Here you'll find my thoughts on fitness, humanity, nature, nutrition, politics, reason, science and critical thinking.

“Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves.” -Albert Einstein

Sunday, March 22, 2009

The "most" profound video I have ever seen...

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Click here to watch it and read my thoughts AFTER viewing it.

Now did you watch it? No... then don't bother reading on :p .

Why is a video about the cosmos one I find so profound? Because it brings EVERYTHING into perspective. It shows how irrelevant we are in the big picture, right away that sounds depressing but it is not, it is rather uplifting because if you look at some of the negative issues going on in the world or your own life this simple video shows to you how small it is... so small you can almost consider it non-existent.

Of course that is not really the case, if you are sick or starving the pain or hunger is not non-existent, but your mind can give you more even in such dyer situations.

If you have any negative energy around you at this very moment (sickness, no job, lack of food, etc...), watch the video again and ponder your problem in terms of how big it is to the Universe, it just is not there.

Your body might feel it but your mind does not have too... the choice is yours.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

How I stay "FIT" and "Healthy".

Most people who know me are aware that I enjoy living a healthy lifestyle and keeping a good physical condition.

Here I will explain what I do in detail for exercises & nutrition.

I do practice what I preach, here is a picture of myself in March 2009 at 36 years of age.

I think of myself as being in good physical condition and yet achieving a good shape is not that hard.


Here is what I do in terms of training: Twice a week I do resistance training, 2 times a week I do one special exercise that works both my abs and and lower back, I walk to work at a brisk pace, nothing to make me sweat since I have work clothes on but a good enough pace that I feel my blood pumping.

Resistance training: I stick with exercises that will not irritate my lower back.

1- Legs: I start with one leg squats with no weights. I do 3 sets per leg, 30 reps on the first one as a warm up, then I take 10 seconds of rest, go ahead for as many as I can and after another 10 seconds of rest, one last set, again as many as I can. 

2- Chest & Triceps: I use this tool to perform my push ups, I use a shoulder width grip. I do 5 sets. The first set is on my knees and I do 75 reps as a warm up, 10 seconds of rest and I go at it again for 10 reps, I do this 3 more times for as many as I can each time. The last 4 sets are in the standard push up position.

3- Calves: Standing single leg calf raises I do this small muscle to give my body a little rest after I just worked two major muscle groups, calves are easy to work out. I do 30 reps, 20 reps and max reps with only 10 seconds of rest between each set.

4- Back: Chin ups again using my power gym, one of the best back exercise and it does not put any strain on the lower back, big bonus for me. 3 sets with only 10 seconds of rest between each set. It comes out to about 12, 6 and 4 reps.

5- Shoulders: One arm dumbbell shoulder presses using 25 pounds, I do a warm up of 15 reps, take 10 seconds of rest do another for maximum reps (about 8) and one more after another 10 seconds of rest (5-6 reps).

6- Biceps: Standing dumbbell curls using 25 pounds, I do a warm up of 20 reps then I do two more sets for as many as I can, always with only 10 seconds of rest between sets.

The key to my resistance training is the little rest between each set, doing my repetitions at a relatively slow speed (every repetition takes me about 4 seconds) and the intensity of doing as many reps as I can on the last set.

Total time is about 30-35 minutes... twice a week.

Two times a week I work my lower back & abs (never on the same day I do resistance training), it takes me about 4 minutes. I do 3 sets of 12 repetitions with my ab wheel, each rep takes me about 4-5 seconds. Again only 10 seconds of rest between each set. I bought my ab wheel at Canadian Tire for 12$.

That's all I do in terms of resistance training. I walk no less than one hour every day, although 5 days a week is sufficient.

Now the BIG key... nutrition! I eat 1900 calories a day with 65% of my calories being FATS, 15% protein and 20% carbohydrates . You will NOT get fat from eating good fats and proteins but you will get fat from eating carbohydrates (except carbs from vegetables), even too many healthy carbs will make you fat.

Just remember this, you can live a healthy life without ANY carbohydrates in your diet, if you totally remove either fats or proteins you will die.

As for supplements, I keep it simple. 1 tablespoon of cod liver oil along with a multivitamin. That's it.

