[ZRB's Cyberspace - Sights] Ramayan Reborn - One cool start.

This is one of the coolest images I have seen recent times. This is from the Virgin Comics initiative to take Indian culture and mythology global. Look at the tough guy Ram, Lakshman & Hanuman... with their 6-pack abs, 17" arms and anatomically correct bodies. Wow. I love it.

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Posted by zrb to ZRB's Cyberspace - Sights at 7/20/2006 02:34:00 AM

[ZRB's Cyberspace - Thoughtscape] Intro...

The most intriguing and often controversial subject around: The nature of mind, consciousness, awareness, understand, logic etc.

As my other interest is in AI systems, can we create the Asimov Holy Grail, the positronic brain? Can we create a electronic/quantum/whatever brain that thinks like/better than us? What does it mean to be thinking/understanding?

I am going to just collect all articles and pieces of information that I come across on this subject here.

And I intend to leave the divine forces out of this site. Articles about the nature of the mind/consciousness/awareness/logic/thinking/understanding that do not require the existence of an outside agent is what I trying to collate here.

For some unknown reason, I am simply reminded of the quote "Matter is the memory of the Universe" from "The Broken God (David Zindell)". I believe that when we find answers to these questions, we would have found the answer to the origin of our universe.

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Posted by zrb to ZRB's Cyberspace - Thoughtscape at 10/03/2005 02:50:00 AM

[ZRB's Cyberspace - Health & Fitness] The GM Weight Loss Diet Program

You can find variations of this program on the web for people you eat meat. But this one is suited for everybody.

General Motors Weight Loss Diet

The following diet and health programme was developed for the employees and the dependants of General Motors.

This programme is designed for a target weight loss of 5-6 kgs. per week. It will also improve your attitude and emotions because of its systematic cleaning effects. The effectiveness of the seven-day plan is that the food eaten burn more calories than they give to the body in caloric value. This plan can be used as often as you like without any fear of complications. It is designed to flush your system of impurities and give you a feeling of well being. After seven days you will begin to feel lighter by at least 10 lbs. You will have an abundance of energy and an improved disposition.

During the first seven days you must drink 10 glasses of water day.

Day One

All fruits except bananas. Your first day will consist of all fruits you want. It is suggested you consume lots of melons the first day, especially watermelon.

Day two

All vegetables. You are encouraged to eat until you are stuffed with all raw/cooked vegetables of your choice. There is no limit on the amount or type. Avoid oil and coconut while cooking vegetables. Have large boiled potato for breakfast.

Day Three

Any mixture of fruits and vegetables of your choice. Any amount any quantity. No bananas yet and no potatoes today.

Day Four

Banana and milk. Today you will eat as many as eight bananas and drink three glasses of milk. You can also have 1 bowl of vegetable soup.

Day Five

Today is a feast day. You will eat one cup of rice. You also have to eat six whole tomatoes and drink 12 glasses of water today to cleanse your system of excess uric acid you will be producing.

Day Six

Today is another all vegetables day. You must eat 1 cup of rice today and eat all the vegetable you want cooked and uncooked to your hearts content.

Day Seven

Today your food intake will consist of one cup of rice, fruit juice and the vegetable you care to consume. Tomorrow morning you will be five to eight kgs lighter than one week ago.

If you desire further weight loss repeat the program again. Repeat the programme as often as you like, however, it is suggested that you rest for 3 days before every repetition. You have your system under control now and it will thank you for all the cleaning you just gave it. Even more than a diet program it is good to follow this diet once in a while to clean your digestive system and remove toxic substances that have accumulated in the system.

Additional Comments

The most important element of the program is the 10 tall glasses of water a day. You can also flavour the water with some lemon to make drinking easier. While on the program, take only black coffee and never more than one teaspoon of oil. Preferably do not use oil because of the high caloric content. No fruit juice before day seven.

Here is what happens to your body while you are on this program and
how and why it works

Day 1

You are preparing your system for the upcoming programme. Your only source of nutrition is fresh fruits. Fruits are nature’s perfect food. They provide everything you can possibly want to sustain life except total balance and variety.

Day 2

Starts with a fix of complex carbohydrates in the form of a boiled potato. This is taken in the form of a boiled potato and taken in the morning to provide energy and balance. The rest of the day too consists of vegetables, which are virtually caloric free and provide essential nutrients and fibre.

Day 3

Eliminate the potato because you get your carbohydrates from fruits. Your system is now prepared to start burning excess pounds. You will have cravings, which should start to diminish by day four.

