Select Page
Finally Watched Season 4 of The Walking Dead!

Finally Watched Season 4 of The Walking Dead!

The Walking Dead Season 4

So with all the traveling I did over the past I finally got to watch season 4 of The Walking Dead. It started off good then they brought the Gov back and he was just nothing but annoying. Then I got pissed off that after all that time in Prison they didn’t have a better plan for an attack and they had the shittiest escape plan. The writing couldn’t have been any worse. It turns out that I was wrong, the writing did get worse.

They went and split everyone up! I get it, it’s a drama, if you don’t have drama, then you don’t have drama. But, you can have drama without having stupid.

It was just about this time when I had given up on the season. I was a little more than halfway through the season. I don’t know if to say “It got good” is the way to say it. But, I got hooked. The storyline with Carol, Tyreese and the girls. So heart breaking. What she does, wow! It was so good!

Emily Kinney "Beth Green" on The Walking DeadWhen I copied the episodes on to my flash drive for travel, for some reason episode 13 didn’t transfer over. If you skip that episode then are you left with the impression that Beth was killed. I was heart broken!

It was kinda funny, I had developed a little crush on her. But, I had been feeling guilty about it because this is the little girl that was in some of the Harry Potter movies. On TWD she’s the younger daughter of Maggie, she’s just a kid. I decided to look her up online. I just don’t really remember much of her character from previous seasons and how did I not really notice her. I discover, she’s not a little girl, I am thankfully not the pervert I had been feeling like I was. She isn’t a teen at all. She hasn’t been one for a while. She’s 29 years old! I had been feeling guilty that she was like 17 or 18. I felt so much better about my crush after learning she’s almost 30.

I finally watch episode 13 and to my relief, unless I missed something, Beth is not dead! She’s been kidnapped! I can live with that. That means she’ll be back!

Oh and on side note, I can’t believe they killed the old man! WTF was that all about!? Who didn’t love Hershel?!  After that, they couldn’t kill The Governor enough! His death should have been more violent and painful.

All in all it turned out to be a great season.

Season 5 starts on AMC Sunday October 12th according to their website.

Some Basic Shark Facts!

Some Basic Shark Facts!

San Antonio Douche Bag Catches 800 Tiger SharkLast night in my Facebook news feed I came across a story that ABC 7’s news feed put out about an idiot fisherman from San Antonio.  He spent 8 hours killing an 800 pound Tiger shark off the coast.  I tried to not rage about it and failed miserably.  My anger and frustration was put forth in mini-rant left in the comments section.  It was than followed by a smaller rant when I shared ABC 7’s post on my timeline.

This morning I noticed a response from one of my Facebook friends asking some very good questions.  I spent about 30 minutes trying to answer them the best I could.  I am not a shark expert.  Although, maybe I am?  I seem to know more about sharks than anyone I know.  I’ve have been watch Shark Week from the very beginning.  But honestly, I don’t really consider myself to be an expert.  Just educated on the topic is all.

So, I thought that I would put together some basic information here.  Information that answers very basic questions people might have as well as some links to where I got the information. These are just basic questions about populations, fatal attacks and a few things along those lines.  Now, I would never expect anyone to just believe me.  You should always fact check your information by checking at least two different legitimate sites.  I don’t have time to list to a bunch of sites but I will try to list at least one reputable site when I post things as facts.  If you want to question what I say beyond what I say and the links provided, please do so.

How many people do sharks kill on average per year?

On average about 4.2 but it really does vary I’ve seen years where the numbers have been between 11 and 15.  But the average is still about 4.2 a year worldwide.
http://oceana.org/en/our-work/protect-marine-wildlife/sharks/learn-act/shark-attack-statistics

 How many sharks do we kill per year?

About 100,000,000!  That’s right, 100 million!
http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2013/03/01/100-million-sharks-killed-every-year-study-shows-on-eve-of-international-conference-on-shark-protection/

How many sharks are there?

There are an estimated 1,000,000,000 that’s 1 billion for the numerically impaired out there.  However, this is just an estimate.  No one knows for sure.
http://wonderopolis.org/wonder/how-many-sharks-are-in-the-ocean/

How many kinds of sharks are there?

There are at least 440 species of sharks.  Most of them are completely harmless.
http://www.worldwildlife.org/species/shark
Some Different Shark Species

 If there are so many sharks, how can they considered to be endangered?

I know how to answer this but I am not sure how to link to just one or two sites to show where I got my facts my from.  I will post some links of course but they won’t give you the full story so I suggest you do your own research or just take my word for it.  Though I am not going to lie to you, it’s always best to do your own research.

