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Title: Libertarians smarter?
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Conservative News and Views
URL Source: https://www.conservativenewsandview ... ial/talk/libertarians-smarter/
Published: Feb 5, 2012
Author: Terry A. Hurlbut
Post Date: 2019-08-10 14:33:23 by Deckard
Keywords: None
Views: 18660
Comments: 138
Are liberals really smarter than conservatives? Or are libertarians smarter than anyone else? A recent column in The Daily Mail suggests so. True or not, it shows that “liberal” and “conservative” are not the only two extremes of opinion. In fact, they are special cases of a far more general political landscape. By tradition, “conservative” and “liberal” (formerly “progressive”) stand for two different sets of freedoms on one hand, and entitlements on the other. This linear graph of left-of-center v. right-of-center dates from the National Assembly of Revolutionary France. The only thing that defined the “left” and the “right” then was change. The “left” wanted sweeping change, and the “right” wanted to keep things as they were. But neither side necessarily stood for more freedom than did the other. Instead, those things that a liberal wants to entitle some people to, a conservative does not. But: many of the things that a liberal wants people to be free to do, a conservative does not, either. The reason: a conservative favors a different set of entitlements that are not economic. The conservative would entitle most wives to expect their husbands to stay married to them, and not seek enjoyment elsewhere or end the marriage whenever they saw fit. “Moderates” are more likely to grant more entitlements in some areas, and more freedoms in others, than either side. But this line is a very special case. In fact, the possible mix of entitlements and freedoms should have at least two dimensions, not merely one. Michael Hanlon of The Daily Mail came close to recognizing this: The problem here is how we define ‘left’ and ‘right’ thinking, what this means socially and politically. A moment’s thought shows that the fault lines are not only blurred but they are legion, criss-crossing across traditional political strata and have changed through time. The square political leanings grid, from OnTheIssues.org. True, but incomplete. Many theorists, from Rand to Rothbard, have recognized two different “freedom scales” with which to chart one’s attitudes. One is the economic scale. Zero on this scale is a complete command economy, with input-output analysis dictating who produces what, and with Five-Year Plans, government stores, collective farms, the whole nine meters. At this end of the scale, everyone is entitled to a minimum economic standard but are free to do nothing to break out of that standard, or to take on any task unless the authorities approve. One hundred on this scale is total capitalism, with no role for government in production, distribution, or exchange. At this end, people are free to do anything but entitled to nothing. Whatever they want, they must work for. The other scale is the social scale. Zero on that scale means: throw homosexuals in prison, punish criminals severely, forbid immigration (that is, membership is by invitation only), etc. One hundred means to let everybody in, take all comers, let roommates (same-sex or opposite-, whether they share bed or not) form whatever contractual unions they care to form—but also recognize freedom of association (including the freedom not to associate), and the right of self-defense. Hanlon loses sight of one thing: many “social liberals” are damnably hypocritical along this line. They will not recognize freedom of association. They do not recognize a right of self-defense. They do not recognize any of the flip sides of increased tolerance of homosexuality, adultery, or criminality. As an example, they want to leave two men (or two women) free to be intimate, but then want to entitle this roommate pair to rooms, or an apartment, in any dwelling, whether the would-be host wants to offer them those rooms, or that apartment, or not. Once again: one person’s entitlement is another person’s loss of freedom. A libertarian, by contrast, would respect that host’s freedom. A libertarian would ask that the government leave those roommates free to be as intimate as they please, but not entitle them to rooms or apartment wherever they wish. For those, they must still make a voluntary arrangement with a host or landlord. If one plots his attitudes on the economic and social freedom scales on a square grid, instead of on a line segment, and orient this grid like a baseball diamond, then that grid will yield five different positions, not three. Home plate (zero, zero) is populism, or the Communism of the old Warsaw Pact, or Nazism in Germany. Conservatism lies at first base (100, 0). Liberalism or left-wing-ism lies at third base (0, 100). “Moderate-ism” is at the pitcher’s mound (50, 50). And Libertarianism is at second base (100, 100). So the old left-to-right line passes from third base to first, across the infield, allowing more freedom in economic areas, but insisting on more entitlement on the social, as it goes. Here is what Hanlon noticed: intelligence tracks with moving straight up on the political grid, and then tending toward perfect libertarianism. Lower intelligence tracks with falling straight down on the political grid, toward total populism. With the horizontal movement along the traditional left-right line, intelligence does not change. The implied result: Libertarians are smarter than everyone else. Purely abstract intelligence might track higher with libertarianism. That makes libertarians smarter than liberals or conservatives on that scale. A smart person (unless he hungers for power) wants to be free, either to make a living or to associate (or not) with anyone he pleases. But does common sense make libertarians smarter? Not necessarily. Abstract libertarianism works fine—for a voluntary association of voluntarily consenting adults. It does not work well for children. A child is an inherently dependent, even helpless person. Common sense demands that a society entitle a child to food, water, shelter, and education, that the parents, not the government, should give it. The parents are more likely to have the child’s best interests at heart than faceless bureaucrats would. But in addition, that same society also entitles the parents to a minimum level of “good examples” from other adults. That is why a sound society does not authorize two same-sex roommates sharing bed to adopt children. It is also why a business that caters to “the prurient interest” is not free to locate near enough to where a child might stray within sight. It is why a sound society classifies certain kinds of pastimes as “for adults only,” and recognizes a class of citizen or resident called the minor. As in: Sales of cigarettes to MINORS are FORBIDDEN by law. We support this law. Parents are urged