Well, that monitor ended up being hosed last week too. It fried after an hour hooked up to my machine. I should just get them to order me another flat LCD panel. Heheh.

The family's doing well... mom is fighting with her rheumatoid arthritis because of the crazy wet weather we've been having all month. My brother is doing well, considering everything that's going on, and dad's doing well too. The story is way too long to get into here, but I'm glad to see that my immediate family has the support of everyone around them, whether family, friend, or neighbor.

My weekend is already shaping up to be a busy one. Friday night, I'll be out at Felix da Housecat at Avalon. Saturday looks like it's going to consist of finding some sort of shoreline and associated cuisine with Sabrina. Finally, Sunday will be a short outdoor endurance karting event in East Bridgewater, MA. I'm psyched, but I'm going to be exhausted by Monday.

In other news, the Washington Post had an interesting article this morning about a new "risk syndrome" that they're finding in overweight teens. I don't think that high triglycerides, low HDL levels, abdominal fat, or hypertension represent anything new to the public as a risk factor for heart disease. This is the first time, though, that I've seen high blood sugar referred to as an indicator of heart disease risk.

After low-carbing for a few weeks, I've come to notice features like this in articles. Here's the thing that disturbs me the most:

The number of overweight children tripled between 1970 and 2000, reaching 15 percent of those ages 6 to 19. Being overweight increases the risk for a host of health problems, including diabetes, heart disease and cancer. The number of children developing Type 2 or "adult onset" diabetes has already begun to rise.

If you pay attention to the dates, you'll notice that this massive increase in juvenile (and adult) obesity occurred entirely AFTER the government began to reccomend a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet as a "heart healthy" lifestyle. It's no small wonder that this country is in a metabolic crisis. Our bodies are not capable of operating properly with such high carbohydrate levels floating around. The presence of refined foods that use high-carbohydrate, low-nutrition components (white flour, high fructose corn syrup, nearly any other refined sugar, starches, pastas) permits the human metabolism to get lazy. The fuel is too dense, and our bodies get fat as a result of all of the excess.

Unfortunately, when someone like Dr. Atkins or any other low-carbohydrate evangelist gets up to point things like this out, the nutrition community flips a collective gasket and attacks. These are the nutritionists who stand to lose money, clients, and notoriety as the public realizes that the current "accepted" thinking in human nutrition is fundamentally flawed.

Well, I'm off my soapbox, at least until later today.