Archives for September 2011

Manifesto: A public declaration of principles and intentions. It’s probably about time I set about to differentiate and distinguish.

Version 1.0

1. You must think yourself lean and thin, and strong and healthy…to a proper regulation of hunger and satiation. There is no prescription or proscription that will necessarily work for you. You must write your own “diet and fitness book” from your own trial and error experience.

2. Thinking and principles rule. Applications must be tested and critically evaluated. One-size-fits-all plans and roadmaps are doomed to mediocrity, at best. Your best has to come from you.

3. Humans are animals. Moreover, the same sorts of physiology, biology, climatology, geology and sociology that holds sway over the life, death and prosperity of the entirety of the animal world applies just as soundly to humans.

4. Humans, unlike other animals, can consciously act against their own best interest. They can also command nature and their environment to a degree other animals can’t and don’t. Think fire breaks, dams, roads, cities, suburbs, airports, skyscrapers, division of labor and trade.

5. Human ill health, unhappiness, sexlessness, sleeplessness, stress, slavery, drudgery, suicide, and disease are adverse manifestations of the human ability to work against his own interest: his ability to produce, and his ability to command nature taken to irrational levels.

6. The ability of humans to work against themselves and their own nature so effectively is the root cause of all human-created problems. The ability to “create reality” by marvelous human minds exacerbates the downside on many levels when the creation of “reality” it taken beyond the pleasure of fantasy.

7. Disease, obesity, failed relationships, and other adverse human conditions are fundamentally a result of dishonesty.

8. Dishonesty is fundamentally a failure to properly perceive and integrate data from the senses into a reasonable and logical framework or hierarchy of values to pursue, hold, promote, or celebrate.

9. Humans are the only animals with the ability to be dishonest with respect to reality and thus, dishonesty with self and others is the fundamental root cause of all disease, inability to flourish and early, unnatural death.

10. Non-human animals exist in various environmental niches they have evolved within to exploit, within a balance. Human animals migrated out of Africa to populate the Earth from equator to arctic and antarctic circle, and sea level to 16,000 feet of elevation, and everything in-between. Thus, human animals evolved to migrate over eons of time to exploit the environment available and along the way.

11. Each human individual has encoded within his genes the ability to survive and thrive on a wide range of food sources from terrestrial, to sea, to tree, to subterranean.

12. Non human animals don’t typically become obese (unless by nature, such as in advance of hibernation) or die unnaturally. Humans become obese. Pets become obese. Zoo animals can become obese when zookeepers stray from a naturally appropriate diet.

13. Human animals should not have any difficulty eating a mix of the right natural foods suitable to them, when available, maintaining and enjoying natural health and longevity as a result. Good health is natural. It’s not something that needs to be man made, industrialized or drugged.

14. Human animals have developed complex social structures to the extent that a few dominate all the rest, to a level of welcome cheerleading and hand-clapping, such that the few can cleverly and parasitically sustain an unearned livelihood through implicit or explicit threat of force, or more elegantly: promise of reward.

15. Modern human animals developed the propensity to believe they have power through a Neolithic device known as a democratic vote. It actually gives them about equal odds in terms of effective power to buying a lottery ticket. Conversely, we know ancient humans were individually and socially powerful, because they survived on their own. We have the anthropology and we’re here. It happened. Nobody voted on it.

16. A domesticated animal can exhibit guilt and shame, but not to the extent that they can possibly sacrifice their well being over it. Human animals invented guilt and shame, and they went on to make a place for it being unbridled and unearned. They invented religion; they conjured “reality” and got everyone to buy onto it and teach it to their offspring. They laid the seeds for control.

17. The guilt and shame works hand in hand with religious fantasies that most notably involve fear. Guilt and shame, combined with irrational fear, to make a malleable human animal who will do his part to see to the livelihood of the parasites. Anciently, it was the parasites of church and now, the parasites of State. The former is voluntary and the latter, compulsory undef threat of prosecution.

18. All humans have within themselves the ability to change everything on a dime.

19. Of self-destruction, of guilt, of shame, of fear: the worst of these is fear. While fear is natural, that’s the rub. The Neolithic, above all else, has been a massive story — fundamentally — about how to use it to advantage. The Neolithic is above all, a story about how our natural tendencies have been used against us in just about every conceivable way. 

…So there’s my hour or two stab at a first cut of what I hope to refine over time. Your criticism in comments is highly encouraged.

~ Heather B. Armstrong, just about one of the most popular bloggers in the whole world at dooce.com, went Paleo. And here’s an update: More about this fad diet humans ate for millions of years.

~ What’s cool is that the “Caveman Diet Gains Popularity” in spite of all the hand wringing by stupid, ignorant dietitians, nutritionists, “experts” and the government.

The paleo diet movement is backed by some academics and fitness gurus, and has gained some praise in medical research in the United States and elsewhere even though it goes against recommendations of most mainstream nutritionists and government guidelines.

Loren Cordain, a professor of health and exercise science at Colorado State University, said he believes millions in the United States and elsewhere are following the paleo diet movement, based on sales of books such as his own and Internet trends.

What, you mean to tell me that millions of people are “go[ing] against recommendations of most mainstream nutritionists and government guidelines,” on purpose, explicitly? Damn fuckin’ straight, and for good reason. It is precisely this ignoble, inglorious infestation of self-serving Big Food whores that Americans — and increasingly the rest of the world — are in this lousy mess.

But a US News survey of nutritionists ranked the paleo diet last among 20 possible options, far below the Mediterranean, vegan, or Weight Watchers diets.

It noted that the paleo diet gets 23 percent of calories from carbohydrates compared to 45 percent to 65 percent in U.S. government recommendations, and that the Stone Age regime is higher than recommended for protein and fat.

“While its focus on veggies and lean meat is admirable, experts couldn’t get past the fact that entire food groups, like dairy and grains, are excluded on paleo diets,” US News said.

Marion Nestle, professor of nutrition, food studies, and public health at New York University, told AFP that the paleo diet “would not be appropriate for today’s sedentary lifestyles.””

Nestle and others also dispute some of the historical claims of paleo diet advocates. “The claim that half the calories in the Paleolithic diet came from meat is difficult to confirm,” she said.

In a research paper, Nestle said the life expectancy of Stone Age man was around 25 years, “suggesting that the Paleolithic diet, among other life conditions, must have been considerably less than ideal.”

Well that tears it. Marion Nestle is just another ignorant doofus spouting conventional “wisdom,” whom I wouldn’t trust to go fetch my mail, and you shouldn’t either. Just shut the fuck up, Nestle.

~ Eat your veggies, now: Vegetarianism produces subclinical malnutrition, hyperhomocysteinemia and atherogenesis.

CONCLUSION: The low dietary intake of protein and sulfur amino acids by a plant-eating population leads to subclinical protein malnutrition, explaining the origin of hyperhomocysteinemia and the increased vulnerability of these vegetarian subjects to cardiovascular diseases.

Quick, call the “experts.”

