Training 140-142.

140
Diet - bacon - avocado w/mayo, salt, pepper - 4 cups of coffee w/cream, equal - buncha diet soda - 1L water - Subway BLT salad

PT - Single arm DB row 40x5, 52.5x4x5 - Pushups 5x5 - DB DL 105x5x5 - Alt DB Curls 20x5, 30x5, 35x5x3 - Shrugs 2x105x30 - Neck nods 40x all directions - Front and back bridges 40/20

141/142 - wkend/free/rest/carb

Training Chinese child athletes.

This is actually really fucked up. The things done in the name of nationalism, I swear...

*Update* Video was working for a little bit, but not any longer, apparently.

*And now it's back.

Another reason to low carb/skip the sugary junk food.

Carbs kill cells that regulate appetite - Boing Boing:

"Carbohydrates don't just screw up your blood-sugar: they release free radicals that kill appetite-suppressing cells. The research is from a Nature article by Dr Zane Andrews, a neuroendocrinologist with Monash University's Department of Physiology.

'The more carbs and sugars you eat, the more your appetite-control cells are damaged, and potentially you consume more,' Dr Andrews said."

This looks damn good - "Frost/Nixon" Movie Trailer.

Frost/Nixon [film] based on the play Frost/Nixon by the British screenwriter and dramatist Peter Morgan. Its subject is the series of televised interviews that Richard Nixon granted David Frost in 1977 and that ended with a tacit admission of guilt regarding his role in the Watergate scandal.

Honestly, what the f*** is wrong with people?

Mayor shuts down home produce stand operated by kids - Boing Boing:

"Clayton, California Mayor Gregg Manning is punishing two little kids for taking the initiative to sell their own garden produce from a card table in front of their house.


Manning ordered police to raid their operation because the neighborhood isn't zoned for commerce, and because it constituted an imaginary traffic hazard."

"Americans get 10 days jail, Chinese grannies get 1 yr forced labor, Tibetans get shot."

Updated from here.

Beijing and Tibet: GRL's James Powderly, Brian of "Alive in Baghdad, 4 other US citizens receive 10-day jail sentence - Boing Boing:

"A representative of Students for a Free Tibet tells Boing Boing that 6 American bloggers and pro-Tibet activists who went missing in Beijing for days after being detained by authorities have re-appeared -- and that authorities have given them a sentence of ten days in jail each for 'upsetting public order.'


...A Tibetan nun named Sonam Yungzom is reported to have been shot while shouting slogans in Kardze town, eastern Tibet (now part of Sichuan province) on August 10th. One source says she yelled out: “There are no human rights in China, there is brutal oppression in Tibet, still the Olympics go on in China.” She was hit by five to six bullets and then her body was thrown in a vehicle and taken away. "

"Now, when I say, 'Who's da mastah?' you say, 'Sho'nuff!'"

"I AM the Shogun of Harlem!"

Damn right, he was. RIP.


Julius Carry dies of pancreatic cancer.:

"Julius J. Carry III (March 12, 1952 - August 19, 2008), was an American actor. Carry has appeared primarily in numerous television roles, including Dr. Abraham Butterfield on Doctor, Doctor and the bounty hunter Lord Bowler in the The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. He also portrayed the main villain Sho'nuff in the cult classic film The Last Dragon.

He died on August 19th, 2008 of pancreatic cancer."

The Last Dragon (1985) - Memorable quotes:

"Sho'nuff: Am I the meanest?
Sho'nuff 's Goons: Sho'nuff!
Sho'nuff: Am I the prettiest?
Sho'nuff 's Goons: Sho'nuff!
Sho'nuff: Am I the baddest mofo low down around this town?
Sho'nuff 's Goons: Sho'nuff!
Sho'nuff: Well who am I?
Sho'nuff 's Goons: Sho'nuff!
Sho'nuff: Who am I?
Sho'nuff 's Goons: Sho'nuff!
Sho'nuff: I can't hear you...
Sho'nuff 's Goons: Sho'nuff!"

"Stakeout Fail."

see more pwn and owned pictures

Training 139.

Diet - 3 cups tea w/cream, equal - Shake w/3 eggs, cream, equal, inst coffee, ice - Steak & 2 eggs, grilled chicken - Ham - 1L water, buncha diet soda.

PT - 30m footwork/shadowboxing

Worry.

James Ray:

"'Worry is supreme weakness and is a vampire to life. Worry causes man to cling desperately to his model of the world even if that model does not serve him. By clinging he drains the life out of himself and his entire existence.'

— James Arthur Ray
Creator of Harmonic Wealth®'"

All white people look alike.

