| (no subject) |
[Nov. 29th, 2006|02:40 pm] |
Blog 2.0
http://www.kylem.org
Yeah. its redundant but hey, I have to whore myself somewhere. Hopefully I will have more interesting type of stuff on there. |
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| NESTA Certified |
[Feb. 24th, 2006|01:03 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | accomplished | ] |
I just finished signing up for the coursework to become a NESTA Certified Personal Trainer. I've wanted to do this for a while, so im just going to do it! They have a good program that is nationally recognized and also help with business development to learn how to get clients, etc.
On another note. Im going to can Speakeasy. they are good solid service but the $99 a month for -just- DSL (no phone service) is killing us. Hello bundle package from the great satan of SBC. Satellite TV Service (Via Dish Network), Phone service, DSL (3.0mbps/512), and Cellular all on one bill at a discount only costing us around $55 a month for EVERYTHING (minus my cell bill - that part isnt ironed out yet). Too good of a deal. |
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| (no subject) |
[Feb. 21st, 2006|10:13 pm] |
There's something I like about this, see if you can find out what (I had this big dumb smile on my face after I was done reading):
"As seen in a dog's diary:
7 am - Oh boy! A walk! My favorite!
8 am - Oh boy! Dog food! My favorite!
9 am - Oh boy! The kids! My favorite!
Noon - Oh boy! The yard! My favorite!
2 pm - Oh boy! A car ride! My favorite!
3 pm - Oh boy! The kids! My favorite!
4 pm - Oh boy! Playing ball! My favorite!
6 pm - Oh boy! Welcome home Mom! My favorite!
7 pm - Oh boy! Welcome home Dad! My favorite!
8 pm - Oh boy! Dog food! My favorite!
9 pm - Oh boy! Tummy rubs on the couch! My favorite!
11 pm - Oh boy! Sleeping in my people's bed! My favorite!
As seen in a cat's diary:
Day 183 of my captivity...
My captors continued to taunt me with bizarre little dangling
objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while I am forced to eat dry
cereal. The only thing that keeps me going is the hope of escape, and the mild
satisfaction I get from clawing the furniture. Tomorrow I may eat
another house plant.
Today my attempt to kill my captors by weaving around their feet while they were walking almost succeeded - must try this at the top of the stairs. In an attempt to disgust and repulse these vile oppressors, I once again induced myself to vomit on their favorite chair - must try this on their bed.
Decapitated a mouse and brought them the headless body in an attempt to make them aware of what I am capable of, and to try to strike fear in their hearts. They only cooed and condescended about what a good little cat I was. Hmmm, not working according to plan.
There was some sort of gathering of their accomplices. I was placed in solitary throughout the event. However, I could hear the noise and smell the food. More important, I overheard that my confinement was due to my powers of inducing "allergies." Must learn what this is and how to use it to my advantage. I am convinced the other captives are flunkies....
The dog is routinely released and seems more than happy to return. He is obviously a half-wit. The bird, on the other hand, has got to be an informant and speaks with them regularly. I am certain he reports my every move. Due to his current placement in the metal room, his safety is assured. But I can wait; it is only a matter of time." |
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| (no subject) |
[Feb. 12th, 2006|09:39 pm] |
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The government today announced that it is changing its emblem from an Eagle to a CONDOM because it more accurately reflects the government's political stance. A condom allows for inflation, halts production, destroys the next generation, protects a bunch of pricks, and gives you a sense of security while you're actuallybeing screwed. |
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 4th, 2005|02:18 pm] |
thought of the day:
"Although most people rate themselves as happy, there is a wealth of evidence to show that negative thinking is deeply ingrained in the human psyche. Experiments show that we remember failures more vividly than successes. We dwell on what went badly, not what went well. When life runs smoothly, we're on autopilot — we're only in a state of true consciousness when we notice the stone in our shoe."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2099-1793873_1,00.html
good read. |
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| Health and Fitness |
[Sep. 7th, 2005|01:01 pm] |
Health and Fitness – An Introduction
Greetings. In this short article, I will attempt to put forth some useful information about Health and Fitness in it’s many forms. This article is meant to be broad and sweeping, and is meant for beginners.