~ OK, well how about “health care specialists at UCSF Medical Center,” who are said to have “reviewed” this bit of stupid tripe for publication: Top Ten Foods for Health. Water, dark green vegetables, whole grains, beans and lentils, fish, berries, winter squash, soy, flaxseed, nuts and seeds, and organic yogurt.

Where’s the liver?

I submit to you that it doesn’t even take going Paleo or Primal “everyday” to not get a wealth of good out of this book, Everyday Paleo. I have included it in my series of cookbook reviews…because it’s a cookbook.

…But it’s more than that and I think, fills a very nice niche. In my last review, I remarked how that book seemed to me to represent the potential for a great first book — rather than the many books available that give you the ins, outs, whys and what fors for going Paleo/Primal as a lifestyle, from a more evolutionary or scientific basis. Im just saying this might be a good alternative for some: let the food be your guide from everyday one.

While Sarah Fragoso’s book is much cookbook, with dozens and dozens of recipes, it’s much more and I can’t help thinking that this might be the ideal first book for a women with kids to take care of. It gets practical — everyday — right away.

After a few introductory sections on where Sarah is now and how she got here and why, it dives right in to a complete list of what you should have in your pantry and your fridge. A little bit about tools of the mom trade and we’re off into the recipes, all in full color. I really have to congratulate the folks at Victory Belt Publishing, because the whole layout of this book is just fun and colorful. And you know what? I would not be surprised if your kids might just like turning the pages themselves. It’s really a fun page turner.

In terms of the recipes, this just shows once again that the folks who lament avoiding grains, sugar, processed “foods” and other untouchables — because it would “be so boring” — are just full of it. There are now around a half dozen full color paleo cookbooks on the market with dozens and dozens of recipes each, and they are as varied as are their authors. There is no limit. The surface has only been scratched.

…And how many of you like eggs? Perhaps for a first, Sarah has an entire section on egg based-recipes. Sunny Deviled Eggs? I’m trying that soon. And in the main dish section, I must try the lasagna that uses zucchini in place of pasta. I’ve used eggplant a-la moussaka-esque lasagna, but it looks like the prep time & effort is a lot better here. There are just so many (how many kinds of meatballs do you like?), and there is a distinct “your kids will like this” tone and theme. I suspect Sarah tried most or all of these dishes on her kids, so that leaves open the door for a criticism: was this book co-authored by your kids, Sarah? Fess up.

And OK, is this crazy or what: a whole workout section in a cookbook? It’s perfectly logical to me, and best of all, Sarah provides tons and tons of photos in sequence, showing exactly how each exercise is done; and not just for you. There’s also a section on how to exercise your kids, and even how your and your significant other can work out together.

So really, it truly is the sort of book that could serve as anyone’s entry into this whole crazy life. But I think that if you’re still in the rat race, have kids that might be resistant to the changes, or a spouse, then this may just be that one book that helps you unlike any other.

It worked for Sarah. Wanna see?

Sarah Fragoso

Uh, think her family oriented cookbook and workout guide might be worth having in your collection? I do.

(5) no, Plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to produce and consume foods of their choice - Judge Patrick J. Fiedler, Circuit Court, Branch 8, State of Wisconsin

I’ve seen a bunch of hand wringing and outrage over this since it popped up, but why? Here’s the actual judgment. As near as I can tell, he’s spot on and just telling the truth about the matter. The five page decision also included these other unequivocal pronouncements:

(1) no, Plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to own and use a dairy cow or a dairy herd;

(2) no, Plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to consume the milk from their own cow;

(3) no, Plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to board their cow at the farm of a farmer;

(4) no, the Zinniker Plaintiffs’ private contract does not fall outside the scope of the State’s police power;

…

(6) no, the DATCP did not act in an ultra vires manner because it had jurisdiction to regulate the Zinniker Plaintiffs’ conduct.

Seems simple and clear enough to me. We long, long ago — probably not long after the ink had dried on the Declaration of Independence – got over the silly idea that there is any such thing as “unalienable rights;” and of course, the US Constitution, by including a “Bill of Rights,” forever set in stone the principle that the State is the grantor and the final arbiter of any notion of “rights.”

“Rights” are what the various levels of government say they are, nothing more. Not anymore. And even if the judge were deemed to be wrong and later overturned, that would only be on his interpretation of existing laws.

Judge Fielder is just being honest with y’all. I suggest you move along, citizen. There’s nothing to see here.

My dad was told by a devout fundamentalist, a Born-Again Baptist, a brother, that he’s a member of a cult: The Paleo Cult.

…I’m busy, with another cookbook review — guess which one — and also editing a video interview with Ricky, from across the pond, and who talks funny. But he lost 90 pounds. No idea how many stones. So this is passion, getting in the way, which are always my favorite posts.

Lothar Nikoley to the left, at 73. Click to open the hi-res version

Dad & mom came over Saturday.

Since they couldn’t be here for Beatrice’s 52nd (she’s the one attached to my arm; or another appendage, as usual), they came a week later to take her out shopping for a few changes of clothes and a dinner. We went to Palacio (rhymes with paleo) in Los Gatos. I’m the zombie. Have fear. I eat liver.

Having weighed about 40 or so pounds more, I think my dad looks awesomely fuckin’ good for 73. Jesus. Huh? I hadn’t seen him for about a month and when I did last Saturday, I was very pleased. My younger brothers should take a clue, some inspiration, and a dash of shame.

But here’s what’s funny. His baptie fundie brothers — not all — but two in particular who know who they are (and I’m not talking about the fundamentalist preacher — he’s always cool to me) constantly give their older and far wiser brother shit. None are formally educated; neither is my dad. But they have all done very well for themselves in spite of that, and for what I’m saying, here, that’s important. My dad, for instance, with not even an HS diploma, bids construction on some of the biggest projects in the world. There’s no construction project he can’t take blueprints and architectural/engineering specifications of, and deconstruct them all to a spreadsheet of hundreds or thousands of of cost line items that can be easily priced out for any contractor.

