Men Don't Have Friends

No friend have I. I must live by myself alone; but I know well that God is nearer to me than others in my art, so I will walk fearlessly with Him.

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN

I don't have any friends. This is a reality that I have only recently come to accept. This is not because I made a choice to not have friends. It comes from the fact that I bounce the ball in that direction, and it never comes bouncing back. At some point, you just let the ball drop from your hand.

I am not alone in this observation. Others have pointed out that men don't have friends. They will have their wives and girlfriends. They will have their families. That's it.

For men, interaction with other men happens on the job. The other arena would be a saloon somewhere. There used to be bowling leagues and fraternal organizations, but these are in steep decline. Then, there is church. Most men have lost interest in religion today, so this outlet for friendship is closed to them.

I think not having friends is natural for men. This isn't a recent phenomenon but goes back in history. Men are loners by nature. Men share activities like work which is when they talk. Otherwise, they remain alone. I do not expect this to change.

Drinking buddies are not friends. I used to think they were friends, but they aren't. They are just bad influences and a good reason to give up drinking.

My advice to men is to get used to keeping your own company. Have a relationship with God and a good woman. Beyond that, you just have contacts.

The Vanity of Marathons

The difference between a jogger and a runner is an entry blank.

GEORGE SHEEHAN

Dave Paul had a Walking is Fitness podcast about the Myrtle Beach Marathon and Half-Marathon where he asked a question. Who did the harder thing? Naturally, I had thoughts. I am now going to share those thoughts with the Gentle Reader.

Dave compared the first place finisher of the half-marathon who ran the distance with the last place finisher who walked the distance at 3 mph. This speed is fairly standard for most walkers. But I don't ask who did the harder thing. Clearly, running is harder than walking and always will be. This is why Yours Truly doesn't care to do running for fitness anymore. Dave's question was fairly ridiculous.

Walkers shouldn't enter marathons or half-marathons or any other type of race. Walkers don't belong there. This may sound elitist coming from me, but it isn't. I think these races are vanity and utterly stupid. If you want to walk 13.1 miles, go walk for four hours in your neighborhood or park. You don't need a starting line or an entry fee. You can time it on your watch, and it is FREE. The only downside is that no one is going to give you a finisher's medal or celebrate your "achievement."

These road races are utter vanity even for the runners who run them. They want credit and validation for "doing a hard thing." (Whenever Dave utters that line, I want to gag.)  For some reason, people are fearful that they are going to slide through life unrecognized. This lack of recognition would be humility. Humility is a virtue while vanity is a vice.

George Sheehan got it wrong when he said that the entry blank is what turns a jogger into a runner. Today, you have mothers pushing strollers across these finish lines. People walk these events or shuffle often wearing ridiculous costumes and drinking beer. Road races are now a mockery of athleticism. By the entry blank standard, all of these people are runners. As for the town, they have to endure the inconvenience of having these clowns clog up their roadways as they pretend to be athletes.

As a fitness walker, I refuse to participate in this insanity. I am not an athlete. I am not going to pretend to be an athlete. I don't care to compete or turn exercise into a competitive endeavor. I walk for my own health and enjoyment. That is enough motivation for me to get out the door.

I have already pointed out that Dave Paul suffers from Failed Runner Syndrome. If you want to be a runner, then take up running. Two things will happen when you do this. Either you will feel pride in your achievement, or you will see the utter stupidity and vanity in it all. To be in between these two is foolish. If Dave Paul desperately wants to do a hard thing, the hardest thing for him to do would be admitting his Failed Runner Syndrome and curing it.

Fitness walkers are humble. They don't do marathons. They might walk 50 miles in a day, but they don't run in road races. This is vanity. Somewhere, our culture has forgotten that vanity is a vice. Pride is a deadly sin, and the first casualty of pride is common sense. Take the humble path and leave the entry blanks empty.

When Does A Walk Become A Hike?

With more people in the outdoors than ever, it is important that each of us knows how to take care of our own waste.

BLURB FOR How To Shit In The Woods by Kathleen Meyer

Walking and hiking are essentially the same thing. If you walk in nature, you are going to face the question. Is this a hike? How do you answer the question?

It is fairly easy to distinguish a thru-hike from a day hike. The difference between the two is if you are going to be sleeping on the ground that night. If the answer is yes, you are thru-hiking. You are living on the trail. Bookmark this in your brain because we will revisit this later.

For some people, things like terrain and elevation are what turn a walk into a hike. I do not agree. I call this trail walking much like runners will call it trail running. Additionally, some will cite distance as what turns a walk into a hike, but this is incorrect. Walking a marathon is not considered a hike. A trail marathon is not considered a hike when runners run the distance, so walking the distance doesn't make it a hike. Let us return to that bookmark in your brain.

A walk turns into a hike when you have to urinate or defecate in the woods or wherever. That may be TMI for the Gentle Reader, but the potty humor abounds in the hiking community. That is no accident. If you are  going on a walk that doesn't have restroom facilities nearby and is long enough to require that pit stop, you are on a hike. I will die defending this hill.

I don't have any issues with hikers or hiking. To me, a hiker is just a walker who likes to poop in the woods. I am not a hiker because I do not like to poop in the woods. I want a nice restroom where I can do my business. I also don't want to sleep on the ground, boil snow for drinking water, or lug a heavy pack with a tent and a sleeping bag. That may be fun for hikers but not for me.

Hiking is about the logistics of living in the outdoors while walking in the outdoors. This is why hikers always carry a backpack. There will be a roll of toilet paper in that pack. The walker will not have that roll. He will have a water bottle and some granola bars in his pack.

I think this answers the question and clears up the matter about when a walk becomes a hike. This is why my only trail walking aspirations are to walk for a bit in a state park with adequate restroom facilities. Those facilities are the first thing I will note in my research on a state park. I will leave the hiking to the hikers. And watch where you are stepping. Hiking happens.

The Decline of Zen Habits

Principle 1: By setting limitations, we must choose the essential. So in everything you do, learn to set limitations.   Principle 2: By choosing the essential, we create great impact with minimal resources. Always choose the essential to maximize your time and energy.

LEO BABAUTA

In circa 2008, I discovered Zen Habits and Leo Babauta. I want to say that Leo changed my life, but he didn't. I was still an atheist back then. I was never a smoker, so I didn't need to learn how to quit smoking. I had no interest in his vegan advice, but I did like what he said about minimalism and simple living. Basically, Leo was a very practical giver of advice. Today, he is not practical at all with his turn to life coaching and fearless living and whatever. Today's Zen Habits is not the one I was reading back in 2008.

In 2011, Leo took a different direction and eschewed productivity advice in favor of simple living. He advised his readers to Toss Productivity Out and do less stuff. I think this is the moment that Leo lost his popularity and initial fanbase. This was the beginning of the decline of Zen Habits.

I remember that this was the time I stopped following Leo. I found his new posts to be insipid and unhelpful. The simple fact is that Leo tapped into the desire for people to improve themselves and gave them simple and practical advice for that improvement. Those tips still hold up today. Then, Leo started "washing his bowl" and meditating and telling people to "breathe." I couldn't breathe because I wanted to vomit.

The thing that Leo inspired in me was to create my own simple and practical advice. The nickname I gave to my version of things was "Blue Collar Habits." Basically, it was Zen Habits without the Zen. I think it would make a good book except my advice keeps changing as I learn better ways. The gist of the blue collar habits is to find simple and practical solutions to the problems of living. Leo got the simple part right, but he has lost the practical part.

There are other people in this lane. One of them is Tim Ferriss with his weird schemes. Another is Ryan Holiday with his modernized stoic philosophy. Then, there are The Minimalists who know one note of the song and play it over and over. All of these people have some good points to make but none of them nailed it like Leo did back in 2008. Leo was the complete package.

