World of Bigbry

UPDATE: Big Breakfast Diet Not All It's Cracked Up 2B

noreply@blogger.com (bigbry) — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 18:29:00 +0000

Ok so I tried the Big Breakfast diet where I eat a big breakfast (800 calories is what I was eating) and you know it just made me a lot more hungry than I expected. So the idea that the body is on a cycle throughout the day and that hormones have a lot to do with hunger makes sense, but what I don't really agree with is how eating a big breakfast of mostly protein and a little sweet will curb the carb cravings in the afternoon. Typically I was having a protein shake in the morning, egg/sausage, oatmeal, and a small brownie. Well by mid morning I was craving food again even though I had eaten by 7 am. Before I tried this diet, I would eat coffee and a sweet by 7 am and this kept me feeling okay until 12 when I would eat lunch. I thought I would try eating at 6 am and then again at 9 am and increasing the breakfast size to 1000 calories. But this still resulted in hunger throughout the day for sweets.

As an experiment once or twice I tried my old diet of eating a sweet and coffee for breakfast and having a big lunch. The results of that were that I felt full through the morning and didn't feel the least bit hungry until 12pm. Ate a gut stuffing lunch of 1000 calories and that would last until 3 pm and I would feel a little hungry then. So a sweet kept me full til 6 pm. At least I know my food schedule even if it sounds like it's going to lead to diabetes!!!

The point of the Big Breakfast diet is really to get us on an eating schedule that jives with our biological clock. So that the hormones sync with the incoming food. I guess the only alteration to this "diet" that I have to make is to the timing throughout the day. I'll keep playing with it for now.

On that note, doesn't the breakfast picture below look yummy? or fattening? my guess is that a lot of skinny people would look at this and think, "ehhh, maybe it looks good once in a while but not every morning for breakfast." Fat people like me think, "Hey, no problem I could down that and still have room for lunch."

Picture credited to: findmeacure.com

About “Paul Green’s Instant Traffic Robot” system - 1st Review

noreply@blogger.com (bigbry) — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 02:30:00 +0000

WARNING: This post is totally off-topic for my usual blog.... but then again, my blog is all over the place usually so what the hell!

I received an invitation to join an affiliate program called Paul Green’s Instant Traffic Robot system. Supposedly by the guy in the video on the email. The subject of the email says, “This ENDS Today... (Final Call)” The email goes something like this:

>>This is closing today and you must act now to claim
>> your fast action bonuses...
>>Check The Details Here Now
>>This cool affiliate marketing video will show you a
>>cool method for making monney (Yes they spelled it wrong in the original email too) the same day!
>>It is a very unique method and you must check
>>this out before it closes.
>>Get All The Details Here
>>Be sure to check it out!
>>Talk Soon,
>>Paul
>>P.S. I was told that this will close soon so the time is
>>now, to check this unique profit method and tools...

Below the video is the headline, “Top Secret Push Button Software Makes $1,177,741.70 in 6 Months on autopilot Using Nothing But Floods of Highly Targeted 100% FREE Legal Traffic!” In the video he claims that these methods are “white hat.”

So far it’s totally crap for emptying my bank account! First they immediately upsell you on all kinds of extras including webhosting, pluggins, so-called upgrades to everything. Well, it’s advertised by a smooth talking guy that sounds extremely arrogant and also sounds like an actor. Oh, why did i purchase this program? Hopefully the plugins will pay off.

Once I purchased the product, and all the upsells they offered me, i then was asked to choose hosting. No lessons on finding a niche first, no lessons on keywords, just sign here for your domain name make up what ever domain name you want in whatever niche you want. Hmmm, will this work? I did my research on keywords and domain names and chose medical insurance. Something everyone needs and everyone complains about. I narrowed it down to California medical insurance reviews. Because everyone likes to know reviews about health insurance. But again, there was nooooo training on this system and what niche to pick they just say pick a niche and we will set up your website for free, “SURE!!” since you’ve paid $461 for software and training services “Why not?!!” Here’s how the tab breaks down:

Instant Traffic Robot - $47
10 Cash Magent Websites - $297
Instant Traffic Robot - Unlimited License - $100 OFF! - $97
Cash On Demand Training System - $19.97
Experience learning how to actually implement all this? - Priceless (ha-ha)

So the training is very fluffy and not by the original actor (Paul Green??) in the first video that I watched. So I don’t know if that is a real guy or not that i received the original invitation from. I’ll keep plugging away on this crappy robot system and see if it works. Here’s what Paul Green looks like in his video.

