Historia de un Ironman

Historia de un Ironman; Superación para realizar un sueño

30 julio, 2013

Un Ironman es la prueba más exigente del triatlón. Consta de 3,800 metros de natación, 180 km de ciclismo y 42,2 km de carrera, es decir una maratón. La carrera tiene un tiempo límite de 17 h, aunque en Niza de 16 h. y en Roth por ejemplo el límite para puntuar es de 15h. máximo. Los triatletas que compiten en esta distancia deben de entrenar duramente para esta prueba, cubriendo grandes distancias de natación, ciclismo y trote a la semana durante un mínimo de uno o dos años, tanto a nivel amateur como profesional, además de participar en una serie de pruebas clasificatorias para llegar a competir, siendo el solo hecho de clasificar motivo de reverencia. Muchos consideran a este como el deporte más difícil de la historia.
Soy bombero del Ayuntamiento de Mijas y quiero contar mi historia para que ayude a otras personas y que sepan que no hay límites cuando uno tiene positividad y ganas de realizar sus sueños.
Nací el 02 de septiembre de 1974, tengo 38 años y soy el cuarto de cinco hermanos. Desde que nací le di quebraderos de cabeza a mi madre, fui sietemesino y a lo largo de todos estos años he sufrido varias operaciones quirúrgicas como una esplenectomía, que es extirpación del bazo sanguíneo cuando me atropelló una moto con seis años; Este órgano se encarga de ayudar al cuerpo a combatir los gérmenes y las infecciones e igualmente ayuda a filtrar la sangre, tengo siete clavos y una placa en el tobillo derecho al caerme con la moto, así como con 36 años me detectaron artrosis deportiva, y hace dos años me pusieron una prótesis superficial en la cadera derecha en la clínica Dexeus de Barcelona. He sufrido a causa de mi deporte favorito, el fútbol, unas 26 luxaciones de hombro izquierdo, con dos intervenciones quirúrgicas. Es decir que he tenido muchas lesiones y las he superado con éxito.
El 01 de Mayo del 2009 mí padre falleció a causa de un infarto al corazón, yo vivía con él y lo echo en falta todos los días. Fue entonces cuando prometí realizar una prueba de larga distancia como un Ironman. Quería saber si tras todas las operaciones y tirando de orgullo y corazón, como dice mi amigo Josef Ajram quería saber: Dónde está mi límite?

Hace dos años me apunté al Ironman de Regensbour pero lo tuve que anular porque no había entrenado nada y me pillaba mal de fecha, así que sin pensármelo ni nada me inscribí en el único Ironman que se celebra en toda Francia, el de Niza. Este Ironman es uno de los más duros del mundo junto a los que se celebran en Lanzarote y Hawái.

Así que el jueves 20 de Junio mi amigo Salva y yo tomamos dirección a Niza a las 07:00 horas. Tras 12 horas y yendo muy tranquilos contándonos anécdotas mutuamente y riéndonos mucho paramos en Gerona para dormir y, al día siguiente llegamos a Niza, no sin antes hacer una derrama económica tremenda para los peajes los dos días que duró. Es mucho más barato ir en avión que en coche desde Málaga, lo digo por si a alguno se le ocurre hacer la prueba el año que viene.

Al llegar me quedé gratamente sorprendido por la organización, al ser mi primer Ironman me gustó mucho lo bien montado que estaba todo y me fui dando cuenta de la magnitud de la prueba que iba a realizar.
Mi currículum como triatleta se resume en varias pruebas de la modalidad sprint en Mijas, Estepona, Marbella y Málaga, así como el Xchallenger de Tarifa y el Ican de Málaga, con una distancia de medio Ironman. Todas estas pruebas en el trascurso de un año.

EL DÍA DE LA PRUEBA
El día anterior a las 21:00 tenía todo preparado y me tumbé en la cama leyendo el libro de Josef Ajram “No sé dónde está el límite, pero sí sé dónde no está” y sobre las 22:00 apagamos las luces mi amigo Salva y yo y a descansar.
Puse el despertador a las 04:00 horas, y para variar a las 03:56 abrí los ojos, como me pasa cuando voy a trabajar. Me levanté muy positivo y convencido, por lo menos, de estar en la línea de salida. Desayuno con galletas y zumo de piña, y rápidamente al servicio como era de prever. Nos dimos un abrazo y salimos con ganas y mucha emoción del hotel. Llevamos a un compi de Barcelona y a su novia en el coche hacia la prueba, ya que su coche, al igual que las dos noches anteriores les había roto los cristales para robar.
La prueba se inició de madrugada (06:30 horas) en la playa del centenario congregándose en la salida 2.800 participantes. Un centenar de ellos son profesionales de esta disciplina deportiva.

Justo antes de salir rezo un padre nuestro y me acuerdo de mi padre, de mi madre, de mi chica y de de toda la gente que ha confiado en mi desde el primer momento. Salgo tranquilamente al escuchar el pistoletazo de salida y los primeros minutos reina la confusión. Aún no ha amanecido aunque ya hay claridad, surfeo las olas y el agua está los suficientemente transparente como para poder distinguir a quien tienes nadando a tu lado. Voy pensando en cosas positivas y como me gusta mucho el agua se me pasa la hora y media muy rápida hasta que me voy a las zonas de transición para cambiarme de ropa y emprender lo que más me gusta, la bicicleta.

Pronto empezamos a subir cuestas, pero tal y como transcurrían los kilómetros empezaba a disfrutar y a sentirme mejor, pensaba en subir el puerto más grande y en el premio al terminarlo, que era simplemente un sándwich de jamón cocido que había preparado la noche antes con mucho cariño. Al llegar a Col d L’Ecre, me doy cuenta de que mi deseado sándwich lo había perdido, empiezo a buscar en la cuneta para ver si veo alguno que hayan tirado al suelo, y un participante neoyorquino al ver que buscaba algo me pregunta, y al contestarle me dá su bocata de beicon y queso, acto que jamás olvidaré porque en ese momento sólo quería comer algo salado, y además era mi pequeño premio por subir ese interminable puerto de montaña.

El escenario desde ese momento es espectacular, mucho mejor de lo que había imaginado. Converso con algunos de los participantes que me voy encontrando, leo en los dorsales su nombre y edad e imagino como habrá sido su entrenamiento en Australia, Alemania, Holanda, Canadá, Perú, etc… ya que participaban triatletas de 70 nacionalidades diferentes.
En Niza, el segmento ciclista es muy duro y exigente, ya que tiene varios puertos, destacando el Col de L’Ecre, de 21 kilómetros de longitud y un desnivel medio del 7%.

Durante la bicicleta tuve el placer de recorrer unos kilómetros y de conocer a Sebastián Niklitschek, un triatleta que en el 2012 tuvo un gran papel en el Epic5 Challenge (5 distancias Ironman en 5 días consecutivos en 5 islas en Hawái) al posicionarse en la delantera durante los cinco días de competencia. Su triunfo fue frustrado por un accidente: Un atropello por automóvil en el quinto día de la competencia, a solamente 21 km de carrera a pie de terminar como vencedor del Epic5 2012.

