Cigarette smoke causes immediate damage to the lungs and to DNA, and President Barack Obama’s administration will make stop- smoking efforts a priority, federal health officials said on Thursday.
Smoking hurts not only the smokers, but people around them, and taxes, bans and treatment all must be used together to help get smoking rates down, U.S. Surgeon-General Dr. Regina Benjamin said in a report on smoking.
“The chemicals in tobacco smoke reach your lungs quickly every time you inhale causing damage immediately,” Benjamin said in a statement.
“Inhaling even the smallest amount of tobacco smoke can also damage your DNA, which can lead to cancer.”
I have mentioned many times before that I have gotten back in to Boxing this year as serious as I have ever been since I boxed Golden Gloves as a young pup. Working out seven days a week, and sparring three times per week.
Along with jumping rope, one of the things that has helped me get back into top form is Shadow Boxing. Watch one of the best:
Sergio Martinez Shadow Boxing
His footwork, tempo and rhythm are excellent. He just keeps his hands so low. But its working for him, so who am I to say anything.
Good video of some Sergio Martinez Hightlights:
The very beginning of the video he does a shuffle left then an off beat, off tempo, perfectly timed shot. Perfectly. One of my favorite moves.
In other news, here is an interesting article about Stephen A. Schwarzman:
“The United States is going through a difficult time politically, and having other types of issues that everybody in this group knows about,” Mr. Schwarzman told the conference, adding, “The political calculus of the last two years hasn’t resulted in a winning calculus.”
Among the European assets he’s examining: Irish real estate, which he believes will be soon available at bargain-basement prices as a result of Ireland’s sovereign debt crisis.
“They just set up a massive R.T.C.,” Mr. Schwarzman said, referring to the Resolution Trust Corporation, the government agency that liquidated assets seized during the savings and loan crisis in the United States. “They barely know what they own.”
But he does not like every foreign market, expressing relief that Blackstone stayed away from Spanish real estate in 2006, and noting that in parts of Europe throughout the last few years, “the risk/reward equation was really wrong.”
He also cautioned investors to remain patient in the face of economic unrest, and to wait for signs of improvement until investing heavily in distressed foreign markets.
“You want to wait until there’s really blood in the streets,” he said, adding, “You’re better off paying 10 percent more into a healing situation than trying to pick bottoms.”
I have mentioned before that The Legendary 5th Street Gym in Miami Beach has recently re-opened and I plan to be there soon. My father, Michael John Mason VI, used to take me there as a young pup and that was where I first met Muhammad Ali (among others). I can’t wait to go back. It’s already locked in stone on my schedule. Congratulations to Angelo Dundee, Dr. Ferdie Pacheco, Tom Tsatas, Matt Baiamonte and Dino Spencer for making it happen. This is a huge one in the win column and a true sign that The Apocalypse is Not coming. At least not yet anyway.
The History of 5th St. Gym, Miami Beach
Muhammed Ali:5th Street Gym
The Fight Years (documentary trailer) 5th Street Gym
Simon Black of Sovereign Man, who believes “that in order to achieve true freedom, you have to be able to make money, control your time, and eliminate the mindset that you are subject to a corrupt government that is bent on degrading your personal liberty” (basically, the cat has a pretty dope site), has been busting out some good Data Sheets lately:
Tell me if you think it’s worth fighting for
In 43 BC, over 2,000 years ago, warring consuls Antony, Lepidus, and Octavian were duking it out with each other over control of Rome following Julius Caesar’s assassination the prior March.
Each had legions at his disposal, and Rome’s terrified Senate sat on its hands waiting for the outcome.
Ultimately, the three men chose to unite their powers and rule Rome together in what became known as the Second Triumvirate. This body was established by a law named lex Titia on this date (give or take depending on how you convert the Roman calendar) in 43 BC.
The foundation of the Second Triumvirate is of tremendous historical importance: as the group wielded dictatorial powers, it represents the final nail in the coffin in Rome’s transition from republic to malignant autocracy.
The Second Triumvirate expired after 10-years, upon which Octavian waged war on his partners once again, resulting in Mark Antony’s famed suicide with Cleopatra in 31 BC. Octavian was eventually rewarded with rich title and nearly supreme power, and he is generally regarded as Rome’s first emperor.
Things only got worse from there. Tiberius, Octavian’s successor, was a paranoid deviant with a lust for executions. He spent the last decade of his reign completely detached from Rome, living in Capri.
Following Tiberius was Caligula, infamous for his moral depravity and insanity. According to Roman historians Suetonius and Cassius Dio, Tiberius would send his legions on pointless marches and turned his palace into a bordello of such repute that it inspired the 1979 porno film named for him.
