Haha, I hear you laugh, because that's what I'm thinking, what has economics got to do with morals. Well, it more to do with right and wrong and the way that morals and personal value systems can often tilt the equation. What is right in love and friendship and family life may not be right in economics, business and finance.
Try to figure this one out. Under intense pressure of some sort, a finance minister, close to death, accedes to the demands of the banking sector and commits the Irish people to a debt that may end up lasting generations. Granted, his government and the political party of which he had been a senior member for several governments, did oversee the accumulation of this debt, so to some extent it was their responsibility.
There appears to be no doubt that our financial regulatory system failed. How it failed is a matter for historians and investigators. I can't see what happened inside that closed box in the central bank. But I can tell you that the outcome led directly to our financial crisis. Many ordinary people participated in that failure. Pretty much anyone who stretched themselves to take on a mortgage failed in their judgement.
There are few innocent parties. So anyhow, the country gets bailed out to pay off overseas investors. Why? Because we were at risk of bringing the whole Euro system down and triggering a confidence collapse that would drag Greece, Portugal, Spain and Italy down. Of course if they all went bankrupt, who was going to finance the German, French, Dutch, Swedish and other banking systems that had dumped trillions upon trillions into these economies in the form of low interest high risk loans.
This is where I begin to moralise. The blame lands on the head of the Irish banking system and our regulators. Our lenders did not exercise proper judgement in the conduct of their affairs. The banks were nationalised and millions of investors in bank shares got burnt. The country gets penalised with a high rate of interest on the bailout funds and the people get screwed into the dirt.
Almost a million jobs disappear over night. Property prices, the primary assets of 70% of the population plunge in value. Bankers continue to receive bonus payments. unwanted bankers retire on generous pensions. The boys and girls who oversaw the destruction of an entire economy shuffle quietly into the shadows and obscurity. Few are called to account.
I know I haven't mentioned developers, but I don't want to get myself too worked up. There was no end of corruption, incompetence and negligence from those whose job it was to ensure that Ireland Inc. conducted its affairs properly, namely our public services. Yet, they squeal indignantly when anyone attempts to call them to account. I'm not going to elaborate, it has all been said before.
My real point is; where did the money for the bailout come from? It came from those countries who claimed their whole financial future and integrity had been put at risk by the actions of Irish Bankers. Yet they could afford to stump up more money. Now they get back the money we owed them from the banks and they get to loan our government that same money and charge an even higher interest rate on it so we, the Irish fools can give it back to them again.
That last paragraph covers a whole wad of moral issues. But more to the point, how did those banks come to be so exposed to Irish debt? Did their own financial regulatory processes not protect them? The very nations that condemned Irish fiscal recklessness failed to monitor their own banks and question their exposure. It is something I don't understand.
The moral structure appears to be that the one with the most is always right. So they bully the less powerful and manipulate matters to their own benefit. There never appeared to be any contemplation of risk sharing. Never was there any question of the powerful nations accepting any of the blame for this sorry state of affairs, yet on a more human moral basis, the pain should have been shared more equitably.
Ireland has been screwed and German, French and Dutch fiscal ineptitude has been covered up. We need a campaign of awareness across Europe. The whole European and indeed, World Financial System is a house of cards. It is without real substance and is without any connection to assets of output.
The multiplier effect on which the loan to asset ratio is based has grown out of proportion to any rational business model. Banks are built on foundations of quicksand. The whole structure and system is driven by greed. Sustainability has nothing to do with it. Someone powerful directs a breath of air in the right direction and the house falls down. Of course, these high value players have already taken their vulnerable assets out of play. They have cashed in their chips early.
Now they sit back and wait for the dust to settle, before generously offering to purchase worthless assets for a pittance, out of the goodness of their steel hearts. And so the cycle begins again.
In the face of such greed, and rampant incompetency amongst European regulators, collectively, Ireland deserves a significant debt write off. Natural justice on the other-hand would not allow for such leniency. Because under natural law, the weak get eaten by the strong. Ireland only deserves a break when we look to the higher values of human nature. Those that lifted us above nature in the first place.
Or does civilised behaviour really exist? Is the concept of civilisation simply that - a concept. Do we live in a real and tangible world, is human society simply figment of our imagination put there by the manipulators and string pullers who live in the shadows, or in such plain sight as to be overlooked?
Tuesday 5 February 2013
Tuesday 8 January 2013
Operation Transformation
Well last night we had it for real in Wicklow Town. Tonight we have the glammed up made for TV version. Over three hundred people turned up at the Grand Hotel to register, weigh in and get started on their new healthier lifestyle.
The numbers go to show just how aware the people of Wicklow Town and surrounding areas are of the need to get rid of the Celtic Tiger hangover and get back to living a healthier life. I didn't see or smell a smoker and we all seemed to be fairly sober too. Never saw so many "fit" people in a nightclub and hardly a bare bit of flesh in sight!
