Sat 23 Feb 2008 – 19.14
Let’s be honest, you’re not the healthiest eater. But switching to a diet of lettuce and Crystal Light isn’t for everyone. From ZenHabits comes a sensible list of 12 ways to eat better and feel better. Here’s a sample:
7. Nuts instead of chips. If you normally snack on chips, try unsalted peanuts or raw almonds.
A pretty good plan since the calories in nuts are split between carbs, fats, and proteins as opposed to potato chips which are almost all fat calories. As an amateur nutritionist I say go for one step at a time. I reckon if you can knock down 8-10 you’ll be fine … at least until your 30th birthday! Have a look.
posted by Scott in health & fitness.
College Students Demand Organic, and Stuff
Wed 20 Feb 2008 – 7.35
Advertisers and marketers love watching college students because in spite of having no money, their spending habits are an indicator of how the next generation thinks as consumers.
In this article from AdAge, we see that more and more college students are demanding better food, often from local and organic sources. Unfortunately, the lines are still somewhat blurred as they don’t often know the true definition of organic, local, seasonal, etc.
Worth a read. Via Brand Noise
posted by Scott in education, health & fitness.
Caffeine Content, by the Numbers
Mon 11 Feb 2008 – 11.55
We’ve covered this before, but in case you haven’t bookmarked a similar page, here is a list of various drinks and their caffeine contents:
As you may guess, a Starbucks regular brew (grande) tips the caff-scale at 320mg. Ouch.
via LVHRD
posted by Scott in coffee, health & fitness.
Office Flings Help Productivity
Fri 08 Feb 2008 – 13.08
Oh, that old golden bear-trap of the office romance.
Bro, she’s way out of your league.
Nowadays, we spend more and more time at work, so it seems only natural that we begin to develop romantic relationships with co-workers. Of course, this is usually discouraged, if not banned outright. Why? Potential drama, I suppose.
However, research shows that it might actually be useful. An article from the Sun tells how “the thrill of a fling ‘raised energy levels and led to better professional capacity’.”
Makes sense. I know if I could see my sweetie during the day I’d generally be in a better mood. The trouble is in arranging the romance in the first place — if you try-but-fail to court a co-worker, it could set off a serious chain of events disrupting the delicate social ecosystem of your workplace (i.e., if you ‘choose’ one of the girls, you’ve automatically blown it with the remainders. It’s called the Law of Exclusion).
You could always just wait for the christmas party, get drunk, and then if things don’t go well, blame the alcohol. No chance that could ever backfire.
posted by Scott in careers, relationships.
Youngsters Not Happy About Oldsters Going Online
Thu 31 Jan 2008 – 11.43
I’ve been saying for years that Baby Boomers ruined the Internet. Or at least adults in general. Not us geeky kids. First, they felt the need to monetize everything leading to the boom in advertising online. Next, they, in their gullible ways, allowed Spam and Fishing scams to flourish, and now they have the dubious honour of being trend-killers. Once your dad tries to friend you on MySpace, you know it’s time to go someplace new.
The sentiment is shared, it seems. News.com.au tells us about how late teens and twentysomethings are finding it annoying when their parents, grandparents, and adults in general are encrouching on their [virtual] turf.
“As parents, we have to figure out where to draw the line between encouraging and allowing our teens to have autonomy, to experience their separate culture, and when we need to monitor their use of media,” says Montgomery, a professor of communication at American University.
It’s an interesting topic, and something that perhaps needs to be looked at family-by-family. I know that my father and I have sort of bonded over my teaching him bits of Photoshop here and there. He hasn’t yet discovered Flickr, etc., but that might help a bit to open his mind. He does, however, know where to find all the great conspiracy theories from ultra-left websites. Eeek.
posted by Scott in life.
Becoming a Millionaire (by saving)
Tue 29 Jan 2008 – 21.32
We all want to be rich. While a million dollars isn’t what it used to be (especially not in New York), it’s quite an aspiration and one that is more achievable than ever. One component for a successful financial future is saving, and more importantly, to begin from a young age!
An article from Yahoo! Personal Finance challenges us to “tuck away a little bit on a regular basis [so] you can party when you’re 19 and 99.”
It also goes on to crunch a few numbers about how powerful saving and ‘passive’ investing can be:
Let’s say that, beginning at age 25, you put the equivalent of seven $4 grande lattes a week toward retirement, setting aside $121 a month. If you invest it in a stock mutual fund with annualized returns of 9 percent, you would see $23,415 after 10 years, $80,814 after 20 years, $221,520 after 30 years and a whopping half-mil, or $566,440, when you retire at age 65.
Read the article here »
posted by Scott in careers, personal finance.
