How Long Will You Live?

I found an interesting longevity calculator from Northwestern Mutual Life. Naturally they make more money if their policy holders live longer! But using the calculator was an interesting experience for me. Three modest changes in the assumptions led to an 8 year increase in my life expectancy—from 83 (what I am doing right now) to 91 years (three modest changes). What is good about the calculator is that you can contemplate changes and see how it affects your life expectancy.

Chose Your Buffet Foods Wisely! One category I played around with was weight. Weight does make a difference, but not as much as you would think. The difference between 235 and 200 in my life expectancy was only one year. This fits in well with other reading I have done. I think that the calculator assumes you are not diabetic. If you are, then the calculations would not be accurate, or are a general average. The main advantage in weight control is avoiding type 2 diabetes—a sure life expectancy reducer. This is why I plan to continue to lose weight. Not the fact that my High School reunion is on my mind! I have always had blood sugar problems, and it would be very easy for me to become diabetic if I am not careful.

Another category that I adjusted was food. Even though the suggested 5 fruits and vegetables daily is relatively easy, I doubt I am doing it. This makes a big difference in life expectancy—three more years. Personally I am close to this, 3 to 4 vegetable servings a day. How do you get to this goal and even surpass it? A large salad every day would be at least 2 servings of vegetables, maybe three depending on how you made it and not using iceberg lettuce too often. A serving of broccoli is 1/2 cup. So two servings is relatively easy to do. Remember that bread, potatoes and rice are not vegetables! I blogged previously about a woman who reversed MS by eating her vegetables!

Exercise by walking four times a week for 30 minutes added 5 years to my life expectancy. Exercising vigorously added only one more year to that total. This is because of the law of diminishing returns. Another way of looking at it is that the benefits of exercise are a bell curve with a rather steep curve. In other words, the benefits for even a modest increase in activity are substantial, but very rapidity the benefits of additional exercise decline. Too much exercise may even reduce life expectancy.

So if you want to live years longer, and have more “life in your years," (although this is a cliché, it is a true cliché ) imagine what your mother might say about your current lifestyle. You know what she will say: Turn off the TV, get off the couch and go outside and play, and eat your vegetables.

God, Make Me A Woman

I am a big Rick Wakeman fan. The song I am commenting on starts at 3:00, but Elizabethan Rock is good as well. The song is "God, Make me a Woman." I have the DVD that this is ripped from. I was watching that DVD in my office when my teenagers arrived for dinner. Just as they entered the room Ashley Holt was belting out, "God, make me a woman." The look on thier faces was priceless. Why is Dad listening to this song? Is there something he needs to tell us? I quickly, very quickly, explained that the song was sung by Adam in the Garden of Eden wanting God to create Eve. I think they believed me. 

Men In Kilts

The story is told of a pentecostal group that almost split over a teen ice skating party. The problem was Deuternomy 22:5 and its interpretation: 

⁵ The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God.

One part of the church insisted that the girls wear skirts. Another part was horrified as the teen boys might get a glimpse of forbidden territory if a girl fell. But pants, the other group said, pertaineth to a man and should not be worn! Eventually a compromise was reached—the girls would wear pants under their skirts! 

The Easton Dictionary has this to say on clothes in its article on Dress:

The robes of men and women were not very much different in form from each other.

This leads me to think that something other than transvestitism is the issue. 

The Hebrew word here for man is not the standard word—adam. Instead The Enhanced Strong's Dictionary tells us it is this word:

h1397. גֶבֶר geber; from 1396; properly, a valiant man or warrior; generally, a person simply: — every one, man, x mighty.

AV (68)- man 64, mighty 2, man child 1, every one 1;

 man, strong man, warrior ( emphasising strength or ability to fight)

While the word can and does mean man, it also can and does mean warrior. Here is what the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament tells us about geber:

גֶבֶר. Man. As distinct from such more general words for man as אָדָם, אִשׁ, אֱנוֹשׁ, etc., this word specifically, relates to a male at the height of his powers. As such it depicts humanity at its most competent and capable level. Sixty- six occurrences.

The word is related to warrior, and is often used of men who, based on the context of the word in the sentence and passage were warriors. 

So how then could Deuteronomy be translated? 

