The 7 Year Rule: Body Changes

If I asked you about what natural changes took place in a person's body through their lifetime, most would respond with puberty and menopause. Did you know that if you lived to 82 years old, you would have gone through about 12 change? Medical science now states that it takes about 7 years for your body to switch out it proteins for new ones. I have observed that there are also physiological changes that accompany each shift. Some of these changes are subtle, and others are rather dramatic. Following is a list of some features of each 7^th year epoch:

Age 7: Kids grow like weeds. It is about here that we see the change in kids faces from the rounded toddler years into the little-person stage with more well-defined features and voice change.

Age 14: Puberty. Straight forward enough: The boys get masculine and the girls get feminine. Moving on.

Age 21: This one can go unnoticed by most because for most it simply means going from looking teen-ish to looking twenty-something, but for some, changes that take place on par with puberty. Many find a new wave of achene. Girls often develop larger breasts at this stage. Guys often hit another growth spurt (this one hit Shaquille O'neal) and an increased sex drive (like they need that!), giving rise to the “his sexual peak” axiom. It is not as standard as puberty, but many will find it happened to them, or know someone whom it did.

Age 28: Again, for most this is just a shift in face from young twenty-something to late twenty-something. It is much more rare than the change at 21, but similar changes can happen here, though most of us will only get a few passing zits.

Age 35: Mid thirties. Not much here but more body hair (now thicker), less head hair (now thinner), and the realization that your music is now considered “Oldies-ish.”

Age 42: The usual changes in looks are now accompanied by changes in moods of the sexes. Women's sex drive sometimes increase, giving rise to the “her sexual peak” axiom. I'm not sure of the pronounced chemical change, but for guys, this is often when the piercing and the motorcycle come around. Loss of bone and hardening of the arteries should be in mind now – calcium for the ladies, and cut out the sodium for the guys. Also, you should keep a few pairs of reading glasses around the house, because your arms won't be long enough any more!

Age 49: For ladies, menopause sometimes starts here. The late starters on the mid-life-crisis in the guy camp often start here, but the major hormonal changes will be drawing to a close soon.

Age 56: If menopause is going to happen, now is the time! Her equipment is shutting down, but sometimes his is aswell (genetics and drinking factor in here heavily).

Age 63: Those who take care of their bodies through their lives will always stand out. This stage is sort of a big litmus test on that front. We will all run down in time, but here is when, if you took care of yourself, you will only see the gentle decrease of strengths and abilities as is natural in Maturing life. If drinking, smoking, and lack of sleep were sports you excelled in, then you are probably going to get old quick from this point (no, not Mature... just Old). The cells of your body have strained to keep you going this far, but they have had enough!

Age 70 and Beyond: Hormone levels tend to drop off from here on. Some seniors are spry and energetic while others have trouble doing day to day things… This is all a combination of genetics, personal choices, and luck of the draw. 

I am no doctor, but I am observant. This idea is just a combination of things I’ve seen, combined with the few things I’ve read. Hopefully, I’ve hit some marks.

The New Branch of the Military: Prisons

What is the purpose of a prison? To punish law breakers and deviants? To separate the worst of society out from the rest? To give denim uniform makers a good market to sell to? These may all be true, but there is a far better question to ask: How can our prison system work to help society in general, but also help those within?

I firmly believe in punishment and justice, but our prison system is not providing either, and the problems are only growing. We lock men and women in concrete boxes with, packs of wild animals, then stupidly hope that those same men and women will somehow come out better on the other side. I know that many deserve even this, but we cannot ignore countless studies that show rates of re-offenders to be into the high 80 percent range! Unacceptable. Call me selfish or an idealist, but I want a win-win-win situation!

