LegendaryLife Blog

I read an article from Forbes about the problems @ Pfizer for their new anti-heart-attack drug called Torcetrapib and it got me thinking… why are these companies spending BILLIONS of dollars annually to solve problems that are mostly preventable? Wouldn’t that money be better spent on prevention and education?

What’s in it for the big pharma

Profits, the sole focus of a corporation is to generate profits, the more, the better… the most efficient way for big pharma to generate profits is to create drugs that must be taken for the rest of the patients life – mortality is the ultimate motivator. Remember, their focus is on profits, not the health of the individual. I repeat, if its more profitable to treat a condition then to prevent it… the big pharma will focus on treatment. They ARE NOT in the business of altruism no matter how much marketing they do portraying otherwise. I acknowledge their efforts and applaud them – I am not anti-pharmaceutical, they have their place.

What’s is in it for the government

The role of government is to make sure we are all on an equal footing and can enjoy life in a stable environment. In my world, the easiest way to achieve this is through perfect health, rich or poor – if everybody was in the best shape of their lives throughout all their lives, the world would be a far better place. When people can focus on their dreams instead of finding money for a gym membership or even fixing a root canal – you have created an environment of not only stability but exuberantly positive self-esteem, curing many social ills and diseases that plague us today. If you choose to be unhappy in this environment, then it’s the governments role to ship you to a remote island to be with others of your unhappy kind.

Drugs aren’t the answer

Let’s see, obesity 99% of the time is directly related to poor diet and exercise habits. It’s no secret that the diabetes epidemic is directly related to the obesity epidemic that is spreading throughout the world. What is big pharma doing to solve the problem, they are pouring billions of dollars into anti-obesity, anti-cancer, anti-diabetes etc. drugs that as their patient get sick, they can generate revenues to extend their lives. Again, I am fine with that, but where is the government in all this? NOWHERE! I see more self-congratulatory public service announcements during non-election season about how good the party you didn’t vote is doing then I do about how to prevent obesity, diabetes, cancer etc… what do I take from this? The government doesn’t care – and if they don’t care about me, then I don’t care about them. No wonder they are increasing irrelevant.

Drugs have BAD side effects – habits do not

If something works, it generally has both positive and negative effects. All drugs, by their nature have side effects. Drugs are made public when their positive effects are perceived to exceed their negative ones. Good habits on the other hand, don’t generally have bad side effects when correctly performed – if you choose not to brush your teeth, you get cavities, if you don’t have money, then you pop pills to dull the pain but if you brushed your teeth correctly to begin with, the need for drugs would have been eliminated. The same goes with many other diseases that plague western culture.

Drugs cost money, habits save money

Using the above example, if you invested in a good toothpaste and toothbrush and spent TIME correctly cleaning your teeth, you wouldn’t need to spend money going to a dentist to fix your cavities, nor would you need to spend money on pain pills NOR would you suffer from the side-effects that poor oral hygene bring into your life – social, economic, health and opportunities lost.

Drugs have their place

I think drugs have their place, when I got my appendix removed, I was happy a pharmaceutical company developed Demerol to keep me unconscious during the proceeding days to heal properly – but when it comes to treating preventable conditions, the focus of government should not be on ignorance.

The Bottom Line

If you are looking for a magic pill to cure what you have done to yourself on purpose through a lifetime of poor habits – you are fooling yourself into an early grave.

Important Links:
http://www.forbes.com/home/business/2006/12/02/pfizer-cholesterol-fda_cz_mh_1202torcetrapib.html
http://www.medpagetoday.com/Endocrinology/Diabetes/dh/3135

Without search engines, the internet would be a very user-unfriendly medium that probably never would have exploded into peoples lives as it has. The internet was developed by the United States Department of Defence to assure that if it control centers where nuked, the D.O.D. still had a means of retaliation since all the centers would be linked up. The fact that it forever changed world economies and politics was simply a fluke never envisioned by its developers.

