Monday, June 26, 2006
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Stinky asparagus pee
Ever notice that when you eat asparagus, your urine smells weird? Here's the answer why:
As archived in the Boston Globe at www.boston.com, below are details about why asparagus causes urine to have a unique odor.
Asparagus is filled with sulfur-containing amino acids that break down during digestion into six sulfur-containing compounds. These can impart a unique smell to urine as they are excreted. "It's the same sulfur group that makes skunks smell," said Barbara Hodges, a dietician with Boston University's nutrition clinic, the Evans Nutrition Group.
Scientists remain divided on why people have different urinary responses to eating asparagus. One camp thinks only about half of the population have a gene enabling us to break down the sulfurous amino acids in asparagus into their smellier components. Others think that everyone digests asparagus the same way, but only about half of us have a gene that enables us to smell the specific compounds formed in the digestion of asparagus.
"There's something of a dispute," said Dr. David Stollar, chairman of biochemistry at Tufts University Medical School.
The unusual smells are nothing to worry about, though. According to the Dictionary of Medical Syndromes, which includes an entry on the urinary excretion of odoriferous components of asparagus: "The syndrome does not have any pathological significance."
As archived in the Boston Globe at www.boston.com, below are details about why asparagus causes urine to have a unique odor.
Asparagus is filled with sulfur-containing amino acids that break down during digestion into six sulfur-containing compounds. These can impart a unique smell to urine as they are excreted. "It's the same sulfur group that makes skunks smell," said Barbara Hodges, a dietician with Boston University's nutrition clinic, the Evans Nutrition Group.
Scientists remain divided on why people have different urinary responses to eating asparagus. One camp thinks only about half of the population have a gene enabling us to break down the sulfurous amino acids in asparagus into their smellier components. Others think that everyone digests asparagus the same way, but only about half of us have a gene that enables us to smell the specific compounds formed in the digestion of asparagus.
"There's something of a dispute," said Dr. David Stollar, chairman of biochemistry at Tufts University Medical School.
The unusual smells are nothing to worry about, though. According to the Dictionary of Medical Syndromes, which includes an entry on the urinary excretion of odoriferous components of asparagus: "The syndrome does not have any pathological significance."
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
I shaved it off!
I shaved off my goatee this morning. It took me about 5 minutes to put the razor to it. I was sweating! I look like the second brother I never had. I see my face in the mirror but it's not me! It was time for a change. I've had the goatee for at least 12 years. The last time I removed it was a few months before my wedding -- just to see if I liked my face without the stubble. I hated the bare-face look then and, although it's only been a few hours, I'm not liking the clean-shaven face today either. I think I look better with some stubble whether it be a goatee or full beard. The ladies at work didn't realize it was gone until I told them. They knew something looked different about me but couldn't quite put their finger on it.
I'm hoping it grows back quickly!
I'm hoping it grows back quickly!
Good Samaritan
Last weekend, The Girl and I went to the beach for a leisurely stroll on the boardwalk. After a few hours of sun, munchies and drinks at the boardwalk pub, we decided to window shop on Queen Street and then stopped in a park for a rest before heading back to the car. On our park bench was a cell phone that someone had left behind. I picked up the phone and thought about the anguish on the person's face once they realized their phone was lost. If this was my lost phone, I know I'd want someone to help get it back into my hands ... so that's what I did.
I grabbed the phone and went through the contact list. I knew that the "Swiss Chalet" or "Pizza" entries wouldn't help me so when I found "sister" I dialed the number. The conversation went something like this:
sister: Hey Joey, what's up?
me: It's not Joey. Is this Joey's sister?
sister: Yes, who's this?
me: My name is Paul and I've found your brother's phone in (can't remember the name) Park.
sister: What an idiot? Are you at Wonderland with him?
me: No, I'm at this park on Queen Street. If you guys live around here, come by and get the phone.
sister: We're not from around there.
me: We'll I'm on my way home to Markham so if Joey wants the phone tell him to call his own phone and we can find a place to meet.
sister: Cool. If he calls me I'll let him know what's happening. Thanks for your help.
me: No worries. I'll just keep answering the phone in case it's Joey.
sister: I'll keep calling you as well to find out what's happening. He's such an idiot!