For me, this single most difficult aspect of getting into a life-long health and fitness routine was simply getting started. It’s difficult. There’s a lot of information out there! Far too much information in my opinion. I will attempt to make things simple to get all of you out there started. In the future I will also attempt to provide some more in depth articles that focus on one specific area.
Good luck, and let’s get started.
GETTING STARTED
Before you even think of setting foot in the gym or going on one of those new fad diets, let’s get some things out of the way that you will need regardless of any direction you will go.
First thing – buy a scale. It’s cheap, it’s important. Style doesn’t matter, analogue or digital, just as long as it’s not too cheap - we do want an accurate read. If you buy a digital scale a lot of them will come with electronic body fat readers. If you can get one without one of these readers for cheaper, go for it. Almost all scales that read body fat read it incorrectly, and are not worth the extra money.
The point to owning a scale is now we have something that we can use to measure results. Measurement is important when we are just getting started.
Now that we have a scale, weigh yourself on it. Write down how much you weigh, or keep track of it in your head.
The second thing we need, which doesn’t cost any money at all, is just some information about how your body works. We need to get a general idea of what our BMR is (Basal Metabolic Rate). The reason why this is important will be explained later. Use the form below to get your BMR (again more about what this is will be explained later):
http://html.theomahachannel.com/sh/idi/health/calcs/bmrcalc.html
Follow the directions and the number you’re looking for is the total after you apply activity level. A safe bet for people getting started is “moderate,” but use your own discretion.
Third thing, again free. Create an account on http://www.fitday.com. This is a fantastic free website that allows us to keep a food log of what we eat, and will let us know if we are meeting all of our goals. We will go over what goals we should be setting for ourselves soon.
First Goal
Ok, now we have some real tools here that we can use to set and keep goals for ourselves. Let’s start with BMR. What that calculated Basal Metabolic Rate is telling you, basically, is how many calories per day you need to MAINTAIN your current weight.
Looking to lose weight? I suggest subtracting 250 calories from your BMR. Some people will say 500; I like to start with 250 for beginners.
Need to gain weight? (some people do!) Add 250 calories to your BMR.
Write down your BMR Here: _______________
Good, that’s goal number one. Always remember that number, you won’t be adjusting it for quite some time.
Next, if you haven’t already, login to fitday.com and start inputting foods you eat. It’s a pain to get them all in there, but once you have it all setup, it becomes easier to simply add what you eat and how much of it you ate. If you are confused about how to do this, email me at kyle.mclerren@gmail.com (or AIM: krazylikeaf0x) or try the help section on their website.
What do we have now? We have how many calories per day we need to lose/gain weight and a tool to keep track of exactly how many calories per day we are getting. Fantastic! Isn’t it easy?
Now let me talk about why this is important. Weight gain or loss is actually not too complicated if you think about it in a simple formula. Calories in vs. Calories out.
Now, there are a lot more theories out there about weight gain and loss, but I am going to be focusing on just this one theory for now. It’s simple and easy. Eat more calories then your body needs, you gain weight. Create a calorie deficit and you will lose weight. Remember, we’re keeping it simple here.
The other goals will be in the upcoming sections.
Nutrition
This section will focus on nutrition and eating habits.
Allow me to start off by propagating a bit of universal knowledge that people tend to forget: It does not matter what you do – you could work out 24 hours a day and it will mean nothing if you do not eat right. In our society we are bombarded by fad diets, thoughts of how we should think and look. It can be hard to decide what we should actually be doing. I will try to make things a bit more clear for us.
First, we’re talking about making life changes here. Fitness for life. This means some of us are going to have to make some drastic changes with our lives. To put it simple, stay away from fast food right off the bat. I do admit there are some ways to eat healthy at fast food, but as a rule of thumb, stay away.