The other two have done well too, “among the heathens.”

~~~

Years, many years ago, when I saw the horrific and life killing ways of the born-again fundamental baptists, in which cult I was raised from ten on, I talked with my mom over many years, and eventually, she saw and more eventually, they dumped it into the shithole where it belongs. That’s my family. From me to her, to dad and family, and far less successfully, extended family.

That’s because they have zero fortitude discernible to me.

Others didn’t do it that way. The two brothers, specifically? They did it in the worst possibly way. Rather than recognize they believed in a sewer that needed pumping, rooting, and perhaps even a whole waste disposal redesign, changed their lives to be more ou courant, while at the same time, holding on to their “godly” admonishments. Unbounded hypocrisy. Laughing stock. Rather than being the rather poor, economy car-driving fundies of my 70s youth, who didn’t even have a car, they’re now Cadillac fundies with stern guidance for anyone who’ll listen. Few do, but they have a Baptist Preacher to live up to who, as I said, is always cool. I don’t begrudge anyone their beliefs and in this particular case, the man is sincere enough that I only ever love to see him. He’s no poseur. His brothers, half in, are.

Pathetic. My uncles, whom I grew up loving — still loving, but not respecting, anymore — simply aren’t honest, in my view of things. Bible thumping is just, well, uneducated and ignorant. I can’t even spin it for the sake of family.

A couple of moths back, my dad, at the house of his brother: discussion escalated to where my dad was told he’s a…member of a cult. Drum roll, and que the IRONIC. …You know, his 40 pound weight loss, enhanced energy, better sleep, better looks, fat loos to increased leanness and likely a few other improvements you can name.

Well, if it is a cult….no, it’s just not. Never discount the propensity of morons to spout moron, especially if they they hide moron in their own closet.

Part of what motivated my to review Paleo Comfort Foods earlier today in my last blog post is that I was cooking. I had something on the stove and I was waiting for it to get ready for further touch and attention.

Chicken Soup.

Now, I’m pretty sure that even if you go through every post in Food Porn, you’ll never come upon something so mundane as chicken soup. Or is it? Is is possibly possible that chicken soup is a metaphor for everything from curing ills to quintessential human well being, for a reason?

Yes, but only if you get it right. Tonight, I’m virtually teaming up with Julie & Charles Mayfield, authors of the aforementioned cookbook, to show you how to get it right. When you get it right, it’s that moment where right before serving, you spoon up some broth from the pot, without a scintilla of veggie or meat matter and if, if your knees don’t immediately collapse — combined with wondering, even for the slightest micro of a second that perhaps there may just really be a God — then you have not done it right.

Right off the bat, you must either start from scratch and make your broth and chicken all in one, which takes a while, or you use your own saved chicken broth, or you use a quality product from a good market. I like Trader Joe’s Organic Free Range Chicken Stock because I don’t make a lot of homemade and it’s very tasty and not salty, which is a deal breaker for any stock.

For many years I have had a particular way to make chicken soup, which is that now and then, we’ll go to the good markets like Whole Foods or Lunardi’s in our area, and get a rotisserie chicken. We’ll eat the breast and the legs with a salad. The rest of that carcass, bone and all, goes into the pot on boil, along with the aforementioned stock (no water; you want richness).

Cool It Down

Because it’s pre cooked and you’re using stock, you don’t need to boil for hours. I bring it to a boil and then simmer covered for an hour or so. But then you need to go to work to strip meat from bone, so here’s a good trick. Stop your sink, put the whole pot in, and fill it with cold water. After five minutes, drain and repeat and within a few minutes more, you’re working. If you have a good steam pot, that works well to separate and drain.

Chicken Mess

So up to now, I have made a very simple chicken soup: onion and a secret ingredient I’ll get to later. But owing to the book, I did a few additional things and came out with an overall improvement. That’s the theme, here.

I like simple, rich broth-chicken soup. Fuck thickening with wheat flour or starch. You don’t need rice, and you should not be feeding your poor kids noodles. Chicken Noodle? How about good, orgasmic chicken soup?

How about that? Where did fucking noodles come from, anyway? Do chickens like noodles? Is that it? What, is it? I dunno. But just forget about it.

So now we get to the paper thin part. As I said, I like light brothy soups with chicken and another thing or two. Up to now, I have always sliced yellow or white onion paper thin. I like to use an 8″ sharp Japanese utility knife for this. Then, I get green onion and I use the part from about 1/2″ from the root to 2″ up and slice paper thin. Owing to the cookbook, I did a few other things. First, I added some garlic, but because it was already in the pot, I just used a bit of powder. Celery. That will go so good with the onion. Again, paper thin slices.

Alright, so here’s the secret ingredient that just gives the whole thing a character that will make you question your atheism: lemon. Yes, lemon, but again, paper thin. And here’s the deal: the whole lemon, rind and all. Yep, just take your whole lemon, lop off the first bit, and begin slicing it so thin you can see through it.

Paper Thin Chicken Soup

Part Deux

Because everything is sliced so thin, it’s only a light simmer for a short time and yes, you eat the lemon rind along with everything else.

You can’t help yourself.

Oh, for the last touch from Julie and Charles, I added parsley. This, I chose to chop and add fresh.

The point is, there are a bunch of ways to do any recipe, or use theirs to enhance your own. You’re talking about real food that’s not overly processed, and so your options are limitless. This is a cookbook, but also a reference.

I did already do a review of sorts, but in video form. If you haven’t but would like to see what I had to say, it begins at about 2:30 into this silly little 6 minute video I did in advance of the Labor Day weekend.

I have four cookbooks to review and I had intended to do them all in one post but have decided otherwise (this is the true virtue of procrastination, where you refine your ideas while putting off doing them). In the end I figured it would be better for the authors themselves to have posts exclusive to their work, that can stand individually over time.

I love this book, actually. In fact, I love it so much that a short and to the point review is probably called for. The reason is as basic and simple as the book is itself.

One of the appealing aspects of paleo or Primal in the first place is its simplicity, so this cookbook holds firmly to this attractive theme. Paleo, at base, is about less processing, not more; less complexity, not more; more comfort, not less; closer to food in its natural state, not father away.

Don’t get me wrong. I occasionally love to do complex dishes, like something from an old French cookbook and to immerse myself in the task for an entire Saturday, from sunrise and getting out of bed, making my list of ingredients, shopping, staging, sipping on a scotch as I dig in, and then keeping a sane kitchen the whole way (my mother taught me to clean the kitchen as I go), until time to serve guests at 8pm.

And this cookbook does not disappoint in that regard. there are a decent number of more complex dishes you can enjoy preparing for hours, to the eventual enjoyment of friends and family. And yet, the preponderance of the cookbook focusses on relatively simple dishes that only look complex, so my only “criticism,” really, is that the full color photos to showcase every single dish might scare people off. But dive right in. Yes, you really can make simply prepared food look that good.

I adore the “Comfort Foods” theme. Who doesn’t love sausage? Meatloaf? Fried Chicken? Gravy? Meatballs? Deviled Eggs? Wings? Burgers? Salsa? Guac? There are many others. And most notably for me, there is an extensive section on various sauces & dips, things that are simple and easy to prepare but really launch your preparation to the next level. Not only do many of the dishes sport a short list of ingredients (as few as two), many also have a very short list of steps to prepare (as few as two).

