Conscious Savings

A habit is a choice made normal.

The below is a response to a friend with a past related to substance abuse, having grown older he continues to abstain from most things. He also endures a range of chronic maladies which have a proven track record of being treated successfully using distilled hash oil, coined Phoenix Tears by Rick Simpson. If you’re not familiar with them and know someone who suffers from chronological dis-ease then you might want to do some homework, if you’re reading my ramblings then chances are you’re a bit more willing to bend the rules in order to help others, or may be fortunate enough to live where you don’t need to.

With that bit of introduction out of the way I’ll throw out just a tad more, I was a full time drug policy activist with a specific focus on Medical Marijuana in Florida nearly 10 years ago, at the time it seemed like a fully uphill battle with little hope of winning, though love and support from those that needed this medicine drove me on for a couple years. The original inspiration for my jaunt into politics was 2 fold:

1) The DEA made an announcement that hemp food would be illegal at the end of 2001 (they rescinded the order)
2) Cathy Jordan — who’s name now sits on legislation to allow medical cannabis within Florida, she is an amazing person and the 2nd longest living Lou Gehrig’s Disease survivor next to Steven Hawking, and there’s quite a gap between her and #3. Her claim to living nearly 20 years past her expiration date as of this post, cannabis.

There is no better or worse “protein”. It’s a commonly used word with little understanding, protein is like a house with bricks  of “amino acids“. There are 9 “essential amino acids” that you cannot synthesize from raw ingredients and must be consumed. Any form of protein that has all 9 is termed to be a “complete protein” the great trick is that you can consume 100+ grams of protein daily and still be deficient if you have been consuming incomplete protein. This is unlikely to happen with any variety in your diet, though can happen if your staples consist of foods that come in bags and boxes.

Many plant proteins come up lower in 1 or more essential aminos unless combined ex: beans & rice. There are ongoing debates about whether these foods should be combined in the same meal or not, etc…

If you are a vegetarian or considering trying the option then please do some homework about nutrition, eating meat is simple, your almost guaranteed to have 70%+ usable protein, plenty of B vitamins from the bacteria that lived with them, and more oil soluble vitamins to help maintain your health. The downsides come in the form of other factors that cause you harm.

Diet is a tricky thing, there is more going on with health than being fat or thin, calorie in, calorie out. Perhaps in years to come someone will find a unified theory, though with such genetic diversity within our species and lots of money to be made from pushing a new fad we are unlikely to see a 1 size fits all approach to optimal health anytime soon.

There is no such thing as food that is good for you, only that which is less bad.

That was told to me by a very wise man some years ago, my research suggested that it is true. Everything you consume causes an immune response short of glacial water. So please do your own research, no-one cares about your health more than you (I hope).

1: came from friends, don’t dumb anything down — explain in a way that can be understood with the current vocabulary but don’t ever dumb something down thinking that it will help a child understand. Rather than using baby talk, or referring to a storm as “god playing bowling” or other such nonsense that seems harmless, explain what is really happening in the world. If the idea is too complex then ask if they understand and have them explain what you said. If you’ve never given kids a chance to be smart they may surprise you.

2: came from the book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell — in a study of over 100 families of various social backgrounds in an attempt to identify styles of parenting there were found to be essentially 2 with a strong divide between families that were considered rich and families that were considered poor. Rich families had parents and children often engaging together with children encouraged and exposed to different activities (gymnastics, drawing, instrument lessons, sports, etc…), enabling them to  begin to develop skill(s). Poor families had parents and children participating in most things separately. Parents might be watching TV while children were told to play outside.

Rich famiies had children that grew up with developed skill. Poor families grew up with children that had greater imagination.

There is generally a balance between extremes, though the kernels relate volumes of value.

What lessons have you stumbled across, by accident or on purpose? Please share in the comments below.

breathe in to a count of 5
hold to a count of 6
breathe out to a count of 6

repeat 5+ times

will activate your Vagus nerve which closes down production of adrenaline and forces your body to begin relaxing

also works in counts of 2, 2, 3 for a total time invested of  35 seconds

or any variation your comfortable with

Repetition Creates Pattern — every once in a while I dive into a couple of TED talks. Often when I’m feeling near brain dead and need a creativity spark to help push me back into productivity. Other times just cause…

This one is excellent, it’s presented at TEDx Houston and given by architect / developer Dan Phillips who likes to build things out of waste. Giving a background about how what he does works, and why so few others do so. Gets into a little philosophy smashing the ideas of making perfection for the sake of perfection, a theme seen over and over in more developed cultures.

For anyone that likes to think outside the box, remember. Repetition creates pattern, knowing this you can create patterns from ANYTHING vs buying your perfect decor at your local big box store.

Had a friend send this one to me, worth watching.

The below is a letter I recently submitted to the White House through their commentary page. This letter was written in response to recent moves by the U.S. attorney General Melinda Haag. I’ve added links to the letter for reference and hope you will click on the above link to send in your own feedback, and let me know, do you think that the Federal Government should invest resources into closing Medical Marijuana Dispensaries that comply with their state laws?

“I would not have the Justice Department prosecuting and raiding medical marijuana users,” [Rolling Stone]

This is a quote from Mr. Obama in 2007. Recently the policy seems to have changed tides with raids on medical dispensaries in California. Some 80% of the US public [ABC News Poll, NORML list of other polls] are in agreement with allowing sick patients to access medicine which the DEA has refused to acknowledge in the nearly 24 years that follow the ruling by administrative law judge Francis L. Young who after reviewing months of testimony stated “Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man.”

When the laws of the land do not reflect the will of the people there will be conflict until one of the two changes.

Having personally escorted more than one patient that had gone well past their diagnosed expiration date without the use of any medication other than marijuana I am not about to give up on their right to continue living for the sake of a law that no longer represents the people and hope that Mr. Obama will return to the statement he gave that helped him win the California vote, probably among others.

Ever see room for a little bit of improvement doing something that seems fairly easy to change?
The famous 5 minute fix?
Timed this one — nearly 2.5 hours, for what was supposed to be rather quick. Sadly this time it didn’t work out, the issue remains and I had a thought about revision control for complete systems.
How easy should it be to undo a change?
Seems like this may help to cause or delay further change though it will be

criticism is easy, spotting faults requires very little effort