to help prevent violations. The pure libertarian recognizes no such thing as a minor. That’s the equivalent of expecting a cub in the wild to fend for himself before he is ready. As any wildlife biologist knows, that’s not very smart. But in matters of pure economic policy, libertarians might be smarter than most. A sound society does let its children imitate the adults in one key area: business. Whether this business is selling lemonade from a front-yard stand, or offering lawn-and-garden services to his neighbors for a fee, a libertarian would have no problem with this. Nor would a conservative, so long as the child is doing something that he or she has already safely done at home. But a liberal won’t allow this. A liberal wants to entitle a perfect stranger to sell lawn-and-garden services, usually for a higher fee, without having the neighbor’s boy (or girl) compete with that service. The same seems to hold for selling lemonade, though that is even harder to justify. This makes both conservatives and libertarians smarter than liberals. They are smart enough to know that some entitlements have no justification, but only excuses. Are libertarians smarter? In some areas, yes. In others, no. But conservatives are smart to engage libertarians in a debate on how a society ought to run. Liberals haven’t done very well. Libertarians and conservatives might each be able to teach the other something.
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#61. To: A Pole (#60)
You sniff a lot of libertarians? Rand died in 1982, Rothbard in the mid-Nineties. So you haven't sniffed those two in quite some time.
I worked with two (in IT, they were quite competent), and I had a neighbor next flat (he was a biochemist). They all smelled from a distance. Also I read that Ayn Rand was not so great about her personal hygiene. Perhaps as greater and smarter individuals, they were above petty customs and rules. ;) "Objectivism taught that intellectual parity is the sole legitimate basis for romantic or sexual attraction. Coincidentally enough, this doctrine cleared the way for Rand—a woman possessed of looks that could be charitably described as unusual, along with abysmal personal hygiene and grooming habits—to seduce young men in her orbit."
Maybe you just have a sensitive nose. Or they were single or lived with someone who had gone nose-blind to their body odor or they themselves had a poor sense of smell. I recall reading articles about the Hollyweird elite, that many of them are accused of non-bathing. One of the more notorious is Johnny Depp and his wife. Supposedly they can go weeks without bathing, co-stars begging him to take a shower because he stand so much on those Pirates movies. This info was found on a lot of websites. If it was libel, it was major libel. They also included his wife in the stinker category. I'm not sure why everyone always seems to believe that we all have exactly the same identical abilities to hear, see, smell, sense, etc. I know that I, for instance, don't have a strong sense of smell but I have exceptional hearing and always did. My skin is very sensitive to infrared heat. I know everyone is but my heat sensitivity is almost like a radar. I know that most people don't have that. I have a friend who has an almost frightening sense of smell. He knows when women are menstruating, up to a block away if there's a breeze. He has a super nose. To me, it doesn't sound like much fun. I always thought being a dog would suck because then you'd know just how bad the world smells. There is also a thing in recent years where some people are abandoning soaps and antiperspirants altogether. Including some doctors and science types. I Stopped Using Soap & Shampoo Six Months ago. Why you Should too. And it isn't unheard of here among LFers. Vicomte told us he gave up using these products years ago (unless he gets really dirty, like car grease kind of dirty). Maybe he wants to chime in. He was very early on this trend which is now becoming almost a movement. The No-Poo people who avoid shampoo has been around for a while now but the No-Soap and No-Antiperspirant movement are still growing. You'd be surprised how many videos you can find on this at YouBoob, how to transition to bathing with water only, how long until your body adjusts. It's familiar material for anyone who recalls Vic's posts on the subject, going back to several years before LP closed up. He's never gone back to using soaps or shampoos, thinks they're bad for his skin. Some people say their skin gets more oily and subject to blemishes using soap because it scrubs away natural oils which makes the skin go nuts trying to produce more oil, making the skin more oily than ever and subject to blemishes or even real acne. Supposedly it takes a little longer to get your hair to adjust to no-poo than it takes for your skin to adjust to no-soap. Apparently it does take weeks to get your body to adjust to no-antiperspirant but they claim their body odor is less once they get away from antiperspirant. They don't claim to 100% odor-free but they think they smell less without antiperspirant than they do if they use it, especially on a daily basis. I know that I have curtailed my own use. I will use a little antiperspirant if I'm going out, especially in summer. Otherwise, I really try to avoid it. I try to avoid really soaping up my body and have a very lightweight liquid soap with tiny abrasive particles (Men's Dove) which I use a half-dozen drops on a loofah to scrub with. I am a lot more gentle about scrubbing my face and try to avoid using soap since I think it does make my skin more dry which then makes my skin more oily as a result of my skin trying to cope. And your skin producing more oil means more chances for blocked pores, leading to blemishing (even tiny blemishes you can barely even see). Most of the no-soap/no-poo/no-antiperspirant types are very rigorous about daily showers with water. They claim that, other than sweating in warm weather, they have no problems and feel and look better. They say they like their hair and skin better or that they've solved some longstanding problems caused by using these products or at least overusing them. Look at YouTube, you'll find a lot of videos on this topic. And it is a lot harder to make money on YouTube selling people on the idea of using no products than it is to monetize videos by recommending the latest and greatest brand-name products. Yet the no-soaps movement just keeps growing. Maybe these stinky libertarians that you know just aren't diligent enough with their daily shower routines. Or they're trying to get away from soaps and haven't mastered their routine yet. I notice you don't mention liberals or conservatives or communists or fascists who smell bad to you. Are you saying that only libertarians smell bad? Are you saying that every libertarian you have known smells bad? BTW, how do you know that you don't stink to (some) other people? Are you that sure that you don't?