You will impress your friends and when you tell them it’s all about a fat loss and health plan, you’ll have their interest a lot sooner than telling them you’re on a new “diet.”

Another thing to note is that there is a clear Southern theme throughout. I know this because I grew up eating fried Okra, too. If you like Southern flair but want to know how to do it in a way that gives, rather than saps your energy, this book is for you.

I could go on, but I want to put an idea out there. The paleo Conventional Wisdom (PCW) says that you Google, find a blog, buy a book on paleo, become just slightly less knowledgeable than a PhD anthropologist about the roots and basis of your new experiment: eat eggs, bland veggies, grilled meat, eggs, bland veggies, grilled meat; wash, rinse, repeat…until such time as you go whoa, and then you buy a cookbook and begin getting a bit more sophisticated with your cooking lifestyle.

I have a modest proposal, and this applies most particularly to the few hundreds of you every day who just stumbled or Googled in here on some search and you’re intrigued.

What if you just got a cookbook first, and gave it a try? What if you let the food guide everything else?

I would be happy for those of you who have the cookbook and have tried a recipe or two, or three, or a dozen, let us know what you think in comments.

Paleo Magazine (click image to enlarge)

When I first heard that some crazy people were going to start a print magazine about Paleo I just, well, I just… Let’s put it that way.

Aren’t we in the Internet age, with content increasingly going to digital form and things in print increasingly the way of the dinosaur? That’s what I assumed, anyway. But then at the Ancestral Health Symposium last month, the publishers approached me and handed me a nice glossy edition of the magazine, asking if I might have a look.

I did, and while I like the convenience of the digital age and in particular, having as many magazines or books as you want right at your fingertips via iPad or a similar device, there’s really something about flipping pages, the glossy look and feel, the ability to have the latest and even back issues sitting on your bureau or coffee table and of course, the ease at which you can pass them off to friends and family when you’re done with them. Or, you can leave an issue in your doctor or dentist’s office on one of those very rare visits.

Another advantage is that these will be showing up on newsstands in various places, so people will be introduced to paleo via a completely new route.

Call me sold. I’ve subscribed myself and I’d encourage you to do so if you don’t win yours for free. Yes, I’ve arranged with the publishers to give away a free one-year subscription and I’ll do so by random drawing from the list of commenters.

Here are the rulz:

1. Enter as many times as you like. Each comment is a separate entry.
2. To enter once, just post a comment that says “enter me,” or something like that. Saying, “and please let me win” is entirely optional.
3. To enter as many times as you like, open up a topic of your choosing on anything related to Paleo/Primal and make it interesting enough that a discussion gets going and you and others end up posting multiple comments. Alternatively, participate in a discussion topic or more that others have initiated. The more you contribute, the greater your chance to win, and you may learn and teach in the whole process.
4. Be fair and mature about it. That means, enter once and be done with it or, make your multiple comments substantive.
5. I reserve the right to delete comments (entries) that I subjectively deem as not in keeping with rule #4.

I will close comments in about 48 hours, which is around noon, PDT, Monday, September 26.

Update: Comments are now closed, with a total of 182 entries. I will announce the winner soon. …Here we go:

Results

The 62nd comment by date and time was this one, by Myer. Thanks everyone for participating and I hope some or a lot of you go ahead and subscribe anyway.

I had a beef with Andrew Badenoch way back when over esoteric issues surrounding freedom, i.e……………anarchism.

I really didn’t explore the issue with him enough before I got pissed off and basically ignored him. And then months later, the Ancestral Health Symposium happened, I met him in person, and consequently felt embarrassed that I hadn’t taken the time to get to the gist of our disagreement before that. While we were very cordial to one-another, I feel and felt as though I lost an opportunity to do us both a little better.

I took steps to rectify my shortness with him immediately after AHS and that continues because Andrew is sort of a kindred spirit — to me — in my enthusiasm for motivating the paleo community to at least consider and discuss issues beyond fat loss and bodily health. We have a complex mind; and complex social systems…none of which are being regularly addressed by anyone but, in my humble opinion, myself, Andrew, and a small few others, typically focussed around evolutionary psychology, such as Emily. While I applaud being healthier and happier in any context and I applaud those — many my friends — who are helping to drive that forward, I just — forgive me — want to be on the cutting or bleeding edge of The Whole Monte, always. When hundreds of bloggers and book writers dive into the space I have been part of for so long, it’s my nature to further be part of driving it to the next level. And I still have a further level to two in mind.

I posted my latest: Are You More Moral, More Benevolent and More Competent Than Any Politician? Then Act Like It. And Andrew has posted something that while having intersecting ideas and principles, really touches deeper into paleo on the one hand, and politics vis-a-vis primitive social organization on the other. And he does all the references shit, too: Foundations for a Hunter-Gatherer Philosophy II: The Libertarianism Question. 

You can read those posts if you haven’t, and I encourage you to do so. Homework assignment, but only if you’re willing to take on mind and society, now that you’ve cured, or are well on your way to curing body. If not, I will be the first to say that this can wait and there will be more opportunities. Have more to look forward to. Don’t worry about it and you have important things you’re working on. Stay tuned. You’ll know when you’re ready for more.

I wanted, just for a bit, to really shake you up with something. This should come as a big surprise.

Killing and murder happens.

Always has, and always will. You can take any number of positions on all of that and it will still happen. There will always be very bad people, and psychopaths. People will still kill people and your choice is to live in bedtime story fantasy about it for comfort’s sake, or confront the reality of it. Here’s an off the cuff stream of consciousness sampling, referencing modern times:

• The Duel. Perhaps the most “gentlemanly” form of killing, where both participants are willing, with witnesses, and all is clean and tidy. Such a form of resolving differences over honor — or even more petty — strike me as conditioned by social dynamics far removed from the human animal sphere. It’s merely a way to defend an already baked in the cake dynamic, though at least it was manno a manno. In the Middle East, honor killings are…well, you know what those God loving savages do to girls and women. So there’s that.
• “Coon Hunt.” I don’t know how to draw any valid distinctions between that and those God loving savages. That’s likely because there’s likely none to draw.
• Wildwest Gunfight. I’m too un-stoked in boring American-West mythology — and don’t know whom to trust — to comment on it, without spending countless hours in the library. I dunno, do you? I never have cared if they all killed one-another. Wait. I have sometimes wished they had, if nothing else, but to relieve us from the prospect of boring and pointless movies. OK, Big John Wayne was pretty cool. And a few others I guess.
• The Random Murderer. Small potatoes, but shit happens and there are no guarantees. You would do well to choose your friends, acquaintances, lovers and friends circumspectly. Still no guarantees, because when seconds count, the cops are only minutes away. Have a gun, or two, or six; I do. Don’t you?
• Gang Murders. Why do you think there are gangs there? Because there are people there to dominate. Unless they have you in handcuffs to your kitchen table, get out, with your 10 welfare babies in tow. Otherwise, in 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14 years in succession, you’ll have blood on your hands. 