Video: White guy mistaken for Michael Phelps | Japan Probe:

"If you’re a non-Asian foreigner living in Japan, chances are you’ve been compared to a foreign celebrity at least once, and that celebrity probably looks nothing like you.

But have any of you experienced something like this:

30 minutes of outstanding close up card magic.

This guy has amaaaaaazing sleight of hand. Dude makes the cards fly. Funny too.

I love well done magic.

Lennart Green | Profile on TED.com:

"Swedish card trick maestro Lennart Green has been baffling audiences for years with card tricks that seem barely under control. In 1991 he won the grand prize in close-up card magic from the International Federation of Magic Societies (FISM), sometimes called the 'Olympics of magic.' He might've won it in 1985 also, except his act of seemingly impossible cardplay fooled even the judges.

...including his famous 'Snap Deal' (where cards seem to vanish without a trace as they are dealt). His talents have carried his trickery around the world, including an appearance on NBC's The World's Greatest Magic."

In other Olympic News - "Beijing update: New detentions, 6 US protesters missing, Tibetan protesters in Tibet reportedly shot dead."

Beijing update: New detentions, 6 US protesters missing, Tibetan protesters in Tibet reportedly shot dead. - Boing Boing

That explains a lot.

And yes, I've sat through just about every BBC production of Austen's novels ever. On multiple occasions. [Hi Sandy.]

Virginity = Productivity?:

"...Despite the “quite a bit of sex” smeared on [Jane Austen’s] life and work by the biopic Becoming Jane and virtually all the recent screen adaptations (notably the obnoxious Mansfield Park), the author of Pride and Prejudice (invariably voted best ever English novel) died intacta. All six of her major heroines are as virginal on the last page as they were on the first. Does the fact that Austen “never had it” make her a greater, or lesser, writer? Is chastity the enemy of literary genius?…"

HA!

How to Argue With a Woman… and Win! | Bill Cammack:

"...What you NEED to do is realize that women have special needs… such as feeling unique and feeling respected. You’ll notice that I didn’t say BEING unique and BEING respected. :)

BEING unique is demonstrating that she speaks five languages and has a PhD in physics, or she thinks up great business plans or philosophies, or that she’s an athlete or a stuntwoman…

FEELING unique is when you’re at the club and the DJ yells “THROW YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR IF YOU’RE AN INDEPENDENT WOMAN”, and regardless of whether she’s successful at ANYTHING IN LIFE or not, every single chick starts screaming as if she’s the CEO of some successful startup, when in reality, she’s the CFO at McDonald’s.

Chief Fry Officer."

What's happening, butterfly?

Once upon a time, I dreamt I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly. I was conscious only of following my fancies as a butterfly, and was unconscious of my individuality as a man. Suddenly I awoke, and there I lay, myself again.. Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming that I am a man.

- Chuang-Tzu, 3rd century BC

Olympic coverage.

Training 136-138.

136 - lengthy early AM Fukutsu city bike tour in the summer sun + Chu-Hi in the evening [I am, apparently, a big girl as Chu Hi is basically the Japanese wine cooler, loved by Jr High, High School students and women-folk throughout Japan] rendered this day fairly moot as far as anything goes. I did ride the bike a bit, I guess. Better than nothing.

137 - Whereas nothing is pretty much what I did this day. Getting lazy. The key is working out as soon as I get home, or shortly after... if I don't, it's all over. But I ate clean. Didn't track it, but there was no junk.

138 - Diet - 2 sm/1 lg coffee w/equal, cream - 2 complimentary cups of barley tea at Best Denki - Grilled beef w/mayo - cheese slices/snack - 1.2L water - Shake w/3 eggs, peanut butter, equal, cream, water, ice

PT - Chins 5/5/3-2/3-1-1/3-1-1 - Press 5x50/70/90x3 - DB Squat 5x70/80/100x3 - Dips 5x8 - Hyperx 5x10 - Calf rs BWx40

Prove him wrong.

Overheard in New York | Wednesday One-Liners Can't Talk Here. It Isn't Safe:

"Drunk hobo on R train: I never met a woman that wasn't a federal agent. You can't trust women. Women are like computers. Never trust a machine that can think.

--R Train"

Robert Anton Wilson podcast - “Consciousness Change and the 8-Circuit Model.”

Great presentation/podcast by Wilson. Via the always engaging Psychedelic Salon.

Excerpts - » Podcast 153 - “Consciousness Change and the 8-Circuit Model” - Notes from the Psychedelic Salon:

"'Most problems exist because the verbal form you put them in creates the problem.'

"What the front brain knows does not control you at all. It just thinks it does."

