Tonight as I was preparing myself a dinner with uncharacteristic hope and enthusiasm, my sister said, "I hate how everybody's obsessed with dieting." I simply replied, "Read my next post."

This, of course, is my next post.

I happened to come across this web site: The No S Diet. The No S Diet, or the nosdiet, consists of three rules and one exception: No snacks, no sweets, and no seconds, except (sometimes) on days that start with "S" (i.e., Saturday, Sunday, and special days). And that's it. It's so short that it fits in the title bar when you go to the web page.

Why would this work better than fad diets? For the full details, check out the web site. But in short, it codifies basic rules for healthy eating into a handy mnemonic. "No snacks" because you inevitably end up eating more when you snack throughout the day. "No sweets," obviously, because they provide little nutrition. And "no seconds" because overeating leads to being overweight. It all makes sense. So I think I'm going to give it a try.

"But, oh, Jordon, you're not fat," you say. "But oh, reader, yes I am," I reply, mocking you. I am overweight. I'm not obese or anything, otherwise they'd have me checked out by now, maybe. Now, I'm not exactly sure of my height, but I do have a good idea of my present weight. At any reasonable estimate of my height, my BMI is firmly within the "Overweight" category. Not to mention that visibly, it shows. My face is kind of fat. When people see my profile they can hardly see my eyes. I can't, anyway. Ever wonder why I don't smile much? The fatness becomes more apparent.

I started the No S Diet today. Yes, today has been an S day, and all the longer until the next one (Saturday). But I tried not to indulge even though the diet technically kind of allows it. For dinner I had some rice and beans with onions on top. I also had a can of turkey soup, but instead of having the whole can as I usually do, I had one helping (i.e., half the can) and saved the rest for later. And look, ma, I'm full.

I know that dieting in itself won't make me any more cool. But diet and exercise will. So I'll try to exercise a bit also. The guy who brought you the No S Diet has a page about the benefits of walking.

After whenever I feel like it, I'll keep you updated on how I'm doing with these strange concepts of diet and exercise.

Let's do some Ask Jordoning.

don: how common is the name 'wong'

Sorry, Don, but I don't know. I could guess, but I'd probably be Wong.

Wong is a Chinese name, if I am correct, and I've heard that China has only about 600 last names among its billion or so people. That's about 1.6 million people per name. (It's actually closer to 1,666,667, with the last two-thirds of a person rounded up.) According to this list of surnames, Wong was the 459th most common last name in the U.S. in 1990. About 62,175 Americans were named Wong at that time. There's probably more updated information out there, say, from the 2000 census, but I trust you know how to Google it.

Andrea: I have a $5.00 bill signed by Roy Orbison. I have had it for years. I was wondering if you could tell me if it is worth anything. Thank you

I'm not an autograph dealer, so I wouldn't really know. But I'm sure that, if authentic, it could rake you in a lot, especially if the bill's in good shape. You might want to have it looked at by an autograph dealer, if possible. And if you're going to sell it, sell to a collector, not a dealer. Dealers buy low, while interested collectors will be willing to pay a higher price.

And now, everything you ever wanted to know about the Color Television Revolution. Seriously, a sick amount of information about the history of color TV. Strange, but cool nonetheless.