Icehouse (sorta)

I said in a previous post I was going to review the game 'Icehouse' and games using icehouse peices. Well I halfway told the truth. I have never read all the rules of 'Icehouse' and therefor never played the game. I did buy the 'Zendo' game which is a boxed set with 4 stashes of Icehouse pieces and some extra stuff. Here is the scoop Icehouse is a game invented by Andrew Looney of Looney Labs. It has definite Martian and Ice overtones. But Icehouse is more than a game it is a game system. The original Game was called Icehouse and played with pyramid shaped pieces. An enormous number of other games have been invented using those same pieces. There is a game design competition annually for games using these peices. This year's winner was Torpedo a variant of the original Icehouse game you can find the rules here. You can find other games at IcehouseGames.com and IcehouseGames.org. The former is the official company site and the latter is a wiki of players interested in game design. Below are pictures of games in progress.

Iceberg

Making a move! (to see the rules go to the Wiki)

Torpedo

Getting ready to fire in Torpedo!

OVERWEIGHT WHO DIET SUCCESSFULLY DOUBLE RISK OF DEATH

From The Undernews

Overweight people who diet to reach a healthier weight are more likely to die young than those who remain fat, according to a study. The finding needs to be backed up by further research before sweeping changes are made to public health strategies, the authors warn, but it highlights how poorly the long-term health effects of dieting are understood. . .

Hmmm...this is news to me. The study was carried out in Finland and followed nearly 3000 obese people with these results...

'Healthy overweight or obese subjects who try to lose weight and succeed in doing so over a six-year period suffer from almost double the risk of dying during the next 18 years compared with subjects who do not try to lose weight and whose weight remains stable,' said Dr Sorensen.

Those who gained weight also had a greater risk of dying young.

But how could this be? Losing weight is supposed to prolong our life right?

The researchers were unable to identify why the dieters were at a greater risk of dying younger, but believe it is caused by fat being lost from lean organs as well as other body tissues.

'It seems as if the long-term effect of the weight loss is a general weakening of the body that leads to an increased risk of dying from several different causes,' said Dr Sorensen. 'The adverse effects of losing lean body mass may overrule the beneficial effects of losing fat mass when dieting,' he added.

OK...Apparently it wasn't news to researchers here in the states...

The finding is supported by an earlier study by researchers at the US National Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion in Atlanta.

It followed 6,391 overweight or obese people for nine years and found that those who had no intention of losing weight and even gained weight were least at risk of dying young.

So now what? I am obese and I intend to lose weight (of course I am also not HEALTHY and overweight. I have diabetes and hypertension and weight loss will help reduse the effects of both.) But if you are overweight and basically healthy your best bet may be to just maintain. Go figure.

Charley 10 Months After

10 months after category 4 Charley tore through are area much has been done. And much remains to be done. The picture below shows a strips center still in need of repairs. The Holiday in downtown and the Municipal Auditorioum no longer need repairs. They were demolished many homes and buildings are repaired many are in process and many were given up on. Our home was sold to a developer and we moved across town. My employer is still in the process of rebuilding his. Just as note to all the folks who heard so much about or town and what happened here last August on Friday the 13th. We are still here and we still have a few years to go before the scars are no longer visible. The healing is however, well under way and the city's future is in sight. It looks beautiful and vibrant. I will document that with future photos and posts.