The procurement of the Qurans

The collective purchasing of thousands of Qurans will profit Islam. If your goal is to somehow bring Islam down, this will have the opposite intended effect.

Some are obtaining free Qurans under the guise of actually wanting them. This is deceitful, which is not a characteristic of Christianity.

Hypocrisy and ignorance

Many have skewed The Bible for their own violent causes, such as bombing abortion clinics. Sadly, it seems that many Christians are skewing a religion in order to demolish the competition. However, the Bible teaches us that freedom only comes from the truth. So skewing another religion, even if you don’t believe that religion to be true, is still an action that lies in deceit. Therefore, the action is not biblical.

Misunderstanding of Jesus and our role as Christians

The actions we see Jesus taking in the New Testament are those of love, mercy, grace, and compassion. There is one instance of him getting angry and being destructive in a temple that had been turned into a retail shop. That anger and destruction was targeted at believers, not non-believers who haven’t chosen to follow him.

He was tough on Pharisees who were out to get him, but he wasn’t focused on destroying the beliefs of others. Instead, his constant goal was to build people up through love and peace.

Spreading hate instead of love

Jones’ time would be better spent volunteering for something positive. Organize a food drive, donate blood, do a shift at a homeless shelter, raise money for clean water, help rebuild areas that have been damaged by natural disasters. These are the things Jesus has called us to do.

And we’re to do them calmly and quietly, not by concurrently bashing people over the head with impatient, narrow-minded interpretations of the Bible.

Scare-mongering

Jones claims this is a response to 9/11. The problem with this excuse is that 9/11 happened 9 years ago. There hasn’t been another terrorist attack on our country. Plus, it’s not Jones’ job to stop terrorism. If he’s interested in a job in counterterrorism, he should go through the proper training and join the military, CIA or FBI.

Inciting terrorism

Burning Qurans will only make Islam extremists really pissed off and more motivated to plan terrorist attacks against the United States.

Bringing attention to something you disagree with often spreads the message

Ok, I risk hypocrisy even mentioning this. After all, am I not spreading the message of this moron by blogging about this?

The reason I’m blogging is because I want people to know that not all of us who are Christians espouse the often judgmental things said and done by the few idiotic Christians who happen to make the news. (Consequently, Christians rarely make the news for the numerous good things they do. Then again, the news rarely covers anything good.)

If bloggers never covered Sarah Palin, she wouldn’t have the success she has. When we boycott things, we often bring more attention and yes, even support, to the causes we disagree with. So, where do we draw the line?

Terry Jones is initiating attention against Islam/Quran. I’m blogging this because it’s news that’s already made headlines. If it was just some guy I heard about, I’d leave it alone.

But because Jones is misrepresenting Christianity, I feel the need to take a stand.

Image via Roger Smith

Almost overnight, there would be jobs. LOTS AND LOTS OF JOBS. There would be more commerce, with millions of dollars pouring legally into the economy. Marijuana could be taxed, bringing in more revenue to the government.

Those in states without medical marijuana could get relief from pain. The relief they get would be more effective, consistent and safe than current prescription options.

Others could use marijuana recreationally, much like they drink alcohol socially. Laws that apply to alcohol, such as not driving under the influence, would apply to marijuana.

Violence would go down, especially in Mexico. It would prevent that violence from spilling further over the border into the United States. Sure, drug cartels still want to push cocaine and heroin, but marijuana makes up 60% of their business. Marijuana is what the American consumer most wants.

Legalizing marijuana, of course, has its political risks. So, I recommend starting off slow. Obama and the Democrat-controlled Congress should legalize medical marijuana in all states and territories right now. This would almost single-handedly ensure mid-term victories. A huge majority of voters are in favor of medical marijuana. There’s no way to secure a vote better than giving the people what they want.

Instead, Obama’s campaign promise to end the raids on medical marijuana clinics continues to go unfulfilled.

Image via arimoore.

It is possible for the drug cartels to win, and they’re doing a good job of it. The violence in Mexico is heartbreaking. Since 2007, 28,000 people have died due to drug-related violence in Mexico.

The violence is beginning to spill across the border into the U.S. Bullets don’t really care about walls or minutemen. There are two ways this can go: the U.S. can either legalize marijuana or send troops down to fight the cartels.

With a recently ended war in Iraq and continued battle in Afghanistan (where, yes, the war on drugs is a factor), we’re not really in position to invade Mexico. Even if we did (and sadly, this would probably be our first choice), we’d be opening an enormous can of worms by occupying yet another country.