Hey look, I’m very skeptical because I’ve been ripped off by guys in fake videos before, but I need money, so I'm just desperate enough to actually take this crap seriously. I’ll give it my best shot, I already took the first step, and invested a lot of money. We’ll see if it pays off in the long run. I’ll try to keep updating.

-------- UPDATE ------------
Yes, this system is very poorly put together, but Clickbank has a 60-day moneyback guarantee on all products so I asked for my money back and got it back within the week.

Off The Fast, On to the New Diet

noreply@blogger.com (bigbry) — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 00:56:00 +0000

I've decided to start a new diet called The Big Breakfast Diet which is developed by an endocrinologist named Daniela Jakubowics. Her theory is to load up on a high calorie breakfast when you wake up to stimulate certain hormones such as seratonin to reduce later afternooon & evening cravings.

I'm a carb junkie in the afternoon and evening and i don't even eat breakfast, so the hormone explanation for my cravings made sense to me. Now, usually i eat about 2,000 to 3,000 calories per day so reducing my calories was always a problem for me on any diet. However, this diet has me on 1,600 daily calories and i'll see if i can survive on that little. I fasted on much less of course!

Here's a picture of what i ate for lunch tooday. A chimichunga, 8 oz of milk, 8 oz of plain coffee, 2/3 cup of mixed vegies = about 400 calories. Unfortunately, soon after lunch, i was tempted with brownies, so i had to have a few! A la, 400 calories more!

posted from Bloggeroid

Day 5 - Why I Chose to Break the Fast & How

noreply@blogger.com (bigbry) — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 12:31:00 +0000

I broke the fast today after 4 days and 18 hours. Even though this was not according to plan, I believe it was the right decision because most doctors recommend that a fast longer than 3 days should be medically supervised. On day 4 I was having a hard time sleeping due to acid reflux (heartburn) and pain in my hips and legs similar to growing pains. Now, although most fasting experts will say that it was normal to have these symptoms, and that continuing the fast would help to alleviate the symptoms, I felt that this was a good point to end a short fast. My plan for the future is to continue a weekly 24 hour fast 1 day per week. Scientific evidence proves that to be beneficial, and doctors generally believe that is not dangerous if coupled with a low-calorie diet. Total weight loss over the 4 days was a drop from 225 lbs to 215 lbs; equaling a 10 lb loss of weight.

So, in light of my decision to change here is how I broke my fast:
At 4 days and 18 hours I started to break the fast with a light soup made from organic herb seasoning called Bragg Organic Sprinkle (see picture below). I added that to a 10 oz cup of hot water and let it seep. Then I sipped it gingerly to see how my body reacted. This herb mixture has zero carbs and zero calories and is made from dried vegetables and herbs. I didn't notice any problems after that. An hour later I tried Sparkling Cider and jello. Normally they recommend to break a fast with fresh juice but I do not have a juicer. I presume that if I had fasted longer then I would need to buy a juicer to introduce my stomach to food more gradually.

An hour after the soda water and jello, I tried a piece of toast and some grapes. No problems from that and I had 310 calories at that point, so I decided to get some sleep. I slept for about 3 hours and when I awoke, I had some things to do so I ran some errands and came back to eat about an hour later. At that point the foods I ate were 6 oz of oatmeal with 1 tsp brown sugar, and 2/3 cup of cooked vegetables cooked in olive oil. Another 8oz of Sparkling cider. This equaled an additional 455 calories for a total of 765 calories by 10 am.

I have to mention that I only had about 3 hours and 41 minutes of sleep but that I had enough energy to make me feel like I had a full 7 hours of sleep. So in absence of food I slept a lot more, but when I added food back into my diet, then I regained more energy and needed less sleep. That makes sense in that calories are actually energy units.

In light of all of the above, here is a video on breaking a short term fast.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBkbh-B2eO0

Day 5 – A Little Acid Reflux

noreply@blogger.com (bigbry) — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 06:56:00 +0000

I’m blogging this one a half day early because officially I’m still on day 4 but I am having acid reflux pretty bad and can’t sleep. This is apparently a common symptom and I remember having it before. This time I decided to crush up a zantac 75 pill and drink it with water. I’m not sure if this will help, but I’ll give it a shot.

Keep in mind that previous to fasting I have had chronic acid reflux, so usually I take zantac 75 daily. I haven’t had one of these pills in more than 4 days.

