Stay on Offense Climb Mountains

Attacking Adversity

Bookish Weapon Number Thirty

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Dan Carlin has the best podcast on history in the history of the world! Now he has a book. The title of the book is, “The End Is Always Near.” It is not the most uplifting subject you might be able to imagine, but it does hold your attention and is certainly timely with the new Coronavirus from China making the news. Is it a bookish weapon. Sure! It prepares you.

Anything Carlin would write of course would be about history and his point, I believe is that over the course of time the “end” has come again and again to civilizations. Hence it is always near. However, if you think his title is too morbid, he says he had an alternative title which was, “And They All Lived Happily Ever After.”

Scary Chapters

If all I did here was to list the titles of Carlin’s chapters it would be enough to get you to crawl back under the covers. So let’s do that!

Chapter 1 – Do Tough Times Make for Tougher People? (not scary, maybe positive-sounding)
Chapter 2 – Suffer The Children – (we are warming up here)
Chapter 3 – The End Of The World As They Knew It (now we are talking)
Chapter 4 – Judgement at Nineveh (this is not the biblical Jona story)
Chapter 5 – The Barbarian Life Style (interesting – certainly not scary)
Chapter 6 – A Pandemic Prologue (Very timely. I am going back to bed)
Chapter 7 – The Quick And The Dead (crawling back under the covers)
Chapter 8 – The Road To Hell (Can’t get any scarier than this)

Just by scanning the table of contents you get the idea. Pretty thought-provoking material.

Tough Times

Carlin discusses the great depression, the Second World War (which came right after the depression), the Blitz in London where the Germans dropped bombs for eighteen months. Then he talks about nuclear weapons. He speculates if people from the “Greatest Generation” were by percentage tougher than those of today. My guess is that it would be a higher percentage than what Carlin says.

“Perhaps we’re living in a time when toughness in the old sense doesn’t matter as much as it used to. If that is the case, then what advantages might a “softer” society have over a tougher one?” asks Carlin. I don’t think there are any advantages and I doubt Carlin does either.

He discusses how the Spartans, who were known for their toughness became “luxury-loving and corruptible.” If it can happen to the Spartans it can happen to any society.

The Children

It was really tough for children in the past. Even for those of the Great Generation who grew up thinking corporal punishment was ok. Take a look at some of the ways their parents punished them: “whips of all kinds, cat-0-nine-tails, shovels, canes, and Iron and wooden rods.” I knew a girl who’s father would beat her with a horsewhip and a boy who’s father beat him with a razor strap (he was a barber). Of course, my Junior High School Principal had one of those paddles with holes in it that would raise blisters and I had a math teacher that threw me up against the wall. My parents did call the school about that, but only because he tore my shirt.

In prior generations, children were sold, says Carlin. They witnessed torture and violence of all kinds. Mothers didn’t nurse their kids. They had wet nurses do it.

The Ending of Civilizations

The Bronze Age ended quickly and Carlin says historians argue about what happened and how it happened. It could have been a number of things or one thing. Read the book

Nineveh was an ancient city mentioned in the Bible. It was destroyed in spectacular fashion all at once. Carlin says the locals living in the area didn’t even know how it happened.

Carlin discusses the Roman Empire and what happened to them. It was interesting how the Roman legions became more and more germanic.

Plagues

Carlin speculates about how the reformation of the Catholic Church may have been at least partially due to plague deaths, because the plague killed most of the officials in the church so they had to replace them with very young inexperienced men who had no one left to teach them. This then led to all sorts of nastiness.

Carlin says, “We can’t know how many in all died. While estimates put the figure at 75 million, countless out-of-the-way farms and towns and even cities may not have been included in the final toll.”

Atomic Bomb

Then Carlin begins to discuss the bomb. I was born six days after the very first atomic bomb was detonated and one month after I was born the United States dropped one on Japan. It has only been 74 years since then and that is not very long if you consider the scope of history. Carlin wonders how long we can keep a nuclear war from happening.

He recounts the Cuban Missile Crisis and discusses what was said in meetings with Kennedy and his staff. It made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I recall riding home on the school bus wondering if we were all going to get nuked.

As usual Carlin makes history more interesting by considering the human side of it. Get this book and read it. Then you won’t be so surprised at what might be coming just around the bend.

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This was too easy! How could I resist using Dave Asprey’s book title for a short article about hiking? He does promote exercise in his book!

