Adam Sunny Flanders

I was surprised to see that the 1997 Digimon Virtual Pets (Digivices) are selling for a lot on eBay right now. I’m seriously debating selling mine. I have a dark blue one (the one that looks like a rectangular rock) in really good condition, but it’s always been my favorite giga pet, along with my Pikachu GS 2. I miss my Talking Nano Puppy – I lost him a long time ago. I don’t think I ever owned an actual Tamagotchi. I wonder what happened to their popularity?

My little sister, who is now 13, has almost no memory of virtual pets, though I did make sure she had the Pikachu GS 2 when it came out years ago, along with a couple of the more “modern” Nanos. Granted, her generation also has no memory of life without computers. When I was her age, the most advanced technology was a pixelized Oregon Trail played on a desktop that would make a long clicking sound whenever it had to process the unfortunate death of a squirrel or bison. You’d think everyone’s life now exists on their iPhone or other device.

Speaking of iPhones, there is a horrible selection of virtual pets. You’d think that with modern processing speeds and the ubiquity of portable devices, there would be a plethora of virtual pets. Imagine if iPhones had debuted in the early 90’s! I can only find a few legitimate virtual pets in the iTunes AppStore – the 3D iHusky, 3D Touch Pets (Cats or Dogs) and the 2D (but perhaps more expansive) Kimimon. The latter option comes closest to the original concept behind the 90’s Tamagotchi, though it is far more advanced in both options and graphics. For now we must settle with things like the Pokewalker. I think it would be nice to find emulations of these past giga pets, for any platform.

Perhaps the days of giga pets are long gone, left to a digital grave, a fad of the 90’s. But I’m sure there are those who, like me, hope the phenomena will one day be resurrected, much like the pets themselves.

I read an article today about the top 20 worst foods of 2010. I was actually a little surprised by the disgustingly gigantic calorie, fat, sodium, and sugar content of some common foods, particularly those sold under the guise of being healthy. I’ve always been very suspicious of processed food – my dad follows the extremely strict Pritikin diet, and I try to follow the Okinawan diet, in general, though it takes skill to avoid food labeling trickery. I knew that nearly all restaurant food and freezer isle food is to be avoided, but I didn’t realize how bad it’s become! Some single meals carry more than a day’s worth of calories, pushing 3,000 calories! That’s way, way too much to eat in one day, let alone one meal. You can read more here: 20 Worst Foods of 2010.

Over two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese. This leads to many complications such as diabetes and heart disease and generally reduces a person’s lifespan by a decade or more. It is easy to eat junkfood, and I’m not just talking about fast food. Junkfood includes about 90% of the cereal at our grocery store, most of the meat, almost all of the processed food, whole milk, etc. There is little regulation on food, meaning words like “organic,” “immune boosting,” “heart healthy,” and “rich in whole grains” are totally meaningless. The FDS does NOT regulate these words, so you have to do a little homework yourself and be careful to read the nutrition label, particularly in terms of serving size. Weight gain is a direct result of caloric intake – if you eat more calories than you burn, then you’ll gain weight. For most of us, that means eating 2,000 or fewer calories each day. I could write a book on dieting, and we all know there are many, but these are some good rules of thumb…