What do you do when you have quit smoking, eradicated your debt, achieved physical fitness, and learned how to manage your time and money? You face the fact that your life is empty and meaningless. Striving to achieve these goals gave your life purpose. With achievement comes emptiness which breeds anxiety. Hence, you have to go in a religious direction to find that fulfillment. For Leo, it was Zen Buddhism or his version of it. It doesn't matter because Zen is a dead end.

My religion is Roman Catholicism. I can recognize nuggets of wisdom in Buddhism, Confucius, the Stoics, the ancient Greek philosophers, and military leaders. As they say, "All wisdom is God's wisdom." The problem is that all of these paths are fundamentally a way to have religion without having God.

I have tried the religion without God stuff. It doesn't work. Your meditation is time you could have spent on taking a nap. Stoicism aims to make you feel calm in this awful world except you are never going to achieve this calm. Your emotions are never going to leave you. All you can do is control them and hide them.

I miss the old Zen Habits. But I don't really need it anymore. I find practical advice from other bloggers and YouTubers. I also aspire to give practical advice. The Gentle Reader will have to judge the practicality of that advice.

Common Sense From A Cyclist

And therein lies the rub, and where it gets toxic. As mentioned earlier, cyclists who aren’t riding fast or wearing lycra are looked down on and treated as “less than” by those cyclists who do. I see it every time I ride my bike. Every time.

RON FRAZELLE

This quotation comes from this very enlightening opinion piece:

Op-Ed: It’s Time for More of the Bike Industry to Evolve Beyond Toxic Racing Culture

https://bikerumor.com/op-ed-bike-industry-toxic-racing-culture/

Now, I am not a cyclist. In fact, I think cycling is stupid. It's not my thing. But the cyclist that wrote this opinion piece has touched on a subject that I have discussed here on various occasions. This would be the subject of marketing especially as it pertains to fitness and outdoor activities. Magazines and websites market these activities as sports as they drive up the price on unnecessary products and drive out the fun and pleasure. The consequence of this is that people choose to remain on the couch instead of getting old fashioned exercise like they used to before all of this craziness took off.

I have already seen this with walking versus running for fitness. Walking is an activity. Running is a sport. For some reason, running is seen as good exercise. People hate running, so they throw in the towel on fitness not realizing that walking is the better way to go.

The "toxic racing culture" is a product of marketing. Sports are nothing more than spectacles of marketing. They inspire people to buy the same gear and apparel as their sports heroes. It could be a pair of Air Jordans, a bike like Lance Armstrong, or name brand ski apparel like your favorite skiers. The irony is that most of the people who buy this crap don't do anything approaching what their heroes do. It is all vanity.

Those of us who have learned to reject this vanity get used to being looked at with disdain and derision. This comes when you reject the mindless herd and chart a new path. For me, the new path is really just the old path of common sense.

In the 1990's, I had a friend who drove a basic Nissan pickup truck. It was the small truck, so it was good on gas mileage. But it didn't have four wheel drive. It was not a sporty truck for off road adventures like a Jeep. It was as basic as a basic truck gets. When I asked him about the four wheel drive thing, he gave it to me straight. "Why do I need four wheel drive when it never leaves the pavement?"

My friend was absolutely correct. He needed a vehicle for light hauling and the daily commute to work. That's it. There's no snow in Florida, so he had zero need for the four wheel drive. It made an impression on me, and I resolved to buy the same kind of truck for myself.

Marketing is not aimed at showing you what you need. It is aimed at making you want what they have to sell to you. When it comes to bicycles, I think those utilitarian Dutch bicycles are awesome. They are not sporty, but they are great for transportation. They should sell those bicycles here in the USA, but they don't. The American public is too brainwashed to buy utilitarian bicycles.

I see the same thing with mothers and women who buy and drive meaty SUVs instead of sedans and minivans. They tool around in these off road vehicles that never leave the pavement. This burns considerable gasoline. That is a high price for vanity.

It is a real liberation to be set free from the mental prison of marketing. You begin to see all of the propaganda and manipulation for what it is. You realize that doing things you love to do doesn't take a lot of money. And you can ignore the herd.

Combox To The World And Other Things

My blog is a collection of answers people don’t want to hear to questions they didn’t ask.

SEBASTYNE YOUNG

On my Purpose page I wrote, "The purpose of this blog is to give me a platform to say what I think while giving everyone else the opportunity to ignore it." I have been blogging since 2005. This blog is actually the 2.0 version of Charlie's Blog. The first incarnation of the blog was filled with so much atheistic and libertarian idiocy and pornographic filth that it was easier to nuke the thing from orbit than try to salvage anything from it. My conversion to Roman Catholicism and a return to political conservatism made it necessary for me to resort to the nuclear option. I have no regrets on this.

I became a blogger after an accidental career as a messageboard and combox poster. Many of the things I wrote then were as long and as thoughtful as what appears on this blog. I also enjoyed the conversation and banter with the people that replied to those posts and comments. Then, some jerk running the site would delete what I took an hour to write. I know this impulse came more from jealousy than disagreement. The simple fact is that my comments overshadowed the creativity of the original writer of an article. The answer came when a fellow poster recommended that I start a blog. Blogs and blogging were new at the time, so I went for it. I never looked back.

Today, this blog is nothing more than my combox comments on things I read, watch, and hear. The difference is that what I write here can't be deleted. This is my platform. Charlie's Blog is my combox to the world.

I still write comments on things like YouTube videos, but I limit those comments to one or two sentences. That brevity makes it less irritating when my comments get deleted. No, I am not a troll. Trolls receive more toleration than me. What people want from a combox is an amen corner from people who are borderline imbeciles. Stupidity will be tolerated. Common sense will not be tolerated.

When social media came along, I was a natural for that medium. Today, those pits of distraction have the same problems as the comboxes and messageboards. For myself, I hate the addictive nature of social media. The delight is reading responses to what you have written and checking back in again and again. This is pride and vanity, so I eschew social media entirely now.

I used to get that same social media thrill when I had a combox here at the C-Blog. I don't care for an amen corner, but I do love when people disagree with me or challenge my thinking. I have a tremendously thick skin on things, and I get an adrenaline thrill from a contrary comment. I regretted having to shut down the combox after that doxxing incident, but I can't manage a combox at all. Rod Dreher said that you could have a good combox if you managed it well which means being a constant policeman. I don't care to do that. I find that it is easier to close the pool than sit out there being a lifeguard.

My policy now is to respond to things with blog posts instead of combox comments. I write what I think which leads to the being ignored part. When you write a combox comment, you have hijacked that audience for a bit. This is OK if you post forgettable comments. When the comments are unforgettable, you have problems. With a blog post, few people will ever read what you think.

In the real world of flesh and blood, I keep my opinions to myself. I just listen to people and try to take it all in. Once in a blue moon, I will slip and say something. I regret it every single time. I take those opinions that I keep to myself and share them with you, Gentle Reader.

I read other blogs, and those bloggers do the same thing I do. From their electronic soapboxes, they respond to news items and other bloggers. I think it is a good thing. The difference between those bloggers and myself is that I don't post responses to everything I read or hear. They post ten things per day. I publish one post weekly now. I don't think everything needs my commentary.

This is a long and drawn out preface to my thoughts about a recent Walking is Fitness podcast entitled "A Runner's Thoughts About Walking." Dave Paul's podcast is his combox to the world, and this podcast was in response to an article by a woman who took up walking to rehab from a running injury. Dave has this annoying habit of talking about things without giving a link or even a title to the source material. I had to do some googling to find the article. Here is the relevant quotation from that article:

I’ve always found walking boring, slow and, in all honesty, a waste of time. Why walk when you can run and get an adrenaline rush at the same time, and cover the distance twice as fast?

But running can take its toll on the body, which I discovered after completing a 250km ultra-marathon this summer. I tried cutting back on running but by September my physiotherapist advised me to have a "proper rest". This meant no running.

I have already said this before, and I will say it again. Running is stupid. Dave's podcast essentially said this without saying it. Dave Paul is polite to the point of being annoying. He also contradicts himself. In a previous podcast, he cited research that said running was not bad for your knees. In this podcast, he tells how his wife was on crutches with (wait for it) a knee injury from running. This injury was so bad that her doctor told her to not even walk on that knee or risk permanent impairment.