The Girl and I then walk back to the car. It's about a 10-minute walk and sister (Melissa) calls a couple of times to see if Joe has called yet inquiring about his lost phone. I tell her that she's the only person who has called so far. We then proceed to drive home and the phone rings a few minutes later. The conversation went something like this:
me: Hello?
dude: Yeah, who's this?
me: I'm someone who has found Joe's phone. Are you a buddy of his?
dude: Yeah, Joe is right here -- hold on.
Joe: Where'd ya find my phone, bro?
me: This park on Queen Street.
Joe: Yeah, I was there. Thanks for helping out. Where are you?
me: I'm at Birchmount and St. Clair. Are you close by?
Joe: About 10 minutes away.
me: Cool. I'm going to pull into the Shell at the south-east corner. Come get your phone.
Joe: Thanks man. Be there in 10.
Joe and his buddy show up 10 minutes later. I hang his cell phone out the window, he sees it and runs over. He offers us $20, drinks and food from the gas station but I decline. I tell him that I'd want someone to do the same thing for me if I lost my phone. I believe in karma and that doing good brings good. He thanks me again and takes off. The Girl and I drive home knowing we made someone's day.
I grabbed the phone and went through the contact list. I knew that the "Swiss Chalet" or "Pizza" entries wouldn't help me so when I found "sister" I dialed the number. The conversation went something like this:
sister: Hey Joey, what's up?
me: It's not Joey. Is this Joey's sister?
sister: Yes, who's this?
me: My name is Paul and I've found your brother's phone in (can't remember the name) Park.
sister: What an idiot? Are you at Wonderland with him?
me: No, I'm at this park on Queen Street. If you guys live around here, come by and get the phone.
sister: We're not from around there.
me: We'll I'm on my way home to Markham so if Joey wants the phone tell him to call his own phone and we can find a place to meet.
sister: Cool. If he calls me I'll let him know what's happening. Thanks for your help.
me: No worries. I'll just keep answering the phone in case it's Joey.
sister: I'll keep calling you as well to find out what's happening. He's such an idiot!
The Girl and I then walk back to the car. It's about a 10-minute walk and sister (Melissa) calls a couple of times to see if Joe has called yet inquiring about his lost phone. I tell her that she's the only person who has called so far. We then proceed to drive home and the phone rings a few minutes later. The conversation went something like this:
me: Hello?
dude: Yeah, who's this?
me: I'm someone who has found Joe's phone. Are you a buddy of his?
dude: Yeah, Joe is right here -- hold on.
Joe: Where'd ya find my phone, bro?
me: This park on Queen Street.
Joe: Yeah, I was there. Thanks for helping out. Where are you?
me: I'm at Birchmount and St. Clair. Are you close by?
Joe: About 10 minutes away.
me: Cool. I'm going to pull into the Shell at the south-east corner. Come get your phone.
Joe: Thanks man. Be there in 10.
Joe and his buddy show up 10 minutes later. I hang his cell phone out the window, he sees it and runs over. He offers us $20, drinks and food from the gas station but I decline. I tell him that I'd want someone to do the same thing for me if I lost my phone. I believe in karma and that doing good brings good. He thanks me again and takes off. The Girl and I drive home knowing we made someone's day.
Friday, June 16, 2006
Time for a hybrid plane?
From the National Geographic website
Moving flight times from night to day could reduce air travel's contributions to global warming, a new study suggests. Scheduling more daytime flights may lessen the impact of contrails—the visible streaks of condensation that many planes leave in their wake.
The role of contrails in climate change is still under study, but some scientists believe that they contribute to the greenhouse effect by trapping heat in Earth's atmosphere.
Nicola Stuber, first author of the study, to be published in tomorrow's edition of the journal Nature, suggests that contrails' overall impact on climate change is similar in scope to that of aircrafts' carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions over a hundred-year period.
Aircraft are believed to be responsible for 2 to 3 percent of human CO2 emissions. Like other high, thin clouds, contrails reflect sunlight back into space and cool the planet. However, they also trap energy in Earth's atmosphere and boost the warming effect, the study says.
Moving flight times from night to day could reduce air travel's contributions to global warming, a new study suggests. Scheduling more daytime flights may lessen the impact of contrails—the visible streaks of condensation that many planes leave in their wake.
