Categories
Wellness

The Needle In The Haystack

It is clear that many of us have, one way or the other, taken experimental pharmaceutical products.

I’d like to go out on a limb and say that the underlying, foundational trust that goes into the decision to take an experimental pharmaceutical product is, in and of itself, more dangerous than the product itself.

Those who willingly take an experimental shot have inherent trust in the mainstream paradigm

They trust their doctors.
They trust their hospitals.
They trust their news sources.
They trust their governments and authorities.

They need to trust them, in order to justify the personal risk they are taking.

This trust is fine when everything’s going good in their lives. It’s still business as usual and they’re still giving the finger to all those “misinformation spreaders who are ruining things for everybody else”.

Years of a PUFA laden, toxin filled mainstream lifestyle go by and suddenly, things go sideways and now they’ve got a serious health problem.

They go to their doctor, who has them do a bunch of tests.

They get called back to the doctor’s office and apparently, they’ve got (Insert life debilitating condition here).

They do not even ask to have a copy of the test results, because they trust their doctor and because there’s nothing they could do with that information anyway.

Now, the doctor says the only option is chemotherapy. They trust and accept the word of the doctor as if it’s scripture, as they’ve always done. There are no if’s, and’s, or but’s. The doctor said so, so that’s what it is.

Because they’ve never left the mainstream paradigm before, they will surely not be in a position to do it now. They start on the chemotherapy path and start receiving the “benefits” of being a cancer victim, as their friends and family console them and make donations to their favorite charitable “Cancer Research” organizations.

I’ll stop here, as we all know where this road leads.

It is this same road that has led most of us to non-mainstream platforms. It is only after you have not been helped, or have been harmed by, the fallacy of the mainstream paradigm that you can begin to look outside of it.

Why? Because you trusted them.

“I refuse to believe that all these doctors and experts could be so cruel to not help me, or to even harm me. Surely, they have done their research and are way smarter than I am. But why do they not have a solution apart from the side-effect laden drugs and invasive procedures that they claim are the only solutions to my problem?”

It took time for us to look outside of it. To hone our truth-validation skills. To sort through all the sources and distinguish the truth from falsehood. This was done out of necessity, as we faced health challenges that we needed to have an answer to, and would not stop until we found it.

In the post-COVID era, looking outside of the mainstream paradigm has never been more difficult.

It is no longer about typing a search query into Google and going through the results anymore. There are too many levels of obfuscation, deception, controlled opposition, censorship, and paywalls that make it so time consuming that it essentially becomes impossible for the “Virgin researcher” (aka The Average Joe) to find a non-mainstream platform that may provide a solution to their health problem.

They may never find that needle-in-the-haystack post in that message board that may hold the key to all of their problems.

Why? Because they never established a connection to truly helpful, non-mainstream sources.

Because trust takes time.

Because trust is personal, i.e. “I’ll believe it when I see it”.

Because they trusted those that should never have been trusted, and never bothered to see why they shouldn’t trust the so called misinformation spreaders.

Because the first time they noticed that they were standing on a spider web of deception was when they were falling straight through it.

Conclusion

It has never been more important to start building a base of truly helpful, non-mainstream sources.

May we all guide those seeking the truth, to the truth.

May we all strengthen those truly helpful, non-mainstream sources, to the point where we do become The Mainstream.

Dedicated to Ray Peat (1936-2022) & https://raypeatforum.com

Categories
Wellness

There is no treatment for Premature Ejaculation

Welcome to another installment of the “There is no treatment for ..” series.

This series is meant to dismantle mainstream narratives that are preventing us from living optimally.

Ah, nothing says taboo like Sexual Health, right? Even posting this article seemed ‘filthy’.

Anyhow, it’s not a joke and nothing that should be taken lightly.

With the ever-increasing amount of toxins entering our bodies every second of every day, it is no big surprise that all men will likely experience something that affects their Sexual Health at some point. The idea is that, in the event this does occur, all hope is not lost and there ARE things we can do, AT HOME, to help and hopefully resolve it.

(TLDR version: Jump straight to the the list)

Many have been looking for years, potentially their entire adult lives, for a cure for Premature Ejaculation.

It is a tragedy when a man is plagued with this condition, which has the likely potential to destroy his entire life. Piece by piece, limb by limb, his life can fall apart:

• Constant disappointment in the bedroom, no matter how hard he tries to correct it using 99.9999% of the content found doing personal research on the Internet.

• Feelings of worthlessness, lack of manliness.

• Appointments with the mainstream (legacy) medical system (henceforth named "The System") for embarrassing poking and prodding, with hopeless and likely harmful results from pharmaceuticals with side effects that will compromise other aspects of his health.  

