HGH and GHG
First, The News
Further to yesterday’s post about the plague of eye-burning “Guidos” that now infests the American Northeast, Lady G from Paris (yes, Paris; see how international this blog is?) sends us a very useful tool: a virtual screen cleaner. It works!
Courtesy of Rondi, we have this fantastic European geography game from Lufthansa. My score was a piddling 20,485. Hey, I never claimed to know a whole lot about Europe, even though I’ll be there in 3 weeks. Add your score to the comments section below.
Meanwhile, from Cousin Ajay comes this gripping dance video that I can watch over and over and over again….
For those of you looking to rent an apartment in Toronto, my good friend PB and her husband are offering up one in their home. The listing is here.
From EK Hornbeck comes this news of Iran having successfully launched a rocket into space. When it launches a real satellite, Iran will join China and India as “developing world” Asian space powers. Heck, the Americans may have got there first, but I predict that in 4 generations, the Moon itself will be an Asian colony. Mmmmm, sometimes it’s good to be Brown. Of course, the more immediate strategic concern is the same one the West had when China and India tested their space machines: nuclear ICBMs.
HGH
There has been some chatter on the Interwebs about Sylvester Stallone’s bizarre looking veiny arms. I don’t know for sure, but I suspect they are the byproduct of a pharmaceutically enhanced workout regime. Further to this observation is Stallone’s recent charge in an Australian court of importation of HGH (human growth hormone) and testosterone.
Now, I’m not one to defend celebrities. But, medically supervised and when not applied for the purposes of cheating in an athletic contest, I have no problem with people over 50 using these drugs. Look at Stallone in the pics above. Yes, hie veins are gross, but the rest of him is pretty well preserved, considering the man is 61. This is the result of a healthy lifestyle combined with good genes and a little pharmacological assistance.
HGH use among aging celebrities is all the rage. This is because the stuff actually slows down, and in some cases reverses, the aging process… when used in moderation. Some animal studies suggest it may shorten lifespan and cause various cancers, so medical supervision is needed.
But HGH is secreted by our bodies naturally when we sleep, usually between the hours of 10pm and 2:AM (hence the need for deep sleep in the wee hours); it helps repair tissue and reverse damage done by stress and environmental sources. A pharmaceutical augmentation is meant to bolster endogenous HGH to its pre-old age levels, but not beyond those levels.
Similarly, pretty much every anti-aging exercise or nutritional strategy successfully employed by middle aged men has to do with increasing endogenous testosterone production. The maintenance of a high lean muscle to fat ratio, the employment of high intensity sprint-like interval exercises, and the imbibing of foods high in select amino acids and essential fatty acids reduces our natural decline in testosterone production. We need the stuff to retain sexual potency, physical deftness, mental acuity and a degree of aggression and competitiveness. Testosterone augmentation in later years –under medical supervision and to the levels enjoyed in earlier years, not beyond– has been shown to measurably improve older men’s quality of life. The major downside is the increased risk for prostate cancer.
Long story short: until dramatic new research comes about to show a strong link to deleterious outcomes, when I turn 50 I’ll be talking to my doctor about hormonal augmentation. Yes, I’m that vain.
GHG
There’s the scent of a federal election in the air. Can you smell it? Question: what will be the issue that defines Canada this season? Traditionally, it’s always been the economy or something related to job production, etc. There’s a sense among the rank and file that foreign policy will be the topic du jour, i.e. our involvement in foreign wars.
But no, this time the issue that will determine Canada’s next government is the environment. “GHG” stands for “green house gases”. I wonder if my prediction 8 years ago of Al Gore ascending to power this year was a few kilometres off? Maybe Al should resettle in Canada and take over one of our national parties. I think he’d make a great Prime Minister.
Other
Today’s last post is about a school in India. Deonandia regular KH is currently touring India and wrote this morning about the Bhawani Anantaraman Memorial Foundation, which is a school run by a Indo-Canadian who lost his family in the Air India disaster. He has since dedicated his life, and the memory of his children, to helping scores of underprivileged children to receive a proper education in a loving and supportive family environment. I’ve known of the foundation for some time, but until now have never taken the time to contribute. With KH’s eyewitness testament to the school’s impressive good works, I will now make a donation to them. For those of you interested in doing the same, please follow this link.