Here’s some general research I found on heartburn (acid reflux) as a symptom of water fasting:

http://www.fitnessthroughfasting.com/water-fasting-heartburn-is-it-normal.html

http://www.fastingconnection.com/forum/40-day-juice-fast/2636-heartburn-on-34th-day-of-fast

http://myfasting.com/complication.htm

http://www.curezone.com/forums/am.asp?i=1097916

Day 4 - 10 Things I've Learned By So Far

noreply@blogger.com (bigbry) — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 15:27:00 +0000

Today is day 4 of my fast and I’m really not having any bad symptoms. I decided to look over all my personal notes about this fast and realized that there are a lot of things that I should have paid more attention to before the fast. Such as my waiste, which I did not have an accurate baseline measurement of my waist. I had some data as a baseline such as amount of sleep, but not water intake. But I’ll try to summarize some of my thoughts from my notes:

it’s easy to get a lot sleep, sometimes I feel like sleeping in the middle of the day and I can fall asleep within 6 minutes; which is just as fast as when I fall asleep at night.
I may have mentioned this before but there is a distinction between being ACTUALLY hungry and being TEMPTED to feel hungry. Most of the time it is only a temptation or a sense of food, which I think triggers a somatic reaction or maybe a thought of being hungry. Even if the body does not need food. Interesting to find out later in the fast what REAL hunger feels like. So as a result I really don’t like hearing, seeing, talking about, reading about, or smelling food as it triggers my response to want food.
When situations are stressful I feel hungry. So in a stress-free environment, fasting should be a “piece of cake.”
I’ve been getting symptoms of indigestion such as heartburn & acid reflux.
There was a sudden 5 lb loss on the fourth day. First 3 days I gradually lost 5 lbs, but then on the 4th day I suddenly lost another 5 lbs. Despite drinking over 100 oz of water per day.
I had a couple of aches similar to when you get growing pains as a teenager in my right leg and right bicep. (slight headache for a few minutes) This is probably due to lack of glucose to fuel the muscles and the shortage of glucose caused this slight pain. Again, I wish I paid more attention in anatomy class.
On day 3 I drank some carbonated water which has no calories or carbs but tastes strangely good, almost sweet. Instead of drinking 16 oz in an hour I drank it in about 30 minutes due to the possible flavor.
Morning of day 4 I had a sort of boost of energy but by 1 pm I was dead tired and had to sleep.
On the 3rd night I had a small bowel movement, but nothing like I would have on a regular day. It actually felt slightly constipated so I wonder if I am feeling stomach indigestion due to constipation.
Before I started to fast, I was also keeping notes on what made me feel good throughout the day. Most times, food made me feel good. It will be interesting to see how food makes me feel after the fast. Hopefully I will have a greater appreciation for the feeling of hunger and learn not to eat just to make me feel better.

So here's an interesting video of a man in India that has supposedly been fasting for 70 years. His name is Prahlad Jani. He claims that all he does in meditate and that a goddess feeds him with nectar through is mind. Strange stuff but maybe entertaining if you don't believe that stuff.

Day 3 - Extreemly Tired

noreply@blogger.com (bigbry) — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 15:55:00 +0000

Well, today is officially day 3 and I’m not particularly hungry, infact, I’ve made a distinction between feeling actually hungry and just merly being tempted to eat by one of the 5 senses. I am not hungry, but if I read about food, see a commercial on TV for food, or smell food, then I get and irritating feeling similar to hunger and probably most people identify it as hunger but it’s really not hunger. I don’t know if that makes sense because I’m really dealing with extreme fatigue (misspelled the word on purpose to emphasize how tired I am).

Yes you can die from fasting if you are very elderly and ill according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. They say typically there is very little pain in the process of dying if a person is already very ill. “Since a reduced appetite and refusal of food and fluids are a natural part of the dying process, it is hard to differentiate “self-induced starving” from a natural death…” (Ganzini, 2003). Not that I’m trying to kill myself, I’m just trying to make the point that I will not likely die from fasting, however when you start to feel painful hunger pangs, you start to wonder.