U.S. Web giants slammed over China
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/internet/02/15/china.us/index.html

10. Restaurants that bribe kids

Restaurants who bribe children with toys to bring them in the door with their family to eat their food. My nephew a few weeks ago went to McDonalds to get this “Cars” blue car and guess what, the following week McDonalds releases a red one - guess who was begging to go BACK to McDonalds so they could get the red one Anybody who markets to children should be ashamed of themselves… when your food is so bad that you need to bribe kids to eat it - and so unhealthy that just about every “health advocate” would prefer to eat the dirt from the soles of their feet then what you offer as food - it’s time for a new business plan.

9. “Weight Loss” Personalities

“Weight Loss” Centers who use people with deep seeded problems to get customers in the door. Kirstie Alley has had weight issues most of her life, yes she WAS beautiful (who isn’t when they are young) but using a known cocaine addict who is still obese telling people with weight problems “hey, I did it” send the wrong message and doesn’t make much sense neither. If you want to succeed in achieving your weight loss goals - model yourself after “skinny” people, not screwed up ones.

8. Phony Diet products

Diet plans that promise “up to” (usually in fine print) 7lbs weight loss in 7 days, I hate to burst your bubble but the weight you will loose is WATER weight, anybody can loose 7lbs in a week, stop eating and drinking - it may also kill you but at least you didn’t waste your money. The healthiest amount of weight to loose in one week is no more then 2 lbs (and that’s pushing it), making any large shifts in weight (water, fat or muscle) is a guaranteed way to gain the weight right back plus a little more bonus.

7. Using carb depleted spokespersons

Exercise systems from reputable companies to “as seen on TV” products that show commercials of once obese people transforming their body into human anatomy charts. Listen, the amount of diet and training required to get to that level of “cutting” is incredibly difficult not only to get to but also maintain. It’s also unhealthy to walk around with such a low “carbohydrate depleted” body fat percentage because the body NEEDS fat to keep things running in between meals - think of fat as the bodies battery when no energy is around. Yes, they should be congratulated for getting to that level but lets be realistic here, I bet if you met them a few weeks after the show was tapped, that 6-pack has lost much of its definition. Very few people would have the mental and physical fortitude required to get into the shape portrayed as a direct result from using any type of equipment.

6. Before and After pictures

Just about every health product uses these to promote their products - I have yet to see one with the SAME lighting, angle and facial expression. Usually the “before” picture has low light, the person looking unhappy and depending on the product, the lighting used to enforce the bad areas then the “after” picture usually has a completely different angle, BRIGHT lighting and a happy face on the person (and with make-up). Of course they look better - but it has nothing to do with the product!

5. “Weight Loss” Centers

“Weight Loss” Centers such as Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers etc… charging people hundreds of dollars a week to eat processed foods without a strong educational and exercise program is a fantastic way to keep obese people for life. People will loose the weight and guess what, once they get off the calorie restricted diet it comes back with a vengeance - these centers “allow” people to loose weight simply because the amount taken in is usually below the amount burned by the individual. Why people PAY to eat LESS I still do not understand… in my opinion, “Weight Loss” Centers are in the same league as cigarette companies - same business plan and motive with little regard for their customers well being.

4. Herbal or Natural products

These products promise everything from a cure for cancer to extreme health… they usually promote some exotic product found where no man has ever been and say that “clinical studies” prove they work. Ask them for a copy of the study and you will get a blank stare. If you read the fine print, it will say something to the effect that “the FDA has not evaluated said product”. In other words, the health benefits from their product are probably equal to that of eating a vegetable (at best). The reason why “herbal” or “natural” is seen on everything these days is because there is a loophole in the FDA regulations which means they don’t need to go through clinical trials before they go to market essentially because their main ingredients are considered no stronger then a placebo. A rule of thumb is that if something is potent enough to actually work, 99.999% of the time it’s only available by prescription.

3. Fad diets

Why people fall for these every 2-3 years is another one of those mysteries that have eluded me so far in my life. They DO NOT work (long term), are usually very unhealthy (ei: Atkins) and cost you a little fortune. Save your money, eat whole foods that are unprocessed and you will always eat very well and have no problem maintaining the body that is right for you. Promise your body you will not follow any more FAD diets!

