Science of weight loss

September 27th, 2007 popscience

This may be how a low carb, low sugar diet work to reduce weight. Limited sugars and carbo intake diminishes insulin which mobilises fat from fat tissues. Additionally, cutting out sugar makes a person leave the vicious cycle of wanting more sugar. Low carb and high levels of protein increase the production of glucose which send signals to the brain that the stomach is full. So, it means that while Atkins may not be more efficient than other diets because it does what the other low calorie diets do anyway in limiting calorie intake but it is easier to follow because appetite is controlled without much hardship.

Turning my mind to the (odd) observation that Atkins diet increases good cholesterol described in the BBC Horizon interview, I suspect it mainly due to the types of food is because of the type of foods that is allowed on the diet. According to this, butter, cream and cheese increases both good and bad cholesterol. Margarine is simply displaced with because butter is now an allowed fat for eating and cooking. Trans fat in baking products are not consumed because baking product is just not a permitted food on the list. Shellfish and seafood (one of food groups allowed on the Atkins) is high in polyunsaturated fat. So, in the end, it all boils down to what we put in our mouths.

From Why most of us believe that exercise makes us thinner

A handwritten blog

September 26th, 2007 TreatsTags: Pens

Garnet Grapes – The hard to read blog
A hand written blog. It’s amazing how he never cancels in his writing.

If you happen to own a ruled Moleskine, you will know what I’m talking about: Vanishing Point and Pelikan brown. Very dry, frequent refills needed. No spiders(!!!)

Luxury and the democracy of consumption

September 17th, 2007 atschool

If you can’t buy the Yves Saint Laurent frocks, get a handbag (handbags are the profit centre of the fashion trade nowadays). If you don’t need a trunk, buy the perfume. If you can’t afford the suits, get a T-shirt. Cover yourself with the right badges to show you have exactly what you deserve (and, no, there is no irony in this trade).

I like that Michael Pye, in a review of Dana Thomas’s Deluxe: How Luxury lost its Lustre, recognise there is a democracy of consumption – we can now afford the luxurious. I also like that he talks about the trickle down effect even though it is in a vague, groping manner. I disagree with his ending, however, that ‘luxury is service where you call all the shots‘. I think it is not so much calling the shots that makes something luxurious, or high quality or limited quantity. Luxury item is very tricky: it allows you to both belong to a group and set you apart from within that group at the same time. That is, luxury is an identifier that is agreed by the masses – not merely something decided by the rich. In that sense any consumable – even art – will always lose its luxury status due to the trickle down effect. There is only one thing I can think of that would not lose luxury status: private islands or private countries.

Acting My Age: An Amateurish Production

September 14th, 2007 screen

The phrase ‘Getting up and going to work’ sucks the romance and joy of any work as though work is a chore, a drudgery which is impossible over a long period of time because nobody can stand being involved in something that gives no pleasure not even masochists. But I’ve been doing just that. No, not the job. I’ve been Getting Up And Going To a Work Out. Frankly, it’s disgusting unladylike behaviour to sweat and pant over an exercise bike in the eye of the public. I’ve also been working out how much exactly it is that I don’t have. The judicious, on-going acting of one’s age is dreadful. This is the most boring two weeks of this year.

Amateurs wait for inspiration. The rest of us just get up and go to work. ~ Chuck Close (Lifted from MMV)

One person’s not acting his age yet not having fun is House. I’ve been watching Season 3 of House. The writers for House are good at sarcasm and interesting medical cases but in Season 3 they’ve decided, no we need to make the audience love us and so they have been trying to develop audience empathy for House in the clumsiest manner possible. The writers have been forcing House and the other characters into false drama via a method I call who’s the bigger asshole. They did that in Season 1 with a character named Vogler who holds a grudge against House and makes life difficult for him and other characters. This season it’s a character named Twitter, forcing House to go into a rehab for the addiction to Vicodin, or making him make Cuddy cry or making him jealous, or making the Cottages quit, et cetera. It’s rubbish. They should stick with the medicine and stop turning everyone’s motivation to making House a better man.

Why didn’t I think of that!

September 14th, 2007 Uncategorized

Carl Zimmer’s original post made everyone send in their photographs. There is one of the periodic table which would have been handy during ‘O’ levels.

Dreams of Gong Gong

September 10th, 2007 Uncategorized

(How does one write a Singaporean story when we lack the language to give a proper flavour to stories that are in English, in Chinese, in Hainanese? One can only attempt to approximate the imperfect way that we speak through imperfect phonetics.)