Found a forum for fasting that tracked the statistics of people who fasted. The section linked below is a page of statistics of popular posts. Unfortunately it’s very hard to discern whether these stats are useful as they track only popular posts. Of note, 5,975 posts were under the topic “Attempting fast,” 3,895 posts under the topic “My First 30 Day water Fast.” One of the most popular posts here was “Dr Vlad's Dry Fast Diary Notes to Cure himself” – dry fasting (http://www.fitnessthroughfasting.com/absolute-fasting.html) is basically fasting from both food or water.

http://www.fastingconnection.com/forum/stats

As for me, my hunger is really not too bad on day 3. Last time it was the night of day 3 that I felt really hungry but this time it’s not too bad. Hunger feelings are still roughly once every hour but only mild and easily tolerated with a sip of water.

Ganzini, L., Goy, E.R., Miller, L.L., et al. 2003. Nurses' experiences with hospice patients who refuse food and fluids to hasten death. New England Journal of Medicine 349(4):325-326.

Another interview with Dr. Goldhammer from Raw Life Health Show Parts 1 & 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXvrrot0hnQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnrVrU0weCU

Day 2 - Foggy but still going

noreply@blogger.com (bigbry) — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 22:33:00 +0000

So far I've lost 3 lbs from fasting roughly a day and a half. For the first 24 hrs i was hungry once every hour, then gradually it averaged to once every 2 hours, then 3 hours. So it started to gradually diminish the feeling of hunger. I really wish I paid more attention in anatomy and physiology class because I would like to explain this a little better. One note to make in addition is that mentally today I am kind of foggy.

From a textbook called “Intercultural communication in the global workplace” I just copied and pasted an explaination of what happens when we eat and when we fast. The illustration is particularly interesting.

The text caption reads,

"Figure 10.5 Metabolism. During the absorptive phase (a), the person ingests food. The hypothalamus detects rising glucose rates in the bloodstream and activates the pancreas, which secretes insulin. Insulin allows cells to absorb and convert glucose into energy for their use. Insulin also is required for the liver to convert glucose into glycogen to provide a short-term energy reservoir. In the fasting phase (b), when the individual is not eating, the hypothalamus detects falling glucose levels and activates the pancreas. The pancreas now secretes glucagon, which helps convert the glycogen in the liver into glucose, which the cells in the body can metabolize."
Reference: Beamer, L. (2001). Intercultural communication in the global workplace. Boston, Mass: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. ISBN: 0072396903

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edtwIBCfNx0

3rd installment of interview with Dr. Goldhammer from the Renegade Health Show

Day 1 - Made it through the first 24 hours

noreply@blogger.com (bigbry) — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 20:29:00 +0000

Upon the moment that I hit the 24 hour mark on my water-only fast, I started getting hunger pangs that would occur once ever 60 minutes. I am tracking this feeling to mark when it occurs and to see how frequently the feeling returns. It seems like it sort of diminishes after I take a swig of water. C.S. Lovett has a cute phrase that he says to his stomache when he gets this feeling. He takes a drink of water and says, “This’ll shut you up!” For me, that’s just funny enough to distract me from the strangely painful feeling.

I’ll try to describe the feeling in more detail but my guess is that it’s kind of a feeling that you just have to experience. Like when you’re “Starvin’ like Marvin!”

I fancy myself a bit of a numbers guy in that I like to make decisions based on the best evidence. So in keeping with that line of thought, I will try to keep track of the following measurements of data:

A. (Daily) Amount of Water Consumed

B. (Daily) Hours of Sleep

C. (semi-weekly) Weight

D. (Weekly) Weekly Blood Pressure and Oral Temperature Upon Waking in the Am

E. (Weekly) Measurements of My Belly and Neck in Centimeters

Also symptoms of fasting will be reported here daily.

Starting a 14-day Fast While I'm Unemployed

noreply@blogger.com (bigbry) — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 21:25:00 +0000

Today I'm starting a fast for 14-days. I tried this once before and only lasted 3-days then broke the fast. Well, since I'm now out of work then I will have time to concentrate on blogging and fasting (since I have no money for food right now). I'll give this a shot and hope to loose 15 lbs in the next 2 weeks. Today I'll first check out the nutrition shop for some kind of fasting tea. I think I saw this advertised once before and maybe it will help me a lot more this time around.

I was going to post some of my research on this topic just for scholarly conversation, (hehe) but have had a heck of a time trying to find anyone who successfully fasted and posted a video on YouTube. But after much time searching I'll post something below. Also note a link to a Biblical fasting blog that I found called "Greater Things" which is a log of a 40 day fast. So, it can be done, no one has died from it, at least from a dieter's standpoint. I mean hey I'm really overweight so it would probably take 6 months to loose all the fat I have here.