How to Stay Awake at Work or School
Fri 25 Jan 2008 – 10.51
It goes by many names, the “lull”, the “itis”, the “valley of fatigue” to name a few, but by any name we all know the feeling of getting totally exhausted during the day. Whether a student or a worker, the need to sleep can conflict directly with your day’s to-do list. I have often remarked that falling asleep in class is the oldest college tradition; fuck road trips! Of course it can be a problem because most workplaces place sleep as the #1 cardinal sin, right behind porno. Drinking? I have at various points been offered beer, wine and hard liquor during the work day, but I have never been offered a nap. And while sunglasses may hide you in a crowded lecture hall, they rarely work when the boss comes around to your desk.
OK, so how do we stay awake during the day? Aside from the obvious points about getting enough rest the night before, eating breakfast, etc. a few good tips turned up on a post from Dumb Little Man, yet another rediculously named blog about general life. Here’s one that sounds reasonable:
8. Get Help from Colleagues. If you have some buddies at work, confide in them that you need their help with staying awake. See if there are any things you can work on together. Talking with co-workers will help keep your mind engaged and alert.
I’ve been there. I’ve been there. Jessica and I used to throw crumpled up post-its at one another when we’d see the head starting to bob.
The tactic I like to employ at work, school, and on the road (although don’t fuck with falling asleep behind the wheel!) is simply to drink loads of water. Get yourself a gallon, or at least a litre bottle, and start drinking! When was the last time you fell asleep having to pee like mad? Yes, you’ll have to take a trip to the toilet every ten minutes, but the walking will also help to wake you up. And if that fails, get yourself an apple. The effort required to eat an apple is sure to keep you going, to say nothing of the natural sugars, etc. And the odd thing about apples is that you have to eat them in a certain amount of time or else they turn brown, so no dozing off between bites!
Coffee also does the trick. That is, if you don’t use it every half hour.
Check out the article and add your comments about what keeps you awake during that afterlunch dip.
posted by Scott in careers, coffee, health & fitness.
Caffeine Doubles Miscarriage Risk
Tue 22 Jan 2008 – 10.28
Eeek, no more buying coffee for the ladies, turns out caffeine can double the likelihood of miscarrying. A new study out of Chicago has shown that drinking two cups of coffee while pregnant is a terrbile thing to attempt. In fact, caffeine of any type, including soda, tea, etc. can be problematic and should be avoided.
“Women who are pregnant or are actively seeking to become pregnant should stop drinking coffee for three months or hopefully throughout pregnancy,”
—Dr. De-Kun Li, Kaiser Permanente Division of Research
So ladies take note, if you’re trying to have a baby, you need to phase out that morning cuppa and take it slow for a year or so. And chances are you’ll need that caffeine once the baby is borne, so best not to have a high tolerance, you know.
It’s a short, but interesting article.
posted by Scott in coffee, health & fitness.
Men Hate to Admit to Casual Gaming
Mon 21 Jan 2008 – 17.01
Casual Gaming? No, that’s not a euphemism for butt-sex, it’s playing those “little” video games that take up just a bit of time here and there. Tetris, Bejeweled, etc. are common examples.
Traditional says that these games are mainly for ladies, and men prefer to tackle “real” games like Hal or Tomb Raider. But as it happens, men play ‘em too, but hate to admit to it. The news comes from GamePolitics.com.
What’s your stance on casual gaming? Personally, I admit to being a Tetris junkie just as bad as anyone else — male or female. There was a time when I would play Solitaire for speed, throwing in a quick game here and there, but these days there are thousands upon thousand of Flash games on the web to choose from. Here are a few of my favs:
Desktop Tower Defense
Solitaire
Pillage the Village
Chaos Theory
Bloons
posted by Scott in life.
Snacking Tips for All-Night Gamers
Wed 09 Jan 2008 – 22.54
In my 26 years I have spent many a night hour with friends (and alone) playing video games. It does strange things to one’s physiology — we forget to eat, ignore the need to sleep, tune out external stimuli, and somehow eradicate the need to use the bathroom. But since we’re not teenagers anymore, it might be a good idea to maintain proper diet and health, even when fiending a game to it’s end.
Check out this article about 23 snack foods that will keep you going without too much effort. Warning, this will make you hungry, so best to read it on a full stomach.
One of my personal favs:
Bagels and cream cheese. This combo is satisfying if you’re feeling more than peckish but not all-out hungry. You have lots of flavors to choose from, and you could replace the cream cheese with smoked salmon (above), or tomato or cuke slices sprinkled with a bit of salt and pepper.
posted by Scott in health & fitness, movies & media.