I'm going to miss the TV programme, but I'll pick it up on RTE Player. I'm going out to hockey training for an hour and a half. I haven't been to a session for several weeks, between Christmas New Year and a muscle pull all I've had is a few walks and a gentle jog. I wonder if I'll survive?
Looking forward to Saturday morning at ten to see what happens next. Social fitness, beats getting pissed in a pub for meeting people and you feel way better the next morning.
The numbers go to show just how aware the people of Wicklow Town and surrounding areas are of the need to get rid of the Celtic Tiger hangover and get back to living a healthier life. I didn't see or smell a smoker and we all seemed to be fairly sober too. Never saw so many "fit" people in a nightclub and hardly a bare bit of flesh in sight!
I'm going to miss the TV programme, but I'll pick it up on RTE Player. I'm going out to hockey training for an hour and a half. I haven't been to a session for several weeks, between Christmas New Year and a muscle pull all I've had is a few walks and a gentle jog. I wonder if I'll survive?
Looking forward to Saturday morning at ten to see what happens next. Social fitness, beats getting pissed in a pub for meeting people and you feel way better the next morning.
Sunday 6 January 2013
Weight Loss, Weight Control and Balance
Getting to the right weight for you, ain't easy. You usually start with getting down to the right weight for you and then keeping it there. Of course, this is all easier said than done. What we eat is largely a matter of habit. Good and bad habits determine almost everything we are in life and in terms of how we look, the results can be pretty obvious.
Overweight is becoming the new normal along with the range of illnesses we associate with those few extra pounds. Diabetes, heart disease and various mechanical problems to do with the extra weight on poorly exercised joints.
On a really simple basis, your body works like a bank. Food is cash, the more you stuff in, by eating, the bigger your account balance gets. The more you take out through exercise the slimmer the balance becomes. Thats pretty much where the analogy ends, I think. Somehow I like the idea of an ever increasing bank balance, while I would not be too keen on an ever expanding waist line.
The objective is to keep your account properly balanced, enough going in to meet your needs, a little to spare for a rainy day, but not so much that you could feed more than one off your waistline. The good news is that the more energy you expend, the less food you have to give up to achieve the right balance.
The problem with most diets is that they are designed to reduce your bank balance in more ways than one, but they are not designed to maintain the right balance on your account. You might need to look at two diets, a crash diet to get you to where you want to be and a maintenance diet to keep you there. Too often we crash land on our desired weight and let the old habits return and see our weight creep, or even shoot back up.
Of course, that just deals with the input side. On the debit side we also need to look at what is going on. For most of us who experience weight problems it is a case of not doing enough with what we have. We need to take more exercise. There are some benefits from exercise. Good exercise boosts your metabolic rate making your heart, lungs intestines and other internal organs to help you work and rest more efficiently.
The old latin line about healthy body and healthy mind really works. When you are fit and balanced, you are much more resistant to diseases of body and mind. There is no doubt that healthy people are less prone to depression. They fight off colds and flu far better. They look better. But as with anything worth having, it doesn't come come without a price tag. Very few people get to look good just because they are genetically programmed to look good, besides, the truly gorgeous among us are constantly stalked and pestered by the media and who wants that!
Getting to good is a journey, especially if you are nowhere close to it yet. However, there is one sure way of getting there and that is to start the journey. It helps if you set off in the right direction, but the great thing is that this is a journey. It is not a destination, you may never get there, or when you do get there you might decide you would like to be somewhere else.
What you decide to do with your body is your decision, a few kilos here or there won't really matter that much. You might decide that you want a specific weight range and a particular fitness goal. You just need to balance the equation for yourself. What goes in must come out. Food in, energy out. If you block the exit route, the body stores excess energy as fat. As long as you use more than you eat, you will lose weight.
One other thing, if you set out to climb a steep hill at a sprint, you will probably quit before you have gone more than a few dozen yards. Pick a pace that reminds you that you are trying to achieve something, but not so fast that it might put you off getting to the finish line. If you have a long way to go, you could set some smaller goals, loose a few kilos, then pick up your fitness level, then lose a few more kilos and so on.
Consider how long it took you to put those extra kilos on, they ain't going to come off overnight. It is going to be a case of eating less and exercising more, how much of each you do is something you may have a bit of choice on. But the key to longterm success is in building new habits that are stronger than the ones you are looking to break.
Overweight is becoming the new normal along with the range of illnesses we associate with those few extra pounds. Diabetes, heart disease and various mechanical problems to do with the extra weight on poorly exercised joints.