For those who feel I am exaggerating, consider this common scenario:
    ○ The PE issue may be falsely associated with a number of different conditions, such as testosterone levels.
    ○ He will be given Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) to alter testosterone and estrogen levels.
    ○ The pharmaceuticals initially seem to help, and he is happy again for a period of time.  However, they slowly take their toll, damaging other organs and starting the slow death of his sex drive.
    ○ Over time, he learns to live with the side effects and continues to take HRT.  "It's better than it was before", he thinks.  
    ○ He goes back to The System and they give him new drugs to correct his thyroid issue, for which the cause is "unknown".  He stops and has a discussion with himself:  
        § "Wait, thyroid issue?  The only change I've made in the last while is the HRT.  Maybe the HRT has something to do with my thyroid issue?"
        § "No, that can't be true.  You're not an expert.  I trust The System because they helped me with my PE, and they have so much experience with all the patients they help."
        § "You're right, who am I to question their expertise?  They're doing the best they can to help.  I'll just start taking the medication and maybe after a few months the doctor will take me off of them anyway."
    ○ Years later, his body has become compromised due to the constant push and pull of the pharmaceuticals.  Now he does not have to worry about PE, because he has erectile dysfunction and cannot even initiate sex.
    ○ He decides to try and avoid going back to the system, so instead goes into a Health Food store to look for a supplement that increases sex drive and starts taking that.  That seems to help, so he continues it.
    ○ After years of taking all of this and also following The System's advice to remove red meat (ruminant meat) and increase chicken and fish consumption, his body becomes overloaded with linoleic acid and heavy metals.
    ○ At his next routine system appointment, when asked how things are going, he confesses:  "I feel great.  Originally, I experienced some minor sex drive issues with HRT, but began supplementing with a health food supplement that seemed to have fixed it.  Everything's good now."
    ○ The doctor feels resentment and expresses it:
        § "Be careful with those supplements.  They are not always what they seem to be."  
        § They hate competition.  
        § "Well, you're scheduled for a routine blood work panel anyway."
    ○ The system physician calls him back a few weeks later.  
        § "Unfortunately, the blood work shows you have stage 1 prostate cancer."
        § "The good news is that we have caught the cancer early, and there are treatments for this.  Please immediately stop any health food supplements you are currently taking and stick to the prescriptions we have given you."
    ○ His partner sympathizes to his face as she goes with him to chemotherapy appointments.  Behind his back, she starts an affair that will ultimately lead to the destruction of their relationship.
• Soon he may be a man looking in, looking into the window of the house that he once lived in, at the children who he once lived with, whom he once had all the time in the world with.  
• Now he lives alone and is forever plagued and destroyed within, all because of a single problem for which both the cause and solution were out of his control to discover.

That being said: This is not an issue to take lightly, and thus the reason I feel this is such an important article and hope that it reaches those in need.

The list:

Disclaimer: Please appreciate that everyone’s body is unique and that there cannot be a one-size-fits-all approach to solving your particular issue. It will likely require trial and error, with consistency and patience in between.

I would recommend trying only 1 change at a time, so you can figure out the impact of each solution individually.
For example: First try the Gelatin, for at least 3 weeks consistently, followed by at least 2 ‘events’ (sexual activity, to test if it made any difference). If that didn’t seem to help the PE, then stop and move on to the next item on the list. All the while, noting any other improvements each one made in other areas of your health. Once you find the one that solved your PE, you’d want to re-add the others (slowly) to re-introduce those benefits, as long as they do not compromise the PE.

Believe me when I tell you that these solutions are far less disruptive than anything you will receive from the mainstream world, and if they don’t solve the issue then the worst case is you have fixed another issue, maybe one you didn’t even know you had:

1. Gelatin (Bovine), in the form of:
    a. Bone broth, OR
    b. Powder:  https://greatlakeswellness.com/collections/gelatin
2. Grounding / Earthing:
    a. https://www.earthing.com/
3. Magic Prostate Massage found here:
    a. https://www.prostate-massage-and-health.com/prostate-exercise.html
4. Breathwork
    a. At the very least, incorporate 4-7-8 breathing:
        i. Breathe in for 4 seconds
        ii. Hold for 7 seconds
        iii. Exhale slowly for 8 seconds
        iv. At this point, pause prior to your next inhale and do the Magic Prostate Massage above
5. EMF Reduction
    a. For now, just stop carrying your phone in your pocket and sleep far away from it and any other sources of EMF such as Wi-Fi routers.
6. Magnesium supplementation:
    a. https://iherb.com/pr/ecological-formulas-tri-salts-7-oz-200-g/59642

References

Categories
Wellness

There is no treatment for the cold and flu

“There is no treatment for the cold and flu” (that you can do at home)

This statement is the root of a narrative that has changed the world.