"The idea of reality as a singular noun doesn’t make any sense to me at all any more."

"Everybody has their own neurological reality-tunnel, which is why we misunderstand one another so often, and why we misjudge one another so profoundly.""

Headline of the day - "Release that frustration wisely: have angry sex".

Release that frustration wisely: have angry sex - Features:

"...There are other alternatives to whining as a method to relieve tension. When I need to alleviate stress I write in my journal, while others run 10 miles, wail on the guitar or masturbate. Though I do promote all these healthy activities, allow me to propose another option: Have angry sex.

You're probably wondering: "What exactly is angry sex?" Essentially, it's having ravenous, unbridled sex when you and your partner are frustrated and enraged. While it may seem ridiculous, it is also very logical. Anger and sexual desire are strong, overpowering forces. They are both forms of passion. You can choose to stay bitter and fume with anger, or you can release these emotions in an explosion of skin and sweat.

...There are two types of angry sex. The first, mentioned above involves releasing your own personal aggression by making the bed frame suffer. It's an overall satisfying experience that allows you to transform your negativity into something positive and stimulating...

The other form of angry sex is a result of both partners being upset with each other..."

A voice of reason that will go unheeded.

Londoner videos his bullshit anti-terror stop-and-search - Boing Boing:

""Terrorist problems" are no kind of excuse for this crap.

Imagine a situation in the US where bombs are regularly being detonated in cars and litter bins without warning; where bombs are being left in shops and bars to go off without warning; where army barracks are targeted and soldiers and police are shot dead in the street on a weekly basis; where truck-loads of high explosive are detonated in major cities; where leading politicians are full-time targets for assassination attempts and several lose their lives as a consequence.

That was Britain in the 1970s and 1980s courtesy of the IRA. In 1984 Margaret Thatcher's entire Cabinet was nearly wiped out in the Brighton hotel bombing; in 1991 John Major's Cabinet was attacked by mortars fired from a van at Downing Street. At no time did anyone suggest we needed the kind of harassing behaviour towards travellers, photographers or anyone else that's becoming routine today. That would have been regarded as "giving in to the terrorists". None of these measures would have stopped the IRA doing what they did with such deadly efficiency. So if we didn't need this then, why do we need it now?"

The obvious answer is that since the 70s and 80s, the Western world has become a culture of hand-wringing 'safety at any costs' wimps.

That, and the fact that now the terrorists are brown, which scares the shit outta the white folks. [That's right. I said it. Okay. Fine. "Some" white folks.]

This makes my geekbone tingle - a viral trailer for Brad Meltzer's new book - "The Book of Lies."

Comic books + conspiracy + murder mysteries + a little taste of Joss Whedon acting.

Very cool.

Comic Book Resources > CBR News: Meltzer's "The Book of Lies" Trailer:

"Best Selling Novelist and Comic Writer Brad Meltzer has provided CBR News with the trailer for his latest novel, “The Book of Lies,” to be released September 2nd from Grand Central Publishing. As is true with all of his novels, comic themes can be found within, but this time it goes a bit deeper. The description of the book reads:

In Chapter Four of the Bible, Cain kills Abel. It is the world's most famous murder. But the Bible is silent about one key detail: the weapon Cain used to kill his brother. That weapon is still lost to history.

In 1932, Mitchell Siegel was killed by three gunshots to his chest. While mourning, his son dreamed of a bulletproof man and created the world's greatest hero: Superman. And like Cain's murder weapon, the gun used in this unsolved murder has never been found.

Until now.



Today in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Cal Harper comes face-to-face with his family's greatest secret: his long-lost father, who's been shot with a gun that traces back to Mitchell Siegel's 1932 murder. But before Cal can ask a single question, he and his father are attacked by a ruthless killer tattooed with the ancient markings of Cain. And so begins the chase for the world's first murder weapon.

What does Cain, history's greatest villain, have to do with Superman, the world's greatest hero? And what do two murders, committed thousands of years apart, have in common? This is the mystery at the heart of Brad Meltzer's riveting and utterly intriguing new thriller.

The trailer... includes appearances by Joss Whedon (“Buffy The Vampire Slayer,” “Dollhouse”), Damon Lindeloff (“Lost”), Christopher Hitchens (“God is Not Great”) and more."

How very not shocking.

Crooks and Liars » The revolving door between the White House and the mainstream media:

"I’m not surprised Dan Bartlett is going to one of the networks; I’m surprised Dan Bartlett didn’t go to one of the networks sooner...