The problem of libertarians having strong body odor [“stinking”] appears to be a fairly common one. So much so that libertarian Lee McKitrick felt the problem with libertarians’ body odor needed to be addressed. Christopher did that when he addressed the problem of their body odor to fellow libertarians in his article: Libertarians Just Aren’t Cool, Deal With It.. Here is an excerpt from the article where he is instructs fellow libertarians to “please bathe.” […] “Your personal hygiene matters as well. If I can smell your body odor when you are talking to me, it’s an issue. Please bathe. Dousing yourself with half a can of Axe body spray does not count as bathing."
Because it accurately shows what foreigners are doing to our country.
Homophobe is a word faggots use to put down people who know right from wrong. Why do you use faggot terms. I mean you're not gay. Why are you siding with the degenerate weirdos using a made up term to go after Ron Paul.
Homophobe is a word faggots use to put down people who know right from wrong. Why do you use faggot terms. Here, let me help straighten this out. All I was did was give a direct answer to you when you asked: And I answered: I merely supplied you with “a link containing the word” as an answer to your question. Are we now clear on this?
Indeed, I do not. All I knew did not stink. Only other group that often stinks, are the French, but not all of them ;)
But since you asked – and thank you for doing so – I will list my many reasons one at a time starting with this one first. He is essentially saying it is fine to kill a baby if a state agrees. During the 2008 campaign every GOP candidate had a zero rating from NARAL Pro-Choice America, except Ron Paul. He received a 65% score in 2006, 75% in 2005 and 65% in 2004. Here you have a organization that wants to kill unborn babies – and engages in political action and advocacy efforts to oppose restrictions on abortion and expand access to abortion – that strongly supports Ron Paul. Why do you think that is, Stone?
It is true. It must be 5 or 6 years ago now that I did the first of two 40 day water fasts. One was in the summer. the other, the following Lent. At some point in the first fast, when I had had no food in me for quite awhile, and nothing but water in my system to dilute the impact of things, I noticed that the tap water tasted very strongly of the chlorine they put in it, and it started to disgree with me, so I switched to bottled water, and gradually found myself only able to drink Poland Spring, Evian and Distilled water, because everything else had an aftertaste or too much of some mineral or chemical to bear. About the same time, I noticed that toothpaste was just overwhelming - made me sick to use it, and that shampoo and soap would hit me like a bad drug, so I stopped using those, and just took longer showers, scraping all of my skin and my scalp with my fingernails. My hair got really greasy for a few weeks, as the oils were no longer being stripped off daily by the shampoo, but eventually my scalp adjusted and stopped pouring out the oil, and the dandruff stopped, and I found myself just pulling the oil through my hair. It stopped smelling, and my hair became noticeably softer and nicer. The lady barber who always cuts my hair asked me what the new products I was using, because my hair was so much softer and healthier looking. I told her "nothing". Just a long daily shower and running my fingernails through my hair and all along my scalp, sort of scratching it (it doesn't itch). I never went back to any hygeine products at all, except for toothpaste. Once I was eating food again I needed that. But no shampoo, no soap - though I'll wash with soap if I get greasy somehow, and I do wash my hands with soap if they get into nasty things - no deodorant or anti-perspirant - no powders or gels or anything. There is one standby medicine when I don't feel good: aspirin (not tylenol, not acetominophin, not ibuprofen: aspirin), water and go to bed. Sleep seems to fix everything. I generally do not smell at all, except in four circumstances: (1) If I've been sweating a lot and am wearing polyester. Polyester really stinks after being moist with human sweat. Other clothes sweated in get a funky, mushroomy smell. (2) If I wear the same clothes a couple of days in a row. (3) If I don't eat enough carbohydrates and go into ketosis. Then I smell like acetone (printer toner). (4) If I eat garlic, I smell like strong; if I eat a lot of dairy I smell sour and pass a lot of gas; if I eat a lot of meat, I get an acidic smell. Oh, and I never did floss - and never have had a cavity either.