The cure for all running injuries is to stop running. Additionally, those running injuries can lead to crippling conditions where you can't even walk much less run. If your fitness activity puts you on crutches, that is a huge signal that you need to give up that activity for something safer and saner.

Dave Paul knows all of this. He just doesn't come out and say it. He resorts to a sort of telegraphy where he sends the message, but you have to know Morse code to decipher it. I know the code, so I will do the deciphering.

Running is stupid, but runners derive "personal satisfaction" from this fitness activity. This personal satisfaction is vanity. Runners are Type A people. When that runner is a Type A female, it means that she is a bitch.

WebMD says, "The phrase 'Type A' refers to a pattern of behavior and personality associated with high achievement, competitiveness, and impatience, among other characteristics." Any study on Type A characteristics will show why these people are attracted to running and uninterested in walking. Lily Canter said as much when she said that walking was boring, slow, and a waste of time. I appreciate her candor on the matter. She told me everything I already knew about her.

I am not a Type A person. Any Type A characteristics that I may have had developing were destroyed in my accident. This is why I am on the Gentle Path. This is also why I have a hard time fathoming why people continue running when it causes so much injury. They would rather be crippled than give up the pursuit of their vanity.

A Runner's Thoughts About Walking

https://dcs.megaphone.fm/TNM4449561210.mp3

I stopped running for a month and tried daily walks instead. Here are five things I learned

https://www.fitandwell.com/features/i-stopped-running-for-a-month-and-tried-daily-walks-instead-here-are-five-things-i-learned

What Is a Type A Personality?

https://www.webmd.com/balance/what-is-a-type-a-personality

The Mid-Tech Manifesto

 Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun. Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-two million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea.

DOUGLAS ADAMS, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

People call me a Luddite. I get this when I whip out my flip phone to make a call or send a text. I don't have the latest and greatest technology. I admit this. But I reject the Luddite label because Luddites don't use flip phones or any phones. They send handwritten letters by Pony Express. I am a mid tech user, and this is my manifesto.

1. Technology should solve problems not create them.

I like wearing cheap Casio digital watches. Nothing epitomizes the mid tech user like those watches. They are not wind up analog watches that cost a fortune nor are they smartwatches that also cost a fortune. They are cheap watches that get the job done of telling time, the date, etc. Those geeky watches solve problems. Those other watches create problems especially when you have to wind them or recharge them every 8 hours.

I also use a flip phone instead of a smartphone. I make calls and send text messages. I do not have a landline telephone. As you can see, I am in the middle between the landline user and the smartphone owner. This is the mid-tech zone

2. Technology should be cheap and reliable.

I do not upgrade to the latest and greatest thing. This is because I can't afford it. Instead, I buy the low cost alternative which would be a Chromebook instead of a Macbook. You can get a Chromebook for less than $200 at Walmart. I can't say the same for the Macbook.

3. Technology should be simple.

I don't want a car with a touchscreen. I want a car with physical buttons. I don't think taking your eyes off the road to do things on a touchscreen is safe or smart. I also see no point in having all the appliances in a home connected to the internet. All of this amounts to ridiculous complications of devices that worked totally fine without them. Always go with the simple.

4. Be a late adopter.

I bought a Sony Walkman radio two decades ago. Later, I bought an iPod. Both are out of production now. I no longer use an iPod, but I use my Walkman daily. I wish I had never blown the money on the iPod. That experience taught me to not be in a rush to buy the latest and greatest piece of tech especially when it will become obsolete a year or two later.

You're not missing out on something by being the last person to adopt a new piece of technology. It will still be there when you decide it is worth buying. It will probably be better and cheaper as they have worked out the kinks and bugs. The reality is it will likely turn out to be a fad, and you will save a lot of money by not buying it.

5. Hang on to your old tech and physical media.

I did not throw away my books when I bought my Kindle. Today, I am more inclined to throw away the Kindle. I also keep my CDs and DVDs. I hate vinyl records, but I still like cassette tapes. I subscribe to my town's newspaper. I am never in a rush to declutter "obsolete" tech and media.

Conclusion

The mid-tech strategy is just sensibility applied to the field of technology. It is not a rejection of technology but simply taking the slow road on gizmos and gadgets. When a new piece of tech proves itself to be cheap, simple, and reliable, I will buy it. I have not regretted being the last person in line on this stuff. I regret being at the head of the line. This will never happen to me again.

Sensibility Applied To The Political Dimension

There are no solutions. There are only trade-offs.

THOMAS SOWELL

When I was young, I was a Republican and a conservative. This began when I was in middle school and ended when I turned 30 and became an atheist. The reason I was a conservative was because I was a Christian. I think politics is an extension of your religious beliefs. When I lost my religion, I did a pivot into libertarianism. I could never become a Democrat or a Marxist. I am grateful that reading Ayn Rand was as nutty as I ever got. Then, God opened my eyes, and I became a Roman Catholic in my forties. This led to me becoming a "born again" conservative. Today, I consider myself to be a paleoconservative which I define as a reality based libertarian. I think paleoconservatism is the most sensible political position to take. Here is that sensibility applied to a few topics.

1. The lesser of two evils

When I was a libertarian, I considered voting to be a waste of time. When I did do it, I would waste that vote on libertarian candidates. If voting is a waste of time, voting for candidates who have no chance of winning is certainly a waste of time. This would be anyone who isn't a Republican. Third party voting or not voting ends up being a vote for the greater of two evils.

I have never been happy with the GOP candidates that made it to the general election. I vote my beliefs in the primaries, but I pinch my nose in the general election. When Romney ran against Obama, I couldn't vote for Mitt. Four years later, I wish Mitt Romney had won. Life in the USA would have been better. Today, we are still suffering from that election in 2012.

I am totally for voting for the lesser of the two evils. I am not so naive as to believe my single vote matters, but I do have a moral obligation to participate in civic affairs. I am not voting for Utopia. I am voting to prevent this world from descending completely into chaos and hell.

2. Minarchy

One of the things that I share with libertarians is a belief in small government. I believe government should be as small as possible. This makes me a minarchist. I am not an anarchist. I believe in law and order, the police, national defense, and public roads. I don't think all functions of government can be replaced with a profit driven corporation. I accept that taxes are the price we pay for government, but those taxes should be as low as possible. Sadly, small government conservatism has vanished, but I still believe in it.

3. Republics

I am not a monarchist. Some Roman Catholics champion monarchy forgetting what God had to say about monarchy in the Bible. Here is what God said,

And the word was displeasing in the eyes of Samuel, that they should say: Give us a king, to judge us. And Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel: Hearken to the voice of the people in all that they say to thee. For they have not rejected thee, but me, that I should not reign over them.  According to all their works, they have done from the day that I brought them out of Egypt until this day: as they have forsaken me, and served strange gods, so do they also unto thee. Now therefore hearken to their voice: but yet testify to them, and foretell them the right of the king, that shall reign over them. Then Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people that had desired a king of him,

And said: This will be the right of the king, that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and put them in his chariots, and will make them his horsemen, and his running footmen to run before his chariots, And he will appoint of them to be his tribunes, and centurions, and to plough his fields, and to reap his corn, and to make him arms and chariots. Your daughters also he will take to make him ointments, and to be his cooks, and bakers. And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your best oliveyards, and give them to his servants. Moreover he will take the tenth of your corn, and of the revenues of your vineyards, to give his eunuchs and servants.

Your servants also and handmaids, and your goodliest young men, and your asses he will take away, and put them to his work. Your flocks also he will tithe, and you shall be his servants. And you shall cry out in that day from the face of the king, whom you have chosen to yourselves. and the Lord will not hear you in that day, because you desired unto yourselves a king. But the people would not hear the voice of Samuel, and they said: Nay: but there shall be a king over us. And we also will be like all nations: and our king shall judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles for us.

