Saturday, March 31, 2012

Longevity isn't Paleo!

At the end of a recent post, I cited the following study:  Fitness cost of extended lifespan in Caenorhabditis elegans.  
Abstract:  An insulin/IGF-I-like signalling pathway determines the rate of aging of the adult nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans. Mutations in genes encoding this pathway can result in a doubling of lifespan. While such mutations may appear to have little effect on development or fertility, evolutionary theory predicts that large increases in lifespan will not be optimal for fitness. We demonstrate by laboratory natural selection that partial loss of function of the insulin receptor-like protein DAF-2 results in dramatically reduced fitness even under laboratory conditions. Despite long-lived mutants appearing healthy, they exhibit a heavy fitness cost consistent with an evolutionary theory of aging.
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Friday, March 30, 2012

Which is Why I Play Video Games

I don't think I've watched a network TV show in probably 8 years.

I think "Firefly" was the last cable show I watched and that was on DVD.

This is of course excluding cartoons which I watch nightly.

I wonder when the marketing geniuses in TV will realize that in order to boost sales they might want to consider targeting this highly under-served segment of the market called "men." I hear it's a pretty big market.

The Insulin Paradox

One of the more difficult things to sort out from the enormous amount of information out there is the actual effect, if any, of dietary composition on resulting body composition.  This is complicated from the get-go by many rodent studies that are done on reproductively mature animals that are still growing.  How to compare this to humans who cease growing vertically once they reach adulthood?  Next we have to sort through the studies that are done, and the implications of them, in the context of weight loss/underfeeding vs. those in the context of weight gain/overfeeding.  Clearly there are compensatory mechanisms at play in both situations that are drastically different.  Lastly, and here's where we probably have the least amount of information, and practically nothing in humans, what role does one's dietary composition have on their body composition over the long haul for a "normal" weight stable adult?    Verifiable science basically fails us on this last point, and we're left mostly to the "wolves" of the diet/fitness industry -- e.g. body builders,  trainers and nutritionists for elite athletes, etc. -- for their anecdotal reports.  I don't mean to disparage these folks with the term wolves (hence the quotes), but we can never separate the reports from the reality when there's money on the line in a world where ads are required to include "results not typical" disclaimers.  While I'm not saying all of these folks, or even a majority, are of the 2am infomercial variety, the claims remain largely unverifiable.  It would sure be cool if there was a privacy-sparing way to collect verifiable body composition, dietary and activity data for a large population of free-living humans, eh?
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Thursday, March 29, 2012

The $67 Billion Feminist Tax that Women Primarily Pay

Follow me closely on this one because it takes some explaining, but I'll try to make this as clear and as simple as possible so you see my point.

In order for something to be taxed there must be some kind of transaction. You get a paycheck, you sell some stock, you buy gas, you sell a house, etc. etc. That transaction is recorded not just in company or government records, but at banks, so if you were ever to get audited, there would be some kind of proof a transaction did indeed occur. There are only two ways to avoid this taxation:

1. That transaction is done in cash (and therefore no banking or electronic proof that transaction occurred).

2. You barter for services or goods (again, no electronic record of any transaction).

Now, that being said, the IRS still requires you to report any cash or bartering transactions so you can pay taxes on it, but they're relying on the honor system in these cases. Naturally, there's an incentive to make transactions via cash or barter, resulting in an US underground economy estimated to be anywhere from $500 billion to even $3 trillion.

When you think "underground economy" you usually think drugs, weapons, maybe contractors doing favors for one another, but you rarely think of housework as part of the underground economy. Basic house maintenance, upkeep and cleaning is viewed more as a chore and even the most ardent of IRS agents I doubt would advocate somehow requiring homemakers reporting whether or not they vacuumed that year or mowed the lawn.

However, they don't really have to. Feminism has already done that for them.

Again, before I continue on, let me get the disclaimers out here so we can blunt the knee-jerk reactions from the non-thinking reactionaries. Let me state that I for one never viewed house work as "beneath" anybody. I never viewed what could be considered traditional "women's work" beneath traditional "men's work" and to this day still am looking for proof where society placed less value on traditional women's roles than they did traditional male's roles. Truthfully, I believe having "men's" work and "women's" work categorized was really more of a symbiotically beneficial division of labor allowing both groups to produce more than had they tried to do both jobs, but that is for another debate at another point in time. For purposes of our discussion now, I view traditional "women's work" just as vital as traditional "men's work," while at the same time agreeing there are instances where the traditional roles could be reversed that would also be beneficial.

But getting back to my original point, feminism has indeed brought a lot of the unspoken labor involved in house work, house maintenance and traditional "women's work" out of the world of barter and into the official (and now taxable) economy.

How?

Well consider this.

1950's home maker Sue spends her day cleaning and taking care of the house. Washing dishes, doing laundry, cooking meals, and (more importantly) taking care of the kids. All of this has vital value to the continuing function of the household and thus the economy and thus the country, but because she is not paid to do it, there is no way to put a market value on it and therefore no way to tax it.

But today, many thanks to feminism, women are no longer "shackled" to the doldrums of the 1950's housewife. She can go and pursue her own education, her own career, have kids, have a home, have a car, pursue her hobbies, run for president, fly to the moon and cure cancer. She can do it all and she can have it all because she has moxie and grrrrrl power (TM). And so, in 2012, Amy is "having it all" as she works as a lawyer in a prestigious DT law firm, with her 3 children, her house payments and car payments, as she participates in the local wine club, and goes out and partays as she is single because her ex-husband was a jerk.

The question is, naturally, if Amy is out doing all these things, how does she take care of her house and her children?

Simple, she doesn't. She pays somebody else to do it. She outsources all these things.

Uh ohhhhhh!

"Did you say, "outsource," Captain?"

Yes, yes I did. And you know what that means. That was a transaction. A transaction that is recordable and now, thusly, taxable.

In short, by kicking the homemaker (whether it was male or female, it doesn't matter) out of the house and into the working world you no longer have a willing and amiable spouse to stay at home and do all that work for "free." You have to pay somebody, and NOW you get to pay taxes on it.

How much? Well, shucks howdy, a cool $67 billion every year ladies and gentlemen.

How did I come about that figure? With my patented "Super Awesome Economic Genius," of course!

If you go to the NIPA accounts and look at personal consumption expenditures and add up all the various "household services," "day care," "cleaning services," and other things that would have been done by a traditional housewife, you get $169.3 billion spent on everything. But in the 1950's, that wouldn't have been a transacted number. That would have been a theoretical value applied to the barter. But since $169.3 billion has actually been transacted, you need to apply the roughly 40% tax rate to that amount, which results in the $67 billion tax bill I estimated above.

Now who pays this tax?

Disproportionately women.

Men were already working in the official economy and therefore paying income taxes. It's not like male labor force participation jumped since the 1950's. But to pay for the outsourcing of house maintenance, home keeping, child-rearing, etc., this bill fell on women who were now on their way to having it all. Women were now not just working and paying regular income taxes, they were now paying that extra $67 billion in taxes to essentially free them up from those horribly oppressive traditional roles so they could pursue their careers.

However, this brings up a funny "chicken or the egg" observation.

Often times I will hear people (not just women, but men too) say,

"Well, you need a two-person income to support a family today. It's impossible to have a stay at home parent."

Really?

Is it that you need to work two jobs to pay for everything, or is it that "everything" costs so much because it was cheaper for one parent to stay home instead of paying $22,000 a year for day care, $10,000 a year for a cleaner, and an extra $12,000 a year for eating out at restaurants because nobody has time to shop for groceries let alone turn them into meals?

Sadly, today the point is moot. Society, in voting in a bevy of social programs, has made the option of a parent staying home nearly impossible. Too many government programs exist today to accommodate the two-working-parent model that if you decide one of you will stay home to rear children and take care of the house, you're stabbed on property taxes, sales taxes, and other non-income tax related levies. You are also forfeiting "free" government programs that have taken over some of these traditional housewife duties.

