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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.

Mar 31 2010

How Much is Too Much

From Marks’ Daily Apple:

How Much is Too Much?: I’m often asked, however, about the upper ceilings I would set for various elements of the PB (fat, fish oil, etc.) I thought I’d take on those questions today and cover good ground by applying a rapid fire approach for several of the most common “excess” inquiries. Enjoy, and be sure to share your thoughts!

Lately, I’ve been following the basic guidelines (for the most part) of the Primal Blueprint as described at [Mark’s Daily Apple](http://www.marksdailyapple.com/how-much-is-too-much/). I’ve actually lost about 9 or 10 pounds in the last month and a half. I’ve varied my exercise routine and eating habits according to the principals outlined there and have seen some fantastic results. Take a read of the above story to get an idea of what could be in store for your eating should you go primal.

Mar 31 2010

‘Stand and Deliver’ teacher dies of cancer

From CNN.com:

‘Stand and Deliver’ teacher dies of cancer: “During his tenure at Garfield High School, many of our students excelled in learning, aspired to a higher education and went on to become very successful in various careers,” Los Angeles School Superintendent Ramon Cortines said. “Today, they are living testaments to a teacher who demonstrated how high expectations coupled with constant support can overcome obstacles to a quality education.”

I remember [Stand and Deliver](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094027/) in a theatre way back in 1988. I was completely blown away by the story. I loved the fact that given any kind of a chance and some help, these underprivileged students were able to rise up and pass the Calculus AP exam. What’s even more amazing is that it was, for all practical purposes, a true story. What’s even more amazing is that teachers didn’t have much use for it.

I remember talking to a teacher friend of mine who complained that the real story couldn’t have been like that, that it must have been modified by Hollywood to make the film more exciting. Well, it turns out he was wrong and that it is about 90% accurate, and about 100% accurate in all the details that matter.

Another amazing, but probably not too surprising, thing is that the teacher’s union opposed what he was doing because he was taking on too many students in his classroom! The union had negotiated that the classroom max was to be 35 students. He took on more than 50. Was the union concerned that the students weren’t being taught well? Nope… the students in those classes passed the AP exam at better than a 90% rate. A phenomenal achievement. The union was more interested in protecting their (other) members than helping the children (he was doing a labor of love)… as I said, not much of a surprise (the next time you hear the teacher’s union supporting something for the benefit of the children, take it with a grain of salt).

From Reason.com:

This leaves would-be school reformers with a set of uncomfortable questions. Why couldn’t Escalante run his classes in peace? Why were administrators allowed to get in his way? Why was the union imposing its “help” on someone who hadn’t requested it? Could Escalante’s program have been saved if, as Gradillas now muses, Garfield had become a charter school? What is wrong with a system that values working well with others more highly than effectiveness?

He was a unique teacher that showed what can be done when someone cares. Perhaps, as he passes, teachers and school districts around the country will be inspired as they read his example (and maybe even watch that fantastic film), stand up to the politicians and unions, and really deliver and leave no child behind.

Mar 23 2010

Time for a new Pope?

From The London Evening Standard:

Pope ‘led cover-up of child abuse by priests’: The Pope played a leading role in a systematic cover-up of child sex abuse by Roman Catholic priests, according to a shocking documentary to be screened by the BBC tonight.

In 2001, while he was a cardinal, he issued a secret Vatican edict to Catholic bishops all over the world, instructing them to put the Church’s interests ahead of child safety.

The document recommended that rather than reporting sexual abuse to the relevant legal authorities, bishops should encourage the victim, witnesses and perpetrator not to talk about it. And, to keep victims quiet, it threatened that if they repeat the allegations they would be excommunicated.

If this actually happened (and given the recent issues that have surfaced, I think it likely), there’s no choice for this Pope but to resign.

They let Cardinal Law get away with it nearly a decade ago, and that was troubling enough. But now the Pope?!? It’s time for a complete overhaul of the church hierarchy. This cannot go on, and cannot be ignored.

Feb 22 2010

Sexy = Banned, Unless You’re SI

From TechCrunch:

While Other Bikini Apps Are Banned, iTunes Promotes Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit App: Apple is getting more prudish and pulling sexy apps from iTunes. One of the new rules is no more bikini apps, unless you happen to be Sports Illustrated (or FHM or Playboy). Sports Illustrated, for instance, just released its 2010 Swimsuit app on iTunes on February 9, before the ban really started. The SI Swimsuit app is filled with pictures of bikini-clad models.

Gotta say, if this is the way it shakes out, I’m really disappointed in Applee. That just ain’t right.