Caligula was followed by Claudius, a stammering, slobbering, confused man as described by his contemporaries. Then there was Nero, who not only managed to burn down his city but was also the first emperor to debase the value of Rome’s currency.
You know the rest of the story– Romans watched their leadership and country get worse and worse.
All along the way, there were two types of people: the first group were folks that figured, “This has GOT to be the bottom, it can only get better from here.” Their patriotism was rewarded with reduced civil liberties, higher taxes, insane despots, and a polluted currency.
The other group consisted of people who looked at the warning signs and thought, “I have to get out of here.” They followed their instincts and moved on to other places where they could build their lives, survive, and prosper.
I’m raising this point because I’d like to open a debate. Some consider the latter idea of expatriating to be akin to ‘running away.’ I recall a rather impassioned comment from a reader last week who suggested that “leaving, i.e. running away, is certainly not the proper response.”
I find this logic to be flawed.
While the notion of staying and ‘fighting’ is a noble idea, bear in mind that there is no real enemy or force to fight. The government is a faceless bureaucracy that’s impossible attack. People who try only discredit their argument because they become marginalized as fringe lunatics.
Remember John Stack? He’s the guy who flew his airplane into the IRS building in Austin, Texas earlier this year because he had a serious philosophical disagreement over tax issues.
While his ideas may have had intellectual merit, they were immediately dismissed due to his murderous tactics. Violence is rarely the answer, and it often has the opposite effect as intended, frequently serving to bolster support for the government instead of raising awareness of its shortcomings.
Unless/until government paramilitaries start duking it out with citizen militia groups in the streets, this is an ideological battle… and it’s an uphill battle at best.
Government controlled educational systems institutionalize us from childhood that governments are just, and that we should all subordinate ourselves to authority and to the greater good that they dictate in their sole discretion.
You’re dealing with a mob mentality, plain and simple. Do you want to waste limited resources (time, money, energy) trying to convince your neighbor that s/he should no not expect free money from the government?
You could spend a lifetime trying to change ideology and not make a dent; people have to choose for themselves to wake up, it cannot be forced upon them. And until that happens, they’re going to keep asking for more security and more control because it’s the way their values have been programmed.
When you think about it, what we call a ‘country’ is nothing more than a large concentration of people who share common values. Over time, those values adjust and evolve. Today, cultures in many countries value things like fake security, subordination, and ignorance over freedom, independence, and awareness.
When it appears more and more each day that those common values diverge from your own, all that’s left of a country are irrelevant, invisible lines on a map. I don’t find these worth fighting for.
Nobody is born with a mandatory obligation to invisible lines on a map. Our fundamental obligation is to ourselves, our families, and the people that we choose to let into our circles… not to a piece of dirt that’s controlled by mob-installed bureaucrats.
Moving away, i.e. making a calculated decision to seek greener pastures elsewhere, is not the same as ‘running away’… and I would argue that if you really want to affect change in your home country, moving away is the most effective course of action.
The government beast in your home country feeds on debt and taxes, and the best way to win is for bright, productive people to move away with their ideas, labor, and assets. This effectively starves the beast and accelerates its collapse. Then, when the smoke clears, you can move back and help rebuild a free society.
I’d really like to know what you think — which is the right thing to do, stay or leave? What are you planning to do?
I’m convinced that what we’re seeing right now from the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is the tip of the spear in the government’s battle for increased control of the public.
The groundwork has been laid for years– legislation empowering the TSA has gradually eroded civil liberties to the point that airports in the United States have now become ‘no rights’ zones. “Please remove your shoes” has now become “Take out your prosthetic breast so I can check it for explosives.”
Passengers who show up to an airport in the United States are now given two options: (a) go through the radiation bath [don’t worry, the government says it’s safe…] and let the TSA see you naked, or (b) let the TSA thugs grope you and fondle your children’s genitals.
This is not enhanced security protocol, this is a systematic desensitization to government intrusion. The idea is to get people used to new procedures, then continue to add more layers of government control.
Certainly, people will complain. They will be outraged… YouTube videos will abound of TSA agents stroking women’s breasts and disrobing 5-year old boys. The government will hold firm, though, responding that the tactics are necessary and that they will ‘look into’ egregious violations.
To be clear, some of the tactics are designed to be scaled back as concessions. It’s like turning up the volume from 0 to 10… everyone starts screaming that it’s too loud, so the government turns it down to 8. People think, “ah, that’s not as bad…” and eventually become accustomed to the noise.
In time, the government turns it up from 8 to 20. People pour into the streets again, protesting until the government turns it down from 20 to 15. People once again become accustomed to the noise as the new normal. This cycle escalates until no one can remember the sound of silence any longer.