1 SAMUEL 8:6-20 DOUAY-RHEIMS

Before King Saul and King David, judges and elders governed the people of Israel. This was essentially a republic much like the Romans had. It was not perfect, but it worked. Today, most countries around the world function as republics. This is the form of government for nations with modest ambitions. It is when they turn imperial that they clamor for a king and an emperor. This is the "strong man" impulse which is inimical to peace, freedom, and prosperity. Today, the neoconservative movement champions this imperialist viewpoint.

I am a monarchist because I believe in the Kingship of Christ. Jesus Christ is my only king. Unlike the Israelites, I want God for my king. Unlike the neoconservatives, I think we should withdraw from meddling in international affairs. I do not believe in Empire America. I think the USA was better off when it minded its own business. Today, we are on the verge of bankruptcy and war because of this neoconservative garbage. Everything God said about the king in the Bible remains true even today. 

4. Religion

The Founders believe that there could be no liberty without self-government. Without religion, virtue, and morality, your nation will descend into anarchy followed by tyranny. If you fear going out at night because of the criminal element, you grasp the concept. Our country has become estranged from God, and we are suffering the consequences.

Religion makes people better which leads to people having the freedom to do the good. This is opposed to those silly libertarian notions that freedom is the ability to do as you please so long as no one gets hurt. For some reason, this libertarian garbage is ending up with a lot of hurt people.

We need religion to be free. We cannot be free without it. Abstract libertarian notions of freedom will not suffice. The laws of the land should reflect the laws of God. Without God, life in this country is rapidly declining. This is why a guy like Putin acknowledges the need for religion's role in building a strong society. He is no saint, but he can see reality. Atheism didn't do any favors for Russia.

Conclusion

I am in the minority with these viewpoints except I have God and reality on my side. Libertarianism, socialism, and neoconservatism are idiotic. They are out of touch with reality and common sense. Sensibility demands a return to Christianity and embracing paleoconservativism. There is no perfection in this world. But there is a better world that we can have that beats the nightmare of the perfectionists. This is the world I want to live in until my particular judgment and the Second Coming.

Thrive Mode Revisited

Because shoes that fit better, perform better.

NEW BALANCE SLOGAN

This post is a companion to the original post, Modes: Thrive And Survive. I have had a year to reflect on the theme of that post, and I haven't changed my mind on any of it. I have grown deeper in my understanding of it. While that post was introspective and dealt with myself, this post is more outward observation and applies to everyone. Thrive mode is a ridiculous concept. We are all just survivors.

Thrive mode is predicated upon the belief that you can make a heaven out of this world and this life. You can't. From the Tower of Babel to the New World Order, human beings labor and strive to make a paradise in the present world. This utopian delusion can never be realized.

Thrive mode is the individual serving of that utopian delusion. This delusion takes many forms like the Bucket List and motivational speakers and consumerist lifestyles. Thrive mode is a rare thing and exists when people are fortunate enough to be rich in their youth. Eventually, age erodes thrive mode into survive mode.

Survive mode is when you throw in the towel on thrive mode. Age, injury, and poverty force people into survive mode. I think surviving takes more strength and virtue than thriving. They just don't give out trophies and medals for beating cancer, raising kids as a single parent, or surviving a car crash.

The genesis of this post came from hearing the story of a woman who contracted breast cancer and underwent surgery and chemo to beat it. While she was fighting this cancer, her own mother contracted cancer and died. After she beat that cancer, she would be put in the hospital again after someone ran a red light and T-boned her car. She had many broken bones and internal injuries. She would overcome that until she had to return to the hospital again to have 8 inches of colon removed which was a consequence of the accident. At this point, you are saying the same thing I am saying. This is one hell of a woman. She is a survivor. Here is where the story changes.

This woman was an avid runner before and during her troubles until the car crash. She fought to get back to that running which she does now. This strikes me as an anticlimactic effort to return to thrive mode. Being a survivor means less than being a winner. And that, Gentle Reader, is dumb. After you have survived all of that crap, getting a finisher's medal for coming in with the mid-pack at the half marathon is a mockery of fortitude. Somehow, the "winner" is better than the survivor.

Survivors don't have to prove anything. They don't have to sign up for suffering because they have already been through suffering. All of this thrive mode garbage is vanity. These thrive mode people are desperate to discover in themselves what survivors already know they have.

The thrive mode mentality is a sickness in our modern culture. Every year, people attempt to summit Mt. Everest which represents one of the prime items on the Bucket List of Life. A lot of people make it to the top. Most of the deaths occur trying to make it back down. This is why there are 300+ human popsicles at the top of the world. These people were motivated climbers, but they were not survivors.

I think mountain climbing is incredibly stupid. Somehow, we have become a society that celebrates this stupidity while denigrating common sense. Common sense is not climbing Mt. Everest. The most dangerous thing we survive is the daily commute. No one appreciates what it takes to make it to work and back home each day. That is survive mode. People do death defying things on a daily basis and don't realize it.

We need to celebrate survivors more. This means turning off the televised sporting events and appreciating normal people. The real heroes are found among the common folk. They grind each day as they get through life in survive mode. Survive mode is reality. Thrive mode is a fantasy for self-deluded people with maxed out credit cards.

Death of the Vegan Evangelist

I would rather eat an actual burger.

BHAGYASHREE KATARE, author of a study on plant based meats

Becoming a vegan is an awesome health decision. Becoming a vegan entrepreneur is an awful business decision. The simple fact is that opening a vegan eatery is the fastest way to bankruptcy. You would fare better wagering that capital on the tables in Vegas.

The vegan diet is DOA. It always has been and always will be. Vegans will always remain in the single digits of the population. You can analyze the reasons for this all day, but the actual truth is plain to see. People love the taste of meat, and they would rather die than give it up. Nothing you say to these people will ever change their minds. Not even disease and pending death will change their minds. In fact, they will give up everything else before they give up meat as evidenced by the popularity of the keto and carnivore diets. As for vegans themselves, they have a notoriously high rate of failure as they quit plant based eating.

Why continue spreading the vegan message? It is obviously not being received. It doesn't change the truth or value of that message. People don't want it. The best option at this stage is to let them get sick and die from eating crap.

I am grateful that some people put the vegan message out there because I was receptive. I was resigned to having heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and chronic gastrointestinal issues. Finding out the truth was very empowering for me. I was not at the mercy of "bad genetics." My diet was killing me. I just didn't know it.

People don't want to eat a healthy diet. They want to eat crap and get away with it. I ate crap and got away with it for 41 years until I didn't. Yet, I wish I had gotten the message earlier in my life. I realize that all my vegan evangelism is a vain effort on my part to reach my earlier self. I think I would have listened if people like me had tried harder.

The reality is that it is the few that have ears to hear. The masses are condemned to stupidity. They can't be reached. No amount of information, marketing, or motivation will make a difference. Vegan evangelism is a waste of time, money, and energy.

I will continue to write about plant based eating on this blog. What I will not do is talk about it beyond this blog. I already sit back and listen to people talk about various health issues without saying a word to them that all of this is needless suffering. I recognize these things not as cries for help but as the whining and misery of consequences for actions they are never going to change. When it comes to eating crap, these people are committed. I don't stand in their way.

UPDATE #1: I came across this sick video on YouTube, and I felt so bad for this guy and his stupidity.

Had a Stroke. Got Kicked Out Of The Carnivore Club. But It Is Okay. I Am Happy!

https://youtu.be/NDxh1hzisp4?si=MTyDZn_1_v5vGiW4

Watch this video and read the ridiculous comments.

UPDATE #2: After hearing and seeing stories of old people dying from Alzheimer's disease and other lingering illnesses, I have come to the conclusion that a life ending heart attack is not the worst way to check out of this life. That heart attack will be quick and save a lot of money on healthcare expenses and ease the burden of geriatric care on families. A coronary at 70 beats dementia at 80. This fact eases my conscience quite a bit on the vegan thing.

