I'm not sure if any of my readers follow him, but Stefan Molyneux has been on fire lately, first triggering feminists with his comments on motherhood, than on lipstick and now he moved on to high heels.
Personally I used to like shoes with heels (not too high though) when I was younger but was forced to quit since I developed quite intense pain in my back after wearing them so now heels for me are reserved for formal occasions only.
A short search on the internet delivered lots of articles on the health impact of high heels, like this one.
And what do you think? High heels or not? And, is it modest? Feel free to share your opinion and/or experiences in the comments section!
Saturday, August 31, 2019
Thursday, August 29, 2019
Living Like A Caveman Or How To Have An Active S*x Life at 95
Well, not really a caveman, more like a prehistoric person:)
You see, while being on vacation, I didn't lose my time in vain but did a research about the life of neolithic/bronze age indigenous European folks, by visiting their village:
Or, should I say, an authentic reconstruction:
There were about 13 early Celtic villages all around the lake (try to guess which one) and they were actively trading abroad and even fighting in wars.
By the way, you have probably heard that until recently, most people were short. Yet, the archeologists discovered the remains of a man (presumably a warrior, whose cause of death was decapitation) who was 192 cm tall. There is a speculation that he probably had (or had survived) a malicious metastatic tumor, which made me wonder about ancient cancer rates, and I found some interesting info ( if you like debate, read it over here) on the subject. (In short, they did have it but it was rare until the 17th century or so).
Their diet was mixed and consisted of some agricultural produce, dairy and meat, but since they lived on the lake, many were fishermen. In summer, they ate lots of berries and apples. There has been a lot of speculation going on recently about the ancient diets, with people switching from paleo to carnivore diet, but is it really healthy? Our ancestors appeared to enjoy a variety of foods. (Granted, those were not Neanderthals).
They lived like a community as it was typical for later Celts, too, and had a communal gatherings house, and their cows were of the same breed that you can see nowadays roaming the parks around here, a small reddish variety, indigenous for Europe. And while we are speaking of cavemen prehistoric people, someone told me about the so-called "cavemen regimen" which basically means no skin care products of any kind and not washing your face too often. Apparently, some young people use it to get rid of acne. Well, I've been following it for about 2 months now. At first, the results were mixed as I had some dry skin patches on my face but now it's slowly getting better and my sun allergy is non-existent.
BTW, as we are talking about health and diet (yet again), here is an interesting story about a Turkish yoga practitioner who restored his health by it. I've heard all sorts of things about yoga. Most Christians distrust it because of (pagan) origins, yet I also heard that most of the exercises we call yoga nowadays were actually invented by the 19th century missionaries so they are OK for Christians to do.
Anyway, the funny thing is that the guy in question (who was 95 when the article was written and so far I couldn't find any info on whether he is still alive) isn't a big meat eater, but boasts of quite a robust... well s*x life (contributing to the debate whether meat or plant based diet is the healthiest) but also that he eats lots of honey every day and most health experts including alternative ones will tell you how dangerous all sugary foods are:) Granted, he makes his honey himself, so...
Ladies and gentlemen, that was all for today, see you next time!
You see, while being on vacation, I didn't lose my time in vain but did a research about the life of neolithic/bronze age indigenous European folks, by visiting their village:
Or, should I say, an authentic reconstruction:
There were about 13 early Celtic villages all around the lake (try to guess which one) and they were actively trading abroad and even fighting in wars.
By the way, you have probably heard that until recently, most people were short. Yet, the archeologists discovered the remains of a man (presumably a warrior, whose cause of death was decapitation) who was 192 cm tall. There is a speculation that he probably had (or had survived) a malicious metastatic tumor, which made me wonder about ancient cancer rates, and I found some interesting info ( if you like debate, read it over here) on the subject. (In short, they did have it but it was rare until the 17th century or so).
Their diet was mixed and consisted of some agricultural produce, dairy and meat, but since they lived on the lake, many were fishermen. In summer, they ate lots of berries and apples. There has been a lot of speculation going on recently about the ancient diets, with people switching from paleo to carnivore diet, but is it really healthy? Our ancestors appeared to enjoy a variety of foods. (Granted, those were not Neanderthals).
