Dose of Testosterone Part 4: Hot Rods

There are some things that men just love. Hot Rods and classic cars are two of those things. I've never met a man who didn't like them. This seems to baffle my wife. And she's not alone. Hot rods are just one of those things that lots of women just don't get. 

I don't know if it is the craftsmanship, the beauty or maybe nostalgia, but something about these beautiful machines from the days of yore, just resonates with me. 

Maybe its not a hot rod, but it does look nice.

This is awesome. Probably completely uncomfortable...but still...awesome.

I know I'm old, because I look at this beautiful machine and think, "I'm not climbing in anything that is that low to the ground."

 

If I had a daughter, I would totally buy this for her.

That's it for this installment. Catch you guys back here next time.

5 Reasons You Should Bodybuild

I used to be a strength athlete. I was moderately strong. I could snatch 100kg and C&J 120kg at a body weight of less than 85kg. I didn't max on squats but 150kg was my workout weight, and 170kg was the heaviest I ever lifted and it wasn't very hard. And that was done with no special prep. 

For most of my time as a strength athlete, I had an elitist attitude to towards bodybuilding. I turned up my nose at anything that wasn't strength oriented. I rationalized my view by saying to myself that strength training is inherently functional and thus carried over to real life, or something like that. Bodybuilding as I saw it, was just exercising for vanity.

As I have grown older, I have also grown somewhat wiser. And I have learned that there are plenty of reasons to train for hypertrophy. 

1. Big muscle keeps trouble makers away.

In case you are unaware, criminals and other assorted bad guys profile before they engage in their nefarious activities. Now every one knows that size does not automatically mean that you can fight. The bad guy knows this better than most people. He's probably been in tons of street brawls and knows first hand that while size can play a role in the outcome of a fight, it is not the sole determinant of success. So when he sees a swole sucker walking down the street, the criminal's ego won't let him believe that he would lose. But he does a quick, mostly subconscious, risk/reward calculation & then decides that others people would make better victims.

Your enlarged musculature will be even better at dissuading average Joes from starting trouble. We've all seen it: two guys are at a party. Maybe one guy A accidentally bumps into guy B. So guy B turns on his heels ready to kick the crap out of guy A only to find that Guy A is jacked to the max. Guy B loses his courage and nearly pisses himself. The worst part is he also loses face.

Again it doesn't always turn out like this, but it does help stack the odds in your favor.

2. Other men will look up to you.

This idea goes back to Jack Donovan's book The Way of Men (<--- by using this link to buy the book, you help support the blog.) In the book Mr. Donovan makes a compelling case that men's job in society, historically speaking, has been to "defend the perimeter". As such, anything that you do to help raise the status of the group, also raises your status within the group. So by becoming larger and more intimidating you help raise the image of your group and thus your peers will hold you in higher regard.

3. Women like guys with big muscles.

We've all heard women say how they don't like huge muscles. The trouble is, every time one of these women finally sees a large muscular male in the flesh, one hemisphere of her brain shuts down, leaving her standing there, knock kneed, with her mouth agape and her tongue hanging out.

Having big muscles significantly increases your attractiveness to women. There is something about being big that elicits a primal, visceral reaction from women. And based on what I've seen, they are helpless to stop it. If I had to guess, I would say a guy who is a 6 could raise his attractiveness to women maybe as high as an 8 if he put on enough muscle.

Women also like to be with men who are esteemed by other men. So having big muscles increases your value to women, but you get another increase in her eyes because other men look up to you. So you get double bonus points for doing one thing.

Could you imagine how that would change your life? If you're single, imagine knowing that wherever you go you'll be able to meet women who will want to talk to you. Or if you're in a relationship, imagine how much better sex will be because you partner doesn't have just a mental attraction to you but she has a primitive, subconscious "OMG! I want to that hunk to pump his superior genetics into me" kinda of attraction to you?

4. Increased strength

There is this belief that floats around the internet, especially among third rate strength athletes, that training in the higher rep ranges doesn't make you stronger. Nothing could be further from the truth. Training in the 8-12 rep range just doesn't transfer well to a 1 rep max. This is because heavy lifting in the 1-3 rep range is neurologically different from training in the 8-12 rep range. (For more on this, read an article called Grease the Groove by Pavel Tsatsouline.) 