UPDATE #3: This is an interesting video from Mic the Vegan on this topic:

Is Veganism Dead?

https://youtu.be/U6BsCxC8FXQ?si=aFHNwFJfoJYRpWQI

Plain Vanilla Walking

People don't want just vanilla. They want 31 flavors.

KATY PERRY

Walking seems like a basic activity. You put one foot in front of another. That's it. Yet, some people can't stop there. It's not enough to have the plain vanilla flavored walking. They want more. They have to go beyond and change it up.

The first thing many walkers choose is some form of weighted walking. This might be ankle weights and wrist weights which are generally considered bad for your joints. Others opt for a weighted vest or a backpack for rucking which are bad for your back. All of this weighted walking represents new avenues for injuries that you supposedly gave up when you quit running.

The second thing is hiking. Walkers like to spend time in nature, so hiking is a natural progression for many of these people. A lightweight day hike seems sane, but things get serious with thru hiking which involves more gear and sleeping on the ground overnight. You can also end up as food for bears.

A third thing is Nordic walking which is walking with those poles like you're cross country skiing. This activates your upper body and gets your arms into the game until you lose those poles. Everyone in the neighborhood will look at you like you're an idiot with those poles.

A fourth thing is power walking which is just brisk walking. Some people put more arm swing into it, but I think it comes down to taking more steps per minute. I don't see this as anything but plain vanilla walking.

A fifth thing is race walking which is where people walk as fast or faster than joggers while keeping one foot in contact with the ground. This is an effort to turn walking into a sport. The movement is unnatural and very difficult. It amounts to running without breaking into a run. It has one advantage over running. It has a low injury rate. The downside is that runners will tell you that race walking isn't a sport. On this, I agree with the runners.

This brings me back to plain vanilla walking. Why do people feel the need to add to or change their walking program? Is it boredom? Is it a lack of self-confidence?

There is a famous saying that pigs get fed while hogs get slaughtered. The gist of that statement is that greed will undo the good. For some reason, the fitness space is prone to hogs getting slaughtered. CrossFit is the most extreme example of this. The Gentle Reader can probably recall all sorts of other fitness fads. These fads come and go which is why I prefer the tried and true over novelties.

I like plain vanilla walking. One day, I'd like to put a water bottle and a sandwich in my backpack and spend the day at a state park. I am not there at the moment, but it appeals to me. I don't see this as being outside plain vanilla walking.

I prefer plain vanilla walking. I don't care for extra equipment or to turn it into a sport. I keep it simple and boring. It works for me.

How To Drink In Moderation

Complete abstinence is easier than perfect moderation.

SAINT AUGUSTINE

I do not drink alcohol. I have three good reasons for not drinking. The first is that I do not want a drunk driving conviction. The easiest way to avoid this is to not drink. The second is that alcoholic beverages cause gout flare ups. The third is that I am a traumatic brain injury survivor, and I need all the brain cells I have left. I can never drink alcohol again.

Research indicates that there are no health benefits to drinking alcohol. Once upon a time, some people made health claims for red wine, but these have been debunked. Additionally, I know of no one who quit drinking that wasn't better off for it. You can never go wrong with not drinking.

Now, I am not a Baptist or a teetotaller. I am simply a Roman Catholic who doesn't drink. I find complete abstinence to be easier than perfect moderation. There are people who can drink in moderation. The problem is the definition of moderation. When does drinking become immoderate? Well, I have the answer to that question.

Drinking in moderation is easy. You can have one adult beverage in a 24 hour period. That's it. That one drink means you are not a teetotaller and can be sociable with people at a tavern or cocktail party. That one drink doesn't make you an alcoholic. In fact, you probably won't even get a buzz from that one drink.

I can already hear people moaning about this. One drink?! Why bother? And that, Gentle Reader, is my point. People drink to get buzzed or hammered. They are not interested in moderation whatsoever. They want to get DRUNK. Drunkenness is not moderation.

I agree that one drink isn't worth the bother. This is why I don't waste my time with drinking. One drink is perfect moderation. This would be a single glass of wine at dinner or a can of cold beer after mowing the lawn on a hot summer day.

Drinking alcohol has one benefit. It makes you more sociable. I don't need that because I have something better. I drink coffee. Coffee makes you more sociable and also smarter at the same time. You can meet people at a cafe and have a cup or two. Additionally, coffee has many health benefits and virtually no downsides. This is why I make the juice of the magic black bean my top beverage choice after water.

I also like drinking hot green tea in the afternoons or evenings for relaxation. This is also good for social occasions. Like coffee, tea has many health benefits as well. You can't go wrong with tea. And you can drink it iced if you want something refreshing on those hot summer days.

It is fashionable and even a tradition for Catholics to drink a pint of beer or take shots of whiskey. The argument is that evil is not found in a thing. Evil is found in the human heart. I will say that alcohol helps those people find that evil.

The reality is that many Catholics become alcoholics or have drinking problems. One of the principal characters in the Catholic novel, Brideshead Revisited, was an alcoholic named Sebastian Flyte. Dorothy Day reported having to help drunken Irish priests who couldn't lay off the sauce.

Why do people become alcoholics? That is easy. The alcoholic has depression which is anger at God. When you are angry at God, this can only lead to one's self-destruction. These drunks find momentary relief in the bottle, and they never find escape until they reckon with God. This is why AA puts so much stress on turning to God for help.

When you are on good terms with God, you will find moderation in all things especially drink. Life is better and happier with God than without God. Alcohol is no substitute for God.

Walking Versus Rucking

DISCLAIMER: I am not a physician, healthcare professional, or personal trainer. Consult with professionals before beginning any fitness program.

Load weight is the biggest risk factor when rucking. Studies suggest carrying loads equal to 10% of body weight (approximately 20lbs) is enough to significantly increase the risk of musculoskeletal injuries. Soldiers in the army routinely ruck with 80 to 50lbs. Subsequent declines in performance are acknowledged but, in a combat scenario, transporting such weight may be a realistic prospect. Research has determined four rucks per month to be the optimal frequency for soldiers’ efficiency and improvement. Additional marches are likely to negatively affect performance and increase the risk of foot, ankle and lower leg injuries.

ADAM SHERIFF, Common Rucking Injuries & How To Avoid Them

This quotation alone is enough to settle any debate about walking versus rucking. It also comes from an advocate for rucking as a fitness activity. I don't think rucking is worth the increased injury risk relative to plain vanilla walking. I think rucking is better than running when it comes to injuries, but it isn't better than walking. I can walk every single day versus the four times per month that you can ruck optimally according to the research.

The advice for preventing rucking injuries comes down to conditioning and equipment. You are advised to build up gradually with rucking. You are also advised to get expensive backpacks and special boots. I am a cheapskate, so I am not interested in activities that require special and expensive gear. Additionally, you will find many more websites and YouTube channels for rucking than for walking which fits with my thesis concerning products and activities. More gear produces more marketing and more media.

Rucking has a utilitarian argument that I will not dispute. It will condition you to carry loads for the military, hiking, or just lugging a backpack in your everyday life. I am a backpack guy except I don't carry the types of loads for the extended mileage that is common to rucking. I find that the easiest way to train for a thing is to actually do the thing you are training to do. This would be hiking or lugging books to class instead of rucking. You don't need to ruck with a 100 lb. load for 20 miles to be able to carry 20 lbs. of books from your car to your classroom. But if you are a "ground pounder" in the military, those rucks are vital necessities.

Simple walking is sufficient to improve health and fitness with a low risk of injury. If you want to increase the exercise, your best options are to walk more briskly and for greater distance. Some people add hills or walk treadmills set on an incline.

I will dig into the math of walking versus rucking using the Calories Burned Calculator. I cannot attest to the accuracy of the calculator, but it is what I have used to arrive at these figures. The Gentle Reader is now informed.

If a 150 lb. man walks at 3 mph for 1 hour, he will burn 208 calories. If you add 100 lbs. to that, he will burn 339 calories. 100 lbs. is a heavy load, but some people in the rucking community actually carry this load. Here's the thing. That 150 lb. man could eschew the rucksack and walk one additional hour to burn 415 calories. Walking further burns more calories than walking with heavier weight. Is saving that hour worth the injury risk of carrying the heavier load?