The role of contrails in climate change is still under study, but some scientists believe that they contribute to the greenhouse effect by trapping heat in Earth's atmosphere.
Nicola Stuber, first author of the study, to be published in tomorrow's edition of the journal Nature, suggests that contrails' overall impact on climate change is similar in scope to that of aircrafts' carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions over a hundred-year period.
Aircraft are believed to be responsible for 2 to 3 percent of human CO2 emissions. Like other high, thin clouds, contrails reflect sunlight back into space and cool the planet. However, they also trap energy in Earth's atmosphere and boost the warming effect, the study says.
What is design?
I'm taking a class at George Brown College called Studio Management. It's about the whole process/do's and don'ts of running your own freelance company. One of the exercises was to come up with some definitions of design. After reading Brian Sooy's blog, I think he's come up with the best one.
"Design consists of creating things for clients who may not know what they want, until they see what you've done, then they know exactly what they want, but it's not what you did."
That pretty much sums it up.
"Design consists of creating things for clients who may not know what they want, until they see what you've done, then they know exactly what they want, but it's not what you did."
That pretty much sums it up.
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Uppercase & Lowercase
Feel free to use this morsel of information at any party.
Back in the day, before computers (yes, this time did indeed exist), printers had to carve out letters on wooden blocks to use for typesetting. They kept the type for capitals and for small letters in separate cases; capitals were kept in the upper half of the type case and small letters in the lower half. Thus the terms uppercase and lowercase were born.
Back in the day, before computers (yes, this time did indeed exist), printers had to carve out letters on wooden blocks to use for typesetting. They kept the type for capitals and for small letters in separate cases; capitals were kept in the upper half of the type case and small letters in the lower half. Thus the terms uppercase and lowercase were born.
Apple + Nike = Great Idea
One of my instructors at George Brown College told us about how Apple and Nike have joined forces to create a running shoe that connects with your iPod and takes you on an amazing digital workout.
To see it for yourself, click on the link below:
http://www.apple.com/ipod/nike/
To see it for yourself, click on the link below:
http://www.apple.com/ipod/nike/
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
It's all in the name
I hate shaving! When I do, though, I use Gillette's Mach 3. It has three blades. It gives me a close shave and I'm happy with the results. I know there are some razors out there that have five blades. Do I really need to upgrade? Will the extra two blades give me a smoother shave or will I lose more skin?I noticed recently that there is a Mach 3 Turbo (see image). What exactly does the word "turbo" have to do with shaving? Will I be done in eight seconds? Does this blade, like its internal-combustion engine namesake, have a compressor to increase the power output by increasing the mass of oxygen and fuel entering the razor? Do I need to work out to hold this thing?
Bloody marketing!
Is it always 11:11 in my world?
Time for a weird observation. When you are curious as to the time of day, do you notice you see one time more than others? It seems that whenever I check my watch or alarm clock, it's always 11:11. Is it because this time is easy to remember or is it because at these two points during the day I need to know the time? Anyone else track this sort of thing or have I gone completely mad?
Coffee may reduce risk of cirrhosis
Provided by: Associated Press
Coffee may counteract alcohol's poisonous effects on the liver and help prevent cirrhosis, researchers say. In a study of more than 125,000 people, one cup of coffee per day cut the risk of alcoholic cirrhosis by 20 percent. Four cups per day reduced the risk by 80 percent. The coffee effect held true for women and men of various ethnic backgrounds.
It is unclear whether it is the caffeine or some other ingredient in coffee that provides the protection, said study co-author Dr. Arthur Klatsky of the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, Calif.
Of course, there is a better way to avoid alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver, Klatsky said.
"The way to avoid getting ill is not to drink a lot of coffee, but to cut down on the drinking" of alcohol, he said.
Not all heavy drinkers develop cirrhosis, an irreversible scarring of the liver that hurts the organ's ability to filter toxins from the blood. Klatsky said the new findings may help explain why some people's livers survive heavy alcohol use.
The same study found coffee drinkers had healthier results on blood tests used to measure liver function, whether or not they were heavy alcohol users. Coffee's effect on reducing liver enzymes in the blood was more apparent among the heavy drinkers in the study.
The researchers found no reduced risk of cirrhosis for tea drinkers. Tea has less caffeine than coffee and there were fewer heavy tea drinkers in the study, so if caffeine is the protective ingredient, an effect may not have shown up for tea in the study, Klatsky said.