SO CHUBBY!! And no, I'm not holding my breath, my cheeks are so fat they just look like that.

This Chubby Guy Loves Cake!

That's my picture from a bday party where I was really pigging out on cake. You can see just how flabby my jowels are there - that's got to be the worst thing about me. Well anyway, we will see if this improves things I'll show you a follow up picture in 2 weeks... or maybe i will only last a few days, we'll see.
So, after a lot of searching, I found this video of an interview with a doctor in Santa Rosa who uses fasting to lower blood pressure. Not a bad side-effect, but honestly I have normal blood pressure, normal glucose tests, normal blood tests, but I'm just really over-weight. So let's take a look at what this doctor says...

Reading a New Book - Stress Free in 30-Days by Charles Linden

noreply@blogger.com (bigbry) — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 06:18:00 +0000

On my LinkedIn account I noted that I am reading a book called: "How to Find a Job on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and Other Social Networks" I decided to put this book down for a while and deal with the main culprit of my problems at work = stress. I'm breaking from the previous book to read, "Charles Linden's - Stress Free in 30 Days" Linden has developed a method of behavioral psychology to help people with stress and anxiety. It has a one-year return policy so I thought, why not give it a try.

I could not find a blog that extensively lists what a person does in this program but I'll start updating my blog with the program results as I see them. Probubly try to update this weekly.

Happy Holidays From Google

noreply@blogger.com (bigbry) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 04:47:00 +0000

Today I recieved an email from Google stating,

"Because charities are experiencing their toughest year in decades, we have committed $20 million to help those who help us all. Our gift to you is a gift to them. Happy Holidays."

http://www.google.com/advertising/holiday2009/

I'm impressed that they are willing to give extra profits to charities that help the poor. These are some of the organizations that they will be donating to:

Feeding America
Boys and Girls Clubs
Smile Train
CARE, Mothers Matter
World Wildlife Fund, Natural Capital Project
Mobile Creches
Prajwala
HEAL Africa
African Institute for Mathematical Sciences
The Mango Tree
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
Harlem Children's Zone
Save the Children, Latin America focus
Reporters Without Borders
Witness
Loud Against Nazis
Global Voices
Ushahidi
Save the Children, Middle East and Eurasia focus
Grupo Cultural Afro Reaggae
Ashesi University College, Ghana
Pratham
Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience
Shin Shin Educational Foundation
Tzu Chi Foundation

Zockgrant.com Workshop Review

noreply@blogger.com (bigbry) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 01:57:00 +0000

Over the last two days I've been attending a workshop on grant writing. The workshop is by Zocklein and Associates. I looked at several grant workshops over the past year and this one covers some of the most comprehensive information on grant writing available today. Mr. George Zocklein has taught more than 3000 grant writing workshops all over the country. He teaches a Management by Objectives method that he terms C.O.R.E. He will be in Los Angeles in July, so if you have an opportunity to take one of his workshops do not pass it up! I'll just highlight some of the things that I learned here:

How to get furniture, copies, equipment, and staff for your organization free or nearly free
How to write a template that you can use to get grants every time you are qualified to apply
What grants are the best fit for your organization (even grants you never thought about before)
Learn exactly what to say in your grant
How to know that you will be awarded the grant before you apply

My plan on using this information is to further advance my career, but if you are looking for help with a grant or if you'd like me to write a grant for you, then contact me at bigbry2k3 [AT] gmail [dot] com. I can help you start a non profit or help you review grants as well.

Gmail Adds New Features to Labels

noreply@blogger.com (bigbry) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 18:07:00 +0000

Gmail added a few new features to the labels such as drag and drop labeling, changing the color of labels and changing the size of the labels widget on July 1st. These features are supposed to make labeling easier. When I talk to other people about using labels they don't seem to understand. Most people are used to sorting email into folders. Labeling has the advantage of adding catagorizing email messages into several catagories instead of single.
A quick example is that if you have message from your doctor and you have two actions you have to perform on that email. You have to read it and you have to follow up by scheduling another appointment. So your labels would be "Read" and "Follow-up" You might have several emails that you have to just read and review but not all of them require follow-up. Many emails that require follow-up you may have read so you can remove that "Read" label from the message. You search for emails by searching for the labels that require actions. You search for "Read" and it lists all the mail you still need to read. You search for "Follow-up" and it shows all the email you have to follow up on.
Gmail now allows you to color each label a different color to sort mail easier. In my entry on labeling Gmail using unicode symbols you can also see how you can change the appearance of each label.
All of this is designed to make it easier and faster to go through your inbox and keep it manageable. Give this new feature a try.

