Christmas Movies

I have an enduring fondness for It's A Wonderful Life, as I remember warmly hanging out at home for the holidays as a college student in the 80s and being able to see that movie pretty much 'round the clock on dozens of cable and local channels. Any scene, any time of day. In the early 90s they clamped down a bit on the copyright and showings were trimmed way back, which is a shame. Nonstop Zuzu was a nice holiday tradition. Oh well.

In that spirit, here are my choices of a few underviewed Christmas movies [I'm not including A Christmas Story since hopefully that's well-viewed... or does that count as including it?]

Scrooged
Not a great movie, but one I rewatched with the kids last year for the first time in many years, and it held up well. I don't have much tolerance for "Christmas Carol" retellings, as I usually find them tedious, but this one I liked.

Love, Actually
Very much a Christmas movie though you'd never know it from the title. Kind of like a romcom greatest hits album done as a Christmas fantasy.

Hogfather
Wonderfully adapted-for-TV Pratchett, crafted with such obvious affection and care by all involved that it is absolutely charming. Becoming something of a family holiday tradition now. Very strongly recommended.

5K

Using a handy list of certified running courses, I just ran my own personal 5k time trial in 21:27(!!), exceeding my expectations. That's faster than I've ever been. My Nike+ iPod thing underestimated the distance, but was close, at 4.8k. I plodded on to hit the nike 5k mark in 22:30 so it will give me a bit of credit when I sync. Previous nike sensor+shoe combinations routinely slightly underestimated distances on me as well, which I prefer so that I don't overestimate my workouts. Now I get to be a smug old git the rest of the weekend.

"Sorry, This Will Sting A Bit"

Ah, the joys of getting older. Touch of solar keratosis diagnosed and treated at the dermatologist today. Getting liquid nitrogen sprayed into the side of my face by an overly cheerful doc was a new experience for me. It felt cold for the first half a second, then felt more like I was getting something spot-welded onto my temple.

Mixed Milk Message

I used to be able to get raw fresh milk from a guy with a herd of Guernseys who sold at the old Islington farmer's market. Not sure if he's still around, but it was a real treat. I loved it.

I just picked up some (pasteurized) whole milk from Jerseys & Guernseys. The product copy on the website rightly describes the higher-fat virtues of the milk from these cows, using terms such as "rich taste and creamy texture", "better levels of fat, protein, and calcium", "Higher levels of Fat". It has just over 5% fat compared with 4% for normal whole milk.

So what does the copy on the carton itself brag about? "95% fat-free!"

Why Nutrition Researchers Are Rightly Considered Bad Scientists

And as I've harped on before, awful journalism doesn't help either.

A recent headline screams, "High Salt Intake Directly Linked to Stroke and Cardiovascular Disease". Well, that's pretty attention-grabbing. Seems like it should have "!!!" at the end. I'm intrigued by the "directly" statement. As far as I knew, observed dietary salt intake links with various maladies were observational and ambiguous.

So what does the article say? Here are some excerpts.

The link between high salt intake and high blood pressure is well established,

um... it is?

and it has been suggested that a population-wide reduction in dietary salt intake has the potential to substantially reduce the levels of cardiovascular disease.

that's true -- it certainly has been suggested.

[....]
Collaborative research conducted by Professor Pasquale Strazzullo at the University of Naples, Italy and Professor Francesco Cappuccio at the University of Warwick, UK analysed the results of 13 published studies involving over 170,000 people that directly assessed the relationship between levels of habitual salt intake and rates of stroke and cardiovascular disease.

Again with the "directly". These are just observational studies. "Directly" is meaningless editorializing here.

Differences in study design and quality were taken into account to minimise bias.

But of course.

Their analysis shows unequivocally

"unequivocally"!! what, a 100% CI?

that a difference of 5 g a day in habitual salt intake is associated with a 23% difference in the rate of stroke and a 17% difference in the rate of total cardiovascular disease.

Is that supposed to sound scary? Those hazard ratios are pretty low. But I'm sure there are no confounding factors.

Based on these results, the authors estimate that reducing daily salt intake by 5 g at the population level could avert one and a quarter million deaths from stroke and almost three million deaths from cardiovascular disease each year.

Aha! In other words: the authors of the study unequivocally stated, "we are not credible scientists, please do not take us seriously". The authors then went on to assess a direct link between shoe size and math ability in over 170,000 children and their analysis showed unequivocally that a 5-size larger shoe is associated with 100% improved math ability. Based on these results, the authors estimate that providing all children with shoes 5 sizes larger than their current ones will double the math aptitude of the school-age population.

Furthermore, because of imprecision in measurement of salt intake, these effect sizes are likely to be underestimated, say the authors.