I like Ron Paul very much. I hope that he takes bath ;)
I'm French. There is a strong odor in France on public transport on hot summer days, but it's obvious why.
I recommend you a filter with activated charcoal. Should trap every active substance, not minerals. Bottled water often is just filtered, you can do it better at home, just remember to change filters as in the instruction.
They are libertarians? Or is it garlic?
Even people who don't use soap or shampoo (or antiperspirant outside the hottest summer days) should not have a B.O. problem unless they have illness or disease. As long as they rinse and scrub with water every day or, at most, every other day. Obviously, people who are plumbing or auto mechanics or laborers are in a different category and may need more soap to get clean because of oil and dirt. But your average office worker or retail worker really doesn't get sweaty enough to actually have B.O. if they shower with water daily. I see some of the no-soap-shampoo-deodorant people are now also recommending cold showers year-round. I think that is a fad that is going to be slow to take off. Most people don't like cold showers, maybe cool showers in the heat of summer so you don't get out of the shower sweating. I try to shower cooler but it is hard to avoid turning up the temperature. I think some people can take cool or cold showers and be more comfortable with it than most others; having a layer of fat would help insulate your body core. And cold water does help to close up pores which is probably a positive because then your pores aren't just hanging there open and your skin will have a smoother look. A hot shower will open pores, a cold shower will close them. Possibly it might be worth trying a hot shower but ending with a rinse of a minute or two with cool or cold water. Some people say cold showers promotes weight loss but I think you'd have to use a lot of water to induce fat cell dislocation in subcutaneous fat under the skin so it can be eliminated by the liver. For that to work, you also have to control your diet. Some people say the spot reduction with cold helps them shed extra pounds in the problem area of belly/buttocks/thighs. They have salon treatments for this and people also use cheap cold packs for 20-30 minutes. But you'd have to take very long cold showers for it to really get your skin and outer tissue cold enough to induce fat loss. If you used enough cold water running over your body to drop, say, your belly's temperature to 40-45°F and kept it that cold for 20 minutes, then you would definitely induce some fat cell conversion due to cold. Over the next week or so, your liver would be eliminating those fat cells from your body as long as you were careful with diet. NASA did comprehensive studies verifying weight loss in astronauts due to chilling the body back in the Sixties. So maybe cold showers could help you lose some extra pounds. But I think you'd have to take showers with very cold water for 20-30 minutes. And you'd still have to restrict your diet to avoid packing pounds back on. Maybe no-soap-shampoo-deodorant and cold showers is just the latest fad for people to make themselves miserable with crap that they read on teh interwebs. : )
Because it accurately shows what foreigners are doing to our country. Yet you automatically and instantly look upon the images of a black man, a Latino, an Asian and a Jew as being “foreigners.” Tell me – please – why did you do that, make such an assumption? Think about it for a minute or so … Now, tell me – please – do you look upon everyone of different ethnicity than yours and classify them as being a “foreigner?” Then give me – please – your definition of “racism.”
Aren't all normal people "rigorous" about taking daily showers with water, at least? Who can even wake up in the morning without showering? Wake up, drag self to bathroom. Sit down. Pee. Poo. Turn on shower, brush teeth while it gets hot, get into shower, and wash from nose to tail with water, hands and nails. Shave under the running water (no gels or shaving creams, just a disposable razor and the running water to wash the shaved hair away. No need for a mirror. Just feel your face with your hand, and shave anything you missed. Keep going until it's smooth as a baby's behind. Turn off water, dry. Iron shirt and put on. Iron pants and put on. (Underwear is useless.) Put on belt and cinch it. Put on socks. Slip on loafers (shoes one must tie are a waste of time), go get eggs (with black pepper) and rye toast (with butter) and steamed spinach (with butter), and drink water (with a couple of slices of lemon in it). That is how the day begins for everybody, isn't it? Who out there DOESN'T shower ever day?
Something I hadn't mentioned in that previous post to A Pole. These stinky libertarians might be eating certain foods that can affect body odor and the composition of body fluids, affecting their smell and taste. Our bodies are, after all, just chemical factories. I fasted (or near-fasted) for over a month a while back. And I have never been a faster at all. I did force myself to eat at least a small meal every several days. I kind of worry about allowing my digestive tract to empty out and stay empty for a long period. I mostly worry about getting a normal digestion to start again afterward. I don't know much about it other than reading some recommendations to restart eating with some olive oil, then after some hours a very easy to digest light meal. Like yogurt. I'm not sure if you ever mentioned exactly how you restarted eating after these (very long) fasts.