Feb 18 2010

Amen, Brother George

From The Washington Post:

Sarah Palin and the mutual loathing society: Sarah Palin, who with 17 months remaining in her single term as Alaska’s governor quit the only serious office she has ever held, is obsessively discussed as a possible candidate in 2012. Why? She is not going to be president and will not be the Republican nominee unless the party wants to lose at least 44 states.

You got that right George. What is the attraction of Sarah Palin to the Republicans, or even the Tea Partiers? Ok… I kinda understand the whole sexy librarian thing, but other than that, she’s as qualified as… as… a sexy librarian.

Please people, can we stop paying attention to her so she can just go away?

Feb 16 2010

Competing with Apple

From Mark Damon Hughes:

Competing with the iPhone: It’s got to be so annoying to compete with Apple, at anything really, because it’s not like they’re doing something fucking crazy. Everybody’s had these ideas before. The difference, and this is grim if you are a competitor, but the difference is that everyone else spends a lot of time (and often, money) determining why those things aren’t possible. And then it comes out, for real, only you didn’t make it. Some other guys did. And when you come out with what is (on paper) a better version of the same thing, maybe even multiple times over, it’s too late.

You made a “product” to compete with their “product,” tastefully arranging your regiment, only to discover that they hadn’t made a product at all – they made a narrative. A statement about how technology should interface with a life.

I’m not saying this to be mean, or get my kicks, or to engage in psychic vampirism. Competing with these fucking people must be a genuinely harrowing state of affairs.

That’s the thing. It’s not that Apple always creates better stuff by all definitions of “better”, is just that they seem to get the whole picture better.

Feb 16 2010

More Troubles for the Church

From Cnn:

Well, it seems as thought the church hierarchy is at it again:

Pope meets irish bishops over abuse report: Alleged victims of child abuse by Catholic priests in Ireland called on the Vatican Monday to hold its own investigation into the scandal and punish those responsible.

Hmmm… where have I heard this before?

“They need to clean the stables up. They need to inquire into all the bishops, and if that means the majority of them would have to resign, then so be it,” Kelly said.

Let it start with the firing, extradition, prosecution, and if convicted, excommunication of Cardinal Law, currently hiding out in a cushy job in Vatican City.

Pope Benedict… surprise me, please? Do the right thing.

Nov 3 2009

Life, Rare and Fragile

From Mark’s Daily Apple:

Life, Rare and Fragile: Ignore evolution at your peril. Ignore the undeniable fact that the human animal (like any other) arose under certain environmental pressures, pressures that persisted for most of our formative years. Even more important than what our ancestral environments looked like is what they did not look like. They were not grocery stores with tons of refined carbohydrates and cereal grains lining the aisles. They were not sitting in traffic for an hour each way. They were not gallons of vegetable oils. They were not legions of obese diabetics.

…

We are animals, and we are subject to evolutionary pressures. We came of age in a time without processed foods, sedentarism, and chronic stress. That is the environment for which we are adapted, and it is the environment towards which we should strive – if we’re interested in optimum health, happiness, and longevity, that is.

I recently found Mark’s Daily Apple, a blog about nutrition, health, exercise, etc. It’s a wonderful resource, and I’d highly recommend it to everyone interested in actually improving your health and fitness.

Sep 24 2009

A Review of Taubes’ “Good Calories, Bad Calories”

From Entropy Production:

Entropy Production: All Medical Science is Wrong within a 95% Confidence Interval
or: A Review of Taubes’ “Good Calories, Bad Calories”: Recently I read a very impressive book by Gary Taubes, previously a reporter for the journal Science. The work in question is, “Good Calories, Bad Calories.”‘ In the book, Taubes collects research to challenge the common knowledge of nutrition: that fat is bad for you, that we should eat polyunsaturated vegetable oils, that we should exercise for sixty minutes a day, etc.

…

One cannot help but wonder how a number of the weak hypotheses that Taubes explores came to become common knowledge in the field of nutrition? Taubes paints a picture of a few egotistical researchers who were able to effect what was essentially scientific fraud, by fitting their bias to the data rather than examining it critically. In Taubes words (p. 451), “it is difficult to use the term “scientist” to describe those individuals who work in these disciples [ed: nutrition, chronic disease, and obesity], and, indeed, I have activity avoided doing so in this book.”

This article is a fantastic summary and commentary on Gary Taubes enlightening book. I highly recommend purchasing and reading the book. It changed my life for the better (starting with article that Taubes wrote for the New York Times Magazine). Since reading the article / book and following (for the most part) it’s tennets, the following has happened to me personally:

  • I’ve lost 50 pounds
  • My blood cholesterol has dropped from 220 to 160
  • My trigycerides have dropped
  • My blood pressure has dropped

If you are overweight or borderline diabetic, you NEED to read this book.