I am not here to argue the safety or efficacy of any specific pharmaceutical interventions.

I am here to serve my duty, as should all believers, to stand up for the truth. 

And the truth is:

There are things you can do at home to treat viral infections.  There’s a lot you can do at home.  All of this is ignored, and forever will be, by those seeking to conceal the truth.

(For the TLDR version, scroll down to the References at the bottom of this article).

It does not matter who I am or what titles come after my name.  What matters, is the message and its contents.  If you are a believer, then you would know that it has always been the message that matters.

We are specifically told:

Quran 2:42

َ وَلَا تَلْبِسُوا الْحَقَّ بِالْبَاطِلِ وَتَكْتُمُوا الْحَقَّ وَأَنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ [٢:٤٢]

Wala talbisoo alhaqqa bialbatili wataktumoo alhaqqa waantum taAAlamoona [English Transliteration]

And do not mix the truth with falsehood or conceal the truth while you know [it]. [Sahih International]

What is the truth?

Now, how does one get to know what the truth actually is?

I believe that there are 2 main questions we ask ourselves, when determining whether we choose to believe in something or not.  Let’s call this our ‘decision tree’:

  1. Is it coming from someone I trust?
    1. I trust those people and/or organizations which, in the past, have given me truthful information and have proven themselves trustworthy.
  2. Does it make sense to me?
    1. We were all blessed with logic and reasoning.
    2. This is what allows us to differentiate good from evil (in most cases).
    3. This is what allows us to ‘feel’ the truth.  You hear it all the time when people say they have a ‘gut feeling’, or say ‘this doesn’t feel right’ when being misled into a dark and fearful place, regardless of how much assurance they are given by others.
    4. (Now’s a good moment to make a supplication to our creator and be thankful for all that we have been blessed with.  Ameen.)

Who do you trust, and why?

Everyone would have a different answer here.  But there is some commonality.

A few common responses:

  1. I trust the government.  They’ve always been mostly helpful, and we’re lucky to have a democratic government, compared to some places.
  2. I trust my doctor.  They’ve always helped me whenever I have had any kind of problem.

How about trusting yourself?  How about trusting the fact that it’s possible for YOU to know whether something is true or false?

Or are we so far gone that we are no longer capable of doing that?  Do we truly believe it’s a good thing to have ‘outsourced’ that trust?

Coming full circle

Think about every time alnnabiyyeena (the Prophets, peace be upon them) tried to deliver their message of truth to almushrikeena (the polytheists).

What do you think went through people’s heads at the time?  See the following verse:

Quran 26:186

وَمَا أَنتَ إِلَّا بَشَرٌ مِّثْلُنَا وَإِن نَّظُنُّكَ لَمِنَ الْكَاذِبِينَ [٢٦:١٨٦]

Wama anta illa basharun mithluna wain nathunnuka lamina alkathibeena [English Transliteration]
You are but a man like ourselves, and indeed, we think you are among the liars. [Sahih International]

People likely went through the same decision tree mentioned above.  Many decided to distrust the message based on their distrust in who the messenger happened to be.

However, a select few decided to believe, based on the message itself and not based on who the messenger was.  Their decision tree went like this:

  1. Do I trust this person?
    1. No.  He’s just a regular man, like myself.
    2. Why should I listen to what he says, when everyone around me tells me it’s all propaganda and lies?
  2. Does the message make sense to me?
    1. Yes.  Even though what he is saying goes against what everyone else wants me to believe.
    2. When I put the message into practice, it works, and that makes me believe it is the truth.
    3. Even though the authorities tell me it is false.
    4. Even though every single person around me thinks it’s false.
    5. Even though I will face punishment and oppression from society if I take it to be the truth.

There it is.

Those select few within the population believed the message, because it made sense to them and because when they tried it, it worked.  Those select few began to spread the message, further and further, until they earned the trust of the masses.  Until they were able to satisfy #1 in the decision tree of the people.

That is the root of our belief.  That is the root of our iman.

Our iman is based on following the truth, regardless of what anyone else says, does, or thinks about it.

Because it’s something which we feel, which we know, deep in our hearts, to be the truth.

Advice when you need it most

Have you, or your loved ones, gotten sick during this pandemic?

Have you ever felt your life slowly being taken away from you?  With each breath you take becoming shallower, and shallower?

You’re so lethargic that you can barely stand up, much less walk around.

Your fever is relentless, your body aches.

Your life is in pieces, as you are unable to see your loved ones for fear of spreading this disease to them and hurting them.