What happens when the 150 lb. man walks at 4 mph for an hour? He will burn 336 calories which is just 3 shy if he had lugged the 100 lb. rucksack at 3 mph for an hour. Walking faster gets it done without an increase in the risk of injury.

What is the takeaway from this? If you want to burn more calories, walk farther and walk faster. This is a better way than rucking. Naturally, you will hear claims that rucking burns 2 to 3 times more calories than walking. I think these claims are bogus. This would mean that 1 hour of rucking would be equal to 2 to 3 hours of walking. My calculator doesn't agree. But that bogus claim sells more product. The only way it would be legit is if you carried double or triple your current body weight. Who does this?

Rucking also makes the claim of enhancing strength. I tend to agree. What also enhances strength is dedicated strength training. I think exercising those areas you want to improve would be better than risking injuries with rucking. You may even want to do that strength training before you begin a rucking program.

I don't see rucking as being worth the increased injury risk. It's the same argument I make with running. If you can get the same results with less risk of injury, that's the way to go. Walking does that for you. As it stands, rucking with light weight isn't worth the time while rucking with heavy weight isn't worth the risk of injury.

UPDATE #1: I came across this video on YouTube about weighted walking:

I walked w/ a weighted vest for 30 days – what to avoid

https://youtu.be/kubqDjr_emA?si=z9VzlYQcKsKDZmWR

I like videos where people experiment with things and give an honest appraisal of the experience. In this video, the presenter wore a 30 lb. weighted vest while walking. She seemed to enjoy it at first until the vest became painful and uncomfortable for her shoulders. Naturally, she blamed the vest and decided that a weighted belt would be better. I think going without additional weight is the better way to go. Just do plain vanilla walking and dedicated strength training.

UPDATE #2: The big injury area for runners are the knees. That pounding takes a toll. With rucking, the big injury area is the back. I see many discussions about back pain and injuries related to rucking. Rucking advocates stress weight distribution and better equipment which sounds like runners with their expensive shoes.

This was a helpful article:

Is Rucking Bad For Your Back

https://www.ruckformiles.com/guides/is-rucking-bad-for-your-back/

When I read articles like this, they remind me of the fine print in a contract. You usually find out the negatives after you have signed the paperwork. With rucking, shoulder pain and back pain are common. One of the recommendations was wearing a weight vest instead of a pack like the lady did in Update #1. The vest didn't do her any good.

Why risk these injuries? Rucking lost me at "compression nerve injury." Once again, save your back and just do plain vanilla walking.

Sensibility Applied to the Spiritual Dimension

A sensible mind is a medium mind which is neither too great nor too little.

SAINT FRANCIS DE SALES

My accident and my injuries gave me a gift. This was the gift of sensibility. Before my accident, I was very hard on myself. I was a failure in my own eyes, and I thought the way to remedy this failure was to try harder. This meant going to extremes. I was an extremist. After the accident, I had to come off of that extremism. I had to go easy on myself. Sensibility replaced my extremism, and I learned that I do not have to be superhuman. I just need to be me. This means being consistent on modest goals instead of being inconsistent on extreme goals. That is the heart of sensibility.

I apply sensibility to everything I do now. This includes my life as a Roman Catholic. People go to extremes in their spiritual practices, but this extremism doesn't produce the fruit of sanctity and holiness. Extremism just feeds the pride and vanity of the individual. This vanity is antithetical to holiness. Realizing this, I have used sensibility to chart a different path under the inspiration of Saint Francis de Sales.

1. Cults

It will come as a newsflash that there are cults in the Roman Catholic Church. These cults exist because the lay faithful pewsitters feel that something is missing, and they would be correct. Vatican II and the Novus Ordo liturgy have worked to water down and diminish the faith. The antidote is a return to what things were like pre-Vatican II. Instead, cults promise to fill what is missing in parish life and personal devotions. One of these cults is Opus Dei. There are others.

I reject these cults now and follow the path of Saint Francis de Sales in his brilliant book, Introduction to the Devout Life. Nothing that Josemaria Escriva said, wrote, or thought compares to what is in the writings of Saint Francis de Sales. Escriva is a counterfeit saint while Saint Francis de Sales was the genuine thing. You don't need a cult to become holy. Everything you need is there in your parish and in the time honored writings and teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. You don't need anything special or extra to become holy and devout. You just need to use what God has already given you.

2. Labels

The only label I care to have now is "Roman Catholic." I don't care about "traditionalist," "conservative", or "modernist" except as adjectives for certain strains of thought within Catholicism. The reality is that these labels create camps that each have errors. A great example would be trads who see a couple with less than 10 kids and assume that they must be on the Pill. I assume those trads are on the dole.

The vast majority of Roman Catholics do not attend the Traditional Latin Mass. Attendance at the TLM is sort of a requirement to be considered a trad. I am not driving more than an hour each weekend to get to a TLM, and I am not moving. I looked into this and considered moving to be closer to the TLM. Now, the TLM is on the verge of being cancelled everywhere except SSPX chapels. It is a moving target that you are unlikely to hit for very long.

I need valid sacraments. A reverent liturgy is a bonus but unnecessary to receive the graces of those sacraments. My top preference is for the TLM. My second preference is a reverent Novus Ordo. Trads would rather deprive themselves of the sacraments than receive them at a Novus Ordo Mass. At this stage, these folks care more for the purity of their label than the practice of their faith.

I am not playing the label game anymore. God in His providence and through Cardinal Ottaviani preserved the validity of our sacraments in the Novus Ordo. Because of this, I will continue to receive those sacraments where they are available. The TLM will have to come to me now. Until then, I do the best I can with what I have where I am at. I am a Roman Catholic. I don't need additional qualifiers to that label.

3. Devotions

There are more devotions in the Catholic Church than I can count along with sacramentals. I think they all have value, but I think it is extreme and foolish to try and have them all. I limit myself to the basic ones like the Rosary, the Angelus, the Brown Scapular, the Sacred Heart Litany, and wearing a Franciscan tau cross. My strategy is to practice a few devotions consistently than many devotions inconsistently.

When it comes to my prayers, I don't even try to pray the Divine Office. I leave that to priests and religious. I don't know how a layperson can pray the Office and hold down a day job or tend to a family. I may revisit this in the future.

I have added the prayers of the Auxilium Christianorum to my routine. This has been in response to the demonic attacks in my life. Those prayers have been a real blessing to my wife and me.

I think you can add additional prayers and devotions if they have particular value to you. My rule is to only do those things you can perform on a consistent basis. Right now, I am at my maximum for me. Do the basics and add the extras as needed.

4. Mortifications

I had a keen interest for awhile in corporal mortification practices. Now, I think they should be reserved to priests and religious under spiritual direction. The fact is that normal life has enough mortification to endure all by itself. I think priests and religious need mortification practices because they are insulated from the world in much the same way that an office worker needs to hit the gym while a farmer doesn't.

My mortifications are trying to recover from a traumatic brain injury, do my chores under my present limitations, and endure the usual calamities that life throws at all of us. When I compare my sufferings to the mortifications of monks, I think I have endured more than a simple hairshirt or discipline can deliver.

5. Works

I attend a parish that is part of what I call the "Church of Ceaseless Activity." This comes from the modernists and semi-modernists who would like to turn the Catholic Church into an NGO. Their good works amount to raising money for Marxism and illegal immigration, and I have to endure the pitches each weekend at Mass.

I take inspiration from Saint Therese of Lisieux aka the "Little Flower" who yearned to be a foreign missionary and do spectacular things for God. Instead, she had to forge her Little Way. Therese never became a missionary or a martyr. She never left her monastery. She was a nobody except for her autobiography which has inspired many to live holy lives despite being nobodies themselves.

