Relaxed Focus: April 19, 2009

Saturday, April 25, 2009

'Magic is not a trivial issue at all...'

» Podcast 181 - “What Science Forgot” Q&A Session - Notes from the Psychedelic Salon:

"'If you live long enough, I think you discover what we imagine and what actually is are very close to the same thing.'

'The mind is somehow a co-creator in the process of reality, through acts of language. And language is very, very mysterious. I mean, it is true magic.'

'All so-called primitive people know that the world is made up of language. That you sing it into existence. That what you say it is is what it is. That is it maintained in existence by an act of rational apprehension.' - Terence McKenna"

Auto-Tune the News: The only way to get informed...

Via The Agitator » Blog Archive » Katie Sings

Friday, April 24, 2009

I would totally eat here - "Jones' Good Ass BBQ & Foot Massage."

Unbelievable.

Yet thoroughly believable.

The Agitator » Blog Archive » Morning Links:

"Officer threatens woman over police radio. Police chief lies about how much he knew about the incident. Another officer forwards the audio to a local news station. Guess which of the three was deemed to have “violated department policy?”"

Right on, Shep.

The best part, though, is the "oops." Too funny.
YouTube - Shepherd Smith drops F-bomb during Freedom Watch: We do not F%$&ing torture!!!

Fox News' Shepard Smith does NOT. [Bleeping.] Torture. Okay? | PopWatch Blog | EW.com:

"I would not describe myself, all things considered, as a huge fan of Fox News Channel anchor Shepard Smith. Credit where credit is due, though: When a couple of his colleagues tried to hem and haw and generally dodge the reality of the Bush Administration's recently disclosed torture memos earlier this week, Shep let 'em have it. 'We are America,' he reminded them, his voice rising as he prepared to hit those two with an obscenity-laced dose of truth. 'I don't give a rat's ass if it helps! WE ARE AMERICA! We do NOT f---ing torture!'"

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Hey look, it's my childhood...

Overheard in New York | We Love This Kid:

"Mother to young son: If daddy asks you why mommy's upset with him, you say it's because he doesn't take care of her.
Young son: I ain't saying nothing.

--B Train"

What the wife is doing in America.

Apparently, she's king now. Though I guess queen would be the gender appropriate term. Either way, she rules all. As usual.

320 - Biking all over town, in every direction seemingly against the wind, counts as today's NEPA/cardio. Screw you, it does count.

319 - PT - DB RDL/Shoulder Press/Row/Side Plank, 15m shadowboxing

Observation: you can consume 4 4% alcohol "ka-ro-ri" Chu-Hi and still have a good workout. Screw it, that's only 4.4 grams carbs. Yes, I did check the label. Don't judge me.

321 - Total wash. Why yes, I was interviewed by the security officer from the Dept of State for my wife's job. And yes, the process, including having to arrange other interviews with various co-workers on the fly was kind of stressful. And yes, I did eat away the tension with fried foods, Venture Bros DVDs and some more Chu-Hi. What of it?

One of the funniest things I've seen all week...

Best bouncer ever...

Via The Ultimate Martial Art « Murasaki BJJ

Worth noticing...

Fat Head » No-Bologna Facts:

"* There’s never been a single study that proves saturated fat causes heart disease.
* As heart-disease rates were skyrocketing in the mid-1900s, consumption of animal fat was going down, not up. Consumption of vegetable oils, however, was going up dramatically.
* Half of all heart-attack victims have normal or low cholesterol. Autopsies performed on heart-attack victims routinely reveal plaque-filled arteries in people whose cholesterol was low (as low as 115 in one case).
* Asian Indians - half of whom are vegetarians - have one of the highest rates of heart disease in the entire world. Yup, that fatty meat will kill you, all right...
* Kids who were diagnosed as suffering from ADD have been successfully treated by re-introducing natural saturated fats into their diets. Your brain is made largely of fat.
* Many epileptics have reduced or eliminated seizures by adopting a diet low in sugar and starch and high in saturated animal fats.
* Despite everything you’ve heard about saturated fat being linked to cancer, that link is statistically weak. However, there is a strong link between sugar and cancer. In Europe, doctors tell patients, “Sugar feeds cancer.”
...* Saturated fat and cholesterol help produce testosterone. When men limit their saturated fat, their testosterone level drops. So, regardless of what a famous vegan chef believes, saturated fat does not impair sexual performance."

Inmates continue to run asylum.

Court turns down challenge to jury's use of Bible - Boing Boing:

"A Texas man killed his victim by shooting him and beating him with the barrel of a gun. During deliberations, the jury consulted the Bible and found this passage:

35:16 And if he smite him with an instrument of iron, so that he die, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death.

The murderer said his Constitutional rights were challenged, and took it to the Supreme Court, which turned away the challenge.

Does this mean that you can be executed for working on Sunday?

Exodus 35:2 Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day, a sabbath of rest to the LORD: whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death."

Just a few isolated cases, of course.

New tag/label: evil. Because.

