Biangun : Introduction to stick martial arts.

 

Solder Shooting to prevent video camera 'shake'

The annoying shake you get when filming with pocket digital video cameras can be greatly reduced by using a solder rod to hold the camera steady. A cheap and easy rig that 'folds' away when not in use.

Solder 'rods' come  in various lengths and gauges so you get a choice, but the property that suits this  rig is that the rods are flexible while remaining stiff.With a hand on the base and one just below the camera, the tension is sufficient to offset  much of your body's tendency to shake while filming and it is that shake that gets transferred so easily to the video file when using these small light weight digital cameras.

I attached the rod to an old mini flexi tripod with duct tape and screwed that into the camera mount.

The whole rig sort of rolls up and folds when not in use.

Works for me.

 I just can't cram that much rod in my purse.

 There are a few devices that do the same thing following the same principle of tension like the  ReadySteady. However, solder which is used for soldering metal to metal is flexible while retaining its stiffness so it rolls up and folds on itself.

And lead free solder is, of course, minus the lead.I'm sure there may be other materials some which are plasticated. But solder is dirt cheap and is a standard hardware store item.

I had previously used cords either supported under my foot or attached to my belt to create the tension while filming but they wave left and right and the vertical tension isn't always constant as it depended  on my pulling upwards.

I'm thinking that because I can twist the rod to suit so that I anchor it to one side by bending it into a hook for my right hand I have much better lateral support than I would have with a sharply vertical stem which would tend to act like a pendulum.

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Body by Science: can mine measure up?

It is ironic that given my age and condition -- over 60 and with a chronic illness -- my short sharp bursts of full on intense exercise  exertion don't necessarily extend me as much as I'd hoped.

I'm too 'fit' for my own good perhaps?

...or I'm stifled by a limit to how far my musculature and breathing will serve me.

Yesterday, I had to get to round six among eight before I was beginning to gasp for reserves. What can I do to challenge myself more so that I am struggling earlier?

This was boxing so I have limited options I can use  to up the intensity. I can only punch harder and faster.

The other thing is that I don't do the euphemistic 'warm-up' as I am active before hand and I don't want to detract from the session itself. I've wondered about this warm-up business. Its' not stretching as that is now considered passe.

It's muscular/skeletal saute-ing I guess. But to what  effect? Injury prevention? Is that it? But I don 't suffer from injury. In  Tabata and Interval Training you alternate intense stress with relaxation/inactivity.

So that the systems aren't over taxed? But that's the point isn't it: to engineer a sharp, quick rise in stress?

The problem is that with High Intensity Interval Training like this the research isn't quite consolidated. The parameters seem to me to be pot shots rather than absolute rulings. A researched option is the so called "Little" method.(This is aligned to the Body by Science perspective)

An alternative regimen based on a 2009 study^[4] uses 60 seconds of intense exercise (at 95% of VO₂max) followed by 75 seconds of rest, repeated for 8–12 cycles. Subjects using this method trained 3 times per week, and obtained gains similar to what would be expected from subjects who did steady state (50–70% VO₂max) training for five times per week. While still a demanding form of training, this exercise protocol could be used by the general public with nothing more than an average exercise bike.

My problem is that while I trained in Physiology in the 1980s, research is now so complex and cellular  that I'm a bit befuddled by the terminology. However, Body by Science is a useful anchor in all this  and I am keen to re-read this book and study it more carefully.

So me, I'm an experiment...

Doug McGuff, MD (co-author with John Little of the book Body By Science)  speaks about failed fitness attempts and common thinking errors we all make in assessing authority in exercise.

Going the distance on a kickbike

The longest route I do on the kickbike is just over 14 km. I call it Swan Lake because it  traverses the edge of a lake that often has black swans on it. 

I'm thinking that if I try to do this route twice per week -- I have other routes I take on my morning kick -- maybe I can up my exercise-ing of Long Slow Distance to partner my HIIT/Tabata experiments. 

I don't usually demand anything much from my kickbiking except that I get out there early -- often at dawn -- and kick as far as I feel like going. 

Fortunately -- or unfortunately -- but very pleasantly, at the far end of my Swan Lake kick, I usually walk the tidal flats and indulge in some communing with Nature. So I break my journey.

It's so beautiful I can't help myself.

You can also do interval training on a kickbike...but I suspect you need to be an athlete to do it. I'm not.