Best Companies to Work According to Outside Magazine

noreply@blogger.com (bigbry) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 03:33:00 +0000

The May issue of Outside Magazine published it's list of best places to work. Some of them seem like a pretty good job. All of the companies on the list are currently hireing. If I worked at Outside Magazine, I'd want to run a virtual job fair with all of these companies.

Intrepid Travel U.S.
Natural Habitat Adventures
Clif Bar & Company
Smith Optics
Tabar
Dominion Digital
SmartWool
Paradigm Group
Rally Software Development
Carmichael Lynch
Country Walkers
Chesapeake Energy Corporation
Redspin
Adventure Life
Osprey Packs
Virgin HealthMiles
USANA Health Sciences
TriSports.com
Mountain Hardwear
Eagle Creek
Restoration Services
Fitness Anywhere
OluKai Premium Footwear
Patagonia
Amer Sports Winter and Outdoor
Deckers Outdoor Corporation
Oakley Inc.
Industrial Revolution
SRAM
National Outdoor Leadership School

Barak Obama: He's Come To Save The Day-yea!

noreply@blogger.com (bigbry) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 13:53:00 +0000

http://sendables.jibjab.com/originals/hes_barack_obama

Check out this ecard from JibJab. Song is sung by the infamous Jack Black. This is funny!

Never Miss a Sale on Ebay Again!

noreply@blogger.com (bigbry) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 03:01:00 +0000

My wife wanted me to buy her a car stereo but the one she wanted was sold out on ebay. Well, the next time that a similar car stereo is being sold on Ebay then I'll let "Stuff Alert" notify me imediately.

The website says:
"Looking for an item on Ebay and it's not listed? Tell us what you want, ONE time, we'll keep searching then SEND YOU AN ALERT as soon as it's available!"

Stuff Alert!

Save Settings in MS Office 2003

noreply@blogger.com (bigbry) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 23:48:00 +0000

I know, I know, everyone is using Office 2007 now, but I just like 2003 so much better! If you get a new computer, changed computers, go back to Office 2003 from 07 then you should read this article originally posted by "the How-To Geek."

"How many times have you migrated to a new computer and lost all the little settings in Word or Excel that you had finally tweaked perfectly? The good news is that you can easily save and restore your Microsoft Office settings and even transfer them to another computer. To open the wizard, go to Start \ Programs \ Microsoft Office \ Microsoft Office Tools \ Microsoft Office 2003 Save My Settings Wizard."

Read the rest of the article for the complete how-to project (the How-To Geek)

Dr. Livingston I presume?

noreply@blogger.com (bigbry) — Mon, 25 May 2009 19:16:00 +0000

Last night I watched the first episode of Expedition Africa on the History Channel. If you have Comcast OnDemand then you can watch it now, but if not, it will be on TV on May 31st. The idea of this show is that it's a reality show produced by Mark Burnett on the History Channel showing how five modern explorers will try to complete the trek of Henry Morton Stanley in search of the most famous English explorer Dr. David Livingston.

After England believed that Livingston had died in Africa trying to map a route to the source of the Nile River, Stanley was commissioned to find him. He traveled from what is modern day Tanzania to Ujiji in 236 days. He lost a lot of men and almost died himself. The challenge to the History Channel Expidition crew is to do the same trek in 30 days! What makes it more challenging is that Mark Burnett's camera crew will be following them!

When Stanley reached Ujiji, where a white man was rumored to have been seen, he found a skinny malnourished man leaning against a wall in the small village. He requested an introduction and promptly stated the infamous words, "Dr. Livingston I presume?"

The modern day explorers on the Expedition are made up of typically conflicting characters who will definitely cause the drama that Mark Burnett has made millions from with his Survivor series. The team is made up of a navigator, a doctor, a zoologist, a survival expert, and a reporter. When I looked at the map they are working with it looked like it was a map they give you at Disneyland. But then again, Stanley didn't have a map either.

The lack of maps and the addition of camera guys everywhere should make this trip more challenging than what Stanley dealt with. Gotta admire the toughness of men like Henry Stanley and David Livingston though, who knew that they were going into a massively dangerous and unknown territory.