I know. Especially during warm weather. The funk builds up so much faster in summer. In hot weather, two showers a day isn't a bad idea. And some people need it more than others do. I've read a few articles by doctors who say they don't shower every day in the colder months. It sounds like they do shower every day during hot weather, any time they've perspired. As for deodorant, do you think the product actually produces armpit stains on clothing from sweat or are those stains left by deodorant use as it is carried out of the armpit by perspiration. Some people say that they don't get sweat stains on their clothing nearly as much if they don't use deodorant. Deodorants - modern aluminum-based ones - essentially try to plug the pores in your underarms so you can't sweat as much so you are blocking your body's attempt to cool itself and to give that part of your skin proper respiration. So do you get sweat stains on the armpits of your summer shirts or has stopping deodorant use left your shirts with fewer sweat stains on them? How long did it take for you to transition from using deodorant before you noticed a reduction in the ranker kind of perspiration that most people seem to get if they stop using modern deodorants. Anyway, I get the impression that many people think they perspire more and stink a little more for 2-3 weeks after they give up deodorant. And most people are now saying that the natural non-aluminum deodorants you can buy in the yuppie boutiques or make for yourself don't work and actually makes them stink of the natural deodorant mixture they use. I know I'm being nosy but I have the feeling you're not shy on the subject. You didn't comment on the cold-showers people yet. So are you gung-ho for cold or cool or warm or hot showers? Do you think there are health benefits to cool or cold showers?
I didn't ignore anything. I positively voted for Trump because: (!) He promised to make peace with Russia, and (2) He promised a trade war with China. Geopstrategically, those were - and still are - the two most important policies in the world, because Russia doesn't have to be an enemy, and China has to be stopped (and to stop China, you need Russia). This is obvious, and these interests supersede every other concern. Trump was the only politicians saying anything like this, and still is. I didn't hold my nose to vote for Trump - he has the clearest strategic vision on both geopolitics and trade as any President since Nixon.
I drink the tapwater again. It was during the fast when I could not stand the chemicals, as there was no food in my system to buffer them.
Garlic, and sweat, and coffee and tobacco and dairy.
Cold showers are miserable. I'm not into inflicting pain on myself. Warm showers are pleasant. On a really hot day, a cool shower is nice. A cold shower is a method of torturing prisoners. If one wants to lose weight through the cold. Spend a lot of time in a cool pool. The water is below body temperature, and with immersion, the body has to burn fuel to maintain homeostasis. That will definitely burn up fat even without any other activity.
By dairy you mean good live (unpasteurized) cheese?
After 40 days of eating no food at all, and no source of calories, just drinking water, in both cases I ate what I was craving as the fast neared its end. I both cases I boiled up a mess of spinach and collard greens, put butter on them, and ate a bowlful, until I was full (which didn't take long - my stomach was probably the size of a walnut. I ate those with all meals that day and the next, and they were the main things I wanted to eat. Next thing I wanted was eggs, and sardines. And the toast with the eggs. Basically, by the second day I ate whatever was served to me. The main thing was filling that body up with greens. Nothing has ever tasted better to me in my life than boiled collard greens and spinach on day 41 of a 40 day water fast. I suspect that if I ate those every day, I'd never gain weight. Wish I could get someone to cook them for me.
I sweat a lot. Always did. When I get hot, or I have the sun in my eyes (I'm designed to live on a glacier, not in sunny climes), the sweat starts to pour. Doesn't matter if I'm fat or skinny. Sweat pours on my. So my whole torso - chest, back, pits, plus crotch and ass - everything gets sweaty. When it dies, there's a white residue of salt on my clothes, and if I don't change them, that will make my armpits raw and give me terrible chafing down between my legs. The only way to stop that from happening is to get in a pool or wash off with lots of water, and change into clean dry clothes. Cotton is better than anything else. Synthetic fibers is worst of all, because that not only accumulates the sweat and damp and accelerates the chafing, but also starts to reek. Cotton is best. Synthetic is worst. Silk doesn't breath. Linen is heavy. Obviously, the BEST thing to do when it's hot is walk around naked, but you can generally only do that at home when the kids aren't around.
That looks yummy. Is the cheese on the bottom Epoisses? That was Napoleon's favorite cheese. Honestly it smells like compressed athlete's foot skin soaked in ammonia. But it sure tastes creamy and wonderful once you get it past your nose. Dairy of all kinds makes you sour. It's the fact and the bacteria and the lactose.
