Friday, April 20
3:10 am
It is +6 °C, with a high forecast of +17 °C.
From the Environment Canada website:
Today Mainly cloudy. Wind southwest 20 km/h gusting to 40 becoming west 50 gusting to 70 near noon. High 17. UV index 4 or moderate.
Friday night Clearing in the evening. Wind west 50 km/h gusting to 70 diminishing to 30 gusting to 50 in the evening then becoming light overnight. Low plus 2.
3:20 am Life
I have set up a second fitness app. This is one called FitDay, which I have used before. I am going to try using both this app as well as the MyFitnessPal app and see if I prefer one over the other.
I received an automated email from FitDay recently that gave links to a few useful web sites. One of these gave the following hints for portion control:
- Split your plate into quarters.
- Half of your plate will consist of non-starchy vegetables (greens, asparagus, tomatoes, cucumbers, etc.).
- One quarter of your plate will consist of about 3-4 ounces of lean protein (tofu, beef, fish, chicken, etc.).
- On the last quarter, place your starch. Starches are usually about half a cup and include foods like pasta, rice, corn, beans, peas, etc.
- When eating at home, use small plates.
- Drink 2 glasses of water before each meal.
- Fill up on high-fiber foods (5 grams or more per serving).
- When out to eat, split a meal with a friend.
- Alternatively, when you order, ask your waiter box up half of your meal. Take the remainder home to eat at another time.
- Eat slowly - be the last one at the table to finish your meal.
- Include plenty of non-starchy vegetables in each meal (they are high in water and fiber).
- If making large portions of food at home, freeze leftovers for an easy meal later.
- Don't eat in front of the TV or while doing distracting activities like working or reading.
- Don't go into a meal starving. If you anticipate going more than 4-5 hours without food, have a snack on hand.
This is all fairly familiar to me, but a reminder is not amiss. Items 2, 5 and 10 deserve more attention.
Another website focused on foods one should be eating:
- Leafy veggies, broccoli, cauliflower
- red beans (smaller than a kidney bean)
- cherries
- chia seeds
- avocado (about 2 tbsp/serving)
- pistachios
- seaweed (maki rolls)
- pumpkin (canned - 100%, no fillers or additives)
I would add blueberries to the list. Cherries, chia seeds, pistachios and pumpkin are all new to me as special foods.
While in New York last fall I had a granola/yoghurt cup that was delicious. I have searched for a couple of homemade granola recipes that look to be much better than the commercial products. I will shop for the ingredients this morning and try making a batch of each later this afternoon.
4:20 am Literature
While updating this website for the Australian trip I am reminded of reading some Guy de Maupassant short stories. I also received an email yesterday notifying me that the latest issue of Dumbo Feather had arrived on my iPad. I must set aside an hour/day for reading both of these items. Early morning (i.e. now) is a fine time for this.
"Complete Original Short Stories of Guy de Maupassant" (Volume 1)
- Lieutenant Lare's Marriage
- A French lieutenant saves a young peasant girl while on a mission and marries him the following year. Simple & true.
- The Horrible
- A man gives two examples of the difference between horrible and terrible.
I have just finished reading an interview with Sir Ken Robinson in the latest issue of Dumbo Feather. Excellent but ... e-magazines do not have a yellow-highlighing feature. Now I will have to make a few notes for myself. By the way, try typing TED Ken Robinson into google and watch Ken give a number of talks on education and creativity. Stunning stuff!
Here are a few sentences from the interview:
- I've always been struck by the fact that all people have amazing natural abilities and talents.
- People are very different, very, and that diversity is a key principle of human life.
- ... it's very hard to draw a straight line between one event in your life and your overall disposition - but there's a cumulative effect.
- I've always thought of people as being multidimensional, and the more that I think about it, I know that's the case.
- ... some people live lives where they feel that they've absolutely discovered their own authentic purposes and talents, and love what they do, and very many people go through their entire lives feeling more-or-less disengaged; they endure their lives rather than enjoy them.
- There aren't enough incentives in education to encourage the big cultural shift that I believe we have to see if education is to do the right thing by the most people.
