[Bo Inaka]

I remember looking at each of those posts, now that you remind me of them.  I can't believe I didn't scream about this before.  And I certainly agree that she's almost enough justification for a herbiceps membership by herself.
And Lingster, I see you are a man of fine taste.

Bo.

[Bo Inaka]

Fair enough, I just updated.

Bo.

[Bo Inaka]

I consider my self more than just a slack-jawed drooler.  Not that I don't drool over her, of course. 😉 ;D

Hey, whatever else you do with a slack jaw, I want you to keep it to yourself, OK? 😉

Bo.

[Bo Inaka]

In case it wasn't obvious already, I consider myself a fan of Cindy's.  I was treating this exchange as a mental exercise rather than wanting to pass judgment on her choices. 
I am sure she has worked very hard and made sacrifices for something she apparently enjoys.  She has been awarded a pro card for her hard work, which must be very welcome recognition indeed for her. 
On the point of her choices, I'm actually torn.  I sometimes like the results, and sometimes find myself reflecting on what she appears to be doing to herself and its consequences. After reading her blog regularly, I am seeing more person and less pretty image, and that is making things difficult for me. I am nearly sure that it would be better for her to get out of bodybuilding and move on with life. Celebrity has a dark side. Fans like us can be that dark side.  Do we really love her, or do we just like to drool? Cindy might very well be hurt if she were to read this thread, and that is my point. Friends are good to have.  I'm not sure that fans are healthy to have. I imagine most of us have realized that we are not immortal, and perhaps this would be a good time for her to recognize that too.

Sorry if this has been a downer.

Bo.

[Bo Inaka]

Not really, but you can check here: http://lolcat.com

Please for the love of all things pure, cool and fruity ban them!

Bo.

[Bo Inaka]

It's probably pointless to speculate on what has caused the deepening voice, as I said.  As far as acne, if you look at Cindy going all the way back to when she was a fitness model, she's always had trouble with acne.  If anything, her skin seems clearer now than it did just a couple years ago, but, again, this may mean nothing.  Mood swings can easily be attributed to steroid use, true, but they can also be attributed to stress, sleep deprivation, diet, and a host of other "natural" causes.  My point is that there is no conclusive evidence one way or the other, and I prefer to believe the best of her (and most people) until such evidence exists.

You are of course correct that we have no conclusive evidence.  What we do have is reasonable suspicion based on musculature far in excess of what is commonly seen on natural female athletes along with admittedly circumstantial factors such as deepening voice and acne into her mid 20s, neither of which are unheard-of.  The moodiness referred to earlier is admittedly  also of uncertain origin.  If you look at this as a probability, each included factor reduces the level of probability to some degree.  If we posit that 20 percent of women engaged in natural bodybuilding experience deepening voice in adulthood naturally, that 40% of natural bodybuilding women have acne into their mid 20s, and that 90 percent of them experience moodiness or depression while dieting in advance of a contest we get .4x.2x.9=.072 or 7.2% that have all three, assuming that each of these variables is independent.  Naturally, we can play with those numbers until we have carpal tunnel syndrome, but my point is that for all these variables to come together in one person is improbable.    7.2 percent is not insignificant, but it was heavily influenced by the 90% thrown in for fun.  If 25% of bodybuilding women had moodiness,  2% of this population would have all 3.  But I have no real statistics here.  Also, I will admit that my statistical skills are rusty and limited at best. What I see in your position is a triumph of hope over experience. I see people using whatever performance enhancement they can when they are in competition, especially if they suspect others of doing the same thing. You may see my view as pessimistic.  We aren't going to really get anywhere here, so can we call a truce?  I still think we both like to look at pictures of Cindy.
[/quote]

On a separate but related topic, I think both amateur and professional levels of the sports could only benefit in the public eye if there were mandatory testing for performance enhancing drugs.  The problem, of course, is money.  Sort of a vicious cycle- the sport might be more popular if drug testing were mandatory, which might make it feasible to spend the money on drug testing, but because the sport isn't generally popular or accepted, the money isn't there, so drug testing isn't fiscally possible, so the sport isn't likely to gain popularity, et. al.  I'd love to see a realistic approach to that conundrum.