On a really simple basis, your body works like a bank. Food is cash, the more you stuff in, by eating, the bigger your account balance gets. The more you take out through exercise the slimmer the balance becomes. Thats pretty much where the analogy ends, I think. Somehow I like the idea of an ever increasing bank balance, while I would not be too keen on an ever expanding waist line.
The objective is to keep your account properly balanced, enough going in to meet your needs, a little to spare for a rainy day, but not so much that you could feed more than one off your waistline. The good news is that the more energy you expend, the less food you have to give up to achieve the right balance.
The problem with most diets is that they are designed to reduce your bank balance in more ways than one, but they are not designed to maintain the right balance on your account. You might need to look at two diets, a crash diet to get you to where you want to be and a maintenance diet to keep you there. Too often we crash land on our desired weight and let the old habits return and see our weight creep, or even shoot back up.
Of course, that just deals with the input side. On the debit side we also need to look at what is going on. For most of us who experience weight problems it is a case of not doing enough with what we have. We need to take more exercise. There are some benefits from exercise. Good exercise boosts your metabolic rate making your heart, lungs intestines and other internal organs to help you work and rest more efficiently.
The old latin line about healthy body and healthy mind really works. When you are fit and balanced, you are much more resistant to diseases of body and mind. There is no doubt that healthy people are less prone to depression. They fight off colds and flu far better. They look better. But as with anything worth having, it doesn't come come without a price tag. Very few people get to look good just because they are genetically programmed to look good, besides, the truly gorgeous among us are constantly stalked and pestered by the media and who wants that!
Getting to good is a journey, especially if you are nowhere close to it yet. However, there is one sure way of getting there and that is to start the journey. It helps if you set off in the right direction, but the great thing is that this is a journey. It is not a destination, you may never get there, or when you do get there you might decide you would like to be somewhere else.
What you decide to do with your body is your decision, a few kilos here or there won't really matter that much. You might decide that you want a specific weight range and a particular fitness goal. You just need to balance the equation for yourself. What goes in must come out. Food in, energy out. If you block the exit route, the body stores excess energy as fat. As long as you use more than you eat, you will lose weight.
One other thing, if you set out to climb a steep hill at a sprint, you will probably quit before you have gone more than a few dozen yards. Pick a pace that reminds you that you are trying to achieve something, but not so fast that it might put you off getting to the finish line. If you have a long way to go, you could set some smaller goals, loose a few kilos, then pick up your fitness level, then lose a few more kilos and so on.
Consider how long it took you to put those extra kilos on, they ain't going to come off overnight. It is going to be a case of eating less and exercising more, how much of each you do is something you may have a bit of choice on. But the key to longterm success is in building new habits that are stronger than the ones you are looking to break.
Friday 4 January 2013
Weight Loss - an interesting brief discussion I came across on Scientific American today.
This is a cut and paste of an online chat with Edward Phillips, a physician who specialises in lifestyle health at Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital and other institutions.
Q. The way we compute calories is over 100 years old. Is it obsolete?
A. Calories are simply a measure of energy. The calculations are still accurate. Expend more than you take in and you will lose weight.
A. Why is it so difficult to stay on a completely razor edge diet, such as raw veggies and a vegan attitude?
A. It is difficult to stay on a razor edge diet likely because it may be very different from your current diet.
Q. What are some of the most common mistakes that people make when trying to lose or maintain their weight?
A. The most common mistake is to make too radical a change in an effort to lose weight quickly. Think long-term sustainable changes. Another big failure in attempting weight loss is attempting too large a goal. 5-10% weight loss is sufficient for significant health gains. Another cause of failure in weight loss is not realising that the new way of eating needs to be permanent. If you resume eating like you did before the diet you will reliably regain the weight.
Q. Are the claims of low-carbs diets accurate?
A. I would not necessarily avoid or reduce any certain food group such as going low-carb. Better to balance the entire diet and cut back.
Q. What is the relative importance between regular sport (let's say bicycling 6 hours per week) and nutrition?
A. Maintaining adequate Physical Activity (at least 2.5 hours per week) is critical to general health. Exercise is necessary but not sufficient for weight loss. Successful losers all maintain high levels of activity weekly.
Q. Since fibre does not enter into the digestion process and it is calculated at 12 kcal/gram, is this accurate???
A. Fibre is still digested unless you are eating something like grass that we are not equipped to eat.
Q. Dr. Phillips, for people who aren't accustomed to regular physical activity, does it help to start slowly? Or jump right in?
A. The goal is 150 minutes per week. It is ok to increase up to this level in a measured manner increasing your activity by 10% per week. Physical activity/exercise is protective for many of the health problems of being overweight.
Q. What are some of the most common misconceptions about weight loss and why is it that sometimes a person can maintain their diet/exercise the same for weeks, but lose more weight some weeks than others?