Obama is in a unique position right now. If he legalizes marijuana NOW, he doesn’t look like he’s giving into drug cartels. If he doesn’t, he’ll have no political choice but to send troops to Mexico. It will feel like Iraq because occupation will not automatically mean the end to violence.

For the sake of argument, let’s pretend we were able to stabilize Mexico. It’s only temporary in location and time. The violence would be pushed further south. Central America would be crunched even more than it already is, since Venezuela and the cartels in Colombia provide southern resistance.  After awhile, we’d be calling for our troops to come home, just like Iraq. 10-20 years later, drug cartels take over Mexico again.

The ridiculous thing is that most of this is over a plant that’s safer than alcohol.

Image via taberandrew

For a short time, I ran a humor site for thyroid cancer survivors. It joked about such topics as being radioactive during treatment and the dumb things people say like “Did you turn green?” Seriously, folks – we’ve heard that one before.

I once made my own T-shirt with radioactive symbols on it and the words, “Let it glow, Let it glow, Let it glow.” It was around Christmastime and I was doing my annual scans to see if my cancer had grown or recurred. To scan for my particular brand of cancer, you have to get a tad bit radioactive, which makes the cells light up on the scanning machine.

I was in a unique situation where there were markers in my blood but nothing would show up on scans. The markers were indicators that thyroid cells existed in my body. I had no idea if they were cancerous or benign.

So, I wore my shirt. The nuclear medicine tech who barely spoke English got a chuckle. No one else even noticed. Oh well, you take laughs where you can get them.

The cells have never been found, but each year we continue to read their message in the bloodwork: “We’re still here. One day you might have a recurrence and need more treatment. Or you might not. Or we might totally mess with you, congregate in your lymph nodes and require you to have extensive neck surgery.”

Those cells taunt me. But the joke is on them. They’ll never find my funny bone.

First, I should clarify what I mean by losing weight. I want to shed some of the gut/chest fat because it’s beginning to cause problems with my back and posture. I intend to enhance my focus on weight training, so that I’ll build strong muscles in my back. Because of that, I may not actually lose a ton of weight. I’m not looking to really shed pounds as much as release the burden on my back.

Some people love how they look fat. Many more people probably would if there wasn’t such false pressure based on bad science in this country.

Some people like being thin. Others like being muscular and toned.

So many body shapes, there should be a lot more love!

I think the idea is to not let any one ideal push you to do stupid things to your body.

Image via AMRosario

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=240031&id=528554992&saved#!/album.php?aid=240031&id=528554992

But why are people feeling the need to use their cell phones so much while they’re driving? Why is their the need for distraction?

My number one guess is boredom. But it’s still amazing to me how easily and quickly we get bored. It’s not that people are just bored while driving, they’re bored waiting in line. The other day I was at a restaurant waiting for my food and I was so enthralled with my email, I didn’t hear them call my order!

I’ve witnessed plenty others do the same. Because they often make me wait longer with their distracted ways.

An article in the New York Times yesterday talked about this issue of filling micro-moments with digital distractions. But the convenience of devices available for constant entertainment is not necessarily a good thing.

Research suggests that without downtime, your brain won’t fully process and commit to memory the things that you’re learning. Additional research suggests that you’ll learn better after walking in nature than walking in an urban environment.

(The article cited rat studies. I’m not a big fan of rat studies and their implications for humans, but I was still intrigued by the results.)

Personally, I feel stimulated when in an urban environment. But I do agree that constant stimulation can create overload. This is why it’s very important for cities to include parks in their urban areas. Plus, perhaps schools should spend more on landscaping than fancy structures (I’m looking at you, California.)

The problem with slowing down is that our thoughts can scare the shit out of us. When you slow down, you might actually have to deal with conflict and insecurities and rejection and impurities and imperfection.

It’s easier to keep busy. But we do so at our own peril.

Things are left unfinished. Relationships suffer. Texting while driving kills people.

And we slowly kill ourselves.

The good news is that slowing down doesn’t always have to involve the scary thoughts mentioned above. I have a hunch that once you start doing it, eventually your thoughts are happy. You dream, you fantasize. You think of how to brighten someone’s day. You figure out how to reach a goal.

It will take some courage at first, but it might just be worth it.

Image via OregonDOT

• Too few calories can disrupt bone formation in women – into their 30s. source
• A study of 13,000 men followed over 40 years showed that an increase in weight was associated with a decrease in the risk of dying from cancer and infections. source
• Of people undergoing dialysis, the obese fare better than smaller people. source
• Fatter cardiac patients are more likely to survive hospitalizations and invasive treatments. source
• You’re 2.5 times LESS likely to die of acute heart failure when hospitalized if you’re obese as opposed to “normal weight.” source
• In the U.S., obesity rates have increased while heart disease has decreased. source

So why do we always hear that being skinny is better for you? We’ve looked before at the money angle.