Fue un golpe duro, pero ni siquiera remotamente cercano para frenarlo. Después de un arduo proceso de recuperación, Sebastián se prepara este año 2.013 para conquistar en un mes 6.774 km (114 km de nado + 5.400 km de bicicleta + 1.260 km de carrera a pie). Y de todo me quedo con una frase que dijo, lo importante es sentirte a gusto contigo y disfrutar el momento. Nunca olvidaré tus palabras amigo Sebastián.

Ya sólo en el camino y quedando unos 60 km para terminar vi a una ambulancia con un triatleta tapado con una manta térmica. Más tarde supe que era un chico británico de 30 años que había fallecido en el acto al estrellarse su bici contra un muro. Descanse en paz.

Al final del tramo y, sin pensar lo que me quedaba todavía (una maratón completa 42,2 km), escucho entre todos los asistentes a mi amigo Salva gritarme, “venga amigo que ya sólo queda correr”.
Suelto la bici y mi ignorancia en estas pruebas me hace preguntarle a un coordinador de la prueba que dónde está la zona de masajes, para darme uno, y este me responde en inglés que los masajes son para los que terminan la prueba, me rio como puedo y empiezo a correr las 8 vueltas (5,250m cada una) del interminable paseo marítimo de Niza.

Pronto empiezo a sentir el calor de la gente y de Salva, que hizo casi todo el recorrido completo a mi lado, y eso me ayudo inmensamente. A través de internet él me iba indicando los parciales de la prueba y en la vuelta 6º tuve que apretar para entrar dentro de las 16:00 horas completas en las que a partir de ahí ya no puntuaban en la clasificación general del Ironman.
En los últimos tramos y cuando las fuerzas ya flaqueaban me acorde de las personas que no han confiado en mí, y pienso que es muy raro, ya que contrariamente a lo que entiendo sería normal, me dió mucha fuerza el poder demostrarle a los que no confiaban en mi que todo se puede en esta vida y que tenemos un poder llamado “mente positiva” que puede con todo. Faltando 300 metros empiezo a escuchar mi nombre “Juan” en el dorsal, Salva me coge de la mano izquierda y otro chico con una bandera grande de España la mano derecha y entramos en la recta de la línea de meta.

Ya escucho la gente, es una entrada magnífica, son un poco más de 100mts alfombrados con gente alrededor gritando mi nombre y apoyándome. Y llegado a meta escucho al speaker decir “Johnny… YOU ARE AN IRONMAN”.

Es muy difícil expresar en ese momento lo que sentía, es indescriptible, pero si me acordé de mi padre mucho, de mi madre, de mi hermano José que no pudo venir a realizar la prueba por dolores en la rodilla, de mi chica que ha estado siempre presente y de todas las personas queridas que han confiado en mí.
Conclusiones:
La conclusión más importante es que todos podemos realizar nuestros sueños, sólo hay que creer en ellos y tener positividad. Si me hubieran dicho a mi, con todas las operaciones que tengo, que podría terminar un Ironman, seguro que mucha gente hubiera pensado que no podría, pero la mente es inmensamente más fuerte que cualquier obstáculo que nos encontremos en el camino de la vida.
Ese día comprendí que para hacer un Ironman se debe entrenar para 4 disciplinas: natación, ciclismo, correr y quizá la disciplina más importante de todas la “Mente”.

Quiero agradecer a mi chica la paciencia que ha tenido durante el entrenamiento, a mi hermano José por confiar en mí, y a todo el mundo en general. Y a los que dudaban que no iba a conseguirlo, que ellos saben quiénes son, decirles que me ha hecho mucho más fuerte su negatividad en los momentos difíciles de la prueba, y que gracias a eso, entre otras cosas, ya soy Finisher de por vida.
En definitiva ha sido una experiencia inolvidable, y como no quiero que se me olvide, he decidido realizar durante los próximos nueve años, una prueba Ironman anualmente hasta completar un total de 10. Ya me he inscrito al Ironman de Roth, en Alemania para el próximo año 2.014 en el mes de Julio y de esta forma viajar por todo el mundo practicando deporte. Ya os contaré mis futuras “Historias de un Ironman” en el año 2.023, siempre y cuando las lesiones, la salud y el que está arriba lo permitan.

GRACIAS A TODOS
Hay que decir que el Ironman Niza, Francia ha sido elegido “una de las competiciones más hermosas del mundo” por la revista Triathlète USA. La cual afirma que una prueba de estas características además de una buena preparación física requiere una más o mejor psicológica. Poder terminar un Ironman como este no está al alcance de muchos deportistas.

What’s Killing the Bees

The mysterious mass die-off of honey bees that pollinate $30 billion worth of crops in the US has so decimated America’s apis mellifera population that one bad winter could leave fields fallow. Now, a new study has pinpointed some of the probable causes of bee deaths and the rather scary results show that averting beemageddon will be much more difficult than previously thought.
Scientists had struggled to find the trigger for so-called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) that has wiped out an estimated 10 million beehives, worth $2 billion, over the past six years. Suspects have included pesticides, disease-bearing parasites and poor nutrition. But in a first-of-its-kind study published today in the journal PLOS ONE, scientists at the University of Maryland and the US Department of Agriculture have identified a witch’s brew of pesticides and fungicides contaminating pollen that bees collect to feed their hives. The findings break new ground on why large numbers of bees are dying though they do not identify the specific cause of CCD, where an entire beehive dies at once.
When researchers collected pollen from hives on the east coast pollinating cranberry, watermelon and other crops and fed it to healthy bees, those bees showed a significant decline in their ability to resist infection by a parasite called Nosema ceranae. The parasite has been implicated in Colony Collapse Disorder though scientists took pains to point out that their findings do not directly link the pesticides to CCD. The pollen was contaminated on average with nine different pesticides and fungicides though scientists discovered 21 agricultural chemicals in one sample. Scientists identified eight ag chemicals associated with increased risk of infection by the parasite.
Most disturbing, bees that ate pollen contaminated with fungicides were three times as likely to be infected by the parasite. Widely used, fungicides had been thought to be harmless for bees as they’re designed to kill fungus, not insects, on crops like apples.
“There’s growing evidence that fungicides may be affecting the bees on their own and I think what it highlights is a need to reassess how we label these agricultural chemicals,” Dennis vanEngelsdorp, the study’s lead author, told Quartz.
Labels on pesticides warn farmers not to spray when pollinating bees are in the vicinity but such precautions have not applied to fungicides.
Bee populations are so low in the US that it now takes 60% of the country’s surviving colonies just to pollinate one California crop, almonds. And that’s not just a west coast problem—California supplies 80% of the world’s almonds, a market worth $4 billion.
In recent years, a class of chemicals called neonicotinoids has been linked to bee deaths and in April regulators banned the use of the pesticide for two years in Europe where bee populations have also plummeted. But vanEngelsdorp, an assistant research scientist at the University of Maryland, says the new study shows that the interaction of multiple pesticides is affecting bee health.
“The pesticide issue in itself is much more complex than we have led to be believe,” he says. “It’s a lot more complicated than just one product, which means of course the solution does not lie in just banning one class of product.”
The study found another complication in efforts to save the bees: US honey bees, which are descendants of European bees, do not bring home pollen from native North American crops but collect bee chow from nearby weeds and wildflowers. That pollen, however, was also contaminated with pesticides even though those plants were not the target of spraying.
“It’s not clear whether the pesticides are drifting over to those plants but we need take a new look at agricultural spraying practices,” says vanEngelsdorp.

