A random list of things and shower thoughts that an old Gen X dude finds cool or worth pondering.

• Your diet doesn’t matter. Seriously. The data shows that at the one year mark the success rate for all diets is virtually identical. Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, Mediterranean, South Beach, Zone, Keto, the cabbage soup diet… it doesn’t matter. In grossly simplistic terms losing weight is still all about calorie reduction. Expend more than you consume and you lose weight. Period. If your goal is weight loss, what’s most important is picking a diet you can stick to. The cabbage soup diet is probably not sustainable long term. If you’re picking a diet for other health reasons, blood sugar control, etc…, that’s a different discussion. Keep the two concepts separate and a pick a diet for the right reasons.
• The history of Greenland’s melt cycles is interesting in light of recent “the sky is falling” news about sea level rise. As is NOAA’s potentially sketchy claims about February temps. Agree or disagree, the point is that maybe there’s more going on than we fully understand. That’s the point of science – to ask questions and search for answers. Don’t be a lemming.
• I gained exactly 1 follower on Twitter. I find it interesting that on both Twitter and Instagram I get the most activity with posts or pictures of animals. People seem to like the hound. There must be some meaning around the human need to connect to animals and seeing happy things.
• A video of all of the 8,000 meter peaks in the world. Worth it for the pictures.
• I’m still not entirely sure why I’m writing. Performing for a nearly empty room day after day does get discouraging.
• It’s interesting to watch the democratic 2020 candidates jockey for a campaign theme. I personally think that was one of the major factors last time. Like it or hate it, you knew exactly what Trump’s message was. I can honestly say I never knew exactly what Hillary’s message was. What is the central democratic message going to be for 2020?
• Trying to heat a house in the mountains is challenging. Gas, wood, pellet, electric, hybrid… it’s making my head hurt. So many trade-offs between BTU’s vs energy cost and efficiency. It’s not like a plain ‘ole HVAC central heating system that makes all rooms the same temp. I will be very happy when I don’t have to think about this any more.

Song of the day: Fat Freddy’s drop “Bohannon”