Imagining the Tenth Dimension

The following Youtube video is a thought provoking look at the way the dimensional layers work. I think it is very well explained and although not the accepted explanation of string theory is certain very interesting and well worth a watch.

Sunlight Around The World

I love this web page, it displays a world map showing current sunlight and cloud cover. It is updated hourly and I think it looks amazing.
You can find it here: Sun Light - hemispherical projection.

Motivation

Finding motivation from day to day can be very difficult. Recently I've been very unwell, my partner and I caught a nasty bug that's been going around. Illness quickly saps your energy and working-out (especially weight training) becomes impossible. When I started to feel better I really found it hard to get back into my routine, I didn't want to start working out again. I'm not sure why, I love the feeling, I just really struggled.

I'm back in the saddle now, and doing a split routine, 2 days on, 1 day off, upper body and abs one day and lower body and abs the second day. I just didn't think that it would take so much to start again. I really had to push to find that motivation. When you have a regular routine it just becomes something that you do, you don't really think about it, you just do it.

I remember when I first started, I was very unfit and fat, it took a lot to get me going. I just focused on how much I wanted it. How much I wanted to be able to run to the end of the street and not be worn out. To be able to play and mess around with my partner and not need to stop and have a breather. How I wanted to remove the fat from my body and be fit and healthy. How much I want to start my marriage feeling good about me, and my life.

I wouldn't give-up working-out, the energy that I have now is incredible. It seems strange that working-out would give you more energy but it does. It makes you feel fit and strong, your memory and concentration improve as well.

So even though the motivation can be hard to find at times it is very much worth the effort. I'm glad that I take 20 minutes to and hour out of my day to exercise. After a while it just becomes something that you crave, that you miss when you don't get to do it. That gives you so much more than you ever expected. Give it a go, find your motivation today.

Words for Boobs

My Finance played me this song today, it's so funny, I thought it was worth a mention. The artist Robert Lund has written a parody of the 1980's song "99 Luftballons" called "99 Words for Boobs". It's very well done, and very humorous, but probably not safe for work ;-)

Adding a Touch of Life to your Home

I have two new plants in my collection, one is of the Kalanchoe variety, and the other is a Scwarzkopf, or Black Tree.

The Kalanchoe is a flowering succulent, there where many different colours and types, yet I picked one which has flowers the same colour as the tips of it's leaves it looks so cool.
Kalanchoe pictured below:The Scwarzkopf is the most interesting plant I've ever owned, it moves and twists all day. It changes shape, moving so quickly that within ten minutes it can look like a completely different plant. It has the most wonderful rich purple leaves, I really Love it.
Scwarzkopf pictured at the top and below:

I'm starting to get a massive collection of succulents, I've got heaps on new cuttings in the garden which are doing really well too. I think it's amazing how something as simple as a few plants can brighten up a home so much.

Meat Eaters

The flies have only just started to annoy us again here in Launceston, as the weather is slowly starting to warm up. Yesterday I went into the back room, where all of my plants are, and one of the big traps where closed on my fly trap. On closer inspection I realised there was a massive fly in there, it's the biggest my trappy has ever caught. He has grow heaps since last year, and now he has caught the first fly of this season, woot!

I love carnivorous plants, I would love to acquire a Pitfall trap like a pitcher plant. Or a Flypaper Trap like a Sundew or a butterwort. They seem so much more sinister than the fly trap which hides it's prey while it eats it.

I'm certainly a weird one, that for sure ;-) So can anyone spot the leg of the fly in my trap?

Rice, What's the Difference?

At the supermarket yesterday I noticed a packet of brown rice, I wondered if there was any truth to how much healthier it claimed to be, so I decided to do some research, this is what I discovered.
Brown rice, also known as "hulled rice", is not milled or only partly milled rice. It is chewier than white rice and has a slightly nutty flavor. It has more nutritional value than white rice but by comparison decomposes more quickly.
White rice is rice which has been milled, having it's husk, bran and germ removed. This is done to extend the life of the grain, so that it can be shipped further and stored for longer.

The Milling process
The main difference between brown rice and white rice is the milling process, which affects the nutritional content. Milling is often referred to as "whitening" because the variety of rice may be identical, but milling removes the husk and the bran from the grain turning it from brown to white. After milling, white rice is polished, to give it a bright, white, shiny appearance.