Not all sharks are considered to be endangered.  As I mentioned earlier there are well over 400 species of sharks and most of them go unnoticed by society as they aren’t threatening to us.  It’s the large sharks mostly that are endangered.

I think the first thing to understand is the world’s oceans take up most of the Earth’s surface.  About 70% of the earths surface is covered by water.  That’s a lot of water.  Now consider that the larger, endangered sharks are the ocean’s top predator.  They are the top of the food chain.  When their numbers decline it effects everything else in the ocean straight down to plankton.  That also means that they effect the whales and even coral reefs.

Another way to look at is to consider the world’s population is 7 billion.  It sounds like a lot doesn’t it.  But, in reality, if you placed a two foot by two foot square on the ground and then placed them side by side, the worlds population could fit in LA County.  Now we’re talking about maybe just a billion sharks world wide.  So we’ve got 7 billion people living in 30% of the world that consists of land.  The remaining 70% is filled by just 1 billion sharks.  Now when you consider that it’s mainly just the large sharks, the ones we consider to be the top predators, the numbers are so much smaller.  Yet, they are completely responsible for the ocean’s food chain.  The more we kill, the more damage we do to the world’s oceans.
http://oceana.org/en/eu/our-work/marine-wildlife/sharks/learn-more/the-importance-of-sharks
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2009/jun/25/sharks-extinction-iucn-red-list
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/10/111031-population-7-billion-earth-world-un-seven/
(See question number two and then scroll down to see the answer.)

How do we kill so many sharks?

We are fishing them into extinction.  Many places around the world there is a thing called Shark Fin Soup.  Sharks are killed by the thousands every hour by these fisherman.  It is a brutal, horrific and cruel death for these sharks.  These inhumane bastards catch the sharks an then cut off all their fins while the shark is still alive.  They are then just tossed off the ship, again, still alive as they spiral down to the bottom of the ocean where they suffocate and die or are killed by the enormous pressure along the way.

Then there’s the idiots that just kill sharks for the fun of it.  The typical moronic actions of sports hunters.  A perfect example of this type of moron is Ryan Spring from San Antonio. The guy spent 8 hours killing a Tiger shark for no reason.  Or if there was a reason, he isn’t saying.  He did say that he is going to donate the meat to charity.  But, that’s a lot like killing someone for fun and then saying, “It’s okay, I plan to do some community service so it’s all good.”
http://ocean.si.edu/ocean-news/shark-finning-sharks-turned-prey
http://abcnews.go.com/Weird/wireStory/texas-fisherman-catches-809-pound-tiger-shark-24856106

Shark Fins by Getty Images

Shark Fins by Getty Images

I hope this answer some questions.  I enjoyed writing about it and I think if I get some more time I will try to write another shark themed article on the best ways to avoid getting attacked or killed by sharks. Sure you could just stay out of the worlds oceans and rivers but what kinda fun is that?  Yes, I did just say “rivers”.   If you didn’t know, there are some species of sharks that can swim in fresh water.  Sorry to ruin your next trip to the river…

 

 

How I Quit Smoking And Stayed Quit For Over A Year!

How I Quit Smoking And Stayed Quit For Over A Year!

Smoker Lighting A Cigarette

Not me anymore!

It’s August 2nd 2014 as I write this and as the title says I did in fact quite one year ago today.  It was August 2nd 2013 that I quit smoking.  So actually, it’s been a year and a day but let’s not nitpick.  The year hasn’t been easy and my life has changed a lot since then.  I’ve had to deal withdrawals, serious health issues, prescription medications, frustrations, depression, legal issues and of course there’s that time I killed a prostitute.

Okay, I didn’t really have any depression.   But, it was a difficult year for a great many reasons.  I really did have a lot of the above issues.  However, my biggest triumph is that I quit smoking.  I always new that I would quit someday.  And, August 1st of last year I had no plans to quit the following day. So what made me quit and how did I do it?

They say that you should plan to quit.  You shouldn’t just wake up and quit.  That you need to plan for it, be prepared for it.  I did none of that really.  Of course I knew that someday I would quit but it was day long off into the future.  I had this idea that I would first lose some weight and have beautiful, wonderful girlfriend that didn’t smoke and she would help me through it.  That I would want to quit for not only her but for myself.