Woody Harrelson

Túpac Katari

Noviembre 15, 2008 at 9:47 pm · Publicación en Artículos

Hace 227 años Katari era descuartizado y su profecía se multiplicó por millones

Luis Fernando Cruz/Agencia Boliviana de Información
Una sensación de temor estremeció los cuerpos de las tropas coloniales en momento en que el líder aymara Túpac Katari (Julián Apaza) predecía en el umbral de su muerte: “A mi solo me matan, pero volveré y seré millones”, para después ser descuartizado por orden del colonialismo español.
La historia y los escritos relatan que el 15 de noviembre de 1781, el silencio se apoderó de la plaza principal de Peñas (localidad al noroeste de La Paz), donde se cumplió la sentencia de pena capital para quien había osado levantarse contra la violencia y la tiranía española en defensa de la dignidad y libertad de los aymaras, quichwas e indígenas originarios del entonces Alto Perú.
La orden fue dada y los caballos partieron a los cuatro puntos cardinales. La sentencia colonial había sido cumplida.
Su cuerpo descuartizado fue expuesto por todo el territorio de Kollasuyu, como escarmiento a los indios rebeldes.
Su cabeza fue enterrada en el cerro de K’ili K’ili (La Paz); la mano derecha en Ayo Ayo (camino a Oruro), la izquierda en Achacachi (cerca del lago Titicaca); su pierna derecha en Chulumani (Sud Yungas de La Paz); y la izquierda en Caquiaviri (provincia Pacajes de La Paz).
Después de 227 años de esa inmolación las organizaciones sociales de la Ciudad de El Alto rindieron este viernes su homenaje al líder de la lucha por la liberación de los pueblos indígenas-campesinos en inmediaciones de la plaza Corazón de Jesús.
La leyenda cuenta que en este lugar se encuentra enterrado el resto del cuerpo del líder aymara y que “todavía late el corazón de Julián Apaza como señal de la emancipación de los pueblos indígenas del mundo”.
Corría el año 1750 cuando nació Julián Apaza en la comunidad agrícola de Sica Sica. Los comunarios aymaras vieron admirados que dos hermosos y enormes mallkus bajaron a Sullkawi en Sica Sica, y se posaron en las montañas cercanas, uno de los cóndores representaba a la Nación Aymara y otro a la Nación Quichwa.
La historia da cuenta que Julián Apaza fue sacristán y panadero antes de iniciar una de las rebeliones indígenas más grandes de esa época, entre las que se describe que se consolidó dos cercos, y una se prolongó por más de seis meses a la ahora ciudad de La Paz, con un ejército de 40.000 hombres, en 1781
 
Este levantamiento indio de finales del siglo XVIII fue el más extenso geográficamente y con más apoyo. Tomó dos años al gobierno colonial español sofocarlo.
En 1780, Julián oye hablar del Jach’a Katari, el líder Tomás Katari, quien inició una lucha con los Ayllus guerreros Q’aqachacas de Macha frente a los abusos de los españoles.
Julián tomó contacto con Tomás Katari, y ambos compartieron sus ideas, y en su honor adoptó el nombre de Katari que quiere decir valentía y peligrosidad de la serpiente. Tupak es águila y ese nombre lo usó como símbolo de fraternidad con Tupak Amaru, el héroe Quichwa.
El Congreso Nacional sancionó el proyecto de Ley Nro. 080/03-04 por el que declaró héroe y heroína nacional a los líderes aymaras Julián Apaza y a su esposa Bartolina Sisa (también ejecutada por el poder colonial español) que en el siglo XVIII combatieron contra las tropas españolas.
El entonces senador aymara Esteban Silvestre, del Movimiento Al Socialismo (MAS) electo por el departamento de La Paz, impulsó la aprobación del documento. La ley sancionada en el Legislativo fue remitida al Ejecutivo para su promulgación y vigencia.
Tupac Katari, y su esposa, Bartolina Sisa, regaron el territorio del altiplano con su sangre en su lucha por la libertad. La historia de ambos está marcada por el cerco a la ciudad de La Paz, en 1781, como una de las gestas indígenas de mayor importancia.
Para los españoles dominar la insurrección era cuestión de vida o muerte. Si vencían los rebeldes, acababa el poderío de España no solo en las colonias americanas, sino en todo su entonces decadente imperio.
Pero Tupac Katari fue capturado y sentenciado a morir descuartizado por cuatro caballos en la plaza del pueblo de paceño de Peñas. Su mujer fue ahorcada después de ser sometida a torturas.
Julián Apaza fue insobornable líder, gran estratega del ejército indígena andino y caudillo indiscutible de la rebelión.

Nathan Johnston

Blind triathlete to tackle Ironman Australia

By Matt Attard

May 3, 2013, 7:07 a.m.

• 
  Blind Ironman Australia Port Macuarie competitor Glenn Gorick runs with “his eyes” Nathan Johnston in the lead up to Sunday’s race.

Source: Port Macquarie News

See your ad here

Blind triathlete Nathan Johnston will be in the NSW town of Port Macquarie his Sunday to compete at the city's Ironman Australia event.
With just 10 per cent vision, Johnston lost his eyesight due to a degenerative disease of the retina at just 14 years of age.
Currently 27 and living in Helensburgh, just south of Sydney, Johnston will run alongside his pilot Glenn Gorick for the gruelling event.
His story is inspirational, having not started sports until after he lost his vision.
He was diagnosed as a 14-year-old and by the time he was 17, his eye sight was all but gone.
He converted to Braille to complete his High School Certificate and will this weekend be the first visually impaired athlete to do the Ironman since Ched Towns in Forster almost 15 years ago.
“He’s aiming for the Rio Paralympics,” Gorick said. “He needed to get out of the house and that’s why he turned to running and ocean swimming.”
Gorick will run, swim and ride with Johnston during the Ironman to ensure his safety and help him along the way.
“It’s truly inspirational,” he said. “He’s even encouraging the able-bodied athletes to do it.
“I’ll be his eyes for the entire race and will be beside him the whole time.”
Johnston is also raising money for motor neurone disease and is excited ahead of his first race in Port Macquarie.
“I only got into sport about seven years ago,” he said. “It’s a lot of fun and gets my mind off everything that’s going on.”

See your ad here

Johnston has completed a triathlon before, racing alongside Tony Abbott last year.
He is not expecting much for his first Ironman in Port Macquarie, but he would like to say he crossed the line when it’s all said and done.
“As for the race on the weekend, I just want to get over the line and finish,” he said.  “If I do that, I’ll be happy.”