The second and most difficult aspect of nutrition is simply eating at the proper times. We are all used to eating when we are hungry, or worse, eating when we are starving. This is terrible for our bodies.
What I would like everyone to do is eat six times a day. Seem like a lot? It’s not and I will explain why. Remember this. I’ll include it in the TIPS section at the bottom. I’ll give a little run down about what happens if we constantly throw food in our bodies in large amounts when we are hungry.
Back a long time ago in the caveman days, sometimes we would eat well, sometimes we wouldn’t. When we would kill a wooly mammoth and eat well our bodies, for survival, would day “YAY! Food! Finally, I am going to store this for long-term energy,” and it stored a lot of the energy from the food as fat. So, later on, when all we had to eat was bark off trees, we still had energy left over in fat.
The same analogy applies when we go long periods of time without eating and then throw food at ourselves. Our bodies freak out when all the food comes, our metabolism slows down and we actually gain more fat! This is why starvation diets and fad diets are all horrible for our bodies.
Simply put, if we eat consistently, six times a day, even if we create a small calorie deficit we will still have enough food coming in that our bodies will not go into “feast or famine” mode.
Here is an example of how I eat:
8am – Bowl of Kashi cereal w/ Soy Milk or 3-5 scrambled eggs
10:30am – Snack on almonds or something protein-rich
12:30pm – Lunch, Sandwich usually turkey on dark rye.
3:00pm – Natural Peanut butter and Honey sandwich on 100% whole grain bread
6:00pm – 2 chicken breast steaks with wild rice
9:00pm – Bowl of yogurt and banana
Now what I have is energy to keep me going all day!
I will give some basic outlines on how to eat, to make it simple. The closer to the earth, the better. Eat whole and natural foods, this is the best way. But in more specific terms, I will direct you all to the “bible” of “Clean Eating.”
http://forums.menshealth.com/groupee/forums/a/tpc/f/295109121/m/721103321
It can be a bit scary and confusing. If anyone has any questions just let me know. But that link will explain exactly what you should be eating to keep your body fit and healthy.
The last thing I will mention about nutrition is water intake. Most all of us go through the day dehydrated without knowing it. Especially now that we are going to be working out, and in order to build muscle properly we need to drink enough water. Here’s what we do:
Buy a 1-liter water bottle. Develop a death-grip on the bottle and never let it leave your side. If you drink 3 full bottles a day, you’re in good shape. The 1 liter bottle makes it easy. Three liters of water is just fine. Some people out there think more is better, but there is such a thing as over-hydration.
So now that we’re eating properly, and we’re drinking enough water - we’re in good shape. If you keep track of what you eat on fitday.com and follow the principals outlined in the “Clean Eating” article you will still be keeping track of your Calorie goal.
Fitness
This section will focus on fitness for beginners and hopefully give some direction on where to start.
First off, I recommend joining a gym. This article is not geared toward people who have home-gyms.
So we have our gym membership. Time to get started. But how? When? How often? I will go over all of these.
Right off the bat another very important aspect of fitness I will stress is resistive weight training, or simply just weight lifting. People tend to hold the idea that weight lifting is only for people who want to get big. This is not true.
We could simply do lots and lots of cardio to try to burn enough calories to lose some weight, but weight training is much more efficient and I will explain why.
For every pound of lean mass (muscle) we have on our bodies, we naturally burn 50 more calories a day, sitting around doing nothing. So, having more muscle means it takes more calories each day to simply maintain that muscle weight. Good deal, huh?
Second, when we weight train, it takes a lot out of our bodies to rebuild our muscle! This means that our metabolism stays chugging strong for up to 24 hours after we step out of the gym. This is compared with cardio, which is good, but – when you step off that Stairmaster your bodies metabolism will return to its normal state within an hour or so.
So we can see why resistive weight training is so important.