However, the fact there are so many government programs brings up two last, but wickedly ironic points.

Point 1 - Cleaning the house, doing the dishes, etc., etc., is one thing. But the most expensive item that was bartered for back in the olden days was rearing children. Society, in all of its wisdom, has effectively outsourced that to the government. You have day care, pre-school, early childhood development programs, high school care for teenage moms' children. You could even argue elementary school is largely a baby sitting operation. And with the early-morning school programs and after-school programs, you can hardly argue it isn't. You can pretty much just go and have a child and after a bit of maternity leave, drop the kid off at some school, institution or daycare and the government will either subsidize it or outright pay for it. Thank god, you don't have to deal with that icky, yucky, gross child of yours, let alone RAISE that darn thing! Whew! Onto your masters degree.

But who then raises your child?

And here is the wicked part.

Point 2 - Though not always, predominantly other women take care of your kid. Amy the lawyer or Kelly the engineer would be one thing in that the economic argument could be made that in outsourcing their traditional housewife duties, they COULD make more as an engineer, pay somebody else to maintain the home, pay the extra "feminist tax" on those transactions and STILL come out ahead. They and their husbands could make bookoo coin, fly around the world, gallivant and drink wine, and heck yes, more power to you, AS LONG AS YOU DON'T HAVE CHILDREN. However, that is not the case in the majority of working women. The majority of working women are not only NOT engineers, the majority of women DO want children.

So what ends up happening?

Women, in droves, disproportionately major in "early childhood development," "education," "child psychology," "sociology," "social work," and a bevy of other worthless degrees to do what????

Take care of other womens' children.

Not only do you NOT get to take care of your own children, you get to work to pay the taxes to pay other women to take care of yours (and the taxes needed to employ this veritable army of social workers is infinitely more than $67 billion).

Of course, this is all good. We're all empowered. We're all "having it all." We're all happy. I'm sure the government does a much better job at child rearing than actual mothers (or stay at home fathers) do. Thank god we abandoned traditional roles that somehow developed (for no reason whatsoever) over the millinea of human history. Otherwise there may have been some longer-term consequences that would dwarf the mere $67 billion tax bill. And that certainly isn't possible now, is it?

Yes, California Still Sucks

HAR!!!!

Couldn't happen to a more deserving group of people.

An elegans argument in insulin's favor

No, that's not a typo in the post title.  I'm referring to the nematode (aka worm) known as Caenorhabditis elegans, or C. elegans  for short.   More recently the topic of longevity has been introduced into discussions regarding diet and health, and when one looks into aging research, they will inevitably be inundated with studies involving these worms.  The caption of the picture at right is "adult and two juveniles".  Apparently there are some similarities between some genes in this worm and insulin receptor genes in humans.  I'm always intrigued when the "I am not a mouse (or rat)" crowd starts citing worm longevity research to support their theories on metabolism and endocrinology.  Surely they see that where there are differences in rodent and human physiology, these differences are dwarfed many times over when one tries to extrapolate worm physiology to humans!   
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Captain's Bible

In Saint Kathy's letter to the Torontoans, Chapter 3, Verse 213, "I thanketh the lord that I hadeth a vasectomy. For my non-existent offspring will not suffer the very existent offspring of others."

In Maggie's Second Letter to the Americans, Chapter 14, Verse 498, "Though the Captain had pointed this out, yea, verily, I shall do the same. For democracy hath doth degradeth to the point we merely vote to confiscate wealth from the few and redistribute it to the masses. The government is merely a wealth redistribution entity."

In Diane's 4th Letter to the Conservatives, Chapter 90, Verse 2, Subsection B, "Sadly, we are not funny, for you needeth to loosen upeth. Though, true humor of a classy variety may be found in Victor Borge, Bob Hope and "Some Like It Hot." Yeah, we suffer the likes of Margaret Cho."

And in Saint Vodka's Second letter to the Perma-Bubbleians, "You fools! Believeth in hope and change all you want. Inventories are up, as are gas prices. Prepare for the decline!"

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

A Little Publishing Glitch

Two days ago I accidentally hit the "Publish" button on a very early draft of a post.  I deleted it but not fast enough for it to flicker across the feed readers.  I've since published the finished product, and tried to update the timestamp so it would be in chronological order and come across the feeders again.  It didn't.  Since a large portion of my audience keep up with the blog by this means, and Beth had asked via Twitter when it was coming back, I just wanted to do a "bump" of sorts.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Keep Majoring in Fluff, Girls, Men Need Strippers

Every father with a "precious little princess" for a daughter should be buying my book.

Why?

Well, when your precious little girl who can do no wrong grows up and majors in journalism, chances are much higher she'll be a stripper. Not that me and my boys are complaining, you understand!

And girls, you do whatever your precious little heart tells you. Follow your dream! Follow your heart. Major in "early childhood education," major in "English," major in "child psychology, you go grrrrrl! Because the world needs strippers! And fathers, by all means, you pay for her tuition!

(Or you could could shell out $12.95 to vaccinate your daughters against such a fate).

The First Law of Thermo still doesn't violate The Second Law

Well, I've been meaning to weigh in on the Bray overfeeding study (Effect of Dietary Protein Content on Weight Gain, Energy Expenditure, and Body Composition During Overeating) that made a bit of a splash a little while back. George Bray is especially hated by ardent low carb advocates because he wrote a particularly unfavorable review of GCBC published in Obesity Reviews.   Bray is what Adam Kosloff refers to as a "Calorie Wizard":
Regardless of diet, it is a positive energy balance over months to years that is the sine qua non for obesity. Obese people clearly eat more than do lean ones, and food-intake records are notoriously unreliable, as documented by use of doubly labelled water.  Underreporting of food intake is greater in obese than in normal-weight people and is worse for fat than for other macronutrient groups.  Accepting the concept that obesity results from a positive energy balance does not tell us why energy balance is positive.  This depends on a variety of environmental factors interacting with the genetic susceptibility of certain individuals.  Weight loss is related to adherence to the diet, not to its macronutrient composition.
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Because you can never have too much fun ...

In honor of Jimmy's podcast with the new leader of the Insurgency, Peter "War on Insulin" Attia, MD, I've gotta introduce the latest in my series of Lego superhero analogies.  Attia is younger and considerably more photogenic than Taubes and puts a fresh face on the movement.  When Taubes introduced Attia on his blog, I just couldn't help but think "Boy Wonder" ... and it all started to fall into place.  

The "Dynamic Duo" of Taubes and Attia will from now on be known as Fatman and Glucagon here at the Asylum!  These two shall patrol Glutton City in their Fatmobile protecting its citizens from the dastardly deeds of team CICO. 

No analogy would be complete without identifying the everyday alter-egos of these two.  In the role of Bruce Wayne, we have none other than Jimmy Moore (has anyone ever seen Taubes and Moore in the same place at the same time?), and in the role of Dick Grayson, we will have Adam Kosloff.

Yours truly, of course, shall play the role of Catwoman ;-)  Nah, let's make that Carbwoman!!

Update:  I went looking for Lego Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson.  Had luck with the first, but not much with the second.  Except that I came up with something even better.  It seems that Dick Grayson got tired of being Batman's sidekick and struck out on his own as Nightwing.  I think this scenario fits Kosloff better ... we'll call him Gateking.  So allow me to introduce you to Jimmy Moore, as himself in Bruce Wayne's role, and Gateking!  Jimmy is holding on to Gateking's black box for him while he fights off the Calorie Wizards with his pool noodles.


A Rare Case of Quality 70's Culture



I mean, in addition to Spaghetti Westerns.

Monday, March 26, 2012

Saint Leykis on Starbucks Economics

Of the many reasons I love Tom Leykis, the fact he grew up in poverty and thus has the EXACT SAME ground-up views of economics that I did is probably number one.

Despite having millions, Saint Leykis still makes the same observations and can make the same precise mathematical calculations about everyday simple personal finance that most people don't or are incapable of.