So maybe, methinks, I can bargain with my options and :

1. push hard out for the 7 km 
2. do my commune and wade about in the shallows
3. hop back on the scooter and push hard back home for the last leg of 7 km.

and see what I may benefit.

Camera Shake.

Since I had engineering problems with a  long cord -- the length of me -- I created a short one and attached it to my belt.

..and pulled on it.

Voila! Much less camera shake.

New video camera means more and better videos...in time

After neglecting my digital media options I am now back doing the videography after being given a very cheap, refurbished Kodak Zi6 (pictured). 

Amazing little camera that shoots great video.

For my work in progress with the Zi6 check out my video pages .

It's a learning curve -- using the camera and mastering iMovie 11. So for now, if it moves, I shoot it.

Practice. Practice. 

The problem with these little cameras is camera shake. You'll notice the shake in what I've shot early on.  I used to shoot with my DV Camera with a small tripod/monopod strapped to my arm.  But this new video camera is just too light to anchor in space like that, so I've employed the string and washer trick. This DIY works fine. 

It works better than that: it's a photography a-hah! moment.

My camera has a toggle so I loop the string to that with a carabiner clip and drop the other weighted end to the ground...and stand on it.

By anchoring the bottom like this I can pull on the string to create enough tension to stabilize the camera in my hand.

Portable plus.

Once I've learnt to shoot and  not shake the shot I'll work through some audio options.

The camera cost  $63 and at that obscenely cheap  price -- and ease of operation -- anyone should be making movies. (Just so long as you edit the damn things before you upload them...please!)

My daughter wants me to do some video editing training (she works for Apple)  and I think that may be a good idea as editing  is where the art kicks in (so long as you also edit as you shoot).

But looking back at my video making career -- so far that is -- there are a few films that work (for me at least). I love the atmosphere captured in Twilight Carrum Summer 2010 and some of the sequences inPort Philip Bay. I also appreciate some of my political videos for their reportage and focus and I like Northside Boxing because it tells a quaint story.

But you can see how rough as guts so much of it is, especially in the edit.

Give me time....

VIDEO - Rainwater Harvesting Basics -- Brad Lancaster

This is a very good over view of water harvesting approach of Brad Lancaster as found in his series : Rainwater Harvesting for Dylands and Beyond.

The guy's methodology  is holistic and accessible. Practice and principle.


YouTube - Rainwater Harvesting Basics (1) Brad Lancaster

VIDEO Bicycling Culture can rule us all if we try: Copenhagenizing Beachmere

Where I live now -- in Beachmere -- the asphalt roads are broad with generous two metre wide strips along each side for bike riding. People walk these strips too in preference to the contours on the footpaths next door.  The foot or bike traffic along these pathways goes either way as they are broad enough to allow for two way traffic.

So Beachmere is a bike and scooter town. Every kid has a skate board or micro scooter or BMX bike and to or from primary school it is push wheel transit. The skatebowl is the juniors social hub.

Because of the significant number of retirees  here another primary user of the bikeways are electric scooter users -- people who have conditions that inhibit their walking mobility.

So on an evening you'll see aged electric scooter owners taking their dogs for a walk, battery driven,  just as early in the mornings the streets are occupied by the get fit cycling crowd.

Some women in their seventies who I know peddle their tricycles to the dog park each morning with their mutts on board.

That Beachmere is only 6 kilometres long is the main drawback and the two roads in are not cyclable -- unless you want to die: narrow, pot holed, with high car speeds allowed.

Within the town, these special conditions (and no cop shop) encourages cyclists not to wear helmets -- so a lot of us don't.

But  the rich cycle  culture of Beachmere -- a product only of the way the roads were built and the flat terrain-- suggests what could be possible if a more conscious program of cycle friendliness was engineered as a matter of course across the urban envionemnt.

Like in Copenhagen. This great video says it all:

Cycling Copenhagen, Through North American Eyes from Streetfilms on Vimeo.

Finn Gadget : the Movie

I had been discussing  my paddleski options -- musing , contemplating. When last I addressed the topic I praised the Finn Gadget .

The Gadget is a little boat -- length 2.40 metres ;beam 0.90 metres -- with  straight lines and a catamaran style hull. I call these  things 'paddleskis' but they get promoted as sit on top kayaks. With the sort of design it has I'm not reminded of Inuit  travel at all.