Now, how often should we work out? When we are just starting, pick three days a week. Always go these three days a week and make a habit out of it. Once you get in the “swing” of going those three days a week, it will become second nature.
So, I go Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
How much should we work out? Or how long. Answer is however long it takes to get your workout done SAFELY and at your own pace. This is important when you are starting.
Here is an excellent example of a workout routine for someone who is just starting:
click here
That will get you started, and I HIGHLY recommend this workout. Do the “beginner” workout. Remember to always go at your own pace.
This article also assumes you have found your maximum lifts for each exercise. When you first start, you will want to experiment to see how much on each exercise you can lift, and then reduce the weight by 10% or so, so that you can complete the recommended number of repetitions.
Next lets talk about cardio workouts. Here’s what I suggest: do only weight training for the first month or two. On the third month, consider adding cardio. Cardio is very important as it keeps your heart strong and healthy. Pick two days out of your workout schedule (lets say Monday/Friday) and add 30 minutes of cardio at the END of your workout after you’re done lifting, this way you’re not too tired.
I also recommend doing cardio on the third month because we don’t want to blow ourselves out and try to do too much at once. The weight training in my opinion will offer greater benefits right off the bat then cardio by itself, and its too thought to try to do both when you’re first starting.
Now we should be starting to take steps in the right direction for fitness!
Final Thoughts
Remember this is all very general, and I hope it’s been somewhat helpful. Health and fitness is not only physical health, but mental, spiritual, and handful of other things. If there are any un-answered questions – good. That means we are thinking! Feel free to contact me.
Tips
1) Eat six times a day, in smaller amounts
2) Keep record of your gains and losses
3) Keep Track of our workouts
4) Never workout if you are sore or injured
5) Always take workouts at your own pace
6) Stay away from fad diets
7) “It didn’t get there over-night. It wont go away over-night” – don’t get discouraged! It takes time!
8) Unfortunately the LAST place fat starts to reduce is the mid-section. There’s no such thing as “Spot” training. The body burns fat in an even method all over your body, the mid-section being the last to finally go.
Helping yourself get motivated
1) Rent an inspiring movie – “Rocky,” as an example.
2) Visualize what you’re new and fit body will look like
3) Think of all the great advantages of being in shape and how much more energy you will have
4) “Just do it!”
Mini-Section on Music for Working Out
I like high-energy music for cardio. Often times I don’t listen to music while lifting other then what’s on in the gym so I can pay attention to lifting and others around me. It’s up to you. I highly recommend music especially for cardio, however. Here’s my current play-list:
1) Eric Prydes – Call on Me
2) Fatboy Slim – Weapon of Choice
3) Zombie Nation – Kernkraft 400 (oh oh oh remix)
4) Tube and Berger – Straight Ahead
5) Assorted collection of other electronic music
6) Whatever moves you
I highly suggest you download these songs using any file sharing software such as bittorrent or winmx. Don’t support the RIAA by buying the CD, support the artist directly by seeing them live. But that’s a topic for another day ☺
Links
http://www.menshealth.com/cda/article.do?site=MensHealth&channel=fitness&category=workout.plans&conitem=9bd999edbbbd201099edbbbd2010cfe793cd____#%23%23
http://forums.menshealth.com/groupee/forums
http://www.exrx.net/Exercise.html
http://www.fitday.com
http://html.theomahachannel.com/sh/idi/health/calcs/bmrcalc.html
A Microsoft word version of this is available here |
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| Upcoming Articles |
[Sep. 2nd, 2005|12:54 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  devious | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Pink Floyd - Young Lust | ] |
I will be working on a couple articles that I have been meaning to post. They should be up this weekend. They will include:
1) Health and Fitness - A guide for beginners
2) Installing bootable WindowsPE onto a USB flash drive
More information about the articles soon. Look for them this weekend.
Edit: I know, I know. It's coming. sorry. Everything is outlined it just needs to be typed up. |
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| dream |
[Jul. 22nd, 2005|12:43 pm] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | battlefield 2 game music | ] |
I had a complex dream.