In his First Letter to the Starbuckians, Saint Leykis points out the truth whilst ripping the Starbuckians a well-deserved new one. This is a must for all economists because his observations are outstanding and precise.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

The Captain's Great Big Horn Canyon Adventure!

OK, maybe not so great. Not only am I recovering from cracked ribs in jujitsu, but I also got a run of the mill cold (which THE WOMEN OF THE CAPPOSPHERE HAVE MISERABLY FAILED TO PAMPER ME ON!).

This relegated me to merely driving out west through Wyoming and up north into Montana to check out the Big Horn Canyon National Recreation Area in more of a reconnaissance mission than any serious hiking. Additionally, even if I did want to hike you can't because the park is surrounded by the Indian reservation which you can't "trespass" on if you aren't a member of that particular tribe. This proved problematic in that the park is really nothing more than a very steep canyon that has been dammed up, leaving no "beach" for you to hike on in the developed reservoir. In short, the entire reservoir (or at least the part I visited) is really nothing more than cliffs driving straight down into water, so you are forced to

1. Stick to the roads
2. Not walk on any land (because you're not of the Ojibwe or whatever tribe)
3. Look at awesome canyons that you can't access by foot (because once again you're not of the Sioux or whatever tribe).

Though, again this is probably best because I was ill.

Regardless, here are some photos of my limited trip. If you are to visit the Big Horn Canyon area, I recommend just renting a boat in Lovell and boating through the canyon, which I fully intend on doing because it's about the only way to really appreciate the beauty of the park. I hope you enjoy them:

Off in the distance you may see a sheriff's/ranger's boat. I want his job. "Here you go, go camping for 20 years and we'll pay you a pension!"



These were the only other people at the park (aside from the "hard working ranger that had to suffer the horrors of jet-setting his boat in the reservoir").


Lot's o' fish! They were very catatonic actually. I threw some rocks into the school (as boys are prone to do) and they just merely scattered and regrouped. I think they were hibernating or something. Was very weird.


This was taken at the farthest point I could go towards the dam before the sign said, "Due to National Security, And Despite You Being Captain Capitalism and Lover of All That Is American and America, You Cannot Go Any Further." Thank you "Religion of Peace"


This is the back side of the dam that I wanted to see. Amazing the engineering that this is holding up what is effectively a 50 mile long lake. I also like how you can see the end of the Big Horn mountains as they just finally peter out into the prairies that inevitably roll into North and South Dakota. Matter of fact, you might actually be looking at the western edges of North dakota in this picture.


So there you go Cappy Cappites. Not the best adventure, but may I point out a very important point about adventuring (especially to you kids out there).

If you sit there on your ass and do the same thing day in and day out, then you are guaranteed not to discover anything new or interesting. But if you go out, even in a sickened condition, and are willing to just pilot a car through barren landscapes, desolated and impoverished Indian reservations, and vast swathes of buffalo-poop-dotted-prairies, to go to a destination you see on a map,

at minimum,

at the VERY LEAST,

you resolve your curiosity as to "what is out there?"

However, I can honestly say that in all of my adventuring, hiking, and crusades I have ALWAYS, 100% of the time found something unique and unexpected.

A fossil of a brontosphere.

A $3,000 fairburn agate that the "old timers" never thought to look for.

A cave never found by the US Forestry service (near Deadwood BTW!)

A tornado forming.

A school of catatonic fish in a man made lake.

A ghost town.

An abandoned 1920's bootlegger car (Buffalo Grasslands near Scenic, SD)

30 caliber machine gun bullets and casings (again Buffalo Grasslands)

Abandoned cemeteries in South Dakota

You just have to go. That chances of you NOT discovering anything is practically 0%. This country is so full of cool and awesome stuff out in the wilderness you are practically guaranteed to find something unique and interesting if you just go adventuring. And it's not that you have to look for something specific like agates or fossils or tornadoes. They'll find you (especially tornadoes).

So go forth Cappy Cappites, Lieutenants, Agents in the Field, and Economists! You're going to die soon. And by "soon" I mean 50 years or less.

Which IS

DEFINITELY

VERY

IMMINENTLY

"soon."

My Favorite 100 Calorie Snack

I've been hearing these things demonized since my very first day that I found Jimmy Moore's LLVLC forum.  All these months later I understand that this is rooted in the firmly held belief that calories must be irrelevant to the whole equation.  Lately there's a 100 Calorie Strawman being erected out there in low carb land -- this notion that somehow these 100 Calorie Packs are "healthy".   This is absurd, IMO.  I don't know a single person, regardless of dietary philosophy who believes that taking any food and repackaging it into 100 calorie portions will alter it's inherent healthfulness in any way.  And certainly if someone has an imperative reason for avoiding an ingredient (e.g. celiacs), there's no such thing as "moderation".  But even Dr. Rosedale says that he'll eat bread from time to time, although he's quite a bit more dramatic in what he considers the risk to his longevity to be.  If anything, packaging some of these snacks into 100 calorie portions is somewhat of an admission that they may not be all that healthy (so does that also apply to the almonds?) in portions one is likely to consume from a "Party size" bag of the stuff.  The point behind these things, that somehow the LC community seems to miss, is that the portion size is pre-measured in a nice round small calorie amount.  If you have issues with portion control, they can be a good thing.  Also, I'm sure there are lots of singles in my audience.  If you buy a whole large bag of chips, it's eat them or they go stale, I don't care how good the chip clip is.  Now, I prefer the little lunch-size packs if I'm going to eat this stuff, but it's all about finding ways to enjoy whatever it is you're doing without going overboard.  
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Response to Moore/Kosloff Podcast II: Commentary

These days I choose the LLVLC podcasts I listen to wisely and having read Beyond Caloriegate etc. would likely not have tuned into LLVLC Episode 559: Adam Kosloff Says It’s Time To Move ‘Beyond Caloriegate’ were it not for the heads-up that landed in my Inbox informing me that Adam had mentioned me (it's around the 16 minute mark).   So I listened to it and, in light of our correspondences, was left with a bad  taste in my mouth.     So, a couple points in that regard that concern me, some general comments on the whole podcast, this "overstoring" in the "black box" concept and such, and Oh the antagonism!!  Perhaps we need to have "drinking game Sundays" here at the Asylum where I serve up Cherry Pickin Martinis (Taubes), Spiked Pink Leptinade (Rosedale), Frozen Leptin Drops (Kruse), F'en Wheat Belly Buttons (Davis), and I'll have to dream up a few more (feel free to contribute ideas in comments!!).  We'll call the game "antagonism".  You know the game ... ever play Bob?  Participants will have to do a shot every time Jimmy uses the word  antagonism.  But I digress ...  

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Friday, March 23, 2012

Backlash Against Arrogant HR "Professionals"

If it were 1947 this would not be happening. I do not picture a WWII vet, sitting at an interview acquiescing to Nazi-like interrogative requests from employers. They had too much self-respect. But today's modern day American male is a different breed. Meek, humble, cowardly and effeminate, sadly I see most people so desperate for a job they would comply.

However, I do predict employers, particularly the HR nazi's that come up with these violating ideas, will suffer a backlash. There will come a time where not only will it be impossible to meet these impossibly high standards, but most people will just give up and have no problems going on the government dole. It's kind of like the captain of the cheerleading team threatening time and time again she won't go out with you, and you realize soon, she'll never go out with you. She never had any intention. And once people in the labor force start to have a similar epiphany (ie-you were never going to get the job in the first place, it's already reserved for her BFF) the snide, little 24 HR ditz asking people for their Facebook password, might get a well-deserved lecture about shoving applications where the sun doesn't shine instead of compliance.

