Just…. so nice. Thats all.

Just love this little video put together for the New York Bike Festival. We need one of those.

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Living without money

So there is this fella in the UK who for over a year now has been living entirely without money. Because I am all in favor of abolishing the monetary system and entering into a trade form of living (it will never happen) this is such an appealing story. Perhaps in the future when my daughter has left the nest I might entertain such an extreme myself. I live very off the grid right now and on the cheap as it is but I like to think I can do better. Anways, here is the clip.

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My wee lass has taken to cycling

I have waited 7.5 long years for my daughter to find the joy of cycling. I have always had her on bikes since she was ultra wee sized but when it came to two wheelers… she wouldnt go for it. Not even with training wheels. My frustration was huge at this as I worried she might not ever take to it. Then one day, weeks ago in fact… I had an epiphany of sorts. A trail-a-bike! Those lovely trailers with a wheel, seat, pedals and a fixed handlebar on them. I found one for $40, spent a bit of time rigging it up to my bike and then we went on our maiden voyage together. Naturally there was hesitation and fear at the onset but within minutes she was yelling out in joy and telling me to “go faster, go faster”! Too funny. Throughout the day we would stop and within an hour on average she would be begging me to go for another ride. Lol. We went on 3 rides that day.

And so… now we are one step closer as a family she and I and the best part is how much I know this will translate into her adult years. I can only hope she finds the correlation to how important cycling is not only for your health but the planets as well. I suspect she probably already knows. After all… she is MY little girl.

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Mankind must abandon earth or face extinction: Hawking

An intersting article posted the other day over at Yahoo when I checked my email. According to Stephen Hawking, the renowned brainiac in a chair with a digital voice (is he just a puppet or is he really programming the words he spouts?) claims that we should be focusing our efforts on space. Now, I don’t know about you but I think the billions we spend yearly on the space program as it is allready is money that should be spent on our global issues as it is. The idea of spending more? Proposterous. I agree whole heartedly we have issue’s here on Earth. Many. Key of which is over population.

 Our planet is built to sustain no more than 5 billion people and we are closing in on 8. Do you remember learning about exponential growth? The idea if you tell 2 friends who in turn tell two friends each? Within an extremely short time the number becomes staggering. Well, that is what has been happening since the 50′s with births. Say 2 billion people (out of 5 billion) in 1950 give birth to 2 children each giving a total of 7 billion people on the planet… BAM!. In 20 yrs (1970) they give birth to 2 children each for a total of 9 billion. See how instantly that happened? Now, my numbers are way off and not to be taken seriously but my point is that this HAS been happening and to the tune of we are in deep shit! My annoyance comes from just how oblivious the world is to this issue. Yes, the green movement has been picking up speed and thats great. Really is. It’s a bandaid though.

The majority of our greenhouse gas issues stem from production. Production is driven by demand. Demand is formulated by statistics and the statistics state that the producers need to make enough to hopefully sell to the masses based on those statistics. Confusing? Hope not. The vendor has a customer base of say… 100 people. Out of those 100, the vendor will figure it safe to assume 40 will buy so to be sure, they will make 50 units. Just in case someone buys more. This is a rough idea of how it works but picture this on a global scale and imagine this forumula when you go out next. Look at everything and imagine just how many units of that thing was made in anticipation of being bought and imagine the energy that went into its production. Now, imagine how much of it will go to waste because of sales not meeting expected targets and imagine waste due to damaged product, waste due to growing tired of the product and being tossed out. It will stagger your mind. THAT is our problem. We have ridiculous amounts of production going on because the statistics tell the vendors to build X amount of units because our population is so huge. Population control, albeit somewhat communistic in thought actually has viability in today’s age. Drastic times call for drastic measures and we are entering into a time when we have to make some serious decisions or… or, well die I guess. Serious enough for you? Anyhow… thats what I have learned on the subject, I hope I have got a few of you thinking. I will stop now and hop off my soap box. Here below is the article I mentioned by Mr. Hawking. 

I would love to hear your thoughts on this subject.

 Mon Aug 9, 4:57 PM

LONDON (AFP) – Mankind’s only chance of long-term survival lies in colonising space, as humans drain Earth of resources and face a terrifying array of new threats, warned British scientist Stephen Hawking on Monday.

“The human race shouldn’t have all its eggs in one basket, or on one planet,” the renowned astrophysicist told the website Big Think, a forum which airs ideas on many subjects from experts.

 ”Our only chance of long-term survival is not to remain inward looking on planet Earth, but to spread out into space,” he added.

 He warned that the human race was likely to face an increased number of events that threaten its very existence, as the Cuban missile crisis did in 1962.

 The Cold War showdown saw the United States and Soviet Union in a confrontation over Soviet missiles deployed in Cuba, near US shores, and brought the world to the brink of nuclear war.

 ”We are entering an increasingly dangerous period of our history,” said Hawking.

 ”Our population and our use of the finite resources of planet Earth are growing exponentially, along with our technical ability to change the environment for good or ill.”

 If we want to survive beyond the next century, “our future is in space,” added the scientist.

 ”That is why I’m in favour of manned, or should I say ‘personed’, space flight.”

 His comments came after he warned in a recent television series that mankind should avoid contact with aliens at all costs, as the consequences could be devastating.