Said CBS News & Sports president Sean McManus, “We’re very pleased to have Dan Bartlett join our team. We now go into the final stages of this fascinating political season with two analysts — Dan and Joe [Trippi] — who have had unique and extensive hands-on experience in major political campaigns and government.”

This is the latest part of a strange phenomenon of rewarding the Bush gang with high-profile opportunities at major media outlets. The Bush White House has been, for lack of a better word, a disaster for the country. From a journalistic perspective, these guys have been a nightmare — embracing almost comical levels of secrecy, propaganda, and media manipulation.

And yet, the moment presidential aides leave the West Wing, media outlets jump at the chance to put them on the payroll."

"...you're the biggest thing in the way of your success!"

Reminder to self, obviously.

Figure Athlete - Stop Sabotaging Yourself:

"...Forget about the tempting, convenient Burger Hut down the street. Forget about the fancy 'indulge yourself' slogans. Forget about the pressures you face from your so-called friends and family to just 'have a little.'

'C'mon, it's just one teeny-weeny, little cupcake.'

We can't change the world. The only thing, the only person we ultimately control is ourselves.

...Living a lean, healthy lifestyle is like that. It's full of choices. You don't have to go to the gym. You don't have to eat right. Nobody is making you. Sure, there are benefits if you do. And, of course, there are consequences if you don't. But, it's your choice.

...Self-Sabotage 101

Mistake #1: The Blame Game

That being said, the worst thing people can do is play the blame game. When people shift the blame elsewhere, they're basically rejecting their responsibility to take care of and control themselves.

Those people struggle with their weight their entire lives. Why? Because they don't have a problem! In their eyes, I mean. It's everyone else that has the problem. It's everyone else's fault. Burger Hut shouldn't be there. French fries shouldn't taste so yummy. Co-workers shouldn't bring cookies in. And my all-time favorite, "I have my mother's ass. Thanks a lot, mom!"

These blame-game victims always struggle because they've never owned the responsibility they have in their weight problem, and therefore they can't change the outcome. And that's sad because it's an absolute powerless place to be.

Mistake #2: Winging Your Nutrition

...If you want to be successful, don't wing your nutrition. Plan it!

Mistake #3: Saying "Yes" to Everyone But You!

Many people feel bad saying no to others when they're asked to do something they really don't want (or have time) to do. They take on too many responsibilities, and before they know it, their calendar is full of things they have to do for other people, leaving little or no time for themselves.

Good for your friends; bad for you.

...Mistake #4: Focusing on the Negative

Everyone knows that when you want a positive outcome, you focus on the positives...

Try doing the opposite...

1. Take Responsibility
2. Set Goals and Have a Plan!
3. Practice Saying "No"
4. Focus on the Positive!

...Being healthy is a choice. It's your choice."

This appears to be real and not a joke.

I think.

The "iPosture."

iposture.com - Posture for Life:

"The iPosture is an intuitive electronic device designed to improve posture.

Bad Posture.

Good posture.


Just over one inch in diameter, the iPosture automatically senses when the body slouches, and it alerts the user with brief vibrations to correct it."

I don't even really like softball, but this Nike ad is pretty damn cool.

Nike does have a way with the advertising.

“What you call love was invented by guys like me, to sell nylons,” - Ad Man Don Draper, the first season of Mad Men.

Hilarious quote, but actually you should point the finger at the troubadors of the high middle ages, who developed the ideas of chivalry and courtly love to cover for folk's lusts and affairs. "Marriage" as such, till fairly recently, generally served only as financial and familial transactions. [Which is yet another reason the right wing's "sanctity of marriage" garbage grates.]

Courtly love - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

"A continued point of controversy is whether courtly love was purely literary or was actually practiced in real life. There are no historical records that offer evidence of its presence in reality. Historian John Benton found no documentary evidence in law codes, court cases, chronicles or other historical documents. However, the existence of the non-fiction genre of courtesy books is perhaps evidence for its practice. For example, according to the courtesy book by Christine de Pizan called Book of the Three Virtues (ca. 1405), which expresses disapproval of courtly love, the convention was being used to justify and cover-up illicit love affairs....

A point of controversy was the existence of "courts of love", first mentioned by Andreas Capellanus. These were supposed courts made up of tribunals staffed by 10 to 70 women who would hear a case of love and rule on it based on the rules of love. 19th century historians took the existence of these courts as fact, however later historians such as John F. Benton noted "none of the abundant letters, chronicles, songs and pious dedications" suggest they ever existed outside of the poetic literature...

I would totally live in one of these.

