Category Archives: Uncategorized

If Alternative Medicine Were Bricks

Photo by Michael Kappel

“Bricks have been proven to function as one of the strongest, most reliable building materials available.”

They have been used in China, the Middle East and Europe for thousands of years. Even the ancient Romans knew the strength of bricks. Bricks are made from all natural ingredients.

Here are some great products we have made based on this research!

  • POWDERED BRICK. This powder contains high levels of brick sourced from only the purest, most reputable brickyards. Every bag contains over 50% brick carefully ground into powder using our proprietary technology. This guarantees that the brick can be absorbed into your home’s structure. In clinical trials, a preparation of brick powder using concrete as a “carrier” medium was successful in building houses up to 3 stories tall.
  • GAIA FORM BR. More and more homeowners want eco-friendly houses. They try many things including earth floors, clay walls and straw bale construction. All of these materials have drawbacks as they are not strong, long-lasting materials! But did you know bricks contain clay and straw? In fact many bricks are made mostly of these all natural materials. But that wasn’t enough for our research team—we decided to add even more all natural, renewable straw to our bricks. Gaia Form bricks are over 98% straw! That means less lime, less grit and a completely earth-friendly product. Plus the crumbly, burnt-brownie texture of these hand fired bricks makes each one unique.
  • MEGABRICK 770X. Every serving of MegaBrick 770X contains no less than 770 oven-fired bricks bound together using the patented “Adhezion” process into a single, giant block. This block contains more brick than an average garden walkway! MegaBrick 770X is sold in boxes of 100 servings, enough to build a massive pyramid-like house. That’s 77,000 bricks! When you consider how much it would cost to buy those bricks individually, you are saving a huge amount of money. Even home architecture guru Frank Lloyd Wright sketched plans for a giant block-built house!

(I will skip the painfully easy homeopathy joke.)

The problem with these examples is not that bricks don’t work as building materials. It’s that just saying something is “brick” doesn’t mean it works like real bricks, and the marketing intentionally obscures the difference.

Most of us intuitively understand what bricks are and how they work. We played with blocks as kids.

None of us played with peptides as kids. We did not have a talking teddy who inhibited the downregulation of adinopectin. We cannot, without extensive research and training, tell the difference between Brick Powder and a magnificent red brick house.

Which is something to consider when you decide to “try” alternative medicine.


I’m Changing Rogue Priest

Photo by seier+seier

There are some changes brewin’ around this blog.

For two years I’ve blogged, without fail, a minimum of twice per week (typically Monday/Thursday), with other posts scattered here and there. Sometimes I’ve posted daily.

From here on it will be once per week.

Every Wednesday there will be a brand new soul-searching post in this space. Why the cutback? I’m focusing on a variety of new writing projects, and I don’t want the quality to suffer her. To the contrary, I believe that giving my full attention to a single weekly essay will make Rogue Priest even stronger.

This doesn’t mean there will never be extra posts here—if something strikes me I might still blog throughout the week. But in general, expect posts on Wednesdays.

So what are you going to do with all this extra reading time? Well, a number of you asked that I write about Celtic polytheism, and that’s one of my new projects:

The Celtic Polytheism Blog

That blog is only a week old and already I’ve written about folklore, myth, beautiful artwork, terrible research, and proper grammar. The gods would be so proud! Please check it out and share it widely. The feedback I receive on that blog will help shape the books I’m writing about Celtic religion.

(Yes, there will be books! Multiple of them!)

The other projects I’m working on include finishing Lúnasa Days, writing new fiction, creating a Vodou podcast, and launching the Salon of Magic.

Still sad? Need something to read? This Cracked article will either make you cry or change your life. I highly recommend it.

 


When You Stay Your Sweat Smells Black

I can feel it. Every surface of my body, every stretch of skin. The sweat of a sick man, and it clings.

Biking 30, 60, 90 miles a day and bathing in lakes—never any smell. My sweat rolled off like salt water, the space under my arms was clean. My laundry sack kept empty day after day.

But here, at this desk, fetid air. Why do my clothes stink? I changed them, I showered. Why can I smell socks when feet are way down there? I feel feverish, but have no cold. No flu. No exotic bug.

My meals are rich and sugared. Coffee in the morning. Beer at night. Then I sit on an office chair and type. Two hours, four hours. Take a break for a walk. Back to the office chair.

When you burn you burn clean. When you smolder there’s smoke up there.

I look at my bike. He’s ready. Let’s go.


A Lúnasa Wish

Happy Lúnasa everyone.

Lúnasa is a major holiday for me. It’s the festival of the Heroic God, Lugh.

In Ireland, Lúnasa was once one of the most important annual holidays. The traditions at the heart of the celebration remain alive today in summer fairs around the world.

How do you celebrate Lúnasa? With sports, contests, music, tests of skill, games, food, drink and good company. One of the most unique traditions is a horse race through water. Riding on a swimming horse ain’t easy, so I hear.