Small and light -- 18kgm -- this video shows you the way the Gadget comes together for water use. If you like looking at edges and holes or handles and contours, and people dragging boats about ... this is the video for you.

VIDEO The Czechs and their scooters

FastFoot is the largest amateur cross and downhill race scooters in the Czech Republic. This year he played in Celadna in partnership with tan Ski Resort. There were prepared 7 km track.The race was attended by 55 participants. In the category of Extreme falling speed records (Vlasta Matýsek with an average speed of 96 km / h). Thanks to all competitors and spectators!We look forward to FastFoot 2011!

More FastFoot  here...

Lose weight. Ask me how.

I come from a long line of breeders

of Toby Jugs.

If it wasn't for a bit of the old growth hormone kicking in, I'd be short and stubby with shoulders for a neck.

Thanks dad.

My family lineage does obesity to a treat when it sets its mind/belly to it.

I was doing OK  for ever so long, then, as my chronic illness became more chronic and middle age descended upon my metabolism, I started laying down the padding. If I take the year I fell ill as a marker, I've put on a kilogram per year extra   for each of the past 25 years.

It's not that I'm sedentary. Twenty five years ago my exercise quotient was rather intense and had been for several years up  until then: swimming, cycling, running and hiking. Despite my tragic malady I maintained a focus on physical exertion mainly to overcome stiffness  and pain but I had to negotiate a new threshold, a new handicap which meant that I could never attain athleticism as a lifestyle.

But the irony is that no matter how much I upped my investment in exercise 

--if you follow this blog you'll know that I do indeed do a lot of physical stuff--

the weight didn't shift at all.I may be ill but I'm more active that most people I know.I box. Lift weights. Walk. Kickbike. We even put in a pool and I would work out in it 10 months each year, wearing a wet suit so I could maintain my exercise regime during Winter.

This is serious stuff and I am always focused and reasonably disciplined in my pursuit despite the fact that I'm so often bedridden or house bound.

But still...I gained weight. 

BMI

It was  only this week when I weighed myself on a public weighing machine that it struck me that I am within reach of my recommended  Body Mass Index. I should attain  that preferred BMI sometime around Christmas this year.

So if I am now  losing weight, what's changed? Do I have a cancer?

At present I am losing on average 1.6 kgms per month. That's why I can project onto a Christmas timetable. I need time to slim down. But I am confident that my physiology will perform to schedule.

How is that happening?  It's so darn simple that it is staggering: I'm eating less carbohydrate. Generally I try to keep my carb intake to around 100-130 grams per day.  This is a sort of Diabetic Diet -- and that's why I'm on it .

I can eat anything just so long as I'm aware how much carbohydrate is loaded into it . In effect that means I cut back on rise, pasta,  cereals , fruits....I try to keep the carb intake per item/serve to under 16-20 grams. If you do your sums, and consider that only so may items are carbohydrate  dense, you can fit a lot of stuff in your mouth for 130 grams per day.

This approach more or less means that I cut out breakfast cereals and don't partake of rise, pasta, potatoes and the like for my evening meal. I still eat bread -- I bake with my own sourdough -- as I eat  one to two slices per day. I still drink beer -- I brew my own with low GI sugar -- without any consequence that I can register. I'm fortunately not a sweet tooth and can live without cake.

...and I'm still losing weight.

I'm not hungry. I eat a lot of wonderful stuff. I partake of the fat universe without guilt.

..and I'm the lighter for it.

Scootering Australia vertically: Vratka Pokorna

Vratka Pokorna sets out to scooter from Laura Queensland to Melbourne a 5 month journey of over 4000km to raise $3m for Save the Children.

For information about the challenge visit unitedsoles

Scootering the nation for the next generation is Vratka Pokorna's fundraising journey on a push scooter across Australia. The expedition begins in the town of Laura in northern Queensland and finishes 4316 kilometers later in the city of Melbourne.

VIDEO Women Kettlebell Lifting

The Ice Chamber Kettlebell Girls is the only team in the USA comprised 100% of Masters of Sport. They are national champions in the 20kg Long Cycle, and are athletes of the World Kettlebell Club. The ICKB Girls are Jessica DiBiase, Mayachela (Maya) Garcia, Surya Voinar-Fowler, and Sara Nelson. Visit www.ickbgirls.com for more information.

I can only dream of doing this sort of lifting....

Girls can do anything....

VIDEO The Czechs and their scooters: a history snippet

My developing interest in the Czech scooter culture may be handicap by a language gap, but if you persist, there's some gems to be found.

