Emergency Priorities

 I was thinking about the ABCs (Airway - Breathing - Circulation.) The other day, our professor said that they were essentially listed as priority: 1st = airway, 2nd = breathing, 3rd = circulation.

I was just thinking about that and started with a disagreement: in CPR, circulation is priority (the body needs blood circulated more than it needs the breaths bc there is usually a couple of minutes worth of oxygen stored.) 

Then I thought about the idea that, if we identify a person who may need CPR, then we'd first check on their airway to see if there is an obstruction, which could solve the problem. If the airway isn't obstructed then I would check to see if the person is breathing. If not, then I would check for a pulse (circulation.) If none is identified, then I would start the CPR process (call for help, body position, etc.)

Food Failure

 I realized the other day that there is not one meal that I can think of that I can cook the exact same for all four people in our house that we all would eat. 

Actually, that's not true. I think that if I served plain hamburgers with French fries and glasses of water, we would all eat that. 

It makes me sad and reflective on how this came to be and I can only look in the mirror. 

There are lots of other successes that I can point to and say that I influenced that positive outcome. This is not one of them.

If I have any advice to a young family, it is to reduce the number of snacks in your pantry. Snacking between meals is unnecessary and a symptom of boredom. Make meals that everyone can tolerate and that are balanced. Introduce new foods in small amounts but frequently and prepare them simply. Wait to introduce condiments. 

Finally, there is no such thing as "kid food." Foods high in salt, sugar, and saturated fat are tasty to all humans. We (yes, I include myself) are just preparing our kids to be diabetics. 

That is all. Good luck, because I know it's easier to type in a blog than it is to do in real life.

Cravings no more

 I've been on a ketogenic diet (really, carb sensitivity diet) for about 4 months. The reasons for doing so were weight gain and cravings for sugar.

The latter was the main problem. At 6'5", 218 lbs, I was a bit overweight, but not too bad. Still, it had been creeping up. And I am almost 100% certain why it would have continued to tick up. 

Because of cravings.

I would get addict-like cravings for sugar, especially at night. When I'm in it, it feels like an uncontrollable, out-of-body experiece. I'm looking at myself from outside of myself, saying that this is stupid and that I shouldn't be eating all of this junk food. But my body would be incontrol and do what it felt it needed to do. 

Now that I've been eating a carb-restircted diet, my cravings are almost zero. I can be around foods that would have made me cave and maintain my discipline. 

In other words, it's not just psychological discipline, but my body has better chemical discipline. It's not demanding this food.

Case in point: this past weekend was that of Halloween. I love chocolate. Love. I love chocoalte candy. Love. So, I told myself that this weekend I would be able to eat anything I wanted. And I did. Pizza, candy - whatever. 

This morning, there's candy all over the place and I'm not interested.

Since starting right around July 1st, I have lost 18 lbs. I do wish that I'd done measurements and blood work before starting (adipose fat and blood sugars and other levels,) but I didn't.

That's all. If you want to learn more, these are the resources that have influenced me:

Tim Ferris

Peter Attia

Phil Maffetone

https://www.ketogenic-diet-resource.com/ketogenic-diet-plan.html

A better way to pay for journalism

 I really don't know why I share my thoughts, but here's another one.

I hate macro data collection. I think it's a gross invasion of privacy and completely goes against the 4th Amendment (The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.) 

The fact that said data collection by big tech is not technically done by the government but by said industry with the blessing of our government is tantamount to the same. That's my opinion, anyway.

Btiching without suggestion is not my style.

Here's my latest big idea that I'll never fulfill. 

If I were a web developer, I would create a news and non-fiction content search that facilitated easy transactions for reading content. Let me explain.

Let's say that I want to read the Wall Street Journal article about the gigantic profits of the world's premier widget manufacturer. The Wall Street Journal wants me to be a subscriber, however. They need to pay their staff and all of the overhead that is required to run a company, of course. 

In the olden days, the drivers of revenue were ads in the paper and classifieds in that dedicated section. 

Craig's List, job listing sites like Monster, and Facebook marketplace have destroyed the classifieds stream. (These assertions have been widely reported.)

That "nobody" reads the print versions of these means that the ads that one would find in the printed pages are no longer as valuable. (This assertion is a logical assumption of mine.)

Instead, like the rest of the internets, data is collected as we go through sites so that companies can figure out what to market to us (not necessarily a bad thing - I've dealt successfully with targeted marketing) but also how to keep us engaged for longer. 

Can we agree that data collection is a bad thing?

And, what if there was a better way for the written word to be more valuable to produce?

What I propose is this: an account that pays for articles that we read. Let's say, for example, that we want to read the reporting on the Pandora Papers . The ICIJ does have a donate button, but what if there was an easier process? What if I had a small, dedicated amount of money, in a digital wallet that was for the sole purpose of paying for these articles. Furthermore, if we are "all" paying, then we actually wouldn't have to pay very much per person to make a huge impact. 

How would it work? I have an I-pass. When I drive on the tollway, I can roll right through the tolls because I have an RF transmitter that pulls a fee from an account for which I have pre-loaded money. Why not with articles?

But I don't want to pay $1.00 per article!?! My response: we shouldn't need to! I think the average price per article would be in the $0.01 to $0.05 per article. Let's say 1,000,000 people read an article: that's $10,000 if it's the penny price and $50k for the nickel. And, if it's a debit transaction as opposed to a credit transaction, then it's a cheaper transaction price. 

I'm sure there is a lot that I don't know about e-commerce that would make this complicated, but I do think it could work.

That's my idea. If you like it, take it and make it happen!