Monday, February 23, 2009

I propose ONE tax for Canada, no more income/corporate taxes.

I have stated for years that we should simplify our taxe system to its simplest method. ONE taxe, a sales taxe... you buy you pay a tax, you don't you pay nothing.

This one taxe system would cover EVERYTHING; Unemployement Insurance, Canada Pension Plan, Income Taxes, Corporate Taxes, etc... . ALL revenue would come from that one sales tax. The tax would be the same value for everything, no different for gas, electricity, cigarettes (we should ban the sale in Canada), etc... the same tax for all.

We could eliminate the Revenue services of the Federal and Provincial governments and people would no longer go through the frustrating yearly task of doing their taxes.

As well working "under the table'' (getting paid in cash to avoid taxes) would be useless since you would still be contributing like everyone else... the only down side is if you hold a job that pays in such a manner and lose your job you would not be able to get unemployement insurance but you would have contributed just like everyone else. I like that concept, hehe.

This would eliminate all tax deductions, they would be all gone (medical, education, corporate, etc...). A company would no longer pay a corporate tax, it would simply pay taxes on products it purchases to build and maintain (materials) its company.

Healthy food would not be taxed and clothing of 40$ of less would not be taxed. This way the really poor could still feed and clothe themselves.

A one purchasing tax system that would be administered by the Provincial governments and they would send X amount of money to the federal government based on their population. Forget which province is richer or poorer, everyone pays the same per capita.

As for the city taxes, you simplify that one with one tax system... you pay on a per square meter that you own. Not the value of your home but the square meter of property you have. This way someone who has 1000 square meters with a home value of 300 000$ would pay the same as someone who owns 1000 square meters with a home value of 150 000$. This is democratic and fair. The more land you have the more taxes you pay.

Agricultural land that is USED for agriculture would only have a set % taxed, the amount would never go higher than X amount of square meters. This way farmers would not fear buying huge amounts of land and having to pay huge property taxes.

School taxes would also fall into that one tax system, no longer would you have to pay yearly school taxes and it would eliminate another system of administration.

Critics state that many people would cross the border. That can be resolved, all the 100$ of millions you saved by eliminating the revenue services and school board administration for taxes you could divert a portion of that to increasing border agents & increase the size of border crossings (doubling both in size). They would have enough manpower to search. If you are caught trying to bring something over without paying taxes... you would pay double the tax.

Imagine making 1000$ a week and taking home ... 1000$!!

Saturday, February 21, 2009

I make more money than 99.06% of everyone on Earth.

Next time you complain that you do not have any money... do not think it's because you do not HAVE any money. You more than likely have it. You probably live over your limit and this is likely caused by always looking at material things people with more money than you have and you want it as well.

Well look at it from another angle and maybe you will not feel so bad about not having what someone else has.

http://www.globalrichlist.com/index.php

I feel pretty damn lucky!

Sunday, February 8, 2009

The earth receives more energy from the Sun in just ONE hour than the world uses in a WHOLE year

You read that right and it is not some mumbo jumbo science talk.

It is very well documented that if we could use all the energy we get from the Sun we would have zero need of coal, oil, gas, nuclear, wind, geo-thermal or any other form of energy.

Unfortunately this world runs on money for EVERYTHING and science is often lacking in such funds and because of this solar energy is not where it could be if leaders of the world had made it a priority as soon a we started to research solar technology.

But never let anyone state that we can not live on solar energy alone, with the proper resources committed to the Sun's great power this planet could have limitless energy.

Imagine everywhere in the world getting all their energy needs for a year with just a few hours of captivating the Sun's rays.

Most people would ask why this is not already the case since we have solar panels?

The main obstacle is the following:

Our solar panels do a poor job of captivating the energy it receives from the sun, this is one of the reasons they are so big. Science is "slowly" designing solar panels that can capture more energy that is projected on them, achieving 100% captivity being the goal. This is the key, if panels could capture 100% solar energy (last time I check it was less than 10%) then panels would be very small and they would not have to be big to power our infrastructure, forget about your roof being full of solar panels with this type of technology, they will be up to 10 times smaller than what you see now and do a better job! Powering your home, car and other utilities with energy to spare.

I just hope to see this in my lifetime!