• Media Motivated Execution. It’s sensational and all in vogue, now, but I find it difficult to care much about the proponents or opponents alike, because I find it difficult to distinguish their true hearts from their overpowering minds; which minds might — merely — like to make things easier on their hearts from here out — or after another > 10 executions for the proponents, and < 10 for the opponents…and which it is? Personally, for me, the notion that it might be wise to end the life of a predator for everyone’s sake gets totally tarnished and indistinguishable from lynch mobs in today’s unserious flash and sparkle sensationalism, over serious substance, and even with real lives in balance — but it’s sure entertaining; there’s that. And there’s momentum. That too. I think we’re fallible, so there’s no such thing as an “objective” death sentence short of a conviction beyond any possible doubt.
• Soldiers, Sailors, Marines & Airmen. So noble. So many get to kill by remote control, now, or at least kill the most by means of various lethal technologies. I have never decided if I was really fooled or not. In the logic of geopolitics, it seemed sensible to do my part at the time. When The Wall came down, I soon submitted my resignation. I didn’t like the trend I saw towards creating new enemies to replace the old ones.
• The Government. I had to save the best for last; the winner! Now, I know this is very unpopular. The government is so popular, it’s the most ingenious marketing plan ever. Let’s see, you control everything through force and coercion, erect laws to fine and imprison, spice it up with with prosecution of the unpopular (one assumes real bad guys will always be dealt with anyway) and then, you execute people here and there to hand clapping. Don’t worry. Let God sort it out. Winner.

God Bless America.

There will always be killing and murder. Those who propose solutions that involve eradication are deluded, or worse, scamming you. Have you paid them anything or donated?

I have a modest proposal and it’s already in the title: if you want someone dead, then just kill them yourself.

You see, it’s very difficult for me to assume that many people don’t want one whole fuck of a lot of people dead. Isn’t that part of the reason why so many agitate, then stand in line at a voting booth, to vote death by proxy, “support the troops,” and all thayt? Do they go home and wash their hands?

If you want someone dead — and I’m certainly not saying there’s not valid reasons for that — then kill them yourself.

Just kill them yourself.

Imagine a world where that was the creed, and you had to live with, or got to enjoy, the real consequences of your deed. Might you be a little careful?

I saw people today in the latest go-round over an execution being impotent as always; pathetic, some admonishing that it’s better for 100, 1,000, 10,000 guilty men to go free than for one to be executed unjustly.

That’s a sucker’s hope. People will always be killed. Some unjustly. It happens. It will happen. But how much more likely is it when real culpability for error is nowhere to be found?

So just do it yourself when you think it’s warranted, and face the consequences if you’re deemed wrong.

Of course, there is an alternative, which would be simply to stop killing people because they think and act differently from you, or are in the way, or whatever. But yea, that would never work.

Update: I neglected to mention that the title phrase is not original to me but was something a long time anarchist friend, Greg Swann wrote years ago, in 2005 (final paragraph). Visit his current blog, SplendorQuest.

[Original post title: Is Collectivism Relative?]

At times I become totally disillusioned by the track the Paleo community seems to be taking, on pure momentum. Perhaps it’s just my perception.

While the Ancestral Health Symposium was a tremendous breath of fresh air in this regard, by no means do I think it made even the slightest dent in the overall trend. Paleo, for the vast, vast majority, is just a way to lose fat, feel better, build a bit of lean mass, learn not to obsess over hunger, and gain a measure of normal health.

And that’s a lot. There’s no denying that; everyone comes from their own place; everyone has their own level of outrage and euphoria. For some, the differences are really so profound that it might come as a shock to them that it’s only a third of the deal.

A third?

Yep, because all these things address mostly your body; not mind, not society. All that is not the direct aspect of what relates to mind and society in the former are dismissed as irrelevant, if they’re even thought of at all, which I tend to doubt. Everyone still goes to their cubicle, spends hours per day in auto-commute, shores up and maintains relationships that are toxic or a hindrance to happiness, sleeps like crap and…and…stands in line at a polling place to get a micro sliver of a say in his or her own affairs with absolutely zero hope of ever swaying society to his or her way of thinking in his or her own lifetime…and this is after spending countless hours watching cable news and ingesting the mind poison of the political pundits in print.

Talk about stress, if stress is taken to mean being subject to means and situations totally out of your control or practical influence.

But it doesn’t seem to stop many, if any, and this an eternal curiosity to me.

I have blogged it so many times it’s probably already boring. We didn’t only evolve not eating grains and processed food. We also evolved in small groups of 30-60, where each and every adult individual could account for the values and actions of each and every other member, and had a real, important influence on the direction and behavior of the group as a whole.

We evolved with real social power. Did you read that? We evolved with real social power. And now, modern human animals — as though in a lab, having learned to press a lever to drop a few more pellets of food in the bowl – delude themselves into believing they have great power, when in reality they haven’t a scintilla of a microscopic particle of it. Nobody who’s not already morally depraved enough to do something like run for an office so they can “practice public policy” can hold a candle to an average human animal hunting and gathering in terms of power and influence. Both are true masters of their domain and society: one based upon force and coercion, the other on mutually earned respect.

…I got a steer to an interesting post via Twitter yesterday: Is Centralization Inevitable?

Well I’ve used the word collectivism in my title which is an end result of political centralization, and there’s a small point to that. It’s relative. Family units, for example, are small collectives, which means: the ways, means, resources and spoils are generally shared without an exhaustive accounting of each member’s contribution. Which is to say: from each according to his ability; to each, according to his need. Ah, context.

The rub is that in the family unit or small social circle, you have the power to cut someone off any time you want, if they don’t pull their weight or worse: become parasitical in all the ways that can turn from outright laziness to self-destructive behavior culminating in utter dependence on many levels.

OK so let’s get to some excepts from Donald Livingston, professor emeritus of philosophy at Emory University.

There is nothing “inevitable” about centralization. Man is a social being. There is an inbuilt disposition of human nature to form small scale polities composed of federations of extended families, kinship ties, and accepted foreigners. This is natural. Vast scale centralized regimes are not natural. They are artificial. Modern theorists such as Hobbes, Locke try to say that these large states are rationally formed because the aggregate of individuals under them choose this condition for peace and security (Hobbes) or to enhance liberty (Locke). Both Hobbes and Locke are wrong. The truth is that all large states are the result of conquest and a rough process of digesting the smaller polities consumed. A story about “peace” or “liberty,” or the later ones about “equality,” “human rights,” “democracy,”etc. are noble lies told after the fact to reconcile us to the modern state.

Shorter Livingston: The state is in no way “paleo.” It is as Neolithic as grains and actually, far more toxic and lethal, with hundreds of million deaths of innocents under its belt. It is all a big fat lie, and that goes for America the Beautiful as much as for any other.

A look at ancient history might suggest that centralized empires are inevitable. Everywhere in the ancient world we find empires: the Hittite, Babylonian, Assyrian, Persian, Egyptian,etc. Everywhere except Greece. The Greeks built a world class civilization from which we still draw inspiration which was completely decentralized. It was composed of over 1,500 tiny republics, the largest of which was around 160,000 or so.

