I always thought weight loss was hard because I’d witnessed people throw themselves at it hardcore and then fail just as hard. In contrast, I chose an easy, long-term, data-driven plan and stuck with it. Small changes over a long time make a big difference.

Chad Austin used The Hacker's Diet, which says if you eat 500 calories a day less than you burn, you'll lose one pound a week. Aggregate that over a few months and it seems like doing this diet is a real no-brainer.

I have my e-mail server configured here to combine e-mails sent from any address I choose @timbornholdt.com to be lumped into one main inbox.

This method may not have many advantages over one main e-mail (in fact, it's probably just overkill), but my primary reason for doing this is to allow specific companies access to only one e-mail address.

For example, my e-mail address on file with Best Buy is bestbuy@timbornholdt . com.

My e-mail address on file with the Minnesota Historical Society is mnhs@timbornholdt . com

By doing this, I can simply deny all e-mails sent to a specific address if I'm getting spammed or I can mark all e-mails sent to that address as read and auto-file them. I'm also making sure that any e-mail sent to my main personal e-mail on Gmail is actually important.

Plus, I think it's funny to sign up in stores and give my e-mail address as "cvs @timbornholdt . com."

But while I do have a personal @timbornholdt.com address, I almost always list my Gmail account for all my "important" accounts (like bank notifications, cell phone bill statements, etc).

It stuck me today that while I was signing up online with my insurance company, I was very hesitant to provide them with "insuranceco@timbornholdt.com".

Why am I so hesitant to use my @ timbornholdt.com e-mail address, an account for which I pay, as my primary e-mail address over Gmail, for which I pay nothing?

The old saying goes, "If you're not paying for something, then you're the product being sold." (pretty sure I first heard it from Marco Arment on his excellent Build and Analyze podcast)

I'm relying on Google to keep track of all my personal data, including credit card statements, work spreadsheets and much more. What would happen if, one day, they decided that they're going to start looking through that information? What if they decide to just shut down with no notice and delete all of my work?

Of course, the odds of that are very slim.

But it's scary enough to me at this point to start using my own domain as my primary e-mail address.

These days, I trust my host (and myself) a lot more than I trust Google.

Woody Harrelson's gonna be pissed.

We can debate when the slide began. But what seems beyond argument is that the U.S. political system becomes more polarized and more dysfunctional every cycle, at greater and greater human cost. The next Republican president will surely find himself or herself at least as stymied by this dysfunction as President Obama, as will the people the political system supposedly serves, who must feel they have been subjected to a psychological experiment gone horribly wrong, pressing the red button in 2004 and getting a zap, pressing blue in 2008 for another zap, and now agonizing whether there is any choice that won’t zap them again in 2012.

The whole article resonates with me, as someone who grew up leaning more right, but this last paragraph is exactly how I feel about this election season.

After 36 years, Shoup’s writings—usually found in obscure journals—can be reduced to a single question: What if the free and abundant parking drivers crave is about the worst thing for the life of cities? That sounds like a prescription for having the door slammed in your face; Shoup knows this too well. Parking makes people nuts. “I truly believe that when men and women think about parking, their mental capacity reverts to the reptilian cortex of the brain,” he says. “How to get food, ritual display, territorial dominance—all these things are part of parking, and we’ve assigned it to the most primitive part of the brain that makes snap fight-or-flight decisions. Our mental capacities just bottom out when we talk about parking.”

A well-detailed article on the history of parking, and of one man's attempt to fix the parking problems plaguing L.A.

(via Kottke)

Being mentally weak is the reason I ran so poorly at the Twin Cities Marathon this year. I didn't go into the race with a great mental plan and I ended up doubting myself the whole time. Even when I'd get bursts of energy or encouragement, I'd still tell myself that I'm going to fail. The Sunburst Marathon tested my confidence in my running ability; the Twin Cities Marathon destroyed it.

Even though I may never run another marathon in my life (more on that in another post), if I learned anything from my marathon training class at the U, it's the importance of always staying positive. Of course, life will throw it's fair share of crap at you. Bills, work-related stress, dirty house, awful race, what-have-you. As long as you look for the positive in any situation and find joy in the things you do, you'll always make it through. Even if you run an awful marathon (or two).

Dennis Barker is the head coach of Team USA Minnesota. He's spent most of his career researching mental training and offers some great advice on how to prepare your mind for a big race. I used word cues during the Eau Claire Marathon and I'm convinced that they were the reason I did so well.

Anyone who is training for any sort of running event this year must watch this video. (And not just because I make a cameo appearance).

Antonio Vazquez, who calls himself the "Brujo Mayor", or grand warlock, leads a Mexican tradition of "brujeria" (sorcery), centered in the south-eastern city of Catemac.

He has been making new year predictions for 25 years, with mixed results.

Grand Warlock. BBC, you're on fire this morning.

Researchers have been trying to reproduce such silk for decades.

But it is unfeasible to "farm" spiders for the commercial production of their silk because the arachnids don't produce enough of it - coupled with their proclivity for eating each other.

Silk worms, however, are easy to farm and produce vast amounts of silk - but the material is fragile.

All we need now is the ability to synthesize and implant adamantium.

As a former employee of Best Buy (and for full disclaimer, a current shareholder), I can't say I entirely disagree with Larry Downes' post on Forbes regarding his latest experience at one of their stores.

It stinks that the store I loved visiting as a kid (and mostly loved working for) is going through such trying times right now. I hope Brian Dunn and the rest of the crew can turn the boat around before it's too late.

And I agree, there are far too many salespeople who work there that don't really understand how to give great customer service. But for every awful experience I've personally had there as a customer, I've easily went through dozens of solid interactions. There are lots of people I know who work at Best Buy for the same reason I wanted to work there: making sure people understand how cool technology is and how it can really change your life.

"Congress has sat idly by as the TSA strip searches 85-year-old grandmothers in New York, pats down 3-year-olds in Chattanooga, and checks colostomy bags for explosives in Orlando. Enough is enough!" said the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) "The least we can do is end this impersonation, which is an insult to real cops."

First step towards ending the charade of security theatre in airports. Kudos to you, Marsha Blackburn.