The Czech dynamic seems to have taken off in the late  seventies such that the scooter passion is exemplified by events such as the one  explored in this video.

The amazing element is the small size of the scooters they deploy for these challenges. This suggests that elsewhere we have a lot to learn in way  of exploring what two small wheels can do with two human legs pushing them along. 

Document on solo performance of the scooter 24 hours non-stop ROLLO (24 HOURs NON STOP ROLLO SCOOTER) on 31.5.-1.6.1979 at Comenius set in Ostrava, who underwent Miroslav Frais scooter with his own production. The main arbitration 20 member team was Paul Vidlička, up camera recording. The aim was to travel just as the longest route for 24 hours and establish a Czechoslovak record. Total travelled route was 329.156 km in the 24th.

The performance of Mr. Ladislav Kochánek registered in the Czech Top Paper 1000, Albatros 1996 with the following commentary "... and created the Czechoslovak, perhaps even world record ... equal to the number of kilometres away from Ostrava to Vienna."
From the date of establishment of this exercise the author was not recorded any similar attempt to overcome the distance travelled for fair conditions.
Other recorded and registered fact: World record in the group of riders traveled 562,445 kilometers in 24 h established cooperative Černý, Svoboda, Pech, Srb, Žák, Kokeš, Bejček, Skutchan, Chaloupka, Hopian, D. and J. Klas on 30.3.1975 at TJ stadion KOVO Prague.

The fastest non-stop crossing the Czechoslovak Republic from Aš in Vyšné Vyšné Nemecké (1,000 kilometers) graduated in 1984, the 64th time 12 minutes K. Průcha.
Most countries of the scooter through V. Hošek, in the year 1972 fled after 28 countries, 12,500 km (source: Ladislav Kochánek 1000 Czechoslovak Top, Albatros 1988).
Last known endurance ride the scooter graduated Oldrich Kostka from the south to the north Australia in 2007 in the length of more than 3,000 km.

Folding scooter. Mibo Scooter

My research  on folding scooters -- as I have  noted -- arrived at the Mibo Comfort (or 'Komfort') as they say in Czech.

I wouldn't have given Mibo much attention except that that's all  they do: make scooters. They make a 17  different size and design scooters.

It stands to reason that if you make scooters -- and only scooters -- you should know what you are doing if you were  going to break and pivot the main stem and fold the machine on top of itself.

If you check out Mibo scooters on YouTube  you'll be treated to a few clips showing youth bashing and banging down their whole weight on scooters that fly and jump underneath them.

I'm not about to do any of that. Never have and never will. But it's nice to know that the technology and skill exists to ensure that something can be built to sustain such punishment.

Unfortunately, I visited the main skateboard shop here in Brisbane -- and I've worked with them arranging local community skateboarding comps in the past -- and was offered beyond the Razor style scooter two 8 inch wheel folding  options which were very poorly made. Designed for jumping only they had plastic rather than pneumatic tires (like the Razor).

So Mibo looks better and better...

This clip of Breta Krhut freestyling on a Mibo scooter gives you an idea of the engineering stresses -- and the skill and guts --  involved.

MIBO Comfort

Folding model of urban scooters

• Designed for children and adults, suitable for caravans, boats, etc., for riders with a body height 110-180 cm,
• Specifications: Length 116 cm, height handlebars 80cm, weight 8 kg, height floor 5cm, Round 12 1 / 2 ", capacity 100 kg, frame warranty 3 years
• Equipment: Folding steel frame, front and rear brake V-brake, wheel Classic 12 1 / 2 alu 24, Kenda tires 12 1 / 2 x 2.25, steel bars, steel. stem with RU, rubber handles, bell
• Warranty: 3 years
• Capacity: 120 kg

Slow down urban traffic to 30 km/hr and let a new age begin!

I've been a cyclist on and off for 45 years and have spent time doing the standard cycling things like commuting and touring. In my current incarnation as a person who prefers to scoot or kick rather than peddle I have developed an idiosyncratic POV about pushing two wheels forward.

Despite my experience -- or maybe because of it -- I nonetheless think cycling is an activity thwart with dangers.

In an earlier post, the threat to life and limb of the current cycling boom in Australia was addressed. I've also discussed  here a few issues related to commuting by bike but like the Australian fear of snakes and sharks I nonetheless seem to have missed the nub of the angst.

