"Kurt Vonnegut Motivational Posters" - Brilliant.

Via, and more at - Kurt Vonnegut Motivational Posters | Sloshspot Blog

1, 2, 3, 4 - Let's inflame a gen war.

5 Emerging trends from the recession | Penelope Trunk's Brazen Careerist:

"Newsflash: The baby boomers got us into this mess. They borrowed against future generations. They mishandled SEC regulations. They ignored the environment. They set up a social security system that is going to break as soon as they’re done taking from it. And they took the best education this country had to offer, and then depleted the education system for the next generation.

Obama is the first Gen-X president. And, to the surprise of all the baby boomers who have been trashing Gen-X forever, it’s Gen-X that will bail this country out of the mess the baby boomers got us into.

In the meantime, Generation X is the first generation in the US ever that will earn less than their parents. And Generation Y has an incredible amount of debt due to baby boomers pushing up college costs and housing costs while real wages went down.

The under-45's are stunned by the selfishness of the baby boomer era."

I honestly can't express just how much I dislike the Catholic church.

To wit.

The Agitator » Blog Archive » Lunch Links:

"Catholic church may forcibly remove an Australian priest for providing communion to homosexuals and the divorced. Odd that the same church can’t seem to bring itself to oust priests convicted of sexually assaulting minors."

I don't care, I totally ordered one - ""Watchmen" coffee tie-in/contest announced."

Immersive fiction, people. Embrace your geekhood.

Comic Book Resources > CBR News: "Watchmen" coffee tie-in/contest announced:

"“Watchmen” photographer Clay Enos has enlisted his Organic Coffee Cartel (OCC®) www.organiccoffee.com to produce a first-of-its-kind movie tie-in coffee for “Watchmen,” the upcoming film adaption of the celebrated graphic novel. On Tuesday, February 17, OCC will introduce Veidt Enterprise’s “Nite Owl Dark Roast,” a limited-edition confection and collectible designed for fans and organic coffee gourmands alike. A portion of the proceeds from the special roast will be donated to charity.

One side of the uniquely crafted steel can resembles artwork straight out of the “Watchmen” universe; the other side features Enos’ striking black & white portrait of Nite Owl, played in the film by Patrick Wilson. And with just ONE run of cans produced, this is sure to be a distinctive and rare collectible."

You, too, can purchase here - WATCHMEN Nite Owl Dark Roast Coffee:

"It's a small moment in the film WATCHMEN - Dan and Laurie save a group from a tenament fire. Once inside the Owl Ship, the survivors are offered what else? Coffee. Among all that hardware, there's an airplane-style coffee maker. And Veidt Enterprise's Nite Owl Dark Roast is the imaginary brand of coffee they brew. What better name for the quinessential caffinated beverage when served in the context of nocturnal crime-fighting? In truth, this is 100% organic specialty coffee from WATCHMEN unit photographer Clay Enos and his Organic Coffee Cartel.

Designed on one side to resemble something straight out of the WATCHMEN universe, the other side features a striking black & white portrait of Nite Owl as captured by Enos. With just one run of 10,000 cans produced, this is sure to be a distinctive and unusal collectible."

Sold.

Comic Book Resources > CBR News: J.M. DeMatteis Finds His Inner Magnus on "Doom Patrol":

"What type of reader picks up “Doom Patrol” #1, featuring the Metal Men backup?

Someone who doesn’t require big events and over-the-top angst in their comics. We’re just having some fun here. Strong characters involved in solid adventure stories with lots and lots of snarky dialogue."

Cops - “The blue wall of silence is the most successful stop snitchin’ campaign in history.”

Via The Agitator » Blog Archive » Morning Links

Man, I hope Joe Rogan keeps up with the blogging after his show. These have been great.

His best isolation tank trip ever...

The Joe Rogan Blog » Conduit to the Gaian Mind » Altered States:

"...The whole experience was a reinforcement of one of the main principles I try to live my life by, and that is the importance of being positive. Being friendly to people and spreading positive energy is what I believe to be the most important ingredients in having a happy life.

And it’s one of the least understood as well. Being nice to people is not just as simple as extending a courtesy, I think there’s something else going on with it. It energizes you. It removes stress for both people. We can make each other feel better.
It doesn’t just make them feel better; it makes you feel better too for doing it.

