Posts

Link to Cal Newport’s article Probably like hundreds of thousands, if not millions, I’ve been deeply influenced by Tim and his books. I didn’t start with the 4WW though (I was still in high school with other things on my mind). I first read The 4-Hour Body and it drastically changed my approach to diet and exercise in general. By then I was at University in the UK, and I’m not kidding when I say that by following some of Tim’s advice I lost about 28 pounds and have never regained them....

In “The Art Of Learning”, Josh Waitzkin talks a lot about "incremental growth" as a core part of his learning philosophy. The key, says Josh—who has used this technique to become a chess grandmaster and a Tai Chi Chuan world champion—is to focus on the fundamentals, practicing them over and over and add to them slowly, piece by piece. There's nothing new here. Josh is simply putting ancient wisdom to practice....

First, let me give you a bit of background. At my company we’re looking for a way to create and share internal documentation with a git and Markdown-based documentation service. The reasons behind these choices are that (1) Markdown is simple to use and all the developers know how to use it; and (2) a git-based service will help us track documentation changes and agree on improvements by using pull requests and “doc reviews” before merging any changes....

Experienced runner or novice these 15 "laws" coined by Tim Noakes—who took inspiration from Arthur Newton—are useful to follow in your training. 1. Train frequently, all year round 2. Start gradually and train gently 3. Train for distance, only later for speed* 4. Don't set your daily training schedule in stone* 5. Alternate hard and easy training 6. At first, try to achieve as much as possible on a minimum of training...

Increasingly it's been accepted that glucose and insulin are at the core of a variety of dangerous diseases and health conditions: from Alzheimer's (now called type 3 Diabetes by some), to fatty liver syndrome, and type 2 diabetes, we're just now starting to understand how dangereous high blood glucose levels and insulin can be. Diabetes (T1) runs in my family. So concepts like insulin, gluconeogenesis (the process by which the liver creates new glucose), glycation are not new to me....

When it comes to protecting your online privacy, you'll come across Virtual Private Networks (or VPN in short) services at some point. While VPNs offer privacy protection, secure connections, and even anonymity in some cases, they're not a silver bullet. What's more, if they’re not used appropriately, VPNs can end up backfiring, exposing more of your data, and slowing your online browsing to a crawl. In this post, I'll guide you through what VPNs are and how they work....

Online privacy is a complicated topic. Even as an experienced programmer and self-proclaimed privacy nerd, protecting your online data is a brutal war to fight. While I believe that unless you go live in the woods without Internet connectivity, it is impossible to protect 100% of your digital life, we can take some steps to limit what personal information companies can collect and track. What follows is a short starter guide I compiled drawing from years of learning about privacy and tinkering with different apps and services....

Recycling is touted as the best way households have to reduce pollution, fight climate change, and keep our cities clean. We believe that we’re doing the right thing for our planet by throwing stuff in the right bin. Then, why is it that every time I finish a peanut butter jar, my wife and I argue over where I should toss it? Supposedly if the jar has remnants in it, it won’t get recycled....

One year ago this week I started running. Initially it was just a challenge. After spending most of my life swimming or playing underwater rugby I wanted to try something different and learn how to go on long runs. Here are 6 lessons I learned along the way: Start small. It's OK to wanting to run a marathon or even an ultra, but when you're taking your first steps it is best to keep it simple....

Last time, I talked about the importance of identity and self-image when creating new habits. Asking the big question "Who do I want to become?" is fundamental. How we see ourselves in the future will make it easy in the present to work on those new habits. But just thinking about it is not enough. Crafting an identity takes work. Many times we don't know where to start. So here are a few exercises that have helped me....