Check out Expedition Africa on the History Channel.

Zee Avi Sings So Sweet She Can Sooth An Earache!

noreply@blogger.com (bigbry) — Tue, 19 May 2009 09:34:00 +0000

Check out this rendition of "Cry Baby Cry" sung by Zee Avi! Then listen to the original by John Lennon recorded in 1968 from the "White Album." There's lots of versions of this song on YouTube but Zee Avi seems to make it really her own. And the significance for me was that I've had an ear infection that's been keeping me up at night. Her song soothed it. Her album comes out in stores today so check out her myspace page to hear previews.

Avi is from (Sarawak) Borneo, Malaysia. -- Incedentally (or not) I've always wanted to write about the Mass-Observation Project invented by Tom Harrisson. I watched a documentary on this topic and it was truly facinating. Google it!

Now back to my ear infection; I've been gulping 1200 mg of ibuprofren every 6 hours and either that or the pain is gonna kill me! Web MD says that adult ear infections are very painful and they ain't kidding either! I've tried dropping hydrogen peroxide in the ear to keep it clean but I didn't have any lemon juice to mix it with so the ph balance in the ear is probubly off. putting a warm pack next to my ear helps for a little but lying down for too long is really what causes me most of my pain. Can't sleep, can't chew food. What should I do? Antibiotics (amoxicillin) don't help.

Let me know if you think there is a good solution for an earache.

Google Makes It Easy To See The Unemployment Rate

noreply@blogger.com (bigbry) — Mon, 11 May 2009 17:28:00 +0000

Where are we in comparison to five years ago? Or ten? In California, EDD publishes a “monthly data release” which shows current unemployment rates and states on their website, “Each month the EDD releases revised and preliminary civilian labor force, unemployment rates, and industry employment by geography for California, metropolitan areas, counties, and sub-county areas.” This data can be useful to job seekers, their coaches, and workforce development staff that try to follow trends in unemployment. However, like a lot of “useful data” found on the internet, most of us have a difficult time making statistics easy to understand. One way to do that is to show statistics in comparison to other statistics.

This month, Google started making searching for public data much easier. Open up a Google search page and in the box type your state, and the phrase unemployment rate. The first result that shows up is a small thumbnail graph of the unemployment rate of your state. Then click on the link for that statistic and you will find a search application that graphs all the states and counties in the U.S. based on statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Click the little plus sign next to your state and find other counties if you do not see them already displayed.

Let us say you want to show someone the comparison of rates between Solano County and Marin County. Make a check mark in each of the boxes next to the county name in the list under California. You should see a graph like the one above. If there are other lines from other counties displayed you can uncheck those. Then up the in the upper right hand corner of the graph you will see the word Link. Click that and a little box will open that gives you the link to that graph.

Just brainstorming here: what uses can we find for this?

Make a decision on where you want to commute?
Maybe you want to move and know what the unemployment rate compares to other cities?
You are a One-Stop and you want to design an information dashboard for your clients?
You are a job coach and you want to market to cities that have higher unemployment rates than where you usually market?

What other uses can you find for this data?

Link to Google Unemployment statistics
http://www.google.com/publicdata?ds=usunemployment

Google Help explanation of this new feature
http://www.google.com/support/websearch/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=144522

Search for the Greatest Affiliate Program on Earth

noreply@blogger.com (bigbry) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 23:09:00 +0000

I was driving to work one morning listening to the Lee Rogers show when the WSJ reporter "Buck" McQuillian stated that just as many people make their living blogging as there are people who are lawyers. As usual they rassed Buckie for this statement and he said he was just reading what the article said. Well this got my ears perked up so I searched for the article found here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124026415808636575.html

Most likely these are people that are affiliates who blog about diet products or excersise programs or how to win at Vegas. But according to the article 453,000 people blog as a primary source of income. So I would really like to know how to find the best affiliate program out there because most of them are scams in one way or another.

I’m planning on starting a program to search for the greatest affiliate program on earth. I think that the best way to do this is to write a Request For Proposals (RFP). I think what I’ll do is start a website that can be used to write and track my RFP. Usually the websites that sell affiliate programs are about as clear as mud. You have to purchase the program and read the material before you even know what it’s all about. There is usually no mentor available to give real analysis and advice as you try the program. Worst of all, there is no true cost breakdown of what the new affiliate would have to spend to run their affiliate site/program/business. Over the next few days I’ll look at this in more depth and try to figure out what criteria I would use to judge a proposal for an “Affiliate Program Mentor.”