BTW, as we are talking about health and diet (yet again), here is an interesting story about a Turkish yoga practitioner who restored his health by it. I've heard all sorts of things about yoga. Most Christians distrust it because of (pagan) origins, yet I also heard that most of the exercises we call yoga nowadays were actually invented by the 19th century missionaries so they are OK for Christians to do.
Anyway, the funny thing is that the guy in question (who was 95 when the article was written and so far I couldn't find any info on whether he is still alive) isn't a big meat eater, but boasts of quite a robust... well s*x life (contributing to the debate whether meat or plant based diet is the healthiest) but also that he eats lots of honey every day and most health experts including alternative ones will tell you how dangerous all sugary foods are:) Granted, he makes his honey himself, so...
Ladies and gentlemen, that was all for today, see you next time!
Tuesday, August 27, 2019
Vacation Impressions
Just a couple of quick observations.
This year we travelled a bit and stayed in three different places in Germany, including in the south, on the Swiss-Austrian border and in the region which was supposedly made unsafe by the recent influx of migrants, at least, according to right wing American sources. We last were there 6 years ago and I was a bit unsure what to expect.
Granted, we avoided big cities, but...the countryside and average size cities and towns are hardly changed at all. Germany has always had some immigration and I haven't noticed any significant increase in numbers. And, it's still very safe. In fact, I felt much more safe there than in my own town where a woman would sometimes have to think twice to walk by herself after the dark.
In another area where we stayed the schools already came back from vacation and we saw groups of children brought to a swimming pool nearby. There were all ethnically German, everyone of them. Young families are also having more children compared to 10 - 20 years before.
So the stories about imminent demise of Germany are severely exaggerated. Those who point to the official data should keep in mind that half of Eastern European youth is currently there and they are counted as foreign migrants, too, but they mostly stay for a couple of years and then go back home. That is not to say that uncontrolled immigration is not a problem, but scaremongering online just goes too far.
Monday, August 26, 2019
I'm Back!
We are back from our vacation. Comment moderation is back to normal (i.e. switched off:). Will write more later.
P.S. I have to remind my readers that all old comments (older than 12 days) are moderated and that sometimes I forget to check them as I mostly get spam. So now I finally did some moderation and published several comments which I got on my old posts. Excuses for inconvenience:)
P.S. I have to remind my readers that all old comments (older than 12 days) are moderated and that sometimes I forget to check them as I mostly get spam. So now I finally did some moderation and published several comments which I got on my old posts. Excuses for inconvenience:)
Sunday, August 11, 2019
A Short Personal Note
We are going on vacation for 2 weeks. All comments will go into moderation until I return.
See you all later!
See you all later!
Saturday, August 10, 2019
Let's Talk About Fat Women
Fat shaming has been a trend on the right wing internet for quite some time already. Yet, if one follows the discussions faithfully, he will get an impression that being overweight and obese is an exclusively female problem. Since most of these bloggers and writers belong to the Anglosphere, they chiefly criticise American and sometimes, British women who apparently all turn into "landwhales" once they reach a certain age or bear a child, while their unfortunate husbands and boyfriends are all shining examples of proper nutrition and fitness.
I've done some research and it appeared that there was a report in 2015 which said that the obesity rates by women in the USA are slightly higher than by men (38 vs 34%) yet, the official numbers from 2017 tell a different tale:
Overweight and Obesity Rates for Adults by Gender
Total USA Male 70.9 Female 59.8
Since it includes both overweight and obese it could very well be that while there are more overweight men, women lead in obesity rates, but it's hardly the problem of females only.
Now let look at WHO report from 2015 on the world trends, as reported by the Guardian:
Europe’s growing obesity crisis will see almost three-quarters of men and two-thirds of women in the UK being overweight in 15 years, health experts have said. (emphasis mine).
Ireland leads the trend, with new figures to be presented on Wednesday to the European Congress on Obesity, in Prague suggesting that 89% of men and 85% of women in the country will be overweight or obese by 2030.
The proportion of obese Irish men is expected to increase from 26% to 48%, while the figure for those either overweight or obese rises from 74% to 89%.
In terms of obesity, the estimates show a big jump for women in Ireland from 23% to 57%, and the percentage for overweight and obese together from 57% to 85%.
As you can see, there are more obese Irish men than women at the moment (26 vs 23%) but the prediction is that it will change in the future (48 vs 57%) while men will still be leading in overweight group (89 vs 85%)..