At the end of a 2 minute long coughing fit, you recall hearing advice from 2 different groups.  We’ll call them Group 1 and Group 2:

  1. Group 1: 
    1. “I’m sorry to hear about your discomfort. 
    2. It is a deadly disease and the cases are rising daily.
    3. You can take over-the-counter drug A to help with the pain.
    4. If it gets any worse, go to the emergency room immediately.
    5. P.S.:  Do not listen to any other suspicious advice.  There is a lot of propaganda being spread at this time.  The only solution is to wait for Prevention A to be available to the public.”
  2. Group 2:
    1. “I feel your pain, as that is a brutal condition and I’ve seen the suffering it can inflict on those who have it.
    2. I’ve discovered Solution B, which is backed up by XYZ studies, and have given it to a number of people with extremely positive results.  They’re almost back to normal after a few days.
    3. I have prepared everything you need to know in a free, easy to read book.  Here is the link.”

In order to figure out what to do, again, we go through the decision tree:

  1. Do I trust ..
    1. Group 1?  Yes, I trust the public health authorities.
    2. Group 2?  No.  Sometimes I’ve followed their advice when it’s a home remedy or something, and it has usually helped me.  It may not have always helped, but it has never harmed me, that’s for sure.
  2. Does what they’re saying make sense ..
    1. Group 1?  No.  I get that the hospitals are full.  I get that it’s a deadly disease, because I am experiencing it right now!  But you are not giving me any help, and on top of that you are telling me to reject any possible solutions.
    2. Group 2?  Yes.  I have read through the material and what they have shown me is reasonable and makes sense.  I have used those vitamin, mineral, and food supplements before.  Not quite at that dosage and frequency, but have also read the studies showing minimal to no adverse effects from those dosages, contrary to what Group 1 is telling me.

What do I have to lose?

Whether you follow Group 2 or not really comes down to what you have to lose.

If Solution B involves vitamin, mineral, and food supplements that you have heard about and have used in limited quanties before, but they say that their protocol involves higher quantities, then you have to think about it and decide:  Could that be harmful to me?  Or do I have nothing to lose because I am so sick and nothing else has helped so far?

This is the part where you need to have trust in yourself and what’s best for your body.  This is the part where many decide that they are better off outsourcing this to health professionals.

In the end, you need to decide if you prefer to trust yourself, or trust others, in knowing what’s best for your body and your future.  Always remember that whatever path you take, you will have to live with the consequences of that decision.  Which sometimes is a case of either: 

  1. relying on those whose job is to promote chronic illness (unintentionally or not), OR
  2. simply taking an extra couple steps in order to learn, experiment a little, and lead a life of optimal health

Conclusion

What if I told you that Solution B is real.  That it is out there, it is being used, and it is saving lives that likely would have been lost (following Group 1’s advice).  See references section below for the single best reference you need.

The fact that this information is being swept under the rug is a clear violation of the ayaat mentioned above (concealing the truth).  It is not only being swept under the rug, but those who try to speak out about it are oppressed.

The question we need to ask ourselves is:

Did we side with those who tried to oppress alnnabiyyeena (the Prophets, peace be upon them) and their messages of truth?

If not, then why are we doing it now?  Why are we concealing the truth and supporting falsehood?

In closing, let us reflect upon what we are told about the qualities of الصَّالِحِينَ (the righteous):

(and may we all do our best to live by these characteristics, ameen)

Quran 25:72

وَالَّذِينَ لَا يَشْهَدُونَ الزُّورَ وَإِذَا مَرُّوا بِاللَّغْوِ مَرُّوا كِرَامًا [٢٥:٧٢]

Waallatheena la yashhadoona alzzoora waitha marroo biallaghwi marroo kiraman [English Transliteration]

And [they are] those who do not testify to falsehood, and when they pass near ill speech, they pass by with dignity. [Sahih International]

Quran 28:55

وَإِذَا سَمِعُوا اللَّغْوَ أَعْرَضُوا عَنْهُ وَقَالُوا لَنَا أَعْمَالُنَا وَلَكُمْ أَعْمَالُكُمْ سَلَامٌ عَلَيْكُمْ لَا نَبْتَغِي الْجَاهِلِينَ [٢٨:٥٥]

Waitha samiAAoo allaghwa aAAradoo AAanhu waqaloo lana aAAmaluna walakum aAAmalukum salamun AAalaykum la nabtaghee aljahileena [English Transliteration]

And when they hear ill speech, they turn away from it and say, “For us are our deeds, and for you are your deeds. Peace will be upon you; we seek not the ignorant.” [Sahih International]

References

Book (Free):  Rapid Virus Recovery

Excerpt from the book:


Cold, Flu, and Coronavirus Infection Prevention
This is a general guide only. While all of the
listed supplements are recommended, any of them can
be expected to provide some significant benefit by sup-
porting good immune function.
✓ Vitamin C powder (sodium ascorbate or
ascorbic acid): 1 to 2 grams three times
daily orally, or 1 to 3 grams daily orally of
liposome-encapsulated vitamin C.
✓ Magnesium supplementation, at roughly
a dose of 500 mg orally daily, given in
divided doses (many forms available;
chloride, glycinate, gluconate, and
threonate are especially good forms).
• Magnesium chloride is felt to be the
optimal form for virus prevention/
treatment. 60
• Depending on age and body size, 10
to 50 cc orally twice daily of a 2.5%
magnesium chloride solution (25
grams in 1,000 cc of water); tablets
or capsules orally are also acceptable.
Each dose can be further diluted in
juice to optimize taste.
✓ Vitamin D (as vitamin D3—cholecalciferol),
25,000 units daily for two weeks (if never
previously supplemented); then 5,000 to
10,000 units daily.
✓ Zinc (as picolinate or citrate), 50 to 75 mg
daily for two weeks (if never previously
supplemented), then 25 mg daily.
✓ Iodine/iodide supplementation, 12.5 mg
daily (available as Iodoral 12.5 mg tablets).
✓ Take, or continue to take, any other quality
nutrient/antioxidant supplements that you
desire and can afford to take.
If taking a multi-vitamin, choose one without Calcium, Iron, and Copper.  More details here: 
https://www.peakenergy.com/articles/nh20200319/Best-nutrients-to-have-in-your-‘one-a-day’-supplement/
✓ Hydrogen Peroxide (HP) nebulization, 1 to 3 minutes daily, or
at least when a significant virus exposure
is suspected, utilizing a 3% or less
concentration of the solution.

Concealment:

Original article is nowhere to be found.

Articles are usually taken down because they are offensive or have crossed a line.  What was the harm in that article, apart from simple advice that could have potentially saved many from suffering and death?

Categories
Tech

Allowing RDP Access to a Citrix VDA

Issue:

When a regular user is trying to RDP to a machine that is published in a Citrix environment (i.e. has VDA installed on it)

They receive an “Unauthorized …” error message

Typically, when you want to allow a user to RDP into any machine – you simply add them to the Remote Desktop Users group.

Resolution:

In the case of a Citrix VDA, you need to add the user into 2 groups:

  1. Remote Desktop Users
  2. Direct Access Users

Categories
Wellness

What Grass-fed milk really means (in Canada)

If you’re like me, when you go to the grocery and health food stores, you see a bunch of labels on milk products.  None of them are obvious as to what they really mean.

What does ‘Organic’ milk mean anyway?  I looked on the back of the box, but it doesn’t say anything about what they feed the cows.  If they don’t want to say, I guess they’re just feeding the cows organic grains and trying to make a profit off health-conscious customers?

Why does the organic milk sometimes have a ‘Grass-fed’ sticker on it, but not all the time?  Does that mean that all the rest of the time they are only fed grains?

This one clearly says ‘Grass-fed’ all year round – this must be the best one!

Wrong

We have gathered intel from individuals working within the organic and conventional grass-fed dairy industries, and have assembled the information into an easy to understand table:

 Organic  Grass-Fed Conventional
What do the cows actually eat?Bottom line / TLDR:
At least 60% grass (synthetic pesticides and fertilizer-free), and up to 40% organic, GMO-free grains.

As per the Canadian Organic Standards under the direction of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, all organic cows producing organic milk must be grazing on fresh grass during the growing season.
 
The pastures that organic cows go on must be free of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers.
 
In the warm season the cows are feeding on pasture for most of the day – from approx. May 1st to mid-October.  During this time, producers may place a “grass fed” seal on packaging.  This may not be done on certain products due to logistical reasons, for example it is not on cheese, yogurt, ice cream, or sour cream products, however the products produced during this time follow these guidelines.
 
The grass % is approximately 75-100% during the warm months.  Cows graze for up to 22 hours a day, coming in only to be milked.
 
In the cold weather months when the cows are off pasture, they spend their time in and around the barn area.  The time they spend outside truly depends on the weather.  The farmers grow and cut their own grass (pasture) / hay during summer/fall and store for winter months, so the cows are still eating a high percentage of forage during this time of year (minimum 60%).  Hay is harvested from organically grown pastures during growing season.
 
Farmers also grow a variety of organic grains, including oats, barley, peas, corn, and soybeans, to promote digestion and overall health of the animal.  Any grains that the cows are supplemented with come from 100% certified organic, GMO-free sources and often come directly from the same farm.
 
The farmers can use discretion as to which grains they feed the cows.  One producer stated that oats, barley, peas, corn, and soybeans are used.  Another stated that only oats, barley, and peas are used.
 