It’s fairly easy to do– there will always be politicians and bureaucrats who can invent stories about innocuous white powders and men in caves that scare the daylights out of people.
Similarly, there will always be long lists of sociopaths, perverts, and pedophiles who are attracted to a job description that authorizes them to grope, fondle, humiliate, and intimidate others.
No place is perfect, every country has its challenges. But there are many nations with positive growth trends and governments that don’t treat their people like milk cows.
One of those countries is Chile, and if you’re looking for ideas, I strongly recommend that you consider it. I’ve been writing about Chile off and on for a while now, and for the life of me, I still can’t figure out why it’s not on the radar…
Here is the info you can’t find anywhere else (I really wish someone else had written this before I went). I will break down the main Nightclubs, Bars, and Restaurants in Riga, Latvia. Following this guide will prevent you from many scams and potential beatdowns. Trust me, I made almost every mistake in the book in Riga, Latvia. And yes, I do accept thank you cards.
I Love You Bar: The place was pretty heavily hyped to me by people before I went to Riga, Latvia. In my opinion, the place is pretty weesh. Every time I walked by the spot, it was dead. And I checked the place out on Friday, Saturday and some weeknights. It’s possible that this place is mindblowing at 3:30am on a Tuesday or something and I missed it, but I highly doubt it.
La Belle Époque: This place was heavily hyped also. La Belle Époque is a pretty cheap college bar, but it’s pretty wack. I would skip it unless you want a cheap beer. Minimal girls.
Skyline Bar: This is one of the supposed “crown jewels” of Riga Nightlife. Higher end scene, sweeping views of the city etc etc etc. I thought the place sucked. Mostly UK tourist fools. Expensive. Not worth it, except for the view. Which is not unusual for places known for the view.
Essential: This is the main dance club in Riga. There are a lot of fly girls here although I only stayed a few minutes (I was with a fly girl from Riga, and she wanted to stop by to see her friend). I can’t really speak on the place, but there are horror stories about rip-offs in this place.
Push: Another big club similar to Essential. I never went.
Babylon: This place has “scam” written all over it. Even from the outside. Steer clear.
Scandal: This place is dope. Decent DJ, smoking room upstairs with a second DJ, high energy and tons of fly girls.
Kalku Varti: Dope spot that kind of gets rolling late night. Definitely worth checking. No scams here.
A13: Can be a scam joint, I think, although I was never scammed here. Enter at your own risk.
Shot Bar: Heavy scam spot. Fly girls. You make the call.
Cuba Cafe: Dope spot to start off the night. Good intel from the bartender girls.
Celsjus: Younger crowd, fly girls, and possible beefs with large Russian cats. Fun spot.
Studio 69: Another big club in the Essential and Push vein. I never checked it. Only Friday’s and Saturday’s I think.
Pulkvedim Neviens Neraksta: Pretty dope spot, all locals. Cheap club that lacks a little punch. Downstairs is open on Friday’s and Saturday’s.
Blow Style: Greatest name ever for a bar/clip joint. Never rolled in, but I contemplated stepping in and getting scammed just because the name is so dope.
Guaja: Tiny cafe good for a little grind session or a double espresso.
Black Magic Bar: Place that is Black Balsam Bonkers. Seemed kind of touristy so I never stepped foot.
Milk: Local spot outside the old city. They typically don’t let tourists in. This rule did not apply to your humble author. Good on Wednesday’s.
Carpe Diem: Good restaurant for an upscale grind.
Restaurant Bergs: Located in the Hotel Bergs, this place is dope. Kaspars Jansons, who I am told is one of the hottest chefs in the Baltics, man’s the stove. It was also designed by Latvian architect Zaiga Gaile, who I am told is one of the hottest architects in the Baltics. And I went here with one of the hottest girls in the Baltics so it all worked out for me.
Fabrikas: Stoney spot on the other side of the Daugava.
Macaroni Noodle Bar: Sushi spot that a lot of Latvian girls hyped to me. Riga girls love sushi. I didn’t step to any sushi in Riga though.
Dada Restaurant: Good mid-day grind spot.
Lido: Good Latvian food.
Steakhaus: Overpriced Latvian take on a Texas steakhouse. Real weird. Not bad for a cocktail with a couple of fly Latvian girls though.
Double Coffee: Multiple locations that doesn’t only serve coffee. Decent, not great grinds. Had some fly Russian girls step to me in this place, so I can’t hate it.
That is all I can remember off the top of the dome piece (I know I am forgetting a ton of spots, mostly because I don’t speak Russian or Latvian too well, so it was hard for me to remember the names). If you have any questions about some other spots, leave a comment and it might joggle my memory cord.
