Larabars - are they for real?!

Recently I've been eating Larabars prior to the odd workout, and sometimes as a quick snack. They're marketed as a fruit and nut energy bar that's gluten free, dairy free, soy free, non GMO, vegan and kosher.

Larabar ingredient list (Apple)

Clif Bar ingredients (Carrot cake) for comparison

The relative simplicity of the ingredient list intrigues me. Take a look for yourself -- I'm no health food nut, but superficially I think it's fairly obvious which list appears more appealing -- and healthier. 

Honestly, if you had to eat one a day, which would you pick as safer to digest? You'd need a degree in chemistry to understand some of the Clif bar contents.

And I like Clif bars! Carrot cake is my favourite! And ergocalciferol is good for you! Supposedly. Despite views questioning its efficacy.

I'm a tad suspicious because Larabars are ultimately manufactured by General Mills -- the same folks who bring you trusted food brands such as Lucky Charms, Count Chocula, Pillsbury Doughboy, and other foodstuffs whose sheer artificiality serves as a striking demonstration of the advancement of human food sciences.

Is it possible that when General Mills bought Humm Foods (the makers of Larabar), they let them continue to operate as an independent unit and therefore left the production process unchanged? One can only hope.

(In googling the history of Larabar and its founder, Lara Merriken, I came across proponents of the Raw Food Movement who denounced the transaction, comparing the purchase of a General Mills Larabar to 'buying something wholesome from a subsidiary of Philip Morris, the infamous tobacco company'. While I don't share the sentiment entirely, I don't think it's unreasonable to question the completeness of the descriptive packaging.)

Larabar - is this for real?

As an active recreational athlete, I tend to consume various energy bars, gels, powders, and so forth for a number of reasons, such as the quest for a dollop of extra performance, or to keep me from feeling hungry during a session (whether they're effective or not is a different story!). A constant problem I've found with energy bars in general, is that they taste like cardboard. Larabars, on the other hand, seem to work for me taste-wise. They taste decent and I enjoy their moist texture -- they go down very easily. I'd say they're adequate -- not delicious, but good enough.

They're also a bit expensive, but if you search around you can find acceptable bulk prices.

What I want to know is -- are Larabars legit? Or have I been seduced by a finely honed marketing brand? Should I really just be having a banana instead? Despite my skepticism, they seem to be a quality product -- so for now, Larabars are my energy bar of choice.

Comments welcome...

ps. Yes, I know it's spelled LÄRABAR. But who knows how to insert that umlaut?! It's beyond me.

pps. And yes, I do realize if you actually read the Clif Bar ingredients, they claim 70% organic content, and the non-organic stuff is all the 'Vitamins and Minerals', which makes it ostensibly much more palatable in terms of artificiality. The difference nevertheless serves to underscore the power of a clear marketing message in shaping consumer perception. 

Facebook Friend Exporter

A friend of mine is shutting down his Facebook account.* But before he turns out the lights, he's exporting his friends' contact data to .csv using the open source Facebook Friends Exporter [since defunct -N.] Chrome extension (source available via GitHub).

If you believe that your data belongs to you, and that you should be able to extract it for your own use, this extension might come in handy for you. It's pretty cool - check it out! (obviously you'll need to be a Chrome user)

I tried it myself, and it seems to work quite well. The process does take a bit of time -- naturally Facebook tries to prevent users from performing exactly this kind of operation, so you can only export about 60 contacts every hour or so. The extension allows you to export specific information shared by your friends with you, including

• name
• e-mails 
• phone numbers 
• screen names
• websites.

Once plus is that it doesn't require your Facebook login credentials -- you merely have to be logged in to Facebook in a Chrome window. And then when you're done, you can just disable the extension, or uninstall it altogether. Nice and clean.

Philosophically it does raise the question, to whom does the data really belong? Most people would agree that my friends' data isn't owned by Facebook (though clearly they have possession of it; I mean owned in the sense of having moral rights to its use.). But is it mine to extract? You could argue that my friends' data belongs to them, and not me, and that I shouldn't be able to export the data for who knows what purposes.

If I remove my own contact data from Facebook, it's not unreasonable to expect Facebook to no longer store that information. Having someone extract that info means I no longer have control over the data.

But that quibble isn't stopping me. My perspective is, if you're friends with me on Facebook and you've shared contact info, you've chosen to do so. It's no different than if you told me your phone number and I wrote it down. This scenario is a simple repetition of that, over the set of all my friends.

In summary -- I think this extension has utility and is worth considering. Enjoy!

-------
* My friend has philosophical issues with Facebook. Fundamentally he disagrees with "the trend to digested, centralized, online connectivity and Facebook's pushy 'life outloud' development path", and believes we "shouldn't willfully be strengthening our dependence on a single product (especially one that creates such a superficial illusion of connectivity)". I share to a lesser degree some of these concerns, but lack the courage of my convictions. 

Cat vs Metronome vs Tik Tok vs Ice Ice Baby

For some reason I just can't get enough of this silly cat video:

Thank you for selecting the Air Shipment option...

