about particularly interesting parts of the country in and around St. George or Mesquite, NV to visit?

–Matt B.

For a long time, my club has provided free R/C flight instruction for anybody who shows up at the Jordan Modelport. Today, I decided it was finally time to write a web page showing off the fact that the Utes provide [url=http://uterc.org/node/429]free flight instruction[/url] for anyone willing to pony up $4 to get into the park on a Wednesday night.

For the technically illiterate, here’s a brief overview of what’s inside of a computer. My goal here is to give you just enough information to be dangerous, akin to a mechanic telling you what the parts of your car are, and to give you some useful jargon to throw at your computer tech and make the poor pimple-faced teenager even more confused than he already is. First off, a computer is designed to [b]store[/b], [/b]process[/b], and [b]display[/b] stuff. In order to do that, it has to be [b]kept cool[/b] and [b]provided with power[/b]. If you divide the computer into those parts, suddenly the computer starts making a lot more sense. But don’t let that deter you from jargoning up that PC tech!

KEEPING IT COOL Those fans you hear whirring? Those are to keep the system cool. Some of those fans are to keep the parts that provide power cool, too. These are called the “fans”.

JARGON ALERT: Often, if you hear a very loud grinding or whining noise from your computer, you can say it sounds like “a fan threw a bearing”, or perhaps “the bushings are worn out”, or even “the fan might be rubbing on the shroud”. These useful terms may get your PC tech to happily respond with his own anecdotes regarding the time his high-end gaming PC “blew a fan on the water-cooling rig and I couldn’t play games for DAYS”. Just nod, pretend you empathize, and let him keep working.

PROVIDE IT WITH POWER You’ve got an external power brick for your notebook that tends to get really warm, or maybe you have a desktop computer with some funky fan-grille thing in the back with a power plug in it. There’s a big power plug that connects to the wall somewhere on that thing, and this part of your computer gets REALLY WARM. This is the most likely place for SPARKS and SMOKE, and if your computer simply won’t turn on at all, make noises, beep, boop, light up, or hum, this is probably the part that is broken.

JARGON ALERT: “Looks like the PSU let the magic smoke out” or “my power brick is no longer providing regulated voltage” will get that tech on your side and keep him honest, thinking you actually know something about your PC.

STORE STUFF Inside your computer, you probably have a DVD drive and a hard drive. These two parts allow you to store information. The DVD drive is that cup-holder on the desktop box, or perhaps the little slot you slide discs into on your macbook. The hard drive, on the other hand, is where you store your stuff forever.

Unfortunately, nothing lasts forever, and since both of these parts have a substantial amount of parts whizzing past each other several thousand times a minute, they tend to get out of alignment and die horrible, crunchy, gravelly deaths. If you hear a grinding noise, or see a light flashing all the time while your computer spins an icon on the screen forever, your hard drive might be dead.

JARGON ALERT: “The drive has bad sectors” or “Could it be a head crash?” are great terms for keeping that keyboard monkey in check while he’s working on your machine. Calling your DVD or CD drive a “cup holder” is a great in-joke, and will convince that PC repairman that you are part of that tiny in-crowd who really know what is going on. Or, at least, that you finally got your hands on a chain email from 1998.

PROCESS STUFF Now, this is where it gets confusing. Most of us are used to referring to the big beige box as the “CPU”. Well, it turns out the CPU (“Central Processing Unit”) is really only one tiny part of that beige box, but it’s where most of the heavy lifting happens. This part gets REALLY HOT, and is the primary reason you have to cool your laptop down.

The “CPU” plugs into a “motherboard”, that basically is a glorified housekeeper. The motherboard has lots of little ancillary processing units that take care of all the crap your CPU is too busy to do.

JARGON ALERT: If you get a particularly old PC tech working on your system, try throwing out “Heh, heh, I wonder if the Pentium floating-point bug maybe came back” or perhaps “Maybe we could just solder a pin on this to turn it into a 486 DX2?” to get a laugh and convince him you’re one of the gang.