Day 4

Bananas and milk. You are in for a surprise. You probably will not be able to eat all the bananas allowed. But they are there for the potassium you have lost and the sodium you may have missed the last 3 days. You will notice a definite loss of desire for sweets and you will be surprised at how easy this day will go.

Day 5

Rice and tomatoes. The rice is for the carbohydrates and the tomatoes are for the digestion and the fibre. Lots and lots of water purifies your system. You should notice colourless urine today. Do not feel you have to eat one-cup rice. You may eat less. But you may eat 6 tomatoes.


Day 6

It is similar to day 5. Vitamins and fibre from the vegetables and carbohydrates from the rice. By now your system is in a total weight loss inclination. There should be noticeable difference in the way you look today compared to day one.

Day 7

You may celebrate with champagne. You may also have wine instead of champagne, but in all practical programs and in surveys done to measure the success of the program.

More than one cup of coffee with milk is especially forbidden. Milk and oil add empty calories to your diet. Avid coffee lovers can console themselves with black coffee. However after the first week, it will help your digestion and set your stomach. They key thing to remember is that if you are hungry at any time, there you are not following the diet correctly. Almost all people give up the diet when they are hungry, because of the dieting. The secret of this program is that you should never be hungry. If it is a vegetable day, eat as much vegetables that you are never hungry. If it is the fruits day east as much fruits that you are never hungry. You can take any amount of GM wonder soup on any day.

The following soup is intended as a supplement to your diet. It can be eaten any time of day in virtually unlimited quantities. You are encouraged to drink large quantities of this soup.

23 Oz. Water; 6 large onion; 2 green peppers; 3 tomatoes; 1 cabbage; 1 bunch celery, add herbs and seasoning as desired.

This program is highly recommended for women and men above 40 years age for whom excess weight is especially dangerous. Excess weight in women aggravates arthritis problem and leads to rapid joint decay. Pain and joint deterioration can be lessened by weight loss as weight loss removes the stress on the knee joint. Excess weight is the most critical factor in keeping good health and excess weight is responsible for most problems including coronary disease, heart problems, arthritis and cancer among other serious life threatening diseases. Most serious health problems can be controlled by maintaining ideal weight. Daily exercise of 20 minutes is also essential. Do not tire yourself out but being regular in exercise and maintaining an ideal diet goes a long way to ensure happy and healthy long life.

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Posted by zrb to ZRB's Cyberspace - Health & Fitness at 9/11/2005 12:05:00 AM

[ZRB's Cyberspace - Health & Fitness] Reducing body fat & weight

As I started to look for ways to lose weight, I started to focus more on fat burning exercises like walking, jogging etc. However sadly, given my sedentary lifestyle, this is easier said than done. I can not go walking for an hour with the sun shining at 32C given that I sleep late at 2:30 or 3:00 almost everyday and wake up late around 10:00 or 11:00.

I remembered a diet plan that a friend of mine had sent around a little earlier, The General Motors Weight Loss Diet Program. When I first saw this, I thought of this as just another diet control plan and give much thought to it. But now, I had to go back to it and check if it would be worth it. I did a little googling and found that this plan does work, though there were only 2 relevant hits.

At the same time my parents were going out of town for 2 days and I was anyway a bad and lazy cook, who prefers instant noodles with TasteMaker over anything else. So I decided that it was the perfect time to start the routine. To my advantage, my parents had to stay out of town for 3 more days, so I was not disturbed for 4 of the 7 days of the program. I'll explain the basic GM Weight Loss Diet Program separately, but here I'll just tell you what I did during that whole week.

Day 1 - All fruits day.
=======================

Remember
--------
NO bananas, NO cooking, NO oil, NO milk, NO coconuts

All day long.
-------------
Pineapple - 1 large, full.
Papaya - 1 large, full.
Apples - 2 large, full.
Oranges - 3 large, full.
Chinese Pears - 1 large, full.
Sweet Lemon - 1 large, full.
Water - 10 large glasses of it.

I just kept eating these whenever I felt like it. This doesn’t look like a diet, does it??? Eating so much. The key reason for the success of this program is that you should never be hungry during this program. Hunger is the biggest hurdle in any diet program, because the cravings are hard to resist when you are hungry. This was enough for me, because I got up late and went to bed a little earlier than normal. I would not have had any trouble having another pineapple if that were needed.