This means that if you had been training in the 8-12 rep range and wanted to enter a powerlifting competition you would be well advised run a special training cycle geared more towards strength. I think in the Russian training system this is called transmutation. There are a couple of different ways to do this, but that isn't the point of this post.  

The point is, training in the higher rep ranges does make you stronger, which like point #1 will cause you to be admired by other males.

5. Self Esteem

Finally, and maybe most importantly, being jacked will help your confidence.Being intimidating to other men, envied by other men and alluring to women is bound to give you a healthy dose of self esteem. It is hard to imagine an aspect of your life that would not benefit from this added self esteem. 

You wouldn't sit around despondent because you're single. You'd just go out and get a date. A healthy self esteem mixed with the fact that you're looked up to by other guys means that you probably won't have problems making friends. This self confidence would probably help your career too. You wouldn't hesitate to ask for a raise or a promotion, so you would probably have more money. 

Don't misconstrue this article to mean that I have attained swoleness, because I haven't yet. I have simply realized the error of my ways and intent on fixing them. For all you younger guys out there, I suggest that you learn from my mistakes.

That's it for this post. See you guy next time.

The Master Trait

     It seems that in our Western culture that it has be come en vogue to avoid judgment. Because in judging you have decided that one thing is better than another. And to these people, deciding one culture, one life style, one set of beliefs or values is better than another is bigotry. And it seems that these people hold bigotry as one of the greatest sins someone can commit. Because no one thing is better than any other thing, differences in outcomes must be the result of some kind of injustice. To them the rich are rich because they have taken from the poor. Those who have power must have taken it taken it from someone else. Thus the successful, the rich and the powerful didn't get there by any merit. No they stole what they have. And the unsuccessful, the poor and the weak are their victims. Their victimhood is evidence that they are unwilling to commit the injustices of the rich and powerful and thus victims are seen as a type of saint. The rich and powerful are seen as oppressors.

     The problem with this type of thinking is that it completely ignores reality. In life, somethings are better than others. Some cultures are better than others. Some beliefs, attitudes and values are better than others. Some things are right and other things are wrong.

     In life you must choose. You could choose to take things as the come. Treating all things the same as though nothing is any better than anything else. In so doing you turn your life into a roulette wheel. Even if you accidentally win big with this method, your winnings will slip away as easily as they came.

     Or you could put effort into learning to choose well. Learn to tell the good from the bad, to see subtleties and nuance, to discern motives and intentions and accumulate knowledge and develop understanding. Then use this to choose. This is Wisdom. I once had a Bible that, in the introduction to Proverbs, defined Wisdom as "The ability to make right decisions at opportune times."

     I've posted before (here) about strength being the quintessential masculine trait. Strength, as Jack Donovan puts it, makes you good at being a man. Wisdom, however is not solely a masculine trait. It is a human trait. Moreover is a trait of great people. It is the ultimate force multiplier. More wisdom, more results. Wisdom will make you great.

     Getting Wisdom should be a chief pursuit of everyone. Unfortunately, many people will find this idea is too lofty, too high minded. They just want to live their life. Their life will be one of mixed results and mediocrity. I want to live a great life. I want anyone who sees or hears about me to be in stunned amazement at my life. I want to walk on troubles that others sink in. I want to do with ease what others cannot do at all.

Finally I will leave you with two quotes. They are two of my favorite Bible versus.

"The wise are mightier than the strong, and those with knowledge grow stronger and stronger." Proverbs 24:5

My bible notes that the Hebrew version reads:

"A wise man is strength."

And:

"Above all and before all, do this: Get Wisdom! Write this at the top of your list: Get Understanding!" Proverbs 4:7

2 Places I Would Rather Spend Christmas

     I'm not a big fan of holidays in general. And I really dislike Christmas. Call me crazy, but I just don't like the frantic nature of it all. "What are you bringing?" "Are we getting together at your house or your sister's?" "What time?" "Are we playing dirty Santa?"

     It's all a big pain in the butt. And all I end up doing is catching up with family members that I really don't care much about and watching my brother's kids unwrap presents. I could literally think of hundreds of things that I would rather be doing.

     But it will not always be like this. One day I will have the financial resources to do what I want for the holidays.

     "What are we doing for Christmas?"

     "I don't know what you're doing, but I'm going on vacation."