I think we are connected in ways we don’t really understand.

...The more I’m in the isolation tank the more that point is hammered home to me.

That’s the key to happiness. It’s not financial success - it’s having good friends and spreading positive energy. As long as the basics are taken care of; food, shelter, employment, sex, etc – as long as that shit is all in order, all you really need in life to be happy is positive energy and positive people around you.

That’s the key to having fun and enjoying life. You can be rich and successful as all get out, but if you don’t have good friends in your life I can guarantee you’re a miserable fuck.

...It’s very hard to describe what I experienced in the tank tonight, but to try to put it into words it was as if in this meditative, sensory deprived state I had tuned into a way of thinking that was “alive.” It was a stream of consciousness, a path of positive thinking that I reached in my own mind, but when I tuned into it I felt like it was a living thing. It felt like it had independent thought, and that it was separate from whatever “me” is and that the right thing to do was to just surrender my consciousness and tune into it. Become a part of it.

...I know this sounds completely fucking bonkers and at least 45% gay, but it’s just what happened, and there’s no other way for me to describe it honestly..."

Joe Rogan speaks wise on Michael Phelps and marijuana.

The Joe Rogan Blog » Conduit to the Gaian Mind » An open letter to Kellogg’s re: Michael Phelps:

"First of all, although it is true that Mr. Phelps broke the law, I think any reasonably intelligent person would admit that it’s one of the most fucked up and corrupt laws that we have today in this country. Marijuana is relatively harmless and certainly far less dangerous than a host of other things that are not only legal but also readily available, like alcohol and prescription drugs. The only reason it remains illegal to this day is because it’s a plant and you can’t patent it and control it’s sale, and because if it were legal it would greatly affect the demand for a host of prescription drugs that rake in billions of dollars each year for pharmaceutical companies.

That’s it.

Marijuana has never killed anyone EVER in over 10,000 years of use. We’re not protecting people from themselves, we’re not saving the children - it’s just a horribly illogical law that is in place because of corruption and propaganda.

The fact that it’s against the law is just a disgusting reminder of how retarded our system is, not a reasonable reaction to a proven threat to society.

I have to say, this whole thing saddens me, because I personally would like to think that as Americans we’re better than this. These television news anchors will shake their heads at the thoughtless mistake Mr. Phelps had made by “smoking dope,” and then without even the tiniest sense of irony they will cut to a beer commercial.

This is supposed to be the land of the free and the home of the brave, right? We’re not supposed to be a nation of little bitches giving in to the whims of corrupt politicians and the pharmaceutical companies who’s interests they’re representing.

It’s 2009, and in this day and age with the incredible access to information that we have available there’s no fucking way that we should be allowing human beings to tell other human beings that they can’t do something that they enjoy that hurts no one including themselves.

THAT is madness. THAT is ignorant, and THAT is completely fucking un-American.

I don’t want to hear any of that, “he’s setting a bad example with the children” nonsense either, because we all know if he had a gin and tonic in his hand instead of a bong this would never have been an issue, even though every single study ever done has shown that marijuana is FAR less dangerous than alcohol.

Marijuana laws are a horrible waste of resources and law enforcement, and especially in this day and age with our economy in such horrible shape I believe the last thing we need to be doing is wasting tax payers’ money on any of this victimless bullshit.

...Do you guys even know your consumer statistics? Well, let me fill you in on some of my own personal scientific research on the subject, because I have been closely studying my own purchases for over 20 years, and I can tell you that I’ve been high 100% of the time I’ve bought your shit.

...Just to be perfectly clear on my position, I would like you to know that I enjoy your products. I think many of them are quite tasty, but lets be honest; you guys sell sugar-drenched shit that’s horrible for your body - in fact, it’s actually way worse for your body than pot - and you market this shit specifically to children.

You assholes go as far as putting lovable cartoon characters on the boxes just so that kids will beg their parents for it."

More, in both essays, at the links... funny, funny stuff. Bibles of truth.

I can't wait till I hear this again.

Of course, the last time I heard this was about 7 years ago...

This is too funny, and I kinda recall thinking something similar at the time...

Son of Grok » Blog Archive » Quickie for today: Don’t call me skinny:

"I cannot count the number of times that I have heard the following:

“You are too skinny”
“You need to put some meat on you”
“You need to come over so that we can feed you”

To be perfectly honest, I am absolutely SICK of hearing this. Sick sick sick. This usually comes from someone overweight too.

