tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-242237432024-03-13T16:05:26.130-04:00Cranial SoupPeas, carrots, green beans, and gray matter.Apphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973805741360160102noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24223743.post-67082702326389591902011-04-26T01:48:00.001-04:002020-01-16T04:13:54.778-05:00You'd be amazed at the things you can fix with a toaster oven...<em>This is a guest post by a friend of mine that wishes to remain anonymous. His only desire is that this information is shared with the public and that more people can put it to use.</em><br />
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<a href="https://amzn.to/3aeohMa"><img align="left" alt="toaster-oven" src="https://lh3.ggpht.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/TbZcrkMOHwI/AAAAAAAABVg/w4CTB3JyiFM/toaster-oven%5B14%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="240" style="display: inline; margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px;" title="toaster-oven" width="240" /></a> <p>I just baked BlackBerry Cobbler (a BB 9630). It came out perfect.</p>
<p>The phone took a dive into a sink full of water while its owner was doing dishes, and went unnoticed until the sink was drained. It was deader than a door nail when I received it. </p>
<p>I took it apart, rinsed it as clean as I could with tap water, and then with 97% rubbing alcohol. I let that evaporate and then placed the printed circuit boards in the toaster oven, on top of strategically-placed screwdriver bits so-as to space the board off the aluminum foil lining the oven tray. Then I set the oven for 180 F for about 20 minutes. I did not toast the battery in the oven for safety reasons. </p>
<p>Just a tip.</p>
<p>Also I have baked laptop wifi and video cards, desktop pci cards, laptop motherboards, desktop motherboards and xbox consoles with the red ring of death (the larger items in a full size oven). Quite literally, if it's toasted anyhow, what does one have to lose other than 20 minutes? Sometimes items need their solder to be reflown, and this wet-phone-drying/toaster oven reflow soldering method honestly has saved both myself and those around me a ton of cash. Reflowing solder should be done at 230 F or so for about 20 minutes. </p>
<p>Plastic bits on the board? Plugs? Wires? No worries! Heck, part of the BlackBerry cobbler I baked tonight (the 9630, that is) was more than 60% plastic, and I didn't even bother removing the camera before baking it. I kept the temp about 180 F since a solder reflow was not required, but if a reflow might benefit the item I do not hesitate to turn it up to 230 F.</p>
<p>Never leave the oven unattended, not even for a moment, just in case plastic bits start to disfigure - but they shouldn't, as plastic typically melts at a higher temperature point than solder. </p>
<p>Don't bake the outer shell of the phone though - bare boards only. </p>
<p>Never bake a battery unless it is soldered onto the board, in which case go for a higher blast of heat for a shorter period (say, broil for 7 minutes). </p>
<p>Next time your phone hits the sink (one of my older BlackBerry phones took a 20 minute trip into the clothes washing machine) or your laptop video or wifi card dies (these are prone to overheating due to poor cooling, sometimes they can flex some, breaking solder joints in the process, and can benefit from a reflow), etc, pop the circuit board into the oven for a little bit. What's the worst that can happen? I've fixed newer HP laser printers I was literally given because they didn't work, simply by reflowing their main boards. $75 a pop at yard sales is a nice profit for me simply having put my toaster oven to work. </p>
<p>When you're done, do not budge the toaster oven until it has been off for at least 20 minutes. It would suck major donkey scholng to bump a board with molten solder and have an IC with a 500+ solder ball grid array slide just enough to short circuit things even worse than they were, when some patience to let the boards cool down adequately could have had the item fixed. </p>
<p>In this day and age, when things seem so disposable and inexpensive, so much waste gets created and is disposed of. It's a shame if that little toaster goes under-utilized and our broken disposable electronics aren't even considered for repair. </p>
<p>It should be noted I do not cook, thus my toaster oven is solely dedicated to the task of baking printed circuit boards. Tin and lead vapors/molecules in or on my food doesn't appeal much to me. Then again I prefer fast food, so... </p>
<p>Give it a baking in the toaster oven before you toss it, you may be pleasantly surprised at how perfect things come out. And you'll learn how stuff is assembled and disassembled in the process!</p>
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<p><em>And for those of you that would like to use this information but need an inexpensive toaster oven, I found this one for you on Amazon:</em></p>