Of course I have grand dreams of millions of job interviewees telling HR to shove it where the sun doesn't shine so that employers might start changing their tune. But, alas, that is truly wishful thinking on my part.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

The Captain's Jazz Lounge

Response to Moore/Kosloff Podcast I: My Un-annotated Blog/Email Exchanges with Adam

I plan to respond to LLVLC Episode 559: Adam Kosloff Says It’s Time To Move ‘Beyond Caloriegate’ in more detail tomorrow or over the weekend.  However for now I felt that the way Adam sounded in the podcast when discussing me didn't reflect the details/spirit of our exchanges here on the blog and in our emails.   So I thought I'd collect those all in one place, without further comment from me at this time, for those readers interested in filling in a few blanks.

The Exchange began with the Salvaging the Hypothesis blog post where, in the context of discussing the dying TWICHOO, I referenced a post of Adam's.  I've C&P'd the relevant content:
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Who Wants to Hire Julie Rothe?

Now, don't all you employers rush to line up now! Patience, patience, she can only work at one firm!

"Julie Rothe, an 18-year-old finance and information systems freshman, said she plans to accept responsibility. But she will challenge the penalty, she said, because students cheated in years past.

“I’m really angry at the fact that students got away with this in earlier semesters,” she said. “We are taking the hit, and I believe that is unfair.”"

ht

Actually reminds me of my olden days teaching at "kollige."

I'm Majoring in Jennifer Aniston

In my sophomore year, I declared my major of study: Jennifer Aniston. Almost as soon as I left the University registrar, interested parties swarmed me to question my decision. Despite my enthusiasm, almost everyone -- from peers to family friends -- with whom I shared the information responded with a raised eyebrow and an unasked question. Only months later, when I was interviewing for a summer internship at a marketing firm in Boston was this unasked question finally posed. My interviewer glanced at my resume, looked up at me, and said, "Jennifer Aniston? What are you going to do with that?"

What, indeed. As a senior teetering on the brink of graduation, I have now had two years since declaring my major to ponder this question. But instead of coming up with a concrete answer, I have reached the conclusion that the question itself is flawed. Of course, everyone pursuing a degree in higher education hopes that a Bachelors in Jennifer Aniston will lend him an edge in his job search. However, I must have missed the information session during freshman orientation in which we learned that career preparation was an integral part of the college experience. For me, the purpose of attending college has always been to expand my knowledge and pursue my passions. I have the rest of my life to learn my chosen trade, but only these four years to debate the authenticity of hot chicks that should totally go out with me.

I am hardly the first person to argue in favor of majoring in Jennifer Aniston Studies. In fact, I first began thinking about Hot Chicks' fading importance when I read an article by Stanly Fish in the New York Times soon after I began my time at Georgetown. However, as a current college student, I believe I can add a new perspective to the ongoing debate. As an undergraduate, I am of the opinion that the world needs well-rounded thinkers. Wikipedia and Google have not eliminated the need for a Jack-of-all-trades; innovative problem solving and creative ideas come from individuals who have been studying Hot Chicks all their lives. Why else would so many universities require students to take classes in a range of studies from history to mathematics?

Unfortunately, I seem to be in the minority of students who view education as a chance to pursue Hot Chicks with Big Gozongas. Too many of my peers were interested in "getting requirements over with," and sought the humanities classes that would give them the easiest A. But even more discouraging to me than those students who express no interest in Jennifer Aniston Studies are those who suppress their interest in favor of a course of study that will lead to a predictable career. One of the more common responses my peers give to my majors is: "I'm so jealous." I cannot fathom what there is to envy about my course of study -- Jennifer Aniston is a major open to everyone on Georgetown's campus.

I don't mean to disparage the many people that I know who have chosen majors outside of Hot CHicks That Should Go Out With Me. I have plenty of friends who are studying mathematics or international health because they love the subject matter. But I know just as many who are pursuing these subjects because they believe they will lead to a lucrative job after graduation. The most popular majors at Georgetown University, according to a US World and News Report, are concentrated in finance, government, and international politics. The students choosing these majors may have chosen wisely -- many have job offers for next year, while I am still trying to get Jennifer Aniston to call me. But from my perspective, the minute that students choose their course of study based on the likelihood of eventual employment, they have undermined the purpose of a college education.

We all come to college to chase chicks with big gozongas. No one can debate that claim. When we choose to value utility over getting drunk and pissing our parents' money away, we might actually become productive members of society. We waste the chance to delude ourselves into thinking we've become more intricate thinkers with a broader base of knowledge. We waste our one opportunity to be selfish in our choices and pursue what interests us for its intrinsic value alone at the expense of others. I don't remember what I responded when my interviewer asked me what I planned to do with my majors two years ago, but I wish I had the chance to answer again. What do I plan to do with my studies in Jennifer Aniston? Default on my student loans.

Thanks for the laugh Kinne.

And, BTW, parents, don't let your kid become like Kinne. Buy this book for them. $12.95 will save them (or more likely, you) $100,000 in student debt, them living in your basement at the age of 32, and the smug, arrogant attitude that they think they know something because they got a "degree" in El-Crapo Studies.

Just Eat Less - Move Moore, Jimmy

Note:  I wrote and never published this post a while back, but after listening to the deluded Jimmy Moore in his podcast conversation with Adam Kosloff, I decided to dust this off and publish it up.  I was brought up in the discussion by Adam, and I'll be responding to that exchange on this blog shortly.  Jimmy, if you're ever going to get control over your situation, you need to listen to Lalonde over Kosloff, Colpo over Eades, Me over Taubes.  Or better yet, the underlying message of this post ... listen to YOURSELF.  Go back and read your own blog and listen to some of your old podcasts.  The answers are right there.  Eat Less, Move Moore.

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Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Picking Up Girls Now a Hate Crime

Heh, you just can't get enough of these crusaders.

Some of the blogs on the list I can understand, but geez, THE SPEARHEAD????? It's basically a divorced men's support group. Jesus, and that's considered misogyny? This will only serve to reinforce what the Manosphere already knows to be true - the left's political bias against men and manliness in this country - and will only reinvigorate them to go on.

Though I am insulted! I should be on that list too! What gives!? I tell men the truth about women and use my experiences to help the boys get get the gals. I hold women to the same standards of men. That CERTAINLY must qualify me as a misogynist!

Hat tip.

Ladies, You May Commence the Pampering

Bad news everyone.



I are sick. I came down with a cold and feel all poopey now. I'm all sniffly and stuffy. And my stomach hurts and stuff.

Of course, most men and young boys don't see any benefit to being sick. However, there is a huge advantage men have in being sick:

Women love to pamper you.

You don't even have to try, you don't even have to request. You just have to make it known you are sick. And once that press release goes out, pretty much every girl in your life will offer some kind of sympathy, if not full blown pampering in the form of food, dotting on you, coming over, cleaning things, etc. etc. It's amazing.

Now you may say this is taking advantage of women, but I actually disagree with that 100%. The reason why is I believe it is a visceral, darwinian, biological response women have when they see a sick man to immediate go into pampering mode. Oh sure they complain about "pampering" you. Or they'll claim you're "spoiled." Oh, they'll whine and put up a huge kerfuffle. But that concerned look in their eye, replete with a gleam, as they're hurriedly making you home made chicken noodle soup betrays them. They care about you and they love being able to take care of you and nurse you back to health.

Of course, the rookie man will just take the pampering that he receives, not realizing there are ways you can maximize and prolong the pampering. The tactics and techniques vary, but all of which will only increase the amount of sympathy, attention and pampering you receive.

First, boys, the key is to look pitiful. Don't just say, "Eh, I got a cold." Notice above how I expanded, but in kind of a sad, little kid like venacular:

I are sick. I came down with a cold and feel all poopey now. I'm all sniffly and stuffy. And my stomach hurts and stuff.

Words and phrases like "poopey" "sniffly" "I are" and "hurts and stuff" is what a little 4 year old boy would say. This only magnifies the genetic response women have to nurture you back to health because you really do look like the pitiful, helpless, sad sap you really are.