Coffee may counteract alcohol's poisonous effects on the liver and help prevent cirrhosis, researchers say. In a study of more than 125,000 people, one cup of coffee per day cut the risk of alcoholic cirrhosis by 20 percent. Four cups per day reduced the risk by 80 percent. The coffee effect held true for women and men of various ethnic backgrounds.
It is unclear whether it is the caffeine or some other ingredient in coffee that provides the protection, said study co-author Dr. Arthur Klatsky of the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, Calif.
Of course, there is a better way to avoid alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver, Klatsky said.
"The way to avoid getting ill is not to drink a lot of coffee, but to cut down on the drinking" of alcohol, he said.
Not all heavy drinkers develop cirrhosis, an irreversible scarring of the liver that hurts the organ's ability to filter toxins from the blood. Klatsky said the new findings may help explain why some people's livers survive heavy alcohol use.
The same study found coffee drinkers had healthier results on blood tests used to measure liver function, whether or not they were heavy alcohol users. Coffee's effect on reducing liver enzymes in the blood was more apparent among the heavy drinkers in the study.
The researchers found no reduced risk of cirrhosis for tea drinkers. Tea has less caffeine than coffee and there were fewer heavy tea drinkers in the study, so if caffeine is the protective ingredient, an effect may not have shown up for tea in the study, Klatsky said.
Monday, June 12, 2006
Friday, June 09, 2006
Ouch: My first workout
Stretching, smetching! Is it really necessary? YUP. Yesterday was my first ever workout in a gym/community centre setting (see original post). I went in telling myself not to overdue it. I hadn't done anything truly strenuous since I stopped running months ago. I started off with a 15-minute jog on the indoor track. I barely made it. Cramps that felt like I swallowed molten lava. Sweat oozing out of me like I was running in a typhoon. When I finished the run, my legs almost seized up. The muscles were tighter than Alex Van Halen's snare drum. I tried to walk it off and stretch. A few minutes later, I was able to walk normally.
I then turned my attention to the weights. (This is a sentence I've never written before.) I'm not sure what I should be lifting -- what's too heavy what's too light -- so I just started doing bicep, tricep, shoulder and pectoral exercises. The weight wasn't that heavy but for my first time out I probably overdid it. Okay, not probably, I know I overdid it. My legs are shaky and my arms feel like they're being held together with masking tape.
It feels great, though. Knowing that I've joined a gym and that I'll be exercising three to four times a week makes my adrenaline pump. I don't want a Schwarzenegger look -- I just want to get toned. Let's see if I'm still pumped a few weeks from now.
I then turned my attention to the weights. (This is a sentence I've never written before.) I'm not sure what I should be lifting -- what's too heavy what's too light -- so I just started doing bicep, tricep, shoulder and pectoral exercises. The weight wasn't that heavy but for my first time out I probably overdid it. Okay, not probably, I know I overdid it. My legs are shaky and my arms feel like they're being held together with masking tape.
It feels great, though. Knowing that I've joined a gym and that I'll be exercising three to four times a week makes my adrenaline pump. I don't want a Schwarzenegger look -- I just want to get toned. Let's see if I'm still pumped a few weeks from now.
Monday, June 05, 2006
The unknown tailor
Did anyone see Don Cherry's suit during Coaches Corner on today's HNIC telecast? What on God's green earth was that? A blue floral print jacket? Whoever the tailor is who creates Cherry's suits must not have a shred of dignity -- or Cherry pays him/her a small fortune. How else can you explain someone agreeing to create these designs for him? I have a feeling these suits don't make it to the portfolio.
Am I really joining a gym?
Yep. It appears that The Girl and I are about to join the newly built YMCA in our neighbourhood. It's a 5-minute drive, has everything we need to stay fit and motivated and is pretty cheap at $30 each per month. The price, swimming pool and track were the main points that closed the deal. The Girl cancelled her Good Life membership and was pleasantly surprised by how accommodating they were. This particular Good Life has apparently had many cancelled memberships due to the opening of this particular YMCA. The Good Life she went to was a womens only gym. At least at the YMCA we can go together and motivate each other. Future postings will delve into my first-time gym experiences. I plan on having fun here!
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