Heh. It's funny that imprecision gives them even more confidence in their conclusion.

The Mutton

I love mutton. Much more than lamb. Shame it's such a rarity these days. Having lived throug some winter before slaughter, then dry-aged like beef, it's got a wonderful depth of flavor that lambs can't match. I did an oven-braised leg of mutton with curry the other day (onions, coconut oil, coconut milk, curry powder, chili paste; served with fresh cilantro and a squeeze of lime) that turned out really well. The butcher thoughtfully hacked through the bottom third of the leg so that it would fit into the pan. As a bonus, I selfishly ate all the marrow while pulling the cooked meat off the bone to mix back into the cauldron of curry. Cook's treat.

Autumn At The Butcher

Had some fantastic venison last night. Also tried some nice game sausage. I love the butcher's stock in fall. Currently on offer in addition to the usual fare: duck, wild duck, wild rabbit, venison, pheasant, mutton, and some seasonal sausages.

No Carb "Cardio"

I do like to put my (potential) misery where my mouth is. Went on a 10 1/2 mile run yesterday, with nary a carb in sight. I did it as a large loop, too, so if I got in trouble I'd have a long hike home. Felt good.

Thanks, Royal Mail

I haven't looked into the UK postal strike issues in depth, but from what I've seen the posties seem to have legitimate gripes and I would normally have some sympathy for their cause, but it's hard to muster when I receive an open, mangled, and empty envelope from my son's school. A couple years ago when I was still participating in a dvd rental-by-mail scheme, I had to stop using local post boxes because too many DVDs were never making it to the return address. Maybe it's just a Hackney thing.

No Love For BlackBerry

Anyone else find it bizarre that the theme for the ad campaign for BlackBerry is "love"? Of the hundreds of people I've known and worked with who've had to use the things, none of them loved it. At best they thought whatever new version they had was pretty good for what it's supposed to do, which is extending office automation apps off the desktop and onto your person, especially so you can keep up with work email. Interestingly, a few years ago a survey at my workplace at the time found that making remoting in to work (via a home PC) easier was broadly seen to be an improvement to "work-life balance", whereas blackberries were broadly seen as a detriment to that balance. A more realistic ad campaign would be the guy who comes in to work in the morning to face the usual 314 unread emails in his inbox, vs. the smug blackberry owner who has no unread email because he's compulsively tended to them round the clock.

The Men Who Stare At Goats

Immensely likable. Clooney excellent as always. And Ewan McGregor is great. He does some awful movies (e.g. The Island, e.g. Star Wars 1-3, not always his fault), but every now and then just delivers a role beautifully. Almost a cross between The Big Lebowski and Three Kings, but really it's its own movie. [I admit I only wrote that sentence so I could write "it's its".]

The only disappointment was that I subconsciously expected both JK Simmons and Bill Macy to make appearances.

Mixed-Use Paths

Mixed-use paths -- e.g. bike + pedestrian -- generally don't work very well. London canal paths are a good example. They used to be for pedestrians only. Then there was an initiative to create more bike paths for some millenium project or other, so some typically genius government folks decided that the canal paths would do, and took credit for "creating" all that additional mileage. The paths are treacherous when busy. You get pedestrians who think that having the notional right of way means they can ignore all others, and you get cyclists pedalling away in some sort of velodrome hallucination zone. I run, walk, and cycle on the paths at various times, but with caution, and I find it very helpful to take a very calm and unhurried attitude onto the path with me. The lakefront path in Chicago is another good example. At busy times you get all manner of bikes, walkers, runners, pushchairs, dogs (mind the lead!), and rollerbladers sine-waving side to side. These are the kinds of things that are brilliant when no one else is on them, but most of the time they are recreational (and potentially dangerous) rather than transportational.

To be useful, mixed-use paths have to be pretty wide. Victoria Park works because the mixed-use path is as wide as a 2-car road. Ideally you have a path wide enough to segregate bike from pedestrian traffic (in which case it's no longer a single mixed-use path). Switzerland has a few dedicated bike-only paths, separate from both roads and pedestrian paths, and these are a tremendous luxury. But Switzerland in general is incredibly bike-friendly. This doesn't seem likely or practical most places. And bigger dreams for cyclists seem entirely out of the question. Imagine if the Crossrail project (a new east-west rail line underneath London) included an additional tunnel for bike-use only.

Which Lane? Mix & Match Rules for Traffic Assignment

John Forester espouses the theory of "vehicular cycling", namely, "Cyclists fare best when they act and are treated as drivers of vehicles." My own riding in different cities and countries has convinced me he is absolutely right about this, and the sections of his Effective Cycling book that relate to this topic are excellent. Unfortunately, his evidence-based approach has lost out to the bike-lanes/segregation crowd. A big part of the argument against bike lanes is that lanes are supposed to segregate urban traffic by intended direction, not by vehicle type. Overlaying some separation by vehicle type on top of the directional segregation is confusing for everyone. Drivers don't know what to do, and you see things such as drivers cutting across bike lines to make a turn, as if another lane wasn't there. As a cyclist and a driver, I think this is more dangerous for both of me.