     With that said here are some pics of 2 places where I would rather spend Christmas:

1. Miami

     There isn't any reason that I want to go to Miami, I've just never been. I'm sure that one trip will be enough for me. I don't really like people, and I really hate crowds. And Miami seems like it will be crowded even in the off season. Apparently peak season starts in December and runs through April. So maybe this isn't the best time for me to go. But its better than wasting time with my family.

2. Cancun

     Again, this is just another place I've never been. My wife went for her honeymoon to her first husband and is dying to go back. 

Snorkeling in an underground river sounds like fun to me, but I'm not sure if my wife will like it.

Shopping is something my wife can really get into. It is how we spend 90% of our vacations.

  

That's it for this post. Sadly I'll be spending this Christmas with family. 

Starting Your Life Off Right

     In my town there is a church that used to hand out food to the poor one day a week. They did this for almost 20 years, I think. I knew the preacher who ran this whole thing. Most of the people who volunteered were elderly. A lot of them volunteered so they could steal from the supplies. Isn't that sad? People from this church and other churches donated food and money to help the poor, but the free stuff wasn't enough for these people. These volunteers were mostly poor themselves. So they received the food and clothing that other people received, plus the preacher would let them take a few extra things for volunteering. But the free stuff wasn't enough, they had to take more. Unbelievable!

     At the time, I had the luxury of scheduling my days off. So I would schedule my day off  so that I could help out. Not just once or twice a year, but every week I was there. I think everyone should spend 1 day a week for at least six months (preferably a year or two), helping the needy. The reason for this, is because in some parts of American culture there is a tendency to romanticize the poor.

     Don't get me wrong. There a people who are legitimately poor through no fault of their own. There are also those who want the proverbial "hand up, not a hand out." There are also those who are poor and will never be able to work again. But after 6 months of volunteering, you'll find that the most of the people you're helping are full of crap.

     The first tell that you'll notice is that nearly every member of the family is on or is trying to get on disability. I'll admit, in a country of 300 million people, there will be instances where disabled boy meets disabled girl and together and they have disabled children. But even in a country as large as the US, this will be very rare.

     When i say that every member in these families were "disabled" I don't mean mentally handicap or something legitimate. I mean the husband can't work because his back hurts, the wife has migraines, or little Billy has anger issues. All of their issues were easy to fake, and hard to disprove.

     We saw dozens of families each week and overwhelmingly the majority fit this description. They weren't needy, they were lazy. The didn't want to work. They wanted others to make life easy for them. Out of all the people we helped, there were about 6 or 7 who really needed help. And everything we gave to the undeserving could have been given to the 6 or 7 deserving.

     I share this story to make a point: Humans are prone to laziness. Some people are so lazy that they won't even do the minimum to take care of themselves and their families. Most people aren't that lazy though. Need and fear of being shamed motivates most people into working hard enough to meet their own needs, but just barely. Most people don't really ever work much harder than they have to. Most people live paycheck to paycheck and wonder why they can't get ahead.

     Might I suggest something different? Might I suggest that, those of you in your late teens and early twenties start hustling. Those of us who are older and married are somewhat limited in our options. And I feel genuine pity for you poor bastards that have kids. But for those of you who are 18-25, start hustling.

     These are your prime years. If you're smart, you'll put down your PS4 controller, quit going to the club every weekend, quit vegging out in front of the T.V. or computer and get a second job. At your age you should be working at least 50 hours a week. Preferably more like 60+ hours a week. And save or invest everything over your normal 40 hr/wk pay.

     Now some who are soft-hearted (and soft between the ears) will say something like, "No one ever laid on their death bed and said, 'I wish I had worked more.'" This is a bull crap statement said by lazy hippies who want to rationalize their own laziness. And I will grant you that no one says things like this on their deathbed, but its because people who are dying have better things to think about than their careers. But that doesn't mean that working more during your early years can't have positive effects on the rest of your life.

     Imagine, getting married and having a house that's already paid off. Imagine what you could do with that extra money now that you don't have a mortgage. Imagine leaving the rat race for good at 22, because you had the capital to start your own business. Imagine what kind of vacations you can take your wife & kids on because you worked hard when you were young.

     You can do whatever you want, but I'm in my mid-30's and I regret not working more when I was younger. It would have made all the difference in the world.

Crazy Old Man Rants: The Metric System

     I don't frequently agree with liberals, but occasionally they are right about some things. For instance, you will sometimes hear a college aged libtard say something like, "Herpa derp, the rest of the world uses the metric system. We should too."