With this in mind, the following now comes down to interpretation of what “grass” actually is. One producer’s comments:
 
“We understand “grass-fed” to be a cow eating rooted green chlorophyll rich grass with her teeth.  As you are aware this simply is not possible year round in our cooler Canadian climate.  As farmers we define green grass as above and dried grass (hay), in our case which is organic and harvested from our pastures, as separate entities as both grass and hay are of different composition, structure and nutritional value.
 
We are taking the position that by adding the words grass-fed on packaging can create confusion and may be interpreted or misleading based on the above definition and explanation.  We feel that this phrasing is not an exact, clear, transparent or fair representation of the meaning of “grass-fed” year round.  We do not agree to call preserved stored “hay” as grass.  We believe that such initiatives are more of a marketing position designed to appeal to the public and trade with less consideration toward our Canadian winters and the directive by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Canadian Organic Standards.”
Bottom line / TLDR:
At least 75% grass, and up to 25% conventional grains (grass or grains are not organic or GMO-free certified)

The cows eat at least 75% grass year-round. From May until October the cows are out to pasture, and then during the colder months the cows are in and around the barn area. During the winter months, cows are fed dried grass – it must consist of at least 75% of their diet. Throughout the year, farmers do have the flexibility to feed up to 25% grain to their cows. Therefore, the cows are fed grass year-round, but during the summer it is grass from the pasture, and during the winter it is grass that is dried.
 
The pastures and supplemental grains do not have to be organic or GMO-free.
 How is the milk processed?Milk is not pooled at a common processing plant.  There is complete traceability and accountability.All conventional milk in the province of Ontario, no matter how diligent the farmer or dairy may be, is affected by GMO’s, either through the feed, the seeds, or the transportation, as milk is pooled on route to the processing plant.

Points to consider

The reason given for feeding grains:

“Organic grains are part of the diet to promote digestion and overall health of the animal.”

Although if you think about a wild cow, living free, would they have grains as part of their diet?  Or are the poor wild cows suffering from digestive issues due to their 100% foraging diet?

The truth is probably closer to this:

“We feed grains to the cows because it’s difficult for the farmers to harvest enough hay during the warmer months.  We have to give them grains, otherwise they’d have nothing to eat!”

Or maybe the grains help with the promotion or taste of the milk.  I don’t know, and they don’t say.  (Feel free to drop a comment if you have an answer.)

But they can’t say that, can they?  Because that would be admitting the truth, and because the truth comes with the cost of being vulnerable to those who exploit it for personal gain, it is difficult to justify.

Like everything else that any company does – protecting themselves and their interests comes first. 

If they put everything on the label, it would make them more vulnerable to those looking to take advantage of that extra information.  After all, all it takes is one slip in wording to bring out a customer complaint, lawsuit, or other action that would make them regret ever writing anything on the packaging.

This is one of the big issues that we face these days with food packaging in general.  They provide too much information, and they risk being vulnerable.  They would rather conceal information rather than take that risk.

Who does that hurt?  Everybody. 

The average health-conscious person now goes into the grocery store, and, probably buys the one that appears to be the healthiest, when sometimes it couldn’t be farther from the truth.

That’s it for now, folks. Feel free to leave a comment below if you can suggest reliable suppliers of grass-fed milk in your area. Thanks for reading!

References:

Organic:

Grass-Fed Conventional:

Categories
Life

Indoor Insanity – Part 1 – Meet the Family

Do you ever wonder why we, as adults, are so miserable and unhappy, while our children happily frolic around, oblivious to the stress and challenges of the world?

If you do, then please, read on to see my take on this phenomenon.

Let’s perform an experiment

Look at any young child, and just observe.

You will see that if you put a blank page in front of them – they will immediately begin to create.  In fact, they never stop creating.

Creating noise, creating mess, creating trouble, the list goes on and on.

As “grown-ups”, or wannabe perfectionists, we often don’t see eye to eye with them regarding their aforementioned “creativity”.

When they draw, they don’t make straight lines with a ruler, or make all their shapes symmetrical.

However, they don’t look down upon those imperfections.  They likely do not even see them as being imperfections.

A drawing is not meant to be perfect, nor should they expect it to be.  The beauty of art lies in its imperfection.

They do what they can, and that is enough.

Enough to make them smile.

Enough to make them wake up happy – every single day.  No matter what they went through the day before.  No matter how many times they were told to STOP being imperfect.

Hello World

To help put this into perspective – let’s go back to the start.

We are born warm, open, malleable. 

We are ready for positive ideas. 

Ready to be accepted for who and what we are. 

Ready to be taught and gain knowledge.

Sensitivity, patience, and the acceptance of our imperfect selves are the foundational vehicles that allow us to transition from the tranquil state in the womb to the harsh reality of this world.