• Eat 2,000 or fewer calories per day. Eating more than that will cause you to gain weight. Period.
• Focus your diet on “featherweight” foods like fresh fruit and vegetables. Featherweight foods are those foods that have a low caloric density like oranges and whole grain rice. Some foods have virtually no calories, such as celery and dill pickles – you can eat as much as you want.
• Drink lots of zero-calorie fluids, particularly water. Fluids make you feel full faster and longer, and your body needs a lot more water every day than most people realize. There are many options for zero-calorie beverages if water isn’t your thing. Coffee and tea (without added milk or sugar) both have zero calories. There is some debate over whether diet drinks increase appetite, so be aware of them. I know for me, diet soda makes me hungry.
• Avoid refined carbohydrates AKA simple sugars. Some studies are showing that refined carbs are the primary cause of American obesity, even more so that saturated fats. Look for complex carbohydrates – they can be found in whole wheat bread and whole grain brown rice. Avoid white rice, white bread…pretty much anything white when it comes to grains. The word “whole wheat” is regulated by the FDA and you should make sure it’s the first ingredient in any kind of bread or cereal you buy. Other labels like “enriched wheat flour” or “whole grain” don’t mean a thing and could easily apply to cheap Wonderbread.
• Be careful about serving size. Labels can be tricky – make sure you’re not eating more than you think you are. Also be weary of cryptic ways of including sugar in the ingredients, such as “corn syrup,” “fructose,” “sugar cain,” “corn sugar,” and “sucrose.” Remember that “organic” is just a trendy pop-culture word and even if it is truly FDA Certified Organic, organic sugar, organic salt, and organic fat is still sugar, salt, and fat.
• Eat unsaturated fats and avoid saturated and hydrogenated oils. The latter will send you to an early grave! You don’t have to stop eating meat – there are many lean meats, like fish and chicken, but these are only lean if you don’t add calorie-dense sauces and oils.
• Exercise. In general, exercise is not an effective way to lose weight. Dieting is really the only way you are going to lose weight, but exercise can help a little, and losing weight should not be your only concern. Maintaining a healthy weight is a big first step in overall health, but it’s not the only step. Trade in the lengthy cardio workouts for short, intense strength-training. There is little evidence to support any benefits from cardio exercise. Brief and intense strength training builds muscle and this process burns calories long after the workout.
• If you are overweight or obese, your body requires more than 2,000 calories per day to maintain that fat, so eating 2,000 calories each day will still result in weight loss. However, if you are trying to lose weight a little faster, it’s usually good to start with 1,800 calories a day, then move down to 1,500. At 1,500 calories a day, even someone at a healthy weight will lose a pound or two each week. Fasting doesn’t work. First of all, when you fast your body slows down your metabolism. You will feel sick and become tired and weak. Fasting or eating fewer than 1,500 calories per day is unhealthy because it causes you to become malnourished and makes you more vulnerable to illness. It’s better to keep your metabolism working by eating small amounts of food all day long.

Dieting and exercise are the only way to maintain good health – there are no secrets or special methods, like avoiding carbs altogether or taking weight loss pills. The simple answer has always been true. We need to change our attitudes about eating and exercise. I was somewhat irritated when I saw my doctor the other day – she said she thought I might have an eating disorder because I wanted to lose 10 or so pounds. I currently have a healthy body mass index (BMI), I exercise, but I could have a little healthier BMI if I lost 10 pounds or so. Several of the staff and doctors themselves there are overweight or obese – it is reflective of our culture that a doctor working in such an office would see someone such as myself, someone at a healthy mid-range weight, as being too thin. At the University of Maine there are regular programs to help people with eating disorders, such as anorexia and bulimia, yet such eating disorders affect only about one-third of one percent of the American public. It seems that in general there are few genuine programs designed to help people eat healthier and lose weight, despite every other commercial offering a miracle weight-loss drug. Nobody can lose weight for you. It’s up to you.

Here’s an example of what I do. I try to exercise at least twice a week, usually strength-training for about 20 minutes. I drink about one or two gallons of tea every day (literally), along with a little coffee, both sweetened with Stevia. I happen to love tea, but you don’t need to drink quite that much – dieticians recommend about 8 cups (that’s 4 16oz soda bottles) of water per day. I eat low-calorie foods like bananas and canned or frozen vegetables. When I eat eggs, I trash the yoke – an egg is nearly 100 calories, 85% of which is the yoke. Want a nice 100 calorie snack? Scramble five egg whites. I almost never eat red meat. In general I don’t eat much meat, but when I do it’s either fish or chicken. I don’t use any oils to prepare them – water or a very tiny amount of olive oil is good enough to cook chicken. Fish is baked. Herbs and spices are good enough – I don’t need extra oils and sauces. Same goes for sandwiches and salads. For salads I often use vinaigrettes, which have very few or no calories. If I’m near 2,000 calories for the day and I’m still really hungry, I grab zero-calorie food, like dill pickes, celery, etc. Oranges have 80 calories in them, but they have the greatest satiation of any food – that means they make you feel full. At the other end of the satiation index are chocolate chip cookies and Chinese food.