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<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=cranialsoup-20&language=en_US&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B07HSNRGH7&asins=B07HSNRGH7&linkId=b07a53f73650862032309d0c405b8bec&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe>
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Apphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973805741360160102noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24223743.post-23356868659457177552010-09-07T12:56:00.001-04:002010-09-07T12:56:28.530-04:00The Single Most Important Book I Was Ever Exposed To<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316789720?ie=UTF8&tag=freeprogeboo-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0316789720" target="_blank"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px; display: inline" title="Ed Emberley's Make a World" alt="Ed Emberley's Make a World" align="left" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/TIZuu9V_RrI/AAAAAAAABFA/Iq9s3pOdf0I/61Sb5CXRA5L._SL160_%5B10%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="124" height="160" /></a><img style="border-bottom-style: none !important; border-right-style: none !important; margin: 0px; border-top-style: none !important; border-left-style: none !important" border="0" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=freeprogeboo-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0316789720" width="1" height="1" /> When I was a kid, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316789720?ie=UTF8&tag=freeprogeboo-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0316789720" target="_blank">Ed Emberley's Make a World</a> was a library book that my younger sister and I monopolized. One of us would check it out, and keep it for as long as possible, renewing it for the maximum number of times allowed. Then the other would grab it before the librarian could put it back on the shelf, and repeat the process. </p> <p>We did this for years. I am really surprised my parents never bought us a copy, but to their credit, they remembered this and bought my daughter a copy when she was about 5 years old. </p> <p>Ed Emberley teaches that if you can draw a few basic shapes (circle, square, triangle, lines, dots, and a few numbers and letters), you can draw anything that you can imagine. From building a heart shape from two circles and a triangle to more complicated things like castles, dragons, and even the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_flag" target="_blank">Canadian flag</a>, Ed shows how easy it really is.</p> <p>But it's not "just a drawing book"...it's a whole lot more. It's a child's first technical how-to manual. It sets them on the right path for acquiring the skills needed to self-educate. </p> <p align="center"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/93243688@N00/3024269066"><img style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; display: block; border-top: medium none; border-right: medium none" alt="Ed Emberley's Drawing Book: Make A World" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3040/3024269066_985b627666_m.jpg" width="240" height="160" /></a></p> <p style="font-size: 0.8em" class="zemanta-img-attribution" align="center">Image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/93243688@N00/3024269066">Austin Kleon</a> via Flickr</p> <p></p> <p>It's really good for teaching kids how to follow step-by-step instructions, especially ones that contain no text...a skill that will come in handy later in life if they have to build IKEA furniture. </p> <p>It also teaches a valuable life skill by changing how you look at the world. It teaches that anything in life that seems too complicated and hard to do, is made much easier when you analyze it and break it down into much simpler parts. The earlier in life a child learns this, the more doors will be open to them, and the list of possibilities greatly increased. </p> <p>It's not enough to tell a child that they can accomplish anything in life that they set their mind to. They need to be taught how, and this book is a great place to start.</p> <p> </p> <p><em>Purchasing this book through my <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316789720?ie=UTF8&tag=freeprogeboo-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0316789720" target="_blank">Amazon affiliate link</a> will not increase your price and is a great way to show your appreciation to me for introducing you to this book.</em></p> <div class="zemanta-related"> <h6 style="font-size: 1em" class="zemanta-related-title">Related articles by Zemanta</h6> <ul class="zemanta-article-ul"> <li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.coolhunting.com/culture/ed-emberley-fri.php">Ed Emberley and Friends</a> (coolhunting.com) </li> <li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.boingboing.net/2010/07/23/draw-a-sasquatch-the.html">Draw a Sasquatch the Ed Emberly Way</a> (boingboing.net) </li> <li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://laist.com/2010/08/04/last_week_to_see_ed_emberley_friend.php">The Creatures, Devils and Weirdos of Ed Emberley & Friends at Scion Space</a> (laist.com) </li> </ul> </div> <div style="margin-top: 10px; height: 15px" class="zemanta-pixie"><img