Enter Reality

Let’s visualize that our metaphysical selves, our physche, our emotions, personality, everything that essentially sums up “who we are” is packaged and built into a vehicle.

Our journey starts off in the womb.  Our vehicle is in the process of being built.

Then we are born, and we begin driving our vehicle. 

The road is smooth, clear of any obstacles.

Then one day, our vehicle hits an obstacle.  It starts off small, at first.

Small cracks in the pavement.

 “Don’t worry, they’ll just cry themselves to sleep.”

I have been left alone.  
It hurts more than that needle I was poked with last week.  
Oh, how I miss my old, warm home.

When we get a little older: Pot holes.

“Oh, hey little guy.  Nice artwork – but your lines are all crooked.  Here, let me show you how to make straight lines with this ruler.”

We are now increasingly told that the “way we are” is unacceptable.

Signs and other roadblocks are put in our way.

Breaking away the body of our vehicles:  side mirrors, bumpers, headlights, doors, tires. 

We begin to steer into sidewalks and fire hydrants.

“No – not like that. No, not like that either! Forget it, here let me do it for you.”

“You’re doing it all wrong! Aren’t you listening to me?”

“Why do you keep crying all the time? You need to stop being so sensitive.”

Eventually the impacts begin to reach the internal workings of the vehicle:  transmission, braking system, the engine. 

Breaking down and crushing everything that got us here in the first place. 

Sensitivity has turned against us.

Patience has never hurt so bad.

Rejection of who we are, of who we will ever be.

Concrete walls

“Why are you crying again?!”

“Stop crying!”

“STOP IT!”

Broken, with every blow, every teardrop, every crash, every sob, every dismissal, every rejection, every hurtful reprimand.

Walls of steel and plastic, shards of glass, ice cold steel, soft tissue.

Now ask the parent

Do you wake up smiling, every single day?

Do you wake up with a clean slate – no enmity or bad feelings against anyone or anything from the day before?

Uh – who needs to learn from who here again?

As parents, we are in such a hurry to have our children grow up that we sometimes forget to let them live.

We also forgot, or nobody told us, how to activate that long lost part of us.  The part of us that will help us understand ourselves, so that we can better understand our children.  Our inner child.


Suggested Reading

Categories
Life

How to protect yourself against the Coronavirus (COVID-19) – Part 2

In reading the news today, it became apparent to me that there are an overwhelming amount of Coronavirus articles in mainstream news that focus on information that is, essentially, useless.

Breaking news

X new cases of Coronavirus in city Y

  Okay – so, uh, a lot more people are testing positive.

What do you want me to do now, besides feel more scared? 

Lock my windows and doors even tighter?

Wash my hands some more?

Usefulness rating

Another example:

“I am going to the gym today and am going to do 50 push-ups there.”

Yes, you’ve gotten information on my whereabouts and what I’m going to do, but that’s about it. 

What would be its ‘usefulness’ rating on a scale from 1 to 10?  Probably a 1, or 2, tops.

How about:

“I’m going to the gym today and am going to focus on exercises that build my core, such as push-ups and planks.  Here’s the source that I’m following for these exercises ..”

That is a bit more useful, wouldn’t you say?  That probably has a usefulness rating of 5.  But wait, a comparable article on COVID-19 might be too useful to post, perhaps. People can’t handle all that usefulness, remember?

That being said, let’s actually look at some articles that don’t just focus on washing your hands or sanitizing everything and your dog:

The headline for these would probably read something like:

Breaking news:

Here’s what you can REALLY do to protect yourself against the Coronavirus

Here’s what you can do to help yourself so much that these breaking news articles will stop because not only will confirmed cases stop rising, but you will feel better than you ever have in your entire life.

I’ll let you know once I find this.  In the meantime, the above links will hopefully get you closer to that goal.

Categories
Life

How to protect yourself against the Coronavirus (COVID-19) – Part 1

Disclaimer:

Lucky for you, I am not a “medical professional”. 

Just someone who believes in optimizing the healing power of the bodies we have been given – by following things like common sense and the wisdom passed down from our ancestors.

The list before the list

  1. If you believe that the only source of healing comes from a pill, then this may be the perfect opportunity for you to regain trust in yourself, in your body, in what you think is best, rather than what someone else thinks is best.
  2. The beauty of following natural methods is that you have nothing to lose.  There are no side effects, no major consequences – just potential improvement. 
  3. You try things, and if they don’t work, then you haven’t lost anything.  At the very least, you gained knowledge in knowing what doesn’t work for you.  So you don’t waste your time in the future.  So you can focus on figuring something else out that WILL eventually work.
  4. That being said, the idea is to not only protect yourself from “trending” illnesses such as the Coronavirus, but to just generally optimize your well-being.

