Listen Up, Spice It Up, Man Up!

Let me just set down this jug of Tabasco Sauce I shake vigorously over all my food and from whioch I take shots throughout the day and I will tell you what you need to hear:

Men who like spicier food are 'alpha males' with higher levels of testosterone, French report claims

I know what you're thinking - the French reporting on 'alpha' males? What's next, Eskimos reporting on the perfect beach body? (Sooo Rule 5!)

French gourmets have traditionally shunned hot, spicy food – so they may be a little piqued by a study indicating that curry-loving men have higher testosterone.

Scientists at the highly-respected University of Grenoble have published a report suggesting that regular consumption of chili peppers may raise levels of the hormone, which is believed to make men more adventurous, enterprising and sexually active.

Laurent Begue, one of the authors of the study, said: "These results are in line with a lot of research showing a link between testosterone and financial, sexual and behavioural risk-taking."

The research paper, titled "Some Like It Hot", is to be published in the US-based journal "Physiology and Behavior".

Let me supply the Marilyn Monroe link. Now, let me just finish my omelette with onions, peppers and the aforementioned Tabasco and I'll have something for you ladies (if you can smell what I'm cookin...).

TFHE FUTURE IS NOW! First, the spice effect on testosterone is not new; a fun starting point is this AnabolicMen post noting a variety of spices which may boost testosterone.

And we aren't talking exclusively about men becoming Ahnold or women becoming East German swimmers. For ther ladies:

Turmeric is a yellow spice powder, most commonly used in curry.
 
It has been cited to be one of the world’s most healthiest foods, as it’s extremely high in bio-active antioxidants which provide the human body with a huge list of health benefits.
 
But the thing that most people fail to realize, is that turmeric is also a potent testosterone booster.
 
Turmeric has gained some big time reputation among women who use it successfully as an aid to beat breast cancer [Google]. It helps as it’s an extremely anti-estrogenic substance.

And yes, Ginger Up! It's not all about the peppers.

 

Comments

[NKtesting]

Is Maguire drunk?.... is he careening into mid-life crisis?

[Iggy]

Most healthiest?
Guess it aint a brain food.

[exdemocrat]

Is it possible to have too MUCH testosterone? A friend wants to know.

[Threadkiller]

Sounds like you have stumbled on a "which bathroom do I use?" test for California schools.

[Eric in Boise]

Turmeric, huh? Sounds like eating India food will help guys curry favor with the ladies.

[Captain Hate]

So Barroid Bonds used a lot of tumeric?

[Tom Maguire]

Most healthiest?

Well, he knew "most healthier" was wrong...

[henry]

Well, it explains the French surrender thing.

[maryrose]

TM: I think you were going for healthiest,but we understand your meaning and your exuberance. It has been a challenge to keep up with the multiple posts but we at JOM are up to this endeavor. you have trained us well over the years and we will pass this test with flying colors. Carry on sir!

[clarice]

I take tumeric pills every day--they improve circulation and boost memory (not that you can tell from my memory lapses, but still), and they are known to shrink tumors if you have them. Great stuff.

[Man Tran]

Figures. I post and two new threads appear magically. Catching up after being buried in my shop for a week.

Jane and Caro: check your mail. Jane, if you're not using your fwdaj anymore, send me your new one.

On the Navy uniforms Saturday: I'm surprised one of you military historians didn't pick up on the motif being the Navy Jack. I fly one over the 4th holiday. Got mine at Annapolis when MT Jr. graduated.

[clarice]

I take tumeric pills every day. Aside from the hormonal and anti-cancer effect, tumeric is known to improve circulation and aid memory (well, my memory lapses notwithstanding, it does help most people).

[clarice]

Now my posts are getting eaten.

[Captain Hate]

If on POI Samaritan rid the world of TyphusPad I might regard it more favorably.

[Old Lurker]

Clarice forgot by 10:15 that she had said that already at 10:13.

[Eric in Boise]

Not eaten as much as delayed for a while. I've run into it too, as have others. But only on some posts. Others seem to go through immediately.