Well, adding the word realistic puts an interesting spin on things.  What is realistic, after all?  Do we count in or out the possibility of politicians posturing for votes and feigning moral outrage to decry performance enhancing substances?  If we count that in, do we then think that it is realistic to imagine politicians perceiving enough support to legally mandate testing in professional sports as they have in many communities for high school sports?  Is it likely that the voting public would support such testing? 
On other levels, I think it is quite unlikely that professional sport will do anything that it sees as against its commercial interests unless it feels compelled to do so.  Sport is a spectacle.  More spectacle=> more interest=> more ticket sales.  Record setting performance is a way to increase how spectacular a game is.  Other than political means, I can only see some sort of ethical convergence driving a move toward fully drug tested sports.  I can imagine some basic agreement that sport is a demonstration of what people can do, not what science can do, but it requires a population of educated, concerned people.  In the US at least, I don't see that as realistic in the near future.  Of course, drugs may be on their way out anyhow.  Gene manipulation is perhaps not too far down the road, and that might be impossible to detect.

I think it might be more interesting to discuss what it means to be human and separately to decide if the desire to improve oneself by any means available is necessarily a bad thing.
Bo.

[Bo Inaka]

I share your concerns, but I think the now infamous "I may retire soon" postin her blog showed that such things are in her mind – she really doesn't want to end-up as the next Nicole Bass.

  Well, OK, that posting may mean that she's concerned about what effect her "supplements" are having on her, but it also may be that as another bodybuilder commented at the time, that she was having a bad day during her precontest weight loss and was a little crazy right then.  (insert FBB name here) said she had also had that kind of day during contest prep.    Now, having earned a pro card is a pretty good encouragement, especially when it is reportedly unprecedented for two pro cards to be awarded at one canadian nationals.  It would be contrary to any competitive spirit I've come across to want to bow out just as you go pro.  Sure there are people who want to go out at the top, but she isn't there yet.  There is income to be made from being a pro after all.  But maybe sponsorship is more flexible than I imagine.  Is there a way to retain the potential income from sponsorships and yet not continue as a professional fbb?

Stmercy,  OK fair enough, this isn't a controlled experiment.  It doesn't seem likely though that a young woman in a matter of a few years (2003) goes from cheerleader fit to professional bodybuilder just by eating her wheaties and exercising seriously.  OK, perhaps she is that one-in-a million girl who just happens to be really exceedingly good at getting muscular without drugs.    How likely is it that in addition to being that rare girl she is also getting a deeper voice and having apparent acne trouble, both of which as we all know are also signs of steroid use(along with mood swings btw).  I would like to believe that this beautiful girl stayed away from steroids, but I don't know that I would bet on it.  I hope that she will have good judgement and find a way to use her fame and abilities that does not have long term health consequences.
[puts down bullhorn, steps off soapbox]
Bo.

[Bo Inaka]

Well…… I guess that's pretty close to the last thing I ever expected to see.  I laughed.  Anyone care to break down what a lolcat is?

Bo.

[Bo Inaka]

I found a couple of Gene X Hwang's photos of Cindy from Nationals. Here's a link:  http://www.ftppv.com/ftvideo/showthread.php?t=2397&page=4. 

OK, actually here are more from twixpix:  http://www.twixpix.com/contests/CA07/pics/twx_CA07-Intro_03.html
,http://www.twixpix.com/contests/CA07/pics/twx_CA07-Intro_05.html

She looks terrific, but as has been said before, earning a pro card can bring extra pressures with it.  Somehow the start of a deeper voice for Cindy is a bit troubling.  I have followed her since she was in college, and as much as I enjoy the look sometimes, I have my concerns about the reality.

Bo.

[Bo Inaka]

More seriously, I wonder if these new nails will work in current nail guns and so on.  If not, their acceptance may be slower than you'd like.  Ingenuity can solve a lot of problems, but maybe the problem is the presumption that the way to go is to resist the wind.  I wasn't kidding about making houses that fall apart easily.  Japan traditionally has built houses that are cheap to repair and can easily slide around on their foundations (for earthquakes).  Like the US's east coast, Japan gets its share of typhoons.  Paper and wood are easy to fix.  Maybe some kind of modular construction can be invented so that the house breaks up into easy pieces under extreme stress.  The playskool school of architecture, perhaps.

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