Monthly Archives: April 2010

Apr 8 2010

Primal Results

From Mark’s Daily Apple:

Where Are They Now?: I’ve made a number of positive changes by going Primal. The first (and most obvious) is that I’ve dropped about 80 pounds since August 13, 2009. The second is that by stopping grains, sugars, and starch-loaded foods, I’ve eliminated my arthritis, my IBS, and my migraines, and I’ve brought my blood sugars down to normal (they’ve been there since mid-November, usually in the mid-80s to mid-90s). My doctor is absolutely flabbergasted by my progress. I’m still losing about 8 to 10 pounds a month, too. And I’m no longer in a wheelchair! I can walk quickly and sometimes even run for short bursts. It’s amazing.

…

If it weren’t for this site, I’d be sucking down my hypoglycemic pills, hating life, and wondering how I’d ever get my sugars out of the 300s again. Mark, I can’t thank you enough for giving me my life back. Check back with me in another six months, and grok on!

True stories from people following the primal way.

You gotta love results like these! I’ve experienced something like this myself, and so have friends of mine. I have a friend that was borderline diabetic and overweight. He’s now slim and trim, and no longer close to being diabetic. And like the guy above, his blood chemistry is outstanding (mine too). I gotta really thank my doctor. Several years ago when I talked to him about this approach to eating, he said that most doctors won’t admit it because it’s not the accepted conventional wisdom, but it is exactly correct. If you eat like a caveman, you’ll lose weight and get healthy.

Apr 8 2010

The Masters is Finally Here!

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The winner of the [[Masters]] is presented with a green jacket, for those that don’t know

OK, so who’s going to be charging on Sunday afternoon around Amen Corner to claim the Green Jacket this year? What are your predictions for [[Tiger]]?

I’m thinking [[Tiger]] finishes in the top ten, probably ahead of every other big name. The winner this year is going to be someone we don’t expect at all. Phil Mickelson will miss the cut, and Ernie Els will finish middle of the pack, as will Steve Stricker.

But who knows? I only know one thing: I’ll be watching on Sunday as this year’s champion is crowned!

Apr 5 2010

Young men who smoke have lower IQs

From Science Daily:

Smoking is dumb: Young men who smoke have lower IQs, study finds: A study led by Prof. Mark Weiser of Tel Aviv University’s Department of Psychiatry and the Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer Hospital has determined that young men who smoke are likely to have lower IQs than their non-smoking peers. Tracking 18- to 21-year-old men enlisted in the Israeli army in the largest ever study of its kind, he has been able to demonstrate an important connection between the number of cigarettes young males smoke and their IQ.

Hmmm…. I’ve always maintained to my daughters that anyone that starts smoking today, with all we know, is a moron. I’ve even gone out of my way at times to point to the teenagers out in front of the movie theater and exclaim as much. Now I have scientific proof to back me up.

Thankfully, they understood, and never started. Now, if we could only reach the rest of the impressionable youth.

Apr 5 2010

Tiger’s Return

Well, it’s finally here, the final week of winter. Oh, I know that the calendar says that spring started a couple of weeks ago. But it’s not really spring until Sunday afternoon at Amen Corner at the [[Masters]].

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A view of the 12th hole at Augusta, the second leg of Amen Corner

This year is a bit different at The Masters than any other year though. It’s the Year of the Tiger, and the year that [[Tiger]] tries to make amends. Will he be able to quell the rancor of the crowds and score at Augusta? I hope so.

I have to say that from the beginning I was a huge supporter of [[Tiger]]. He seemed to do it the right way both on, and off the course. Well, clearly, his antics off the course have proved me at least half wrong, and some of his behavior on the course has left a lot to be desired as of late.

Hopefully the past few months have given him a full serving of humble pie and he’s willing to come back with more respect for the game, for his fans, for women, and especially for his family.

Apr 1 2010

‘Old’ Soul: Augusta National

From Golf Digest:

‘Old’ Soul: Augusta National: Golf Digest: Given Bobby Jones and Alister Mackenzie’s deep ties to St. Andrews, it comes as little surprise that the Old Course was on their minds during Augusta National’s 1931 design phase and 1932 construction. But the extent to which St. Andrews influenced the genetic code of several key holes has been understood by a select few.

I’d have to agree with this assessment. In his book The Spirit of St. Andrews, Alister Mackenzie went on and on about the genius of St. Andrews and how he tried to incorporate many of that courses features into his designs. With [The Masters](http://www.masters.com) just around the corner, I can’t wait to take another look at his masterpiece.

Apr 1 2010

Upgrade to WordPress

After much hemming and hawing, thinking about upgrading to the most recent version of Typo, a fantastic Ruby on Rails blogging system, I decided to go a different direction with the site and adopt WordPress. Boy am I glad I did!

This will be the 6th incarnation of CarneyWeb.com:

# Static HTML
# Userland Frontier site management
# Custom PHP/MySQL software written by me
# Custom Ruby on Rails software written by me
# Typo blogging system
# and now [[WordPress.org]]

One of the main drawbacks with Typo for me was that it was a Ruby on Rails application. Now, before all my Rails friends get in a tizzy, let me explain. First off, let me say, I love Rails and everything it brings to the table for web app development. My main problem is that my site is running on an old, resource limited mac and Rails really is a resource hog. I noticed the time it took to spin up a new instance of Typo after the site had been inactive for a while… it was downright painful. It turns out that PHP is just much more resource friendly, and because I have the zend engine and eAccelerator installed which do a fantastic job in optimizing PHP scripts for performance.

Now, on to WordPress.

WordPress is a fantastic blogging platform with thousands of plugins for site customization, and is way more feature complete than Typo. I’ve also switch my [band’s](http://www.8misbehavin.com) site over to WordPress from a static site maintained in [RapidWeaver](http://www.realmacsoftware.com/rapidweaver/) (a great product by the way) as well, and will probably switch over my iPhone development company’s [site](http://www.sweet-spot-software.com) too.