Everybody that hikes a mountain every week is superhuman. That is just a given. If you go hiking once in a while or only every week when you’re “training for a big climb” you are just normal. But if you have no training goals, and you’re out there every week then you are superhuman!

At The Bottom

There are three times during a hike when I feel superhuman. The first is when I start because I am always a little afraid. It is dark and I am by myself. There are bears to consider and cougars. That is when I take a deep breath and get out of the car feeling superhuman. After all what mere human could face the wild like that?

Even as I start up the trail I feel stronger and stronger. More confident. I adjust to the terrain and begin to focus on my first micro goal.

Half Way

When I reach the halfway point it is almost proof I am superhuman. By now I am feeling very strong. I feel all of the muscles in my legs. The initial aches and pains of the hike have subsided. Now it is a steady superhuman burn.

Ready for the second half of the hike and feeling superhuman, I pick up my pace knowing that I will soon be at my destination.

At The Top

Everybody feels superhuman when they reach the top and are enjoying the view. We don’t always acknowledge it, but we should. It is a real accomplishment.

Actually, if I am completely honest there is only one kind of superhuman when it comes to climbing and that is an Alpinist. They climb the highest mountains with the most technical difficulty. You have to be superhuman to do that.

But wait! Alpinists use ropes. There can really be only one kind of superhuman and that is the rock climber that does not use ropes like Alex Honnold. In fact, maybe there is only one superhuman and that would be Alex.

https://stayonoffense.com/2020/01/25/596/

Bookish Weapon Number Twenty-Nine

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Dave Asprey’s book Super Human is the kind of book that gives people hope. At least that is my take on it. He is the rich guy that has said he is going to live until he is 180. Maybe it was only 150 years. That is a long time.

Right now it costs a lot of money to take the supplements, get the procedures done and buy the equipment and devices necessary to prolong your life. For example, recently Ben Greenfield, who also reports on longevity, did a solo podcast where he told everyone exactly what supplements he took every day. One of the listeners added it up and it would cost you over $800 a month. Now Ben doesn’t pay that much because companies send him the product for free or he uses his own supplement company. And Ben probably takes less than Dave Asprey.

So I suppose it depends on your station in life. If you have the money you can do it and it is only going to get better as new things are developed. There are also many things Dave recommends that do not cost a thing.

So let’s dig into Dave’s book and see what you can use now, even if you are poor, to extend your life.

The Four Killers

This is the title of his first chapter. In it, he discusses heart disease, diabetes Alzheimers and Cancer. In his discussion of heart disease, he links mold exposure to it and inflammation. With diabetes, he says, “High blood sugar also causes dangerous nerve damage by injuring the walls of the capillaries the bring blood and nutrients to your nerves. This is called peripheral artery disease and it is especially common in the legs and feet which is why you may have heard of people suffering from diabetes needing foot or leg amputations.” He says that “The risk of diabetes was reduced by 32% in this with even moderate muscle strength.” That is certainly worth considering. Do some lifting and it doesn’t cost a thing.

Dave discusses Alzheimer’s and how inflammation is once again a culprit. He says the earlier you attack this the less likely you will have this disease as you age.

With Cancer, he says it is a “double-edged sword when it comes to anti-aging. Any time you do something that makes your cells grow faster and get younger, you are inherently increasing your cancer risk because cancer cells can potentially grow and rejuvenate along with the healthy ones. Then you end up with this weird dichotomy. You can grow old “normally” with a roughly 40% chance of getting cancer, or you can get younger and maybe as a result slightly increase your risk.” He goes on to discuss the benefits of autophagy. Fasting promotes autophagy and during this process, your body scans for damaged cells and eliminates them. The process also reduces inflammation. Autophagy is why I fast.

What More You Can Do

There is far more here than I can tell you so be sure to buy the book, but here are a few things. Work at lengthening your Telomeres. They get shorter as you age. There is a synthetic peptide called Epitalon. It increases mice’s lives by 13% Dave says. You will discover that a lot of these things work very well on mice. Keep in mind you are not a mouse. Another one Dave mentions is TA-65.

Food is a big topic for Dave. You especially shouldn’t eat the combination of protein and sugar. Not too much meat and be sure the meat you do eat is good quality. However, if you are old like me keep in mind that the risks of over-consuming protein decrease after age 65. That is because old people like me do not absorb it as well. I have read elsewhere you should take in more protein when you are older, not less.