A. Weight loss will vary week by week. When exercising another component is change in body composition, i.e. increased muscle mass, so it is probably best to look at body composition, losing fat and increasing muscle rather than just looking at the scale.
Q. What tools do you use to motivate people to make/maintain behaviour change? Changing these things can be tough. What do you find are some effective motivating factors? Thinking about health? How good one will feel?
A. I am a big fan of Health Coaching to help establish your 'value' for the proposed change in your behavior. Motivation needs to be 'activated' in the individual by aligning what you find most valuable in your life and agreeing to small initial, sustainable changes. Working with Lifestyle Medicine doctors or health coaches will help with accountability.
Q. What about Weight Watchers? I know a handful of people lately who are having success at least over several months with it.
A. Weight Watchers is one of the more well-established and sane programs available. The social support is critical for many of us.
Q. What should people be asking their doctors?
A. I would ask my doctor if my weight is ideal. Ask for help and suggestions. Unfortunately many doctors are reluctant to ask or discuss weight with their patients.
Q. So it sounds like it might be up to the patient to start the conversation with their doctor about lifestyle changes and weight management?
A. Yes the patient should bring this up as a concern. Too many of us think it is ok to continue to gain weight. Not so.
Q. What are your thoughts on sites like MyFitnessPal, which give users an allotted amount of calories to consume (i.e. 1200 calories/day)?
A. I am a big fan of the many apps and pedometers that track your eating and activity. If it feels right and you are motivated give it a try.
Q. Can a person succeed on a low calorie diet if the nutritional value of the food is very high or will the bod still go into starvation mode?
A. Your body is seeking sufficient energy (calories) regardless of the quality. Of course healthier food is always better. Don't starve yourself in an attempt to lose weight quickly. It simply won't work.
Final thoughts:
As a start become more conscious about your eating and take the time to plan out your meals. Packing up leftovers in advance, buying food in frozen form, and carrying your lunch are all part of meal planning.
Make the initial change something that is small but achievable (e.g. carrying your lunch once per week). As you achieve the first goal your self-confidence will improve. Now move on to the next goal.
Q. The way we compute calories is over 100 years old. Is it obsolete?
A. Calories are simply a measure of energy. The calculations are still accurate. Expend more than you take in and you will lose weight.
A. Why is it so difficult to stay on a completely razor edge diet, such as raw veggies and a vegan attitude?
A. It is difficult to stay on a razor edge diet likely because it may be very different from your current diet.
Q. What are some of the most common mistakes that people make when trying to lose or maintain their weight?
A. The most common mistake is to make too radical a change in an effort to lose weight quickly. Think long-term sustainable changes. Another big failure in attempting weight loss is attempting too large a goal. 5-10% weight loss is sufficient for significant health gains. Another cause of failure in weight loss is not realising that the new way of eating needs to be permanent. If you resume eating like you did before the diet you will reliably regain the weight.
Q. Are the claims of low-carbs diets accurate?
A. I would not necessarily avoid or reduce any certain food group such as going low-carb. Better to balance the entire diet and cut back.
Q. What is the relative importance between regular sport (let's say bicycling 6 hours per week) and nutrition?
A. Maintaining adequate Physical Activity (at least 2.5 hours per week) is critical to general health. Exercise is necessary but not sufficient for weight loss. Successful losers all maintain high levels of activity weekly.
Q. Since fibre does not enter into the digestion process and it is calculated at 12 kcal/gram, is this accurate???
A. Fibre is still digested unless you are eating something like grass that we are not equipped to eat.
Q. Dr. Phillips, for people who aren't accustomed to regular physical activity, does it help to start slowly? Or jump right in?
A. The goal is 150 minutes per week. It is ok to increase up to this level in a measured manner increasing your activity by 10% per week. Physical activity/exercise is protective for many of the health problems of being overweight.
Q. What are some of the most common misconceptions about weight loss and why is it that sometimes a person can maintain their diet/exercise the same for weeks, but lose more weight some weeks than others?
A. Weight loss will vary week by week. When exercising another component is change in body composition, i.e. increased muscle mass, so it is probably best to look at body composition, losing fat and increasing muscle rather than just looking at the scale.
Q. What tools do you use to motivate people to make/maintain behaviour change? Changing these things can be tough. What do you find are some effective motivating factors? Thinking about health? How good one will feel?
A. I am a big fan of Health Coaching to help establish your 'value' for the proposed change in your behavior. Motivation needs to be 'activated' in the individual by aligning what you find most valuable in your life and agreeing to small initial, sustainable changes. Working with Lifestyle Medicine doctors or health coaches will help with accountability.
Q. What about Weight Watchers? I know a handful of people lately who are having success at least over several months with it.
A. Weight Watchers is one of the more well-established and sane programs available. The social support is critical for many of us.
