My friend Kelley is competing in fitness competitions.
I accused her of stealing the abs I lost 35 years ago.
… Truth is, I never had those abs. 🙂
She’s on the popular ViSalus Body By Vi program.
Message Kelley on Facebook if you want to know more.
Category: health & fitness
Ironfan South Africa
It was fun hanging out with the REAL athletes, once again.
Here are some of the Ironman South Africa competitors staying at my hostel in Port Elizabeth. All finishers.
official Race Report – Schildknecht and Donavan reign at Spec-Savers IRONMAN South Africa 2013
Ironman South Africa
7am start
See more high res photos.
The first group of guys out of the water were far, far ahead of the next individuals. There are 31 PRO men registered. … Turns out Pros were given a 15min head start.
Many still trying to qualify for Worlds Kona.
Update:
Ronnie Schildknecht of Switzerland dominated. A worthy winner. 8:11:27 (52:48/4:22:01/2:53:06)
Jodie Ann Swallow had a HUGE lead after the bike. Yet Jessie Donavan from the USA won the womens’ race in 9:10:58.
Ironman South Africa
Nelson Mandela Bay will be fully transformed into Ironman City this weekend …
The weekend begins with the Iron Girl South Africa women’s fun run on Friday (12 April) and defending champion, Natalie Ross of Rhodes University Athletics Club will be in the starting line-up. …
Almost 6000 atheletes will be competing in the four combined events of the Ironman weekend. …
A racer from India has just arrived at my hostel in Port Elizabeth. By coincidence his international Ironman last year was in Nice, France. I happened to be at that one too.
These races seem to follow me around.
He estimates there are only 5-10 Ironman finishers in all of India.
What’s the goal?
He’s planning on both a double Ironman and triple Ironman, both being hosted in England.
still praying for a Reform Pope
Economist magazine:
… What should he do? A secular newspaper has to divide its suggestions into two groups: reforms to church doctrine that many conservative Catholics, including Francis, may disagree with; and managerial ones that all Catholics can support.
In terms of doctrine, the list of rules that the church defends with great cost and mixed success begins, from our perspective at least, with priestly celibacy.
Many priests are married—ex-Anglicans, and the Byzantine-rite Catholics of eastern Europe. All the scriptural evidence suggests that the first pope, Peter, had a wife. Allowing other clergy to do likewise would help stem the decline in the priesthood and relieve a great burden of suffering and loneliness. With that taboo gone, others could follow, such as the ban on artificial contraception.
This may be too much for Francis. But there should be no debate about the urgent managerial need to clean up and modernise the Vatican. The church is scandalously badly run. …
read more – The first southern pope
Pope Francis inherits a mess but has great opportunities. He will need to act quickly
Easter Mass March 31, 2013 – Vatican City
So far Pope Francis has done some wonderful, symbolic things.
I’m hoping he has the will and heart to seriously debate the big issues.
What percentage of Catholics in 2013 use birth control?
rest in peace Rob and Mark
Lifelong friends, Rob and Mark Glaser, were killed in an avalanche on Saturday, January 15, 2011 in the area of Burstall Pass, Peter Lougheed Provincial Park, Kananaskis Country, Alberta.
The families of Mark and Rob Glaser are in deep shock at the news of their tragic passing. Both were loving husbands and fathers and will be greatly missed by their families and legions of friends. Both were seasoned back country hikers and skiers who shared a deep passion for the outdoors.
Mark lived in Calgary and was in the oil and gas industry for over 25 years including senior management positions in recent years. Rob lived in Bragg Creek and was a captain in the Calgary Fire Department.
Rob was a firefighter, expert in all things backcountry. They had left their avalanche beacons in the car making family speculate that this ski was intended to be simply a short warm-up.
Over 30 years (1978–2007), avalanches have been responsible for 329 deaths in Canada, with a recent rate of 14 deaths per year. …
Avalanche accounts for over 90% of outdoor recreation deaths, most of those in Alberta or B.C.
Be careful out there.
healthcare – USA v CAN
BRUCE BARTLETT:
A 2003 study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that Canada’s single-payer health system had less than a third of the per-capita administrative cost of the United States system, with its many private insurance companies and overlapping government programs – $307 per year in Canada versus $1,059 in the United States. And although American conservatives are fond of pointing to cases where Canadians come to the United States for treatment, a 2009 Harris poll found that 82 percent of Canadians favor their health system over the American one.
Americans believe that their health system is the best in the world, but in fact it is not. …
Bruce Bartlett held senior policy roles in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations and served on the staffs of Representatives Jack Kemp and Ron Paul.
That said, a Canadian friend is booking a trip to the Mayo Clinic in the States trying to diagnose a condition that the Canadian doctors have been unable to nail down. Cost … perhaps $5000.
related – Wikipedia – Comparison of the health care systems in Canada and the United States
… Life expectancy is longer in Canada, and its infant mortality rate is lower …
my Yemini wedding
Unexpectedly — between sessions at my week long Gymnastics Coaching Camp in Yemen — I was invited to a wedding.
We walked over to an unassuming building. Inside were at least two floors filled with hundreds of feasting guests.
Tradition is to eat as quickly as possible, with only the right hand.
From there we walked over to a massive wedding hall.
Guests arriving on time — hours early as everything starts LATE here — relaxed, chatted and chewed Khat.
Disgusting Khat:
Khat consumption induces mild euphoria and excitement, similar to that conferred by strong coffee. Individuals become very talkative under the influence of the plant. … Khat can induce manic behaviors and hyperactivity
Khat is so popular in Yemen that its cultivation consumes much of the country’s agricultural resources. It is estimated that 40% of the country’s water supply goes towards irrigating it …
An estimated 10 million people globally use khat on a daily basis …
… Not healthy.
It darkens teeth, but doesn’t destroy them like betel. Yemenis have bad teeth, but it’s a consequence of not going to dentists.
… Oh yes. You might have noticed that there is not one woman or girl anywhere to be seen. Yet there must be at least one woman secreted away somewhere.
🙂
Global peace index 2012
Published by the Institute for Economics & Peace, the index tries to measure peacefulness. This year has seen the world become ‘slightly more peaceful’ – bucking the trend seen in the last two years where the ranking showed a decline in global peace.
Iceland is once again ranked the most peaceful peaceful country in the world, followed by Denmark and New Zealand. …
Guardian
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Canada is 5th. Qatar 12th. The USA 88th.
Rick McCharles 