Fasting

I mentioned this above but Dave gets into it a couple of times. He says, ..in 2019 scientists at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology discovered that just fifty-eight hours of fasting dramatically increases levels of forty-four different metabolites, including thirty that were previously unrecognized.”

I have fasted for as long as three days, but typically 15 or 16 hours a day. I think it is worth it and I do feel a lot better afterward. Especially after I eat!

Sleep

Dave has a whole chapter on sleep. He talks about his Aura ring that measures his sleep. I use a Whoop which does even more. Dave says teens need 1.7 to 2 hours of deep sleep per night and if over 18 need 1.5 to 1.8 hours. Oh, before he tells you all this he tells you that if you don’t get enough sleep it will kill you. He makes some cheaper sleep tracking recommendations too. Read the book!

The Brain

Dave says that none of us should experience impaired cognition as we age, but it happens and Dave says, “…we jokingly refer to instances of forgetfulness as “senior moments’ instead of calling them out for what they are – symptoms of dysfunction that are also precursors of Alzheimer’s disease and senile dementia.” So do you remember what you just read in the first paragraph of this post?

Dave suggests Neurofeedback for improving your brain, light therapy and avoiding certain foods. He quotes a doctor Bredsen as saying, “the biggest risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease are chronic inflammation, insulin resistance, and exposure to toxins.”

“Lights that blink forty timesecome Super Human  a second can break up amyloid tangles in the brain.” Maybe at some point you will be able to get something like this. Right now there are those working to get them in nursing homes.

Dave says that if you stop eating sugar you will reduce your risk of Alzheimer’s dramatically. He says to take 400 to 1000 mcg of chromium picolinate daily with 25 to 100 mg of vanadyl sulfate at the time you eat carbohydrates.

Like I said there is so much more in this book. Read it!

Go Hiking And Create Something

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Why not? You are hiking with lots of time to think. Nature surrounds you so everything is fresh. You can write a poem in your head or a song. Maybe the outlines of q speech you re going to give soon.

Creating when you’re climbing a mountain is natural. It helps you feel creative when you have the sun, wind or rain beating down on you.

A Song

You don’t believe it? Of course, you won’t know until you try, but I can give you an example of a song I wrote while climbing Mailbox Peak. I had it copyrighted. Now, I just need to get Willie Nelson to sing it unless my guitar playing and singing get a lot better. Here is is,

It’s an uphill battle
The trail goes on and on
Every step I’m takin gets me closer to the dawn
Then it’s on and on again, never any rest
All I know for sure is, I will do my best.
I don’t know if I’ll make it all the way
But I’m going to make it through the day.

Toss and turn all night
Everything’s a fight
Bad things on my left and on my right
It’s just a challenge
Got to keep it tight
And the Lord has got me in His sight
I don’t know if I’ll make it all the way
But I’m going to make it through the day.

Question on my mind
What is it I’ll find
When I make it through the awful time
I hope it will be something I can use again
Maybe it will keep me from some sin
I don’t know if I’ll make it all the way
But I’m going to make it through the day.

I did patent it. That is how big my ego is.

Hey, Willie Nelson!! Come and get it!

Bookish Weapon Number Twenty-Nine

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This book entitled “Monastic Wisdom” was written in 1999 by Hugh Feiss, a Benedictine Monk. If you find God and all things spiritual appalling you might want to skip this. However, thinking about and applying this wisdom in your life gives you a powerful weapon for dealing with suffering and malevolence.

As I write this it is Christmas Day 2019. It seemed an appropriate book to discuss on this Christian holy day. As Hugh says in the introduction, the Benedictine tradition “…has something to teach men and women of all walks of life about how to live wisely and joyfully, how to budget time, how to get along together, how to walk gently on the earth.” I would add or hike.

Time

Benedict separates the day into three activities. These are work, prayer, and reading. Well, I have two out of three down. Hugh says the “Rule of Benedict conveys a sense of urgency: one must hasten and run toward the goal of everlasting life. The goal is precious; there is no time to waste getting there.” I sure don’t want to rush things when it comes to death, but maybe he is saying something different.