The Little Way fits perfectly into the teachings of Saint Francis de Sales. The Church of Ceaseless Activity believes in neither the great way of a Saint Francis Xavier or the Little Way of Saint Therese. It strips supernatural faith and love from its works and turns to worldly cares and honors. I have had my fill of it.

I focus on doing my little works for God. I don't go into details about this stuff because they are small and done for the Lord. I am never going to build an orphanage or a hospital, but I can do other things relative to where I am. I am no philanthropist. I am just a blue collar working class Roman Catholic.

Conclusion

I know what I need to do and where I need to go on these things. I am not perfect, but I am trying. That's all that any of us can do. I have simply stepped back from extreme ways and come up for air on this stuff. As I said, it is better to be consistent in the modest things than inconsistent on the great things. This is how I apply sensibility to the spiritual dimension of my life.

The 2 Excuses People Give For Not Walking For Fitness

DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor, healthcare professional, or personal trainer. Consult with professionals before beginning any exercise program.

It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.

GEORGE WASHINGTON

I hear and read very few excuses given for not walking for fitness. If you physically cannot walk, that is a good reason for not walking. I was there once and had to do physical therapy to be able to walk like a normal person again. I know a lady who had an arthritic hip that made walking impossible. I know a veteran from the Army Airborne who has damaged knees who rides a bicycle instead of walking. These are reasons for not walking for fitness. Everyone else has an excuse, and they come in 2 categories.

1. Walking is too easy.

There are people who will tell you that walking is not exercise. I had that mentality for a long time seeing walking as merely the way to transition to running. Walking was a second class activity for soccer moms and old ladies at the mall. Something that easy just couldn't count as exercise.

I have been walking for a couple of years now, and I can tell you that walking is definitely exercise. I have logged more mileage walking than I ever did running. I have lost weight. It makes me feel good. I realized that I had wasted a good part of my life in the mental prison of thinking that walking didn't count as exercise.

There are idiots who will tell you that walking isn't exercise. YouTube has videos of these clowns. These folks tend to be either endurance athletes like runners and triathletes or steroid freaks who pump heavy weights and take kidney destroying supplements. Simple walking is a threat to them, so they have to throw shade especially if walking could hurt their business.

The people you should really listen to are the doctors and the research scientists who have the hard data. Walking definitely counts as exercise. This is because of the many benefits that come from walking. There are too many to list here, so I recommend doing a Google search on the health benefits of walking. The list is impressive.

2. Walking is too hard.

There are people who are physically able to walk but choose to do as little walking as possible. They claim that walking is too boring. They don't have the time to walk. They don't have anywhere to walk. You get the picture.

It doesn't get any easier than walking. If walking is too much for you, you are doomed. I don't think any of these excuses are legitimate whatsoever. People prefer comfort to discomfort. The problem is that comfort leads to discomfort as you lose fitness. Before you know it, just walking to the bathroom becomes torture.

Walking gets easier the more you do it. In time, missing a walk becomes the greater torture. It just feels good to get outside and get moving. Walking can be very addicting and pleasurable.

Conclusion

You will quickly find yourself putting people you meet into these two categories. I don't get into it with these people. If people are doing something harder than me, that's fine. If people are doing nothing, that's also fine. What I have found is that people are inspired when they see me out for a walk. They can walk for health and fitness, too. It doesn't have to be torture to count.

UPDATE: Here are some videos from some idiots on YouTube who claim walking doesn't count as exercise:

Find Out Why Walking Isn't Really Exercise In This Revealing New Video!

https://youtu.be/jscD2hhP11k?si=PKoB2kcNfGTLIXDZ

Walking Isn't Exercise

https://youtu.be/j-hPkafBrik?si=ZDWZ7xpijgXG9naR

And one video from a genius:

Is Walking Really Exercise?

https://youtu.be/ExZ2c2Li0LU?si=gMSDQg9E0XMcYKdT

Charlie's Reading Tips

For one who reads, there is no limit to the number of lives that may be lived, for fiction, biography, and history offer an inexhaustible number of lives in many parts of the world, in all periods of time.

LOUIS L'AMOUR

People want to read more books. I want to read more books. Why don't we read more books? That's easy. We have television and the internet sucking up our attention. In a power outage or a vacation away from devices, you will find yourself reaching for a book. So, should you toss out your TV set or your internet connected device in order to read more books? I think this is a drastic and unrealistic step. Here are some tips that I have found work for me. They may work for you.

1. Stop binge reading.

Binge reading comes in various forms, but it is the aspiration to read for hours at a stretch as you work your way through a bucket list of books. This strategy is doomed to failure unless books are all you have in life. The better strategy is to read in bits the same way you consume all of your other content. I pick a book that I am going to live with for awhile and read one chapter each evening. You discover why books are cut into chapters. Each chapter is a bit. Read each bit like you would eat a meal.

The thing that surprises me is how quickly I get through books using this method. I read more each week reading a daily bit that I could ever do binge reading on a Sunday afternoon. I also retain more as I take my time to read each chapter and reflect upon it until the next day's reading.

It is here that I must comment on the foolishness of speed reading. People think that speed reading is the way to go. I've tried it, and I can honestly say that speed reading doesn't work for me. I could barely tell you what I had just read. Like speed eating, speed reading doesn't do much for the digestion. I am a slow reader which means I enjoy it more and get more benefit from what I read.

2. Reading the Holy Bible.

The greatest book of all time is the Holy Bible. Naturally, people want to read the whole thing. I have read the entire Bible a couple of times. I don't know if Protestant versions should count, but I have read the entire Catholic Douay-Rheims translation of the Bible. It took me five years to do this.

I reject those reading the Bible in a Year plans. Those plans don't work. They have you read from both the Old Testament and the New Testament at the same time. Life happens, and you fall behind on the reading schedule. You play catch up on the reading which leads to binge reading. Eventually, you just give up and forget you even tried. Do yourself a favor and don't do this.

The way I read the Bible is to cover a couple of chapters each morning as I drink my coffee. I read the Bible like a newspaper. Once upon a time, I read the morning newspaper, but the internet happened. That leaves the Bible. I may read a chapter or three depending upon my time and mood. If I miss a day, I just pick up where I last stopped reading. I keep a fat bookmark just for this purpose.

I recommend reading the New Testament first with the four gospels. After completing the New Testament, I go to the Old Testament with Genesis. I just read it straight through like any other book. When you finish, do it again. You can never read the Bible too much. It will become a daily part of life and give you many blessings, encouragement, and wisdom.

3. NFP.

I pick a book for my evening reading, but I force myself to read a variety of books. If I didn't do this, I would only read mystery novels. To maintain variety, I remember the letters NFP which stands for non-fiction, fiction, and practical. As I write this, I am reading a fiction book. My next book will be a practical book. After that book, I go to a non-fiction book. By doing this, I read broadly but also pragmatically. It also keeps your reading from becoming dull.

Conclusion

Those are my tips for reading. My key point is to not binge read. I think binge reading is a vanity for stupid people. These are the ones who were focused on getting a piece of paper instead of learning things back in school. I am also not a books only type of guy. I surf the internet. I listen to the radio and podcasts. I watch movies and television. Books are just another pipeline of content for me. I just consume a more balanced information diet with those books. I think my tips will help you read more and get more enjoyment and benefit from what you read. You will end up reading a lot more with the bits method than the binge method.

Fitness and Comfort

My philosophy is that you will do a thing more if you are comfortable doing it.

C.

It's a rare thing when I quote myself. I only do it when no one else has said it. In the case of fitness, everyone knows the old adage. "No pain, no gain." I don't believe in this adage anymore. When I did, the pain resulted in no gain because I quit. I am not ashamed to admit that either. I think pain is the number one reason people do not pursue fitness or stick with it.

The idea that pain makes people quit is a no-brainer. The more subtle message is that you can get fit without the pain. I have this crazy idea that exercise should make you feel better not worse. Consequently, I take aim at running, lifting heavy weights, and CrossFit as things I don't ever care to do. My philosophy of exercise is to see it as physical therapy instead of masochism. You want to improve your body not punish it. Here are ways I have discovered to make exercise more comfortable.