Q. What should people be asking their doctors?
A. I would ask my doctor if my weight is ideal. Ask for help and suggestions. Unfortunately many doctors are reluctant to ask or discuss weight with their patients.
Q. So it sounds like it might be up to the patient to start the conversation with their doctor about lifestyle changes and weight management?
A. Yes the patient should bring this up as a concern. Too many of us think it is ok to continue to gain weight. Not so.
Q. What are your thoughts on sites like MyFitnessPal, which give users an allotted amount of calories to consume (i.e. 1200 calories/day)?
A. I am a big fan of the many apps and pedometers that track your eating and activity. If it feels right and you are motivated give it a try.
Q. Can a person succeed on a low calorie diet if the nutritional value of the food is very high or will the bod still go into starvation mode?
A. Your body is seeking sufficient energy (calories) regardless of the quality. Of course healthier food is always better. Don't starve yourself in an attempt to lose weight quickly. It simply won't work.
Final thoughts:
As a start become more conscious about your eating and take the time to plan out your meals. Packing up leftovers in advance, buying food in frozen form, and carrying your lunch are all part of meal planning.
Make the initial change something that is small but achievable (e.g. carrying your lunch once per week). As you achieve the first goal your self-confidence will improve. Now move on to the next goal.
Thursday 3 January 2013
Wheelchair Access in Hotels
Ok, this is going to sound awful, but I sometimes think you have to discuss the elephant when it steps into your space. It was wheelchair access and elevators in hotels that got me thinking. Does wheelchair access mean access to all areas? How many guests with restricted mobility would a hotel have at any given time?
Lets take it a step further, how many disabled drivers visit a supermarket at any given time? Do we need all those mother and child parking spaces outside the shop? Is motherhood a disability?
I thought about this recently when I was staying in a two storey hotel. There was an elevator. To get to the second floor? Like to climb about 21 steps? It took as long to use the lift as it did to climb the stairs. We could have wheelchair accessible rooms on the ground floor and maybe rooms for the incapacitated elderly to save them climbing the steps. But most of the population are able-bodied. Let them climb the steps and let me sleep without the rumble of the elevator next door. Laziness.
Because no body uses the stairs any more, you often have to hunt them out. They are commonly hidden behind fire-doors. The normal, human mode of locomotion has now been relegated to an emergency exit. Actually, do you ever notice the funny looks you get from people when you emerge from behind the fire-door? Is it the maintenance man? Cleaning staff? A burglar or thief? Sometimes I challenge the funny look with a conspiratorial wink.
It is infuriating to have to leave a car park because all the able-bodied spaces are full and there are three disabled spaces sitting there empty. If they are not prepared to get out and use those spaces, then they should forfeit them when all other spaces are full. Wheelchairs are for getting around in, they should be able to cross the car park.
When it comes to access for people with disability there are much worse issues to deal with than parking spaces and elevators to upper floors, to get them access to the able-bodied world. It's not like there is anything different going on on these other floors. But access to all areas doesn't have to mean to every single area. That really makes them special rather than equal.
Its a bit like chivalry, I went through a phase of giving equal treatment to all women. It didn't work, the extremists claimed I was a male chauvinist pig, while the nice ones would just ignore me. When I went back to offering my seat to more mature ladies and holding doors open for all ladies and several of the other deferential acts that passed for manners in days gone by, I suddenly found that I got on much better with the girls.
I am a believer in equality, but when faced with selective equality, I get confused. They are equal to me in the ways that are important to them and expect me to be different in other areas. I'm not just talking about women or disability or such like. I'm probably talking about everybody.
Equality is not a stand alone right. Equality is a two way street. You can only have it when you treat others as you would expect them to treat you. If you expect to be treated differently you have to earn it. It is a partner to respect. Respect is not a right. Nothing deserves respect unless it has been earned. I'm inclined to include large sections of the law, the legislature and the enforcement agencies, not to mention public servants.
Did you know that ignorance is not an excuse in the eyes of the law? It explains many things. I'll ask you to think about them. We live in a totally flawed, dysfunctional society. Nothing is as it appears. Normal behaviour and normal service is so uncommon as to be almost irrelevant. Nothing is as it appears.
Lets take it a step further, how many disabled drivers visit a supermarket at any given time? Do we need all those mother and child parking spaces outside the shop? Is motherhood a disability?
I thought about this recently when I was staying in a two storey hotel. There was an elevator. To get to the second floor? Like to climb about 21 steps? It took as long to use the lift as it did to climb the stairs. We could have wheelchair accessible rooms on the ground floor and maybe rooms for the incapacitated elderly to save them climbing the steps. But most of the population are able-bodied. Let them climb the steps and let me sleep without the rumble of the elevator next door. Laziness.