“It would never work.”

What of defense? The Persian empire commanded the resources of some 40 million. The Greeks had around 8 million, scattered from Naples to the Black Sea. Surely the big boy could pick these little states off like fruit. But the Persians were never able to do so. History is filled with David and Goliath stories of this sort. Eg. Switzerland founded, as I recall, in 1291 and surrounded by large intrusive monarchies.

“But it would never work. Plus, what of those who want to kill us for our ‘freedoms’?”

[…] And are large modern states safe? European states were centralized under monarchs and even more so under mass democracies; each seeking to grow larger to be able to overwhelm the other. In the process of centralization, peace could be enforced within the state–though at the price of “digesting” the hundreds of smaller units crushed into it to create its huge bulk. This left a rootless mass of timid and obedient subjects under central control.

“”This left a rootless mass of timid and obedient subjects under central control.” Very paleo, but that’s what I see the movement coming to by raw momentum of mass, after being initially husbanded by a lot of folks with libertarian and individualist sentiments. Well, there’s always raw milk activism. There’s that. And look, I’m not saying these battles aren’t worth fighting. I’m making a plea merely to look far beyond it to, in the words of Thoreau, “strike at the root.”

Nevertheless, there was peace of sorts within the state’s border. But what about outside? The first global war was the Seven years War, then Napoleon, then WWI, WWII, the Cold War. Have Germany, France, Britain, Russia been safe places to live in the 20th century? No, they have not been. And you know Rummel’s figures that nearly four times as many people have been killed by their own governments as in all the wars fought around the globe, foreign and domestic, in the 20th century.

And he even makes a moral argument, surprise surprise. For someone who reads almost nothing but how well “it will work” [for whom?], this was quite a surprise.

[…] Still our moral judgment should be about whether decentralization of a modern state is a good thing or not. Not whether modern states are superior in some respects to pre-modern ones. They obviously are in some respects and not in others.

Translation: Freedom can actually really suck sometimes on a practical level, but that doesn’t give you moral right to make others your slaves because you’re an insecure little pussy with big investments in status quo who can’t take what life dishes out.

Much of the rest engages or envisions how decentralization could work and I never engage in that. I don’t really care if freedom is totally “unworkable.” It’s who and what I am, so fuck your utilitarianism.

There’s only one thing more pathetic to me than the 300 pounder with a shopping cart full of crap in a box and bottles filled with sugar water: it’s the picture of the lean and ripped paleo standing in line to get his 1/300 millionth say in his own affairs at the voting booth. Testifying before Congress might come in a close second.

We have no demands to present to you, no bargains to strike, no compromise to reach. You have nothing to offer us. We do not need you. – John Galt

Never forget that you…you…are more moral, more benevolent, more competent than any single office holder in the entire world. You live by the means of your ability to produce and voluntarily trade value for value. They live by means of force and coercion. There are no exceptions, no qualifications.

You’re better than that, and I wish everyone in mass would just simply start really acting like it.

Update: For much more information on this general topic including references, see Andrew at Evolvify: Foundations for a Hunter-Gatherer Philosophy II: The Libertarianism Question. Even libertarianism isn’t even remotely close to paleo, much less far more intrusive states or so-called “lands of the free.”

I’ve kinda backed off attacking the raw vegans lately. For one, there were a number of posts back in the spring pretty close together, many with over 300-400 comments each, and with that kind of enthusiasm for a single topic, I just didn’t want to overly exploit it — having the blog turn essentially into a failed vegan help blog.

And then there was the live debate with Harley Johnstone — aka “Durianrider” — of the 30 Bananas a Day (30BAD) website and forum (posts here and here, with 327 and 452 comments, respectively). With all that activity and comments and debates and on and on, I grew a bit fatigued with the whole thing.

In the interim, I kept hearing bits and snippets in various places around the Paleosphere that ‘it’s pointless to argue with the vegan Religion,’ does no good, waste of time, et cetera, et cetera. “I never waste my time” was oft heard. In point of fact, I don’t believe that and have never believed it; for this religion or any other, or any unfounded belief or any other. In fact, questioning belief systems from diet to health to social systems, politics, religion and on and on is the way humans, cultures, societies evolve and get marginally better over time. The key is patience, tenacity, and intellectual honesty with respect to your own ideas and beliefs. All knowledge or, “belief systems,” have holes. Most have far more holes than the few. The paleo paradigm broadly envisioned — equator to arctic circle and sea level to 16,000 feet and everything in-between — is one of the few that has fewer holes than the very, very many, i.e., all the other “fad diets.” This is simply a priori: it’s based upon the best science of evolution and anthropology we know. But it should never be dogma and there ought never be a single dietary prescription for all human individuals. We still have much to learn and will continue to have much to learn for a very long time.

Call it “the scientific method” crudely applied.

…Or call it whatever you want, but to return to the point of the pointlessness in taking on The Vegan Manace, I have never seen the value in advancing any set of ideas like “paleo,” without also contrasting how they differ from competing ideas and when warranted (often), actually criticizing or attacking those competing ideas. And of course, I prefer ridicule because raw veganism for most people is simply ridiculous.

And so after deciding to back off, I got an email alerting me to a post and subsequent thread by a young man on the 30BAD forum lamenting how bad the raw fruit vegan diet had been for his body composition and athletic performance. That turned into perhaps the most popular “vegan menace” post I’ve ever done, with over 480 comments, 820 Facebook “Likes” and over 100 “Tweets.” …A 100% Raw Vegan Success Story. I suppose it was an oversight not to have put “Success” between quotation marks.

Before (left) and After (right)

I did catch a bit of flack from some commenters, emailers, and even the subject, Harout, himself, but only initially. Well, it is what it is.

And now, what it is is different than it was. I quote Tris from recent comments to that same post (here and here).

Hi guys. Quick intro: I’ve been pretty active on 30BAD for the past 18 months, and have been doing LFRV for 12 months now. It’s been great to see fat come off , more clarity of thought and I am enjoying the strength gains. It’s usually about this time that many people start falling off so I will see what happens.

I think durianrider has made a fool of himself trying to defend the cause at any cost. Obviously the differences in photos does not come down to flexing/not flexing, and that vague, distance flexing photo is not a “recovery” – both of which was durianrider’s main argument. But I’m glad Harout hasn’t fully recovered – considering the lifestyle he was living to create that body.

Let’s consider the actual 30BAD community, the people themselves. The entire premise of Richard’s post – that “not a single one of those motherfuckers is willing for one second to even entertain a whiff of a notion that something just may be rotten” – is pretty unfair.

Read the comments here and you get two themes: firstly, you can’t see any 30BADer showing concern about Harout’s bodyfat going up, and secondly: 30BAD is so tightly regulated and censored that no content challenging the “perfection” of a fruit diet remains on the forum.

Well… can you guys not put two and two together?

Any content on 30BAD that doesn’t praise fruit and veganism gets removed or at least totally chastised by one of durianrider’s aggressive tangents. So… most dialogue with Harout about this was behind the scenes. MANY 30BADers expressed concern for him and what he was doing.