Weird.

[NKtesting]

MT-- JiB reminded us of Gadsden Flag - USN connection. I thought the Gadsden vibe was provacative given it's SC origins and modern conservative symbology. The Jack?-- was that the helmet and shoulder images?

[Jeff Dobbs]

Forget the Tabasco. This is where it's at:

[jimmyk]

Guess it aint a brain food.

Well you know what they say about what part of the body alpha males think with.

I thought spiciness in food was (historically at least) a function of latitude or climate. Spices helped either preserve food in hot climates or at least cover up the rot. So all those men in tropical climates are raging testosterone machines?

[NKtesting]

Drunken Dan Malloy's Blue Hell-- Connecticut has an appointment with the US Bankruptcy Court-- The 19th Century 'Land of Steady Habits' has become the 'Land of Steady Taxes'. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-12/300-hedge-funds-not-enough-as-tax-fails-connecticut-muni-credit.html

[Eric in Boise]

So all those men in tropical climates are raging testosterone machines?

Absolutely, according to them.

O/T: Explosion/shots fired in Sydney.

[NKtesting]

Is the situation over? Is the Persian Muzzie down?

[Dave (in MA)]

jimmyk@10:31, you wouldn't know if from all of the males who I work with who come from a certain subcontinent known for spicy foods.

[clarice]

Hostage taker shot--siege over:http://thepunditpress.com/2014/12/15/sydney-hostage-taker-identified-as-muslim-radical-who-lit-wife-on-fire/

[Man Tran]

NK, the Navy Jack has the 13 stripes and was flown on our early ships (JP Jones, etc.) I don't think there is any connection to the Gadsden, except that the rattlesnake was an early symbol. (Note that the snake is not coiled on the Navy Jack.)

[Pagar]

Who would have guessed?

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/15/us/politics/cia-chief-and-president-walk-fine-line-.html?_r=0

[CR]

CNN reported 2 dead and several others in serious condition.

[Iggy]

What a strong dollar means for foreign borrowers and the world economy.

[NKtesting]

MT-- wasn't the uncoiled snake, 13 stripes and 'Don't Tread on Me' on Commodore Gadsden's first squadron flag?

[Jane]

ManTran,

I replied 3 times 2 threads ago and again with my work address. My most important question is do you have a radio station on that island?

[Captain Hate]

Somewhere there's a judge who granted bail to this koranimal and somebody, maybe CAIR or an Australian equivalent, who paid for it. Being charged with setting somebody on fire doesn't seem like the type of person who can be counted on to exist well in a general population.

[exdemocrat]

Pagar - "gone native" = "not treating Obama like he is Kim Jong Il"

[peter]

Clarice, me too!

[exdemocrat]

Great point CH - an Islamic fanatic to be tried for brutal murder and being investigated for multiple rapes: no flight risk or danger to public there.

[exdemocrat]

Awaiting outcry from american feminist "war on women" cabal...

[NKtesting]

Iggy -- all true. The Dollar has recovered only 20% of its lost purchasing power since Greenspan started ZIRP in 2002. What if if the Fed does raise rates in '15 and the Repubs reduce government borrowing further, a lot more Dollar appreciation could happen, with little loss of growth as reduced energy costs support domestic USA GDP. The unwind of QE will be messy, and it may hurt East Asia and ME far more than the USA. The 'hot money' trade people may larn the lesson college profs are learning.

[exdemocrat]

Especially Clinton and Warren...

[daddy]

Aussie channel says that the perp was an Iranian native given political asylum in Australia.

It is obvious the police knew who this guy was almost from the get-go.

[Tom Maguire]

TM: I think you were going for healthiest...

C'mon, not my mistake, I linked to the guy! I am one of the bester declensionologists out there.

Is Maguire drunk?

Hitting the ginger beer hard. That's just like ginger ale, right?

[NKtesting]

Maguire@11:13-- well ginger beer is fairly benign. Just don't tell me that there's a new '15 red Corvette in town.