Day 2 - All vegetables day.
===========================

Remember
--------
NO oil, NO coconuts

Breakfast.
----------
Potatoes Boiled with salt - Many till I felt I had eaten enough. I think I had 6/7 small potatoes. The actual program asks you to eat just 1 large boiled potato.

Lunch, Dinner.
--------------
Green Capsicum - 2 large pieces
Fresh Carrots - 2 large (remove the dirt, the ends & the skin and slice into circular pieces)
Bitter gourd - 1/2 large
Tomatoes - 3 large (sliced into pieces)
Cabbage - 1/4 (sliced into pieces)
Salt - for taste
Baby corn - 2 small
Green beans - 4 (sliced to pieces, only green beans : no butter/kidney/other beans)
Coriander - as much as you like (I initially confused celery & coriander)

With this I also added a bit of Jaljeera powder to give it a little spice. I boiled these all together in a large bowl till very little water was left in it. I just ate these boiled vegetables.

Snacks
------
Cucumber - 1 large, full
Fresh Carrots - 2 large, raw & full

Day 3 - Fruits & vegetables day.
================================

Remember
--------
NO potatoes, NO bananas, NO oil, NO coconuts

Breakfast
---------
Apple - 1 large, full
Orange - 1 large, full

Lunch & dinner
--------------
Green Capsicum - 2 large pieces
Fresh Carrots - 2 large (remove the dirt, the ends & the skin and slice into circular pieces)
Bitter gourd - 1/2 large
Tomatoes - 3 large (sliced into pieces)
Cabbage - 1/4 (sliced into pieces)
Salt - for taste
Baby corn - 2 small
Green beans - 4 (sliced to pieces, only green beans : no butter/kidney/other beans)
Coriander - as much as you like (I initially confused celery & coriander)

With this I also added a bit of Jaljeera powder to give it a little spice. I boiled these all together in a large bowl till very little water was left in it. I just ate these boiled vegetables.

Snacks
------
Pineapple - 1 large, full
Papaya - 1 large, full
Oranges - 2 large, full
Cucumber - 1 large, full
Carrot - 1 large, full

I had fruits whenever I felt like it. :-)

Day 4 - Bananas and milk
========================

Remember
--------
NO potatoes, NO oil, NO coconuts

Breakfast
---------
A glass of warm milk, overheated at first & 2 bananas.

Lunch
-----
3 bananas. GM Wonder soup.

Evening
-------
A glass of warm milk, overheated at first.

Dinner
------
A glass of warm milk, overheated at first & 3 bananas.

The GM Wonder Soup
------------------

The GM Wonder Soup. Pretty easy to make. The program recommends you to have this soup in any quantities on any day. But I first needed it only on this day.

Tomatoes - 3 large, sliced
Capsicum - 2 large, green, sliced
Onions - 6 large, sliced
Coriander - as much as I liked (Again I confused coriander & celery)
Cabbage - 1/4 large, sliced

I also added beetroot, carrots & some green chilies with some salt for taste. But in hindsight, the beet and carrots could have been avoided. Boiled this with enough water and drank the water when it was reduced to half, which itself was about a large glass. I didn’t leave the veggies, I ate them all.

Surprisingly, as predicted by the program, I wasn’t feeling that hungry this day. Maybe because I was expecting it to be worse. Normally I can eat 8 bananas just after dinner. But I was feeling full most of the time. I did get hungry late in the night since I had to work late that day and had 2 extra bananas.

Day 5 - Feast day, tomatoes & rice
==================================

Remember
--------
NO bananas, NO cooking, NO oil, NO milk, NO coconuts

Breakfast, lunch & dinner
-------------------------
Rice without salt & 2 large boiled whole tomatoes.

Snacks
------
I made more of the soup that I had taken the previous day and ate the vegetables whenever I felt like it.

Mom was back and she took care of the rice. As mentioned earlier, I am a bad cook and don’t know how to make rice without a microwave oven. Again surprisingly, I wasn’t as hungry as I thought I would be. One cup of rice is almost a full typical South Indian lunch box (just one, not the multi-layered ones :-) ).

Day 6 & Day 7 - All vegetables & 1 cup of rice
==============================================

Remember
--------
NO potatoes, NO oil, NO coconuts

Breakfast, lunch & dinner
-------------------------
The GM wonder soup (I added carrots, chilies and 1 beetroot + salt for taste) and 1 cup of rice. Whenever I felt hungry, I had the vegetables, raw and cooked (cucumbers, carrots).

On Day 7 I had typical South Indian dinner; rice + curry (Kaara Kuzhambu).