Attention Healthcare Workers: Swine/Avian Flu Links You Should See!

noreply@blogger.com (bigbry) — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 05:23:00 +0000

If you haven't already heard, the CDC is investigating an outbreak of what is being called "swine flu" in California that is suspected to have come from Mexico. This virus is transferred from human-to-human. Swine flu is a variant of the avian flu accept that there have been 12 cases where the disease has been transferred from pigs to humans. The CDC says that there has only been 12 cases of "swine flu" since 2005. Suddenly there have been 7 cases reported in Dallas County, Texas and California. This "swine flu" is the H1N1 virus.

There are several very interesting health concerns in this story. #1: None of the people who have reported having the symptoms claim to have had contact with pigs. #2: Only 4 months ago there was a story about a shipment of avian flu vaccine in Europe that was contaminated and almost administered to the public if it weren't for safety precautions taken by the European lab recieving the vaccine. This story was under-reported in the U.S. I sometimes listen to Coast-to-CoastAM on the radio after night school and this was where I found out about it. The story said, "Baxter flu vaccines contaminated with H5N1 - otherwise known as the human form of avian flu, one of the most deadly biological weapons on earth with a 60% kill rate - were received by labs in the Czech Republic, Germany, and Slovenia." Blogger Alex Jones has really covered this story well so you should search his site for stories about flu virus and the recent "swine flu" outbreak. Another story that may be related but not covered by major news sources was the suspected infection of a flock of pelicans on January 7th. & HERE at the Emergency Disaster Information Service blog. Where they have also reported cases of "swine flu" in NYC. So that makes three states currently reporting "swine flu" infections.

You should look at the swine flu outbreak map that is on Google.
For background information see wikipedia articles swine flu & avian flu & H5N1
See the Flu Wiki entry on preparing for a flu pandemic & the page on worldwide confirmed cases download the citizens preparation guide & their maps page
Know that H5N1 is a flu variant of the Spanish flu that killed 100 million people during WWI
See the CDC page on swine flu & the CDCtwitter page & video from CDC about swine flu & the CDC "what's new" page
Although commonly called "bird flu" the H5N1 virus has infected several other species
You should also know that the so called "swine flu" has been infecting hundreds and killed as many as 68 people in recent months in Mexico
International SOS has a page dedicated to informing the public about the recent outbreak of swine flu
and if you really want to stay up late read this forum from godlikeproductions the headline says, "I must warn the American people that their lives are in grave danger"

Tips specifically for healthcare workers:

Maintain a high index of suspician (says CDC spokesperson) [full conference here]
Take a travel history of any patient
Some anti-virals are not working agains this strain

Video Pages:

Must see video of swine flu vaccine from the 70's

Clipsyndicate page

Store & Watch Videos on the Internet w/o YouTube

noreply@blogger.com (bigbry) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 05:01:00 +0000

Tinypic is a free picture hosting site, but it also hosts videos in various formats.

Want to show your friends at work that Susan Boyle video on YouTube but your oppressive employer blocks YouTube? Try using tinypic!

If you can't watch videos from YouTube because your employer blocks it. Try uploading a video to this site and play it on your computer at work. The service will give you several options for viewing a video that you upload including the ability to embed pics or videos to your website.

Simple!

Quik Tip for University of Phoenix Students: unlock those darn password protected chapters!

noreply@blogger.com (bigbry) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 02:33:00 +0000

In several of my UPX classes I've had to use the online textbook. Some of the textbooks cannot be viewed online, but they can be downloaded. Once they are downloaded, they require the user to enter a password. I'm not sure why they think this is a smart way to do things, because before we can even view that document we have to enter a password to enter the UPX Library. This security procedure is a real pain in the butt. Many students (including myself) have had problems opening documents that use this security procedure. What UPX recommends is that users download the most current version of Adobe Reader. That's all well and good, but I really hate using Adobe because it seems slow. And I'm a big proponent of Open Source software when possible.

So a little trick I use, that may or may not be helpful to you, is that I open the pdf in Adobe, unlock it by entering my password, then print to a new pdf. The software I prefer for this process is "dopdf." This software has become very helpful for me as a free pdf printer driver. When you print to the dopdf driver it will create a new pdf document and usually I remove the troublesome password page. Download it below and give it a try.

Convert to PDF free with doPDF

Any other suggestions?