Monsanto Corporation gets owned by 11 year old boy

Sedentarismo

10 mitos del sedentarismo

Dra. Gioconda Palacios

Fotolia

27/07/2013 - 1
El concepto de sedentarismo se centra únicamente en la ausencia de alguna actividad física.
Falso. El concepto de sedentarismo es amplio dentro de la salud pública, y se refiere a la irregularidad de la actividad física de manera insuficiente para promover beneficios a la salud.
2
La caracterización de una persona sedentaria se circunscribe únicamente a la actividad física.
Falso. El gasto calórico es fundamental para caracterizar el sedentarismo. Sedentario es el individuo cuyo gasto calórico es inferior a mil 500 Kcal por semana o el individuo que realiza actividad física por un tiempo menor de 20 minutos diarios y una frecuencia menor de tres veces por semana.
3
No existe asociación entre la salud y el sedentarismo.
Falso. El sedentarismo es uno de los mayores factores de riesgo en el desarrollo de enfermedades cardiovasculares. De acuerdo con Haskell (2007) existe una asociación entre el sedentarismo (inactividad física) y la prevalencia de diferentes enfermedades, como enfermedad arterial, coronaria, hipertensión arterial, accidente vascular, diabetes, osteoporosis, obesidad, cáncer, depresión. El sedentarismo es responsable del 6.9% de las muertes ocurridas por cualquier causa, según un nuevo estudio australiano.
4

El sedentarismo no es considerado una enfermedad.
Falso. El sedentarismo es considerado la “enfermedad del sofá”. Es el mal del siglo XXI.
5
El sedentarismo es un tema que tiene que ver solo con las personas obesas.
Falso. El sedentarismo es un tema que también tiene que ver con las personas con un peso normal, como los trabajadores que desarrollan su jornada laboral frente a una mesa, los pacientes inmovilizados durante largos periodos después de sufrir un accidente o de someterse a una cirugía, las personas que pasan muchas horas sentadas viendo televisión, jugando video juegos o frente a una computadora.
6
Las personas por no tener dinero para ir a un gimnasio a realizar ejercicio deben resignarse a ser sedentarias.
Falso. Las actividades ocupacionales hacen parte de la actividad física (limpiar la casa, limpiar el jardín, sembrar plantas, bailar, caminar para el trabajo, realizar funciones profesionales que requieren esfuerzo físico etc.) siempre que sumen 30 o más minutos por día de manera constante.
7
Las personas son sedentarias porque hacer ejercicio requiere mucho tiempo.
Falso. Treinta  minutos de actividad física moderada cinco días a la semana son suficientes para no ser sedentario. Los 30 minutos se pueden dividir durante todo el día y contabilizarlo con las rutinas diarias.
8
En las grandes ciudades no hay sedentarismo.
Falso. El ritmo de vida propio de las grandes ciudades favorece el sedentarismo. La disminución de espacios abiertos para la distracción y la práctica deportiva, el cansancio, la violencia e inseguridad nos llevan a realizar poca actividad física y a aumentar el sedentarismo.
9
No hay que preocuparse de que los niños sean sedentarios.
Falso. Los niños deben acumular mínimo 60 minutos diarios de actividad física de intensidad moderada y así tener un desarrollo saludable.
10
El tema de la educación física no debe desarrollarse en las escuelas.
Falso. En la infancia y la adolescencia los hábitos de actividad física y demás prácticas de vida saludables adquiridos se mantendrán con mayor probabilidad para toda la vida. Se debe contribuir desde las escuelas a desarrollar los hábitos de actividad física. De ello depende la salud futura de todas las poblaciones.
(La autora es médico especialista en Medicina Preventiva y Social, magistra en Medicina Integral. giocozule@yahoo.es)

Fears

5 Ways to Rid Your Biggest Fears

March 17, 2013 by Joe Martino

Think back to last time you really wanted to do something but didn’t? What stopped you from doing it? Did something change your mind? Was there a voice inside your head? Whatever the reason might have been, let’s take the time to stop and question what might be going on with our fears and how we can get beyond these fears so we can start pursuing things we’ve always wanted.

Fear is an interesting little thing as it can act in ways where we don’t even know it is present. For example, we might want to do something that first requires a few things to come into place. The scenario might be getting a new job. Next thing we know we start saying to ourselves; “Well where would I work? How would I get there? How do I quit my current job? What if I can’t get another job?” These are only a few of many stories that we may begin looking into when we have that initial thought of changing our job situation. Although we sometimes call this; facing the reality of the situation and doing what’s realistic, truth is, this sequence of thoughts and rationalizations all stems from fear.

Here are some key of points to help you overcome your fears.

1) Feel The Fear and Move Forward Anyway

How many times have you been about to do something and fear is creeping up on you as you get closer and closer to doing it? In these times, right before you are about to jump with both feet in you feel the fear at its highest and then seconds or minutes into it all, the fear dissipates into nothing. This is by far one of the most powerful ways to get beyond and rid your fears. Just Do It! (Nike paid me to say that.. j/k) By taking the leap and confronting your fears, you do the one thing that we allow fear to stop us from doing -doing what scares us. My feeling is, more often than not, just doing it will get rid of the fear from that moment forward when it comes to the challenge you face.

2) Let Go of The Past

When we face a situation that we may have experienced before, fear can arise if the previous outcome made some kinda of undesirable impact on us. Maybe in the past we weren’t quite prepared for the experience, we needed to gain a lesson from it, or it just happened to turn out how it did. This doesn’t mean we need to close up and never go after it again. Looking back to the past and fearing a repeat outcome puts the control into the hands of one instance that no longer even exists! You are a new person in each moment and are ready to make adjustments as you go. Sometimes all it takes is a few small tweaks and what may have once provided a challenge in the past is now easy to move through. Either way you learned something! Let go of the past and try again!

3) Stop Looking For Obstacles

‘It’s too hard! I’m too tired! I don’t have time?’ I know these ones fairly well myself. There have been some situations in my life where I would have loved to do certain things and delayed them for quite some time due to these 3 sayings. Of course, these are not the only 3 excuses we like to come up with to put something off, but these certainly are common. Obstacles are one of the easiest ways for our minds to bury a fear. Obstacles appear real, they are quantitative and qualitative, they are easy to describe to others and others often agree with them. Given all of these qualities, it’s easy to see why we look out for obstacles all the time, but it does not mean that we are not using obstacles to mask our fears. After all, an obstacle is truly only as big as we make it. You can see it as a road block or as a necessary challenge along the path to your goal. See the obstacle for what it is, don’t give it anymore power than it needs and take the steps to move forward. There is little need to make them so serious.

4) Avoid Judging Outcomes

Have you ever been unsure of why something happened when it happens? Only to find out a few days, weeks or months later that it ended up greatly assisting your situation? It was in all moments leading up to your realization that you may have judged the experience as being bad, negative or not ideal. Instead of seeing the outcome as a succes no matter what, we define and categorize how it should have happened. This way of looking at our goals or choices creates fear in having certain outcomes play out. Often times the reason things happen the way they do is beyond our understanding at a particular time. We might want to judge or feel upset about why things happened, but they are part of a bigger plan. To help address your fears in this situation, go beyond reason and beyond judgement. There isn’t always an obvious reason why now is the time or why something might or might not happen. Go with how you feel beyond the unnecessary chatter of the mind and know that no matter the outcome, you successfully created that experience for yourself. It is likely the experience will provide you with positive growth no matter the outcome. After all, the mind is the only one who creates fear or who sees an outcomes as a failure.

