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Saturday 27 November 2010

Canon 'RAW' format thumbnails.

Trying to only shoot RAW pictures and was fed up with no native support thumbnail view in Windows 7 explorer.

Found that Canon supply a RAW codec which fix's the thumbnail.  Unfortunately it doesn't display the EXIF information - which is a pain and means you still need to open the files in an app.

http://software.canon-europe.com/

Wednesday 17 November 2010

Movember - Week Two

In the name of charity I, and two of my co-workers shall be nurturing top lip facial hair for the month of November.

Please give generously, if not for the good work of the charity then for the sheer fun of me walking around looking like a member of Village People, who are now my inspiration .. 

http://www.paulregan.co.uk/movember

Week 2

Saturday 13 November 2010

BioSignature

Have you come across BioSignature ? - If not its the theory of Charles Poliquin


http://www.charlespoliquin.com/TheBiosignatureMethod.aspx

From years of trial and error with some science mixed in it claims to identify internal body functions & hormone levels from a fat % test.  Theres loads of info to read and its caught my attention.  12 body points measured and  run through a formula to provide results which are then interpreted.
  • Chin and Cheek: The first sites to go down during a diet. These sites aren't linked to any particular hormone imbalance but act as indicator sites as to whether or not the plan is working or not.
  • Pectoral and Triceps: The androgen sites. High pec readings in men in relation to the triceps can reflect an androgen imbalance which makes it far more difficult to add lean muscle mass.
  • Suprailliac and Subscapular: The insulin sites. These sites are related to blood sugar management. High readings here vs. the triceps may reflect poor insulin sensitivity and carb intolerance.
  • Mid-axillary: This site is correlated to thyroid hormone levels.
  • Umbilical: The infamous cortisol site. It can be high despite low overall body fat. If this site is imbalanced then steady state cardio would create a further imbalance and cause the client to store fat rather than burn it.
  • Knee and Medial Calf: These skinfolds are related to growth hormone and act as an indicator in the quality and quantity of sleep a client experiences.
  • Quadriceps and Hamstring: High levels here vs. the triceps are correlated to high estrogen levels. This site usually comes up in females. Lactate threshold training works best here.
My first test was 20% bf over all, low carb tolerance, high oestrogen and low t.

After a month of high protein low carb, in fact zero carbs in the week, and high doses of omega I'd gone down a whole 1% !! .. but muscle up 4kg .. which is nice but not whats supposed to happen.  

The second test showed some sites up and some down but mainly oestrogen was up which apparently accounts for the shite bf loss.  After talking over the past months changes its been attributed to dosing on crap fish oil and so actually ingesting more xenoestrogens.  But now my cynical side is starting to kick in.

I'm going to persevere with it, probably with some more attention after Christmas.  The next step has been suggested to get some blood work done to check some minerals (magnesium & zinc) and vit D with blood tests.  I'm actually also thinking of getting hormones tested to confirm or debunk the results, or at least use in conjunction with.  

Not sure how that would work, its hard to ask the biosignature practitioner, who I must add seriously knows his stuff, to examine the hormone results which is actually questioning the validity of the test in the first place.  

I mean does it just give you a number for each which falls in a range .. Actually I can google that ..