The parts that I can remember are as follows.
So apparently I was the student of some legendary super-natural kung fu instructor. In my dream, it was David Caradine (from Kung Fu series on TV, and Kill Bill). He instructed on combat and many things. He taught me how to become one with all things, which meant I could teleport and move effortlessly through walls and ceilings. However, I couldn't shift downwards through floors. He said we normally don't go downwards in fear of where we might eventually end up.
I had some strange gun fight and killed some people with a sword. It was odd. |
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| Q4 |
[Jun. 23rd, 2005|10:06 pm] |
Quake 4 Is Coming...
This should be pretty sweet. It's not exactly 0-day news, but I just found out about it. Very good memories of sitting at my first job and playing Quake. Lot's of summers full of Quake.. Dreams of rocket jumping. |
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| call |
[May. 13th, 2005|09:02 pm] |
AIM Conversation:
Employee1234: 1 sec
Employee1234: convincing a woman her computer could not be possessed by a demon
Employee1234: really
Me: uhhm
Employee1234: she calls me up and her daughter is hitting up satanist websites cuz she curious about 'the other side,' and now she's terrified there's demons in the PC
Me: lol
Me: seriously?
Employee1234: seriously
Employee1234: this is officially the best phone call ever |
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| Trent Worship |
[May. 11th, 2005|11:04 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  bored | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Nine Inch Nails - Only | ] |
I'm becoming less defined, as days go by
Fading away, well you might say I'm losing focus
Kinda drifting into the abstract in terms of how I see myself
Sometimes, I think I can see right through myself
Sometimes, I think I can see right through myself
Sometimes, I can see right through myself
Less concerned, about fitting into the world
Your world that is, cause it doesn't really matter anymore (no, it doesn't really matter anymore)
No, it doesn't really matter anymore
None of this sh... really matters anymore
Yes I am alone but then again I always was
As far back as I can tell, I think maybe it's because
brecause you were never really real to begin with
I just made you up, to hurt myself
I just made you up to hurt myself
Yeah, and I just made you up to hurt myself
I just made you up to hurt myself
Yeah, and I just made you up to hurt myself
And it worked
Yes it did!
There is no you, there is only me
There is no you, there is only me
There is no fucking you, there is only me
There is no fucking you, there is only me
Only x4
Well the tiniest little dot caught my eye and it turned out to be a scab
And I had this funny feeling, like I just knew it's something bad
I just couldn't leave it alone
I cut off that scab
It was a doorway trying to seal itself shut
But I climbed through
Now I'm somewhere I am not supposed to be
And I can see things I know I really shouldn't see
And now I know why now, now I know why
Things aren't as pretty, on the inside
There is no you, there is only me
There is no you, there is only me
There is no fucking you, there is only me
There is no fucking you, there is only me
Only x8
so beautiful. Trent Reznor is my Hero and Nine inch Nails is like a pacifier to me. |
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| (no subject) |
[May. 8th, 2005|11:13 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | hung over | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | World of Warcraft | ] |
I retract my previous statement.
Well, I dont... I cant say that. Basically I am single again. She was not for me. I should have clued myself in when I was the first relationship shes had since her last major relationship of 4 years. I was just a rebound, again. I really do not understand what it is with me and women. One wouldnt think it is a big deal, but it really isnt fun on your self esteem when women keep getting with you for hot sex for a few months and then call it a fling and take off. What ordinary man would complain about this? Me. I really just would enjoy a nice girl that I can fall in love with again and be with for a while. Sure, hot sex and flings are great but not when you are the one whose being flung on.. flung on? Yeah. So ladies, I guess im free again.
So what I bring to the table is something my friend chris showed me this morning:
1. Mexican Avalanche
To ejaculate in a woman's hair and then throw her down a flight of stairs.