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20 Reasons to never drink soda again:

Awhile back I made a post about quitting the soda’s. FAIL!! Yes, I failed. I am still drinking a couple cans a day. Like any addiction, you tend to forget about the addiction itself and then some time goes by and you remember…”oh yeah, I need to quit this shit!!” So, today is that day. I did a google search for info on the relations between soda’s and body toxicity and came across a good one. One that has remotivated me to quit again. As extra motivation…well, more like a voice of concience… I recruited a co-worker who like me is on the same page with all this stuff. He has his own vice’s but the principal’s are the same. Like having a training partner who is waiting for you at the gym, you wont likely let them down so you will be there. I suspect by having him as my reminder to quit this crap and clean up my system… I wont be as likely to bail out as I would be on my own. We will see. I will check in with you later on.

Now, here is that article.

20 Reasons to Never Drink Soda or Diet Soda Again
November 4th, 2007

Call it what you like; soda, tonic, pop, or the leading cause of the onset of type II diabetes in middle aged over-weight Americans; the experts agree that carbonated flavored beverages are not good for your health. While regular and diet sodas are both borderline dangerous, diet drinks seem to pose a much greater risk to the body. Still thinking about reaching for a soda??? Here are only 20 reasons not to drink one ever again:

1. Your diet soda could be loaded with saccharin. Saccharin(Sweet n’ Low) is a noncaloric petroleum derivative that has been linked to bladder cancer in laboratory animals. In fact, Saccharin was discovered by Ira Remsen in 1879 at the dinner table after not having washed the coal tar derivatives off of his hands. Coal tar derivatives – it’s what’s for dinner!

2. Your diet soda could be loaded with Aspartame. Aspartame (NutraSweet) contains ethyl or wood alcohol, which has been known to hinder fetal brain development.

3. Your regular soda IS loaded with sugar. Refined sugar and syrupy sugar, eg high-fructose corn syrup, are both linked directly to weight gain and adult-onset type II diabetes. Both of these can kill you.

4. Diet drinks are loaded with sodium which causes calcium to be excreted. This loss of calcium leads to osteoporosis, which causes your bones to become weak and brittle. We all know about the person that trips and falls and breaks their hip. Don’t let this be you.

5. Sodas tend to interact adversely with antacids, possibly causing headaches, constipation, hypertension, nausea, vomiting, and kidney damage.

6. Sodas contain a lot of phosphorus, which can also lead to excessive calcium loss and even they can even hinder the body’s ability to utilize calcium. Can we say osteoporosis? Soft drinks serve as the number one source of phosphorus in the American diet. Maybe Americans weren’t always so decrepit, eh?

7. Heavy soft drink consumption can interfere with the body’s metabolization of iron, which could mean diminished nerve impulse transmission. More soda, less sensation.

8. Caffeine withdrawal can occur in those that drink soft drinks daily. It’s a dreadful experience that can include symptoms such as headache, fatigue, mild depression, muscle pain and stiffness, flu-like feelings, nausea, and vomiting.

9. Women that consume at least one caffeinated beverage a day are more prone to PMS. In fact, the more caffeine a women consumes, the worse the PMS symptoms tend to be.

10. Listen up ladies. Just having one caffeinated drink a day reduces your monthly chances of conceiving a child up to 50%. In related news, having just 20-30 extra pounds of blubber on your body reduces your chances of ever being asked out by that hot, young, successful entrepreneur across that room that clearly sports 6-pack abs underneath his workout shirt.

11. Listen up men. Soda stored in plastic containers can decrease your testosterone levels, which could have any number of negative effects including increased fat retention, decreased muscle mass and strength, loss of libido, inability to maintain an erection, and an increased chance of developing certain types of cancer. Why? Because plastic is known to contain certain environmental estrogens that seep into whatever the plastic comes in contact with. Estrogen is essentially the opposite of testosterone in the same way that a woman in the opposite of a man.

12. When stored improperly, the artificial sweetener aspartame can turn into methanol, a poisonous alcohol which General Motors is considering using as a fuel. Even when stored properly, 10% of the consumed aspartame will be absorbed into the bloodstream as methanol. So, damned if you do, damned if you don’t….

13. Phosphoric acid found in soft drinks can actually corrode your stomach lining and your liver.

14. A high phosphorus intake can lead to gingivitis, tooth loss, and periodontal disease.

15. PET bottling is used exclusively for soft drinks. This Polyethylene terephthalate can release small amounts of dimethyl terephthalate into the beverage. Unfortunately, this compound is potentially carcinogenic.

16. One extra soft drink a day gives a child a 60% greater chance of becoming obese. Each daily drink adds 0.18 points to the child’s BMI score, regardless of exercise and other foods consumed.

17. One liter of aspartame-sweetened soda can produce about 56 mg of methanol. When several diet sodas are consumed daily, as much as 250 mg of methanol are stuffed into the bloodstream. Oh, and by the way, this is 32 times the Environmental Protection Agency’s limit.

18. The acidity of soda is about the same as vinegar, but the sugar content disguises the acidity. Clever, huh??

19. The sugar from one soft drink has the ability to weaken the white blood cells up to 7 hours.

20. Children who drink soft drinks are 3-4 times more likely to suffer from bone fractures than those who don’t.

In conclusion, drink water… and lots of it. If you aren’t drinking 8, 8 oz. glasses a day, you are only hurting yourself. Today is the day to make a change!

Read more: http://www.projectswole.com/diet/20-reasons-to-never-drink-soda-or-diet-soda-again/#ixzz0oPdaHDhb

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