Another reason might be control. It’s well-documented that most diseases are hereditary. That’s scary.  Therefore, weight loss is an attractive theory – it gives the illusion of control. Unfortunately, too many people do dangerous things to lose weight, like consume too-few calories.

In light of all this, is it wrong to be skinny? No. Plenty of both skinny and fat and obese people have long lifespans. While fat and obesity has some advantages (in the well-conducted studies), the margin of advantage was, for the most part, not that much.

Does anyone need to worry about their weight then?

Yes. You *do* need to be concerned if you’re underweight or if you’re super-obese (think BMI >35 range). This represents a small percentage of the population. These folks are being underserved when we expand our definition of fat and thin beyond where they truly need to be.

How to proceed?

Calories: Make sure you get enough each day, at *least* 1200. On the flip side, don’t consume so much that you’re putting yourself in the extreme BMI category. That’s a tougher number to configure, and it truly does vary for different people.

Strength training: Bone density and bone health are important for EVERYONE and strength training helps you accomplish that. If you’re skinny and can’t gain weight (I used to be this person), strength training is a great way to build muscle mass and gain the weight your body needs for all of those health benefits mentioned above. You don’t have to be a body builder. Just 2-3 days, 30 minutes at a time (1 hour a week!) can help you build strong muscles and bones.

Ladies, don’t worry about muscle bulk. You’d need to take steroids and maintain a strict regimen to look like the freaky deaky body building women you’ve seen pictures of. A few barbell exercises aren’t going to come close to doing that for you.

Oh and here’s a fun tip. Many strength trainers drink chocolate milk after their workouts. The mix of protein and carbs helps build and maintain their muscles.

Conclusion:

Skinny people: stop judging fat people.

Fat people: stop being jealous of skinny people. You will bury them, but just a few years before you die.

Medical researchers: stop skewing numbers.

Doctors: think for yourself and don’t just accept what’s been passed down in medical school. Find the good studies and treat your patients accordingly.

Hollywood: Hire more fat people for on-screen roles. They can act. Many of your skinny bitches cannot.

I made it. I made a brand new team at DSI. I found out last Thursday.

Normally this is the type of news I would shout from rooftops. But I didn’t.

I think it’s because my improv journey began 10 years ago and this is my first team. I kept it to myself for awhile. I savored it.

I’m also terrified. I went to my first practice last night. And I realized pretty quickly that I have this nasty voice in my head whispering “You don’t deserve to be here.”

I am now in the process of murdering that voice.

My first performance with my first improv team ever is Friday at 7:30pm at DSI. Hide your wife, hide your kids, hide your husbands and come on out to watch.

First of all, I don’t know what doctor in their right mind has been denying their patients pain relief from the beginning. Oncologists/surgeons/etc do everything possible to relieve the pain of those undergoing chemotherapy.

Pain and depression are tightly related. So if you don’t have pain relief, you will get depressed. If you are already depressed, pain will make it worse. Actually, depression is often a sign that cancer has returned in some cancers.

But apparently, there is confusion over what palliative care is. It’s simply making people as comfortable as possible during cancer treatment. Unfortunately, many people think palliative care is hospice. It’s not. Hospice is truly end-of-life care.

So here’s the deal: if you get cancer, you want as much pain relief as possible. Tell your doctor. Don’t worry about the news of your pain “burdening” your friends and family. People need to know if you experience pain so they can help you feel better.

If you have a doctor who’s not sympathetic to your pain, find a better doctor!

Now to the extending life by three months discussion. This is not always a positive thing. My dad lived longer than the average patient for his type of brain cancer. But the word “live” is a technicality. The last 3-5 months of his life were spent mostly sleeping in hospital bed set up in his living room. He wasn’t a vegetable, but he wasn’t much more either. My dad would never have asked for euthanasia, but it made me realize people should have the right to avoid long, excruciating deaths.

We oppose torture, but we force people to die this way? It makes no sense.

Of course, you wouldn’t want to forego palliative care. Indeed, it likely helps people avoid excruciating deaths by drugging them up the whole time. This is another big reason why marijuana should be legalized! Most pain meds have nasty side effects. Marijuana would make palliative care so much better!

This study only involved 151 people who had lung cancer. I have no doubt that future studies would prove that palliative care is optimal for cancer patients. What we should really be concerned about are doctors who are ignoring the pain and depression of their patients from the get-go!