Category: health & fitness

rest in peace Rob and Mark

On By Rick McIn friends, health & fitnessLeave a comment

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.

Mark Glaser

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.

Saskatchewan Glacier

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

On By Rick McIn gymnastics, health & fitnessLeave a comment

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. …

A Conservative Case for the Welfare State

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.

health-care-usa

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

On By Rick McIn anti-smoking, health & fitness, travel3 Comments

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.

wedding food

Yemeni feast

Tradition is to eat as quickly as possible, with only the right hand.

feasting

From there we walked over to a massive wedding hall.

wedding hall

Guests arriving on time — hours early as everything starts LATE here — relaxed, chatted and chewed Khat.

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 …

chewing_qat

… 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.

Yemini men

Yemini boy

more photos

… 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

On By Rick McIn government, happiness, health & fitnessLeave a comment

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.

Cynthia runs a Marathon

On By Rick McIn friends, health & fitnessLeave a comment

Cynthia — a woman of a certain age — with no experience in distance running — got it into her head to run a Marathon. In France.

She and a friend put in the training. And met their goal. Congratulations.

Details on her website — TWO OLD LADIES RUN A MARATHON

on lactose intolerence …

On By Rick McIn food, health & fitness1 Comment

Original Homo sapiens could only digest lactose in milk until age-5.

But around around 10,000 B.C. a genetic mutation appeared, allowing many — including me — to enjoy lactose milk products their entire lives.

read more on Slate – The Most Spectacular Mutation in Recent Human History

In fact I use chocolate milk as a sports recovery drink. LOVE IT. 🙂

Cheers to Peter and Warren for the link.

how’s that WAR on Drugs working?

On By Rick McIn economics, ethics, gymnastics, health & fitness, product complaintsLeave a comment

Looks like at least $1.5 trillion mostly wasted, so far.

I HATE right wing politicians who trot out this dead horse as a diversion from bigger issues.

The War on Drugs (December 14, 1914 – present) is a campaign of prohibition and foreign military aid and military intervention undertaken by the United States government, with the assistance of participating countries, and the stated aim to define and reduce the illegal drug trade. …

… In 1971, President Richard Nixon declared that “drug abuse is public enemy number one” …

On May 13, 2009, Gil Kerlikowske, the current Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), signaled that although it did not plan to significantly alter drug enforcement policy, the Obama administration would not use the term “War on Drugs,” as he claims it is “counter-productive” …

In June 2011, the Global Commission on Drug Policy released a critical report on the War on Drugs, declaring “The global war on drugs has failed, with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world. …

Obviously, governments have to look at alternatives.

(via Boing Boing)

10k Terry Fox Run, Parksville BC

On By Rick McIn health & fitnessLeave a comment

I still recall the very first Terry Fox Run for Cancer Research, 32yrs ago. Happy to be back for yet another.

It was a hodgepodge of anyone and everyone at the start.

Very casual. Definitely a FUN RUN. For once I wasn’t obliged to walk away with a t-shirt I’d never wear again. 🙂

Two 5km loops through one of my favourite beach campgrounds in the world, Rathtrevor.

Yeesh. 😦 The first 5km in 31min. Not good for me.

I tried push harder.

… Let’s just say my FINAL time for 10km was sub-1hr. … I don’t want to be caught out exaggerating the speed of my run. 🙂

I walked off the stiffness on Rathtrevor Beach at low tide.

more photos

Terry Fox, (July 28, 1958 – June 28, 1981) was a Canadian humanitarian, athlete, and cancer research activist.

In 1980, with one leg having been amputated, he embarked on a cross-Canada run to raise money and awareness for cancer research. Although the spread of his cancer eventually forced him to end his quest after 143 days and 5,373 kilometres (3,339 mi), and ultimately cost him his life, his efforts resulted in a lasting, worldwide legacy.

The annual Terry Fox Run, first held in 1981, has grown to involve millions of participants in over 60 countries and is now the world’s largest one-day fundraiser for cancer research; over C$500 million has been raised in his name. …

Terry refused corporate branding. And refused to change his shorts, no matter how tattered they got.

Feisty.

Sicko – the movie

On By Rick McIn ethics, government, health & fitness, moviesLeave a comment

I enjoy Michael Moore‘s movies, even if he is “left of Lenin”.

Recently I saw Capitalism: A Love Story (2009). His weakest. Completely barking up the wrong tree.

His best, I feel, was Sicko.

Sicko is a 2007 documentary film by American filmmaker Michael Moore. The film investigates health care in the United States, focusing on its health insurance and the pharmaceutical industry. The movie compares the for-profit, non-universal U.S. system with the non-profit universal health care systems of Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Cuba. …

I love this concept in the film. Taking 9-11 rescue workers to Guantanamo Bay to request the only “Universal Health Care” in America.

Click PLAY or watch the clip on YouTube.

Permission to enter.
I have three 9-11 rescue workers.

They need some medical attention.

These are 9/11 rescue workers!
They just want some medical attention!

The same kind that al-Qaida is getting.

They don’t want any more than
you’re giving the evildoers, just the same!

Obama should have kept his promise to close Guantanamo, regardless of consequences. It’s WRONG WRONG WRONG in dozens of wildly conflicting ways.

Any system that treats victims worse than criminals is doomed to fail.

Prisons should be work camps. The quality of life must be worse in prison than for a law abider on the outside working for minimum wage.