Balloon Juice » Blog Archive » Something More For Eric Holder To Chew On:

"The Senate Armed Service Committee just released its full report on detainee abuse by the US Armed Forces...

Conclusion 1: On February 7,2002, President George W. Bush made a written determination that Common Article 3 ofthe Geneva Conventions, which would have afforded minimum standards for humane treatment, did not apply to al Qaeda or Taliban detainees. Following the President’s determination, techniques such as waterboarding, nudity, and stress positions, used in SERE training to simulate tactics used by enemies that refuse to follow the Geneva Conventions, were authorized for use in interrogations of detainees in U.S. custody.

...

Conclusion 4: The use of techniques in interrogations derived from SERE resistance training created a serious risk of physical and psychological harm to detainees. The SERE schools employ strict controls to reduce the risk of physical and psychological harm to students during training. Those controls include medical and psychological screening for students, interventions by trained psychologists during training, and code words to ensure that students can stop the application of a technique at any time should the need arise. Those same controls are not present in real world interrogations.

...

Conclusion13: Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s authorization of aggressive interrogation techniques for use at Guantanamo Bay was a direct cause of detainee abuse there. Secretary Rumsfeld’s December 2,2002 approval of Mr. Haynes’s recommendation that most of the techniques contained in GTMO’s October 11, 2002 request be authorized, influenced and contributed to the use ofabusive techniques, including military working dogs, forced nudity, and stress positions, in Afghanistan and Iraq.

...

Conclusion 15: Special Mission Unit (SMU) Task Force (TF) interrogation policies were influenced by the Secretary of Defense’s December 2,2002 approval of aggressive interrogation techniques for use at GTMO. SMU TF interrogation policies in Iraq included the use of aggressive interrogation techniques such as military working dogs and stress positions. SMU TF policies were a direct cause of detainee abuse and influenced interrogation policies at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere in Iraq.

...

Conclusion 17: Interrogation policies approved by Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, which included the use of military working dogs and stress positions, were a direct cause of detainee abuse in Iraq. Lieutenant General Sanchez’s decision to issue his September 14,2003 policy with the knowledge that there were ongoing discussions as to the legality of some techniques in it was a serious error in judgment The September policy was superseded on October 12,2003 as a result of legal concerns raised by U.S. Central Command. That superseding policy, however, contained ambiguities and contributed to confusion about whether aggressive techniques, such as military working dogs, were authorized for use during interrogations.

...

Conclusion 19: The abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib in late 2003 was not simply the result of a few soldiers acting on their own. Interrogation techniques such as stripping detainees of their clothes, placing them in stress positions, and using military working dogs to intimidate them appeared in Iraq only after they had been approved for use in Afghanistan and at GTMO. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s December 2,2002 authorization of aggressive interrogation techniques and subsequent interrogation policies and plans approved by senior military and civilian officials conveyed the message that physical pressures and degradation were appropriate treatment for detainees in U.S. military custody. What followed was an erosion in standards dictating that detainees be treated humanely."

Yes. Really.

The Agitator » Blog Archive » Put Them in Prison. Really.:

"...So they tortured Gitmo detainees to get information, which turned out to be false, to build support for a war they had already made up their mind they would wage.

And keep in mind, these decisions were made by political appointees. Not JAGs, not military generals, not even veteran CIA agents (most people in all three positions actually opposed these policies). They were made by neocon warmongers with little to no actual military or interrogation experience who hadn’t the slightest idea what they were doing.

These people belong in a prison cell. To excuse them is to say that no abuse of power should be punishable so long as you can come up with some tortured justification about how you were only trying to protect the country."

Patton Oswalt has a kid, defines MySpace, waxes eloquently.

MySpace is the "old mall." Which is as poetically accurate as anything I've read of late. Click over.

On bringing a new kid... MySpace.com Blogs - Patton Oswalt MySpace Blog:

"...into a world you’ve been knocking around in for forty years. You’ve seen a lot of beauty and grace out there in the world but holy FUCK are there a lot of casual, cruel, and clumsy cretins…most of them in charge of all the dangerous machinery."

Aren't we all?

Overheard Everywhere | That Explains the Radiation Suit:

"Greenpeace employee to college girl: Hey! Are you pro-environment?
College girl: No, sorry, post-apocalyptic.

Chicago, Illinois

Overheard by: rabbit"

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

"If not now... what time are we in?"

That's hilarious.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Fantasy Football.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

And Tupac, too.

Via Big And Small | the bad chemicals

Monday, April 20, 2009

Training 318.

Exhausted today, but still managed to knock a wkout out.

Didn't help that I got drenched in a downpour biking home from the train station. Something about being soaked through, with clothes smacking, sucking and sticking to you, that drains all your energy. Mine leastways.

PT - DB Squats/Bench/Row/Plank
10m footwork shadowboxing

Sunday, April 19, 2009

I love Bukatsudo-Shokai.

Introduction of the student clubs. I always get a kick outta the kids selling their hobbies. Good stuff.

Student council member, baseball team captain, good kid, total ham.

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