Conspiracy Theorist? Try 'Thinking Person' Who Knows How to Google

My co-workers call me a conspiracy theorist because I believe that nutritionism is bunk. I also believe that sugar and crappy carbs make you fat, not fat itself. Further, I think that long agonizing jogs and low-intensity exercise do nothing, especially if you're trying to change your body composition.

Apparently thinking and enquiring make me a conspiracy theorist. As if it takes a rocket scientist to see that people who believe these things are generally less healthy than I am. If an expert told me that my assumptions were wrong, I'd at least consider an investigation, especially when the status quo is obviously broken.

Are denial and ignorance so compelling?

Killing Whales is Ok

If you do it with your bare hands!



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Dave Castro Challenges World's 'fittest' to Beat Crossfit Champion Jason Khalipa

Outside Magazine calls triathlete Mark Allen the world's fittest man. Crossfit says that your fitness is determined by your performance in these ten metrics: cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, coordination, agility, balance, and accuracy. You'd be hard-pressed to say a triathlete could excel in any competition of power or strength.

Jason Khalipa was the men's champion at the 2008 Crossfit Games. He is, by this definition, the world's fittest athlete. Dave Castro is willing to bet US$5K that this is the case...

Come on, endurance guys, let's see what you got!

If You Build It

How can this be a plea?

Barack Obama is pleading with people to get some exercise. It's unbelievable that we have to rehash this stuff over and over again.

Now we all know that exercise achieves the following:

1. Maintains healthy weight and body functions
2. Improved appearance
   
3. Better performance in all things
4. Stress relief
5. Build mental toughness, character and self-image
6. Longevity
7. The positive feedback loop that results between all these things and a good whole foods diet
   

At this point someone who isn't fit or moving towards fitness is either stupid or in denial.

On that note, I'm also sick of the overweight and out of shape people in the office questioning my nutrition. I eat a relatively strict zone paleo diet and exercise rigorously every single day. I eat very little sugar and nearly zero starches. Yet somehow these people feel entitled to comment that my organic greek yogurt is fatty. Huh?

Give Me Things That Don't Get Lost

Saw a busker rip into this today. It really blew me away. It was a beautiful reconnection with a song I hadn't thought about in a long time but became newly relevant to me.

Is This Real Life?

Both sides of this conversation feel so familiar...

Renaissance Women

Where are all the renaissance women?

Howdy Neighbour

Funny how familiarity can make a neighbourhood less lonely. New neighbourhood? Max loneliness potential. Neighbourhood you lived in for a long time? Funny how close it feels.

ex-this

Nothing quite as painful as dreaming your recent Ex telling you she's decided to start dating her Ex, in fact sharing him with his current partner. It's 2am.

Michael Pollan Letter to Barack Obama

We need to encourage major communication between these two!!

Some basic exerpts from the letter:

1. food self-sufficiency related directly to national security
2. cheap food isn't really cheap and requires large quantities of oil and is only possible due to questionable legislation
   
3. Localize food production and distribution
4. Solar vs. Oil/Fertilizer
5. Crop rotations vs Oil/Fertilizer
6. Emphasis on polyculture

It goes on and he delivers his message far better than I could ever paraphrase it:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/magazine/12policy-t.html?_r=2

Valkyrie

Sucked. Had such high expectations for a Tom Cruise vehicle backed by such a strong cast. TC is so often the flag bearer for some amazing movies (The Last Samurai anyone?). All the key moments failed to hook me. It certainly isn't for wont of talent or a suitably powerful story. Something in the recipe was missing.

Maybe it was the glossy americanization of the story? I think a German production would have given the material a more sophisticated treatment. Wasn't Claus von Stauffenberg 6'3"? I would have thought that a suitable German actor would have brought something important to the production.

I suppose if nothing else it's a watchable, if oversimplified history lesson.

The Wrestler

Wow. What a powerful film. Put it in the box that contains all the other 'Movies that were amazing but once was enough thank you very much' along with Dancer In the Dark, Requiem For a Dream, etc. The perfect role for Mickey Rourke.

Really made me consider my own mortality. Some other movies that fit this genre include About Schmidt and Benjamin Button. Powerful emotional content. It took me the rest of the day to recover!

Publish Post

Lyrics of the day

Jesu 'Silver'

i don't understand the pain
i just don't feel quite the same
when you hear them walk away
left you here so you can stay

silver's just another gold
when you're bitter and you're old
you could tell me anything
but not what the future brings

silver's just another gold

Thanks, Justin.

Just When I Thought It Was Clear

I went out. Had drinks. Wanted so much more. But like a video that hadn't properly buffered, I got jammed up. Emotionally I just didn't have the desire or the capacity to follow through. It puts so much into perspective. Testing the waters verifies that I am not ready and that I was already doing everything I needed to do.

Had some pretty deep pangs of sadness and regret today. Thinking back to good times and all the good that had to be thrown out with the bad. It was all tempered by the reality that those times are no longer available; that the chemistry that made it all possible is gone. Can't beg. Or plead. Or want. Can only mourn and remember.

Every day is a Crossfit workout. Just one more rep, one more breath, just one more second. Just hold on. Can't lose my composure for pain.

Just gotta be selfish for now and keep building relationships.