Fed Up – The Documentary

Fed Up – A 92 minute documentary directed by Stephanie Soechtig and narrated by executive producer Katie Couric

The documentary was promoted on the Katie Couric show on May 8, 2014, which included interviews with the director Stephanie Soechtig, the co-executive producer Laurie David, and Dr. Mark Hyman, MD.

Fed Up the movie released in theatres on May 9, 2014

http://fedupmovie.com/#/page/home

USA Today:  Katie Couric is ‘Fed Up’ with childhood obesity

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2014/01/29/katie-couric-documentary/5019841/

CBS News story – ‘Fed Up’ with rising childhood obesity

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/documentary-fed-up-with-rising-childhood-obesity/

NPR – ‘Fed Up’ Portrays Obese Kids As Victims In A Sugar-Coated World

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/05/19/313156681/fed-up-another-food-documentary-war-wades-into-the-obesity-debate

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Mark Hyman of The UltraWellness Center and medical editor at the Huffington Post says that “Diet and exercise are not the keys to weight loss and health”.

8 Steps To Stop Your Nighttime Binges

http://drhyman.com/blog/2013/10/09/8-steps-stop-nighttime-binges/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/

’10 Day Detox Diet’ author Mark Hyman tells how to end sugar addiction and clean up your diet

http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/dr-mark-hyman-shows-deadly-sugar-addiction-article-1.1608553

The Ultra Wellness Center:  http://www.ultrawellnesscenter.com/

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CDC – Balancing Calories

http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/calories/index.html

When it comes to maintaining a healthy weight for a lifetime, the bottom line is – calories count!  Weight management is all about balance—balancing the number of calories you consume with the number of calories your body uses or “burns off.”

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The American Beverage Association

http://www.ameribev.org/nutrition-science/obesity/

While beverages and food play a role in determining good health, so do other important factors.  In fact, it is generally accepted that obesity involves three main factors: genetics, diet and exercise.

We know that obesity is a serious and complex problem that is best addressed by living a balanced lifestyle – consuming a variety of foods and beverages in moderation and getting plenty of exercise. Quite simply, overweight and obesity are a result of an imbalance between calories consumed and calories burned.

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NYTimes:  Sugar, Come Out With Your Hands Up

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/09/movies/fed-up-descends-on-villains-in-the-battle-of-the-bulge.html

Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fed_Up_(film)

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Parties who declined to be interviewed by the producers of the documentary “Fed Up”:

Obviously these companies, organizations and individuals (including the current First Lady Michelle Obama) must be guilty of hiding something because they declined to be interviewed by the producers of the documentary who are promoting their film and campaign against sugar and starches in the American diet.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/05/19/313156681/fed-up-another-food-documentary-war-wades-into-the-obesity-debate

 

Passing the California DMV Driver’s Written Test – The First Time!

Recently I was required to renew my California Class C Driver’s License (November 2013).  I sought various online resources to help me prepare for the written exam.  My goal was to pass the written exam the first time and to not be embarrassed by having to repeat the exam.  I was successful and passed the exam scoring 100% (36 questions).  I would like to share with others how to prepare for this exam and reveal my “secrets” for passing the exam with a score of 100%.

I will tell you WHAT TO DO and WHAT NOT TO DO.

First, let me tell you WHAT NOT TO DO:

1. Don’t ignore preparing for the test and just walk in to the DMV and take it “cold”.  Guessing the answers or just trusting your basic knowledge or instincts will NOT PASS the exam. DMV requires 80-90% correct answers to pass.

2. Read the DMV Driver’s Handbook.  Definitely read the handbook BUT do not rely on simply reading the handbook (once or twice) to prepare you for passing the written exam.  The driver’s handbook contains thousands of statements of facts (instructions) and each of these individual statements can be used to create an exam question. There is no way you will remember all of these statements when you take your exam at the DMV.

Now, let me tell you WHAT TO  DO:

1. Download and read (or at least review) the California’s DMV Driver’s Handbook.  It is the source of all information on the driver’s written exam.  The pdf version is very useful because it is searchable.  Unfortunately you cannot “copy and paste” information in this document.  The Driver’s Handbook is best used as a reference source after studying other sources of information.

California Driver License Handbook (pdf and html versions)

2. Study all of the practice exams provided by the California DMV:

DMV Interactive Practice Driver License Written Tests (#1 – 5)

These are very useful and cover many of the important questions. However, they are NOT very comprehensive.  If this is your only source of information (example questions), YOU WILL NOT PASS THE EXAM!

3. Study other resources on the internet. In particular, recent exams posted on YouTube are a very valuable source of information. These represent some of the most common questions used by the DMV on current exams.  Some of the questions occur repeatedly on these exams suggesting that they are “high priority” exam questions.  See examples below.

Other Resources on the Internet:

Driver’s Ed Guru – DMV Practice Tests (8 free tests)

Driver License Exam BrainDumps

What is a carpool lane? by Conjecture Corporation

Manual of Traffic Signs

DMV Driver License Written Tests on YouTube

California DMV Written Tests 2013 – by Tamilar Desam (many exams)

California DMV written test – by Kalpsen (multiple tests)

California DMV WRITTEN Driving Test JUNE 6th 2013 – by John Kennedy

California DMV Written Permit Test-November 2013 – by Donna Phan

For more examples: search Youtube for “dmv written test california 2013”

Fluval Fresh-Water Aquarium

In August 2011, I bought a 8.5 gallon Fluval fresh water aquarium for my wife.  Since that time we have enjoyed watching the aquarium.  It’s quite attractive.  We have several plants and fish in the aquarium and have had pretty good luck with keeping them alive.  We only lost one fish (rummy nose tetra) during a 5-day power outage due to a terrible wind storm in Southern California.

I recently cleaned the aquarium and trimmed the plants and then decided to create videos to document the current status of the aquarium.  I have posted them on YouTube and want to share them here with you.

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Here’s  a description of what you’ll see (best in full screen mode):

2 Rummy Nose Tetra – Hemigrammus rhodostomus (red nose, torpedo shape)

2 Forktail Blue-eye Rainbowfish – Pseudomugil furcatus (yellow fins)

Red Cherry Shrimp – on rock in the background (first video), on the leaf (second video)

Clown Loach – Chromobotia macracanthus (appears at about 1:55 min in the first video, don’t miss it, and 0:32 min in the second video)

2 Otocinclus Catfish – Otocinclus affinis (hiding in the background, visible in lower right at about 1:28 min in the first video)

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p.s. No. That’s not me singing in the background!

Who Can You Trust?

Here are a few examples:

Bernie Madoff

Larry King

Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein

Paris Hilton

Michael Jackson

Nick Nolte

O.J. Simpson

Phil Spector

Pope Benedict XVI

Pirate

You get my point.  No matter how rich, how famous, how likable, how respected a person is, you never know who you can really trust with your money, you children, your respect, your life.  What a person  appears to be on the surface can never be known.  Often we never know who we can trust until it’s too late.  Unfortunately, the list above is very brief and only represents a tiny fraction of those who have once gained our trust and then later proved to us that we had misplaced our trust.