Alex Lockhart

The battle raged on in the depths of Khundrukar. Slighter charged towards one of the open passages  meeting two orcs that attempted a flank attack. Asuryan could be seen here and there, but he was never in one place for long. His flurry of attacks would blind side an orc, then he disappeared amongst the piles of crates and barrels that stood piled high in the cave. Then he would appear behind the half ogre to land a strike of his staff on it's head before slinking back into the shadows.

Nim in bear form battled the half ogre back for a moment as Suthra landed his hammer on it's spine. The ogre arched backwards and fell motionless to the floor. Another orc climbed over the bodies that lay strewn upon the floor. It landed a grievous blow upon Suthra. He withstood the shock of the attack as blood flowed down his chest. The orcs began chanting as they fought. Their orcish language could not be understood by most, but the chanted name of "Awlf" could be perceived by all. …

Many paths led before them. Did the orc troop truly come from the Sunless Citadel in the South? Should they track down the flying shadow that they saw fly to the North? How could they abandoned their journey along the giant's path that was taking them Westward? The discussed these various paths that led before them long into the morning. At a great length they chose to keep to the course on which they had begun and to follow the giant path westward.

The land that day quickly gave way from the shrub brush and tree spotted hills to barren and cracked plains. There was no more sign of orc on the ground or shadow in the sky that day. Night came and they felt fearfully exposed in that land, the Barren Lands they called it. Again they kept no fire for fear of being spotted by orcs, or worse things.
Morning came without trouble and they continued along the westward giant trail. The land descended all that day. The cracked ground gave way to wet ground. Grasses and bushes sprouted out of …

Here is a conversation that I had with Ryan Mcinnis. We were talking about lifestyle related topics and landed on a conversation about nutrition and food. It seemed to me to be worth sharing.

Alex:
Last March I started experimenting with my diet, one of my goals was to save time. So for that reason and many others I do one meal a day. It was amazing how much time I gained by doing that.

Ryan:
One meal? Do you still lift and need a bunch of carbs and protein? How do you get everything in one meal?

Alex:
I do a one meal a day Keto diet. So 70% fat, 25% protein and 5% carbs (if that). Basically I eat about a pound of meat (or two depending on the day) and a pound of vegetables, and supplement that with some nuts. My exercise is the other thing I have been experimenting with. I went years doing the standard eat carbs and protein and workout an hour a day for four days a week and doing that I gained zero muscle. In the last 6 months I have reduced my exercise and lifting to 45 minutes a we…

Do not ask if food is healthy. This is the wrong question for a multitude of reasons, a few of which I will cover here. First, you must either define a measurement of how healthy something is or assume what types of foods are health and what types of foods are not. For example we may assume that a pop-tart is not healthy, or way may look at its sugar content and conclude that it is not healthy based upon that measurement. However this is problematic, because every diet, nutritionist, or researcher will have different measurements which have to be applied in special ways for special circumstances. To illustrate this problem we can look to a conversation between Joe Rogan, Layne Norton, and Dom D'Agostino in episode #1176 of the Joe Rogan Experience.


In this discussion Layne Norton makes the bold claim that pop-tarts can be healthy. This is something of a surprise tactic to catch the listeners attention, and a useful one at that. The point is that when you define how healthy food is …

The weeks passed slowly in the aftermath of the Sunless Citadel being ransacked. Nim, Asuryan, Suthra, and Slighter became momentary heroes in the life of the Old Board inn of Oakhurst. They told their stories to the excitement of the locals, who were in no need of adventure as they lived on the edge of the wild. However the stories of the Citadel did amuse them for a time.

Their fame quickly settled down as the stories were repeated and were replaced by rumors of movement in the wild. Suthra spent much of his time in the wild lands around Oakhurst along with the rangers in the woods, a group of volunteers devoted to keeping safe the lands around Oakhurst. This was a difficult and dangerous task, but they brought back tales of kobolds, ogres, and even some rumors of a winged dragon in the sky, as black as coal. This latter rumor was considered uncouth to repeat and few believed the tales.

Nim withdrew herself to her adopted family, a village of hobbits that sat a two day journey to th…

The day wore on quickly as storm clouds gathered overhead. The rain was followed by lightning, both pushed ever towards them by gushes of wind that swept the ancient road. Suddenly upon the road ahead, a lone figure could be seen. Obscured by the heavy rain, Suthra squinted as the water dripped past his eyes. Wiping his face to take a closer look, he could now see an entire row of spear and shield clad kobolds standing in a formation ahead of them. With a crack of lightning an ogre stood tall and massive behind the kobolds. The howl of wolves could be heard.
"Prepare yourselves!" Suthra cried out as he drew his warhammer. A rain of arrows shot out of the tree's at either side. Suthra ducked his head as he charged forward and yelled, "Keep a close formation!"
The words went on deaf ears it would seem as the chaos ensued. Massive wolves leapt out of the woods and met Suthra and Slighter's charge head on. Nim was caught by a horde of kobolds before she defend …

The person that is vegan, higher carb, and avoids cholesterol is going to look at specific and isolated biological mechanisms and determine that red meat and high fat activates certain biological mechanisms that we want to avoid. The person that eats a lot of meat, eats low carb, and does not care about dietary cholesterol is going to look at the higher level results in regards to which diet is effective. Many studies show that certain foods will activate certain biological mechanisms that are known to have negative effects, but then very often those effects are not realized as a result of those foods.
As a simple and generic example, eating food A might cause mechanism X to active. Mechanism X is associated with higher risks of cancer. This would seem to indicate that food A should be avoided because it increases the risk of cancer. However that same food might activate mechanisms Y and Z which both reduce the risk of cancer. If only mechanism X is studied in isolation you may be le…

They continued their delving deeper into the citadel. The further it descended into the earth the more ancient it felt. Stone was replaced by gnarled roots. After some time they came to a long hall and passed through an old stone archway. The small room they entered into was lined in book cases and had a solitary desk in the middle of the room. Nim's eyes gleamed with the possibility as she scoured the books and scrolls, finding not a few that contained within them long held secrets of the deep earth.

Slighter and Suthra gathered around as Nim opened an old dusty book as Asuryan stood in the long hallway keeping watch on the path behind them. Asuryan heard a boom come  from behind him as the wind from the blast drove torn shreds of paper out through the doorway. Turning to look into the room with his staff at the ready he saw Suthra gripping his chest and gasping to catch a breath. Slighter and Nim both laid unconscious on the floor. The table was burnt black and and all of their …