     I really couldn't care less about what the rest of the world does. Not caring about what the rest of the world did used to be one of the great qualities of Americans. And it seems that our recent decline (the last 15-20 years) is directly correlated with caring more about the opinions of the rest of the world. Nay, I say that caring about the opinions of other nations is at least a partial cause for our decline as a nation,

Remember kids, never listen to a hippie.

     We were the leaders, not just of the free world, but the entire world. We were the most awesome country in the world. People literally risked their lives to get to this country. Even now, after we've lost a large degree of our awesomeness, people will still risk death just to come to this country. Females who trek from Central America to the U.S. will most likely be raped along the way. Some will even be raped multiple times. But hey, apparently being raped and suffering a life time of herpes outbreaks is still better than living in Mexico.

     That's how awesome we were. We had such reserves of awesomeness that even after significant declines, we're still the best...even if just barely.

     But, on the point about America switching to the metric system, our little libtard friend is correct. But as usual, even when a liberal happens to be right about something, they will inevitably be right for the wrong reasons.

     Case and point, America should not switch to the metric system because everyone else is doing it. I don't care what they do. No, we should convert to the metric system because it is a better system than the one we have.

    Without Googling it, how many teaspoons in a tablespoon? How many quarts in a gallon? How many cups in a pint? How many yards in a mile?

    Now if you do know most of this, then I would guess that you do a lot of cooking and/or you're a woman. For some reason our current system makes sense to women. And that actually makes sense to me. Because women have an ability to understand the inanely complicated. I think this is because women are themselves inanely complicated and thus take to our current system of weights and measures like a moth to a flame.

     Now, I will demonstrate the superiority of the metric system. The base measurement for mass in the metric system is the gram. The two most used measures for mass are the gram (g) and the kilogram (kg).  There are 1000 grams in a kilogram. See how easy that was. Here's another: the base measure of distance is the meter. There are 1000 meters in a kilometer. Every thing is base 10, so it's easy to remember.

     But here is where Americans get tripped up, they say "Well, how many pounds are in a kilogram?" To which I say, "It doesn't matter."

     Do you go into the gas station, reach for a one liter of Pepsi, but then stop and ask, "How many ounces are in a liter?" NO! Do you know why? Because it doesn't matter.

     So if tomorrow you get the hankering to make some home made bread, and find that when you get to Wal-Mart all the flower is now sold in 1kg bags, don't ask "Well, how many pounds is that?" Because it doesn't matter. And besides it is 2.20462 lbs per kg. And I did know that from memory, even though I checked Google to make sure I was right. Originally I carried out the decimal two places further than Google. You have my permission to be impressed.

      And don't think for a second that I am proposing that there should be some kind of government mandate saying "From now on we will all use this." First of all, private companies have the right to use whatever system they want. And if you or I don't like it, then we can choose not to buy their stuff. Second, if the government were to get involved, then it would undoubtedly screw up what should be very simple.

     Instead I wish that companies, say Pepsi, would just start labeling their products with the metric system, and nothing else. No additional info telling how many ounces. Just the metric measurement. So we would have .5L, 1L and 2L bottles of Pepsi.

    I guess I would pass one law regarding the switch. I would make I legal to smack the crap out of anyone who dared to ask, "But how many ounces is that?"

Let Your Kids Drop Out! Part 3

     Welcome back.

     In part 1 of this series, I made the case that the public school system is not designed to teach your kids. It is instead just a mechanism to teach them to follow rules. Students are only taught enough to keep up the ruse.

     In part 2, I explained that the best alternative to the school system is to home school your children. But since this isn't an option in most families, the second best option is for the child to drop out a soon as it is legal to do so, and get their GED. Also the student should avoid putting too much time into succeeding academically. The child should also be discouraged from extra curricular activities. Both academic success and extra curricular activities are enormous wastes of time. And neither offer a payoff that would make such an investment of time worthwhile. Extra curricular activities are also ridiculously expensive.

     Now don't misunderstand me. I am not against learning. I am an information junky. I really can't get enough of it. But I think it's time to tell it like it is, and that is, not much real education takes place in the public school system. If it did, don't you think rich people would send their kids to public schools?

She'll probably make more than you once she finishes her training.

     By all means encourage your children to learn. If they like math, have them hop on Kahn Academy's Youtube channel and learn nonlinear algebra. Or encourage them to read great books, or work on cars, or whatever. But don't let them waste their time on something that doesn't offer a meaningful return, when they could be living life.