As a scooter-er many of these road issues are resolved for me because I scoot as much on footpaths as I do on roads. Mounting and dismounting  kickbikes and scooters is as simple as stepping off. They are skateboards with wheels. so being on or off road is easy.

But  the notion of mixing it with God Traffic in full peak hour flow scares the beejeebers out of me.

Why? It's simple:

Paul Barclay, 10 March 2010, Australia Talks: ABC Radio National

As our cities become more congested and we are encouraged to reduce our carbon footprint, more Australians are riding bicycles. In Melbourne alone, the number of cyclists on the cities' roads has soared by up to 50 per cent during peak hour in the past year. But each year, on average, 35 cyclists are killed in Australia, and more than 2,500 are seriously injured on our roads. Many more incidents go unreported. Is enough being done to safely accommodate the growing number of cyclists on the roads?

No matter which way you try to slice it, car drivers do not see cyclists and even when they do, they come too close..and at very fast speeds..

While the option of developing cycle paths makes a lot of political, ecological and physiological sense, bicycle paths present a safety and transit  paradox :

...in cities without cycle paths the cyclist usually is the fastest form of transport. Any rational person wishing to make a journey would obviously choose a bicycle as the optimum mode of transport. Not only is the bicycle the most economically-viable mode of transport it is the quickest. Why then are not 99% of all journeys in cities on bikes? One obvious answer is the traffic. The bike might be quicker and cheaper, but one does have to be a bit brave to cycle in a city like New York. By building separate cycle paths you increase the feeling of safety, which means that more people dare to cycle--but segregating the cyclists reduces the amount of space a cyclist has to move on. This increases the actual distance needed to travel and therefor the door-to-door travel time. At the same time this allows the motorised traffic to travel faster by getting the "terrible" cyclists out of the way. Suddenly the time-pressed city dweller finds that the car is the fastest way to get there.

This paradox is much broader than that. The British geographer, John Whitelegg, has many sharp observations to his name that debunk  some core urban myths about time and transport motion. In one short essay, Time Pollution, he captures these contradictions in a pithy analog.

Although time-savings provide the principal economic justification for new road schemes, the expansion of the road network and the increase in traffic does not seem to have given people more free time. This is because pedestrian time is not evaluated, because cars are deceptively time-consuming, and because people tend to use what time savings they do gain to travel further.

In fact the research is brutally conclusive, as Whitelegg points out in an interview with ABC Radio :

John Whitelegg: I argue that it's very, very strong indeed, and that's on the basis of actual case studies, actual places where anyone can visit, anyone can have a look and by observation and by looking at the data, can actually inspect the evidence and arrive at their own view. And the starting point, I suppose, is that in Germany there are tens of thousands of what they call, in German, 'Tempo Dreizig', which just means it's a 30 kilometre per hour speed limit. And in those areas the Germans are quite meticulous in monitoring what happens. The rate of walking, the level of walking and cycling goes up dramatically in areas which are carefully speed-limited at that level. The city of Graz, in Austria, and moving out of Germany, has been totally 30 kilometre per hour for at least ten years and some of the highest levels of walking and cycling in Europe. And there's a lot of anecdotal evidence as well as scientific evidence that once people are convinced that the roads are safer, crossing the road is safer, getting on your bicycle and not doing the tango with a large lorry or truck is safer, the evidence is there that people will actually get on their bikes and walk a lot more than they will when they fear that they're actually going to be in conflict with heavy volumes of often aggressively driven - but certainly vehicles driven too fast. And they react accordingly and they switch from the car to walking and cycling.

So there are two phenomena here:

1. More haste, less speed. (Latin: Festina lente.)
2. Less speed is safer

...........for cyclists, walkers and drivers. 

The speed conundrum

This contradiction delights me as in choosing the scooter option my speed is lower (but my effort more) than peddling a bike. By default, maybe organically, I've come to an ab hoc  solution by taking myself off the road when I can because it's no good pretending that there aren't problems in traffic -- problems that will not go away; which will only grow as the number of riders  increase (which of course they are doing sharply)..