In London the problem has degenerated several orders of magnitude. It's really taken on a brand new level of confusion. The big problem is bus lanes. As a more frequent rider of buses than a driver of my own car, I do appreciate getting places quicker on buses. However, the same problem of traffic segregation models being at cross-purposes is creating large amounts of vehicular chaos. The bus lanes can now take taxis (sometimes), cyclists, motorcycles (although they go anywhere and everywhere, regardless of where there might or might not be painted suggestions on the tarmac), and of course buses, while the large number of cars must use the non-bus lane. Cars are graciously given a few short car lengths of "free" lane at intersections to merge to turn (i.e. the lane briefly stops being for exclusive use of certain types of vehicle and allows itself to be used for directional purposes). If the lane is already filled with buses, taxis, and cyclists, a driver wanting to turn can either merge into the lane prematurely (and hope there's no traffic camera waiting to generate a fine for driving in a bus lane), or end up stuck in the wrong lane at the intersection, causing a backup and waiting for someone to leave a gap to bolt through. Even on a relatively clear road, because you are required to merge so late when making a turn, things can get inadvertently exciting if someone else has decided to pop into that bus lane prematurely and try to pass you. Buses also have the same problem in that their lanes don't perfectly correspond to the direction they want to head, either. So they have to bluster their way across traffic the other direction. When traffic gets bad around a big roundabout, with bus lanes feeding in from all directions, some buses/taxis/cyclists coming in from the left but needing to get right, cars coming in from the right but needing to get left, the whole system breaks down. And I thought it was bad enough to have to add traffic lights to many of the big roundabouts (which probably means not enough people were properly respecting the precedence rules).

And now more bike lanes are coming. I'm not sure how these will work with bus lanes & the ever-increasing list of things (aside from privately owned cars) that are allowed in them. I'd rather do away with them all.

Holy Crap! (talk about misquided treatment options)

Bariatric surgery works so "well" for accidentally treating type 2 diabetes, "some doctors say surgery should be considered as a treatment for diabetes, regardless of a person's weight or desire to lose weight."

Wow! I'm speechless. If your doctor suggests you get bariatric surgery to treat your type 2 diabetes, should you:
(a) demand a refund, and seek another doctor
(b) flee from the doctor's office
(c) bludgeon the doctor with the heaviest thing in the office that you can lift wield as a weapon
(d) c, then b
(e) b, then go back for a, then go back for c

Swimming Slowly is Harder than Swimming Quickly

Speaking of Covert Bailey, he had a phrase for beginning exercisers that I particularly liked: "Start so slowly that people make fun of you." I've had to relearn that after foot surgery, trying to run again but injuring and re-injuring myself until I got a little wisdom about being patient. Running, though, is fundamentally different than swimming in that you can revert to a walk. For me, there's no such thing as walking in swimming unless you are already fit and have good (enough) mechanics. In other words, you can't walk until you can run. So getting into swimming shape has a bit of a catch-22 to it. If your form is bad, it's difficult to get fit. If you're not fit, you can't put in enough yardage to get the form better.

I recently took up swimming again and had the issue of not being able to hold form very long. Do I thrash about and try to get the fitness or do I stop to not develop terrible form? I ended up taking short breaks at the limit of my form, which is an embarrassingly short interval. But I kept stacking them up and both the interval and the total yardage is creeping up. When I was swimming as a youngster, in high school especially, we'd start the season just by swimming endlessly, to get the "feel" for the water back. We never lost much base fitness in breaks between summer and winter season, so my 15-yr old self could easily drop into the pool for the first time in a couple months and swim, say, 5000 yds without stopping. It was the equivalent of walking -- steady pace that can be held virtually indefinitely. Now I fully appreciate how much actual fitness is required to be able to do what seemed like an easy cruise at the time.

The Death of Districts

Spent much of yesterday in London's de facto medical district, around Harley Street. I like that I can visit several doctors, even hospitals and test labs, all in the same area. Seems to foster collegiality and more efficiency for the practices, too. In my trips to Manhattan, it seems like the old districts are going away. I do cling to the idea of a specific place to get shoes, or a suit, or photo equipment. Hopefully some things will survive progress and not all face annihilative displacement.

Whatever Happened to Covert Bailey?