The result
==========

I didn’t get to travel too often the following week, but a week after the program was completed I measured my weight and waist. I was pleasantly surprised. I am now 76KGs (-4.5KGs) and my waist is 33"+ (-1.xyz inch). Two of my pants which didn’t fit before fit perfectly. :-D


Besides, my ribs are visible if I raise my hands high. Earlier, that was not the case. I am planning to do this again the last week of this month and once again next month end, so my BMI can come to normal.

Now back to chiseled abs in my next post.

Posted by zrb to ZRB's Cyberspace - Health & Fitness at 9/10/2005 09:38:00 PM

[ZRB's Cyberspace - Health & Fitness] Why is body weight important for chiseled abs???

You might be wondering what does body weight have to do with chiseled abs. They are, but indirectly. Before that, let us see a bit of human physiology.

It seems that excess body fat is stored in three parts in the body.
1) Thighs
2) Hips
3) Belly
So what happens if you are overweight??? You belly stores a lot of fat. This fat forms a layer over your muscles - abdominal muscles. So regardless of whether you have good abdominal muscles or not, the fat layer just hides from view. So even if you had a great 6-pack it will be covered beneath the layer of fat.

Interestingly, the fat stored in your thighs and hips are not a big problem. But that which is stored in your abs, can lead to arthritis, back pain etc.

But this, if you think about it, explains why body builders are considered to be fit, even though they have bulging muscles and are highly overweight. The key thing is that it is not enough if your height and weight are proportionate (Body Mass Index [BMI] approach). You have a third component, which is your waist measurement, which is a direct measurement of harmful body fat stored in your body.

So what happens if you burn your abdominal fat? You lose weight and at the same time, your muscles start showing up. Now you know why body weight and chiseled abs are related.

So how did I go about reducing my body weight and fat??? I'll explain in my next article. :-)

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Posted by zrb to ZRB's Cyberspace - Health & Fitness at 9/10/2005 01:03:00 AM

[ZRB's Cyberspace - Health & Fitness] Chiseled abs & my misunderstandings about it

My waist size, when I measured in August 2005 was 34.5+". I knew most of my Jeans & Pants that I had worn with the help of a belt, before I left for the US in June 2003, no longer could be worn even without a belt, not without causing me considerable discomfort. You don’t need to measure your waist size to know that many clothes no longer fit. I had known this in March 2005.

So I decided to get rid of the thick abs and get some nice slim flat abs. First thing that came to my mind was to do some abdominal workouts and get rid of the extra fat in my belly. I did some of the workouts I had learnt when I was a teenager and found that they were of no use. I was unaware that those workouts were called crunches in fitness lingo. Then I thought maybe these workouts no longer can help me and I needed something more vigorous and off to googling again.

What I found was new to me at that time… These were the revelations.

1) You can not create flat/chiseled abs with abs workouts alone.
a. Low body fat & abs workouts together do.
2) You have a lot more variety in abs workouts.
a. About.com has a great list of effective abs workouts. Check this page

With this new knowledge I started my routine with 3 of the workouts mentioned their, specifically those that did not require gym/other equipment.
1) Bicycle maneuver
2) Basic crunch
3) Half curl

But I had to do something about my body weight, especially my body fat to get that 6-pack. That will be the next part. :-)

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Posted by zrb to ZRB's Cyberspace - Health & Fitness at 9/09/2005 10:44:00 PM

[ZRB's Cyberspace - Health & Fitness] Intro to my interest in health and fitness

Sometime in the mid of April 2005 I started feeling that I am not sleeping enough. I slept for a minimum of 6.5 hrs and still the next morning I woke up still feeling sleepy.

Some amount of googling pointed towards high body weight to sleeplessness and the vicious cycle of how sleeplessness leads to overeating & high body weight and that high body weight leads to sleeplessness. Given that I am in the software field & spend almost my 14-16 hr days with my laptop and that I was overweight by 13 KGs (80.5), I decided to do something about it.

Besides this I have always been interested in looking toned and buff, not "body builder" style, but the "smart guy with a good shape" style. :-D You know what I mean - 6-pack abs, well defined chest, clearly visible biceps & triceps, the ability to walk for an hour without taking a break and nice looking broad shoulders to give me that "V-shaped back". :-)

This blog will start with what I did about my body weight and what I learnt on my way to look how I wanted to look.

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Posted by zrb to ZRB's Cyberspace - Health & Fitness at 9/09/2005 10:28:00 PM

[ZRB's Cyberspace - Technology] EPIC - Evolving Personalized Information Construct

"The Museum of Media History has recently produced a short film which charts the evolution of media from 1984 up until 2014 and how newsmasters eventually claimed their professional crowns."