5) Too Little, Too Late

How many times have you put off doing something only to find out it was now too late to have a go at it? I know myself I have experienced this one a few times and while regret might like to sneak its way in, that isn’t much help either. This one can also play with us in a couple ways. Either fear puts off what we are wanting to do, or the fear of having too little time makes us immobile because in the end we are afraid of failure. Either way, to address this fear is to simply take action. The journey is what’s important in the end. Whether the end result happens in time or not, it doesn’t help to keep putting things off. Let’s learn from our choices of waiting too long and choose to get going on actions now that we would like to take. When we get moving on something and face it head on, you notice quickly that your fears diminish.

My final thoughts are this when it comes to fears: they are there because something created them. Most of the time it was because of an experience of the past, judgment of an outcome or because we are afraid to fail. A combination of these thoughts exists in almost all of us and do nothing but create suffering and immobilization in what we want to do in life. While it may not be easy, starting today, take the steps to begin implementing some of these tactics when it comes to your fears. You can never fail, you are never wrong and there’s no need to judge or be judged on an outcome. I repeat due to its importance, the journey through life is what is most important, not the outcome. This goes for everything you choose to be part of.

Leonard Cohen

Michael Costigan

Steven Jacobson

Riz Wakil

From refugee to businessman: a success story

Tim Elliott

Riz Wakil: Runs his own printing business. Photo: Jenny Evans

It's the ultimate entrepreneurial testing ground: you stake your life savings on a perilous journey to a country where you arrive (if you're lucky) penniless, with little to build your future upon save your stamina and your smarts. It's capitalism at its most Darwinian, less Celebrity Apprentice than Refugee Apprentice, and yet its successes, like Riz Wakil, are many.
"I came here from Afghanistan in November 1999, when I was 18 years old," says Wakil. "We had 77 people on a 30-foot fishing boat. We ran out of water and food. Any proper food we had we gave to an Iraqi family, because they had young children to feed. So we just ate dried biscuits, with boiled rice every second or third day."

A new life: Ali arrived with nothing. Photo: Jenny Evans

After nine months in Curtin Detention Centre, Wakil, an ethnic Hazara, was accepted as a refugee and released, whereupon he found casual work, mostly for printing companies.

Advertisement

Thirteen years later Wakil owns his own business in Fairfield, a printing and design company that turns over $300,000 annually and employs five people.
Many Australians see "boat people" as not only "illegal" but lazy.
"You see it all the time," says Sophie Peer, from refugee advocacy group Chilout. "Our Facebook page is full of comments like 'Why would you let them in, they're all dole bludgers.' There's a huge racism there, without a doubt."
And yet far from being a drain on the system, humanitarian refugees have been shown to make an important contribution to the economy, a finding highlighted by Graeme Hugo's report in 2011.
Commissioned by the federal government, Professor Hugo's research found that despite needing a short period of intense support after their arrival, asylum seekers invariably proved a boon to the economy, particularly in regional areas, where they filled labour shortages and built demand.
Professor Hugo's report also found that humanitarian entrants displayed "greater entrepreneurial qualities" compared with other migrants, "with a higher than average proportion engaging in small and medium business enterprises".
Not only that but they facilitate the development of trade between Australia and their countries of origin and, because they were forced out of their homelands, tended to demonstrate a greater commitment to life in Australia.
You certainly can't fault them for initiative. Ali, who is 18, arrived in Australia on a leaky wooden boat just 18 months ago. He was alone, broke and spoke no English. Within months of his release from detention, however, he had earned his first pay packet - $160 - at McDonald's.
"It was amazing," he says. "I sent $100 to my mother, who was still in Afghanistan. The rest I saved so I could buy an iPhone.''
When he bought the phone, the first app he downloaded was an English dictionary.
After his father was executed by the Taliban, Ali was sent away, first to Kabul, then to Pakistan. There a family friend paid $5000 for him to be smuggled to Australia. The trip was a nightmare. He was detained in Malaysia, badly beaten, and sent back to Pakistan. After attempting the journey again, he made it, arriving half starved.
He is now studying at Holroyd High School, having saved enough from working at Luna Park over the school holidays to buy a computer. Even paying his first tax instalment was a thrill. "We don't do this in Afghanistan."
As the Hugo report showed, people such as Wakil and Ali are assets not liabilities. Asked about Kevin Rudd's new refugee policy, Wakil said: "When you are running from potential death, you don't listen to policies. You just go, because you have to. This is what makes me angry, because Rudd is now just playing politics with people's lives."

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/from-refugee-to-businessman-a-success-story-20130721-2qcqq.html#ixzz2ZpiQrMki

Freedom

Over-Grow Campaign

Over-Grow Campaign pits nature vs authorities. Stunning Win in Gottingen

The “Over-Grow” Campaign is a way to subvert repressive laws on Cannabis, by using one of the plant’s key strengths. It is called weed for a reason, it grows like one, can grow almost anywhere if given water and light, and will outperform shrubs in growth rate.
We at Exposing the truth are currently trying to find a wholesale supplier for fertile hemp seeds to distribute in 500g/5000 seed packets to help you show support for the Over-grow campaign.
  It must be noted that while we find the cannabis seed protest amusing and effective, we here at Exposing the Truth cannot endorse the actions of the Autonomous Flower Children and would like to use this opportunity to point out that planting cannabis seeds on a large scale in any country where germination of cannabis seeds is not legal should absolutely never be done. In any case, a few kilograms of cannabis seeds would be very expensive, although you can buy regular hemp for eating, which are much cheaper. They are very healthy, but should not be planted, unless you have a license from the Home Office in the uk  (disclaimer done).
Meanwhile in Gottingen , Germany, campaigners show us how it is done.


Thousands of Cannabis plants have started springing up around the town of Gottingen, after thousands of seeds were distributed around the town’s flower-beds and hanging baskets, even window boxes. Police have been ripping them up as they see them, but so far nature is winning, and as you can see from the photo above  plants still lurk near to the police station.
A spokesman for A Few Autonomous Flower Children said: ‘We can’t set eyes on this useful and beautiful plant because it’s absolutely forbidden in Germany to grow it.’
She added: ‘This action is a big deal – people (from A Few Autonomous Flower Children) really put effort into it.’


Local Marcus Baum said: ‘The cannabis plants are sprouting up everywhere.
‘They removed the ones from the police station very quickly, but the plants are coming up in parks and gardens everywhere.
‘Some are even growing in window boxes.’
Please message us if you would like to assist in the “Overgrow campaign”, and much respect to the flower-children of Germany.