2. Cell phones

This is a bit of a stretch but I believe cell phones where invented by the devil himself, go anywhere - airports, public transit, restaurants, hotels, theaters, beach and no matter how hard you try your luck - there will always be at least one person talking on their cell phone - how does this affect my health? When you cannot enjoy the moment and unwind in public, stress levels are not allowed to dissipate - instead of being in the moment, you are forced to be inside of somebody elses. When somebody is talking loudly over the crowd, it cannot be ignored. We wonder why our lives are so crazy everyday… the infernal cell phone is squarely to blame in my opinion

1. Environmental Degradation

There is a very real link between the environment we live in and our general health - why our “leaders” cannot open their eyes to this and take real action to not only change things for our generation but the generations to follow is unconscionable. I am not talking about Global Warming specifically which is the buzz word of the 21st century - it’s only a symptom of a far larger problem - people still don’t seem to realize that pollution doesn’t abide by any borders, China is quickly becoming the worlds largest polluter, the United States (todays larger polluter) believes in an “wealth before health” policy and even Canada has outpaced the United States in terms of net increases of pollution. What am I doing to do about this? Stay tuned… but change must always starts with Responsibility, Awareness & Education.

The Bottom Line

Pet Peeves are like weeds, get rid of one and two new ones pop up in its place

The avalanche begins with a pair of little red shoes… beware!

We are the ONLY animals on this planet that has any concept of finances - and what’s worse, some of us even harm others in its pursuit.

What is materialism?

Materialism means the pursuit of stuff to improve our status, self-esteem (emotional value) or perceived value both personal and culturally. It has no limits other then how much stuff you can acquire over a lifetime. For some, materialism is defined by how much land you can acquire, how much you can grow your net worth by or things as trivial as how many different types of hockey cards you can collect.

Materialism gone wild

I see this mostly in the industrialized world because unlike developing countries, we have the financial resources and spare time to accumulate things not required for our own survival. Some people must always have the latest and greatest while for others it’s a numbers game. As for me, I couldn’t care less what I have much less what others think I should have which makes me a marketers worse nightmare

The good side of being materialistic

There are positive aspects of being a materialistic person. The most obvious is that there are constant challenges as marketers create “must-haves” in smaller product development cycles - before a product would be updated maybe once a year, now for somethings, it’s down to a few months for such things as cell phones. Materialistic people that I know feel great comfort being surrounded by “their stuff”, they get a feeling of accomplishment by looking at what they worked to acquire and if there is ever a nuclear war - these pack rats are a mana from God!

The bad side of materialism

Although there are heavy environmental, social and economic costs in creating a bunch of useless junk, I believe the largest is to ones self. If all your time, effort and investment is put into “stuff” and not “yourself” - what happens when all that stuff goes away? Our culture teaches kids that what you look like and acquire makes who you are as a person - nothing can be further from the truth but sadly, most people take the words from the modern marketing engine over those from within.

One persons junks….

… is another’s treasure - we have all heard this many times… and I think it highlights exactly how worthless our “stuff” really is. If you had 10 000 pounds of chocolate in the Mayan culture you would probably be treated like a living God - purchase 10 000 chocolate bars from Walmart and people will question your sanity! This same analogy can be applied towards just about every other thing we carry around with us, from designer jeans to even rocks… yes, in the 1970s, there was a huge fad across the USA where people would spend lots of money buying “pet rocks”.

Need to Want

I think this ever increasing trend towards materialism started when we no longer had to hunt, gather or build for our survival. When people make so much money (even the working poor) that they can afford to purchase their own food and purchase a roof over their heads then it means they are open to splurging on non-essential items. It may begin with brand name shampoo and as the wealth increases, goes onto cars, boats and even jets for the “lucky” few.

The Bottom Line

Materialism is a temporary state of being - don’t allow it to define your actions or self-worth.