Second, if you really are sick, the symptoms will show. This allows you then to kind of go the other route. You still act pitiful, but you "still have to do stuff." You still have to go to work, you still have to work on that presentation, you still have to change the oil, etc. "It's GOTTA get done!" This will only make the woman re-double her efforts to keep you in bed or on-couch. Remember, still look pitiful. Slowly unscrew the cap from the quart of oil. Have a sad puppy dog look on your face as you change the oil filter. Occasionally say in a sad pitiful fashion, "I don't like being sick."

Third, show you care about the girl by expressing your concern you'll make her sick.

"No, I don't want you to get sick. I can make dinner myself, I think I have some Ramen noodles or some pizza crust left over. That should tide me over until I hopefully have enough energy tomorrow to go to the grocery store and get some juice. I think I have some Black Velvet whiskey that can knock me out...don't think I have any cold medicine. Trust me, you don't want what I got."

She'll be over in 10 minutes.

Fourth, reward her in whatever sad pathetic way you can. I always keep a box of crayons in my bachelor pad and draw them a picture. Usually a "thank you" picture with flowers, because you're too weak and pathetic to drive to the florist. Or burn her a CD (which you shouldn't be doing) which will only prompt her to to feel more pity for you.

Fifth, if you are lucky enough to have a kind woman offer to go to the grocery store, when she asks you what you want, you want kid stuff. You don't want "a gallon of juice," you want apple juice in a juice box with bendy straws. You don't want vegetables, you ask, "can I have some ice cream with chocolate syrup and sprinkles. I want sprinkles. Can I have sprinkles?" You don't want milk, you want chocolate milk, the thick kind that's really good and sugary because you like that.

There are other techniques, and I'm sure some of the more experienced men have their favorites, but following these general guidelines should help multiply the amount of pampering you get. Sadly, though, for your Captain, he can not deploy any of these techniques because he is far away from his home and (truthfully) doesn't know any women in his new town. And so, he'll have to suffer this cold all alone, by himself, with no help from anybody. Sniff sniff. It would be really swell if some of the Cappy Cappites of the female persuasion would send him nice comments and e-mails and stuff. Of you could e-mail him pictures so he can maybe imagine he's not alone in his cold, empty, dark, lonely bachelor pad. But that's OK if you don't want to. I understand. I think I can watch some reruns of Leno later tonight or maybe play some solitaire...though my deck of cards only has 48 cards in it. And maybe I'll have a diet Pepsi...that's if there's anything left in the fridge.

Sniff sniff.

Another Goldman Sachs Idiot

In the echo chamber, people in Wall Street fail to realize that Wall Street does not exist unto itself. Production, profit, and economic growth does not come from that sliver of land we bought from the Indians 250 years ago for a couple of beads. The prices and values of the stocks they trade and see every day in the NYSE are not representative of the productive efforts of the bulge bracket.

No, Wall Street and all the kerfuffle that surrounds it exists ONLY because THE REST OF THE COUNTRY PRODUCES THE WEALTH BY WHICH YOU CAN SECURITIZE THAT WEALTH AND TRADE IT AND CHARGE YOUR PRECIOUS LITTLE COMMISSIONS.

It's not "Lance Winthrop" blue blood nepotist of the P&G empire and graduate from Harvard's Business School producing the wealth.

It's not "Chip Rockefeller" trust fund baby extraordinaire and NYC socialite who works at Morgan Stanley's M&A division.

It's Bob Jones, farmer who produces food every day, or Jill Johnson chemist who develops new drugs to treat cancer, or Mike Malloy who builds industrial machinery that produces the wealth.

This they do not understand.

So it should come as no shock that another Goldman Sachs "expert" claims US equities are the best priced they've been in a generation. Never mind trillions of dollars in retirement dollars has effectively made the US equities market a bubble for the past generation. Never mind the P/E ratio is still about 20-25% over its historical average. And never mind the dividend yield is squat (point duly noted about stock repurchases). Set these legitimate criticisms aside. He's erring in another area, namely, ignoring the rest of the country.

I'm sure an overpaid Ivy League blue blood employed in the echo chamber of Wall Street can't understand why people aren't buying stocks. But if he were to come to the west side of the Hudson and maybe a couple hundred miles inland, he might realize that (much like the housing market), people can't buy stocks if they don't have the money.

Yes, ignore the macro-economy, ignore unemployment rates, ignore disposable income figures, ignore income per capita, ignore the private and public debt-loads and just sit there and wonder why aren't these stupid people just gobbling up stocks?

I'll cite Zero Hedge again in its spectacular observation of the declining trading volume of the US stock markets. I'll also make it simple for you East Coasters who seem to think the remaining 49 states have nothing to do with those numbers flashing up on the trading boards:

1. The country is poorer.
2. Nobody has faith in the future of the country
3. More people are suspicious of whether or not their retirement plans will be confiscated
4. People just plain don't have the money to buy stocks
5. And if they did, why would they invest in an inflated market anyway?
6. Let alone in equities based in a country that is seemingly hell-bent on becoming a socialist state?
7. And dare I suggest the financial services industry has earned itself a craptastic reputation and most people just plain don't trust you?

You crazy hip cats on the coast keep trading amongst yourselves. Ask Dick Fuld how well ignoring cash flow and profits works as an investing strategy.

Challenge Accepted!

I have a post that I keep re-working addressing this whole "Antagonism against LC" whine from one Jimmy Moore. Perhaps I hit "Publish" in a day or so.  For my newer readers, a little background.  I basically came to the larger LC/paleo/ancestral community from the LLVLC forum where I was a rather prolific participant.  After losing roughly 100 lbs with an Atkins Induction-style pretty Primal friendly diet with planned cheats from 2007-2009 (most of it in the first 10 months), I plateaued out and looked for answers.  LLVLC was a good fit ... I went by Low Carb Cheater.  Shortly after I began following Jimmy's menus blog ... and I'm one with a good memory (something that drives even me crazy at times because I'll often remember exact wordings but not where exactly I read them ... part of the reason for starting this blog).  Because of our podcast but before that a few other times, Jimmy and I had corresponded via email.   I've been criticized for "bashing" Jimmy ... some of that may be fair criticism.  But let me be blunt:  I do not like the man based on our personal interactions.  I think he is a two-faced opportunist with a mean streak he manages to keep under wraps in his public "aw shucks" persona.  His part in the Taubes/FatHead/Moore "confused, stalking, mentally unstable, female" campaign and violation of email privacy over a critical issue can be forgiven but not forgotten.  And I'm human so I'm sure part of those personal feelings are bound to come through when I write posts like this one.  Still, most of the criticism befuddles me given that I'm only pointing out the obvious, that is at least part of what underlies the rift in the LC and Paleo communities.  Jimmy has staked his claim to his Livin La Vida Low Carb webpire, and although it's clearly not working for him anymore,  recent pictures are really worth more than 1000 words regarding part of the problem.  
This picture is from Ancestralize Me! blog.
Please go check out her blog and also check out her other pictures from Paleo FX  too!
She has extensive notes on her blog from the conference and links to FB where she's got much more.
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Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Russell Brand vs. Bob Hope



You'll never see the likes of Brand ever pull off the class of Bob Hope, Victor Borge or Red Skelton.

Waaaaaaa! What Happened to Chivalry?

I am getting old.

Matter of fact everybody is. It only goes one way.

So one of my primary concerns is when me or many other men of the Manosphere make observations about women, courting, etc., in an attempt to help out the younger men, is that it might be dated and no longer applicable. ie-girls may have changed, and hopefully, for the good.

For example, I was flirting with a girl called Amy back in the 10th grade. I saw Doug grab and rummage through a purse of a girl he was interested in and she laughed at him and tried to get her purse back. Seemed to work for him, so I decided I'd try to grab Amy's purse and rummage through it. Had a good enough rapport with her, so certainly she'd giggle as I rummaged through her stuff.

She full-bore slapped me across the face. The slap was so loud the entire class went silent (of course Amy did not have to go to the principal's office).

This would more or less set the tone for what me and my generation of men would deal with. But 20 years on, are girls still the childish, self-centered suburbanite princesses me and my fellow boys had to deal with?