Example:
"That chick took the Mexican Avalanche like a pro-skier." or "I Mexican Avalanched her twice and she still came back for more."
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=mexican+avalanche&r=f |
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| state of being |
[May. 3rd, 2005|11:03 am] |
Extreamly short version of the last two/three months: Good!
Girlfriend thing is going well.
I'm having anxiety over alot of things however, and I think it is effecting my over all well-being. Right now i am not quite happy but im not depressed. Im somewhere inbetween. I try to recoganize any issues when they arise nd do some self-reasuring things to try to calm myself, but certain things eat at me. I also sometimes find myself being over-sensetive about things that I have no reason being that way over.
I think i need more excercise.
I just don't want to spaz out or something and .. spaz out. |
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| (no subject) |
[Mar. 8th, 2005|07:50 am] |
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Maybe I Only Look Out The Window When It's Scenic |
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| woot. |
[Feb. 24th, 2005|12:08 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  excited | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Rammstein - Los | ] |
Im excited this week. I got in contact with this really cool girl that i knew years ago, but we went our seperate ways and i havent talked to her ina long time - it's exciting.
That and I just found out im saving around $400+ on my car insurance because Farmers revamped some of their policies or something to that matter.
Also, my tax return will be in my bank tomarrow 12am :)
woots :) |
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| Africa |
[Feb. 10th, 2005|01:33 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | grateful | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | none | ] |
I was recently researching Africa for a presentation I had to make and I thought that I might share some interesting facts here.
We tend to take for granted what we have every day, and do not give a whole lot of thought to the world around us. I am completely guilty of this myself. Whether it is being too focused on our own "economical plights," or just in general feeling depressed or down about how "bad" our lives are going. Let us take a trip.
Africa has 54 countries. 54. That's quite a few. 36.8% of ALL AFRICANS live on under $1.00 a day. Of course, we would have to put that in to some sort of economical perspective, as $1.00 over there might buy them, say, a chicken a day and "pay the rent." But unfortunately no matter how you look at it, that is horrible. There are quite a few different financial institutions in Africa, but because of political and economic instability, many large businesses prefer to use foreign banks. Despite this, there are two unions who are "doing well" in Africa. The most popular currency these unions use is the Franc, because the countries were once French occupied territories. Currently, the conversion rate for the Franc is 511.38 Franc's/US Dollar. That's a pretty sad rate.
The continent itself does not lend itself in any way to trade, which has greatly hampered its economical well-being. Aside from being landlocked, the rainforest directly in the center of Africa is more or less uninhabitable (which is probably a good thing). Africa has rivers, but they don’t lend themselves for being very useful for trade either, as they are somewhat spread out.
Africa is 60% Agricultural in terms of economics. They rely on cash crops such as rubber, coffee, etc. Also, drilling and mining is a very large resource in Africa. Most of the world's diamonds come from Africa, as well as a large supply of oil. Compare that to the USA, which is an 80% service based economy. Africa also has more women employed in Agriculture then anywhere in the world. In general next to China (I believe) it is the Largest Agricultural producer.
There are approximately 1,800 languages spoken throughout Africa. I have a friend who was born in Africa and lived there until he was 11 or so. At first, when I heard him speak to his parents, I thought he was speaking German. But it turns out his language (I don’t know the name) is a fusion of German, Dutch and around two or three other languages. And he has the ability from that to be able to basically understand German and some of the other root languages. I found that very interesting.
An interesting fact about Africa is originally, archeologists thought there were no civilizations that existed on the continent per-historically speaking, because they found no traces of stone or rock monuments such and housing, etc. Africa is lacking in quality stone used to build most ancient homes, and instead, most homes or buildings were built from mud bricks, which is why they never discovered anything in Africa for quite some time.
