TED Talk - Robots With Soul

My weekly TED Talk arrived in my inbox this morning. It's a talk given by Guy Hoffman and it gives a background on his journey with animation and how he creates robots that are less like robots and more like people. This talk really appealed to the engineer in me, as well as the creative in me! 

Here's his talk. Enjoy!

For more interesting talks - click to visit* the TED website. You can sign up for daily or weekly talks that will challenge conventional thinking and expose to you many different, interesting people and their work, beliefs, callings and research. 

*Please don't blame me if you use up your monthly/weekly/daily allowance of bandwidth watching TED Talks! :)

A Thought on Friendship

We all have those friends. The ones who you don't see for months, or even years. The ones who leave you feeling energised and excited about life. The ones where you can spend hours chatting and never run out of things to say. 

Often, we don't see those friends as much as we would like. But, perhaps, that's part of the mechanisms of that particular friendship. These are the friends that did their growing up with you. They went through the whole "awkward teenage" stage with you and stuck around to make sure you were staying true to yourself. People who you feel comfortable enough admitting your quirks to and who will then tease you mercilessly for those aforementioned quirks whenever they appear. You are honest with each other even when you know that the other person may not necessarily approve, but they'll love you anyway. They've become your "stand-in" siblings and though not related by blood, you consider them family.

These friends know your secrets, they know the essence of who you are. You are incredibly different, yet remarkably similar. They challenge you, bring you down to earth and encourage you to spread your wings. They introduce you to new topics and ideas that you have never heard of before.

It's friends like these that keep life interesting and varied. Without them our lives would be incredibly one-dimensional and our outlooks would stagnate. But with them in our lives are enriched, made more colourful and we continually grow and learn from each other. 

I have quite a few friends like this and in the past month I have been lucky enough to see two of them. They were the inspiration for this particular post. However, this post is dedicated not only to these two friends, but to all my friends out there that I don't see or talk to very often but who enrich my life just by being a part of it. Xxx

Dinner with my non-blood related twin in Joburg a few weeks ago

Visiting my DDS (dearest darlingest sister) in Tzaneen over New Year

If Diets Worked, We'd All Be Thin Already

I recently posted my views on diets and dieting and this morning when I logged in to my e-mail I found a TED Talk waiting for me and I immediately watched it. It's a 13 minute talk on Why Dieting Doesn't Usually Work by Sandra Aamondt and she gives some scientific insights into why diets don't usually work. She talks about a body's weight set-point, intuitive vs controlled eaters, dieting in children, family members teasing about weight and the benefits of a healthy lifestyle. Take a squiz at the video below.

I am so excited by this video as it sums up my view on food, eating and lifestyle. My "set-point" hasn't changed much since high-school and I think that this is partly because I've always been encouraged to eat when I'm hungry and stop eating when I'm full. 

Near the end of her talk she mentions, "if diets worked, we'd all be thin already. Why do we keep doing the same thing and keep expecting different results. " It's a profound statement and makes you think whether diets are really worth it.

She finishes off by asking us to stay mindful of when we're eating and to learn from your body. She encourages all of us to eat when you're hungry - and stop eating when you're full! Instead of trying to control your stomach through diets, let your stomach control your eating.

To Diet Or Not To Diet

"diet" noun

1 the kinds of food that a person, animal or community habitually eats:

a vegetarian diet

            the activities, pastimes, etc. in which a person or group habitually engages:

screen violence is becoming a staple diet of the video generation

2 a special course of food to which a person restricts themselves, either to 

loose weight or for medical reasons

Oxford Dictionaries

In the last few months I've heard the word "diet" thrown around a lot. 

I was sitting on a plane recently and had 2 ladies sitting next to me who spent almost the entire trip talking about food and dieting. I spent a few days with a new friend who is a dietitian. Family and friends have been talking a lot about food because, well, it was Christmas time and a lot of holidays revolve around food. It's got me thinking about diets and dieting...

Now, for those who know me, I'm probably the last person on earth who should be talking dieting. I've been skinny my whole life and have never been "on a diet". When I was small my folks struggled to get me to just eat what was on my plate and I was well into junior school before the words "I'm hungy" became a regular part of my vocabulary. I haven't ever had to battle with crazy weight fluctuations. I'm incredibly lucky in this regard and am frequently reminded of this from comments (some of them absurd, but I take them as a complement) from friends, family, co-workers and even strangers. 

There are many reasons people go on diets but I think the main two reasons are to loose weight or for health reasons. I don't agree with the concept of "going on a diet" for a week or two. Instead, I believe in changing your diet so that you are able to sustain it over the long term. I also believe in the 80-20 principle, in that if you eat well 80% of the time, it's OK to have that sweet, chocolate or extra-creamy pastry every now and then. I eat when I'm hungry and if it goes for too long, I start getting grumpy (just ask my boyfriend).

So, that's my outlook on diets and dieting in a nutshell. I know there are more complexities to dieting than this, and I'm sure that my opinions on dieting will change as I grow older and my metabolism slows down. However, I hope that in the future, if I need to diet for some or other reason, I will look at trying to change my diet and lifestyle to incorporate the advice given to me, rather than going on a diet for a while and then going back to my old way of eating, only to have the same problem resurface over and over again.

Faerie Wookies and Ticklish Toenails

Here's a summary in minimal words and photographs of my time in KZN, Mpumalanga and Limpopo. Words will be added at a later stage after I've recovered from my holiday!

Left Joburg for Hilton. Chill time at home. Swimming. Tanning. Christmas tree. Presents. Family time. Food for ages. Puddings. Christmas present stealing. Catching up with friends. Chilling with the folks. Movie night. Wine and supper on the veranda.

Left Hilton, collected Karen, night in Mtunzini and said hello to Cheesecake.

Left for Baberton and arrived. Driving. Awesome sunset - it just kept getting better. 

Hike to tallest peak in Swaziland. Planking. Faerie Wookies, PJ parties and painted, ticklish toenails. Blurry vision (resulting in blurry photos). Dancing. Singing along in squeaky voices. Champagne popping. 360 degree turns with a halfway stop.

Driving. Kaapsche Hoop. Windy roads and queezy stomachs. Pancakes for breakfast, lunch and pudding! Walks that were "just a little bit further" to see magnificent views.

Tzaneen. Tropical. Baobab Tree.Not desert-like at all! Catch ups with friends. Walks looking at cool birds. Finding strange fruits. 

Driving. Blyde River Canyon. Drie Rondawels. Bourke's Luck Potholes. Graskop. Berlyn Peacock Tavern. Louis our host. Ria the African Grey. Victorian era decor. Yummy meals.

Driving. Pilgrims Rest. Harries Pancakes. Berlyn falls. Lisbon Falls. (Girls like Waterfalls). Mac-Mac Falls. God's Window. Tropical walks. Baby bird with broken foot. 

Dullstroom. Elandsfontein Trout Farm. Camping. Dams. Donkeys braying in the middle of the night. Biggest Clock Shop in SA.