“Crystal dream of Gong-Gong yesterday,” announced my aunt at dinner. We were in a canteen having dinner. It was Nicole’s birthday celebration. Crystal tried to climb onto her mother to cover the mouth. “Bu yao jiang! Ma-mi! Bu yao jiang!”
“Yi beh mi bo?”
“Never say anything. Zi si xiao-xiao.”
“Ar loh. Xiang wo de loh. Yia bo gong mi. Only smiling and playing with the chewdren.”
“Crystal qi lai jiu kooh-er. Jiao Gong-gong bu yao zou.”
“Ma-mi!” said Crystal.
Feeling tears I quickly averted my eyes.
My mother started laughing. “Mei you mah Ma-Ma? Wo mong dao ta hen sen qi. Na lo wan. Wan lo wan tao hu.”
“Ndiao?”
“Sou siet meh. Na lo wan. Ying wei Ma Ma diu diao ta de wan ah, kuai zi ah – quan bu de tong xi. Ta hen sen qi!”
My mother was red faced, tears streaming down. It was the first time I heard it.
“Ah-ma diu diao hai si ni mong dao ah-ma diu?” asked my uncle.
“Zen de. She threw away everything. We kept only a set of clothing.”
“Ah? Si zhen de?”
“Beh teo di mi boh? 7th month ma.”
“I burned some downstairs that day,” said my aunt.
“We also,” said my other aunt. “But these are for outside one.”
“Mother jiang first year boh jiong mpai,” said my aunt.
“Yi mi lo boh jiong.”
“Po-po is very modern,”said the other aunt.
I laughed.

I think my aunts held it in. My mom’s eyes looked too red to be from laughter. The sniffles stayed for a while. Only after dinner ended did true merriment slowly returned.

Doh! (An exchange with a co-worker)

September 8th, 2007 Uncategorized

Me: Look W! It’s such a beautiful day outside. You can even see Malaysia from here.
W: (somewhat incredulous) That’s Indonesia.

Feelings…nothing more than feelings

September 7th, 2007 music

It is difficult not to be impressed with Helfgott’s Rach 3. The music is seriously fantastic and it sounds incredibly difficult. He didn’t make a hash of it, and he didnt type out the piece on the keyboard and only a handful would know if it’s done wrong. If a person without specialised knowledge never hears any others would still declare it a favourite work and Helfgott quite alright when in fact he’s like a billionaire who gives his guests porridge and a small piece of fermented beancurd for lunch because cook is out.

I still can’t tell which parts are pallid, erratic and incoherent. Helfgott sounds ok. There is a noticeeable difference, however, between his and Ashkenazy/Previn’s interpretation. When Helfgott plays he reminds me how difficult the piece is with the crashingly loud sounds and the numerous notes crammed together. Ashkenazy/Previn sound effortless. I forget the difficulty of this piece and that first lifts the experience to allow me to wander through the music. Ashkenazy/Previn gave the different sections of the movement more contrast – loud, soft, rapid, slow – to bring out the passion of the piece. His soft notes are achieved with delicacy not volume and his loud bits sound grand. I hear it being softer, warmer, alive, more colourful and more passionate. He gave the listener a full and satisfying meal. But I must say that Helfgott has got a better piano than Ashkenazy. The latter got a what I usually call china-made sounding piano. (An article on piano brands in case you need one can be found here – even if you’re buying it to hold up picture frames, get a good brand.)

This Rach 3 however, did not captivate me as the Rach 2 of the same CD. I almost swooned at the deep rich opening that rings to the depth of one’s soul. I love the romance and the drama. No 2 is marvelous. Life is enriched with this piece in existence. I’m keen to hear other interpretations.

~

Listening I made the connection why – amongst the other faults – I could never play with feelings. Emotion is not from the heart of the pianist even if it sounds as though it is. Emotions arrive from thinking about how the piece should sound – an innate musical ability – and the technical ability to replicate the music in one’s mind. I am not naturally musical and I cannot understand why doesn’t the composer give better instructions if he wanted it that way. My technique is poor and my fingers not clever enough to coax beautiful sounds from the piano. To play with emotion, so I believed that the musician has to be brimming over with emotions first and let it pour through music. So I used to rock back and forth on the piano chair like a bad actor expressing grand romance, light comedy or deep melancholy. My teacher, very kind, did not laugh at me. I would have hooted myself out of the door.

Tenor Pavaroti passed away, age 71.

September 7th, 2007 Obituaries

I didn’t know is that he brought Nessun Dorma to the masses when he sang it at the World Cup in 1990. No wonder I heard some humming the tune when I left the concert hall after the performance of Turandot some years ago.

The flesh pimples in ecstasy!

September 4th, 2007 music

The No. 2 is seriously fantastic and I’m getting the feeling that I will be collecting the various recordings available.There is a recording available online for download – Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto 2.

On seriously sucky sounding youtube so bad there is no point watching it but if you really want to, Horowitz plays Piano Concerto No 3:

Allegro Ma Nan Tanto
Intermezzo, Adagio
Finale, Alla Breve

I found a fan forum discussing the merits of various Rach 3 recordings.