Tsutomu Yamaguchi

A little deaf in one ear - meet the Japanese man who survived Hiroshima and Nagasaki

• Japan recognises the only known survivor of bombs
• 93-year-old fled first attack only to suffer second blast

•  

• The Guardian, Wednesday 25 March 2009

Tsutomu Yamaguchi: survived the bombings of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 and Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. Photograph: Jemal Countess/WireImage

It seems almost improper to suggest that fortune was smiling on Tsutomu Yamaguchi in the dying days of the second world war.
On 6 August 1945, he was in Hiroshima, preparing to return home from a business trip when the American B-29 bomber, the Enola Gay, dropped an atomic bomb on the city. Yamaguchi lived, while 140,000 other people who were in the city that morning died, some in an agonising instant, others many months later.
Burned and barely able to comprehend what had happened - only that he had witnessed a bomb unlike any used before - Yamaguchi spent a fitful night in an air raid shelter before returning home the following day.
That home, 180 miles to the west, was Nagasaki. His arrival came the day before it was devastated by a second US atomic bomb on 9 August.
In a barely conceivable course of events, he had twice been perilously close to nuclear ground zero; and both times he had lived. More than 70,000 other residents of Nagasaki were not so lucky.
More than 60 years later, the 93-year-old became the first and only known survivor of both attacks yesterday to win official recognition from Japanese authorities.
While other survivors died prematurely from cancer and liver disease caused by their exposure to radiation, Yamaguchi remains in relatively good health apart from near-deafness in one ear and complaints that his legs are "growing weak".
Japanese records show dozens of people experienced the blast in Hiroshima only to be exposed to "residual radiation" in Nagasaki three days later. But Yamaguchi is the first to have been at ground zero when both explosions occurred.
According to a newspaper interview Yamaguchi gave on the 60th anniversary of the end of the Pacific war, he had spent the conflict designing oil tankers for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, a wartime zaibatsu, or conglomerate, whose shipyards dominated the Nagasaki skyline.
After a three-month stint at the firm's yards in Hiroshima, Yamaguchi and two colleagues, Akira Iwanaga and Kuniyoshi Sato, prepared to return to Nagasaki on 7 August, 1945. The day before, they woke early, collected their belongings and prepared for the train journey west.
On the way to the station they became separated after Yamaguchi realised he had left his personal seal in the office.
He remembers hearing the Enola Gay circling above, but thought nothing of it: Hiroshima was an important wartime industrial base, and the sound of circling planes had become a fact of life.
Within seconds he had been knocked off his feet by the force of the blast as "Little Boy" detonated 580 metres above central Hiroshima just after 8.15 am, announcing its arrival with a blinding flash followed by a deafening boom. As he stumbled to the train station the next day, Yamaguchi witnessed the destruction and carnage left by the bomber's 13-kiloton payload.
The following day, his burns swathed in bandages, Yamaguchi reported for work in Nagasaki, like Hiroshima an important industrial and military base.
At 11.02 on 9 August, as his boss reportedly questioned his sanity for believing that a single bomb could destroy a city the size of Hiroshima, a 25-kiloton plutonium bomb exploded above Nagasaki, throwing Yamaguchi to the ground.
He, his wife and baby son survived and spent the following week in a shelter near what was left of their home. His son has since died of cancer aged 59.
After the war Yamaguchi worked for the US occupation authorities, became a teacher and eventually returned to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
Yamaguchi was quoted yesterday by the Mainichi newspaper. "My double radiation exposure is now an official government record. It can tell the younger generation the horrifying history of the atomic bombings even after I die," he said.
As a registered survivor of the Nagasaki bombing, Yamaguchi has owned a pale violet copy of the Atomic Bomb Victim Health Handbook since 1957, entitling him to monthly allowances, free medical checkups and funeral costs. More than 260,000 others are similarly covered.
Yamaguchi's handbook confirmed he was within a three-kilometre radius of ground zero in both cities, but the reference to Hiroshima was deleted when he renewed it at Nagasaki city hall in 1960.
Officials refused to recognise Yamaguchi's special status because, they said, it would not affect his medical and welfare entitlements, but relented after he filed another request earlier this year.
"As far as we know, he is the first one to be officially recognised as a survivor of atomic bombings," Toshiro Miyamoto, a Nagasaki city official, told the Associated Press. "It's such an unfortunate case, but it is possible there are more like him."

Church

Aung San Suu Kyi

Se privatiza el Sol en España

Se privatiza el Sol en España.”si te pillan recogiendo fotónes de luz solar para tu propio consumo te puede caer una multa de 30 millones de euros”

julio 19, 2013 lamentiradelsistema Deja un comentario Ir a los comentarios

 

 

 

 

 

 

20 Votes

Con el  terror que tienen las eléctricas a que se “desestabilice” el consumo eléctrico (por no decir desaparecer), a alguien en contra de lo que la lógica dicta, se ha propuesto sepultar la industria foto-voltáica (ahora que es más necesaria que nunca) en un pozo sin fondo, en algún momento del 2010 alguien ha decidido privatizar el sol….si si has leído bien, en España totalmente al contrario de Europa, se impone un peaje a quien genere electricidad y la inyecte a la linea… en vez de recibir ganancias, pero eso no es todo, si te pillan recogiendo fotónes de luz solar para tu propio consumo te puede caer una multa de 30 millones de euros. Tal cual si de una droga se tratara. Cometer el sacrilegio de ser independiente energéticamente puede costar muy caro, el sol ahora es sólo para unos pocos privilegiados y las compañías eléctricas en las cuales están de consejeros ex-presidentes y ex-ministros del partido dualista ppsoe.
“La Unión Española Fotovoltaica (UNEF), que agrupa a unas 300 empresas y representa a un 85% del sector, asegura que, de implantarse estos cambios, sería más caro el autoconsumo solar que recurrir al suministro convencional. “Se impide el ahorro a los consumidores y se paraliza la entrada de nueva competencia en el mercado eléctrico”, contemplan.”
A si que si estabas pensando que con esta falsa crisis provocada, la mejor opción era precisamente tener unas placas solares que bajaron un 80% su coste y tener la oportunidad de desconectar de la red eléctrica y su factura estafa, ya puedes ir olvidándote.

