Unsettling perspective

 I'm not sure why I was thinking about the seven deadly sins, but I have been off and on for the past year and a half during this "pandemic".  It seems to be more and more prevalent these days among people and it doesn't seem like people believe there is anything wrong with it..

Pride – everything is about self 

• Social media has exacerbated this to the nth degree especially with young people (ugh, never thought I'd use that phrase)

Envy – it’s not fair; x group has more stuff, x group has better things 

• You see this with political correctness and "woke" mentality.  It isn't about equity which is equal outcome.  It is about equality which is equal opportunity

Wrath – if you don’t like it, protest it, boycott it, destroy it 

• Antifa, BLM, fill in the blank group that excuses bad behavior and lashing out.  They solve nothing and only serve to hurt people and destroy property.  No one is left in a better position.

Sloth – how can I get something for nothing?  how can I excuse being lazy? 

• There is nothing wrong with trying to get more done with less effort.  I would argue that it is smart to be efficient, but this is trying to make doing nothing appear to be accomplishing something

Greed – I deserve this, I deserve that; outsource charity to the government 

• The entitlement mentality does so much damage to a person.  It saps their productivity, their creativity and charity

Gluttony – how can I get more?  food, property, liberty 

• This is an unfortunate result of an age of abundance where scarcity is not widely known.  It does not mean that it does not exist, but even the most poor in the US is close to wealthy in other parts of the world.

Lust – nuff said 

That being said, what can be done to "combat" the seven deadly sins.  Well, there are seven virtues that go against the sins

Humility cures Pride  

Kindness cures Envy  

Patience cures Wrath  

Diligence cures Sloth  

Liberality cures Greed  

Diligence cures Gluttony  

Chastity cures Lust  

Whether or not these are entirely relevant or not remains to be seen, but thinking about the seven deadly sins in the course of contemplating big decisions would go a long way to bettering the outcome

Restoring nerddom

With all the rubbish going on in the world, I felt the need to write something fairly inconsequential in the grand scheme and fun.

There was a Big Bang Theory episode where Amy "ruins" Raiders of the Lost Ark for Sheldon and the rest.  She said that Indy wasn't needed.  The nazis would have found the Ark, opened it and all died without him.  They were digging in the wrong spot, but that is only because they had an incomplete copy of the medallion.  

The flaw in her argument is that the man in black, Toht, followed Indy to Marion.  If Indy did not go to her, they would not have found the medallion in order to locate Tanis where the Ark was buried.  So, Indy was an integral component to the story.

Here we go again

For the past few months it has been delta, delta, delta when it comes to the covid-19 disease.  Now that delta is losing its oomph, they are moving on to the mu variant.  How much longer before the doom and gloom shifts to this new variant and the nonsense starts all over again?

Honestly, what is this aversion to getting sick?  There is a total irrational fear about this and a complete lack of faith in ones own immune system.  The numbers were not there when it came to the mortality rate for this thing especially when it comes to the younger.

You want to talk about selfish?  It is the old people that are the selfish ones making policy that is detrimental to the current and future health of the next generation.  I'm closer to the older side than previously, but the principle is the same.  The utter irony of this sentiment coming from someone that played hooky from school by dancing in the grey area of being sick is one that I will constantly talk about.

To all the politicians and policy makers out there ... GET A GRIP ALREADY!

Stay Safe

Over the past year and a half, perhaps longer, I have come to detest the phrase "Stay safe".  It has become the embodiment of everything wrong with what has been done, is being done and will be done during this cluster-muck of a "emergency".  For goodness sake, since when does any "emergency" last over a year.  Anything that lasts that long is not a true emergency.