In 2010 in UK the equal percent of both sexes was obese:
In the UK, 36% of men and 33% of women are predicted to be obese in 2030 compared with 26% of both sexes in 2010.
And in 2030 more men are predicted to be obese than women.
Now let's look at the Netherlands:
In 2010, 54% of Dutch men were overweight, including 10% who were obese. These figures are projected to fall to 49% and 8% respectively. For women, the 2030 figures will be 43% and 9%, compared to 44% and 13% in 2010.
What do we see? More obese women in 2010 (10 vs 13%) but more overweight men than women (54 vs 44%) and the numbers are supposed to fall.
So is being obese and overweight an exclusively female problem? Hardly, as the figures show. Then why is it that only women are fat-shamed? And why do men who aren't physically fit themselves expect their partners to be so? I constantly hear about married men who suffer because their wives put on weight and become unattractive. Well, guess what? Overweight husbands aren't attractive, either! Something about the beam in your own eye comes to mind instantly.
The reason I returned to this topic yet again is because I see the trend of blaming women for all of the world's problems as rather unproductive. You don't win many hearts and minds with it and what's more important, it's not even true. In my opinion, it's a tactic used by the enemy to divide us. Women are told that they should have a career and not be dependent on a man because all men are abusive etc while men are told to avoid marriage because their wives will all balloon to an enormous size, deny s*x etc. As a result, my people are literally disappearing.
In the meanwhile, Put that fork down is good advice for both sexes.
I've done some research and it appeared that there was a report in 2015 which said that the obesity rates by women in the USA are slightly higher than by men (38 vs 34%) yet, the official numbers from 2017 tell a different tale:
Overweight and Obesity Rates for Adults by Gender
Total USA Male 70.9 Female 59.8
Since it includes both overweight and obese it could very well be that while there are more overweight men, women lead in obesity rates, but it's hardly the problem of females only.
Now let look at WHO report from 2015 on the world trends, as reported by the Guardian:
Europe’s growing obesity crisis will see almost three-quarters of men and two-thirds of women in the UK being overweight in 15 years, health experts have said. (emphasis mine).
Ireland leads the trend, with new figures to be presented on Wednesday to the European Congress on Obesity, in Prague suggesting that 89% of men and 85% of women in the country will be overweight or obese by 2030.
The proportion of obese Irish men is expected to increase from 26% to 48%, while the figure for those either overweight or obese rises from 74% to 89%.
In terms of obesity, the estimates show a big jump for women in Ireland from 23% to 57%, and the percentage for overweight and obese together from 57% to 85%.
As you can see, there are more obese Irish men than women at the moment (26 vs 23%) but the prediction is that it will change in the future (48 vs 57%) while men will still be leading in overweight group (89 vs 85%)..
In 2010 in UK the equal percent of both sexes was obese:
In the UK, 36% of men and 33% of women are predicted to be obese in 2030 compared with 26% of both sexes in 2010.
And in 2030 more men are predicted to be obese than women.
Now let's look at the Netherlands:
In 2010, 54% of Dutch men were overweight, including 10% who were obese. These figures are projected to fall to 49% and 8% respectively. For women, the 2030 figures will be 43% and 9%, compared to 44% and 13% in 2010.
What do we see? More obese women in 2010 (10 vs 13%) but more overweight men than women (54 vs 44%) and the numbers are supposed to fall.
So is being obese and overweight an exclusively female problem? Hardly, as the figures show. Then why is it that only women are fat-shamed? And why do men who aren't physically fit themselves expect their partners to be so? I constantly hear about married men who suffer because their wives put on weight and become unattractive. Well, guess what? Overweight husbands aren't attractive, either! Something about the beam in your own eye comes to mind instantly.
The reason I returned to this topic yet again is because I see the trend of blaming women for all of the world's problems as rather unproductive. You don't win many hearts and minds with it and what's more important, it's not even true. In my opinion, it's a tactic used by the enemy to divide us. Women are told that they should have a career and not be dependent on a man because all men are abusive etc while men are told to avoid marriage because their wives will all balloon to an enormous size, deny s*x etc. As a result, my people are literally disappearing.
In the meanwhile, Put that fork down is good advice for both sexes.