style="border-bottom-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; float: right; border-left-style: none" class="zemanta-pixie-img" alt="" src="http://img.zemanta.com/pixy.gif?x-id=28a5b637-0c11-4b28-b64d-fd0d7d8c4e70" /></div> Apphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973805741360160102noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24223743.post-26717937140866068212010-07-28T18:14:00.002-04:002010-08-26T08:27:34.900-04:00CaSe Matters<p><img style="margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px; display: inline" title="abc" alt="abc" align="left" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/TFCr20HoErI/AAAAAAAABEk/GzsEXyn3xuk/abc%5B9%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="125" height="125" /> Budding young web designers and developers usually learn this pretty quick, when creating a page on Windows and not using the same case as the files and folders they are linking to. They often will use lowercase in all the URLs, regardless of the case of the actual file and folder names. And this will work fine when viewed on their Windows machine. But as soon as they upload it to a server that is running something else, like Linux, it stops working. Their page is full of broken images and dead links, because they used something like <b>mypicture.jpg</b> in place of the actual file name of <b>MyPicture.jpg</b> and <b>about.html</b> in place of the actual file name of <b>About.html</b>.</p><p>Or they upload an <strong>Index.html</strong> and wonder why when they visit their site they still see the default <strong>index.html</strong> page provided by their web host and why when they check on the server there are now two index files and not one.</p><p>For the domain name part of the URL it doesn't matter. That part is not case sensitive.</p><h4 align="center"><b>example.com</b> is the same as <b>Example.com</b> is the same as <b>EXAMPLE.com</b></h4><p>For the rest of the URL it could matter, depending on what operating system is being run on the server that is hosting the site.</p><p> </p><p><img style="margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px; display: inline" title="windows-logo_c" alt="windows-logo_c" align="left" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/TFCr3Sdw73I/AAAAAAAABEo/uxqLfjQ5f1c/windows-logo_c%5B9%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="32" height="31" /> If the server is running <b>Windows</b>, case doesn't matter. The reason for this is because you can only have a single file or folder of a particular name in a folder, regardless of the case used in that file or folder name.</p><h4 align="center"><b>index.html</b> is the same as <b>Index.html</b> is the same as <b>INDEX.html</b></h4><p>All three will lead to the same page.</p><p>In Windows, adding a file or folder of the same name with a different case to a folder, <i>overwrites</i> the original. Only one can exist.</p><p> </p><p><img style="margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px; display: inline" title="linux-penguin-full1_2" alt="linux-penguin-full1_2" align="left" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/TFCr3zffy0I/AAAAAAAABEs/pwi8knY5Zq0/linux-penguin-full1_2%5B11%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="30" height="30" />If the server is running <b>Linux</b>, case matters, as you can have multiple files and folders of the same name within a folder, each having a different case.</p><h4 align="center"><b>index.html</b> is not the same as <b>Index.html</b> and not the same as <b>INDEX.html</b></h4><p>In Linux adding a file or folder of the same name with a different case to a folder, <i>does not</i> overwrite the original. Linux will allow all three to exist in a folder, and each are considered different. If you change the case of a file or folder in the URL path and the server is running Linux, and that variation does not actually exist on the server, it will result in a <a title="Wikipedia: HTTP 404" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_404" target="_blank">404</a>.</p><p>And if you upload a file of the same name but a different case, it will not overwrite the original. You will have both on the server, and lowercase is the default index file. This is the reason why the place holder <strong>index.html</strong> supplied by your web host is still seen, even though you have uploaded your <strong>Index.html</strong> file, and why you see two index files when you view it in your FTP client.</p><p> </p><p>It is always best to assume the server runs Linux when creating links to pages on the web and when typing URLs into the addressbar of your browser. It is the only way to ensure that if case matters, that you are using the correct URL.</p><p>It is also best to use all lowercase in the folder and file names of your website when creating the files and folders, regardless of what operating system you are using locally. Always assume the site will be run on a server that is case sensitive. That way there is a set standard of practice you follow that leaves less room for error. </p><p>Step 1, before you begin coding, should always be to fix all your file and folder names so you won't have to worry about it later.</p><!--22f8a5fa64cd4b4aae91aa92d7fc4e2a-->Apphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973805741360160102noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24223743.post-72083791600533655102009-08-17T01:41:00.001-04:002019-01-19T23:58:14.261-05:00Adding RSS Feeds for Labels on Blogger<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-P-vjqqhm4tQ/XEP-zAJSuhI/AAAAAAAAHb4/1W7CfIHcdgIDAx3v9BePj2--m3gnxkQYwCLcBGAs/s1600/SNAG00100%255B1%255D.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="162" data-original-width="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-P-vjqqhm4tQ/XEP-zAJSuhI/AAAAAAAAHb4/1W7CfIHcdgIDAx3v9BePj2--m3gnxkQYwCLcBGAs/s1600/SNAG00100%255B1%255D.png" /></a></div>