Come on, give the 30BAD community at least a little credit… Look at the results of 95% of the thread – you don’t think the more experienced LFRVers would ask questions with cases like Harout and Kyndra? But these are done in PM’s, phone calls, emails and in-person because obviously durianrider has a tendency to hijack a thread when he has a cause.

Call 30BAD cultish and I would totally agree. If you want to question things, you do it on another forum.

Say that 30BAD’s message board… (totally under durianrider’s censorship control, largely under his social control) is an accurate reflection of the psyche of its’ 6,000 members, and I’ll tell you to think about this a little deeper.

Many 30BAD members (myself included) are often as embarrassed by durianrider as you guys are baffled. I like 70% of his advice and think the other 30% is really, really dodgy. It’s something we tolerate to meet people who eat the same way we do. […]

…I am grateful for the gracious, mature and constructive criticism you have given, based on what you have seen. The same goes for many comments from others here. It definitely helped me see the situation and the community with a more even light.

I know Richard your comments have helped many 30BADers look at the community in a more independent and critical way (and less like cult followers). This has encouraged a lot more personal confidence from members. You have done a great service.

The important point here is that I merely wrote a post that happened to resonate with folks, and they chipped in out of concern for a young man and together wrote almost 500 comments between them (as well as the likes & tweets). So while I’m grateful for Tris’ kind words toward me, the real credit goes to the community, who takes the time to read the blog, comment, and offer help.

And now here’s the punchline, a comment from Harout himself, just this morning.

Hello everyone. As Adriana requested, I’m going to post a progress report within the next couple of days. Been busy ’cause I’ve been back on the grind at both the weight room and basketball. Progress Is great and the fruit diet is history (stupidest diet I’ve ever done in my life). I’ll be around. Will post pictures soon and a written summary of how I feel as I shifted my diet.

Well whaddya know about that!?

Irrespective of what his diet actually is, what’s important is that he has shifted from a path of diminishment, to one of improvement. I’ll be anxious to see how he has turned things around for his own sake rather than continue down a path of self sacrifice in the name of a dietary ideology.

UPDATE: Harout has now posted his update with a video and pics as a comment on the original post. Go have a look. He looks good and strong again after dropping the raw fruit diet.

I’m staying away from the radio and TV today. If I’m to actually remember September 11, 2001 on the 10th anniversary of its shock & horror, then I propose to actually do that and not have it “remembered” for me by fancy images, editing, and tear-jerking stories of the remembrances of others.

I know very well were I was, precisely what I was doing, and who called to tell me to turn on the TV only minutes before the second plane went in — making all too obvious the nature of the horror that was taking place. And if that wasn’t outrageous and awful enough, there was that brief respite where you imagine that the worst is over or almost over, that they’ll eventually get the fires out…only to have things get unimaginably far worse and terrible in a hurry.

You want to know what I remember, what outrages me, and what I mourn above all else? It’s the juxtaposition of the whole deal: 14th century, dirt scratching savages using the technology of science, freedom and industry to take out a symbol of what makes that technology, freedom and industry all go round: the free trade of value for value.

September 11, 2001 serves as a bitter reminder to me that America wasn’t free before, and is less and less free each day I count since. Moreover, when the vandalism of symbols representing the freedom to produce and trade the fruits of your labor on terms of your own choosing is met almost exclusively by cheerleading for masters and their troops, I fear all is lost.

Then there’s these, too:

• Videos of America’s “Finest”
• And they love their Tasers
• TSA Abuse
• Wrongful Convictions
• Death Row Exonerations
• Prosecutorial Misconduct
• Asset Forfeiture
• Eminent Domain
• Raw Milk Raids
• Lemonade Criminals

So you’ll excuse me if I’m not all weepy, hauling out the good ‘ole “Red, White and Blue.” I’m an asshole in that way. And while I certainly do mourn the entire tragedy and those who lost lives and loved ones in it, I morn far more the quotidian loss of freedom and livelihood you’ll find as close to home as the local lemonade stand and in the rest of those links above.

And then there’s this great and comprehensive post by the folks over at “The Primal Challenge.” They’ve titled the post CHICAGO OUTRAGE: Switch from real strawberries to corn syrup, or get shut down, but in actuality, it covers far more than that in terms of the latest war being conducted on peaceful and productive American people by their masters and domestic troops: The War on Real Food.

You should go over and read the whole thing. Discussion in comments is welcome, and if you’re bold enough, Tweets, Likes and submissions are certainly welcome and might get some of the celebrants to think a little deeper, today.

There’s plenty of dead to mourn today, I agree. But let’s also carve out a place to mourn the virtual death of freedom, self-determination and small trade.

It’s reasonably clear to me that I have a good turnover in readers.

I should expect that. I do expect that. While there are always those few who send me emails, letting me know that they’ve been loyal readers since even the pre-paleo days, even before I made this place exclusively paleo friendly, there are hundreds upon hundreds per month who get here via Google, links form other blogs, or whatever, and soon decide that I am not for them. Some stick around and stats stay about the same.

I’ll never do “The 10 ways to [insert bullshit]” posts. Ever.

What I will always do is, number one, celebrate success and, number two, dump a pile of smelly shit on those holding you back.

From the archives, my BULLSHIT! series. I tried to redo these, get ’em on YouTube, but for some reason, the video and audio is a couple of seconds out of sync, even if I go back to the original import in iMovie. Well, I wish Steve well anyway. I’ll just use the original Vimeo renderings.

I’m posting this because I’m going to be reviving the series. I still have the original batteries in the BULLSHIT horn and the warning light still blinks. If you remember, here’s a revisit, if you want. And if you’re new, here’s how ‘debaucherous’ it can get around here.

Bullshit #1 from Richard Nikoley on Vimeo.

BULLSHIT! from Richard Nikoley on Vimeo.

I know I’ve disappointed so many of you in the past, but I’m just not good at giving head to a fire hose. I got overwhelmed and so did nothing. But I have been reengineering my work life of late and BULLSHIT! is really one of the things I’m passionate about reviving.

So send me your BULLSHIT!

One of my greatest pleasures of the recent Ancestral Health Symposium, that took place just about a month ago, on the UCLA campus, was finally getting to meet fellow presenter Frank Forencich of Exuberant Animal. See, Frank and I have a lot in common about how we think of this whole “primal” or “Paleo” movement. The first clue is in the names we independently chose to represent our respective work.

It was always so obvious to me that we were dealing with a lot more than diet. A lot more than exercise, even a lot more than “the Neolithic.” We’re dealing with our very nature as animals and it runs deep and informs all aspects of not only our individual person, but how we interact with other human animals.

I sat down this morning to have a video chat with Frank, totally unscripted and far more like a conversation of like minds than an interview. I had intended it to be short but as often happens, you end up going far longer. From memory, we covered the following:

• What is “Exuberant Animal” and how does it differ from the more common thinking surrounding things like the paleo diet and exercise?
• What does Frank think about the Ancestral Health Symposium?
• Did he and I start an AHS barefoot movement?
• Will there be nudists next year?
• A fairly lengthy conversation ensues about walking and hiking barefoot.
