Windows only: Freeware utility Windows Installer CleanUp Utility can remove Windows Installer configuration information from applications that refuse to install. Microsoft created the Windows Installer CleanUp Utility as a last ditch way of installing (or removing) an application that encounters errors during the setup (or removal) process. It’s definitely not an everyday app, but it is a good one to know about when you absolutely need to install a stubborn (or poorly created) app. Windows Installer CleanUp Utility is a free download for all versions of Windows. Thanks, James!
Windows Installer CleanUp Utility [Microsoft Knowledgebase]
Featured Windows Download: Bowl over corrupt installations with Windows Installer CleanUp Utility

Many of WW’s former co-workers, male and female, are runners. She often ate in the cafeteria with them and learned what they liked. It was CARBS CARBS and CARBS. One woman had pasta, bread rolls, and mashed potatoes on her tray for lunch. She was a doctor to top it off.

When the conversation got around to what WW ate and what they ate, many of these runners merely said: “I’ll run it off.” Of course they won’t and can’t. The 1200 calorie, high sugar muffin they have in the morning will take about 2 hours of cross-country running to run off. As for the doctor’s lunch, well there is no way for her to run it off and still do her work.

But, even if they could burn up the calories, this is a seriously misleading and incomplete picture of the problem. The high carb shock is still there and the deadened insulin sensitivity it produces is a lasting problem contributing to weight gain and poor blood sugar control thereafter. Burning off the calories is a good way to feed free radical damage to the mitochondria and other vital tissues, including your brain. You don’t burn this dangerous high sugar fuel without paying the price of oxidative damage. So, even if you do manage to burn off all those calories, you have done damage to your body in multiple ways.

This is a problem with the “calories in, calories out” theory of weight management. True as it is in a long-run thermodynamics sense, it misses the bigger picture of sustainable health. And many studies do show that the weight loss in low carb diets is greater than can be accounted for in the caloric reduction which they promote. This shows that the thermodynamic model is difficult to apply to the human body and that accurate measurement of energy expenditure is yet to be fully accomplished.

With all the promotion of “energy drinks” it is difficult for many to understand that the kind of fuel you are making your body burn when you eat these carb-laden meals or drink these so-called energy drinks is a sort of fuel that burns fast and hot and does real damage. And you do further damage just putting it in your tank because it wrecks your metabolic health.

You would not run nitrous oxide or alcohol in your car to double its power output without expecting to pay the price. Why do people fall for a theory just about that dumb when it comes to how they “fuel” their bodies?

I’ll Run It Off

“The infinite canvas is the idea that the size of a digital comics page is theoretically infinite, and that online comics are therefore not limited by conventional page sizes. An artist could conceivably display a complete comics story of indefinite length on a single ‘page’. Scott McCloud introduced the concept in his book Reinventing Comics.

Although McCloud asserted that this freedom was one of the most important qualities of the online comics medium, relatively few webcomics have taken advantage of it; most produce work in more traditional formats such as the serialized comic strip and the rectangular page, rarely exceeding two screens in height.”

Infinite canvas

I have two friends who’ve been carrying these slim, multi-tools for a few years now and swear by them. I’ve only used the mini-screwdriver and bottle opener, but those functions alone seem worth it. It’s stainless steel and will add some weight to your load, but no more than the average metal beverage pop-top. Why junk up your keychain when you can slip another “card” into your wallet? Added bonus: can opener, straight edge, knife edge, et al.

– Steven Leckart

Credit Card Survival Tool
$5
Available from Fishboy

Also from Amazon

Manufactured by BCB Survival USA

Credit Card Survival Tool

Frequent movers know that it’s a pain to get used a the layout of a new kitchen when you move into a new home, especially if you live with other people who are putting away objects willy-nilly because no one really knows where anything is supposed to go. Reader Jan suggests a smart solution:

We created a pile of post-it notes, one for each category of kitchen object: silverware, bowls, Tupperware, etc. We affixed these to the kitchen cabinets and drawers to establish a hypothetical organization for everything.