The future (or is it the history?!?!?!) of media. Since it is the museum, I would say history. :-)

A flash presentation of the concept/business can be seen here

The same presentation as a web article.

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Posted by zrb to ZRB's Cyberspace - Technology at 9/05/2005 04:09:00 AM

[ZRB's Cyberspace - Rude and Politically Incorrect] PROOF: Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus

Here's a prime example of "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus" offered by an English professor from the University of Phoenix:( Its a bit long, but read on )

The professor told his class one day: "Today we will experiment with a new form called the tandem story. The process is simple. Each person will pair off with the person sitting to his or her immediate right. As homework tonight, one of you will write the first paragraph of a short story. You will e-mail your partner that paragraph and send another copy to me. The partner will read the first paragraph and then add another paragraph to the story and send it back, also sending another copy to me. The first person will then add a third paragraph, and so on back-and-forth. Remember to re-read what has been written each time in order to keep the story coherent. There is to be absolutely NO talking outside of the e-mails and anything you wish to say must be written in the e-mail. The story is over when both agree a conclusion has been reached."

The following was actually turned in by two of his English students: Rebecca and Gary.

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THE STORY:

(first paragraph by Rebecca)

At first, Laurie couldn't decide which kind of tea she wanted. The chamomile, which used to be her favorite for lazy evenings at home, now reminded her too much of Carl, who once said, in happier times, that he liked chamomile. But she felt she must now, at all costs, keep her mind off Carl. His possessiveness was suffocating, and if she thought about him too much her asthma started acting up again. So chamomile was out of the question.

(second paragraph by Gary)

Meanwhile, Advance Sergeant Carl Harris, leader of the attack squadron now in orbit over Skylon 4, had more important things to think about than the neuroses of an air-headed asthmatic bimbo named Laurie with whom he had spent one sweaty night over a year ago. " A.S. Harris to Geostation 17," he said into his transgalactic communicator. "Polar orbit established. No sign of resistance so far..." But before he could sign off a bluish particle beam flashed out of nowhere and blasted a hole through his ship's cargo bay. The jolt from the direct hit sent him flying out of his seat and across the cockpit.

(Rebecca)

He bumped his head and died almost immediately, but not before he felt one last pang of regret for psychically brutalizing the one woman who had ever had feelings for him. Soon afterwards, Earth stopped its pointless hostilities towards the peaceful farmers of Skylon 4. "Congress Passes Law Permanently Abolishing War and Space Travel," Laurie read in her newspaper one morning. The news simultaneously excited her and bored her. She stared out the window, dreaming of her youth, when the days had passed unhurriedly and carefree, with no newspaper to read, no television to distract her from her sense of innocent wonder at all the beautiful things around her. "Why must one lose one's innocence to become a woman?" she pondered wistfully.

(Gary)

Little did she know, but she had less than 10 seconds to live. Thousands of miles above the city, the Anu'udrian mothership launched the first of its lithium fusion missiles. The dim-witted wimpy peaceniks who pushed the Unilateral Aerospace disarmament Treaty through the congress had left Earth a defenseless target for the hostile alien empires who were determined to destroy the human race. Within two hours after the passage of the treaty the Anu'udrian ships were on course for Earth, carrying enough firepower to pulverize the entire planet. With no one to stop them, they swiftly initiated their diabolical plan. The lithium fusion missile entered the atmosphere unimpeded. The President, in his top-secret mobile submarine headquarters on the ocean floor off the coast of Guam, felt the inconceivably massive explosion, which vaporized poor, stupid Laurie.

(Rebecca)

This is absurd. I refuse to continue this mockery of literature. My writing partner is a violent, chauvinistic semi-literate adolescent.

(Gary)

Yeah? Well, my writing partner is a self-centered tedious neurotic whose attempts at writing are the literary equivalent of Valium. "Oh, shall I have chamomile tea? Or shall I have some other sort of F--KING TEA??? Oh no, what am I to do? I'm such an air headed bimbo who reads too many Danielle Steele novels!"

(Rebecca)

*******.

(Gary)

Bitch

(Rebecca)

F__K YOU - YOU NEANDERTHAL!

(Gary)

Go drink some tea - whore.


(TEACHER)

A+ - I really liked this one.

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Posted by zrb to ZRB's Cyberspace - Rude and Politically Incorrect at 9/03/2005 12:14:00 PM