Life is not safe and it is delusional to think that anyone can make it so.  No one gets out alive as the saying goes, but getting injured is a part of life.  Our bodies and mind can heal because of that fact.  Avoiding injury is the wrong way to do anything.  You end up missing out on the wonder that is being and thrills that go along with experience.  You might as well lock yourself up in your residence and live in a hermetically sealed bubble if you want to be safe.  No, fortifying your mind and attitude to deal with life and everything that comes with it is the much better way to do things.  When you think about it simply, were the nerds (and I are one of those) that studied all the time, did not go outdoors and play, and stuck to themselves end up to be the healthiest and happiest?  I would challenge anyone that says they are.  Safe, yes, they were probably very safe, but healthiest and happiest, no, they are not.

I made a conscious decision to stop using the phrase "stay safe" after thinking about the meaning of that saying is.  It is a weak saying and not something you should wish upon anyone.  It treats them like a child that is incapable of handling what life throws at them.  I rather tell people to "have a great week" or "have a great trip" as a way of setting the default to a positive expectation.

Quick thoughts

Wow, has it really been 9 months since I last posted my thoughts?  I could have had a baby in that time.  Anyway, I joined Locals to follow VivaFrei and Robert Barnes and I joined Odysee to follow Dr. Sam Bailey.  They are some sane voices in the land of absurdity that is present day existence.  

Honestly, how did things get so off the rails?  Even my normally clinically and rationally minded mom is sort of on board the crazy train.

More Lunacy

One year wasted ... honestly, it was a complete waste and now with the advent of a vaccine people think it is a magic bullet that will solve the entire situation in the blink of an eye.  Yeah, how well has that worked in the past.  How many people STILL do not get the flu vaccine?  And when it rushing a vaccine a good idea?  When is rushing anything medical a good idea?  Thank you, but no thank you.  I have not been sick for any reason at all so I am not in any rush to take it.  Let everyone else be the human trial subjects.

The fact that there has been no meaningful evaluation of the measures being taken shows how worthless it all has been; how much of a waste of time.  Also, the lack of consistency in the policies calls into question their validity.  I say it again.  When has any of this idiocy been done in the history of humanity?  To quote Dr. Leonard McCoy, "We're dealing with medievalism ... "

The stupidity continues

Honestly, the people in charge in Hawaii don't have a clue. They can't even define a goal that's reasonable and achievable.  "Stop the spread"?  What the heck kind of goal is that?  It started out as "don't overwhelm the healthcare facilities" which is not an unreasonable goal, but they were never in any danger of being overwhelmed and are still not in any danger.  Sure, the number of cases (and what the heck is the definition of a case anyway?  Does anyone know?) is rising quickly, but the number of hospitalizations and deaths is not.  Those rates are relatively flat and manageable, so what in the name of all that is holy are we still doing to ourselves.

I feel like the last sane person in the State of Hawaii.  I'm not really sure why I find this whole mask debacle so patently offensive.  It galls me way more than the ridiculous airport policies that were put in to deal with stuff in the aftermath of 9/11 which is a faded memory for many people unfortunately, however, I still doubt the effectiveness or necessity of such measures.

Analysis of the policies is what is missing and what should done.  What worked, what didn't work, what can be done to change what didn't work into what does work.  Those are the things that need to be addressed after a certain amount of time, and 3-6 months of the latest policies I think is a sufficient amount of time to say whether or not any of it was worth doing.  But, no, the State government is incompetent and thinks that if they do more of something that doesn't work it'll eventually work, damn the consequences and who it screws over.

Life is not safe.  Life is unpredictable. Stuff happens that is beyond our control and you deal with it the best you can.  This obsessively unreasonable attitude people have about getting sick is beyond my comprehension.  What people are doing now is not living.  We are in the most beautiful place in the world and people are so damn scared of getting sick they can't enjoy it and live their lives.

What in the name of all that is holy are we doing to ourselves?

I found a really cool website that has all the covid data for Hawaii that you can download in a number of different ways.  I pulled the fatalities, active cases, cumulative total and hospitalizations, then graphed the in one chart.

https://www.hipam.org/forecast

The fatalities is pretty much a flat line.  Hawaii has 27 fatalities as of 8/4/2020, and at least 21 of those are over 65.  The hospitalized number is pretty much a flat line as well.  Hawaii broke 200 hospitalized, but I don't know if those are concurrent or not.