Covert Bailey, an MIT-trained biochemist, appeared on PBS in the late 80s talking about exercise and metabolism. Initially his lectures were more science-oriented as he talked about biochemical changes in muscles as a result of exercise. Eventually he developed the "Fit or Fat" idea into a brand. His research background was left behind, the science started dropping away from his lectures, he wandered into nutrition topics, and ultimately ended up selling goofy-ass gizmos like the "health rider". It's a shame he hadn't stuck with the the research-based approach and focused on fitness, because he seemed to have some interesting avenues to pursue about insulin and exercise and the difference in body chemistry between fit people and unfit people.

Selective Hearing

The upside of having bad hearing is that I often now just hear what I want to. At tonight's big fireworks display in Victoria Park (flamethrowers, loud music, explodey fireworks, I loved it!), the announcer might have given credit to the Tower Hamlets Arts & Events Team, but I swear she said "Arson Events Team".

Ice Cream w/o Sugar

A few weeks ago I made another variation on hyperlipid's optimal ice cream. Over the summer I'd tried maple walnut. This time I tried chocolate sour cream: 1 cup heavy cream, 1 cup sour cream, 1 tsp vanilla, 6 egg yolks, pinch of salt, and a bit over 4 oz. 70% chocolate. No sugar other than what was in the chocolate, which wasn't much. It was good. "Normal" people liked it a lot, but with sweet chocolate sauce or on chocolate cake. I liked it as is. It was not sweet at all. I have a great weakness for ice cream -- I can eat huge amounts when it's available, and if it's in the house, I pretty much have to eat it until it's gone. But takeaway the sugar and suddenly I can't eat as much. Very interesting. I could never eat the whole batch of the chocolate sour cream ice cream as it was. If I'd added a cup of sugar (yes, a cup! that's what an average chocolate ice cream recipe for my maker calls for), I bet I could've eaten a lot more.

Inadvertant Salami Taste Test For Mice

Accidentally left the stash of salami from the market where mice could get them. Evidence suggests mice love garlic salami and wild boar salami, but do not care for either duck salami or venison salami.

Running

Please check out the PaNu blog I've added to the left. Dr. Harris has a fantastic recent post about "cardio" and heart disease. It's long, but filled with good info and well worth a read. The upshot is that serious recreational marathon runners (minimum 5 marathons in past 3 years) don't fare well compared to sedentary age-matched peers in terms of heart disease. The implication is that obsessive mileage is bad for your heart. I find this entirely believable. (Marathoners never look all that healthy or robust to me -- Paula Radcliffe looks like she could be done in by a bad sneeze.) That said, I'm not going to stop running, because I enjoy it. I run 2-3 times a week, between 25 and 90 minutes per session, less than half the weekly mileage of the runners in the study, and no plans or amibitions to do a marathon. The people who especially should take not are the ones running because they think it's healthy, even though they don't enjoy it. I've known people who've told me flat out, "I hate running", but do it anyway. For me, running helps with stress, anxiety, mood -- I enjoy it in and of itself, even though I'm a bit of a plodder. If I hated it, I would never do it. A modicum of weight-bearing exercise -- walk, stress your arms out sometimes, add the occasional sprint -- is helpful for just about everyone, even people who can't stand to get off the sofa. Beyond that, don't obsess over "cardio" unless you enjoy it.

Ceremony

This is the kind of thing the natives may take for granted but as an expat I love about the UK: they do ceremony right. I've turned into a closet monarchist and I do find something worthwhile in the old traditions, rituals, and pomp. Americans are often at a loss when a ceremony or ritual is called for. In the aftermath of the sep-11, congress singing "God Bless America" on the steps seemed bizarre and feeble. Across the pond, the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace was altered, once, with the playing of the Star-Spangled Banner. It was dignified, poignant, deeply grounded in historical context... I found it indescribably moving.

A few days ago I enjoyed a much more mundane but personally relevant ceremony, the Lord Mayor of London's prize giving ceremony for the City of London School for Boys, presided over by The Right Honourable Lord Mayor of London himself. There were sherriffs and aldermen and cloaks and capes and staffs and a couple guys with swords and some big freakin' medallions and music and processionals and this is like nothing a midwesterner would ever see growing up. The esteemed participants had that perfect balance you find in here: it was a ritual to be approached in good humor without being camp, taken seriously -- enough-- to give it meaning without being overly pompous or ludicrous. It was really well done.

The other astonishing thing? The ceremony included a speech by one of the students, praising an early benefactor of the school. I was astonished enough to find that such a speech has been given every year for more than 150 years, but even more delighted to find the benefactor -- John Carpenter -- who has been yearly praised since Victoria was a young queen died 567 years ago! Yes, a guy who died in 1442 that most people never heard of has been annually praised by a teenager in front of the Lord Mayor of London for generations now. How cool is that?