The Killing of Innocent Children

Today in a cowardly act of terrorism the Taliban stormed a school in Pakistan killing 126 people. Most of these were innocent children. The world is appalled at the senseless violence of the Taliban terrorists.

Also today 125,000 of the most innocent children in the world will be killed. In the U.S.A. 3,000 children will be killed. These children have not even had a chance to do a anything wrong. Their only crime is their existence. Yet they will be killed in a act of selfishness simply because their mother, father, or both don't want them. Sadly these children will be killed before they get a chance to take their first breath, and it will be considered a woman's right.

Today I am very sorry for all the innocent children that will be killed.

I'm Not a Vegetarian

I'm not a vegan or a vegetarian. I don't eat a gluten free diet. I drink milk and I eat eggs. It seems there is no end to diet fads, but I can eat a healthy diet without falling for the fads.

Vegan and vegetarian

Sorry, but a quick look at my teeth tells me that people are meant to eat meat. Either God gave us meat eating teeth so we can eat meat, or millions of years of evolution have made us meat eaters, or both. (Actually I believe it is both) Now, I understand some people don't like to eat meat, that is fine, it is their choice. However eating meat provides a lot of nutritional benefits. http://authoritynutrition.com/7-evidence-based-health-reasons-to-eat-meat/

Gluten free diet

It is true that for some people, like the 1% of people with celiac disease, gluten is a problem, but for the other 99% of us, eating gluten is not a problem. In fact there are a lot of foods that provide a lot of  great nutritional value that have gluten. Going gluten free denies us the opportunity to eat these good foods. http://www.webmd.com/diet/healthy-kitchen-11/truth-about-gluten

Milk

I hear the argument that it isn't natural to drink milk into adult life. Wrong. I am of northern European descent. Well, mostly northern, with a bit of Czech. There are thousands of years of people living with cows, and drinking their milk and eating dairy products. We have a symbiotic relationship with domesticated animals. Our domestic animals exist because we bred them, and in turn they have given us food and protected us from disease, like small pox. My ancestry has a long history of eating dairy. So even though most of the world can't drink milk as adults, my ancestors genetics have evolved to make milk drinking good for me. http://www.nature.com/news/archaeology-the-milk-revolution-1.13471

Election Day

Just like in years past, early numbers show the Democrats leading across the country. This is expected to change as the Republicans get off work and start voting.

You are fat because you choose to be fat

You have heard the excuses, and maybe you have even used them, but they are still excuses. All the sugar in soft drinks is making us fat. Artificial sweeteners are making us fat. It is because our diet has too much fat. No, it is because we eat too many carbs. Gluten, vegetarian, vegan, high protein and a lot of other silly diet crazes are invented to help us lose weight. All this is just stupid.

You are fat because you choose to be fat. I don't care if you have a genetic predisposition to obesity It doesn't matter if you have an thyroid problem. Yes, these things may make it harder, but that too is just and excuse. You can choose to eat fewer calories. You can choose to get more exercise. You are in charge of your life.

Don't believe me? Look what happens when people get gastric bypass surgery. They lose weight, for awhile. Why? because they can't eat as much. Eventually most gain the weight back. Why? because they haven't changed the choices they make.

When you choose to have that big bowl of ice cream you have decided that the ice cream is more important to you than your weight. You can choose to only eat as much as you need. You can choose to be more active, get a little exercise. You can choose to not be obese. 

Who Moved My Climate

I once was moved into a new office. The previous occupant of that office had left behind a few books, one of them was Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Jonson, M.D.

I don't really like the book because it starts out telling you that you are stupid if you don't think this is the greatest book ever written. For some reason I continued reading it.

A few weeks ago I saw an story on Forbes, Climate Change Has Jumped the Shark. Basically it says that there is no way we are going to stop climate change. The author points out that for much of the world poverty is a greater issue than climate change.

Really are we going to tell the people in third world countries that they have to continue to live in extreme poverty so that the people in the affluent countries can continue to live in luxury?

It reminds me a lot of the Hunger Games where the outlying districts are forced to live a meager livelihood while those in the capitol are over indulging. In the books the Hunger Games are used to maintain that disparity. In the real world we are trying to use climate change to do the same thing.

So back to Who Moved My Cheese. In the story you have the heroes, Sniff and Scurry. When the cheese in their maze moves to a new location Sniff sniffs out the new location and scurry runs around until he finds the new location. Then you have the two losers, Hem and Haw. Hem and Haw are like the climate change fear mongers and the climate change deniers.

The reality is we live in a world of change. The climate has changed in the past and it will change in the future. We can argue all we want about whether or not the polar ice caps are melting. We can argue all we want about whether a warmer world is good or bad.

We need to realize that things change and we need to adjust to those changes. I have full confidence that humanity can and will adjust to the changes in the climate, man made or natural.

I guess that silly book I read all those years ago wasn't as bad as I thought.

Smash It

I have seen this picture posted on Facebook a lot lately. Basically it says that all spiders should be killed.

Why is it that we value some forms of life so much less than others. Spiders are actually beneficial, much more so than many of the pets people have.

Yet if I created the same image and used a bunch of kittens instead people would be outraged. Seriously though why is it OK to kill spiders without taking a second thought, yet not OK to do the same to a kitten.