To start, replace the corrections officers with drill Sargents and give everyone a rank - something less than private at first, say grunt, then private when it is earned and so on. An internal structure is established that involves the inmates themselves which give real responsibilities associated with those ranks (Say, a lieutenant gets command over other soldier/inmates, aswell as a private cell, TV privileges, some time off, and and other privileges; as opposed to the grunts and privates under them who are worked hard and get nothing but the essentials). The ranks and privileges will be revocable, thus giving incentives and goals to the inmates. The day to day activities will go on much like any boot camp progressing them to the rest of the program:

Those who refuse to be disciplined or reformed in this way (there will always be a few), go to a standard prison like anyone else. Those who do well enough can go on to labor projects like farms, road work, or entirely new manpower initiatives. But those who do very well and progress through the ranks in this system will go on to a bridge program between this system and the actual military (not walking in at full rank, but some way of equating the prison ranks with lesser military ranks - Say a Prison Master Sargent = an Army Corporal which is 4 ranks below). This will give the convict a purpose, a goal, and a means to progress... Things these people usually desperately need.

Offer this to any convict, with the exceptions of the most vile predators such as rapists and pedophiles, who will be excluded from this option, and they will jump at it to avoid the hell of Standard Prison, and they will be better off for it. How do i know this? Similar systems like this have already been tried and, not surprisingly, the rate of re-offenders drops from the mid 80's down to the staggering 20's or less. This idea is not new, I simply propose that we make it bigger, and tie it into the service of our country.

Is this a win-win-win situation? Well, these systems have an extremely high success rate, helping the convicted. They remove the undesirables from the streets by turning them into something better, helping society. These reformed convicts bolster the vital numbers of military personnel, helping our nation. Finally, these programs tend to run much cheaper and safer, helping the tax payers (you) directly. 

Enough said.

The No Confidence Vote

Soon we will all be walking to the booths again to pull a few levers to make a difference in our nation. Unfortunately, I think most feel as I do, we are too often in a position of choosing between the better of two evils rather than choosing the best man or woman for the job. With our locked-in-two-party system, what choice do we have? How about a way of telling them, "We have no confidence in the candidates you've provided," with a 'No Confidence Vote'?


Imagine this: You walk into the booth and among all the different candidates with (D)'s and (R)'s next to their names, you see *NO CONFIDENCE in a spot all of its own. You decide that you don't have much love for your own party these days (if you have one at all), but nothing about that party member tells you that they are a good choice, and the other is even worse... So you choose *NO CONFIDENCE. Later, when all the votes are tallied, if Mr. *NO CONFIDENCE is the winner, all the candidates in that running are disqualified and the process begins again... And thus you, in essence, said, "No. No good... Try again!"


There are potential problems with this approach and I am always willing to accept another approach, but we need some way of telling those who are supposed to be representing us, "Hey you! This isn't just a job, but a solemn  responsibility to protect our rights and freedoms... You are NOT there to make money, increase your popularity, or to compete for the Lottery of the Oval office! So get with the program!!"

Does God Approve of Medications?

A man was floating in the ocean praying to God to save him, and expecting a miracle. Just then, a rescue helicopter came and tried to rescue him, but he swam away insisting God would send a miracle. Soon after, a fishing boat tried to help him, but again he swam away insisting that God would send a miracle. Later, he saw a fin in the water charging at him. Remembering the Discovery channel, he punched it in the nose, and it went away. Some time later, when his arms were about to give out, a large school of sharks came, and made an end of him.

A Moment later, he was standing at the pearly gates talking to Peter when he asked,  "Sir, I don't get it... I was so sure God would answer my prayer with a miracle... What happened?"
Peter answered, "Son, we sent you a helicopter and a boat. We even sent you a dolphin, but you gave it a bloody nose, and that's what brought the sharks!"


God works through us to accomplish His goals. I know we love to hear of the Fire-From-Heaven sort of miracles, but modern medicines are, in some ways, just as miraculous as Faith Healing to those who need it! So if we are in need, then ofcourse we are allowed, or even responsible to take the meds we need to maintain these bodies He gave us. The only danger I would see is if we put all our faith in doctors and medications.


I believe the balance is here: Do all you can to take care of your own body with exercise, vitamins, and medications when needed, understanding that these are blessing from God Himself (and remembering also that many in this world still don't have those blessings). But if the doctor ever comes to you and says, "There's nothing I can do..." then pray and put it squarely in God's hands... cause he still does do the Old-School Fire-From-Heaven stuff too!