Google 15 - Motivation to lose weight

9th December 2006

• From 2nd October (moving average 187 pounds)
  
• to 9th December 2006 (moving average 179.1 pounds)
  
• i've lost 7.9 pounds over 10 weeks or 3 pounds per month.
• At this rate with 24.1 pounds to lose, it will take a further 8 months (end July 2007)
  
• to get to my goal weight of 155 pounds (11st 1lb).

To reduce this time I'm going to experiment with:-

• reducing dinner TODAY to half normal quantity OR having fruit for lunch
  
• IF todays Google 15 says Danger! You're heading away from your goal! viz Yesterday Weight Change is 0 or positive.
• or IF One Week ago moving average weight change is not less than 0.5 pound (-0.5)

Above: Chris Street's Actual weight 15th October 2006

The Google 15 encourages you to get on the scale every day by calculating a moving average from your daily weight. We then plot this average alongside your daily scale weight and a goal weight that you set--this gives you a better idea of your weight trend by masking most of the day to day noise that variances in water weight introduce.

If you've ever tried to lose weight, you've undoubtedly experienced the excitement of getting on the scale to see that you "lost" two pounds since yesterday. Unfortunately, that tends to be followed by the depression that you "gained" three pounds the next day. It's impossible to "lose weight" every day according to your scale weight, so as a result, most people cultivate an irrational (but very real) fear of their scale and only climb on to get feedback on their weight loss efforts every week or two.

Your exact scale weight isn't really important as long as it's "ahead" of the trend you're aiming for. If you're trying to lose weight, you want your day-to-day scale weight to be below your moving average--concentrate on your moving average weight, not your scale weight!

Of course, the big secret that you never hear is that the hardest part about losing weight is keeping the weight off once you've lost it. The Google 15 generally considers you to be on goal as long as your moving average weight stays within 2.5 pounds of your goal weight. So don't stop using it once you've made your goal weight--enter your weight every day and it will give you an early warning if you start to pack on the pounds!

source: Red-bean.com

Laws of Science - Darwins Law of Evolution?

"Darwins Law of Evolution" (source: Christopher Govan Street)

In science, there are a specific number of established scientific laws, or physical laws as they are sometimes called, that are considered absolute and inarguable facts of the physical world. Laws of science may, however, be disproved if new facts or evidence arise to contradict them. A "law" differs from those as hypotheses, theories, postulates, and principles, etc., in that a law is a general statement about nature that is considered proven beyond doubt. Conservative estimates indicate that there are 18 basic physical laws in the universe: ^[1]

Fluid mechanics Archimedes’ principle Force, mass, and inertia Kepler’s three laws of planetary motion Newton’s three laws of motion Newton’s law of universal gravitation

Heat, energy, and temperature Newton’s law of cooling Boyle’s law Law of conservation of energy Joule’s first and second law The four laws of thermodynamics

Quantum mechanics Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle

Others, such as Roger Penrose with his 2004 book The Road to Reality – a complete guide to the laws of the universe, argues that there are a large number of established laws of science.

Evolution should be taught as fact

Friday April 21, 2006
Guardian Unlimited

Children should be taught from the age of 11 that Darwin's theory of evolution is a fact, an eminent scientist said today.

Richard Pike, the chief executive of the Royal Society of Chemistry, said that references to it being a "theory" should be abandoned.

His comments came the week before prominent creationist speaker John Mackay, a former science teacher from Queensland, is due to tour halls and chapels in the UK attacking Darwin's ideas, claiming that Genesis is literally true and that the Earth is a few thousands of years old, not millions.

Teachers' union conferences this Easter debated the dangers of creationism and "intelligent design" being taught in faith schools and academies.

Dr Pike said: "Above all, we should no longer talk of the theory of evolution as though it is 'just an idea'. So well-established is it, that it now warrants the designation of an immutable scientific law, (Christopher Govan Street: Law of Science - maybe Evolution should be described by Darwins Law?) and should be taught as such. It is on this basis that further dialogue should begin."

He added: "A wider understanding of the scientific basis of our existence will position all of us to address more effectively the major issues facing our planet.

"In this there is no role for 'creationism' or 'intelligent design', and religious education must recognise the allegorical nature of much of its source material."

Earlier this month leading scientists from the Royal Society warned against the teaching of Christian theories such as creationism in school biology lessons.