As Bicycle Fixation demands:

• Slow down the other traffic with a blanket speed limit of 30kmh (20mph) in all urban areas. Other speeds can be allowed but as an exception. If there's no sign, it's 30kmh, simple as that.
• The 30kmh rule has the side effect of reducing overall journey time by car, so it is important to actively focus on the travel time ratio for bikes over cars by reducing car access to places. It is enough to be able to reach every part of a city by car; it doesn't have to be easy or fast.
• Remove on-street parking for cars; this is an incredible waste of urban space, and those car door are sharp.
• Get rid of all the junk. Pavements, traffic signs, pedestrian crossings, traffic lights and everything else that has the function of regulating the interactions between road users. This forces people to look, think, and communicate with each other in traffic.

That car speed times are regulated down approaches the commute conundrum that , despite the cityscape  accommodation to upping speed thresholds,

Given the range of speeds listed above, it is unlikely that any major Australian city would have an average in-car speed of more than 40 km/h. None of the speeds quoted above include speeds in car parks, petrol stations, driveways, laneways and culs-de-sac, most of which feature in the normal driving patterns of city drivers [Effective Speeds: Car Costs are Slowing Us Down

by Paul J. Tranter]

.

This table summarizes generic  aspects of the  the conundrum (4 car models compared to bus and bike transport --  Source: Tranter):

Professor John Whitelegg, Sustainable Cities Round Table 12 Nov 2008 from VEIL on Vimeo.

Considering a Folding Scooter I check out the Mibo Comfort scooter from Czechoslovakia

I was out and about the other day in transit between locations on a city bound train.

In my carriage was a cyclist with his folding bike and we got to talking. Two stations later I was infected with his enthusiam for  a bike that folds.

It was a light bulb  moment : a folding bicycle means that I could carry my two wheels anywhere -- in cars, trains, buses and planes,  in and out of buildings. The bike could become hand luggage.

Obsessed with the concept, I did my 'folding bicyle' Googling  and spent yesterday roving bike shops and mounting their folding wares.

Unfortunately the only species that jumped out at me was the Giant Halfway -- (a version for which I could buy on eBay in 4 hours time for not much over $AUD350....So I'm tempted (esp as the standard retail mark down price is just under $AUD800).

Passion quelled

But I hesitated for a few reasons and long enough for my passion to be quelled:

because these folding bikes are high tech with a lot of hardware

because, despite their carry option, even with the fold they are cumbersome packages and don't sit well except on the ground

because they seem heavier -- despite the hi tech specs --over 12kgm -- than I had expected. 

So after hesitating I stepped back from the pedal option and reconsidered my trajectory.

What was I really seeking? I'm a dedicated scooter-er who loves his kickbike and prefers to travel by push scooting than through  bearing  down on pedals.  Since I rely on  organic , un-ratio-ed sweat to get around, what do I want with 7 gear options -- a folding bike standard ?
When I use the vehicle -- in what circumstances am I intending to use it? That's the clincher. If I am still using my kickbike, any folding device with two wheels would be something to use at the butt ends of train, tram, bus or airplane routes. So portability is important in a way that being able to bike some distance is not.

So then I thought: why not a folding scooter rather than a folding bike?

Scooter folding

My first scooter was a razor and that folded..and I hated the thing. Folding is good. Micro wheeling is bad. Leprechaun  wheels: pebbles are  boulders.

But when you step away from the razor style models, scooters that fold are rare. When they do pop up, they are often infected with the tech specs of  folding bike Yuppiedom  and the price ratchets up sharply so that there is little difference between  the cost of a folding bike and that for a folding scooter, despite the absence of hardware add ons.

But with the support of the indefatigable scooter-er Doug Hummers I tracked down  the Mibo Comfort Scooter, built in Czechoslovakia.

My Czech is no good at all. However there are a couple of sites that may handle an order from far off Australia. given exchange rate driven prices like this

168.17 EUR = $253.800 AUD
4,496.00 CZK=$265.725 AUD

So I am in negotiation with international shipping rates being a  key factor in what sort of outlay  I'll finally pay.

 The most useful site is Gizmania  and it warrants visiting for all the scooter resources located there -- albeit mainly geared towards freestyle and  stunt scooting -- and the service package..

Above are Gizmania's gallery images for the Mibo Comfort.

So I'm following a  few leads and hope that soon enough I may be folding my own ...

But those Czechs sure take their scooters seriously..

VIDEO How to make yogurt at home

It may be moot  point that you should make make your own yogurt.

If you are a yogurt consumer big time, you''ll know that yogurt can cut a  big hole in your shopping budget . Unless, of course, you buy the big 2 kg tubs of Greek yogurt that you can get in supermarkets for around $10.