Lets get something straight, I am NOT too skinny…

Speaking of unacceptable… when did it become socially acceptable to make a comment to someone like that? Would it be acceptable to respond to someone who tells me “You are too skinny. You need to come over so I can feed you” by telling them “You are too fat. You need to come over so I can put you through a workout and feed you some real food.” No, this would be considered completely out of line."

Out of line, perhaps, but hilarious and totally worth it.

Training 294.

2 meals, 2.5L water, 30m Rutten Thai Boxing 2m rounds. 2 sets bungee dislocates/facepulls. Sore as hell from yesterday's PT.

TRUTH: RossTraining.com - Blog - Bridging the Gap Between The Ordinary And Extraordinary:

"The fitness community as a whole needs to stop making bullsh*t promises. Nothing worth having comes easy. A ten minute workout is better than nothing, but let’s not pretend that it will create the next Spartan warrior. Training is like most things in life. You get what you put into it. There is no easy way. Hard and consistent work is the only legitimate training secret. Unfortunately, most people don’t want anything to do with it."

The Marvin Wilburn day off.

That's right, dude. Now your name is on the internets.

Overheard in the Office | But I'll Be Wearing a Hawaiian Shirt the Whole Time!:

"Pod dweller #1: So, I might take tomorrow off.
Pod dweller #2: Nice, what're you gonna do?
Pod dweller #1: Nothin, going to the gym and stuff...I'll probably come in to work.
Pod dweller #2: That's the shittiest day off I ever heard.

Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

Overheard by: sex > work"

Asian culture is weird.

Overheard in New York | After Calling "No Homo," Though:

"Geeky 30-something Asian man: He keep telling me 'Fuck me! Fuck me!' so I tell him 'Fuck you!' and I fuck him!
Mother: (not paying attention).
Geeky 30-something Asian man: I am a man! I put my dick in him for five minutes.
Mother: (not paying attention).

--Starbucks, Astor Place

Overheard by: Malta Paul"

I am amused.

Training 293.

1 large meal, 2L and change of water.

PT
Minisupersets: Swings, Airsquats - 25x20/20/20, 3x20
DB Squats, Assisted Pistols - 60x8/70x8x2, 3x8
DB DL, Calf Rs - 105x8x3, 105x12x3
Isometrics - 2x5count - neck, shoulder press, bi/tri, chest, back, hips, quads, hamstrings

Started adding bungee dislocates and face pulls to help restore some shoulder range of motion and help correct postural nonsense from sitting in front of a computer all the damn time. Do daily.

Kick ass motivation below. Pure awesome.

Jeannies Beach CrossFit - Adrenaline

"By appealing to rules we are engaging in a war on wisdom..." - Truth.

This is prescient as hell.

Barry Schwartz makes a passionate call for “practical wisdom” as an antidote to a society gone mad with bureaucracy. He argues powerfully that rules often fail us, incentives often backfire, and practical, everyday wisdom will help rebuild our world.

Excerpts:

"Rules and incentives may make things better in the short run, but they create a downward spiral that makes them worse in the long run. Moral skill is chipped away by an over reliance on rules that deprives us of the opportunity to improvise and learn...

[Rules] prevent disaster but what they ensure in its place is mediocrity."

Facebook makes itself worthwhile.

People posting up old school pics. US Naval Academy, my youngster/sophomore year, circa 91-92, prior to the 8th Wing Players skit show.

From Other Pics

Training 292.

So, yeah, like I was thinking, P90X, through no fault of the program itself, put by the wayside for the time being. Honestly, and for true, it is a kick ass training program, I'm just feeling a bit constricted and fenced in by it. Need more of a sense of flexibility/freedom/choice right now, for whatever reason, to stay motivated.

So anyways, per week, for now I'm gonna go with 4 strength training sessions, in a mostly upper/lower body split, with 2 conditioning wkouts.

M - Upper+Core
T - Lower+Iso
W - Rutten MMA+X Stretch
T - Upper+Iso
F - Lower+Core
S - Conditioning Circuit+X Stretch
S - Rest/X Stretch

Today, 3L water, 2 meals.