Because no body uses the stairs any more, you often have to hunt them out. They are commonly hidden behind fire-doors. The normal, human mode of locomotion has now been relegated to an emergency exit. Actually, do you ever notice the funny looks you get from people when you emerge from behind the fire-door? Is it the maintenance man? Cleaning staff? A burglar or thief? Sometimes I challenge the funny look with a conspiratorial wink.
It is infuriating to have to leave a car park because all the able-bodied spaces are full and there are three disabled spaces sitting there empty. If they are not prepared to get out and use those spaces, then they should forfeit them when all other spaces are full. Wheelchairs are for getting around in, they should be able to cross the car park.
When it comes to access for people with disability there are much worse issues to deal with than parking spaces and elevators to upper floors, to get them access to the able-bodied world. It's not like there is anything different going on on these other floors. But access to all areas doesn't have to mean to every single area. That really makes them special rather than equal.
Its a bit like chivalry, I went through a phase of giving equal treatment to all women. It didn't work, the extremists claimed I was a male chauvinist pig, while the nice ones would just ignore me. When I went back to offering my seat to more mature ladies and holding doors open for all ladies and several of the other deferential acts that passed for manners in days gone by, I suddenly found that I got on much better with the girls.
I am a believer in equality, but when faced with selective equality, I get confused. They are equal to me in the ways that are important to them and expect me to be different in other areas. I'm not just talking about women or disability or such like. I'm probably talking about everybody.
Equality is not a stand alone right. Equality is a two way street. You can only have it when you treat others as you would expect them to treat you. If you expect to be treated differently you have to earn it. It is a partner to respect. Respect is not a right. Nothing deserves respect unless it has been earned. I'm inclined to include large sections of the law, the legislature and the enforcement agencies, not to mention public servants.
Did you know that ignorance is not an excuse in the eyes of the law? It explains many things. I'll ask you to think about them. We live in a totally flawed, dysfunctional society. Nothing is as it appears. Normal behaviour and normal service is so uncommon as to be almost irrelevant. Nothing is as it appears.
Smoking and Driving
It would appear that one out of every two smokers will die from a smoking related disease. Yet considerably fewer than one in every two drivers in excess of the legal alcohol limit will die or cause a death in a traffic accident.
Now, I've every reason to support road safety and believe that one road death is one too many. But I am also enough of a realist to know that we will never, as long as people drive, achieve a zero death target. Many road accident statistics are actually drunken pedestrians Garda road checks won't stop them, nor will they stop people who get into a car with the express intention of committing suicide.
Drivers will continue to drive tired, stressed, depressed, drugged, distracted by children fighting in the back seat, confused by poor road design and trapped by substandard road maintenance. Some day, technology will take control of personal transport to eliminate human frailties. Then the hacker will take over, or a Y2K Bug will come along and kill us in our hundreds.
Now, I'm not saying free the driver, what I am actually trying to get around to is - how many lives would be saved if the RSA Budget, or its equivalent were directed to getting people to stop smoking. By that I mean, serious checks on smoking in cars carrying or capable of carrying passengers. Smoking in enclosed spaces where other people may also be present.
As a smoker and I still consider myself one, because I am still at risk of going back to them, I never realised just how pervasive they can be. I can smell a smoker at 20 yards and I'm just four weeks off the weed. I watched a video by a friend of mine, Gerry Collins, on Quit.ie last night. For the first time ever the impact of smoking on my children got through to me. As a smoker, I was never aware of this. Not even in the slightest.
Smokers smoke in blissful ignorance of their impact on others. Just as drinkers drive in blissful ignorance of their potential impact on others. There is something alluring about smoking that draws you into it's web. It is like the impact of the third drink, or the second drink for some, the one where you begin to lose your ability to stop. You may not be drunk on your second drink, and you will probably drive as safely as everyone else.
The tragedy of the drunk driver who kills or is killed, is not even their third drink, but it is the third drink that leads to the fourth, fifth and sixth drink that leads to the truly drunk driver. The tragedy is their loss of self control. They can't stop themselves driving with the sixth drink taken, but with the third drink taken, they can't stop themselves sliding into the oblivion of that 6th drink.
It took me years of confused thinking to realise the significance of such a low alcohol limit for drivers of 50mg. You are most likely to be quite capable of driving safely at this limit. There are many politically incorrect reasons why some may be better able to do so than others, or why some with zero mg alcohol may be more dangerous than some with 100mg, but we can't all have personalised laws and have by default, set them to the lowest common denominator. An example of the power behind the drink driving campaign.
At 80mg many lose the ability to say no to another drink, while at 50 you can be fairly sure that sense will prevail. For the smoker, once you are hooked, you are like the drinker who has passed the point of no return. But unlike the drinker, you will not be sober in the morning. Unlike the drinker, you have a far higher probability of becoming a statistic.