Laced in and between those primary activities it is important to make time for mutual support and help. We all can take a lesson from that and make time to support one another. Hugh says,” …after God, other persons are the most important realities in our lives. If we are too busy to make time for people who need us, whether they are strangers or neighbors, there is something wrong with our priorities.”

Prayer

If you don’t pray you can skip this, but if you pray even once in a while this is a section of the book worth reading. The first thing that jumped out at me was the statement that “…lack of concentration at prayer is a sign that our minds are too cluttered.” I really need some work in this area.

Then he quotes Monks from the past about prayer. They are lengthy and I suggest that you read the book if interested. Hugh suggests that there are three important things to remember about prayer: that it is a means of “self-offering,” and that it is a part of life. He says, “One brings one’s activities and concerns to times of prayer; one slips short prayers into the intervals that occur in working and walking and weeding. In the end, prayer is about awareness of the divine presence, and that presence is everywhere.”

Reading

He says the first thing to decide is whether you will devote yourself to reading and the second is what to read. As a Benedictine, he suggests the Bible and early church writers. Of course, I would add for regular folks that they should read from all disciplines so that their “map of the world” is closer to the actual territory.

Just to give you an idea from the Rule of Benedict regarding the importance of reading, here is a snippet: “ During Lent, they should each receive a book from the library that they are to read straight through to the end.” And from the Life of Wulfstan, “At Wulfstan’s table, edifying books were read. Silence was rigorously kept so that all might listen attentively. When the meal was over and the eating place quiet, he would explain what had been read in their native tongue, so that he could provide heavenly alms for those to whom he had already served bodily sustenance.”

And here is an admonition to me. It was like it was written just for me. It is from “Mirror For Monks,” by Louis De Blois. “Do not imitate those who follow no order in their reading but are content to read whatever reading chances to come their way. They are interested in nothing except what is new and unheard of. Whatever is familiar and everything old, however useful, bores them. Avoid such instability, for it does not build the spirit but scatters it.” He is describing me to a tee! My only defense is that it is better I read than not read and I know many who do not. Yes, a flimsy excuse.

Silence

There are so many wonderful sections on this subject. Silence was important in Monastic tradition. Hugh says, “The principal enemy of interior and exterior silence for most of us is our tongue.”

There is one quote that stood out for me. It is from Esther De Waal’s “A Life-Giving Way.” She says, “ …When God’s voice is drowned out by incessant clamor, whether inner or outer, in whatever shape or form, then continuous dialogue with God becomes impossible. An inner monologue with myself, constant chatter with others, the invasion of the spoken word through the press or television are all the ever-present realities in my daily life over which I need to exercise some sort of discipline if I am to keep any quiet inner space in which to listen to the Word.”

There is so much more in the book on peace, patience, stability, obedience, authority, longing and love. It is a great resource for wisdom in all these areas.

Go Hiking and Be A Badass

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How can hiking help you become or stay a badass? That’s easy. Do it every week! There are a few exceptional badasses that hike multiple times a week. Usually, they don’t have a job or are independently wealthy. Maybe retired? But what about someone with daily obligations? Well, most of us have at least one day off a week. Do it then.

The reason weekly hiking qualifies you is because of its relatively rare quality. It is hard to get yourself to hike every week especially in all kinds of weather conditions.

Hiking The Burners

Another way to be a badass is to regularly hike the burners. These are the climbs that make your legs scream at you to stop.

When a friend says, have you climbed this or that route and it is “interesting,” they are trying to get you to experience a burner (link).

You Hike No Matter the Weather

You are not badass unless you are out there in all kinds of weather. Rain, snow, wind it doesn’t matter. You do your climb. Now I am not talking about Alpine climbing. Weather is an important consideration in that arena.

I am not an Alpinist nor do I wish to be one. However, I do admire the Alpine badasses out there like Jimmy Chen who makes movies too.

How Do You Know For Sure?

The only way to really know if you are a badass is if someone tells you. This is the test.

Then of course even if someone says you are a badass, remember, someone else thinks you’re a minor league player. Actually, any real Alpinist would look at a weekend hiker as a being in the minor leagues.

Once when I was on my way down from Camp Muir on Rainier an older gentleman was climbing up with his girlfriend and we had a casual conversation. I mentioned I was seventy-something and he said when he was my age he was summiting one of the seven summits. It is kind of like the old west. There is always someone faster on the draw. However, if you want to get faster the only way to do it is, go hiking!