Living Small, Cheap and Simple. Try A Dome House : TreeHugger:

"...These prefab domes come from International Dome House Co. Ltd. and are approved by the Japanese Ministry of Land and Transport. The material is 'expanded polystyrene', that is formaldehyde-free, with measures taken for excellent air circulation. The company also claims that the walls have high thermal insulating properties, meaning air-conditioning or heating could be reduced, and the polystyrene is 'free from rot, rust and termites'.


Ultra-short assembly time

The Dome House can be built by assembling Dome Pieces. Each Dome Piece weighs only 80kg. Since assembly is quite simple, if performed by 3 or 4 people, it takes approximately 7 days to complete a Dome House.


Ultra-low cost

The Dome House is simple, since it is a prefabricated building with a small number of parts. Each Dome Piece is light and easy to carry, making the assembly quite easy. Because the construction of the Dome House requires only minimal manpower and a very short period of time, it is possible to reduce the substantial amount of labor costs.

Environmental measures

Since expanded polystyrene is made only from carbon and hydrogen, casting of expanded polystyrene is extremely clean. Construction of the Dome House does not produce any waste, nor does it involve any deforestation."

I've always dug dome houses, geodesics... plus, these are Japanese made.




And outta nowhere today I remembered what I think was the first "dome" house I ever saw. Barbapapa's New House was a book I remember from a box in the spare closet of my mom's room. I used to read and re-read that book all the time. It was awesome. Weird how the mind'll remember things like that.

"Baby Japanese Salaryman."

A little bit of a gloriously adorable Japanese kid to clean the mental palate. After reading Carlin, brilliant as he is, you'll hate people for a while. Wait, is that just me?

But this is pretty damn cute.



Via: New Gabriel Times:

"This little boy is mimiking his fathers business skills at only 1 years old.

Bowing and all!

He keeps saying “eeh” which is equivalent to the english “yeah, uh-huh”."

The essence of Carlin - Quote of the Day - "There are no bad words."

Taste his gloriously astute linguistic rage.

George Carlin:

There's a different group to get pissed off at you in this country for everything your not supposed to say. Can't say nigger, boogie, jig, jigaboo, skinhead, moolie, moolinyan, schwartze, junglebunny, greaser, greaseball, dago, guinea, wop, ginzo, kike, zebe, heed, yid, mocky, hymie, mick, donkey, turkey, limey, frog, zip, zipperhead, squarehead, kraut, hiney, jerry, hun, slope, slopehead, chink, gook.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with any of those words in and of themselves. They're only words. It's the context that counts. It's the user. It's the intention behind the words that makes them good or bad. The words are completely neutral. The words are innocent. I get tired of people talking about bad words and bad language. Bullshit! It's the context that makes them good or bad. The context. That makes them good or bad.

For instance, you take the word "Nigger." There is absolutely nothing wrong with the word "Nigger" in and of itself. It's the racist asshole who's using it that you ought to be concerned about. We don't mind when Richard Pryer or Eddie Murphy say it. Why? Because we know they're not racist. They're Niggers! Context. Context. We don't mind their context because we know they're black.

Hey, I know I'm whitey, the blue-eyed devil, paddy, ofay, gray boy, honkey motherfucker myself. Don't bother my ass. They're only words.

You can't be afraid of words that speak the truth, even if it's an unpleasant truth, like the fact that there's a bigot and a racist in every living room on every street corner in this country.

I don't like words that hide the truth. I don't like words that conceal reality. I don't like euphemisms, or euphemistic language. And American English is loaded with euphemisms. Cause Americans have a lot of trouble dealing with reality. Americans have trouble facing the truth, so they invent the kind of a soft language to protect themselves from it, and it gets worse with every generation. For some reason, it just keeps getting worse.

I'll give you an example of that. There's a condition in combat. Most people know about it. It's when a fighting person's nervous system has been stressed to it's absolute peak and maximum. Can't take anymore input. The nervous system has either snapped or is about to snap. In the first world war, that condition was called shell shock. Simple, honest, direct language. Two syllables, shell shock. Almost sounds like the guns themselves. That was seventy years ago. Then a whole generation went by and the second world war came along and very same combat condition was called battle fatigue. Four syllables now. Takes a little longer to say. Doesn't seem to hurt as much. Fatigue is a nicer word than shock. Shell shock! Battle fatigue.

Then we had the war in Korea, 1950. Madison avenue was riding high by that time, and the very same combat condition was called operational exhaustion. Hey, were up to eight syllables now! And the humanity has been squeezed completely out of the phrase. It's totally sterile now. Operational exhaustion. Sounds like something that might happen to your car. Then of course, came the war in Vietnam, which has only been over for about sixteen or seventeen years, and thanks to the lies and deceits surrounding that war, I guess it's no surprise that the very same condition was called post-traumatic stress disorder. Still eight syllables, but we've added a hyphen! And the pain is completely buried under jargon. Post-traumatic stress disorder.