If you take a look at the bottom of this page, you will see that in my Labels section (I called it Categories) that each one has its own feed icon.<br />
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If you would like to know how to have feed icons like mine, I have recently written an easy to follow tutorial to explain how.<br />
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What is especially nice about having individual feeds for your labels is that it allows your readers to subscribe just to the content they are interested in most and nothing more. <br />
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It also allows each individual author of a multi-author blog to each have their own personal feed, if you tag the posts with the author’s name.<br />
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<a href="http://appsapps.info/2019/01/20/adding-rss-feed-icons-for-labels-on-blogger-updated-01-19-2019/" target="_blank">Adding RSS Feed Icons for Labels on Blogger</a>
Apphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973805741360160102noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24223743.post-48610473912586340092009-03-31T18:50:00.001-04:002009-03-31T23:42:54.041-04:00Fix Firefox Not Remembering to Keep You Logged Into Sites<h3><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/SdKeNY_1mZI/AAAAAAAAAu4/t_ARy-6s51E/s1600-h/FirefoxLogo%5B6%5D.jpg"><img title="FirefoxLogo" style="display: inline; margin: 0px 15px 0px 0px" height="139" alt="FirefoxLogo" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/SdKeNpscp6I/AAAAAAAAAu8/mZdbROOtGeE/FirefoxLogo_thumb%5B4%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="141" align="left" /></a> The Problem: </h3> <p>Lately, I have been hearing a lot of complaints from people that Firefox does not remember their preferences to stay logged into sites, after they close Firefox and run it again. </p> <h3>The Cause: </h3> <p>The cookie database file is corrupted. </p> <h3>The Fix: </h3> <p><strong><font color="#ff0000">WARNING:</font></strong> This will log you out of ALL sites till you log into them again! </p> <p>You may also lose certain site preferences that depend on cookies. You may have to configure those again. These would not be settings that are stored on the site's server. They would be settings specific to your PC and not set if you used the same site from another computer. While it might be a bit of a bother to reconfigure them, it's not a common thing to store site preferences this way and it should only affect a very small number of sites, if any at all. </p> <p>The only one I can think of off the top of my head is Google search. If you have configured it to turn safe search off for images, set it to show more than 10 results per page, or to open links in a new tab or window, you will have to set it again. </p> <p>You will not lose any saved password information stored in the password manager. You will only lose all of your cookies.</p> <p>Ready? </p> <ol> <li>Make sure Firefox is closed. </li> <li>Go here: <ul> <li>On 2k/XP: <font color="#ffff00">C:\Documents and Settings\(your name)\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\</font> </li> <li>On Vista/Win7: <font color="#ffff00">C:\Users\(your name)\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\</font> </li> <li>On Mac OS X: <font color="#ffff00">~/Library/Mozilla/Firefox/Profiles/</font> or <font color="#ffff00">~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/</font> </li> <li>On UNIX/Linux: <font color="#ffff00">~/.mozilla/firefox/</font>  </li> </ul> </li> <li>In that folder you will find a folder that has a bunch of random letters & numbers for a name and ends with "<font color="#ffff00">.default</font>". </li> <li>Open that folder and find the file named "<font color="#ffff00">cookies.sqlite</font>". </li> <li>Delete "<font color="#ffff00">cookies.sqlite</font>". </li> <li>Run Firefox and log into all your sites again. </li> </ol> <p>Firefox will create a new cookies.sqlite file with the necessary info and you shouldn't have a problem any more. </p> Apphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973805741360160102noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24223743.post-5881538381369817732009-01-27T03:57:00.001-05:002019-01-20T00:08:03.439-05:00Converting and Encoding a URL Containing Extended ASCII Characters (Delphi utility with source)This post has been moved <a href="http://appsapps.info/download/encodeurl/" target="_blank">here</a>.Apphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973805741360160102noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24223743.post-78959576796198918832007-11-13T05:43:00.001-05:002007-11-18T02:50:30.866-05:00Free Course: Computer Programming I (using C)<p>University of Washington CSE 142 - Computer Programming I</p> <p>This is a complete basic introductory course (using C) for beginners that have no previous programming experience, that was offered at the University of Washington during the fall of 2000 (taught by Martin Dickey).