Free the Animal

One of my favorite bloggers, Richard at Free the Animal (retired Navy Surface Warfare Officer, hang glider and visionary) writes: 

"You're at Free the Animal, but what kind of animal are you?

You're less strong, less fast, and less a tree prodigy than almost all other primates. And yet, you rule the Earth. Importantly.

...After all, do you have envy of wandering into the forest, trying to strike up a conversation?

Of course not, because you're so far removed evolutionarily that you can even imagine that a space alien created you, rather than that you are of some similar evolved lineage, and that they behave in mysteriously similar ways, both individually and social..."

http://freetheanimal.com/2011/11/of-the-beast-and-the-bi-cameral-mind-part-i.html

I like this statement because it points out that, although we rule the earth, we are inferior to wild animals.  We are no longer wild animals.  We are all domesticated, especially in America, which isn't all bad.  I do think that it's important to remember and appreciate where we came from.  

On a side note, notice how the only fat animals are domesticated animals.  You never see a fat deer or a fat lion in the wild.  However, how many people own fat dogs and cats?  There are two reasons for this.  One, our pets do not need to fend for themselves anymore, aka we have removed "survival of the fittest."  Two, most of our pets get fed cheap GRAINS which causes obesity and other problems.  My uncles beloved dog has diabetes?!  

Fake Food

I was working out yesterday when I randomly began thinking about what food could look like 100 years down the road.  As it is, I don't think someone from the 19th century would recognize a majority of today's typical groceries.  Funny how what we think of as "healthy food" didn't even exist a hundred years ago.  Now that these healthy foods are readily available in every grocery store, are we more healthy?  I think not.

In my day dreaming, I thought of artificial food.  I was thinking of a green pepper.  It was made out of edible wax and then "painted" green.  The paint contained the nutrients to imitate a real pepper.  I thought that this could be practical in case society has problems providing vegetables for the 7 billion people on the planet.  As it is, most conventional fruits and vegetables in the grocery store are coated with an edible wax, for a number of reasons.  I was only thinking of the inverse, a vegetable made mostly of wax, coated with nutrients.  Is this the future of fresh?

After these dreadful predictions, I then realized these products already exist!  I thought about Cool Whip, which is a whipped dessert topping that imitates real whipped cream (although Cool Whip now does contain some dairy).  I thought about vegan food; specifically vegan "meat."  They use fake food such as soy protein or cornstarch to create a meat imitation product.  That kills me.  I wouldn't touch that fake food, yet it is widely considered to be the healthiest option.

I also thought about juice.  Juice is very misunderstood.  While it can provide a lot of vitamins, it also provides a lot of sugar.  Sometimes sugar is even added.  Drinking juice results in an immediate, large spike in insulin because there is no time required to break it down.  At least when you eat an orange, your body must process the meat of the orange to access the nutrients.  This slows the absorption of the sugar, a good thing.  When you drink orange juice, there is no processing needed, hence the immediate spike.  So many believe juice to be healthy and important to drink throughout the day.  I think juice is a joke and just another vehicle for sugar.

What about all the different cereals?  I could write pages on the sins of cereal and how they are currently marketed.  Breakfast in general is dumb idea.  Why do we even need to eat breakfast?  The standard American breakfast is pure carbohydrates, aka sugar.  I don't care what cereal it is.  It is all sugar.  Now they make calcium infused cereal, high protein cereal... these foods are fake.

Fiber, sugar, grains and "low fat," are jokes that I would be laughing at, except I pity all those innocent people who try to do the right thing by eating "healthy," when in fact, they are doomed for failure and a life of full of problems ("Follow the Money...").  I will touch on these subjects again in the near future.

Finally, I have been watching a lot of the food network lately and noticed something.  The fattest, most unhealthy looking chef's, use the most sugar and/or eat the cheapest food.  There is no denying Rachel Ray, who prepares some of the cheapest foods, has ballooned in recent years.  I enjoy Barefoot Contessa, but, she cooks with a ton of sugar, and she is a big lady.  Then there is Giada De Laurentiis, who cooks a lot of real food (she was cooking with lobster meat last show), and she is very healthy looking.  Chef Bobby Flay, is in decent shape and he cooks with real food.  I just noticed some correlation there.

Understanding Islam Extremists

In order to help me grasp terrorism I know I need a better understanding of Islam.  I am almost finished with the book Inside the Jihad, My life with Al Qaeda.  It is about an Arab Muslim, Omar Nasiri, who becomes a spy for the European secret service and infiltrates Al Qaeda training camps and sleeper cells.  It is a great book provides insight into the justifications of terrorism.  Here is one part I found particularly interesting.

I learned that there are many types of Jihad.  These include "inner jihad (prayer), the jihad of knowledge and scholarship, jihad of the tongue (speaking out), jihad through actions and the ultimate jihad, the 'holy war.'"  The ultimate jihad is the one that justifies terrorism.

Of course, the laws governing jihad, as described in the Kur'an and the hadith, are open for interpretation.  Omar points out that there varying degrees of interpretation (hence the terrorists being labeled as extremists.  Their interpretations are extreme).  For example, there is an interesting interpretation comparing "innocent" people and the "enemy."

Extremists view the "enemy" to include the entire supply chain supporting the enemy.  In other words, the people with the guns are not the only enemy.  Anyone who provides money, food or water, moral support (journalists writing in favor of the enemy), to the enemy is also the enemy.  Wives/children who pray for the triumphant return of their husband/father from battle, are the enemy.  Clearly, in their eyes, every American is the enemy.  Everyone, can be their enemy.

I've also learned that, for the most part, extremist's are incapable of innovation, which is what they prefer because anyone who innovates is an infidel.  As history has taught us, time and time again, anything that fails to evolve, dies...