En España se ha privatizado el sol sin la consulta de sus ciudadanos, sin la consulta al sistema solar sin la consulta al universo etcétera….
Firma por un autoconsumo gratuito! http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Derecho_al_Autoconsumo_GRATUITO_y_Responsable_de_Recursos_como_la_Energia_Solar_la_Energia_Eolica_y_el_Agua_de_Mar/
Más información de Elpais:
El Sol ya no es gratis
La posibilidad de producir tu propia electricidad utilizando recursos renovables —paneles solares o pequeños molinos eólicos instalados en una propiedad privada— es algo muy atractivo para los hogares españoles. “De cada 50 llamadas que entran al mes, 35 son de particulares interesados en el autoconsumo”, asegura Francesc Mateu, gerente de Sol Gironés, empresa especializada en energías renovables y pioneras en este sector. “De momento les decimos que tienen que esperar hasta septiembre u octubre, a que las cosas estén más claras”, añade.
La tendencia a la tarifa plana en la factura de la luz, en la que cada vez hay que pagar una mayor cantidad de fijo y menos por el gasto energético, y las tasas específicas que impone el decreto de autoconsumo, que todavía no se ha aprobado, encarecen esta alternativa frente al consumo convencional.
El Gobierno se ha propuesto que el autoconsumo energético se implante poco a poco y sin alterar el sistema eléctrico español. Para ello se reserva el derecho de subir y bajar esas tasas o peajes específicos, y que denominan “de respaldo”, en función de como vaya evolucionando el sector. “Vamos a pagar un peaje por la energía recibida del sol”, resume Mario Sorinas, de la empresa oscense Electrobin, con más de 20 años de experiencia en energía solar.
La autarquía energética está más que consolidada en países como Estados Unidos o Japón. Muchos países europeos la tienen implantada con diferentes fórmulas. “Es el futuro”, coinciden varios expertos en energía. Permite generar tu propia electricidad con energías renovables y darle un descanso al medio ambiente y al bolsillo. También existe la posibilidad de ceder la energía sobrante a compañías eléctricas y recuperarla cuando se necesite o, directamente, venderla, algo que se conoce como autoconsumo con balance neto. El Gobierno de España ni se lo plantea. El proyecto de decreto de autoconsumo deja bien claro que no se remunerará la energía sobrante que se vierta a la red.
Ahora mismo, en España se puede producir energía de forma privada y consumirla en el momento, una modalidad que se denomina autoconsumo instantáneo. La última legislación es de 2011. Antes no se hacía porque no salía rentable. El abaratamiento hasta en un 80% de las instalaciones fotovoltaicas en los últimos cinco años y el incremento de la factura de la luz la han convertido en una opción de ahorro muy interesante en época de crisis. La utilizan desde granjas de vacas hasta supermercados, residencias geriátricas, restaurantes y algún consumidor particular. La energía sobrante no se puede almacenar en baterías porque está prohibido. Cuando no hay sol o viento, hay que engancharse a la red y pagar la factura normal.
No hay un registro oficial de autoconsumo. La revista económica Alimarket ha contabilizado 43 casos. Otro fichero, elaborados de forma voluntaria por los autoconsumidores en el portal Energética 21, los eleva a 74.
Sol Gironés, con 14 trabajadores, está echando el resto con el autoconsumo instantáneo. “Está funcionando y bien, sobre todo con empresas como cárnicas u hostelería, que dependen mucho de cámaras frigoríficas, y en las que la factura de la luz se lleva al menos el 15% de sus gastos fijos anuales”, relata su gerente. Con estos sistemas llegan a reducir entre un 20% y un 30% su consumo, aunque tienen un caso en el que han logrado una bajada del 44%. Hasta ahora no pagan impuestos de ningún tipo por este tipo de generación de energía.
La reforma energética ha caldeado enormemente al sector renovable. “De todos los escenarios posibles, este es el peor”, resume José Donoso, director general de la Unión Española Fotovoltaica (Unef), que representa al 85% de la actividad del sector. “Sin que todavía se haya aprobado nada específico sobre autoconsumo, ya se lo han cargado”, añade. Donoso se refiere al incremento en la parte fija de la factura eléctrica, y que supondrá un 77% de subida en este tramo para una tarifa doméstica —algo de lo que los productores domésticos no pueden prescindir— y una bajada del 23% en la parte del consumo —la que reduce con la autoproducción—.
“Hasta ahora, el gasto se podía repartir en un 30% de parte fija y un 70% de parte variable. Se camina al 50%-50% por lo que cualquier iniciativa de generar tu propia potencia se desincentiva”, aporta Ignacio Cruz, investigador de la división de Energías Renovables del Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Tecnológicas y Medioambientales (CIEMAT).
“Esto es un rejonazo de muerte al balance neto y al ahorro energético”, opina Javier García Breva, consultor deenergías renovables y exdirector del Instituto para la Diversificación y el Ahorro de Energía (IDAE). Este especialista mantiene que se trata de medidas puramente recaudatorias para que las eléctricas ingresen más. Unesa, la patronal de las grandes eléctricas, ha rehusado valorar la situación del autoconsumo hasta conocer mejor los cambios legislativos.
Con los cambios conocidos hasta ahora el tiempo de amortización de las instalaciones fotovoltaicas crece considerablemente. Si antes de la reforma hacían falta 12 años para recuperar la inversión de una instalación en un domicilio de 2,4 kilovatios de potencia ahora harán falta 23 más, según cálculos de Unef. Este consumidor es el más tocado, ya que en los casos de instalaciones de servicios o para regadío los tiempos de amortización se han incrementado 5 y 4,75 años respectivamente.
Con todo, siempre hay quien ya trabaja en buscarle la vuelta. Sol Gironés asegura que sus clientes están reduciendo la parte de potencia contratada, la que registrará mayor incremento en la factura, porque el autoconsumo instantáneo les permite tener sus necesidades energéticas cubiertas. Otra de sus metas es conseguir que el autoconsumo doméstico sea rentable.

India bans captive dolphin shows, says dolphins should be seen as ‘non-human persons’

Stephen Messenger
Science / Natural Sciences
May 21, 2013

CC BY 2.0 eddie.welker

Dolphins have long been one of our favorite ocean-going animal counterparts, blurring the line that separates human intelligence and emotion from the wildness of nature. Sadly, though, this attraction has resulted in dolphins around the world being exploited for our entertainment, subjected to a life in captivity.
But now, in a bold move to protect the well-being of dolphins, India has moved to ban dolphin shows -- a push that helps elevate their status from creatures of mere curiosity to one that borders more closely to that of personhood.
Late last week, India's Minstry of the Environment and Forests released a statement banning "any person / persons, organizations, government agencies, private or public enterprises that involves import, capture of cetacean species to establish for commercial entertainment, private or public exhibition and interaction purposes whatsoever.”

Ezra S F/CC BY 2.0
In so doing, India became the largest of four countries to ban the practice -- which includes Costa Rica, Hungary, and Chile. But the ministry didn't stop there; their thoughtful reasoning behind the ban seems squarely aimed at the dozens of countries across the globe, like in Europe and the United States, where dolphin shows are big business.
“Whereas cetaceans in general are highly intelligent and sensitive, and various scientists who have researched dolphin behavior have suggested that the unusually high intelligence; as compared to other animals means that dolphin should be seen as ‘non-human persons’ and as such should have their own specific rights and is morally unacceptable to keep them captive for entertainment purpose,” reads the ministry's statement.

© Google Maps
In the U.S., similar efforts on the part of animal rights organizations have failed to gain traction in courts, leaving the door open for both dolphins and orcas to be held in captivity and paraded for our entertainment. The stark realities of this life, held in small pools on the grounds of marine parks, can best be seen from overhead -- as with this facility in Florida, a stone's throw from animals' vast ocean habitat.
It's no wonder then, that India's move to abolish captivity for dolphins is being looked upon, among animal rights supporters, as a big step in the right direction.
“This is a huge win for dolphins,” says Ric O’Barry of the Earth Island Institute’s Dolphin Project. "Not only has the Indian government spoken out against cruelty, they have contributed to an emerging and vital dialogue about the ways we think about dolphins – as thinking, feeling beings rather than pieces of property to make money off of.”