</p> <p>If you have never studied programming, this course was designed for you.</p> <p>Access to slides, homework assignments & solutions, exams & solutions (everything except the lectures and quizzes):<br><a href="http://www.online.cs.washington.edu/cse142/" target="_blank">http://www.online.cs.washington.edu/cse142/</a></p> <p>Here are the lecture videos. It may seem as if they are listed out of order, but they are actually in the proper order in which they should be viewed. Whoever uploaded them numbered them wrong. The entire set of videos is Closed Captioned.</p> <ul> <li>Lecture 1: <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1715462554446360061" target="_blank">Overview and Welcome</a> <li>Lecture 2: <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4233558706920958797" target="_blank">Problems, Algorithms and Programs</a> <li>Lecture 3: <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6270226769534661340" target="_blank">Variables, Values and Types</a> <li>Lecture 4: <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4012488959082539986" target="_blank">Arithmetic Expressions</a> <li>Lecture 5: <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3530829117801479537" target="_blank">Input and Output (I/O)</a> <li>Lecture 23: <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5312594019069945032" target="_blank">Style</a> <li>Lecture 6: <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5644762755800059527" target="_blank">Conditionals</a> <li>Lecture 7: <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5817164837086461135" target="_blank">Functions</a> <li>Lecture 8: <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1417951682209894569" target="_blank">Function Parameters</a> <li>Lecture 9: <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3196532431429468258" target="_blank">Iteration</a> <li>Lecture 10: <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6681611693257587151" target="_blank">Loop Development and Program Schemas</a> <li>Lecture 11: <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4474644278071725056" target="_blank">Complex Conditionals</a> <li>Lecture 12: <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1157181642585477208" target="_blank">Functions and Design</a> <li>Lecture 27: <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8851692950135894858" target="_blank">Switch Statement</a> <li>Lecture 24: <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6301599051455260607" target="_blank">Structuring Program Files</a> <li>Lecture 13: <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4753534994884333178" target="_blank">Pointer Parameters</a> <li>Lecture 14: <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8400251513260474506" target="_blank">Arrays</a> <li>Lecture 15: <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=58946135744842823" target="_blank">Linear & Binary Search</a> <li>Lecture 16: <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3181596482608619298" target="_blank">Sorting</a> <li>Lecture 17: <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3737379017318942565" target="_blank">Multidimensional Arrays</a> <li>Lecture 18: <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4655338131907415046" target="_blank">Structures</a> <li>Lecture 19: <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3715305332680104509" target="_blank">Strings</a> <li>Lecture 21: <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4094768230297917471" target="_blank">File Input/Output</a> <li>Lecture 20: <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5205501216392527823" target="_blank">Nested Data Structures</a> <li>Lecture 26: <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3715305332680104509" target="_blank">Recursion</a> <li>Lecture 25: <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5158979852046160121" target="_blank">Recursive Binary Search</a> <li>Lecture 22: <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3431535226574067197" target="_blank">Course Wrap-up and Review</a></li></ul> <p>If you want to download them for offline viewing, you can use <a href="http://keepvid.com" target="_blank">this site</a> with the URL's provided above. </p> <p>The textbook they used in this course:<br><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0201754908?ie=UTF8&tag=freeprogeboo-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0201754908" target="_blank">Problem Solving and Program Design in C</a> (Hanly and Koffman)</p>Apphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973805741360160102noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24223743.post-1166456557785559132006-12-18T10:42:00.001-05:002009-05-15T09:33:49.486-04:00The Diet<img class="floatRight" title="" alt="" src="http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/9978/snag0127gu6.png" border="0" />I decided to stop thinking about it and just do it...start the diet....today.