I'll bet you if we'd of still been calling it shell shock, some of those Vietnam veterans might have gotten the attention they needed at the time. I'll betcha. I'll betcha.

But, it didn't happen, and one of the reasons... one of the reasons is because we were using that soft language. That language that takes the life out of life. And it is a function of time. It does keep getting worse.

I'll give you another example. Sometime during my life. Sometime during my life, toilet paper became bathroom tissue. I wasn't notified of this. No one asked me if I agreed with it. It just happened. Toilet paper became bathroom tissue. Sneakers became running shoes. False teeth became dental appliances. Medicine became medication. Information became directory assistance. The dump became the landfill. Car crashes became automobile accidents. Partly cloudy bacame partly sunny. Motels became motor lodges. House trailers became mobile homes. Used cars became previously owned transportation. Room service became guest-room dining. And constipation became occasional irregularity.

When I was a little kid, if I got sick they wanted me to go to the hospital and see a doctor. Now they want me to go to a health maintenance organization...or a wellness center to consult a healthcare delivery professional. Poor people used to live in slums. Now the economically disadvantaged occupy substandard housing in the inner cities. And they're broke! They're broke! They don't have a negative cash-flow position. They're fucking broke! Cause a lot of them were fired. You know, fired. Management wanted to curtail redundancies in the human resources area, so many people are no longer viable members of the workforce.

Smug, greedy, well-fed white people have invented a language to conceal their sins. It's as simple as that.

The CIA doesn't kill anybody anymore, they neutralize people...or they depopulate the area. The government doesn't lie, it engages in disinformation. The pentagon actually measures nuclear radiation in something they call sunshine units. Israeli murderers are called commandos. Arab commandos are called terrorists. Contra killers are called freedom fighters. Well, if crime fighters fight crime and fire fighters fight fire, what do freedom fighters fight? They never mention that part of it to us, do they? Never mention that part of it.

And...and some of this stuff is just silly, we all know that, like on the airlines, they say want to pre- board. Well, what the hell is pre-board, what does that mean? To get on before you get on? They say they're going to pre-board those passengers in need of special assistance. Cripples! Simple honest direct language. There is no shame attached to the word cripple that I can find in any dictionary. No shame attached to it, in fact it's a word used in bible translations. Jesus healed the cripples. Doesn't take seven words to describe that condition. But we don't have any cripples in this country anymore. We have The physically challenged. Is that a grotesque enough evasion for you? How about differently abled. I've heard them called that. Differently abled! You can't even call these people handicapped anymore.

They'll say, "Were not handicapped. Were handicapable!" These poor people have been bullshitted by the system into believing that if you change the name of the condition, somehow you'll change the condition. Well, hey cousin, ppsssspptttttt. Doesn't happen. Doesn't happen.

We have no more deaf people in this country, hearing impaired. No ones blind anymore, partially sighted or visually impaired. We have no more stupid people. Everyone has a learning disorder...or he's minimally exceptional. How would you like to be told that about your child? "He's minimally exceptional." "Oohh, thank god for that." Psychologists actually have started calling ugly people, those with severe appearance deficits. It's getting so bad, that any day now I expect to hear a rape victim referred to as an unwilling sperm recipient.

And we have no more old people in this country. No more old people. We shipped them all away, and we brought in these senior citizens. Isn't that a typically American twentieth century phrase? Bloodless, lifeless, no pulse in one of them. A senior citizen. But I've accepted that one, I've come to terms with it. I know it's here to stay. We'll never get rid of it. That's what they're going to be called, so I'll relax on that, but the one I do resist. The one I keep resisting is when they look at an old guy and they'll say, "Look at him Dan! He's ninety years young."

Imagine the fear of aging that reveals. To not even be able to use the word "old" to describe somebody. To have to use an antonym. And fear of aging is natural. It's universal. Isn't it? We all have that. No one wants to get old. No one wants to die, but we do! So we bullshit ourselves. I started bullshitting myself when I got to my forties. As soon as I got into my forties I'd look in the mirror and I'd say, "Well, I... I guess I'm getting... older." Older sounds a little better than old doesn't it? Sounds like it might even last a little longer.

Bullshit, I'm getting old!

And it's okay, because thanks to our fear of death in this country, I won't have to die...I'll pass away. Or I'll expire like a magazine subscription. If it happens in the hospital, they'll call it a terminal episode. The insurance company will refer to it as negative patient-care outcome. And if it's the result of malpractice, they'll say it was a therapeutic misadventure. I'm telling you, some of this language makes me want to vomit. Well, maybe not vomit. Makes me want to engage in an involuntary personal protein spill.