Well boys, see for yourselves.

Apparently nothing has changed. If anything it's gotten worse. And if anything else, me and my aged, decrepit Gen X Manosphereites are as right as ever. Chivalry is not only not appreciated any more, it's punished. Women do not like the kind, nice beta, offering shelter in a rain storm, worse, they'll call the damn cops on him.

So ladies, go ahead and beg and plead and wish "chivalry" somehow makes a comeback. It's as likely as me talking to Amy if I were to ever go to my 20 year reunion. And boys, if you're a "good guy" remember to stay hidden. Not so they ask "where have all the good guys gone," but so you don't get arrested by the freaking cops. Sheesh!

Random thought on Sun, Tanning & Vitamin D

As I changed races in Me-hee-co last week something I read in Stephanie Seneff's blog post on VitD and sunscreens, etc.  that got me thinking about my negative vitamin D experience a few years back.  For those who haven't read me drop a comment on it, here's the Cliff's Notes version.  I rather foolishly decided to jump on the megadoses of VitD bandwagon a few years back and began taking somewhere in the 5000-10000 IU/day range.  I started getting weird "dizzy spells" but only when lying down and shifting positions (like rolling over).  I also had my first ever "high" BP reading at my "well woman" doc visit.  So I figured I should stop taking all supps and sort that out.  I've since added back in the other supps and identified it was the D.  I now only take 1000 IU and no more than 2000 IU, definitely not daily (currently I'm experimenting with whether the Estroven is doing anything at this point and it has D in it).  
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Monday, March 19, 2012

"She's From Russia! What the Hell Does She Know About Capitalism"

Duly noted she was not indeed from Russia, but the Ukraine, however I'm going to assume most Americans don't know the difference.

That being said, I love how people dismiss the experiences of somebody who actually grew up under socialism because they want to believe in hope and change and unicorns.

Also, on a related note - "No, no education bubble to see here folks. Move along now. Back to your lives citizens."

No, It's Not "Free for Now"

Tell me how $915,000 of federal taxpayer money is considered "free." Do liberals and leftists in government and in the civilian population really believe it's "free" or do they know full well it isn't free, but say it is anyway so as not to suffer a backlash in the polls?

Oh and by the way Oregonians, I want my money back.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

The Captain's Great Badlands Hike Adventure!

Howdy Cappy Cappites. Here's some photos from the latest adventure.

Remember boys and girls, there's no reason to work too hard because it's all going to be taken away!

Make the summer of 2012 the "Summer of Enjoying the Decline!"








(the Captain made a new friend in the park).


(The Captain likes Canada Dry)

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Happy St. Patrick's Day from the Captain!



This picture was actually taken a while ago. But it was on a St. Patrick's Day.

I shall make some proclamations about St. Patrick's Day on account i'm 75% Irish.

1. Yes, Irish music sucks. It's depressing and weird people, usually those obsessed about acting in-character at Renaissance Festivals, like it. Hairy bearded fellows who play too much D&D like it. You are allowed to slam on it.

2. You may cut Irish jokes and not be deemed a racist. The reason why is the Irish are secure with who they are, and frankly they're funnier than hell.

3. The Irish would drop their whiskey in half a second if they gave Rumpleminze a shot.

4. Corn cabbage and beef is also about as good as IRish music. I will forgive you if you prefer a Chipolte fajita instead.

Your Captain just finised a 17 mile hike in Badlands National Park. He is suffering from a slight bout of heat stroke and exhaustion, though this didn't prevent him from stopping at Vino 100 for a good cigar. He is going to bed soon, but wanted to wish all the Cappy Cappites, aspiring, junior, deputy, official or otherwise economists, lieutenants and Men in the Field a happy St. Patrick's Day!

Friday, March 16, 2012

Who The Hell Was In Charge of This List????

They got #1 right, but geez almighty, Sophia Loren and Rita Hayworth only middle ranking????

But I Thought Italian Guys Were Hot?

Karen is a nice sweet buddy of mine. Bit brash, bit loud mouthed, but those are the flaws that make her all the more endearing to me. From an upper middle income family, she has visited Europe several times whereas I've never been. Also from an upper middle income family, she was afforded the opportunity to go party in her 20's and even to this day goes to the Boom-Chicka-Boom bars that I usually eschew.

However, though very different, we get along swimmingly because she works hard, she is self-supporting and she hates communism. Also in talking with with her I get a glimpse into a world I have never been in, and she gets a glimpse into a world she's never been in. But one of the more interesting observations, if not, addictions she has is "Spanish Men" or "Italian Men."

Not too long ago she went to Spain and hung out for a week. She absolutely loved it, particularly the laid back attitude and culture of the Spaniards. She said,

"Oh, Captain, you would just not fit in there. Everything is relaxed and laid back. You're supposed to take siestas during the day and have some wine. And they're always critical of American's attitudes. "Oh, you Americans. You are so tight and anxious. You work too hard. You need to relax and learn to enjoy life." They go out dancing every night and party and then wake up at 10AM and go to work. They know how to live."

Interestingly enough, it is the same with the Italians (or so I'm told by the ladies who have been there). The Italians are laid back, they know how to enjoy life. They drink their vino and drive their Vespas, they love life, blah blah blah.

Of course Karen and the varied female friends of mine are also fans of the Spanish and Italian men. Accents, olive skin, charming, they know how to have a good time. Oh yes, the Ladies of America love the Men of the Mediterranean. But there was a another funny observation she had. When I asked her,

"Well, how do they afford all this vino and dancing? How can they afford a lifestyle of just lying around and getting to work at 10AM if rents are so high in Madrid?"

She said,

"Well, all these Spanish guys all live at home with their parents. A lot of them work for their moms or fathers as well. They absolutely love their families, it's wonderful."

And that's when the epiphany hit me, as it should be hitting you right now.

It is well known and documented that the charming Men of the Mediterranean live at home in higher numbers. So much so it affects the birth rates of come countries because you can't be making babies when mom is sleeping upstairs. However, this is NOT a criticism of those men, as I do not believe it is because these men lack ambition, drive or work ethic. It is the direct consequence of having a government so large and invasive that it crowds out the private sector. This not only makes finding a job difficult, but also provides great financial incentive to not work as hard or leave home. Free health care, free education, free food, free this, free that. Why go to school, become a doctor, and buy a house when you can live at home and enjoy 4 siestas a day during a 4 hour work week?

But what is truly great, what is truly juicy is the utter hypocrisy the young women of America display. Not consciously of course, because I don't think they connect the dots. Additionally, I don't think they're contemplating the socio-economic reasons why tall, dark, handsome and charming Rafael lives at home with mom as they salsa dance with him in Barcelona tipsy on vino. But there is a hypocrisy. Anybody see it yet?

Well, let me connect the dots.

"Fernando" 30 year old accented hot Italian/Spanish guy with olive colored skin, is a great cook, rides a Vespa, drinks vino, knows how to dance and "live life" and loves his mother. Oh Fernando, take me away!

"Jon Jones" 27 year old stupid lazy American who doesn't have a job, can't find one, doesn't have a degree, plays video games all day, drinks beer, watches sports AND STILL LIVES WITH HIS MOTHER! Jon Jones, you need to man up you slacker!!!

What the ladies fail to see is that Fernando and Jon are the exact same guys, just an ocean apart. Oh sure Fernando has an accent, olive skin and speaks Italian, but they both "live life" (Jon plays video games, Fernando seduces naive female tourists), they both drink (Jon prefers Budweiser, Fernando red wine), they both live at home (though we interpret this as and applaud Fernando for "loving his mother"), and I guaran-freaking-tee you they BOTH play video games. Probably MW3 online, they're probably doing a co-op mission right now.

Laugh as we might, there are several economic lessons or observations to be gleaned.