<br /><br />The way it works:<br /><br /><ul><li>Fruits, vegetables, beans: They don't count ...eat as much as you want.</li><br /><li>Grains: Whole grains are 1 point per serving. Anything else would be 2 points per serving.</li><br /><li>Dairy products: 1 point for every gram of fat, 1 extra point for being an animal product.</li><br /><li>Meat & Seafood: 1 point for every gram of fat, 1 extra point for being an animal product.</li><br /><li>Candy: 1 point for every gram of fat, 1 extra point for being loaded with sugar and not having any real nutritional value.</li><br /><li>Alcohol: off limits.</li><br /><li>Anything else is 1 point per gram of fat and an extra point if it contains sugar, honey, or any other high calorie sweetener.</li></ul><br /><br />The idea is to stay under 20 points per day for 6 days in a row. Eat whatever you please the 7th day. Then repeat.<br /><br />The best way to break this down would be 3 meals a day and 1 snack...each limited to about 5 points.<br /><br />Now before you just jump up and say "I can do this!", I must warn you, it's not as easy as it sounds and the first week is the toughest.<br /><br />You will be thinking of all the things you can't have...thinking there isn't anything you can have. You will get frustrated, feel deprived.<br /><br /><img class="floatLeft" title="" alt="" src="http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/6701/snag0129rr1.png" border="0" />But soon you will change the attitude and fall into a different sort of thinking, and focusing on what you can eat instead. That's when the fun begins. You will start getting quite creative with your cooking.<br /><br />Another warning: It is almost impossible to keep this diet and eat meat. This works best as a vegan diet, or at the very least, a vegetarian one.<br /><br /><img class="floatRight" title="" alt="" src="http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/6803/snag0131ho2.png" border="0" />If you are worried about getting enough protien, remember that there are other sources of protien in this world other than meat, and you can eat all the beans you want. Dairy products kill 2 nutrition birds with 1 stone, so take advantage of low fat & fat free in that category, in place of meat.<br /><br />If you find yourself having a serious craving for something, and you don't want to blow it, and you can't limit yourself to just a tiny taste, just put it off till your treat day.<br /><br /><img class="floatLeft" title="" alt="" src="http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/3982/00007026rj7.jpg" border="0" />That's right...it's a TREAT day...not a cheat day. This is the key to success. Taking that 1 day off a week allows you to have all the things you are depriving yourself of and makes your chances of sticking to this diet greater. You can't undo 6 days of super healthy eating in 1 day! So don't worry about it on day 7 and just be happy treating yourself. This is the day without guilt! It would be a great day to go out to dinner to a restaurant with family or friends and not have to worry if there is anything on the menu you can actually eat. Your social life shouldn't have to suffer just because you are on a diet. Social drinking is allowed on treat day, as long as it's done in moderation, so go ahead and have a beer or glass of wine with dinner.<br /><br />And yes...you have to take that day off each week. You can't skip that or make it less frequent. The idea isn't to become some super hero known as "Diet Woman" or "Diet Man". The idea is to be serious about being healthy, and serious about not setting yourself up for failure.<br /><br /><img class="floatRight" title="" alt="" src="http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/5229/snag0130uo4.png" border="0" />A note about eating out: If you want to eat out with friends and family on a day other than your treat day, consider Chinese food. You can always get stuff that is steamed rather than fried at most Chinese restaurants. Or pick some place that has a fantastic all you can eat salad bar packed full of healthy stuff, like <a href="http://www.charliebrowns.com/" target="_blank">Charlie Brown's</a> (I don't know if you have this restaurant in your area, most locations are in NJ)<br /><br /><img class="floatLeft" title="" alt="" src="http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/9991/snag0132cu1.png" border="0" />Now I haven't decided if I am going to post my daily menu, because then I would feel like I have to provide all my recipes along with it and that would be a lot of work putting it all together to post every day.Apphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973805741360160102noreply@blogger.com0