Remember, everything is made up.

Even cool stuff, like yoga. Doesn't mean it's not good... doesn't mean it's not useful... but it's made up.

In brief, the "unchanging" 5000 year old art and traditions of yoga, the asanas/positions specifically, are probably really things that have been cobbled together over the last few hundred years, with influences from sources as diverse as Indian wrestling and the British physical education system.

I've never understood those who have put so much faith and value in "ancient" traditions. Certainly there's a lot to be learned there, but... first, the idea that anything survives daily human usage and interpretation unchanged is a huge fallacy, and second, it seems fairly clear that eclectic systems, styles and things that adapt, improvise and piecemeal things together are usually vastly superior to the "traditional." But that's probably just something made obvious to me through my limited martial arts experiences. [Yay UFC.]

Ah well, regardless of the "truth" it's worth remembering you can never go wrong with stretching and breathing.

Namaste.

Yoga Journal - New Light on Yoga:

"...According to yoga scholars, even the yoga postures—the basic vocabulary of modern hatha yoga—have evolved and proliferated over time. In fact, only a handful of these now-familiar postures are described in the ancient texts. Patanjali's second-century Yoga Sutra mentions no poses at all, other than the seated meditation posture... The fourteenth-century Hatha Yoga Pradipika—the ultimate classical hatha yoga manual—lists only 15 asanas (most of them variations of the cross-legged sitting position), for which it gives very sketchy instructions. The seventeenth-century Gheranda Samhita, another such manual, lists only 32...

Rumors abound about lost, ancient texts that describe asanas in detail—the Ashtanga vinyasa system taught by Pattabhi Jois, for example, is allegedly based on a palm-leaf manuscript called the Yoga Korunta that Jois's teacher, renowned yoga master T. Krishnamacharya, unearthed in a Calcutta library. But this manuscript has reportedly been eaten by ants; not even a copy of it exists. In fact, there's no objective evidence that such a document ever existed. In all his voluminous writings on yoga—which contain extensive bibliographies of all the texts that have influenced his work—Krishnamacharya himself never mentions or quotes from it. Many of Krishnamacharya's other teachings are based on an ancient text called the Yoga Rahasya—but this text too had been lost for centuries, until it was dictated to Krishnamacharya in a trance by the ghost of an ancestor who had been dead nearly a thousand years (a method of textual reclamation that will satisfy devotees, but not scholars).

In general, the textual documentation of hatha yoga is scanty and obscure... yoga students are left to take the antiquity of the asanas on faith, like fundamentalist Christians who believe that the Earth was created in seven days.

...Given this lack of a clear historical lineage, how do we know what is "traditional" in hatha yoga? Where did our modern proliferation of poses and practices come from? Are they a twentieth-century invention? Or have they been handed down intact, from generation to generation, as part of an oral tradition that never made it into print?
The Mysore Palace

...I came across a dense little book called The Yoga Tradition of the Mysore Palace (South Asia Books, 1996) by a Sanskrit scholar and hatha yoga student named Norman Sjoman. The book presents the first English translation of a yoga manual from the 1800s, which includes instructions for and illustrations of 122 postures—making it by far the most elaborate text on asanas in existence before the twentieth century. Entitled the Sritattvanidhi (pronounced "shree-tot-van-EE-dee"), the exquisitely illustrated manual was written by a prince in the Mysore Palace—a member of the same royal family that, a century later, would become the patron of yoga master Krishnamacharya and his world-famous students, B.K.S. Iyengar and Pattabhi Jois.

...The Sritattvanidhi includes instructions for 122 yoga poses, illustrated by stylized drawings of an Indian man in a topknot and loincloth. Most of these poses—which include handstands, backbends, foot-behind-the-head poses, Lotus variations, and rope exercises—are familiar to modern practitioners (although most of the Sanskrit names are different from the ones they are known by today). But they are far more elaborate than anything depicted in other pre-twentieth-century texts. The Sritattvanidhi, as Norman Sjoman instantly realized, was a missing link in the fragmented history of hatha yoga.

...According to Sjoman, the Sritattvanidhi—or the broader yoga tradition it reflects—appears to be one of the sources for the yoga techniques taught by Krishnamacharya and passed on by Iyengar and Jois. In fact, the manuscript is listed as a resource in the bibliography of Krishnamacharya's very first book on yoga, which was published—under the patronage of the Maharaja of Mysore—in the early 1930s. The Sritattvanidhi depicts dozens of poses that are depicted in Light on Yoga and practiced as part of the Ashtanga vinyasa series, but that don't show up in any older texts.