One of the fruits of being Australian is that with a large Greek community in Melbourne ( 2nd largest Greek town on earth) yogurt is not only seen as a medium for flavourings and fruits with a hefty 'value added' price tag, but as a cultural artifact as well.

But if you want to make your own, it's easy -- much easier than all the expensive yogurt kits suggest.There's no need to buy special starters or containers either.

The video below tells you how in easy-to-follow steps but I'll summarize the DIY for you.

1. Heat  a quantity of full cream milk in a saucepan on a stove top. If you want Greek style yogurt, add (more or less, as you prefer) cream to the milk.
2. Bring the milk temperature (and yes you'll need a thermometer. Cost: approx $12) up to no more than 80c -- stirring as you go.
3. Turn off the heat and let the milk cool down to 40c
4. When the milk is cooled to 40c, mix a cup or so of the milk with the same quantity of some commercial plain yogurt or with  the remainder of a previous batch. Whisk this blend back into the milk.
5. Here's the tricky part: keep the milk at 40c for at least 4 hours.  I find that the "Defrost" setting on my electric oven does that.So, for the sake of convenience, I place the yogurt in the oven overnight.
6. Like the good prof in the video says, I use a clean t-shirt to strain the yogurt -- separating the curds from the whey. I use a large cooking pot with a steamer compartment and stretch the t-shirt across the lip -- but a colander with the t-shirt will do. I  do my straining by relying a on gravity and  place the setup in  in the refrigerator.
7.  Once strained, I 'decant' the yogurt, and store the whey.

My yogurt bookmarks.

VIDEO Kettlebell routine 3 minutes flat

.Tabonga2001 — July 01, 2007 — Leonard Wu, RKC, demonstrates Dr. Mark Cheng's Kettlebell "Trifecta" with a 24 kg (53 lb) kettlebell. If you've got no more than 3 minutes to be able to crank out a full-body workout, this is the workout for you. As long as you're able to do the snatch, the clean, and the swing with good form, you've got your ultimate 3-minute fitness and conditioning solution right here!

The format is simple - 30 seconds per hand of snatches, 30 seconds per hand of cleans, and 60 seconds of swings (with any number of hands or switches). Once the timer starts, the kettlebell must remain off the ground, and hand switches must be done in mid-air, as Wu is demonstrating.

For your convenience, we shot this clip of Instructor Wu doing the Kettlebells Los Angeles "Trifecta" for the full 3 minutes so you can follow along.

For more information on this or other kettlebell training sets, please visit www.kettlebellslosangeles.com.

VIDEO Kickbiking 101

"Kickbike and Enjoy it"
"Bicycle-scooter hybrids are low tech, high intensity

It's hard to deny the rush of riding a tiny-wheeled push scooter — until you cruise downhill, hit a pebble along the way and end up nearly breaking your wrist. For a smoother, steadier yet no less exhilarating alternative, Europeans and an increasing number of Americans are hopping onto kickbikes. Invented in Finland in the 1990s, these hybrids combine a bicycle's body and handlebars with a pedal-free platform to stand on and pneumatic tires that dwarf the Rollerblade-size wheels on regular scooters. (See how kickbikes are helping dog walkers pick up the pace.)
Kickbikes, also known as footbikes or kick scooters, are being embraced as a fast, fun, furious way to cross-train, run errands, commute and even rehabilitate injuries. Stroke patients like them (they require the use of just one side of the body), as do dog lovers eager to keep up with their energetic pooches. Taking a cue from dogsledders, owners attach a harness and pull line from pup to bike and ride for miles, often in groups with fellow warm-weather mushers.
The kickbike market is still small: Americans buy about 15,000 a year, vs. 15 million bicycles. But sales have grown steadily, even though in the U.S. they're sold almost exclusively online, with no advertising, by skeletally staffed e-tailers like Diggler and SidewalkerUSA. "I do need to push it more," says KickbikeAmerica's laid-back chief, David Nadolski, who recently quit his day job to focus on selling and promoting kickbikes. "Clients love them."
A key draw is their low-impact, calorie-burning workout. And there's the x factor: "They're a lot of fun to ride," says Bryan Dobes, 33, of River Vale, N.J. "It kind of makes you feel like a kid."Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1969746,00.html#ixzz0i5yJvRMe

Some recently available kickbike videos.


DIY  kicking Intro



Overview



More promo