But, before I get into how I quit, let me briefly say briefly what didn’t help me quit.  I do this because I hope that maybe the liars and the morons behind why I didn’t quit sooner will read this and see that for all their bullshit, they had absolutely nothing to do with helping me quit and actually encouraged me to continue smoking.  I am talking about all the bullshit “facts” about smokers.  (not saying that all facts on why you should quit smoking are bullshit.  I am just saying that many “facts’ aren’t really facts they’re more like misleading misuse of the facts.)  I am talking about all the commercials that tried to shame me or scare me into quitting smoking.  The commercials that misrepresent the facts in order to scare you.

Looking at pictures and videos of people with holes in their throats didn’t do shit for me.  That blonde lady who is now dead with that hole in her throat trying to scare me into quitting was such bullshit.  I love how they added CGI smoke coming out of her throat.  I love how all these commercials completely misrepresent the facts using scare tactics and bullshit.  It didn’t work for me, it had the opposite effect actually.  I would become defiant when I saw these ads or heard of these so called facts.  All the bullshit around second hand smoke.  Is it dangerous? It can be.  If you work around it all day long the facts absolutely suggest that it can be.  So, if this bothers you.  Don’t work around it.  It’s pretty simple really.  If you’re walking in a well ventilated area and happen to get a whiff of someones second smoke, you’re not going to die.  You will probably have that disgusting smoke smell on you but it’s not really going to cause you any harm unless you already have severe respiratory issues.  So let’s just be honest about this and lose the cult mentality over it.

Let’s be honest about the numbers here.  The vast majority of smokers don’t die because they smoked.  Both my grandfathers smoked most of their adult lives and their deaths had nothing to do with smoking.  This isn’t to say that it’s a good idea to start smoking or that I condone it.  It is bad for, it can kill you.  The science doesn’t just suggest it, it proves it!  But to say smoking kills is misleading.  Smoking can kill.  That’s more factual.  But, my point here isn’t about the science.  It’s about the advertising that didn’t work for me.

You couldn’t scare me into quitting by throwing bullshit facts in my face.  Like the one that says over 500,000 people die every year from a smoking related illness.  That’s really misleading.  Because it implies that over 500,000 people die from smoking every year.  They do not.  Or if they do I have never any data that suggests it.  What they did there is add up all the ways in which people can die that also relate to illnesses that smoking can help to cause.  A great example is lung cancer.    A lot of smokers die from this.  But, so do a lot of people who don’t smoke, who never smoked and they still died from lung cancer.  But, their death, because it’s was caused by an illness that can be attributed to smoking.  This is total bullshit.  Their death was not caused by smoking.

Let me clear that up.  Let’s say that last year 25,000 people died of lung cancer.  Of those 25,000 people 15,000 of them were actual smokers.  It doesn’t matter.  Lung cancer is considered a smoking related illness.  So, the anti-smoking lobby can say those 25 people died of a smoking related illness.  Do you see how misleading that is? It implies that all 25,000 people were smokers.  So you can’t believe these people and that is a terrible thing.  Because smoking is bad for you and it can kill you.  I am just saying that you don’t need to make shit up about how bad smoking is.  The science is there.   Don’t scare me with bullshit.  Nicorette Fruit Chill Gum TV Commercial

So what did help?  A few commercials motivated me when I did quit.  Granted I didn’t use their methods but the commercials themselves made me feel better about myself by supporting me in a positive way.  Those commercials where a person is asked if they want to have a smoke break or is faced with a situation where they would normally smoke but they choose not to. Then the tiny band pops up singing, “I just want to celebrate!”  I thought of those commercial almost every time I wanted a smoke and didn’t have one.  I pictured that tiny band singing that song to me.  There was also the commercial with the little line cartoon and the guy smoking that wanted to quit but keeps smoking.  The narrator tells him it’s not easy but there’s help if he wants it and he just need to call some 800 number.  It was again a positive commercial.  It didn’t try to scare me or shame me.  It tried to support me.  It offered help not a scare tactic.  It offered compassion not shame.

When August 2nd 2013 rolled around I had already been planning on going to Laughlin for my upcoming birthday on the 27th. I love the Colorado Belle, if I could move in there I would.   I wanted to save some money.  I had just bought an eCig and my thought was that if I can smoke this more often instead of smoking a real cigarette I could save a good 60 or 70 bucks before my trip.

I was at Walmart on the 2nd and I had walked by the nicotine patches then I saw the gum.  I thought, just for the heck of it, what if I just try to quit for a day?  Maybe I could just actually smoke less.  Maybe just have one or two smokes a day with the help of the gum.  I bought a pack for 30 bucks.  I got home and started chewing.  I think I had 3 or 4 pieces that day?  With each hour that passed I started to wonder, how long can I go before I just have to break down and smoke?  By the end of the day smoking was all I could think of.  I had trouble sitting still.  The thought of smoking was consuming me.