Friday, August 9, 2019
Garden News
Someone gave me a round zucchini. The problem is, I don't really like them so much, especially the round variety:) So after much deliberation, I decided to make a pie out of it:
It turned out fine, for a zucchini pie. We are still eating it. The crust was inspired by an old recipe from an American cooking magazine called Home-Style Cooking.
For the filling, I just sliced and cooked zucchini with some water, sugar, apple cider vinegar and cinnamon and added butter in the end. I still had to stamp it to make it mushy. The crust consisted out of 1c of mixed flour (white wheat + buckwheat), salt, ab. 80g of cold butter + some olive oil (you cut the butter into small pieces and mix with flour, then add some oil if necessary to make it more crumbly) and then I added 1/2 c sugar and 1 1/2 c (or a bit less ) of rolled oats. You divide the crust mixture in two, spoon the half into an ungreased pan, spread the filling and then add the rest of the crust.
Bake at 200*C for about 30 min.
I then went to our garden a couple of days ago and picked up some blackberries growing along the path which nobody wanted for some reason (what the commons produce should not go to waste, in my opinion), so we made some jam:
Here I am, barefoot and in the kitchen (have been going barefoot the whole summer and love it!) and here is the witch's brew blackberry jam:
Nothing beats self-made jam:) So here was some effort-posting on my part:) What have you all been doing???
It turned out fine, for a zucchini pie. We are still eating it. The crust was inspired by an old recipe from an American cooking magazine called Home-Style Cooking.
For the filling, I just sliced and cooked zucchini with some water, sugar, apple cider vinegar and cinnamon and added butter in the end. I still had to stamp it to make it mushy. The crust consisted out of 1c of mixed flour (white wheat + buckwheat), salt, ab. 80g of cold butter + some olive oil (you cut the butter into small pieces and mix with flour, then add some oil if necessary to make it more crumbly) and then I added 1/2 c sugar and 1 1/2 c (or a bit less ) of rolled oats. You divide the crust mixture in two, spoon the half into an ungreased pan, spread the filling and then add the rest of the crust.
Bake at 200*C for about 30 min.
I then went to our garden a couple of days ago and picked up some blackberries growing along the path which nobody wanted for some reason (what the commons produce should not go to waste, in my opinion), so we made some jam:
Thursday, August 8, 2019
Tuesday, August 6, 2019
Christians And The Environment
I think it's a real pity that environmental issues have been largely ceded to the progressives. As Christians, we are supposed to be good stewards of the nature and its resources, so I'd like to bring your attention to a couple of posts by a fellow blogger dealing with this topic,
one about recycling garbage
another about waste
This article about reducing plastic waste is interesting, too.
one about recycling garbage
another about waste
This article about reducing plastic waste is interesting, too.
Monday, August 5, 2019
How Fabulous Is Your Career?
This is old news, but still: worldwide, only 13% of employees are committed to their jobs:
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Only 13% of employees worldwide are engaged at work, according to Gallup's new 142-country study on the State of the Global Workplace. In other words, about one in eight workers -- roughly 180 million employees in the countries studied -- are psychologically committed to their jobs and likely to be making positive contributions to their organizations.
Not surprisingly, the highest amount of people who are attached to their jobs live in the USA and Canada, where the indoctrination about your job being the most important thing in your life is the heaviest. Still, about 70% of the citizens of these countries are disengaged, while 18% actually think that their jobs s**k:
At the regional level, Northern America (that is, the U.S. and Canada) have the highest proportion of engaged workers, at 29%, followed by Australia and New Zealand, at 24%.
Western Europeans, on the other hand are more of an opinion that working for a living is a necessary evil:
Not all economically developed regions fare as favorably; across 19 Western European countries, 14% of employees are engaged, while a significantly higher 20% are actively disengaged.
Note that the amount of people who hate their jobs (are actively disengaged) is about the same. You find even more of them outside of the cushy Western environment. Now, I really wonder why???
However, the highest proportions of actively disengaged workers are found in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and sub-Saharan Africa regions, at 35% and 33%, respectively.
The conclusion they reached was: train yourserfs employees to be 100% committed to making you richer, how dare they think of something else at work!
Regardless of region or industry, businesses seeking to adapt to rapidly changing global economic conditions must learn how to maintain high-productivity workplaces and grow their customer bases in widely varying social, cultural, and economic environments.