Take a Grain of rice --> remove the outer layer (the husk) = Brown rice (bran layer) --> remove bran layer = White rice.

So what's lost in the milling process?

The process of removing the husk and the bran from the rice takes away some of the nutritional benefits of rice. For more information on the nutritional information please see the table below.

• During the milling and polishing process many vitamins and dietary minerals are lost. In "enriched" white rice some of these nutrients are added back in a chemical form, such as vitamins B1, B3, and iron, but the majority are lost.
• In removing the bran layer the oil is also removed, a recent study has shown that rice bran oil may help lower LDL cholesterol.
• Fiber and fatty acids are also lost in the process, one cup of brown rice has over three grams of fiber, while the equivalent white rice has less than one gram.
• Brown rice is reputedly easier to digest, because it contains more bran than it's white rice counterpart.

There is also a chemical difference between the two for more information please compare: White rice and Brown rice.

Table of Nutritional differences between Brown and White rice:

	Brown Rice (one cup)	White Rice (one cup)
Calories	232	223
Protein	4.88 g	4.10 g
Carbohydrate	49.7 g	49.6 g
Fat	1.17 g	0.205 g
Dietary Fiber	3.32 g	0.74 g
Thiamin (B1)	0.176 g	0.223 g
Riboflavin (B2)	0.039 mg	0.021 mg
Niacin (B3)	2.730 mg	2.050 mg
Vitamin B6	0.294 mg	0.103 mg
Folacin	10 mcg	4.1 mcg
Vitamin E	1.4 mg	0.462 mg
Magnesium	72.2 mg	22.6 mg
Phosphorus	142 mg	57.4 mg
Potassium	137 mg	57.4 mg
Selenium	26 mg	19 mg
Zinc	1.05 mg	0.841 mg

Cooking Brown Rice
Brown rice takes longer than white rice to cook, so you need to increase the amount of water slightly.

• To prepare brown rice, use 2 cups of water for each cup of brown rice, and salt to taste.
• Bring salted water to a boil, and stir in rice.
• Reduce heat to a minimal simmer, and cook tightly covered for 30-45 minutes or until all water has been absorbed into rice.

Note: Use slightly more water for sticky rice. Use slightly less water for fluffy.
Adding a couple tablespoons of yogurt helps to give brown rice the texture of white rice.

Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_rice
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_rice
http://www.drlam.com/opinion/brown_rice_vs_white_rice.cfm
http://nutrition.about.com/od/healthyshopping/f/brown_white_ric.htm

Cleaning out the Cobwebs

Today I've been moving the non computer related posts from GeekyBits³ to here at Of Tea and Turtles (TnT). My apologies for any inconvenience that my cleaning may cause. I need to keep that blog purely for computer and technology related subjects, so I moved the other posts here.

I tried to keep the dates and comments on the posts as best I could, although there where a few posts that didn't play fair, most are in the original format. I have gone though them looking for broken links and I think I managed to get them all, yet if anyone spots one I would really appreciate it if you could let me know,
Thank You!!!

Life is pretty simple

"Life is pretty simple:
You do some stuff. Most fails. Some works.
You do more of what works.
If it works big, others quickly copy it.
Then you do something else.
The trick is the doing something else."

Leonardo da Vinci

Animé is safe

The happenings over the past week have once again reinforced to me that Animé is safe.

In Japan animé refers to all animation, elsewhere it refers to a subset of animation originating in Japan. A lot of animé is based on manga. Manga is the Japanese word for comics and print cartoons.

What I mean by animé being safe is that the characters never let you down, they will never disappoint you or make human mistakes. It's safe to look up to the main protagonist in a comic book, or an animation. It's safe to treat these heroes as heroes.

Real life heroes turn out to be human. They make mistakes, they disappoint, they let you down.

For as long as I live Goku (The main protagonist in the DragonBall series) will never do something untoward. I will never question the way I think of him. I will never feel disappointment, nor sadness, nor fear from his actions. Humans frequently mess up, they are human after all.

It is safe for children to look up to cartoon heroes. They are less likely to be hurt or do hurtful things to others copying a cartoon hero. Yet real life heroes (especially bad ones) can really badly affect children, even later on in their lives.

Hero worship is a need that most humans seem to have. A need to believe in something greater than ourselves. A need to draw inspiration and faith from someone who's already achieved. A need to compare ourselves, and lives to others.
Yet at least if your hero is an animé hero it is much safer.