One of the many possible faces of an immortal being… in this case, one that has chosen to end their own existence at your breakfast table

We see the theme of immortality being repeated throughout our culture, from vampire movies to cybernetic beings… but honestly - if it was possible to be immortal - would you want it?

Immortality - what is it?

Immortality is the basic idea that you simply cannot die. Everything in our universe is mortal in one form or another, even our Sun will “die” as a gas giant in a few billion years from now taking much of our solar system along with it. I think the only thing that is immortal within our known understanding are individual atoms but even their fate is sealed when our universe ends and the what we take now as the fundamental laws of physics break down along with it.

The romantic side of immortality

In my opinion, the “nice” thing about immortality is the ability to be unshackled by the chains of time. Imagine being able to take your time and learn EVERYTHING, want to spend a few hundred years becoming the ruler of the world - not a problem when you know all your “competitors” are mortal. Want to travel to far off galaxies, again, not a problem - even if it takes millions of years - you don’t need any food, water or much less shelter to get there. The universe would become your playground. The romantic side of being immortal is that you essentially become a God… who wouldn’t want that?

The curse of immortality
Everything has a price, I believe a life being immortal would be incredibly boring after a while… let me explain. Right here, right now there are humans on this planet so as an immortal being taking on a human form, you could communicate and enjoy the same experiences that we all enjoy in life but hold on… humans have only been “communicable” for only a few hundred thousand years and in all likelihood we will be extinct in the next few hundred thousand… what do you do then? You can only have so much to talk about with snails and birds before they get dull. You would be able to be on this planet the instant it was able to support life until its demise… travel to other planets with civilizations but again, it’s like being a world traveler visiting the same destinations over and over again… you need something new! Even ruling a planet for a while would be fun but after a few thousand years the challenges become meager. Mortality may suck but immortality isn’t any better of a solution
Types of Immortality

I think there are two different types of immortality

Special Powers of Immortals

If you where immortal, you would need special powers to simply exist.

Immortality - would you want it?

As for me, if it was an option who ever was giving me this power wouldn’t have to ask me twice. I think it would be fun for a while but once everything is known and experienced - I would instantly vaporize myself as any reason for being would no longer have any value.

The Bottom Line

There is so much out there beyond our meager existence, embrace the options as unlike God, we have the infinite power of mortality

About once a year, I head up to visit relatives and look forward to returning into a very simple life where you are surrounded by the forest and eat what it has provided. It’s a wonderful way to reflect on ones life and the environment we all live in.

Cost of modern life

We seem to all know the benefits of our modern North American life, from great medical care to top notch education for all but there are also great costs that come with our habits towards over-consumption. Health problems, environmental degradation, mental disorders and self-esteem garnered from what we can buy instead of who we can be. No matter how our lives play out, we choose each step of the way the direction it will take in the future.

Life “back in the good-old-days”

Let there be no illusion, life in the good-old-days was extremely difficult - it involved a lot of physical labor, sacrifice and hardship. A simple medical condition cured with pills today where often a death sentence. We tend to think life back then was simpler, it was but in many other ways, it was also more complex. You see, life before our modern conveniences involved a constant search for food stability and predictability - there where no grocery stores and food spoiled quickly. If you had no food, you starved - if you had no clean water, you took a gamble - if you had no shelter, none was provided. There where no real governments to “back you up”, if you had problems you where mostly on your own to deal with them and if you wanted to travel anywhere, it was done with great reservations. It was truly the survival of the fittest and the further you go back, the more extreme the conditions.