We need stronger anti smoking legislation. We need smokers to feel the same heat as drunk drivers. Last year we lost 161 people on our roads, approximately 53 of them in alcohol related accidents (one third). The HSE estimates that we lost 100 times that 5,500, lives to smoking related diseases. We have about 1,000,000 smokers in Ireland, 500,000 of them will die prematurely. Surely this life saving target deserves a more serious commitment from government.
Four out of every five smokers want to quit this serious, deadly addiction, do we have to do it all on our own? Quit.ie is one aid, and it is a good one, but imagine if the government's drink driving campaign consisted of one website and a bit of advertising around New Year and Ash Wednesday. It is time to start taking cigarette addiction seriously.
Now, I've every reason to support road safety and believe that one road death is one too many. But I am also enough of a realist to know that we will never, as long as people drive, achieve a zero death target. Many road accident statistics are actually drunken pedestrians Garda road checks won't stop them, nor will they stop people who get into a car with the express intention of committing suicide.
Drivers will continue to drive tired, stressed, depressed, drugged, distracted by children fighting in the back seat, confused by poor road design and trapped by substandard road maintenance. Some day, technology will take control of personal transport to eliminate human frailties. Then the hacker will take over, or a Y2K Bug will come along and kill us in our hundreds.
Now, I'm not saying free the driver, what I am actually trying to get around to is - how many lives would be saved if the RSA Budget, or its equivalent were directed to getting people to stop smoking. By that I mean, serious checks on smoking in cars carrying or capable of carrying passengers. Smoking in enclosed spaces where other people may also be present.
As a smoker and I still consider myself one, because I am still at risk of going back to them, I never realised just how pervasive they can be. I can smell a smoker at 20 yards and I'm just four weeks off the weed. I watched a video by a friend of mine, Gerry Collins, on Quit.ie last night. For the first time ever the impact of smoking on my children got through to me. As a smoker, I was never aware of this. Not even in the slightest.
Smokers smoke in blissful ignorance of their impact on others. Just as drinkers drive in blissful ignorance of their potential impact on others. There is something alluring about smoking that draws you into it's web. It is like the impact of the third drink, or the second drink for some, the one where you begin to lose your ability to stop. You may not be drunk on your second drink, and you will probably drive as safely as everyone else.
The tragedy of the drunk driver who kills or is killed, is not even their third drink, but it is the third drink that leads to the fourth, fifth and sixth drink that leads to the truly drunk driver. The tragedy is their loss of self control. They can't stop themselves driving with the sixth drink taken, but with the third drink taken, they can't stop themselves sliding into the oblivion of that 6th drink.
It took me years of confused thinking to realise the significance of such a low alcohol limit for drivers of 50mg. You are most likely to be quite capable of driving safely at this limit. There are many politically incorrect reasons why some may be better able to do so than others, or why some with zero mg alcohol may be more dangerous than some with 100mg, but we can't all have personalised laws and have by default, set them to the lowest common denominator. An example of the power behind the drink driving campaign.
At 80mg many lose the ability to say no to another drink, while at 50 you can be fairly sure that sense will prevail. For the smoker, once you are hooked, you are like the drinker who has passed the point of no return. But unlike the drinker, you will not be sober in the morning. Unlike the drinker, you have a far higher probability of becoming a statistic.
We need stronger anti smoking legislation. We need smokers to feel the same heat as drunk drivers. Last year we lost 161 people on our roads, approximately 53 of them in alcohol related accidents (one third). The HSE estimates that we lost 100 times that 5,500, lives to smoking related diseases. We have about 1,000,000 smokers in Ireland, 500,000 of them will die prematurely. Surely this life saving target deserves a more serious commitment from government.
Four out of every five smokers want to quit this serious, deadly addiction, do we have to do it all on our own? Quit.ie is one aid, and it is a good one, but imagine if the government's drink driving campaign consisted of one website and a bit of advertising around New Year and Ash Wednesday. It is time to start taking cigarette addiction seriously.
Tuesday 1 January 2013
Walking will return to my life in 2013
After an absence of many years I plan on reacquainting myself with an old friend, Hill Walking.
Before the kids arrived it was an integral part of my life. Holidays were planned around mountains and wilderness areas. Long weekends were planned in advance to include Irish or UK mountains and almost every weekend included a trip to the hills, indeed when the nights were brighter, we would often squeeze in a midweek walk or two.
The arrival of family life coincided with a number of personal injuries that led to the abandonment of regular mountain forays. I can't blame it entirely on the kids, because some of our walking buddies managed to do everything in the hills with their kids, except give birth. Anyhow, I plan on getting back there this year.
So, on the 7th of January Operation Transformation kicks off in Wicklow in the Grand Hotel at 7pm. I'll be there along with a few friends. I'm not a kid anymore, so I plan on returning to the hills as part of an overall package of wellbeing activities.