We then walked around and imagined working through different activities with this organization: making a sandwich, setting the table for dinner, cleaning up after a meal and storing leftovers, etc. We also considered whether a particular cabinet or drawer seemed sufficient in size and ease of access for the labeled contents. Problems could easily be remedied by simply moving the post-its around until everything felt right.

Once everything seemed right, we unpacked. It was easy to see where everything needed to go. And the best part? We *left the labels on the drawers* for the first month so everyone in the family could find everything while we got used to the kitchen.

The same idea could be extended to all corners of a new place. I can think of a handful of post-move household arguments caused by a why’d-you-put-this-there/that’s-not-where-that-goes debate that would have easily been avoided with this method.

Home Organization: Label your drawers next time you move

I wrote this article several years ago about coaching. However most of what I said applies to other businesses too, and bears repeating.

During the time I have been a coach, I have been regularly astonished by two things. The first is how little some quite well-known coaches are earning after years of being a coach. The second is how quickly some other people start earning large sums of money at coaching.

I have noticed that it is frequently possible to identify the people who are going to “fly” the second they come onto the scene, well before they start being successful.

So here is a list of things I think these people have in common. Not all of them of course will have all these qualities in equal measure, and I am sure there are other factors which I have omitted.

* They see coaching as a business, and take a business attitude to it.

* They are quite clear about what they want to achieve, and work to long-term (3-5 years) rather than short-term goals.

* They know it takes time and effort to build a business, and they start putting that time and effort in straightaway.

* They adequately fund their business.

* They are confident in their own abilities, particularly their business abilities.

* They concentrate more on improving their business than on improving their coaching (though obviously the two go hand-in-hand; it is a matter of emphasis).

* They see marketing as their number one priority.

* They find ways very early on of distinguishing themselves from the common herd.

* And without any exception I can think of, they are excellent public speakers.

It all goes back to what I’ve written before: our profession is coaching; our business is selling coaching services.

What It Takes to Be a Successful Coach

Captain America #64
Captain America #64

“I’ve had trouble justifying my excitement about this intricate visual detail, so I thought it would be good to collect a bunch of examples from over fifty years of information design history, to show it as a powerful visual element in ubicomp situations.

Even though the dashed line has emerged from a designer’s shorthand and from the limitations of monotone printing techniques, it has a clear and simple visual magic, the ability to express something three- or four-dimensional in two dimensions.” (Thanks Stephen!)

The dashed line in use

How-to web site wikiHow offers a beginner’s crash course to predicting the weather with nothing but your wits and senses. For example:

Take a deep breath. Close your eyes and smell the air.

• Plants release their waste in a low pressure atmosphere, generating a smell like compost and indicating an upcoming rain.
• Swamps will release methane just before a storm because of the lower pressure, which leads to unpleasant smells.
• A proverb says “Flowers smell best just before a rain.” Scents are stronger in moist air, associated with rainy weather.

In all, the post describes 10 different methods for predicting weather by observing smells, animals, the sky, and more using your sharp senses. If you’ve always wanted to pick up some grass, look up at the sky, inhale a full puff of air, and declare in your best down-home country twang: “Looks like there’s a storm a-brewin’, mother,” this guide should give you a good start.

How to Predict the Weather Without a Forecast [wikiHow]

How To: Predict the weather without checking the forecast

Here is one obituary, here is Wikipedia.  His six-hour Scenes from a Marriage is probably my favorite movie, ever (in the more common abridged version only the first installment makes sense, but it is still a knockout).  The Seventh Seal is his most overrated movie; Wild Strawberries and Fanny and Alexander are also famous but not his best stuff.  The dreamy Persona is the next one to try, or at 83 minutes probably the best introduction to his work.  Winter Light is splendid on a big screen.  Smiles of a Summer Night was my favorite movie in my thirties.  The hilarious Devil’s Eye – a take-off on Faust and Don Giovanni – is the most underrated.  At least twenty of his movies are worth seeing, just dig in and keep going.  I am still sorry I never saw his theatrical production of A Winter’s Tale when it came to NYC.

Ingmar Bergman dies at 89