- ... at the heart of education is the relationship between a teacher and a learner.
- all education is personal
- If education had been personalized in the first place, a lot of these kids wouldn't have dropped out.
- ... teaching is not a delivery system, it's an art form ...
- And you don't need to upend an entire system to show teachers how to do that within the frameworks that they have
This has been a great start to the day.
9:40 PM Life
My body rhythms are still out of whack. I slept soundly again this afternoon for about 3 hours. At the moment I am wide awake. And I have just started a cup of steaming coffee.
While looking for a book on symmetry that I have been reading on and off for the last year, my eyes travelled over many books that evoked responsive reactions. Some are old favorites, some are books that I have never opened (but still hope to, as they look very interesting) and some are books that I started and have never finished. I wonder if it makes any sense to try to organize these in a manner that facilitates future reading.
- Mathematics
- Symmetry
- The Symmetries of Things (2008) by John H. Conway et al.
- Fearless Symmetry (2006) by Avner Ash & Robert Gross
- Modern Algebra
- A Book of Abstract Algebra (1990) by Charles C. Pinter
- Introduction to Linear Algebra (2009) by Gilbert Strang
- Symmetry
- Physics
- The Feynman Lectures on Physics (3 vols.) (1963-5) by Richard Feynman et al.
- The Road to Reality (2004) by Roger Penrose
- The Shape of Inner Space (2010) by Shing-Tung Yau
- On Space and Time (2008) by Shahn Majid (Ed.)
- Biology
- Molecular Biology (2010) by David P. Clark & Lonnie D. Russell
- Mind, Life, and Universe (2007) by Lynn Margulis & Eduardo Punset (Eds.)
- Technology
- Is the Internet Changing the Way You Think? (2011) by John Brockman (Ed.)
- Alone Together (2011) by Sherry Turkle [book, ebook]
- Psychology
- The Better Angels of Our Nature (2011) by Steven Pinker
- Thinking, Fast and Slow (2011) by Daniel Kahneman
- History
- Ideas (2005) by Peter Watson
- Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia (2010) by Michael Korda
- Literature
- The Use and Abuse of Literature (2011) by Marjorie Gerber
- The Penguin Book of Memoir (2011) by Camilla Gibb
- Novels
- Canadian
- Half-Blood Blues (2011) by Esi Edugyan
- The Beauty of Humanity Movement (2010) by Camilla Gibb
- Nikolski (2005) by Nicolas Dickner
- The Quincunx (1989) by Charles Palliser
- The Street Sweeper (2011) by Eliot Perlman
- Canadian
- Poetry
- Tao Te Ching (2008) by Lao Tzu (translated & commentary by Ralph Alan Dale)
- Rumi: The Big Red Book (2010) by Coleman Barks
- The Masnavi. Book One (2004) by Rumi
- Drama
- The Collected Works of William Shakespeare [ebook]
- Shakespeare After All (2004) by Marjorie Gerber [ebook]
- Short Stories
- Complete Original Short Stories of Guy de Maupassant [ebook]
- The Use and Abuse of Literature (2011) by Marjorie Gerber
The above list may be incomplete, but it is a promising beginning. While creating the list, I stopped briefly to read the first two entries in "Is the Internet Changing the Way You Think?". Stimulating.
Danny Hillis makes a clear distinction between the Internet (the physical network of computers) and the Web (the network of messages). He points out that the web is not something that has been created according to some plan but rather it is an evolving system of interconnected parts. He ends with "Welcome to the dawn of the Entanglement".
Nicholas Carr points out that reading a book is critically different than reading an ebook. A book provides the reader with an isolated environment where one can focus on the content. An ebook is embedded within a highly interactive environment of competing demands for attention. Carr is concerned that such an environment is reducing our capacity to remain attentive to a message for a prolonged period of time, and hence to the depth of our understanding.
Looking at the books on my shelves reminded me of a book I bought in Hawaii, a recent translation and commentary of the Tao Te Ching, one of my favorite texts. I will begin reading it tomorrow.