Up North Vacation

While I was on vacation going from cottage to hunting cabins for a weeks time, I was reminded of how rewarding a simple life can be - if you are hungry, catch a fish or hunt, if you are cold, put some more wood on the fire, if you are dirty, jump in a lake or river, if you are tired, sleep… now that is simple living at its best! Time also has no meaning in nature, it’s either night or day - there are no “landmarks” to indicate the year, day of the week or what the weather will be like tomorrow. Nature is timeless - it’s only our modern lifestyles that require the precision of time. I guess spending most of my life in this materially driven world I forgot for a few moments that money isn’t necessary for living a fulfilling life - I never saw a squirrel go without nuts because his wallet was empty
Life today

Todays life is so far beyond our ancestors wildest dreams that I am sure they would be amazed at how much we take for granted and if they where to return, would take the story of their adventures in heaven The Internet, machinery, bio-pharmaceuticals and technology of every shape and kind… our current world is truly astounding! Even the simple luxury of flushing a toilet was something only Kings could afford a little over 100 years ago. Instead of wondering where our next meal will come from, we waste our time with fashion, television, vanity and a host of other distractions - we have so much spare time that many people in our society simply loose focus on who they are and resort towards abusing their own bodies to feel alive via over-consumption. Obesity in the good old days was RARE but not unheard of, now it’s common place, families stayed together for generations, now many kids send their parents to old age residences and before we could eat fish to our hearts content, now we worry about mercury poisoning… there is simply so much over-abundance for us living the modern lifestyle that we have forgotten what is important in life and cruise through life on autopilot. We tend to even look down upon the plight of “uncivilized” cultures and even worse, take advantage of their situation to benefit our own. We are so inundated with worthless junk that many of us have lost the meaning of what it means to be alive.

Finding Balance

By keeping physically fit, appreciating everything we have and not forgetting where we came from I believe a balance can be easily achieved - it does take time, commitment and work but there really is a way to juggle the advances of the modern day without the hardships of the past. We do not have to choose between modern vs past, we can steer our lives towards the benefits that each provides.

Solitude isn’t a bad thing

As I was paddling my kayak right before sunset on a calm source fed lake, I stopped in the middle of the lake and did nothing, you know what I heard? NOTHING! No, it wasn’t for a few seconds, it was for as long as I wanted… the simple act of hearing absolutely NOTHING is something so few of us know about. As I write this, I hear traffic passing by, I can close my windows, put on ear plugs but no matter what I do, I simply am unable to achieve the absolute solitude and serenity I experienced on the lake about a week ago. Knowing there is nobody around for miles and you are completely alone with your thoughts is better then any vacation you can take. We should all be as lucky to experience this in our lives. Solitude isn’t a bad thing, it’s a wonderful thing.

The Bottom Line

How can I find optimum benefit ratio between our modern day lives and our ancient past?

The civilian majority in the World seem happy with a simple life… stability over freedom, mediocre pay over limitless potential… I just don’t understand it.

When to Settle

It seems that the farther we progress in age, the stronger the clutches of fear about the unknown overtake us. Fear from instability within our lives actually gets so strong that many of us consciously choose to settle for what we got, giving up a life full of hopes and dreams for the relative “safety” of 9-5. We begin to have a family, mortgage and look forward to Bingo on Sunday… not that any of that is wrong, but where does this self-defeatism come from?

The Illusion of Stability

Here is the part I don’t understand, people settle for a predictable life… under the illusion that it’s stable… but this hope misplaced. Just look at the news, people who thought they had a good thing going are shown a pink slip, some are even are e-mailed that their job no longer exists should they decide to return to the office. Well, where did all that stability go? AHA! THERE WAS NONE TO BEGIN WITH!

Entrepreneurship

I think entrepreneurship should be the only career our children should strive for, sure, stability is the oxymoron of entrepreneurship but hey, at least you are the master of your own game… master of your own life. If there is a pink slip coming, at least you SEE it coming instead of an all-of-a-sudden “you’re fired” paper makings its way to your cubicle.

Employment

If you work for a large company like… I don’t know, Intel (20K jobs gone), Enron (bankrupt), GM (buyouts, pensions slashed), Ford (ouch!), IBM (double ouch) etc… the list goes on… the seniority you have built up means very little other then POSSIBLY a bigger severance but either way, your job is toast at any time. What I am trying to explain is that if these companies with unions, billions of dollars invested in their employees can cut tens of thousands of jobs when times get tough… how much security (ei: stability) do you think you have working for smaller companies? You guessed it… NONE.

