Mastering Maths

Knowledge is power.  Maths is the one universal language, yet perhaps the one we fear most.  Get yourself to Khanacademy for some excellent mathematics tutorials.

• With a library of over 2,700 videos covering everything from arithmetic to physics, finance, and history and 240 practice exercises, we're on a mission to help you learn what you want, when you want, at your own pace.

Salman Khan at TED talking about using video to reinvent education.

Less Advice, More Information

This seems to have crept under my radar. The International Journal of Applied and Basic Nutritional Sciences have broken cover with this paper "In the face of contradictory evidence: Report of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans Committee":

• "Concerns that were raised with the first dietary recommendations 30 y ago have yet to be adequately addressed. The initial Dietary Goals for Americans (1977) proposed increases in carbohydrate intake and decreases in fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, and salt consumption that are carried further in the 2010 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) Report. Important aspects of these recommendations remain unproven, yet a dietary shift in this direction has already taken place even as overweight/obesity and diabetes have increased. Although appealing to an evidence-based methodology, the DGAC Report demonstrates several critical weaknesses, including use of an incomplete body of relevant science; inaccurately representing, interpreting, or summarizing the literature; and drawing conclusions and/or making recommendations that do not reflect the limitations or controversies in the science. An objective assessment of evidence in the DGAC Report does not suggest a conclusive proscription against low-carbohydrate diets. The DGAC Report does not provide sufficient evidence to conclude that increases in whole grain and fiber and decreases in dietary saturated fat, salt, and animal protein will lead to positive health outcomes. Lack of supporting evidence limits the value of the proposed recommendations as guidance for consumers or as the basis for public health policy. It is time to reexamine how US dietary guidelines are created and ask whether the current process is still appropriate for our needs."

My emphasis.  They are not afraid to question the absence of robust scientific method.  I particularly like the last line - questioning HOW the guidelines are created.  This is a massive question.  We all know to follow the money.  There is so much money to be made with the status quo (not to mention the 'reputational capital' of scientists and key medical figures), that transparency has suffered.  Transparency is always the first victim of illicit profiteering.

Volume Wk3 W/O3

The big change here is pushing the last set on the Deadlifts (not to failure), and pushing the last set on the fingerboard (to failure).

Warm Up (5 mins)
Main (35 mins)
1a. Deadlift (5x88kg, 3x107kg 3/1x120kg)
2a. HSPU/Press/Snatch (12x14kg, 12x14kg, 11/12x14kg)
2b. One Arm Chins (12x33kg/29kg, 12x33kg/29kg, 12x33kg/29kg)

The deadlifts felt quite easy and I did three on the last set rather than 1. I am going to have to ramp the weights up a bit. Although I fell short of one rep on the Dumbell Press, on the One Arm Chins I rocked in with 33kg rather than 29kg. (Thinking back, I think I have messed up on my weights last week and was doing much heavier weights than I should have. That is the problem of trying to offset weights on the fly when fatigued). Big gains anyway.

I spent the afternoon helping out in Captain Kid's school. I managed to 'amaze' a few kids in her class with a magic trick called The French Drop. (My one and only magic trick). I have been using this for about thirty years and is amazingly simple and convincing (the effect is that you make small items like coins disappear and then reappear from behind someones ear).

The formal syllabus was art. Specifically the art of Henri Rousseau and his jungle paintings in particular. I assisted where I could but art is not my strong point. However, I ended up drawing an elephant for one of the kids. Then another. Then another and so on. As elephants go, the drawing were a bit rubbish (rubbish for an adult at any rate)...but in the kingdom of the blind and all that..... At the end of the class a lad came up to me and said that he thought I was a better artist than Henri Rousseau! Made me laugh. Then I made a coin disappear right under his nose.

A few onlookers who had been queueing for an elephant saw the coin disappear and that was it. Pandemonium. The kids pursued me like the living dead around the classroom murmuring "magic" and "elephant", thrusting pencils, paper and 'things to make disappear' at me as they advanced.

Great fun all round. I'd love to go back and help out again - not least with a games lesson. It'd be a good learning opportunity for us all.