DISPLAY STUFF Your computer has some sort of screen that keeps you glued, watching, and probably is supposed to make sounds. If either of these stop working, you can blame your “monitor”, your “GPU” (only if you play games and the games stop working), or your “sound card”.

JARGON ALERT: “Could my GPU be sharing an interrupt with another card?” will get that PC tech haring off down red-herring road faster than you can say “Nip!”, “Pang!”, or “Nu-Wom!”.

I hope this primer has been helpful. Enjoy your new computer.

–Matt B.

So it’s time, once again, to upgrade barnson.org to a new version of Drupal. I’ll be taking things down for a few hours.

Not like I have more than a half-dozen regular readers anyway. So for you six guys out there, sorry we’re going to be down for a bit!

–Matt B.

So I had an interesting week. We’re nearing a “freeze” period at work — a period in which we’re allowed to make no major changes to the infrastructure — and that means an incredibly intense workload as everyone tries to get their changes in before the freeze arrives. Add to that, the hard drive on my web server just up and died.

Now, I wasn’t too worried about my data. I’ve made good backups and taken care of it. But I have a number of webhosting customers on my server, too — all good friends, it’s a small, low-cost, low-revenue business — who didn’t take my “keep your own backups” advice to heart. So I’ve been running around like a chicken with my head cut off attempting to restore data from a patched-together amalgam of current database backups, legacy data, and online sync when available from the failing server.

At this point, it looks like all the domains but one are fully moved. That last one, alas, is not one for which I had a good backup, but at least I know the web developer who does.

I’ve learned some important lessons from this disaster, and hope to apply them to better serve my small customer base in the future.

Lesson 1: Never trust your customers.

They may be geniuses in their field, but they are hiring you for a reason: they don’t know how to do this stuff themselves. If they knew what was good for them, they’d be doing it. And the truth is, in any moderately technical arena, your customers don’t actually know what you’re talking about. They just know what they want, and they want you to give that to them.

Lesson 2: Be the hero.

When the shit hits the fan, customers don’t want to be told what to do. Customers want you to do it. They just want things back the way they were — or, more importantly, doing what they pay you for it to do — in as short a period as possible. They want you to step in, pick up the ball, and get things running again. Don’t waste time trying to work with them or negotiate. Just get the service back up and running as fast as you can, then tell them how it is. THEN you can negotiate the particulars. A customer is more comfortable being told “Hey, we moved, here’s your new info” than you asking them what they want in this case.

Lesson 3: Cover your ass.

Sure, you made it plain to your customer what they had to do when they signed up for the service. You were explicit in your user agreements; it really is their fault if they don’t live up to their end of the agreement. Well, cover your ass in case they screw up anyway. See rule #1: no matter what you trust your customers to do, they probably won’t do it. Or they will do it, but in the worst possible way. Or they just won’t understand what you’re asking, and will ignore the requirement until the day things fail. Just figure out every conceivable way to cover your ass, then do every one of those things that you can within your financial and time constraints. At least then you can show due diligence at doing what you didn’t need to do in the first place if by some reason you can’t hold up your end of the bargain. But you’ll still probably lose that customer. Which is what you want to avoid in the first place.

Lesson 4: Relationships won’t keep your customers.

At the end of this, I’ve simply decided to replace my vendor for web hosting service that I re-sell. The moves were painful but quick, taking place over two days. Forty-eight hours of my life later, and I have no further ties to those guys. They are getting a call on Monday to stop my service, and they can find another customer.

And that last bit is the most important. Offer a valuable service, and do it better and at lower cost than your competitors. I have most of my customers because of pre-existing relationships with them, and they trust my advice and expertise. But I won’t keep them because of that relationship; I have to keep delivering value, particularly in times of crisis like a dead hard drive.

–Matt B.