From what the graph shows, Hawaii is now experiencing its first wave.  All the people in charge did was postpone it until now.  Way to go.

Honestly, WHAT THE HECK ARE PEOPLE FREAKING OUT ABOUT?!?!  We had more traffic fatalities in 2019 than covid deaths.  Are we all supposed to stop driving now?  Instead of trying to alleviate the public fear and get things back towards normalcy, the powers that be are just keeping the fear porn hot and heavy.

Hawaii's Lt. Governor proposed locking the state down because the numbers are spiking.  All I have to say to him is, "You rat bastard."

3 Day Juice Cleanse

So I agreed to do a 3-day juice cleanse with my wife to support her.  She participated with me when I did the Ornish program a few years back so it seemed only fair.  Eating normal meals when she is only drinking juice seems mean on top of not being fair.  Granted the cleanse is entirely voluntary, but regardless of that, the "unfairness" perception and feeling is still real.

Anyway, this post will journal the 3-days since I'm pretty sure I'll forget how I felt.

7/13/2020 8:30 AM - Day 1, Juice bottle #1
This one was like drinking almond milk and that makes sense since the main ingredient was almond milk.  It wasn't overly sweet and nutty in flavor.

7/13/2020 10:50 AM - Day 1, Juice bottle #2
This one was perplexing.  It had a strong apple flavor, but other flavors mixed in that I can't place hence the "perplexing" word.  It wasn't bad, but it makes me ponder.  30 minutes later I'm burping cucumber.

7/13/2020 12:50 PM - Day 1, Juice bottle #3
This is another one that makes me go "huh ... that was interesting".  I could taste the apple and maybe the ginger, but couldn't taste the carrot and kale which is probably good considering the second (I'm not a kale fan).  Not feeling any caffeine withdrawal symptoms which I'm thankful for.  Still so far, so good.

7/13/2020 3:40 PM - Day 1, Juice bottle #4
This one is a repeat of juice #2, but this time the "spice" was more noticeable.  I'm still "perplexed" by the taste, but still in the middle of the road with regards to judgement.  I don't dislike it, but don't exactly like it either.

7/13/2020 5:45 PM - Day 1, Juice bottle #5
This one I liked.  It was what I would expect when I hear the word "juice".  Apple, pineapple, and lemon with some mint.  It wasn't overly sweet either, though, I wouldn't have minded it being sweeter.

7/13/2020 8:00 PM - Day 1, Juice bottle #6
This one I liked, too, but not as much as the more fruity bottle #5.  It was a good chocolate shake type drink; not too sweet and not too thick.  I would put this one in the 2nd place slot if I had to rank these juices.

7/14/2020 9:30 AM - Day 2, Juice bottle #1
Today this one seemed a little thicker, but that could be because I shook the bottle a little longer before drinking.  This one is my third favorite one so far and a good way to start the day.

7/14/2020 11:30 AM - Day 2, Juice bottle #2
I could taste the cucumber more this time, but it wasn't very strong, mostly noticeable.  I burped cucumber again and the word "perplexing" is still appropriate.

7/14/2020 2:00 PM - Day 2, Juice bottle #3
I liked this bottle better today than yesterday.  I don't know if it's because I liked the taste more or was hungry.  This one is #4 in my list of juices in this cleanse.

7/14/2020 4:00 PM - Day 2, Juice bottle #4
I didn't particularly like this one today.  I definitely tasted the cucumber and the ginger was very strong.  I gulped it down as fast as I could so I wouldn't taste it as much and get it over with.  Definitely my least favorite of the juices.

7/14/2020 6:00 PM - Day 2, Juice bottle #5
My favorite one hands down.  This one definitely good to end the day on and what I think about when talking about juicing.  Drank this one quickly, too, like the previous juice, but quickly because I really like the taste.