Jack Kevorkian

The Life and Deaths of Jack Kevorkian (1928–2011)

By Howard Chua-Eoan Friday, June 03, 2011

Jeff Kowalsky / AFP / Getty Images

Dr. Jack Kevorkian stands during his arraignment in Oakland County Circuit Court in Michigan on Dec. 16, 1998

Follow @TIME

"My specialty is death," Dr. Jack Kevorkian told TIME back in 1993 as he burnished his qualifications to counsel people on taking their own lives. The white-haired, wiry physician cited his specialization and, with no evidence of humility, declared, "If not a pathologist, who? Would you have a pediatrician do it? Or let's get more absurd. What if I was a urologist? Could I help only men end their lives?"
When TIME did its cover on "Dr. Death" 18 years ago, Kevorkian was about to participate in his 16th assisted suicide. By the time his own end came — in Detroit, from kidney-related complications on the eve of the 21st anniversary of his first assisted suicide — the controversial physician was said to have had a role in more than 130 deaths. He had also served more than eight years in prison for second-degree murder and had the out-of-body pleasure of seeing Al Pacino portray him in an HBO movie called You Don't Know Jack.

(See TIME's photo-essay: Dr. Jack Kevorkian, 1928–2011)

His antics and personality brought a certain approachability to a grim subject. In one of his many court appearances, he put on colonial-era clothing to make a point about the fundamental right of terminally ill patients to choose to die. He loved to show off the Thanatron, the infamous "suicide machine" he rigged together to let his patients self-administer lethal levels of narcotics. (He had another contraption, dubbed the Mercitron, that utilized carbon monoxide.) Some critics complained that he wasn't really helping the terminally ill but rather dealing with deeply depressed patients. Others, while decrying his methods, appreciated his contributions. "Dr. Kevorkian is a crude but useful historical forerunner helping us to begin to think about how to face the management of death properly," John Langbein of Yale Law School once told TIME. At the time of Kevorkian's death, only Oregon and Washington state had legalized physician-assisted suicide; Montana's supreme court ruled it lawful in 2009.
Born in Pontiac, Mich., to Armenian immigrants, Jacob Kevorkian cultivated multiple talents throughout his life, graduating from the University of Michigan Medical School at Ann Arbor in 1952 and pursuing painting and music as well as medicine. He composed jazz tunes, loved listening to Bach fugues and worked on canvases that glowered with a morbid light. But in the 1980s, he began weighing in on the issue that would make him infamous: euthanasia and the plight of the dying.
He had intimate experience with the subject. "Our mother suffered from cancer," his sister Margo Janus told TIME. "I saw the ravages right up to the end. Her mind was sound, but her body was gone. My brother's option would have been more moral than all the Demerol that they poured into her, to the point that her body was all black and blue from the needle marks. She was in a coma, and she weighed only 70 lb. Even then, I said to the doctor, 'This isn't right, to keep her on IV,' but he shrugged his shoulders and said, 'I'm bound by my oath to do that.' "

(See a full interview with Dr. Jack Kevorkian.)

If anything, a talk with Kevorkian was always full of passionate empathy for the travails of severely ill people. In an interview with Jon Hull, who was then TIME's Midwest bureau chief, the doctor stopped in midconversation to thumb through his briefcase, pulling out letters from across the U.S. One read, "I am the lady who called you who has M.S. ... I shot myself in the chest, not knowing exactly where the heart was. I aimed about two inches too far to the left. I had to do something while I was still able ... I am tired of fighting the M.S. I just want it over. I do not look forward to becoming a vegetable. Please help me."
"I will debate so-called ethicists," he told Hull. "They are not even ethicists. They are propagandists. I will argue with them if they will allow themselves to be strapped to a wheelchair for 72 hours so they can't move, and they are catheterized and they are placed on the toilet and fed and bathed. Then they can sit in a chair and debate with me."
In the middle of an argument, Kevorkian's eyebrows would shoot upward, his head cocking back, a slim finger jabbing the air as he talked about his work with death. "I analogize death to a dark cave. Now, if you are going into this cave by yourself, which everyone seems to do, you're terrified. But if I tie a big rope on a tree out here and I stand on the outside and I say, 'Don't worry, I'm here. You can go on in, and if anything happens, I can yank this rope back so you don't have to worry,' you can go in with a lot less fear. This is the rope that people need."
Kevorkian's first patient — or victim, depending on your point of view — was Janet Adkins, a 54-year-old Portland, Ore., housewife who allowed herself to be hooked up to one of Kevorkian's suicide machines on June 4, 1990. She had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease the year before and had contacted Kevorkian after an experimental drug treatment she received at the University of Washington was unsuccessful. She had first seen him on a talk show and read about him in a magazine.
Adkins, however, was not debilitated by her illness. Her personal physician, Dr. Murray Raskind, told TIME that she had told him that she and her husband were members of the Hemlock Society, a right-to-die organization, and that she had limited patience for Alzheimer's treatment. "When she entered the trial, she made it clear that this was a last chance. If the progress of the disease wasn't halted, then she didn't want to continue living." And then he got a call from Kevorkian. Raskind told TIME he vigorously tried to dissuade Kevorkian from taking her case. "My reasons were that she was in good spirits and seemed to be getting a lot of satisfaction from life. I was perplexed, but I didn't take [the call] as seriously as I should have. I consulted legal and medical colleagues. Then I called her family. Mrs. Adkins wasn't there. She was out playing tennis. I left a phone number for her, but she never returned my call ... When I heard the news, I was disappointed. I felt she had several years of good-quality life in front of her." Raskind testified against Kevorkian in an unsuccessful attempt to convict the Michigan doctor in Adkins' death.

(See the related story "Sisters of Mercy.")

Requests for Kevorkian's assistance increased with each case, as did his notoriety and the court cases against him. The testimonials for and against him were both heart-wrenching and brutal. Always, however, Kevorkian evaded criminal responsibility by (so to speak) providing enough rope and never actually pushing open the trap door. Patients always self-administered, even though some early cases seemed to indicate actions that could be construed as changes of mind toward the end. But after years of working around legislation and lawyers, Kevorkian in 1998 showed a videotape of himself administering the dosage that led to the death of Thomas Youk, 52, who was in the final stages of ALS. With such clear evidence, a Michigan jury found him guilty of second-degree murder the following year, and he was given a 10-to-25-year sentence. He was released on good behavior in 2008, a decision perhaps ameliorated by the discovery that Kevorkian was suffering from hepatitis.
The living embodiment of death in American pop culture, he continued to make television appearances and, after a period of quiet to satisfy his parole conditions, pushed his crusade almost as vigorously as before, though no longer assisting in suicides. His detractors continue to decry his methods, claiming they skirted the subtleties of psychology and other palliative alternatives, that the effectiveness of his death machines robbed the dying of a chance to consider other ways to see out their earthly existence. But Kevorkian almost reveled in the enmity he met — "the Inquisition," he called it. His confidence in the quest remained unruffled throughout. "It's unstoppable," he told TIME. "It may not be in my lifetime, but my opponents are going to lose. There's a lot of human misery out there.

La evolución de las dietas