Here is the full text.
All joking aside, since the dawn of history, people dreamed of finding ways how not to work too hard. When you read old books, like those of J. Austen, you were called "independent" when you earned or inherited enough money to save you from the daily grind. In the times of the Vikings, men of the community were judged on how well they could maintain their wives, whether they had to go into the fields or could stay home and be "a lady".
The glorification of the world of work, especially for women, started after the WWII in the USA and quickly spread to other countries. It brought the decrease in real wages, high housing prices and the erosion of the workers' rights. Work can be meaningful at a certain level (searching for a cure for cancer) or when you are self-employed but the majority of jobs aren't glamorous at all. Most men after a certain age wish to quit or at least, to work shorter hours, yet they are raising retirement ages all over the world.
Will they start campaigning for bringing back child labour, like in Victorian days? Who knows. But if you as a housewife, endure attacks for your choices, keep in mind that those people probably don't have a moral high ground but are simply envious.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Only 13% of employees worldwide are engaged at work, according to Gallup's new 142-country study on the State of the Global Workplace. In other words, about one in eight workers -- roughly 180 million employees in the countries studied -- are psychologically committed to their jobs and likely to be making positive contributions to their organizations.
Not surprisingly, the highest amount of people who are attached to their jobs live in the USA and Canada, where the indoctrination about your job being the most important thing in your life is the heaviest. Still, about 70% of the citizens of these countries are disengaged, while 18% actually think that their jobs s**k:
At the regional level, Northern America (that is, the U.S. and Canada) have the highest proportion of engaged workers, at 29%, followed by Australia and New Zealand, at 24%.
Western Europeans, on the other hand are more of an opinion that working for a living is a necessary evil:
Not all economically developed regions fare as favorably; across 19 Western European countries, 14% of employees are engaged, while a significantly higher 20% are actively disengaged.
Note that the amount of people who hate their jobs (are actively disengaged) is about the same. You find even more of them outside of the cushy Western environment. Now, I really wonder why???
However, the highest proportions of actively disengaged workers are found in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and sub-Saharan Africa regions, at 35% and 33%, respectively.
The conclusion they reached was: train your
Regardless of region or industry, businesses seeking to adapt to rapidly changing global economic conditions must learn how to maintain high-productivity workplaces and grow their customer bases in widely varying social, cultural, and economic environments.
Here is the full text.
All joking aside, since the dawn of history, people dreamed of finding ways how not to work too hard. When you read old books, like those of J. Austen, you were called "independent" when you earned or inherited enough money to save you from the daily grind. In the times of the Vikings, men of the community were judged on how well they could maintain their wives, whether they had to go into the fields or could stay home and be "a lady".
The glorification of the world of work, especially for women, started after the WWII in the USA and quickly spread to other countries. It brought the decrease in real wages, high housing prices and the erosion of the workers' rights. Work can be meaningful at a certain level (searching for a cure for cancer) or when you are self-employed but the majority of jobs aren't glamorous at all. Most men after a certain age wish to quit or at least, to work shorter hours, yet they are raising retirement ages all over the world.
Will they start campaigning for bringing back child labour, like in Victorian days? Who knows. But if you as a housewife, endure attacks for your choices, keep in mind that those people probably don't have a moral high ground but are simply envious.
Thursday, August 1, 2019
My Harry Potter Rant
A couple of weeks ago, I finished HP book number 3, The Prisoner Of Azkaban. I read the first two books years ago and had no desire to read it further, because I formed a certain opinion about this whole book series. Then somehow I decided that may be, I was just prejudiced and should give it another try, so I did.
Here are my honest thoughts on the subject. First, I really can't understand how any serious Christian can give this or other HP books to his minor children. It's a book about witchcraft, sorcery and incantations, and boys and girls learning how to be witches and wizards. Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live comes to mind immediately. Just like with so many other things, modern Christians will find any number of reasons why it's actually OK for us. As someone wrote, it's not wrong to read about it because you aren't actually doing it. I wonder if they use the same reasoning about p0rn?