One, is how Italy and Spain are down the road further than the US when it comes to the state replacing men. Men are no longer the primary bread winner of the family. That is the state. Men are no longer the kernel of the household. That is the state. So with the state replacing the primary roles men used to play in Italy and Spain, AND with the financial largess they provide to people, is it any wonder these guys "live life" and bang on their drums all day?

Two, is it any surprise Italy and Spain are part of the PIIGS suffering from imminent financial collapse? Yes, what a wonderful life it must be to drink vino all day, work 20 hours a week, have free health care and be able to retire at 57 AND have everything paid for. You don't need to be a PhD in economics to understand why they have such HUGE debts - because the countries come nowhere NEAR producing what is necessary to pay for all the crap they've promised themselves under the Tuscan sun.

Three, how women (in a very admitted and general brush) generally are unable to see how voting for socialism drives men to the couch, video games, beer and their parents' basement. If you keep voting for socialism you do two things to make men perpetual Peter Pan's who will never grow up. One, you will essentially pay them with a bevy of government benefits so they don't HAVE TO WORK. Two, even if they wanted to work, THERE ARE NO JOBS BECAUSE YOU'VE DRIVEN AWAY THE PRIVATE SECTOR AND INVESTORS WHO WOULD NORMALLY LIKE TO INVEST, BUT NOT IF 50% OF THEIR PROFITS ARE GOING TO BE CONFISCATED!

Four, boys, this is an important one. If you want to impress girls here but live at home, all you have to do is keep doing what you're doing now, but fake an accent, take some tanning pills and instead of saying, "I live at home with mother because I can't afford rent," say, "I live at home with mother because I love her and want to take care of her." Then POOF! You've magically gone from a "Grade A American Loser" to an "Exotic Foreigner Who Loves His Mother."

Odds, Ends and Battery Acid

Hey everyone!  I cannot believe it is Friday already ... this week flew by but we have 2 full days more here and then back to our other hotel for the last night.  We've been here before so we know all the tricks and such.  Even though check in isn't until 3, we arrived in beachwear with a pool bag packed, they slapped a bracelet on each of us, and we were off to sun and lunch while our luggage waited for the room.  Sunday we'll check out early and then catch lunch and perhaps even a dunk in the cold plunge and hot tubs before heading out.   It's almost like getting an extra day this way but with no stress of flying out.   So this worked out really well for us in many ways, not the least of which is the stress of flying always eats into the relaxation, this way we get full relaxation mode for the all-inclusive with so much to enjoy.
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Thursday, March 15, 2012

Achievements in Bachelor History

Bachelorhood is one of those studies or disciplines that can never be mastered. You are always a student and the pursuit of excellence is never-ending. The sole existence of the field is to simply improve upon itself into infinity in an effort to improve the lives of billions of future bachelors.

But often in our relentless pursuit of excellence, we fail to look back and appreciate some of the advancements and achievements in Bachelor History. And so let me share with you one of my own achievements. An achievement I developed waaaaay back in the Dark Ages:

1999.

Ironing sucks. No self-respecting bachelor likes to do it, and it takes up not only time, but an ironing board as well. No doubt, young Bachelors, you have naturally found that a towel on the floor will suffice as an adequate enough ironing board, but that still doesn't alleviate you of the annoying task of ironing, ESPECIALLY when it comes to dress shirts.

Of all of our articles of clothing, dress shirts are the most cumbersome because you have collars, sleeves, cuffs, the front and the back. But if you're smart you'll volunteer to wear a suit at work even if it's "business casual." Why?

Because the suit covers up the majority of your dress shirt, necessitating you only iron a very small percent of the actual shirt.

If you see the diagram below, you'll notice the area within the yellow lines. This is the only part of your dress shirt that is actually exposed while wearing a suit. It takes less than 20 seconds to iron it, thereby saving you at least 4 minutes each day in ironing!



If you prorate that over a 35 year career, assuming you have to iron each day and apply the median income of a male to the corresponding labor (583 hours), that results in a savings of $13,708!

Now, you can certainly buy a couple suit jackets with that now can't you?

Send your "Achievements in Bachelor History" to the Captain!

Cute Little Sex Strike

Heh, where do you start with this?

1. Don't think there's too many guys banging down the door for these ladies

and

2. If they do have men they actually love and care about, presumably those men would agree with them about contraception or have similar political beliefs. So if I get this right, they're going to punish the men THAT AGREE WITH THEM and THEY "love" to make a political point?

I could go on, as there is much to criticize, but this is just another example boys as to why you really don't want to be courting feminists. Their ideology is more important than the people they (presumably) love.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Flask Maintenance

Ever since I was in college I have owned a flask. The purposes are many, but frankly, I was a poor college student and wanted to not only have free booze, but be classy when I went to joints. Plus, whipping out a nice sterling flask always seemed to impress the girls (though, this is vital boys, you NEVER let them drink from the flask, you show it to them, you take a belt from it, and let them bask in your alpha-male glow).

However, if you reach the age of 35 your flask will start to become "smelly" from all the various sorts of booze you've put in it.

"How do you clean it?" you ask?

That's an outstanding question young aspiring economist.

Here's the answer.

You are now free to enjoy the decline.

Godzilla Rationalization Hamster Correction

Sorry Cappy Cappites. I linked to the wrong broadcast. Here is the correct one, again you can skip the monologue up front (which is pretty crass as Tom usually is), and get right to the caller.. My apologies.

Your Happiness is More Important than Your Child's

Amen, sister.

Reminds me of the South Park episode where they explain divorce and happiness to Stan.

Low Fat, VitD and Stephanie Seneff

Before I get to Is the metabolic syndrome caused by a high fructose, and relatively low fat, low cholesterol diet?  I thought I'd share a bit about the lead author Stephanie Seneff.  I don't usually look much into the authors of papers and such unless something seems off in the bias/advocacy/etc. area.   Seneff did in this case.  Although Seneff has a biology background, she hasn't been working in that field so I thought it odd that the first author on such a paper was a PhD in Electrical Engineering.  The second author is described as an independent reader of research, which I suppose would be like me?!,  and the third an Italian doctor.   An interesting mix!

One gets a little insight on Seneff when you read her blog a bit.   Clearly her interests lie in gestational and early childhood development area, but I'm also picking up on a feminist angle advocating for acceptance of more body fat on women and not the hyper-lean, model-thin bodies that became more socially accepted in the 70's.  I can't disagree there, but there's a huge disconnect.  No doubt there are some women so concerned over their pencil-thin figures who may have irreparably harmed their unborn children eating a too-low fat diet and such.  However I do not get how this translates to the population as a whole and how this leads to Metabolic Syndrome, etc.  Especially since those women aren't the ones presenting with MetSyn.  I can't get over the reality that on the whole it is Americans who are not following governmental advice and eating "healthy diets" that present left and right with MetSyn. 
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Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Captain's Jazz Lounge

I present to you Mr. Art Blakey

And Cheap Nursing Homes for All!

Aren't you glad that instead of training in the future generations, grooming them to take over, and equipping them with the skills and maturity to propel this nation into new levels of greatness, you instead told them:

"You're all winners!"

or

"Must hit the ground running!"

or

"Steep leaning curve."

or

"No, it can't be done!"

or

"The environment is more important than profit."

or

"Follow your heart!"

Because, of course, there can't be any economic consequences to that.

Hey, you crazy "hippies" from the 1960's. You enjoy that decline "maaaaaan."

I Spy With My Little Eye

The understandably ugly and detailed chart below does have a disconcerting trend about it. What it is, is the items that have shown the largest growth rates in personal consumption expenditures in the US. It is their long term annualized growth rate. Obviously the internet is #1 because of its relatively recency and booming growth. HOwever, I want you to look at the items and see if you can see what I see ( you will have to click on it). FYI, the average growth rate of all items was only 7.41%

Outsource the Children!

Damn I'm Good



This is a chart showing you consumer spending on day care and nursery schools as a percent of our total spending. It doesn't even hit 1% of total spending in the economy (as not everybody is having children and there are other items people buy aside from day care), but the percent increase is just phenomenal.