7/14/2020 8:00 PM  - Day 2, Juice bottle #6
Nice way to end the day.  I do enjoy a chocolate milkshake at the end.  It makes the entire day of other juices turnout good.  Yes, it's not really a chocolate shake, but it's close enough to it for me.

7/15/2020 8:00 AM - Day 3, Juice bottle #1
Last day of juices.  I have to say I haven't been dreading the juices like I thought I would.  I'm not looking forward to it per se, but there's not feeling of dread or anxiety with the juices.

7/15/2020 10:00 AM - Day 3, Juice bottle #2
I have to admit I felt some anticipation with this one, in a good way, probably because I know it's the last day and this is the second to the last green juice I have to drink.  It actually isn't too bad, but I still wouldn't say I like it.

7/15/2020 12:00 PM - Day 3, Juice bottle #3
I have to say I decided I like this one rather than just be neutral.  It's drinking carrot juice for the most part and I went past the "got used to it" stage into the "I guess I kinda like it" stage.  Not looking forward to the next one, though.

7/15/2020 2:00 PM - Day 3, Juice bottle #4
It's official, I don't like this particular one.  I think it's the ginger that's included in this juice that I don't like.  Actually, it's the burping cucumber that I really don't like.  *laugh*

7/15/2020 4:15 PM - Day 3, Juice bottle #5
I'm taking my time drinking this one, my favorite one.  I noticed a little bit of tang this time, but that's probably because I'm savoring it.  The other days I drank it quickly because it tasted really good.  Funny how that means I'm always gulping down the juice ... if I don't like the taste it's because I want to get it over with, but if I like the taste it's because I'm wolfing it down.  Well, at least this time I'm taking my time a little bit to enjoy the juice.

7/15/2020 6:30 PM - Day 3, Juice bottle #6
It's chocolate milk time.   It's not really, but it sure tastes like it and I'm enjoying it.  Well, it actually is when I think about it.  Chocolate flavored almond milk is chocolate milk even though it's not regular milk.  This is the last of the juices in this 3-day cleanse and quite a nice way to finish.

Take away
It wasn't a bad experience and I dropped a few pounds, though I didn't really do this for any kind of weight loss.  That loss could very well be water loss which is just fine, too.  It does give me a place to start to get on a portion control habit; not eating until I'm full or sick, but just enough to be comfortable.  Basically, stop eating before I get full and don't go back for seconds or thirds.  No more Hobbit style eating for me.

Thoughts on July 4th

I have to admit that I haven't read up on important figures from American history beyond the most well known ones.  I don't remember when I started reading the Declaration of Independence and Constitution (this one takes a while to get through) along with the Bill of Rights, but this year I started looking at speeches that people made on or about the 4th of July.

I listened to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s July 4th, 1965 speech

I listened to Frederick Douglas' July 5, 1852 speech

I listened to Calvin Coolidge's July 4, 1926 speech


Dr. King called for having the right attitude as we move into the future and denounced any race to be raised above any other.  He said he was convinced that black supremacy was as dangerous as white supremacy.  He did not want one tyranny to be replaced with another.

These speeches talked about the greatness of the American Dream and how much good this country has done.  Of course Frederick Douglas denounced slavery because it was an evil injustice, but one that was taken are of.  He also praised the Founding Fathers for the ideals they had and the direction he wanted things to go.

I admit that I never paid much attention to Calvin Coolidge, but after hearing and reading his speech on the 150th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence I have a new understanding and appreciation for our 30th President and the wisdom he had.

Every year brings new knowledge and every year brings new appreciation for this great country.  Yes, there were problems in the beginning, but I challenge anyone to show me a country that had a perfect start.  A country that starts out perfect only has downhill to go.  The United States of America is not great in and of itself and it is not perfect.  The United States of America is great because of the ideals that were instilled in its creation and the mechanism it has to improve and grow.  And it does grow and mature and improve as long as it remembers its history and those ideals