I bought a memory card online for my camera. Amusingly, it was delivered in a hugely voluminous box relative to the card. I guess Air Shipping means shipping air...

If I'd bought a larger memory card, would that mean an even bigger box?

(Card packaging removed for emphasis)

Gravity Brawl pulls me back to earth - TdB writeup

I'm not sure what's more painful -- taking that first shower after a bouldering comp, or waking up the next day! In the shower you scream 'Aaah!!' as you discover the myriad stings and cuts incurred from clinging desperately to rough surfaces. Waking up is more like a groaning 'Ooof!' when you're slammed by a deep and thorough muscular soreness in your core from the previous day's all-out exertion.

Comp poster (click to enlarge)

This weekend I had the considerable pleasure of attending the Tour de Bloc Gravity Brawl at Gravity Climbing Gym in Hamilton.

I had a great time. That sounds kind of repetitive if you've read my other TdB session posts -- but you know what, the Tour de Bloc organizers certainly seem to know what they're doing, in terms of putting together an enjoyable bouldering competition.

So all credit to them -- Jody Miall, Luigi Montilla, and the setters at Gravity -- awesome job guys!

Why does it always have to snow before I arrive at these comps?!

Gravity is located in a gritty metal warehouse close to the Hamilton Spectator. From the outside, it doesn't look like much (and if you don't know where it is, it's a little hard to find), but once you get inside it's a revelation. Tall, open, airy -- Gravity has a down-to-earth vibe that matches its industrial location.

The padding at Gravity could certainly be a little thicker, but whatever, other than that they have a wonderful setup. There's a large central space where people can hang out, congregate, and watch other climbers, so at the comp yesterday there was never any feeling of being crowded by the spectators. If only Hamilton was a little closer; I'd climb regularly at Gravity if I lived in the Hammer.

32 - one of the key problems. A surprisingly hard start; a powerful finish

As for the climbing -- my improbable string of narrow TdB amateur victories was broken. I struggled mightily, barely placing 4th in Men's Exp -- no Team V0 glory, alas. My nutrition and sleep weren't right in the days beforehand; I simply did not have the juice to take a podium spot. My lowest score was #15, and I couldn't muster up a better sixth problem (the amusing highlight was working on an overhang problem (#23) with a bunch of little kids, and none of us could finish it except one, and that one wasn't me!).

But as Tony Berlier told me afterwards, the important thing was to work through a day where everything wasn't clicking and to learn from it. And of course to have fun. So the results were mildly disappointing, but I didn't mind -- the problem setting for this event was superb.

The start for 34 - a small, thin, slappy puzzle

The end for 34 - heinous round finish hold

This time around there were two fantastic problems that entrapped me, #32 and #34 (shown above). I came soooo close to completing both of them -- I had one hand on the finish holds in multiple solid attempts on both routes, but in neither case was I able to make the match -- extremely, deliciously frustrating. On a stronger day I'm confident that I would have completed at least one of them. If I'd managed either, I would have placed 2nd -- but that's just griping. These two problems took all of my energy.

Slabby, delicate, pernicious crimping on 29.

Burly 30 (yellow tape)

More problem photos from the comp can be found here. Dustin Curtis (the gentleman who drove me home from Montreal a few weeks back) won in the Men's Open category. Yay Dustin!

Hurrah for Outdoor Research! A TdB sponsor.

I was stoked to win a Radiant LT zip top pullover from Outdoor Research, one of the primary sponsors this year. The shirt was a draw prize, and worth close to double my comp fees -- sweet! Thanks Outdoor Research for your generous support of the TdB.

Delightful isolation

I wasn't able to secure a ride to the comp, so I wound up taking GO Transit (why does the train stop at Aldershot?!) and tramping around Hamilton for a bit. It has a smaller town feel that I sometimes miss. The architecture is subtly different...

All in all it was another fun outing. I've been enjoying this process even though I'm not sure if I can take the next step in terms of ability. Despite my advancing years I think there's still room for improvement. If I can apply a steady training regimen I'll be comfortable moving to Open next year without completely embarrassing myself.

And one last note -- I want to say: Janek -- your mom is awesome!! (Haha, that sounds rude) Janek's mom graciously gave me half a sandwich to munch on; it really hit the spot. It was an example of how friendly the atmosphere is at these events. Thanks!

Update: Empress Hotel Fire was Arson!

It's official: the Empress Hotel fire that destroyed one of the signature heritage properties along Yonge Street earlier this year was caused by arson, according to police.

Empty corner.

Unfortunately the only public lead they've released is this grainy security footage of a 'person of interest'.




And in other news, Salad King (which had its original location destroyed in the fire) is due to reopen its new restaurant just across Yonge, above the Foot Locker, on February 22. Hurray for Salad King!

See also: my previous post on the Empress Hotel Fire (and the history of the building).

Update: More details released
Update (July 2012): More details emerge -- arrest made
Update (Dec 2012): Empress Hotel arsonist sentenced to 10 years