However, another thought was creeping into my head.  What if I could actually quit smoking.  My dad quit smoking 10 or 15 years ago.  My grandfather on my mother’s side quit smoking in the late 70’s.  I remember it well.  He lived with us.  I was just kid back then.  But, I remember him coming home from a brief stay in the hospital.  The doctor had told him he didn’t have a choice, he had to quit.  He never smoked again.  Keeping them in mind also was a great help.  If they could do it, so I could I.  Then I started to think, I made it through the day, maybe I can make it through another day.

It was rough but I made it through.  I stopped taking the gum after the first day.  As I understand it, the patch and the gum just add to your suffering because it keeps the nicotine in your system.  Without them the nicotine is out of your system in about 48 hours.  I could be wrong about that but it’s what I had heard.  I thought, let’s get that crap out of my system.

I knew the hard part of quitting would be the habit.  It’s truly is a two step process.  You have to get the nicotine out of your system.  That’s actually the easy part.  The difficult part is breaking the habit.  For me, I would work at my desk in front of the computer all day and about every hour I would get up for a smoke break.  I’d be out at the side door of my garage taking that glorious, relaxing smoke break.  I loved those!  I would have one if I had to wait for something, anything, if I had to wait for something and it was going to take more than a minute, I was out on a smoke break.  I would have one before dinner and of course there’s not much better than the after dinner smoke break.  And, having one with my morning coffee.

Smoking is a habit and giving up all those wonderful breaks can be one of the hardest things you will ever do.  I decided to try and fool my brain.  I went and bought some Red Vines.  I would grab 4 or 5 of them when I craved a smoke break.  I would go to my usual smoke break spot and bite the ends off the Red Vines and pretend it was a cigarette.  I would actually inhale through the thing like it was a smoke.  It sounds so silly now but damn it didn’t really help me!  I would take a long drag and then a bite.  Those 4 or 5 vines would take about as long as smoke break to go through.  I can’t express how much this helped me get through it.

I think the most difficult day was day 3 or 4?  I was miserable.  I was in such a bad mood that day.  I just wanted to beat or kill everyone.  Everything was pissing me off.  I wasn’t expecting that it was the closest I ever came to cheating on my new resolution and having a smoke.  I kept telling myself.  “Don’t kill yourself, you can have just one smoke.  You deserve it!”  Somehow, I made it through that day and didn’t smoke at all.

I kept up the Red Vines trick for about a week and a half.  By this time, I still wanted to smoke.  But, I could finally have brief moments where I wouldn’t think about smoking.  It still wasn’t easy.  I loved smoking.  I knew it was bad for me, I couldn’t even take full deep breaths any more.  And all that crap about Erectile Dysfunction was somewhat true.  I don’t want to get into the gory details other than to briefly say I had some issues over it.  I wasn’t completely broke down there but there were some “getting there” issues.  I look back at all the years of some less than stellar moments in the bedroom and at times it makes me wish I could get a “do-over”.  But, that’s how powerful the control smoking can have over you.

The Red Vines weren’t my only help.  I have to admit that I always hated smoking.  When I was teenager I couldn’t stand it.  I looked down at smoker in some ways.  I always knew it was bad for you.  It always stinks and you can always smell people who smoke.  Now, I walk past some people and I can smell it so strongly that it almost makes me gag.

This was one of the joys of quitting.  Since I worked at home and I don’t date much if at all any more.   I don’t go out unless it’s to go see my kids or go shopping.  That smoking smell just soaks in.  Because of it, I never could just really go out at the drop of a hat.  I knew I smelled so if I suddenly realized I needed something from the store for example, I would have to take a shower just so that I wouldn’t stink as bad.  It was always a hassle.  In fact that was the biggest reason I kept not smoking once I finally quit.  I didn’t really care about my health enough to quit.  I loved smoking too much.  There are few things better than enjoying a good smoke break.  It made quitting more difficult for me because I loved it.  I still do love the idea of it.  But, the reality of tit is what keeps me from smoking.

I love not having to spend the money on it.  I love that I don’t stink like smoke any more.  I feel better about myself knowing that I don’t have all that crap in my body anymore.  It’s been a year and there are times I think about smoking.  In fact I still have 3 and a half packs sitting out in the garage that I haven’t touched since August 1st 2013.  I keep them there as a reminder.  For some reason it helped me knowing that they were there in case I ever really needed them.  It took long a time and I am glad to say that after a year, I still look at them.  It’s just that now I don’t keep them because I might really need them.  I keep them as a reminder that I never did really need them.