This said, what really baffles me is how folks described HP series as "the best books they've ever read". I mean like really? Because I've read much better books in my life, including children's books. It's like somebody comparing his experiences at McDonald's to fine dining. The author was praised for creating "a whole magic universe". But what do we see of it? It's mostly about a boarding school (probably of the sort the writer herself attended, that's why she could describe it so well). There is very little outside of it.(May be there is more as the series progress but I honestly have no desire to find out).
A magic village is mentioned many times and the kids are allowed to visit it. It's the only village in the whole of UK fully free of "muggles" and what do we learn about it? It has a great candy shop! That's about all. The rest is all school, teachers, students, exams and playing sports. It's actually a very artificial environment with only a hint at the normal family life and conflicts which are inevitably connected with living in society so there is little psychological development of any sort. The chief conflict is between Harry's sportsball team and that of Slytherin and between Harry and his friends vs Professor Snape, who is mean, we all get it.
Dementors aren't really explained, either. Not every grown up can defend himself against them, but the Ministry of Magic has no problem moving them here and there. Also, the story doesn't really develop until the last third or so of the book, where (I will admit), it does get interesting. The main moral lesson appears to be that death penalty is bad because someone can get falsely accused. I could read the same in the Guardian and it would cost me less time.
There is a reason why these books have become the world bestsellers and were made into movies and it's not because they are the best thing ever written. (Frankly, I find them quite mediocre). In my opinion, there are actually two reasons for this. First, the biggest book and film market is, of course, the USA, and lots of folks there are raving mad about anything British, especially if it hints at "upper class British", "aristocracy", "royalty" and stuff like that. It has been milked for all it's worth lately with shows like Downton Abbey, royal weddings and such.
The second reason is much more nefarious. Someone has decided to promote this particular series of books for kids which shows witchcraft as fun and normal people as boring. Someone invested lots of money into marketing campaign for the books which essentially attack one of the tenets of Christianity. Should we be surprised? Me, I'm only surprised that so many Christians fell for it.
Here are my honest thoughts on the subject. First, I really can't understand how any serious Christian can give this or other HP books to his minor children. It's a book about witchcraft, sorcery and incantations, and boys and girls learning how to be witches and wizards. Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live comes to mind immediately. Just like with so many other things, modern Christians will find any number of reasons why it's actually OK for us. As someone wrote, it's not wrong to read about it because you aren't actually doing it. I wonder if they use the same reasoning about p0rn?
This said, what really baffles me is how folks described HP series as "the best books they've ever read". I mean like really? Because I've read much better books in my life, including children's books. It's like somebody comparing his experiences at McDonald's to fine dining. The author was praised for creating "a whole magic universe". But what do we see of it? It's mostly about a boarding school (probably of the sort the writer herself attended, that's why she could describe it so well). There is very little outside of it.(May be there is more as the series progress but I honestly have no desire to find out).
A magic village is mentioned many times and the kids are allowed to visit it. It's the only village in the whole of UK fully free of "muggles" and what do we learn about it? It has a great candy shop! That's about all. The rest is all school, teachers, students, exams and playing sports. It's actually a very artificial environment with only a hint at the normal family life and conflicts which are inevitably connected with living in society so there is little psychological development of any sort. The chief conflict is between Harry's sportsball team and that of Slytherin and between Harry and his friends vs Professor Snape, who is mean, we all get it.
Dementors aren't really explained, either. Not every grown up can defend himself against them, but the Ministry of Magic has no problem moving them here and there. Also, the story doesn't really develop until the last third or so of the book, where (I will admit), it does get interesting. The main moral lesson appears to be that death penalty is bad because someone can get falsely accused. I could read the same in the Guardian and it would cost me less time.
There is a reason why these books have become the world bestsellers and were made into movies and it's not because they are the best thing ever written. (Frankly, I find them quite mediocre). In my opinion, there are actually two reasons for this. First, the biggest book and film market is, of course, the USA, and lots of folks there are raving mad about anything British, especially if it hints at "upper class British", "aristocracy", "royalty" and stuff like that. It has been milked for all it's worth lately with shows like Downton Abbey, royal weddings and such.
The second reason is much more nefarious. Someone has decided to promote this particular series of books for kids which shows witchcraft as fun and normal people as boring. Someone invested lots of money into marketing campaign for the books which essentially attack one of the tenets of Christianity. Should we be surprised? Me, I'm only surprised that so many Christians fell for it.