Interesting details on how you broke your fast. Thanks for the info. I'd lean more toward yogurt and then move on to something really easy to digest like cream of wheat. But I am nervous on the subject, having had my peristalsis stop for a week or so several times, back 15-20 years. Not fun and it has made me more nervous about fasting. I do find that restricting my eating window each day does help. I basically eat anything I want from noon to 6pm. It does help shrink the love handles and small amount of belly fat I have (which, to be honest, other people probably wouldn't even consider fat at all). I am pretty slim so what I think of as a little belly fat wouldn't even register with a lot of people. My belly is, actually, flatter and slimmer than most anyone over 30. It's just my natural metabolic homeostasis, it seems. Some of us do tend toward slimness the way the vast majority tend toward weight gain, especially as we age. I do weigh about 10 pounds more than I did in high school, many years ago. I had about another 10 pounds that was just useless blubber which started as tiny love handles, then I got the navel donut, then they started to join forces to give me a beer belly (I don't drink beer, bad for my kidneys and protein level), then the love handles started to spread behind my back, making my buttocks start to expand northward. After I fasted (not to lose weight deliberately, just really depressed0, I had lost most of that. Now my belly is as flat as it was in my 20s or very close to it. I have an actual 6-pack that most men my age can't imagine. But it's only because they're visible because there's so little fat covering them up. Lots of people have great abs, you know, hiding behind an ugly layer of belly fat. There is a downside to being thin, especially as you age. I read a fresh study that being low-weight and low body fat actually lowers your longevity. The studies indicate that people of normal weight or even obese people don't die off that much from heart attack or stroke after their mid-sixties. But people with low BMI do die off in much larger numbers than the people of normal weight and more than even obese people. With a height of 6' and a weight of 145, I have a BMI of 19.7. So I'm not underweight but I'm not far from being underweight. So I'm not underweight by this standard but I'm not at a normal weight which would be more like 170lbs. I can't even imagine weighing 170lbs. So it makes me think about that study showing the slim people don't survive stroke or heart attack as well as the normal weight or obese people. Most people have the opposite problem, trying to keep weight off, even in their 20s and 30s. So I don't expect much help or sympathy. Most people would love to be able to eat what they want and not gain weight. Or just to have a reasonable diet and not gain weight. I have decided to stop worrying quite so much about just weight though. It's just a number. So many other things are better to worry about, like cheating on your diet with junk food, getting enough exercise to really improve your health, etc. I'm okay with being slim but I don't want to be skinny-fat with a belly hanging out and unable to look down and see my toes or other valuable parts.
If I'm hot enough, I sweat heavy like anyone. But I don't sweat as quickly as others do in heat and I don't sweat as much doing the same amount of work. Probably there's a limit to the value of comparing an ectomorph like me with an endomorph like you. And genetics play a huge role, no doubt. Much of our physical being and potential is dictated from the moment of conception. There is no assembly line, turning out blank human clones, all identical copies. We all have significant enough differences in heritage that we can't pretend what works for one will work for another. Yet we so often think that there are universal answers. Even so, I obviously found your remarks on hygiene interesting enough to recall them after this long. And your diet ideas are interesting too though you go further than I would (like fasting more than 5 weeks). I would say that at my weight, trying to fast for 40 days would be reckless. Or your fondness for the more acrid foods like the old Nordic and French cheeses or sardines. I don't doubt they are probably good for you though. I think we can all agree at least that American cheeses are an abomination. I'm not a huge cheese fan but I think I should be able to buy unpasteurized cheeses. Certainly, with basic food precautions, they are far far safer than buying whole raw milk and drinking it unpasteurized. America needs to allow unpasteurized cheeses. They are not any more dangerous than, say, putting fresh mayonnaise in potato salads during warm weather. And that can make people sick. But only if they are careless about food safety. I'll bet you can find some shocking jars of old crusty mayonnaise in people's refrigerators but it doesn't seem to make anyone sick to allow mayonnaise made with eggs to be sold widely.
Actually French cheeses have strong and stable flora. They are quite hard to spoil. If you keep them too long they get inedible and not tasty.
I have read that before from various Cheese People. They say you don't need to worry much about it spoiling because you won't enjoy eating it past the best-by date and you'll just throw it out. And it isn't as though pasteurized cheese lasts forever either. Even that will go bad even if it takes a month or more in the fridge. And I think many cheeses lose their best flavor after a certain amount of time. Some pasteurized cheeses start to get kind of bland and a little rubbery after a few weeks.
I know it because once a while I buy live unpasteurized cheese. If you do not eat in time it gets bad taste. Same with natural unpasteurized fruits or vegetables, if they get spoiled you know it, see and smell.
I'm not sure we are allowed any unpasteurized cheeses in America. Even our "brie" is pasteurized or so I've read. I know the only brie I've ever seen says pasteurized. The brie lovers say our "brie" doesn't compare to the real thing. I have cheese go bad in my fridge if it's been there for some weeks. I can't imagine I'd get sick from unpasteurized cheese once it started to turn bad. The color and smell alone tells you when cheese and milk are past their best-by dates.