[Pagar]

The insanity continues!

http://weaselzippers.us/208137-australian-liberals-offer-to-protect-muslims-from-anti-islam-backlash-as-hostage-crisis-continues/

[PDinDetroit]

Go ahead and tell a Scottish Man wearing a Kilt that he is not manly enough!

Out comes the claymore...

[matt]

It's a wonderful world we live in. Sriracha, Tapatio or McIlhenny's? It's all good.

[clarice]

Most professors I know have pensions handled by TIA_CreF and I think that's a well-managed outfit.

[Ben]

Sorry I chased y'all away with simple facts on the previous thread.

[daddy]

If only Sabrina Erdely had been writing about Islamic Sheiks instead of UVA Frat Houses.

Via Bloomberg:

The gunman is Man Haron Monis, a 50-year-old Iranian charged with being an accessory to murder, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. The self-styled cleric has also been charged with more than 50 counts of indecent and sexual assault

[Old Lurker]

Clarice, when the pension is managed by TIA-CREF (an independent asset manager) that means it was "funded" by the school and the employee and actual cash was given to TIA-CREF to invest. The "Unfunded" plans are those promises made by organizations about payments that will be made in the future, but for which no actual cash-cash was moved to a trust account to pay for those promises. In those cases the employee/retiree is counting on the good faith and solvency of the organization which made the promise in the first place.

Even in the case of fully funded plans like TIA-CREF, promises about future payouts are based on projections of future earnings on the funds invested so if those ROI's are not achieved, or if there is a 1929 type meltdown, then even those funds could become insolvent.

[clarice]

Sure, but it's more likely in self-managed college pension funds.

[Old Lurker]

BTW, that future market risk is why smart companies have moved their employee "promises" from guaranteed "benefits" (future payments in retirement) to guaranteed "contribution" plans whereby the company promises only to make a certain cash contribution each year to a fund under the direction of the employee, so that future adverse market returns don't come back to haunt the company and require unexpected large new contributions by the company so the auditors can attest that the plan is "fully funded" or not..

[Old Lurker]

It sure is Clarice. And unlike a listed company, it is often more difficult to find out exactly how sound the privately managed non profit fund really is.

[NKtesting]

OL/Clarice-- our friend in ChiTown wonders if the Putzker pensions are Tiaa or Calpers managed. Tiaa is honest and transparent, but if the underlying college fund collapses, no dinero. Calpers is corrupt, but they do manage to rape taxpayers in order to protect beneficiaries. Interesting question where beneficiaries are better off.

[NKtesting]

OL--- doesn't ERISA require nonprofit P-funds to publish annual reports through their fund managers?

[Danube on iPad]

That's the first navy jack. Immediately after 9/11 SecNav ordered it flown in lieu of the modern jack until the War on Terror was over. Son't know if that's still in effect.

[lyle]

It sure is Clarice. And unlike a listed company, it is often more difficult to find out exactly how sound the privately managed non profit fund really is.

No more comments, please. This thread has been won.

[Old Lurker]

ERISA maybe some, NK, and smart employees and retirees have demanded them too. But those managed by outside managers provide better data than do funds managed by the non profits themselves.

Your point and that from Chicago about the differences among managers based on how politically motivated/connected they are is a great point. If a huge fund decided to invest in, say, "green" enterprises or "socially acceptable" one, then you sure know how that can work out.

At the end of the day, the retiree needs cash-cash to take to the grocery store. Solyndra Shares are not edible.

[RickB]

OL,

It's the ones which decided to sweeten delusional ROI with some neato high yield Petrobras debt in October cuz they can always dump it in December and never report having held it at all that deserve close scrutiny. If it were possible, that is. Quarterly starting and closing positions really don't reveal much about risk taken to juice yield.

[jimmyk]

even those funds could become insolvent.

Isn't that highly unlikely (I might have thought impossible) if they are just custodial funds? Of course the underlying assets can lose value, but TIAA-CREF (or Vanguard or whatever) can't put them toward their other liabilities (aside from the management fee), or so I thought.