I'll post more on this topic as think up more interesting points.

Back to Charleston

I'm moving back to South Carolina in about a week (and I'm pumped).  I will be there for another 6-8 months.  I need to find a place to live.  I loved living on Daniel Island when I lived their last.  My previous roommate and I are now stationed in different places and none of my other friends want to live on Daniel Island.  They would rather live in downtown Charleston, within walking distance to the bars.  I have a couple problems with this:
1.  I'm not into the bar scene as much as I used to be
2.  Parking downtown can be terrible.  Where can my girlfriend park?
3.  It's a long commute to work
4.  No community pool or grill
5.  Busy/Noisy
6.  I have always lived with a roommate and never tried living alone
7.  Downtown is pretty, but, old

On the other hand, there would be some pros of living downtown:
1.  I'm good friends with the guys who invited me in
2.  It is the closest I could live to my girlfriend
3.  We could car pool to work everyday
4.  Having roommates is fun
5.  We can buy a grill
6.  Close to the bars so that when I want to go out, it's easy.
7.  It's cheaper living with others than living in a single
8.  I don't have to furnish a living room because they have furniture

If I choose not to live downtown, then I would probably live by myself in Mount Pleasant.  I need to makeup my mind quickly because I have found some nice single apartments in Mount Pleasant that I don't foresee lasting long.  Damn, this is tough.

Believe in Passion

Side note: Last night, I won $116 playing Craps at the Mohegan Sun.  I had a good time and everyone profited from the shooting of newbie Jordan.  I'm not nearly addicted to gambling, but, it is a good way to kill some time with some friends.


People need something to believe in.  People need a passion.  That is what keeps people going and enjoying  life.  When people perceive they nothing to believe in, they lose the will to live.  However, that is only a perception.  There is an infinite number of ways to believe and I'm not talking about religion.  The key is to continue educating yourself.

Maybe you can learn a new language.  Learning a second language is a major goal of mine.  After my experiences abroad, I realize how ignorant it is that I only speak English.  Many Europeans speak at least 2 languages.  Part of that is out of necessity because of the relatively small size of European countries and the need to communicate in multiple languages when traveling.  In Europe, English, has become a universal language.  In that regard, traveling through Europe is easy for Americans (assuming they speak English...).  I already have a background in Spanish from high school, but, I think the better choice for me would be to learn Chinese, albeit far more difficult.  I think I would begin with Rosetta Stone.

One of my inspirations to learn another language is Benjamin Franklin.  I recently finished reading his very interesting autobiography.  I am extremely impressed in Franklin's intellectual discipline.  At a time before electricity and reliable information exchange, he was able to teach himself several languages.  He could read and write fluently in English, German, Latin, French, Spanish and Italian.  Obviously, he was a brilliant man but, the fact that he could teach himself these languages, in this time period, removes all excuses I have for not learning another language.

Recently I saw a commercial advertising a car.  The commercial featured the tracking of a weather balloon.  That weather balloon took images of earth from space.  How cool would that be?  It can't be that expensive an endeavor and is something I would love to try.  See here http://space.1337arts.com/

Believe in travel.  I love to travel.  That is one of the reasons I joined the Navy.  Often times, traveling is accompanied by amazing experiences and lead to personal growth that cannot be otherwise attained.  I'm currently reading The 4 Hour Work Week, by Timothy Ferriss, in which the love to travel is a theme.  I will do my best to see all that I can.

The ability to view Earth from space and easily travel far distances are desires of our earliest ancestors that only became feasible in the past hundred years.  Why not fulfill these natural instincts?  As far as learning another language, that may facilitate your travel's and lead to more grand opportunities. It literally opens up a whole new world of possible friends and experiences.  Our ancestors would have given anything for some of the opportunities I listed above and yet, many of us do not take advantage of them.  Instead, we play videogames.

These are only a few things, of MANY, that I believe in.  If you find yourself in a rut, try something new.  Pledge to learn a new language and then travel to a region where you can employ your new skills.  Who cares about money?  You cannot put a price on a genuine experience.  Your kids/grand-kids/great-grand-kids are not going to respect you for the money you may have left behind.  Instead, they will respect you for the passion in which you lived your own life.

What your passion is, is not the point.  The point is, to have a passion.

Living link to the Civil War

My brother and I with our grandparents, spring 2010

My grandfather, whom I believe is 93 years old (and still in great health), has a neat recollection.  He remembers seeing a parade in NYC, where he grew up, composed of veterans of the civil war.  He was a boy at the time and I wonder how many people are still alive that have seen authentic civil war veterans?  It cannot be many.  How cool is that?

The war ended in 1865.  There are accounts of very young men serving in both the Confederate and Union armies.  These boys, some as young as 10, were drummer boys or message runners.  They were not usually enlisted for combat, but, sometimes that came with the territory.

For example, lets say we have a ten year old boy who served during the civil war.  If this boy grew up and fathered a child at an older age, perhaps at the age of 60, that child would be born in 1915.  It is now 2012.  That would make their child almost 100 years old.  I wonder if anyone is still alive today whose father was in the civil war.  It could be possible.

New blog- New Rules

Originally, this blog was about my travels through Europe in the fall of2009, when I studied abroad in Denmark.  Now, I want this blog to take a different direction. 

I want this blog to become a diary of sorts, where I have the freedom to comment on a variety of topics i.e. the daily news, ideas, my personal musings, experiences, sports and life in general. 

This blog will also serve as an intellectual tool, improving the transformation of my thoughts to writing.  I will make every attempt to write something of significance every day of the year, for the next year. 

I will define "something of significance" as an entry that takes some amount of original, creative, intelligent thought.  It may only be a sentence long, a haiku, or the first four chapters of my book.

I hope you enjoy