Not to be a wise ass or nothin, but I earned a food handler's card years ago to volunteer & help out on certain projects. I remember learning that lots of pathogens and the toxins they produce are odorless and tasteless. I had a great restaurant meal a couple of weeks ago: snapper with crusted cheese and spinach on top with a little pasta. Well known kitchen, good staff, nice presentation and all that. Forty five minutes home and an hour later I lost whole thing w/o being too graphic. Probably staph or clostridium. Wouldn't have had a clue til I got sick. Pretty certain it was the lunch. I only had toast and coffee for breakfast, and I was whole again right after I lost the lunch. You can't rightly tell about those microscopic bugs.
This is the trick. Naturally ripe tasty cheese has its own nice ecosystem that does not leave space for the bad bugs. Artificial nuked food, when invaded gets dangerous. Same with huge bacterial flora in human guts, it is essential for the host's health. But when purged by strong antibiotics, it might get replaced by some deadly stuff. That is why you always should take good bacterial cultures during and after antibiotic therapy.
I have a raw milk dairy. Raw milk is legal in Maine and I'm very happy about that. I make all kinds of cheeses (not for sale) and I only trade milk with Christian families (Amish/Mennonite) who would never sue me for any reason! I have to admit when I am drinking raw milk from another dairy...I am very concerned by how they handled the milk. Also, if raw milk (unpasteurized) was used to make the cheese, and that milk contained a pathogen, you are probably going to get that pathogen (depending on the pathogen, of course). I would say this: if you are buying raw milk or unpasteurized cheeses from a known source, like a health food store, you are going to be okay. Raw milk dairies that sell to the public have to meet rigorous guidelines. There are some really good health benefits to raw milk so if you can locate a reliable source, and depending on your state laws, well, I'd take raw over pasteurized any day.
Along with a good source of C probably the most important supplement you can take.
Great posts here. My aunt used to go down the road for fresh milk which she kept cool and covered with a cloth. She used to skim it for the cream. My dad loved to churn the butter up for her whenever he came for a visit. Nobody ever got sick from that milk, but that operation has been shut dowm. I've had milk straight from the cow's udder. None better. I've had warm milk from well tended female camel also. That was I think the best milk I've ever tasted.
Yes. In some situations, like yogurt, I have to kill off the existing cultures (even the good ones) so that the yogurt cultures can grow without competition. Makes for a thicker yogurt. I have seen raw milk from other dairies that had stuff floating in that you would think would kill a buzzard, but folks were drinking it and doing just fine!
Real live cheeses ripe in special conditions, they are pure and healthy naturally. Many different kinds and tastes, developed and tested over years by talented people. It is as good as mother's milk for her baby. Much better for the child than artificial formula.
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Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest I am not sure if they are smarter, but they take bath less frequently. My sense of smell tells me that.
#62. To: Tooconservative (#61)
(Edited)
You sniff a lot of libertarians?
#63. To: A Pole, Vicomte13 (#62)
I worked with two (in IT, they were quite competent), and I had a neighbor next flat (he was a biochemist). They all smelled from a distance.
#64. To: A Pole (#62)
You sniff a lot of libertarians?
You are definitely onto something about libertarians in your assessment, but it is nothing new about them.
I worked with two (in IT, they were quite competent), and I had a neighbor next flat (he was a biochemist). They all smelled from a distance.
Also I read that Ayn Rand was not so great about her personal hygiene. “As libertarians we must realize that our message is not mainstream yet, and therefore each of us is an ambassador when marketing it. Being an ambassador comes with a certain amount of personal responsibility to be self aware so that you do not completely disenfranchise someone you are engaging with. No one wants to be around a person who causes them discomfort, whether that is because they are a socially awkward basement dweller, a loud obnoxious internet troll, lack personal hygiene, or just generally unaware of normal human behavior.”
Phew – What a disgustingly unpleasant smell that libertarian body odor must be. I can just imagine your disgust.
#65. To: Gatlin (#58)
Exactly whqt it It you like about seeing “images of a black man, a Latino, an Asian and a Jew punching Uncle Sam?”
#66. To: Gatlin (#57)
Ron Paul’s Racist, Homophobic Newsletters Gain New Life On Twitter"
#67. To: A K A Stone (#66)
[The title of an article] - Ron Paul’s Racist, Homophobic Newsletters Gain New Life On Twitter.
Stone, I did not use any faggot terms. I never used the word “homophobe.” I've heard about these "racist" newsletters before. What did he write that was deemed "racist"?
Okay, you asked “what.” Maybe this will shed some light on what you asked - then supplied you a link titled: “Ron Paul’s Racist, Homophobic Newsletters Gain New Life On Twitter."
I did not use the word “homophobe.”
#68. To: Tooconservative (#63)
I notice you don't mention liberals or conservatives or communists or fascists who smell bad to you
#69. To: A K A Stone (#66)
Why are you siding with the degenerate weirdos using a made up term to go after Ron Paul.
I side with no one and no group. I have my own reasons and I often express them freely, whether I am asked to or not. ABORTION: He claims to be pro-life, and says Right to Life is the foundation for all rights in the Constitution. He even says “life does begin at conception.” The truth is that he is really pro-choice on the state level. That is the purpose of his Sanctity of Life Bill.