[Pagar]

Based on what happens to Vet pensions:

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/veterans-benefits-congress-budget/2014/01/16/id/547424/

plus the fact that the Obama regime has just committed to provide retirement funds to millions of citizens of other countries while reducing the pensions of millions of American retirees; I would suggest that the only US pension money that is truly safe is that which the retiree has in hand.

[NKtesting]

'Insolvent' in the sense that the 'guaranteed' benefit is reneged on, as a result of a payment of less than 100% of the promised 'guaranty'.

[NKtesting]

"I would suggest that the only US pension money that is truly safe is that which the retiree has in hand."

even that was reduced by 38% since 2002 by ZIRP/QE.

[sbw]

weaselzippers: Australian liberals offer to protect muslims from anti-islam backlash

The dark-humored jokes, they write themselves.

[Old Lurker]

Yes Jimmy, I said insolvent as opposed to bankrupt because their investments might still "be there" but not of sufficient value to pay all the retirees what had been expected. Think what happend if their equities get repriced to say the long term PE ratios overnight, while their energy investments bought at $100 oil and $14 natural gas have to deal with a $40 & $2 realities, just as their government bonds which looked good at 2% but less so when the interest rates return to their long term base lines...and finally when their Muni bonds go bust when the police and teachers demand their checks and some BK judge says "SURPRISE" so the taxpayers all move away from that pit.

If any several of those thing happen, then those funds will still have all that paper but it will not return enough to cover the promises.

[Old Lurker]

As I said the other day on another topic, who woulda thunk AIG could go bust and not cover all those derivative side bets? Who woulda thunk a Presdient could divert assets from legitimate bond holders at a big three auto company so the unions could have them instead?

Predicting the financial future is really really hard when there is a steady rule of law and private property rights. It becomes a joke when that stability is removed.

[jimmyk]

it will not return enough to cover the promises.

I thought we were talking about defined contribution benefits, for which there are no promises.

[NKtesting]

the Prog Prof plans must be defined benefit plans, especially in light of the ERISA regulation.

[jimmyk]

TIAA-CREF are defined contribution plans, as far as I'm aware (and I am a customer).

[NKtesting]

the CR amendment relates to industrial era defined benefit plans. Dinsosaurs like... you know who.

[jimmyk]

the CR amendment relates to industrial era defined benefit plans.

Fine, but I was specifically responding to this:

Even in the case of fully funded plans like TIA-CREF [sic], promises about future payouts are based on projections of future earnings on the funds invested so if those ROI's are not achieved, or if there is a 1929 type meltdown, then even those funds could become insolvent.

Let's move on.

[NKtesting]

That's correct when TIAA is the independent administrator of a defined benefit plan.

[Old Lurker]

Jimmy, I was speaking about both in the sense that future payments and retirement plans are based directly on the expected returns and clear fact that the future might not be the same as the recent past. (with the one having the added risk of the benefactor company remaining solvent, but the other having the risk that the employee has to manage his own allocations over a long period of time)

Like you, my BIL is fully invested in his TIA-Cref funds from his lifetime as a college librarian. As he approaches retirement, he brought me his "accounts" with the innocent question "what could go wrong". On the one hand he truly has a bunch of money there (I was impressed) but though they had stood him well in his 30s, 40s and 50s, his risk and horizon assumptions were all wrong. I walked him trough my litany above of "what if..." and he got the point.

Now in his case he winds because he made it to retirement without an explosion so all he has to do now is reallocate. (That led to a discussion about who benefits for sure vs who takes the risk if he transferred his assets into the annuities some were pushing on him.)

[Old Lurker]

I think we are all on the same page now. At least the three of us are!.

[jimmyk]

Thanks, OL.

[Iggy]

We're all on the same page til comment 101.

[Old Lurker]

bad, Iggy, very bad.

Actually I think we get a clean slate after each post unless Hit is around with his way-back machine.

[Comanche Voter]

Pajama Boy likes his food very bland.