PT
One arm DB Snatch - 25x12, 40x10, 52.5x6x2
Mini Supersets - Chinups,Pushups - 8/6/5, 20/13/10
Pike Pushups,Bodyweight Row - 10x3, 10x3
Core Circuit - Crunch/Hip Swing/Chinnies/Superman x10

Random observations - adaptation is pretty damn specific. I was doing a lot more volume of work on P90X but today was still kind surprisingly ass kicking. More intensity, different exercise order, change in rest times... different, still difficult.

Looking way back at Day 1, last April, I was doing sets of '1' on chinups, which still makes my inner Marine cry. Today, while not even trying to max out on my first set, I hit eight solid reps. So, yeah, progress. Slooooooow progress, but progress.

Keeping life interesting.

This cracked me up.

PostSecret: Valentine's Secrets:

"PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a postcard."

Women are pansexual, deceptive and really, really complicated.

[How's that for a generalization?] :)

Complex, indeed.

What Do Women Want? - Discovering What Ignites Female Desire - NYTimes.com:

"...All was different with the women. No matter what their self-proclaimed sexual orientation, they showed, on the whole, strong and swift genital arousal when the screen offered men with men, women with women and women with men. They responded objectively much more to the exercising woman than to the strolling man, and their blood flow rose quickly — and markedly, though to a lesser degree than during all the human scenes except the footage of the ambling, strapping man — as they watched the apes. And with the women, especially the straight women, mind and genitals seemed scarcely to belong to the same person. The readings from the plethysmograph and the keypad weren’t in much accord. During shots of lesbian coupling, heterosexual women reported less excitement than their vaginas indicated; watching gay men, they reported a great deal less; and viewing heterosexual intercourse, they reported much more...

...She has confronted clinical research reporting not only genital arousal but also the occasional occurrence of orgasm during sexual assault. And she has recalled her own experience as a therapist with victims who recounted these physical responses. She is familiar, as well, with the preliminary results of a laboratory study showing surges of vaginal blood flow as subjects listen to descriptions of rape scenes...

...The study Chivers is working on now tries to re-examine the results of her earlier research, to investigate, with audiotaped stories rather than filmed scenes, the apparent rudderlessness of female arousal. But it will offer too a glimpse into the role of relationships in female eros. Some of the scripts she wrote involve sex with a longtime lover, some with a friend, some with a stranger: “You meet the real estate agent outside the building. . . .” From early glances at her data, Chivers said, she guesses she will find that women are most turned on, subjectively if not objectively, by scenarios of sex with strangers.

...Though women may not want, in reality, what such stimuli present, Chivers could begin to infer that what is judged unappealing does, nevertheless, turn women on.

...The generally accepted therapeutic notion that, for women, incubating intimacy leads to better sex is, Meana told me, often misguided. “Really,” she said, “women’s desire is not relational, it’s narcissistic” — it is dominated by the yearnings of “self-love,” by the wish to be the object of erotic admiration and sexual need. Still on the subject of narcissism, she talked about research indicating that, in comparison with men, women’s erotic fantasies center less on giving pleasure and more on getting it. “When it comes to desire,” she added, “women may be far less relational than men.”

A symbolic scene ran through Meana’s talk of female lust: a woman pinned against an alley wall, being ravished. Here, in Meana’s vision, was an emblem of female heat. The ravisher is so overcome by a craving focused on this particular woman that he cannot contain himself; he transgresses societal codes in order to seize her, and she, feeling herself to be the unique object of his desire, is electrified by her own reactive charge and surrenders. Meana apologized for the regressive, anti-feminist sound of the scene.

...After our discussion of the alley encounter, we talked about erotic — as opposed to aversive ­— fantasies of rape. According to an analysis of relevant studies published last year in The Journal of Sex Research, an analysis that defines rape as involving “the use of physical force, threat of force, or incapacitation through, for example, sleep or intoxication, to coerce a woman into sexual activity against her will,” between one-third and more than one-half of women have entertained such fantasies, often during intercourse.."

Yes! Exactly why I stopped watching Monsterquest.

The Joe Rogan Blog » Conduit to the Gaian Mind » Well played, Monsterquest:

"I have a real love/hate relationship with this show. I look forward to the episodes, but they’re almost always the most unsatisfying things you’ll ever watch.

I hope and I pray every week that they’re finally going to have some answers, but every week they leave me hanging."