⁵ The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a warrior, neither shall a warrior put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God.

Historically there are examples of this. Pisistratus in ancient Athens is a good example. He wanted to gain control of Athens and start a war. So he found a tall distinctive peasant woman from the provinces and dressed her up as the Goddess of War and Wisdom, Athena, and announced to the people that the Goddess was in favor of the war. He got his war.

Another example is the Urgaritic legend of what is called the Daniel Cycle. This is a series of stories about an ancient stereotypical wiseman. He was mentioned in Ezekiel 14:14. One of these stories was that Daniel was insulted and his son refused to avenge his father. This was a scandal. It was so shocking that Daniel's daughter dressed up in armor and avenged her father. A shocking reversal of roles. 

The idea is that one magically imbues the woman with warrior power. "Our women are better warriors than your men." The same thing occurs when a warrior is feminized. "Your men are like women to us."

This latter idea may be what was going on with the angels and Sodom. The idea was to show the superiority of Sodom by using the visitors as if they were women. "We make your men our women." Remember that the men of Sodom after the gang rape would have gone home to their wives. Homosexual rape in military situations is a lot more common than people think. I have seen estimates that 1/3 of all rapes are homosexual in nature, many of them are never reported. 

Historically, the rape of males was more widely recognized in ancient times. Several of the legends in Greek mythology involved abductions and sexual assaults of males by other males or gods. The rape of a defeated male enemy was considered the special right of the victorious soldier in some societies and was a signal of the totality of the defeat. There was a widespread belief that a male who was sexually penetrated, even if it was by forced sexual assault, thus "lost his manhood," and could no longer be a warrior or ruler. Gang rape of a male was considered an ultimate form of punishment and, as such, was known to the Romans as punishment for adultery and the Persians and Iranians as punishment for violation of the sanctity of the harem. Donaldson, Donald. (1990). "Rape of Males," in Dynes, Wayne, ed. Encyclopedia of Homosexuality. New York: Garland Publications. 

The point to remember is that the differences in clothing among men and women were minor, so it seems likely that something else besides gender distinctions is in mind in Deuteronomy. The use and respect for magic and the power it was supposed to have is a theme of the Old Testament that we moderns do not fully appreciate. 

I would paraphrase the passage this way:

⁵ Do not dress a woman as a warrior, or a warrior as a woman for pagan magical practices: for all that do so are an abomination unto the Lord thy God.

The issue of gender-suitable clothing is a cultural issue. A Scots man dressed in a kilt is not the least bit effeminate. Deuteronomy 22 does not seem to be addressing this issue. 

A Cranky Old Man

Alan Simpson, former Senator and cochair of the Simpson-Bowles deficit commission published a letter to his critics.

To Whom It May Concern:

Erskine Bowles and I thoroughly enjoyed our time on the West Coast and received an excellent reception from folks — at least those who are using their heads and have given up using emotion, fear, guilt or racism to juice up their troops. Your little flyer entitled “Bowles! Simpson! Stop using the deficit as a phony excuse to gut our Social Security!” is one of the phoniest excuses for a “flyer” I have ever seen. You use the faces of young people, who are the ones who are going to get gutted while you continue to push out your blather and drivel. My suggestion to you — an honest one — read the damn report. The Moment of Truth — 67 pages, and then tell me if we’re not doing the right thing with Social Security. What a wretched group of seniors you must be to use the faces of the very people that we are trying to save, while the “greedy geezers” like you use them as a tool and a front for your nefarious bunch of crap. You must feel some sense of shame for shoveling out this bulls**t. Read the latest news from the Social Security Trustees. The Social Security System will not “hit the skids” in 2033 instead of 2036. If you can’t understand all of this you need a pane of glass in your naval so you can see out during the day! Read the report. Get back to me. My address is below.

Another Simpson Looking To Cut SpendingIf you don’t read the report, — as Ebenezer Scrooge said in the Christmas Carol, “Haunt me no longer!”

Best regards,

Alan Simpson

I understand the senator's frustration with the politcal process-and with people who can not do thier mathematics. There is no alternative to cuts, delay of the retirement age, and yes more taxes. He is quite right. 

Garbage

A lot of what we value is just garbage.