Build yourself up!

Now, here is a novel idea, instead of wasting much of your time building up somebody else, why not build yourself up? You can still work for others but your general outlook should be for yourself… if you hate your job, quit, if you need a vacation… GO! This is the life of freedom us entrepreneurs enjoy. Spend your time creating new growth opportunities for yourself, learn a new language, extend yourself beyond your comfort zones… invest more in yourself then others and you will always be far ahead of the game.

It’s not all roses

Before I replace one illusion with another, let me explain that entrepreneurship is not an easy path, there is a lot of struggles, highs and lows… but this is what life is about isn’t it? I would far prefer to die homeless having traveled the world and LIVED LIFE than to be in a retirement home scared of the outside world. Entrepreneurship is like a muscle, it needs to be trained and honed… during this time, you can of course still work your 9-5 but I hope you realize that you have performed a fundamental shift in your thinking patterns in doing so. No longer are all your eggs in your employers basked, they are in yours… if you work, you work because you WANT to, not because of NEED.

The Bottom Line

Take control of your illusions before circumstances within your life force you to wake up.

Decisions are like atoms, the reactions they give back determine your fate.

Everyday, we are hit with key decisions which will affect the rest of our day, sometimes they affect the rest of our lives but usually it’s things that we loose perspective on that cause to us make a disproportionate response that gets us in the most trouble.

Are you an Active, Passive or Reactive person?

We only have the choice towards any one decision that we make – using any one can lead towards your goals OR push them further back.

I believe a balanced individual knows when to pick fights and when to stand back… you cannot always be in one of these modes, otherwise you would be in an insane asylum (reactive), homeless (passive) or jail (active) in extreme circumstances of course
Choosing your weapon is as important as choosing it’s yield

There is a scale of 1-10 with a 10 being an emotional wreck and 1 being calm and logical. Your boss has said he can only afford a 2% raise, you can be reactive with a level head and maybe get that to increase or gain more knowledge… OR using the same reactive weapon at a level of 10, throw his desk to the ground and storm out. You are using the exact same weapon but with a different yield.

Dealing with falloff

You cannot look at only one side, sure your cereal can’t say “please eat me instead of yogurt” but most of our decisions in life have another person involved. For instance, your boss who gave you a bad pay raise, you reacted lets say actively at a yield of 5… you got kids to feed and you need the money to make ends meet. You love your job, the environment and the challenges it gives to you but regardless, you are living paycheck to paycheck with no end in sight. Your mix of logic and emotion might be enough to persuade the boss to understand your situation and maybe instead of more pay, they may willing to pay your gas to travel to and from work. There is ALWAYS room for negotiation… but you must be careful to keep the lines of communication open while still controlling where they are leading to. How you deal with the other person after they have presented a counter-offer is as important as your original choice of weapons and yield. Remember, falloff is lethal only in high doses – you can manage the rest.

Keep things in PROPORTION

When ever your in a decision mode, please do not loose perspective as to why you are doing something and how important it really is in your life. Is it worth going through all the emotional trauma of getting 1% increase in pay above what you where originally given to risk your career? Is it worth the physical and emotional turmoil you may be put under should it go the other way and you find yourself on the chopping block? Is your job really so important to you that you are willing to risk it for a far better opportunity? What is more important to you… your family or your job? These and many more are questions you need to ask yourself before you put your first step forward, otherwise you are an emperor with no cloths and you will be called out. Remember, keep things in proportion.

The Bottom Line

Choose your weapons and available yields BEFORE you take the first step… otherwise you may not get the results you are after.

No matter if it’s from Terrorism or War - the results are the same.

It seems to me watching the news around the world that especially since September 11th, any organization that does something “you” (country wise) don’t like is automatically labeled a terrorist organization with the insinuation that they are full of blood thirsty, instinct driven, uneducated crazy terrorists… ENOUGH!

Definition of Terrorism and Terrorist

The unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons. A terrorist is a person who engages in acts or an act of terrorism.