     I also don't want you to think that I want all these kids dropping out and sitting on the couch playing the latest Call of Duty until you finally get sick of it and kick them out. The day after they drop out, you should take them to the best tech school in your area and enroll them in a program that teaches a skill that is in high demand. Now the way most tech schools work is, you have a 3 hour morning class and a 3 hour after lunch class. If your kid takes, say welding, both in the morning and in the afternoon, he'll complete the course in about a year. They could take 1 class full time or take 2 classes part time. So maybe take welding in the morning and automotive repair in the afternoon.

     The real beauty of tech schools is that they are mostly work at your own pace. This has two benefits. First it means if your child has trouble with math, then they can take their time and really learn the material and not have to worry about falling behind the rest of the class. Or if they are learning very quickly, the blaze ahead at their own speed. But secondly and most importantly, your teenage son or daughter has to learn to work independently and a be self starter. It forces them to mature.

Thought I should include a pic of some sciencey stuff.

     Then after, they've completed their tech school course, and hopefully matured some, then they can consider getting a 4 year degree in a STEM field.  If they aren't interested in one of those 4 fields, then college is mostly just another waste of time and money. So it's fine if they decide that they want to skip college. At least have a marketable skill that is in demand. How many 18 year olds can say that?

     So to recap: The public education system sucks. You should get your kids out ASAP. Encourage you children to not invest their time and effort in getting good grades. Also discourage them from joining extra curricular activities. They are a waste of your child's time and a waste of your money. Get your kids into tech school and have them learn a skill that's in demand. Then send your kids to college, if they are interested in getting a STEM degree. Otherwise, they should skip college and join the labor force.

     Well, that wraps up this series on the public education system. If you like this series, be sure to share it on Facebook. Share it even if you don't like it...even if you hate it.

A Warning To All Young Men...

     My wife, who is several years older than I am, has been married before. I met her the same year she married her first husband. He was a real piece of work. He regretted the marriage immediately. He regretted marrying young and not partying and playing the field. He seemed to take out his unhappiness on her through out the marriage. He never hit her or anything, but he did do his best to make her as miserable in the marriage as he was. I think his goal was to get her to leave him so that he could look like the victim. It took a few years for him to finally man up enough to just say he wanted out.

     My wife knew that the marriage would end sooner rather than later. What she did not know is that her husband had been accumulating tens of thousands of dollars in credit card debt. Even though she tried to mentally prepare herself for the end of her marriage, when the end came, it threw her into a tail spin.

     She couldn't think clearly and just wanted the whole thing to be over. And so she gave him an uncontested divorce. He walked away scot-free, and there she was left with over $20,000 in credit card debt.

     She and I married a few years later. I was in my early twenties. She was in her late twenties.  I knew she had credit card debt. But I also knew that she had been working on paying it down for years while living with her parents. After we  married I found out that she had mostly been paying the minimum payments and was thus still over $20,000 in debt.

     At the beginning of our marriage, I had some employment problems. Some of them were my fault. Some of them weren't. I had two extended periods of unemployment, and several shorter periods. Even though my wife always had a full time job, because we were already in debt, we struggled to pay our bills, Our $20,000 grew to almost $40,000. Later, unpreventable medical bills would add almost another $7000.

Choosing to go into debt, means choosing to forgo having stacks of cash. Trust me, stacks of  cash are cooler.

     By fall 2016 we will have most of our debt paid off. We should be debt free before 2018. We've been paying on it for over a decade. It has sucked the life out of us. After more than 10 years of marriage we don't have a house.  All of our furniture was given to us. The majority of the pots and pans we own were given to us. In fact most of our belonging, except our clothes, were given to us. It is an act of God that our older car is still running.

     I said all of that to say this. Men, especially you young men, stay away from credit card debt. If you want to put your monthly fuel expenditures on a credit card and pay it off at the end of the month, then fine. But do not go out and buy rounds for all your buddies. Don't charge that new couch for your apartment. Whatever it is, don't charge it.

     I'm not a minimalist. Want a new TV that is so big that is covers one whole wall of your living room? Fine. Want a new computer? Fine. Want a new rifle? Fine. Or maybe you want to take your family on a Caribbean cruise? All of that is fine, but save up the cash before you make the purchase.

     Trust me on this, accumulating credit card debt is much easier than paying it off.