• What about cutting your feet on sharp objects?
• Are your feet too sensitive to go barefoot?
• What about ankle support?
• Where do you have more verve endings than your genitals?
• The When and Where of Exuberant Animal Trainer Jams and how you can exuberate at one.
• What about the whole Cartesian mind-body dichotomy thing?
• Is Eastern Mysticism a better fit to describe the whole human animal?
• Distributed computing and intelligence?
• Where did science start?
• My rant: how does making collective decisions as a group of 30-50 H-Gs relate to stepping into a voting booth?
• Is this really all about going back to being primitive?

That, and probably a few things I’ve forgotten. This is my kind of conversation and I’m thrilled that we’re not so primitive I can’t even share it with you, virtually worldwide, on demand. Hell, I don’t think I even dropped a single expletive, so this might even be work safe. It’s in two parts, about 15 minutes each.

And so now, here is Frank’s Presentation at the Ancestral Health Symposium. I highly recommend watching it. Deep Evolution. Here’s his slide deck: Talk Paleo to Me.

Some other Exuberant Animal links:

• Exuberant Animal Jams
• East Coast Trainer Jam, Oct 14-16
• West Coast Trainer Jam, Oct 21-23
• Big Picture
• Frank’s Library

You know, this is a lot of video, a lot of information. I’ve been sitting on Frank Forencich for a very long time and now it’s time to free that [exuberant] animal. If you’re a fan here I can’t imagine how you’ll not get even more.

In case you missed part 1 of my interview with Dean Dwyer of Being Primal, or missed out on all the wonderful things he wrote about me, you can catch it here.

Part 2 of what will be four parts is now up and ready to watch, with even more wonderful things written about me. Click here to catch it.

Here, according to Dean, is what we discussed

• how and why he stumbled upon paleo in the first place
• he introduces me to the phrase “stroke out”
• we learn the three key aspects he used and continues to use to keep off the 60lbs he lost
• he demos (on 2 occasions) his workout face
• see how I throw him under the bus by promising to edit something out and then leaving it in
• discover what resistance training did for him (and could do for you as well)
• the benefits of fasting
• he actually reveals his tender side. It got so intense we were close to hugging it out
• why he wasn’t comfortable at his lowest weight which was 175lbs
• how he “unknowingly” rips me (I won’t reveal it here, but it has to do with something on my site.) [Post in the comment section if you figure out what the rip is and feel free to coddle my battered ego]
• who inspired him
• his RANT on the idea, “fat is beautiful”
• his mention of the word junk and how I never fully recovered from that line

Here’s 28 seconds of trailer tease, from the full 14 minute’s worth. Yea, that’s Dean to the left, cracking up.

Again, as with the last installment, standard disclaimers apply. If you’re not into raucous fun laced with f-bombs and crude references to genitalia, then by all means, turn right around. There’s nothing to see here.

This is part 1 of a two part interview that covers the wild transformation of a family of five over the last year and a half since they went Paleo.

Paleo Parents

I sat down with Stacy and Matthew last week over Skype to talk about their transformation both in terms of fat loss and other health improvements, such as depression, attention deficit disorder and behavioral issues with their two older boys. This first part covers how it went for Stacy and Matthew over the 15 months since Stacy stumbled on paleo while researching intolerance to dairy.

Rather than quote from their story, you can read all about it here on their Paleo Parents blog. And here are their posts on their individual transformation: Stacy, Matthew. I think you’ll agree that it took quite a bit of courage for Stacy to put herself out there like that. It’s a credit to her commitment to help other parents and their families.

So now watch and listen to their description of their journey, including a number of other before and after pictures.

Part 2 will be about the amazing improvements in the body compositions and behavior or their two older boys, Cole and Finian, and how different the infancy of Wesley was as compared to the others, since he’s been “paleo” since birth.

Here’s the link to Part 2.

I’ll admit right off the bat that when I saw the trailer for Higher Ground recently in advance of what I’m sure was a much better film (Midnight in Paris, perhaps?), I was enamored. As I was in an artsy fartsy theater watching and artsy farsy film and by consequence, all the trailers are for equally artsy, and fartsy, perhaps I’d like it. Who knows?

Then my wife surprised me. She wanted me to spend the last day of my holiday — my October Revolution Celebration weekend — seeing this film. So she sent me video reviews by atheists and a goofy intellectual of whom with, I’m certain I have not a single thing in common.

This did not help. In fact, it made things worse. If you care to, judge for yourself before reading my assessment. Basically, these folks all just love the film and why? Because it “doesn’t judge,” or some nonsense like that.

Or, this one, equally bad and to my mind, a bit stinky.

I was not only unimpressed but a bit pissed with both reviews. Thank you very much. Quite obviously, they actually, as young folk, were never inculcated into an environment where they were beseeched by elders to bow their heads, close their eyes, and raise their hands over the irrational fear that an eternity of torture awaits them for their thought crimes and worse.

Creds: the scene is very well done. Accurate.

What’s actually going on in real life is that the manipulative device of shutting off two of your sensory organs is so that you and others– who may have been scared shitless by the foregoing message — can escape the further scared shitlessness by being identified by peers — by sight or sound (or live in the fantasy that you’re not). But that doesn’t begin to tell the whole story. It’s a life view. No, there’s not 70 virgins — you only get one, in real life…BONUS! — but you get “streets of gold and a mansion” that God himself special built for you.

Heads or tails: a dime is a dime.

Then there’s the aspect of laying awake as a kid, worried that if you should die in your sleep, you may go straight to hell because you may not have said the magic words exactly per the catechism. They say it’s about your heart, but that’s the rub. You still have the heart of a wild animal. You really do want to look up the dresses of girls. The emotional conflict turns on whether it’s worth it. In time, thankfully, the smartest of us do learn: pussy is absolutely worth an eternity of torture in hell.

They didn’t account for this.

Well, I could go on an on, but I have to lend a paleo perspective to all of this baggage.

You want Rapture? It’s simple; and I’ll just talk to the guy aspect. You guys…16, 17, 18 and even more, sitting there in the pews? Your parents, if they are putting a roof over your heads, feeding you well, and putting you in advantageous social situations, need not be challenged. Be smart. Be a good kid. Then chat up that lovely who’s as curious as you, go out behind the church, and discover by your own touch, sight, smell, hearing (ahhh, ahhh, ahhh) and, and…taste, how clueless is the impotent, restrictive, fearful, and cruel world you have had the misfortune of landing in.

You want Rapture? Just one example, but become an expert at cunnilingus, and it’s not just about your tongue. Actually, your hands are just as important. These need to be placed in such a way that you can get sensory feedback vis-à-vis muscular contraction. Listen also for breathing rate and of course, when you get to be expert, involuntary verbalisms.

Don’t ever stop until you get it right. You have my permission. Then learn how to use your index and middle finger expertly.

And then you will have freed the animal and its marvelous mind, and this sort of bullshit I’ve just been blogging about; and the impotent, limp dick men who couldn’t sexually please a woman if their lives depended upong it — who would rather spend their lives seeking the lazy way through either brute enslavement or clever or subtle intimidation — will be fully revealed to you. But just smile. You’ll know.

You can do much better, and it has nothing whatever to do about your ability to understand and quote an ancient text. It has everything to do with your developed sense of taste, touch, smell, hearing and the the ability to spot your beautiful and sexy mark in the first place.

She wants you. So do the limp dicks. Who ya gonna choose?