But while the Sritattvanidhi extends the written history of the asanas a hundred years further back than has previously been documented, it does not support the popular myth of a monolithic, unchanging tradition of yoga poses. Rather, Sjoman says that the yoga section of the Sritattvanidhi is itself clearly a compilation, drawing on techniques from a wide range of disparate traditions. In addition to variations on poses from earlier yogic texts, it includes such things as the rope exercises used by Indian wrestlers and the danda push-ups developed at the vyayamasalas, the indigenous Indian gymnasiums. (In the twentieth century, these push-ups begin to show up as Chaturanga Dandasana, part of the Sun Salutation). In the Sritattvanidhi, these physical techniques are for the first time given yogic names and symbolism and incorporated into the body of yogic knowledge. The text reflects a practice tradition that is dynamic, creative, and syncretistic, rather than fixed and static. It does not limit itself to the asana systems described in more ancient texts: Instead, it builds on them.

...Along the way, claims Sjoman, Krishnamacharya also seems to have incorporated into the yogic canon specific techniques drawn from British gymnastics. In addition to being a patron of yoga, the Mysore royal family was a great patron of gymnastics. In the early 1900s, they hired a British gymnast to teach the young princes. When Krishnamacharya was brought to the palace to start a yoga school in the 1920s, his schoolroom was the former palace gymnastics hall, complete with wall ropes and other gymnastic aids, which Krishnamacharya used as yoga props. He was also given access to the Western gymnastics manual written by the Mysore Palace gymnasts. This manual—excerpted in Sjoman's book—gives detailed instructions and illustrations for physical maneuvers that Sjoman argues quickly found their way into Krishnamacharya's teachings, and passed on to Iyengar and Jois: for example, lolasana, the cross-legged jumpback that helps link together the vinyasa in the Ashtanga series, and Iyengar's technique of walking the hands backward down a wall into a back arch.

Modern hatha yoga draws on British gymnastics? The yoga of Iyengar, Pattabhi Jois, and Krishnamacharya influenced by a potpourri that included Indian wrestlers? These are claims guaranteed to send a frisson of horror up the limber spine of any yoga fundamentalist. But according to Sjoman, his book is meant not to debunk yoga—but to pay tribute to it as a dynamic, growing, and ever-changing art...

...yoga is like a twisted old banyan tree, whose hundreds of branches each support a full load of texts, teachers, and traditions—often influencing one another, just as often contradicting one another. ("Be celibate," admonishes one scripture. "Get enlightened through sex," urges another.) Like snapshots of a dance, different texts freeze and capture different aspects of a living, breathing, changing tradition.

This realization can be unsettling at first. If there's no one way to do things—well, then how do we know if we're doing them right?..

But on another level it's liberating to realize that yoga, like life itself, is infinitely creative, expressing itself in a multitude of forms, re-creating itself to meet the needs of different times and cultures. It's liberating to realize that the yoga poses are not fossils—they're alive and bursting with possibility..."

Training 130-135.

130
Diet - 3 coffees w/equal, cream - 2 shakes w/6 eggs, peanut butter, cream, ice, inst coffee, 2 meals w/ground beef, cheese, mayo - 500ml diet coke - 1.5L water

PT - 30m Rutten MMA wkout/boxing 2m rounds

Note - it apparently takes only two weeks off for workouts to make you sore as fuck your first couple days back.

131
Diet - Lg coffee w/equal, cream - shake w/2 eggs, peanut butter, cream, ice, inst coffee, 1.5L water, cheese/mayo, 1L diet soda

PT - Rest

132
Diet - Lg coffee w/cream, sugar - 500ml diet soda - 2 pork chops/mayo - 700ml water

PT - Press 70x6 90x6 90x8 80x6/6 - Lat Raise Complex [all directions] 10x10/10 - Chins 5/5/4-1/2/2/1 - Pushup/Situp superset 5x5 - Curl/Dip superset 40x10/10 45x10/10 50x10/10 - Crunch/Superman superset 3x10

133/134/135 - PT/Diet - Long Weekend/Rest/Free

Old School Flavor - Will Smith - "So Fresh."

That's right, I said "flavor." Or "flava" if you prefer. Off one of the older CDs [Willenium, like 8 years ago] but I hadn't caught the vid till today's lengthy YouTube/DailyMotion spiral.

Biz Markie, Slick Rick, the Juice Crew, Flava Flav and more. Good stuff. Good times.

Will Smith - So Fresh
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