(Personally, I’ll stick to regular swimming with my peeps tonight.)

Lúnasa is a chance to showcase your talents, to join in friendly competition, and to make merry with your friends. The best part is, it lasts basically all month.

My only wish for this festival is that more people will join in. Here are three ways you can join the celebration and put a smile on my face:

  1. Buy someone a drink, and raise your glass to Lugh. He is the spirit who inspires us to sacrifice for others.
  2. Spend time playing sports or games with friends. Your laughter is a greater gift than any burnt offering.
  3. Go for a swim!

And please, take a moment to leave a comment and say how you’re celebrating this ancient holiday. What does it mean to you?

Merry Lúnasa all!


Drop-In Party in Minneapolis

I’m having a party, and you’re all invited!

If you haven’t seen it on the Rogue Priest Facebook page (which you should go like right now to get a lot more updates than you get here), I’m in Minneapolis for the next week or so. And this Saturday I’m having an all-day meetup!

The meetup will happen at the Uptown Cafeteria. On their rooftop patio. That way we can look out over the city and like barons surveying our demesne. Barons with bloody mary’s, coffee and hearty food.

Show up any time 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Saturday, July 28
Uptown Cafeteria (in Calhoun Square), found here.

Look for me, the Giant, and a menagerie of the most fun/creative minds in Minnesota on the rooftop. Everyone’s invited even if we’ve never met before! Come on down!

You can RSVP here.


Is Your Spouse an Asset?

Everybody’s horrified of aging. I worry I won’t be as sexy or I’ll lose my edge physically. It will be many years before I’m at risk of losing my edge mentally yet somehow, I worry about that too.

A lot of these worries are in our heads. I don’t think it’s very often that we actually spend time with people over the age of 50, at least not for those of us in our 20s and 30s. Lately I’ve had a chance to spend a lot of time with older couples and older friends. It struck me that the biggest difficulty they face is the one we almost never think about.

Being Alone

I’m no big fan of marriage. That’s not just because I’m divorced, it’s because I’ve had a chance to counsel all kinds of couples before they go on to get married. People like asking a priest or minister for some kind of spiritual advice on getting married. The advice I give is, do what makes economic sense. Marriage is generally about property and finances. It’s not about love—you don’t need marriage to have love. It’s about making this stable foundation or business partnership on the hope that it will be a stronger future for your family.

Some of the couples I’ve counseled are still together, others are divorced. Even the divorced ones are a little better off because if they took my advice they all had prenups and saved thousands of dollars on the divorce.

(Here’s how un-pro-marriage I am. I think the gay marriage “crisis” in the US would be best solved by taking marriage away from everyone. It’s not a legal matter, it’s a religious sacrament. If marriage is a sacred heterosexual institution in your church, some kind of X-rated morality play, that’s fine. We don’t need to debate your sacraments in Congress. For legal purposes, let’s say everyone can designate one individual as their health insurance partner and be done with it.)

So it surprised me to realize this:

Your spouse is your biggest asset when you age.

I regularly get to see older couples who hate each other. They fell out of love decades ago, stayed together for the kids or appearances or whatever, and now it just doesn’t make sense to leave. Maybe they don’t think they can date or maybe finances are an issue. When you’re 65 it’s hard to play the field.

But that’s an excuse. The real reason is: you need someone who can double check your memory. Someone who will see you if you fall. Someone who can help you keep your house running when both of you move at the speed of arthritis.

Most of society ignores the elderly, and your kids will only make limited time for you. That means that your spouse will eventually become your single most important asset: the bulk of your safety net, your advocate and your caregiver. This won’t be true for everyone, but it’s a good bet.

Being Trapped

I’m not saying marriage is the only solution. I know many older individuals who are happy and successful on their own. The key for all of them is that they laid a groundwork earlier in their life. They’re single because they decided they’re happiest that way. And they spend their resources accordingly. The ones I know have a paid-off residence, a strong network of friends and they remain active in their professional sphere.

To have those three things at 60, you have to start when you’re 45. Earlier is better.

So if the idea of marriage makes your skin crawl, fine, but make some other plans. Being old and alone sucks. And it’s commonplace. Aloneness is the number one cause of sadness among adults over the age of 57 (says I).

At the same time, I’ve met very happy older couples. Couples who still have that playful attitude with each other, and make a point of socializing together. Sometimes they bicker just as much as anyone else but you can tell it’s just amusing to them. They might not be sexually active anymore but they still touch each other.

That’s called love.

I promote this free lifestyle and for me it’s solo travel to find the gods. But I don’t recommend that for everyone. You need personal freedom too, but yours will be different from mine. Here’s what’s not different: love. We all need love, and we all need someone to tell us where we put the ice cream scooper when we’re 60.

Don’t confuse aloneness with freedom. Either find your soul mate or learn how to do alone right.

Do you ever confuse aloneness with freedom?


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