I've been training with the Wicklow Hockey Club since September, it has worked wonders for my core strength. I have noticed a huge reduction in the amount of back pain I've suffered from. Unfortunately my experience with hockey has exposed another weakness, I'm about as flexible as a cast iron pipe, I don't bend, I tear, so I need to work hard on that, so I can keep up the hockey.
Also I wouldn't like to tear a hamstring on the hills, at least on a hockey pitch is is just a short hobble to the car and home. On the hills things would be different. So my walking plans will begin with trail walking for the first few months.
Hill walking puts different pressures on muscles than running or playing hockey. Hill walking is a bit like weight lifting for your legs, since you will probably spend a fair bit of your time going uphill. It builds strength and endurance, but little in the line of flexibility. Running is less focused on strength and a bit more flexibility, while hockey, with its sudden bursts of speed, turning and dodging calls for everything.
Hopefully Wicklow's Operation Transformation Group will be able to help me build my platform properly and help me to avoid injuries. Unfortunately, in my fifties, injuries take a bit more out of me than in the past and they take a lot longer than I think to heal. I've already experienced the futility of going back into training too early. I'll not want to do that again, it is such a waste of time.
As an appetiser, I did a few walks during the run in to Christmas. I enjoyed them. I'll post to Facebook when I plan on doing a walk, let me know if you are interested. Walking in groups is much more fun. Sometimes the faster members can be held back by the slower members, but over time the slower ones will pick it up a gear. If there are enough of us, we can always split the group into fast and slow anyway.
By the end of 2013 I plan on being able to trail run and mountain walk. My fitness goals for the year apart from being able to play a full hockey match will be a 10k trail run. I have the route already picked out. Maybe 10k is not ambitious enough, but it is always easier to change your goal when you understand it better.
That's it for now. I have no immediate plans for walking as I'm still dealing with a dose of an apparently genuine flu. But I plan on scheduling a walk for the weekend after next. The walk I'm thinking of is Zimmer Frame Friendly, so there can be no excuses.
Before the kids arrived it was an integral part of my life. Holidays were planned around mountains and wilderness areas. Long weekends were planned in advance to include Irish or UK mountains and almost every weekend included a trip to the hills, indeed when the nights were brighter, we would often squeeze in a midweek walk or two.
The arrival of family life coincided with a number of personal injuries that led to the abandonment of regular mountain forays. I can't blame it entirely on the kids, because some of our walking buddies managed to do everything in the hills with their kids, except give birth. Anyhow, I plan on getting back there this year.
So, on the 7th of January Operation Transformation kicks off in Wicklow in the Grand Hotel at 7pm. I'll be there along with a few friends. I'm not a kid anymore, so I plan on returning to the hills as part of an overall package of wellbeing activities.
I've been training with the Wicklow Hockey Club since September, it has worked wonders for my core strength. I have noticed a huge reduction in the amount of back pain I've suffered from. Unfortunately my experience with hockey has exposed another weakness, I'm about as flexible as a cast iron pipe, I don't bend, I tear, so I need to work hard on that, so I can keep up the hockey.
Also I wouldn't like to tear a hamstring on the hills, at least on a hockey pitch is is just a short hobble to the car and home. On the hills things would be different. So my walking plans will begin with trail walking for the first few months.
Hill walking puts different pressures on muscles than running or playing hockey. Hill walking is a bit like weight lifting for your legs, since you will probably spend a fair bit of your time going uphill. It builds strength and endurance, but little in the line of flexibility. Running is less focused on strength and a bit more flexibility, while hockey, with its sudden bursts of speed, turning and dodging calls for everything.
Hopefully Wicklow's Operation Transformation Group will be able to help me build my platform properly and help me to avoid injuries. Unfortunately, in my fifties, injuries take a bit more out of me than in the past and they take a lot longer than I think to heal. I've already experienced the futility of going back into training too early. I'll not want to do that again, it is such a waste of time.
As an appetiser, I did a few walks during the run in to Christmas. I enjoyed them. I'll post to Facebook when I plan on doing a walk, let me know if you are interested. Walking in groups is much more fun. Sometimes the faster members can be held back by the slower members, but over time the slower ones will pick it up a gear. If there are enough of us, we can always split the group into fast and slow anyway.
By the end of 2013 I plan on being able to trail run and mountain walk. My fitness goals for the year apart from being able to play a full hockey match will be a 10k trail run. I have the route already picked out. Maybe 10k is not ambitious enough, but it is always easier to change your goal when you understand it better.
That's it for now. I have no immediate plans for walking as I'm still dealing with a dose of an apparently genuine flu. But I plan on scheduling a walk for the weekend after next. The walk I'm thinking of is Zimmer Frame Friendly, so there can be no excuses.
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