1. Stop using heavy weights.

Men are vain, so they want to impress themselves and others with how much they can bench and squat. The problem comes when you acknowledge that muscles get bigger, but joints and connective tissues don't. In the long term, that heavy weight takes its toll. In the short term, it also takes its toll.

I prefer bodyweight exercises and the light resistance of a dumbbell or stretchy bands. The goal for me is to not cause injury but prevent an injury or rehab an injury. If exercise injures you, you are doing something wrong.

2. Choose the recumbent stationary bike.

I don't like treadmills because they are dangerous. I don't like stairclimbers, rowing machines, ellipticals, or anything else. When it comes to indoor cardio, my top choice is a recumbent stationary bike. It is essentially a chair with pedals. Once upon a time, I bought a standard exercise bike secondhand from a coworker, and I found out why he parted with it. That bike and others like it are essentially crotch hammers. I have always hated bicycles for this reason, and I have never found a saddle that could make cycling comfortable. The recumbent bike solves this problem. You also eliminate being hunched over the handlebars which leads to shoulder and neck pain and numb hands. You can keep that.

The recumbent bike allows you to watch the television or read a book or whatever. Like I said, it is a chair with pedals. Indoor exercise is inherently boring, so you want those distractions. I recommend the radio and podcasts.

3. Do your own chores.

Manual labor is exercise. I don't get why people will pay for a gym membership while also paying for lawncare and a maid. People want pain in their fitness while wanting total comfort in everything else in their lives. This is stupid. It makes no sense.

Pushing a lawnmower or a broom is excellent exercise. People look at me like I am crazy for using a reel mower for the yard, but they will go do HIIT sessions at the gym and pay for it. It boggles my mind. This one is on the same wavelength of idiocy as taking an elevator or an escalator to the gym to spend thirty minutes on a stairclimber.

Household chores are easy in comparison to a sufferfest at the gym. Plus, they are free and save you money. You also don't have to go anywhere.

4. Go for walks instead of running.

You don't have to run and tear up your knees to get in shape. Walking is fun, easy, and pleasurable. Running is none of these things. Walking also leaves you feeling great at the end. I never felt that way after a run. That's why I quit running so long ago. It wasn't a definitive decision so much as the accumulation of choosing to skip it. I quiet quit the running thing with the good intentions of going back. I don't do that with fitness walking.

5. Wear comfortable clothing and gear.

I wear old work clothes when I exercise. This is unique to me. Other people wear fitness apparel made from technical fabric to deal with a hot climate and sweat. I am just weird because I like having pockets and not feeling half naked. I hated having to wear shorts and tights to go running, so I was happy to wear normal clothes for walking. But if you feel comfortable in a Speedo, don't let me tell you different. You do you.

Comfort is a relative thing. We seek comfort in every other area of our lives. Why not seek comfort when it comes to getting in shape? Why does anyone have to suffer in their pursuit of fitness? Who made that a rule? As for chiseled fitness influencers, many of them were blessed with good genes and steroids. That might be a newsflash to the Gentle Reader. That's a topic for another time.

My motto now is "gain without pain." I have accomplished more with that motto than I did with "no pain, no gain." I do whatever I can now to make it comfortable.

Sells: Hard and Easy

Take my advice. I'm not using it.

OLD WISECRACK

The purpose of this blog is to give me a platform to say what I think while giving everyone else the opportunity to ignore it. The vast majority of the English speaking world does not care what I have to say about anything. This is not a bother to me whatsoever. What does bother me is my conscience. I watch a lot of people do stupid things to themselves. Except for this blog, I don't say a word. What I have to share is a hard sell which virtually no one wants. Here is a list of those hard sells.

HARD SELLS

1. Roman Catholicism

I have one convert to my credit. He went from a nominal Baptist to being a nominal Catholic. I have no clue why he even wasted my time asking me to be his sponsor. The only positive thing I can say is that he is always one confession away from getting right.

The most valuable thing I have to share is my faith. Nothing has made my life better than being a Roman Catholic. Many have seen the difference it has made and continues to make in my life. No one cares to follow me on this path.

The number one reason to become Roman Catholic is to not go to Hell for eternity. You can see why my conscience can trouble me on this. I don't want Hell for anyone. Yet, most of the people I meet and know want Hell for themselves. There's not much I can do for these people except pray for them. I stand at the ready to assist them in becoming Catholic or returning to the Church. No one is interested.

2. Thrift

I don't have any sophisticated schemes for making people rich. The fact that I am not rich should be a strong indicator to not look to me for such advice. My only wisdom on money is to practice thrift in all things and at all levels.

Everyone believes they are thrifty. They aren't. This is self-delusion. I see people running up credit cards to buy toys they don't need and can't afford. They eat out almost daily, and they give you a look of disgust when they find out you buy clothes from the thrift store. Inevitably, they feel the pinch of their spendthrift ways. They can't pay their bills which leads to whining and crying. They live in perpetual anxiety over their money woes. Yet, they never take the hint to live a thrifty lifestyle.

3. Plant Based Diet

The vegan diet is the hardest sell I've got. People would rather die than eat a vegan diet, and they will. I have convinced some people to try my 3 day vegan challenge, and everyone who did reported feeling better. None of them stuck with it. YouTube is replete with ex-vegans giving up the diet and declaring it to the world. One of those ex-vegans ended up with a widowmaker heart attack at the gym on his meat and eggs diet. Even that was not enough to make him return to plant based eating.

99% of the population reject a vegan diet. They always will.

4. Hydration

This one really floored me, but people tell me that they never drink water. They drink soda, coffee, beer, iced tea, whiskey, sports drink, and on and on. They reject plain water. They would rather be chronically dehydrated and unhealthy than drink water that has nothing in it.

I crave water. This is because I need it to live and function. I assumed that all human beings were like me on this, but they aren't. They would rather go without than drink plain water. I find this staggering stupidity to be amazing. It is straight out of Idiocracy.

Those are the hard sells. I know those things are DOA. Nobody is buying what I am selling. The result is an overwhelmingly large number of people who are broke, unhealthy, dehydrated, and destined for eternal damnation.

Not everything is a hard sell. Here is a list of easy sells.

EASY SELLS

1. Fitness walking

I don't preach about walking except here on the C-Blog. Yet, people take inspiration from me and others to take up walking for their health and fitness. It really is amazing to me. I think people always want to get fit, and walking is just too easy not to do.

2. Almond milk

No one wants to be vegan, but they love almond milk when they try it in their coffee or cereal. Most of the people who quit my vegan challenges stick with the almond milk. Almond milk is also a brisk seller at our grocery store. This is because almond milk tastes much better than regular milk.

3. Skipping college

I have been talking about this one for over 20 years now, and people are listening. College is a waste of time and money for the vast majority of people dumb enough to load up on student loan debt to go there. Even STEM majors are waking up as many of them can't find employment that justifies the heavy debt loads they will carry for the rest of their lives. A college degree was thought to be a first class ticket to a comfortable middle class life. The reality is that it is a one way ticket to debt slavery. Go to trade school or do an apprenticeship. Blue collar is back.

4. Christmas

Most people I know are functional atheists. They believe in God, but He has no place in their lives. These people don't go to any kind of church or read the Bible. But they love Christmas. Despite the efforts of Puritans from yesteryear and atheists today, Christmas persists as a permanent part of our culture. Once a year, people change what they are doing to acknowledge the birth of our Savior and to be kind to one another. I will take it.

Those are the hard and easy sells. Why are the hard sells hard? Why are the easy sells easy? I think it comes down to comfort and pleasure. People don't want to do hard things. They don't want pain and discomfort. In the long term, they will find that pain and discomfort accumulated and waiting for them. This would be a heart attack, a kidney stone, a repossession or foreclosure, and even Hell itself. People are their own worst enemies on this stuff. There is one thing I can accept and need to accept. These people know better, and it isn't my fault.