NARAL Pro-Choice America is an organization in the United States that engages in political action and advocacy efforts to oppose restrictions on abortion and expand access to abortion.
#70. To: Tooconservative (#63)
And it isn't unheard of here among LFers. Vicomte told us he gave up using these products years ago (unless he gets really dirty, like car grease kind of dirty). Maybe he wants to chime in. He was very early on this trend which is now becoming almost a movement. The No-Poo people who avoid shampoo has been around for a while now but the No-Soap and No-Antiperspirant movement are still growing. You'd be surprised how many videos you can find on this at YouBoob, how to transition to bathing with water only, how long until your body adjusts. It's familiar material for anyone who recalls Vic's posts on the subject, going back to several years before LP closed up. He's never gone back to using soaps or shampoos, thinks they're bad for his skin.
#71. To: Gatlin (#69)
During the 2008 campaign every GOP candidate had a zero rating from NARAL Pro-Choice America, except Ron Paul.
#72. To: A Pole (#68)
#73. To: Vicomte13 (#70)
I noticed that the tap water tasted very strongly of the chlorine they put in it, and it started to disgree with me, so I switched to bottled water, and gradually found myself only able to drink Poland Spring, Evian and Distilled water, because everything else had an aftertaste or too much of some mineral or chemical to bear.
#74. To: Vicomte13 (#72)
(Edited)
There is a strong odor in France on public transport on hot summer days, but it's obvious why.
#75. To: A Pole, Vicomte13 (#68)
#76. To: A K A Stone (#65)
(Edited)
Exactly whqt it It you like about seeing “images of a black man, a Latino, an Asian and a Jew punching Uncle Sam?”
Nowhere does the cartoon make any reference to the citizenship of the four caricatures of different ethnicities depicted there.
#77. To: Tooconservative (#63)
Most of the no-soap/no-poo/no-antiperspirant types are very rigorous about daily showers with water.
#78. To: Vicomte13 (#70)
(4) If I eat garlic, I smell like strong; if I eat a lot of dairy I smell sour and pass a lot of gas; if I eat a lot of meat, I get an acidic smell.
At some point in the first fast, when I had had no food in me for quite awhile, and nothing but water in my system to dilute the impact of things, I noticed that the tap water tasted very strongly of the chlorine they put in it, and it started to disgree with me, so I switched to bottled water, and gradually found myself only able to drink Poland Spring, Evian and Distilled water, because everything else had an aftertaste or too much of some mineral or chemical to bear.
#79. To: Vicomte13 (#77)
Who out there DOESN'T shower ever day?
#80. To: Deckard (#26)
#81. To: A Pole (#73)
#82. To: A Pole (#74)
#83. To: Tooconservative (#75)
#84. To: Vicomte13 (#82)
Garlic, and sweat, and coffee and tobacco and dairy
#85. To: Tooconservative (#78)
#86. To: Tooconservative (#79)
#87. To: A Pole (#84)
#88. To: Vicomte13 (#85)
BMI Categories:
Underweight = <18.5
Normal weight = 18.5–24.9
Overweight = 25–29.9
Obesity = BMI of 30 or greater
#89. To: Vicomte13, A Pole (#86)
(Edited)
I sweat a lot. Always did. When I get hot, or I have the sun in my eyes (I'm designed to live on a glacier, not in sunny climes), the sweat starts to pour.
#90. To: Tooconservative (#89)
America needs to allow unpasteurized cheeses. They are not any more dangerous than, say, putting fresh mayonnaise in potato salads during warm weather. And that can make people sick. But only if they are careless about food safety.
#91. To: A Pole (#90)
(Edited)
Actually French cheeses have strong and stable flora. They are quite hard to spoil. If you keep them too long they get inedible and not tasty.
#92. To: Tooconservative (#91)
They say you don't need to worry much about it spoiling because you won't enjoy eating it past the best-by date and you'll just throw it out.
#93. To: A Pole (#92)
#94. To: Tooconservative (#93)
#95. To: randge (#94)
I remember learning that lots of pathogens and the toxins they produce are odorless and tasteless.
#96. To: Tooconservative (#89)
I'm not a huge cheese fan but I think I should be able to buy unpasteurized cheeses. Certainly, with basic food precautions, they are far far safer than buying whole raw milk and drinking it unpasteurized. America needs to allow unpasteurized cheeses.
#97. To: A Pole (#95)
good bacterial cultures
#98. To: watchman (#96)
#99. To: A Pole (#95)
This is the trick. Naturally ripe tasty cheese has its own nice ecosystem that does not leave space for the bad bugs. Artificial nuked food, when invaded gets dangerous.
#100. To: watchman (#99)
(Edited)
Yes. In some situations, like yogurt, I have to kill off the existing cultures (even the good ones) so that the yogurt cultures can grow without competition.
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