That said, I’m not obsessed. I do eat out occasionally, but you can be careful about what you eat at restaurants, too. Most places now have healthy options or at least give you a general idea about calories and fat in the food they serve. Any diet too strict is always doomed to fail. You have to give yourself some allowances, especially in our culture. A little junkfood here and there isn’t going to hurt you – it’s the habitual consumption of calorie-dense and large portions of non-nutritive crap that makes us fat. Being mindful of what you eat is the best thing you can do for yourself. Realize that eating healthy is your responsibility and you can’t blame overeating or obesity on society, family, or your metabolism. In fact, overweight and obese individuals burn significantly more calories during the day and during exercise than someone who maintains a healthy weight, so there is even less of an excuse, yet an even greater incentive. When you blame others you concede powerlessness; by taking responsibility for your life, you take back control and can affect real change.

Then said a rich man, “Speak to us of Giving.”

And he answered:

You give but little when you give of your possessions.

It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.

For what are your possessions but things you keep and guard for fear you may need them tomorrow?

And tomorrow, what shall tomorrow bring to the overprudent dog burying bones in the trackless sand as he follows the pilgrims to the holy city?

And what is fear of need but need itself?

Is not dread of thirst when your well is full, thirst that is unquenchable?

There are those who give little of the much which they have – and they give it for recognition and their hidden desire makes their gifts unwholesome.

And there are those who have little and give it all.

These are the believers in life and the bounty of life, and their coffer is never empty.

There are those who give with joy, and that joy is their reward.

And there are those who give with pain, and that pain is their baptism.

And there are those who give and know not pain in giving, nor do they seek joy, nor give with mindfulness of virtue;

They give as in yonder valley the myrtle breathes its fragrance into space.

Though the hands of such as these God speaks, and from behind their eyes He smiles upon the earth.

It is well to give when asked, but it is better to give unasked, through understanding;

And to the open-handed the search for one who shall receive is joy greater than giving

And is there aught you would withhold?

All you have shall some day be given;

Therefore give now, that the season of giving may be yours and not your inheritors’.

You often say, “I would give, but only to the deserving.”

The trees in your orchard say not so, nor the flocks in your pasture.

They give that they may live, for to withhold is to perish.

Surely he who is worthy to receive his days and his nights is worthy of all else from you.

And he who has deserved to drink from the ocean of life deserves to fill his cup from your little stream.

And what desert greater shall there be than that which lies in the courage and the confidence, nay the charity, of receiving?

And who are you that men should rend their bosom and unveil their pride, that you may see their worth naked and their pride unabashed?

See first that you yourself deserve to be a giver, and an instrument of giving.

For in truth it is life that gives unto life – while you, who deem yourself a giver, are but a witness.

And you receivers – and you are all receivers – assume no weight of gratitude, lest you lay a yoke upon yourself and upon him who gives.

Rather rise together with the giver on his gifts as on wings;

For to be overmindful of your debt, is to doubt his generosity who has the free-hearted earth for mother, and God for father.

~Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

Unfortunately the sky is too overcast to the see the lunar eclipse here in Maine, so maybe next time. I went to see TRON Legacy tonight and I really liked it and I felt the story was quite profound, actually. I have seen the original film from 1982 and the sequel relies heavily on many of the themes and ideas presented there; it would be somewhat difficult to understand the plot if you have not seen the original film.

Without giving too much away, I enjoyed the character depth, though I felt the more interesting aspect was the way the point and counterpoint of Creationism was presented to contrast with Buddhism. Buddhist ideas were presented in an almost textbook manner – anyone with such a background will see the references made apparent, even discussed, by the film’s main characters. In my opinion, the Biblical allusions are no less subtle and pick up where they left off from 1982, presenting the programs’ reverance for the Users in an unmistakable religious fashion. That is, the Users (humans) have created the programs, some of whom fight for the users (like Tron himself) and some of whom have strayed from the narrow path of light, claiming superiority over the Users.

While both Abrahamic and Eastern spiritual concepts were presented, I didn’t feel like they clashed. The isoform algorithms, or ISO’s, as we are told, “manifested” out of nowhere and it seems their evolution and development paralleled that of humans, except in the computer world, and therefore at a much faster and more efficient rate. The ISO’s are a new idea formed by Legacy’s writers, foreign to the original story, though their addition is completely consistent with the underlying themes of Buddhism in terms of human development. Arguably the basic idea is also consistent with scientific evolutionary theory.