Definition of War and Freedom Fighter

A state of open, armed, often prolonged conflict carried on between nations, states, or parties. A freedom fighter is a person who is engaged in armed rebellion or resistance against an oppressive government.

War vs Terrorism

Notice how “open to interpretation” the definition for terrorism actually is, hence why it is abused by political “leaders” around the world to push their own agendas. In the modern world, countries do not “agree to fight”, one simply attacks the other so the term “unlawful” used for terrorism makes no sense as on the larger front, there is nothing “lawful” about a war either. This whole idea that war is somehow legal while terrorism is “illegal” simply holds no water. The end result or expectations are the same, only the magnitude is different. Both “events” do have multiple warnings but they are sadly ignored before it’s too late.

Freedom Fighters vs Terrorists

One persons freedom fighter is another persons terrorist, just like war vs terrorism, the difference is open to interpretation depending on the side you are on. So one day, the acts done may be considered terrorism while at another time, they may be considered “alright” because you where engaged in a war. Terrorists, solders or freedom fighters, have families and loved ones, usually a solid head on their shoulders and far from crazy roaming idiots our leaders try to portray them to be.

Why do group resort to terrorism?

Countries have armies to settle differences because they have the resources to build and procure incredibly expensive machinery whose sole purpose is war (offensive and/or defensive). Individuals or groups don’t have these types of resources in their arsenal so their “weapon of choice” is what they can find around them, leading to what countries label as terrorist acts such as suicide bombings, hijackings and you name it.

Real-world Example

Now that I have set the rules up, lets see how the game plays out in the real world – I wish history lessons where mandatory for people in leadership roles as hopefully they wouldn’t repeat the same mistakes once more.

How to solve terrorism in this world?

Talk, plain and simple… listen to their grievances and see if you can do something about it – deal with the root cause, which I would bet 90% of the time is related to poverty, occupation and desperation. For that 10%, quick, decisive action must be done to deal with the “leaders”, most people in this world are followers, meaning if the “leader” it taken care of – much of the will to fight dissipates if military action is followed directly by an improvement in lifestyle. Problems arise when military actions begin to hit more innocent civilians then soldiers/terrorists.

The Bottom Line

There are no “morals” in war or terrorism, only death and destruction.

Smoking is the leading preventable cause of premature death in the United States and many other industrialized countries.

I run a health site – of course my enemy #1 is tobacco related products, followed by obesity and general health laziness – all of which are lifestyle CHOICES that lead to a premature death and dramatic decrease in the quality of life.

My experiences with smoking and smokers

When I was a kid, I was as curious as anybody else and did try smoking – if everybody was doing it (especially back then)… it should be good for me too Well, I took one puff and my throat constricted and I felt like I inhaled a camp fire as I coughed immediately and vowed to never do that again. As I come from a French Canadian background, smoking seems to “us” as natural as eating or sleeping, when I visit my relatives – they pretty much all smoke (or are in the cycle of vowing to quit). So to me, living a life with nicotine addiction would not have been frowned upon very much.

If smoking is so bad for you – why do people do it?

I have come to the realization of many things in my 30 years of existence, the main factors as to why I think people prefer to slowly kill themselves instead of simply getting a gun and getting it over with are:

Smokers… a generation lost

We have added a new section on myfoodcount.com, it’s within our “famous people, everyday problems” section under Nicotine Addicts. I was surprised how many really famous people died prematurely from smoking related causes… here is a partial list of only entertainers (we have almost 300 so far from all fields of life).

If tobacco related products are so bad to you – why can you still buy them?

I blame this squarely on our government – the “don’t smoke” ads are a joke, they tend to make smoking look like eating cheese, “its not that bad for you but hey, if you want to stop eating cheese, give us a call”. The penalties regarding underage smoking are rarely enforced and worse, the government subsidizes tobacco producers (????).

The Bottom Line

Nobody cares about your health other then you… so you must take the initiative and make it YOUR top priority.

LINK OF INTEREST
Cigarette manufacturers increase nicotine yield in the past 6 years
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory?id=2371123