Keep having kids, but refuse to bring them up! I'm sure there are no consequences!

As the Patron Saint Frick wrote in his 17th letter to the Corinthians

"Enjoy the decline!"

Monday, March 12, 2012

Some Quick Cappy Cap Math

Did some quick math here because I read something and I couldn't believe it. How often do you find the average cost of day care on an AR 15 forum? But apparently the numbers are not false. It's true. Over $11,000 per year, per child in day care costs.

Now, permit the ole Captain a bit of Back of Napkin Economics:

2.2 children per woman on average translates into $25,665 in annual child care expenses.

Median income of the average US female. $46,367.

Net of taxes (because I know how you ladies like all those splendifferiffic social programs because you care for the children), which would be in the 25% tax bracket. $34,775.

We subtract the $25,665 from the $34,775 and you get $9,110.

Divide by 2,000 working hours and that's $4.56/per hour! (And at that rate you'll be able to pay off your $100,000 in student loans for your Masters in Communications in a short 11 years!)

Now I know there are child care credits and insurance and so forth and so on. Just as child care isn't the only form of outsourcing we pay for other people to raise our children (pre-school, afterschool activities, before-school activities, etc. etc.)

But it really behooves the question "Is it worth paying somebody else to raise your kids?" Even throwing in the male median income ($47k and change), men are merely netting $10.73 after child care expenses.

But, again, I am that evil capitalist that asks stupid questions and likes to use "facts"

and "statistics"

and doesn't understand that emotions trump reality,

and has this stupid notion that one parent should stay home to raise the little kinder and take care of the house while the other goes and works

and likes to point out a plurality of women are simply working in fields where they take care of other people's children behooving the question why not just take of your own damn kids.

And far be it from me to ask whether the time lost bringing up your children is worth the opportunity cost of $4.56 or $10.73/hr. I'm sure the career is rewarding and your family is just as stable as that blasted and accursed "June and Ward Cleaver" NUCLEAR FAMILY (booooo!!!! hisssss!!!!). Yes, let us not factor in the costs of therapists, drama, mental health costs, teenage pregnancies, booze/drug rehab, divorce and all the other wonderful societal traits associated with the latch key kids. No, those things are merely conspiracies foisted upon society by the evil patriarch and do not exist.

So ignore the Captain in the corner, for he know not what he speaks of. What does he know. He just wants to bang his drums all day and enjoy the decline!

Update!

We Will Treat Them As Equals...

and they will not like it.

Happy Monday!

So yesterday we arrived at our beachfront resort.  It's been three years since we were last here -- somehow "transfers" aren't working well for us this trip because the first problem was that our taxi dropped us off at the wrong resort.  We tell everyone the name of the sister resort next door because there are like a zillion resorts with "Royal" in the name, but they dropped us off at the one on the opposite side.   Oh well.  When we finally got settled I think the hustle and bustle of the whole trip really hit and both of us were really tired.  

On Saturday we went to Mercado 28 in downtown which reminded me how much I hate being a tourista!  I have little patience for those trying to take advantage of me.  We looked at some jewelry in one store and the guy quoted us like $350 for like 3 silver pieces.  I mean c'mon man!  I was looking for a butterfly pendant and finally found one for around $35.  Y'all will see it at AHS.  We also did the 3 cheap T's for $10 thing and I did find a lovely beach dress for $8.  Then off to WalMart to get a couple SF drink mixes.   I don't know that I've ever seen motorcycles in a WalMart before.  
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Why We Get Fat ... Lessons from Obese Humans & Cafeteria Rats

Vacation bump!  Original Post Date:  3/9/11



One of the more interesting things (to me) to come out of the "cafeteria rat study" is what the composition of the diet eventually chosen by the rats came out to be.  I'm just going to focus on the SC (standard chow) and CAF (SC + human snack foods) diets in this post.

To recap, the SC had a composition F/C/P of 10/64/26.  When offered this chow along with a rotating selection of three human snack foods from the following list, the rats only ate 15% of their diet as chow (the wording of this is unclear, but their total consumption is ultimately what's important).  The composition of the diet they ended up eating?  CAF was F/C/P of 44/46/10  (note: I've detected slight discrepancies in the numbers here that involve a 1-2% swing in either direction) .  One might think the rodies were only offered fatty snacks, but this is not the case as can be seen in the table below:
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Sunday, March 11, 2012

Why We Get Fat ... Lessons from a Cafeteria Rat

{Original publish date:  2/25/11}


(Hat tip to Beth for bringing this to my attention)

This study used male Wistar rats

{eek ... I'm having flashbacks to a former career!}

This rat is not a genetic mutant predisposed towards obesity, but is often used in diet induced obesity (DIO) studies, as they will fatten considerably on a high fat diet.
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Is Low Fat & High Fructose Causing Metabolic Syndrome?

Via Twitter, Beth from Weight Maven blog asked me if I read That Paleo Guy and a recent paper he blogged on.  The answers would be no and no, but I have now ;-)    The title of the study is:  Is the metabolic syndrome caused by a high fructose, and relatively low fat, low cholesterol diet?
 
The following stuck out at me from the conclusion of the paper:
In conclusion, we would urge medical practitioners to encourage individuals exhibiting MetS to strongly limit the consumption of dietary fructose [75] and other high-glycemic-index carbohydrates, and to stop discouraging them from consuming foods rich in cholesterol [76].
Now I don't know what medical practitioners are out there pushing fructose on people, but the recommendations to consume fruit are a far far cry from endorsing the consumption of sugar sweetened beverages and lots of juice.   I do think it's a crime that fruit juices are considered the equivalent of a piece of fruit to many nutritionists, but that aside, it is darned near impossible to eat 50g of fructose per day eating just whole fruits, let alone the 100g and upwards amounts in liquid form often used in studies.  There have also been scant few isocaloric studies done with fructose. 

In any case, as I read the study, I couldn't help getting "flashbacks" of sorts of the "Cafeteria Rat" study I blogged about over a year ago.  There is so much to that study that, yes, was in rats, but so are a heckuvalot of studies on MetSyn.   I'll be bumping the three posts directly referencing the study, and in a few days I'll publish the rest of this post that is in the hopper.  Here are the links anyway:




The last one deals with the effects that were seen on the liver, fat tissue and pancreatic cells and is probably most pertinent to a discussion of the fructose/low cholesterol hypothesis. 

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Calling All Young Males

Dr. Helen is asking young males for input in her new book. Go wonder over yonder and see if you can't help contribute your 2 cents over there.

Greetings from Cancun, Mexico!

Hello folks!  Just checking in on the blog this lovely quiet morning here in downtown Cancun.  We've had quite an eventful trip so far and it's only day 3.  We flew out of NY on Thursday with a 2 hour layover for our adjoining flight.  I really will try to take non-stops these days because we've just had too many problems with connecting flights ... missing planes ... etc.etc.  And the airlines are not what they used to be for service, but I just couldn't justify an extra $300.  So we sat on the tarmac waiting for a part for our plane -- always a comforting announcement to hear on the loudspeaker -- for an hour and a half.  We were told "those with connecting flights will be met with agent to assist you at the gate.  Yeah right.  There were really no further announcements until we were already almost landing, local time or any such thing.  I will never again fly American if I can avoid it.  Gone are the days of seeing who has connecting flights when a flight is late and letting those people off first, knowing ahead of time what gate you need to book your butt to, etc.  By some miracle we were able to run 13 gates and make our flight which was like 2/3rds full and still AA was showing no adjacent seats to be assigned and we paid the $13 for upgrade.  Rip-off!  At least the curbside check in guy was great and we got our 55 lb suitcase past the heavy baggage rip-off charge.  I swear, if you have an allowance for two free 50 lb bags, they should at least allow one up to like 75 lbs like they used to ... but I digress.  All in all, the rest went smoothly and we decided to stay in town for a few days on the front end of our week at the beachfront resort.  
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