The list

  1. Eating close to how your ancestors did, assuming science backs it up.
    i. This doesn’t mean following any specific or trending diet. This is just doing what makes sense to do and what other healthy people did before you.
    ii. For example, if you know that men in your lineage ate a lot of bread and they were generally healthy, then maybe that’s OK for you. However, don’t forget the context. The bread of old is not the bread of today. The bread of the past was not made in a factory and was not made for mass production. It was not made as quickly and cheaply as possible. It was made in a way that made sense. In a way that they found others before them doing, which was using slow fermentation / sourdough.
    iii. So use that knowledge and prepare foods in a way that science has proven to make them more digestible. More information here: https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/food-features/be-kind-to-your-grains-and-your-grains-will-be-kind-to-you/
  2. Putting yourself in an environment that your ancestors were in, which science will back up.
    i. Were your grandfathers of old locked up in a house and looking at a blue-light emitting screen all day?
    ii. No, that’s right, they were probably doing something outside. You do remember outside, don’t you?
    iii. I can appreciate how difficult this is, and am finding the same myself.
    iv. The closest thing I’ve found these days is getting into gardening or sports. These are just simulations, of course. They are not the same as actually being outside and doing things because you HAVE to do them. That is a very important point that we will touch on later.

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for more.

UPDATE (2020/04/06): Continue reading here:

References:

Categories
Life

Uncommon courtesy

(Un)common courtesy

Whatever happened to thanking people?

Whatever happened to raising your hand when somebody lets you in (when driving)?

The common courtesy of simply raising your hand to both acknowledge and be a gesture of kindness?

Showing somebody that you appreciate what they’ve done for you.

How about the most basic, fundamental, communication of just putting on your turn signal before you change lanes?

It seems like even that is a luxury these days.

If you get turn signals AND get the hand after, you’re like “Whoa!  This guy is really overdoing it now!  He’s communicating too much!”

Whereas, like 30+ years ago, that would have been just normal.  Would have been expected.  Looked forward to, in a way.

How does it feel?

How does it feel when someone tells you that they are changing into your lane?

How about when you see that someone has an urgent need to go into your lane, possibly due to their own error, but you let them in anyway, and they thank you after?

Now, how does it feel when someone purposefully tries to cause harm to you, for trying to drive safely? 

This is inherently what they are doing when they change into your lane without notice and without the space required.

Why?

How do we explain such a breakdown?  A breakdown of concern.  Of empathy.

I’d like to examine this from 3 perspectives: 

1. Respect

What makes you respect somebody?

If you were driving and knew that your brothers and sisters were also among the sea of cars, would that make you want to turn on your turn signals?

Would that still make you cut them off?

Potentially causing an accident, but guaranteed to illicit negative emotional reactions in both yourself and the offended party.

But alas, they are not your brothers and sisters, right?

They are just strangers.

And since they are just strangers, then “I’m not going to signal”.

2. Communication

I’m not going to communicate.

I’m not going to care if my actions will harm them, whether that harm is emotional or physical.

It’s all about perspective

Now let’s look at this from another point of view: 

Let’s say the person who was cutting off people and not signalling was somehow aware of the pain they were causing. 

If they actually felt this pain for themselves.  Not just having empathy, but experiencing it.

Would they then still do what they do?

I believe the answer is:  No, they would not.

3. Compulsion

People do what they are compelled to do.

Turning the table

If I could feel the loss of respect, the feeling of being put down, the feeling of not being cared for, caused when I aggressively slide the car I am driving directly in front of another.

If I could feel the shame, or the attempt to be nonchalant, caused when I see someone (myself) mouthing curse words and glaring at me with what appears to be vile hatred.

If I could, then I wouldn’t do it.

Or maybe I feel that others are already making me feel like that, so I’m just paying back the favor?

I feel disrespected every day, and that nobody cares about me, so why should I care about them?  They deserve to feel the way I feel.

One of the most commonly said phrases these days is based on this pattern:

“<negative verb and/or profanity> <targeted noun or verb>”

For example: 

“<profanity> you!”

“I don’t give a <profanity> about what he thinks!”

This vibe, train of thought, or mindset, is propagated, accentuated, and promoted by popular media.

Can’t nobody tell me nothing

-your child’s favorite song from 2019

It’ll be interesting to see the demographics of people who do not signal or do not communicate on the road.

To find patterns in them.  Are they young, or old? How often are they on their computers (all of them, including “phones”)?

Then with that data, we can triangulate and discover wisdom within the data.

Then we’ll know the truth.

Then we’ll know what’s really going on.

Categories
Tech

How to find out what version of SQL is running

  1. Open SQL Management Studio
  2. Open a new query editor
  3. Execute this query:

Select @@version