The general plight of the African continent is depressing. It’s hard to point any fingers as to who is at fault. There were around 7 major countries that colonized Africa and held occupations until pre-WW1 (my history isn’t the sharpest on the exact situation). Just as in many other civilizations, countries came in and claimed the countries in Africa as their own and held on to them for many years. During these times, it was mainly military rule in terms of government, so things were somewhat stable. But when time came around for everyone to play nice and give back the countries to their rightful owners, which are when things went wrong.
The countries were and still are primarily Republics with a Presidential system. The problem is, when the countries were given back, corrupt and un-educated Presidents were put into power of those countries. Many of those presidents simply used their powers right away to re-ignite old Tribal wars.
From 1960-1980 there have been 20 coups in Africa (over-throws of government) and 12 presidential assassinations.
Africa being in the tropics makes it a wonderful place for virii and disease to thrive. Such as malaria, and now the big threat obviously being HIV/AIDS.
It’s amazing how we go about our days and converse in English and take for granted the simple aspect of being able to communicate. How can one have a successful business, let alone country or countries when one can’t communicate? Imagine having 1,800 languages on one continent. Most American’s can’t even fathom storing more then one language in their head, let alone even knowing that many exist just on one continent.
We are an extremely spoiled and fortunate bunch of people. There are many places out in the world whose situation I can’t even pretend to be able to grasp.
The only thing I can do is, the next time I feel sorry for my situation, look to Africa, or another third world nation and just try to remind myself how good my life really is. |
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| Martin Luther King, Jr. |
[Jan. 17th, 2005|01:20 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  calm | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Eric Clapton - Bell Bottom Blues | ] |
Today is Martin Luther King day, a federal holiday. Too many of us, I think, take US Holiday's and important dates as granted, rather then give thought why we even have these days as a holidays. It's not just "Sweet, I have the day off from work!" Martin Luther King Jr., was an amazing man, perhaps the last great prophet of our modern times. Take today to educate yourself on this amazing man, even if you already grasp who and what he was about.
Quick blurb:
The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929–April 4, 1968) was a Nobel Laureate Baptist minister and African American civil rights activist. He is one of the most significant leaders in U.S. history and in the modern history of nonviolence, and is considered a hero, peacemaker and martyr by many people around the world. A decade and a half after his 1968 assassination, Martin Luther King Day was established in his honor.
Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King
/blurb
Also, this excerpt is taken from King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail, which I feel is particularly moving:
"We have waited for more that 340 years for our constitutional and Godgiven rights. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward gaining political independence, but we still creep at horse-and-buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter. Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, "Wait." But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick, and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can't go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son who is asking, "Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?"; when you take a cross-country drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading "white" and "colored" when your first name becomes "Nigger," your middle name becomes "boy" (however old you are) and your last name becomes "John," and your wife and mother are never given the respected title "Mrs."; when your are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of "nobodiness" then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience."
I encourage everyone to read the whole letter here: http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~hst306/documents/letter.html
Lastly, the speech given right before he was assassinated:
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkivebeentothemountaintop.htm
Take some time to reflect upon how far we have come from his time to ours. King, as he eerily prophesized, did not get to the "Promised Land" with us, but we have made some great strides in racial equality. Though racism is still definitely a real problem, we have definitely made real progress.
I find the general situation of our country with racial issues ironically perplexing as I look at it. The majority white population is now struggling in this country and age to find an identity. We are now a race of people with no face. Youth of this age have no sense of belonging (generalizing), and therefore they associate and identify with African American sports stars, musicians, and so on. I’m sure Dr. King would find today’s age amusing with white kid’s trying to be black.
African American’s fought so long to establish their own identity in the USA, and now that they have made huge strides towards it, the general white population has started to lose their identity. Given this is for many reasons, such as parents not giving their children proper role models to look up to, and instead sticking them in front of a television set as the child’s babysitter. That however, is a conversation for another time.
The irony behind it kills me. Thinking of all the horrible things done to African American’s - and now every young white kid whose families probably even have history of Slave labor use, want to be Black.
I’m not sure if Dr. King would be disgusted or laugh at our silly society. |
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