I dare say that the Buddhist philosophies replaced the reverance for the Users, or Creators, much in the same way analogous matters did in recent literature such as His Dark Materials (The Golden Compass), The DaVinci Code and The Sorceror’s Apprentice. Whether fundamentalist Christians will take notice of TRON’s counterpoint remains to be seen, though I haven’t noticed any outrage. Perhaps the fundamentalist intellect is limited to instances of more obvious, even literal “hidden messages” such as those clearly displayed in Compass, lol.

For those of you with less interest in Biblical and spiritual allusion, the film overall offered a fun adventure full of fascinating characters and awesome special effects, particularly enhanced by 3D technology. In some ways the film is also very formulated, and it has received mostly mediocre reviews. I think fanboys and girls are the target audience here – those who were enraptured by the 1982 film and the cult following it created. I highly recommend watching the original before viewing this sequel. That said, individuals with a more superficial interest in films will certainly be delighted by Legacy and can probably get away with missing the original. The same goes for the kiddies. This is, after all, a Disney film. As a heavy computer and technology user and avid gamer, I commend Legacy for its loyalty to the original and interesting characters it produced. Combined with the 3D filming and special effects, they created (manifested?) a believable world that any fanboy, or girl, would appreciate.

Just wanted to be sure that everyone’s aware that there will be a full lunar eclipse Monday night into Tuesday morning! It’s really cool because it falls on Winter Solstice and practically a full moon! I’m going to be photographing the transition and I’ll post photos afterward.

BTW, this is blog post #100 since I started up my site in December 2008! Since that time about 7,500 of you have visited my site from all around the world. I’ll try to post a little more often. Also, for those of you who might be wondering about paleogenetics.com, it is still in the works – it’s just a LOT more work than I initially planned and I’ve been busy with other projects. I’m gonna try to get it up and going before the Spring semester starts in a few weeks. You can see a preview of it on my design site, SeashoreDesign.com in the web design section. Thanks for all the support!

The Senate voted to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell today, so full repeal is now assured, only awaiting Obama’s signature. I’ve been following the House and Senate debates very closely on C-SPAN these past weeks and I’m so happy Harry Reid made sure the Senate voted on this important issue before the lame duck session ended. Finally service members can be open about who they are without fear of discharge.

I haven’t blogged in a little while ’cause I’ve been busy with finals and all – I just came home yesterday, in fact, because this week was final exams week. This coming Spring semester will be my last at UMaine, and I’m in the process of making plans to move down to Florida shortly thereafter. I will likely attend graduate school in Florida, where I’ve already been accepted. It’s going to be awesome to finally have my Biology degree and start looking for a career! My roommates Mandy and Sarah just graduated, so I want to give a shout out to them. Thanks for a fun semester and best of luck to both of you! Come visit me to see the poms!

The Bangor Daily News published my letter to the editor in the weekend edition today. You can read it by clicking here. I have copied it below as well. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas, Happy Yule, or whatever other holiday you celebrate! I’ve already begun wrapping presents and preparing our Christmas tree. Kitty will not be getting any tinsel this year ^-^

Gay harassment

I was disturbed to hear from my mother, a local social worker, that another student at Belfast Area High School has attempted suicide due to anti-gay harassment.

During my time at BAHS, students and some faculty repeatedly harassed me, because I am gay. School administration suspended me for a week for wearing a T-shirt that said, “It’s OK to be Gay.” It became necessary for the Maine Civil Liberties Union to become involved, and on a regular basis a civil rights attorney visited the school.

In 2008, during a small claims proceeding, I recounted all the abuses against me in front of school administration and their attorney.

Schools nationwide are on high alert to prevent bullying, especially anti-gay bullying. I am incredibly disappointed by the BAHS administration’s total failure to protect its gay and lesbian students, now five years later. When a school turns a blind eye to bullying or even advocates for discrimination, victims and their parents should contact the Maine Civil Liberties Union and follow up with litigation.

There are many resources available to help victims of bullying and even more for parents and teachers to help prevent bullying.

I know from my experiences that it does get better, but for a kid who is having to deal with being called a “fag” or “dyke” every day, the day things get better may come too late. Victims of bullying, parents, and educators — – don’t wait for it to get better. Take action now.

Adam Flanders

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