Sandy?

Choice is everything.

The awesome power of science!

Stare at boobs for longer life: Study | TheMedGuru:

"A rather bizarre study carried out by German researchers suggests that staring at women's breasts is good for men's health and increases their life expectancy."

You know, stuff like this is exactly why I came up with the "random coolness" tag.

Also the "internet is awesome" tag.

Ah, the duality of man.

Via http://www.sinfest.net/

Comic book humor makes me all warm and tingly inside.

Training.

12/9
Atlas 1
Pushups [1m] - 25
Atlas Situps [3m] - 50
Hindu Pushups [2m] - 15
Hindu Squats [12m] - 192
Hindu Pushups [2m] - 15
Atlas Situps [3m] - 45
Pushups [1m] - 20
MILO DSR [4m] - 20/15

12/10
Atlas 1, 8, 9
Atlas III Pushups [1m] - 25
Atlas Situps [3m] - 55
Hindu Squats [12m] - 215
Atlas Situps [3m] - 50
Atlas III Pushups [1m] - 20
MILO DSR [4m] - 20/15

The Obama administration's continued descent into business as usual.

Reminds me of a quote I heard once, though I forget where, and I paraphrase now - that fundamentally, whatever the original goal of any organization - once established the true purpose of any organization becomes its own continued existence and expansion of influence and power.

White House wants suit against Yoo dismissed:

"The Obama administration has asked an appeals court to dismiss a lawsuit accusing former Bush administration attorney John Yoo of authorizing the torture of a terrorism suspect, saying federal law does not allow damage claims against lawyers who advise the president on national security issues."

"Kegs for Kids" - possibly the best charity name ever.

Via TheAgitator.com: Proud Sponsor of Kegs for Kids | The Agitator

Wait... isn't this why we invaded Iraq?

U.S. Government Refuses Biological Weapons Inspections | Disinformation:

"Mark Landler reports on the U.S. Government’s continuing to defy the rest of the world by refusing to allow biological weapons checks."

Eric Schmidt/Google may not be "evil" - though some in China would disagree - but they are veering into douchebaggery.

Bruce Schneier, otoh, is awesome.

Schneier on Security: My Reaction to Eric Schmidt:

"Schmidt said:

I think judgment matters. If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place. If you really need that kind of privacy, the reality is that search engines -- including Google -- do retain this information for some time and it's important, for example, that we are all subject in the United States to the Patriot Act and it is possible that all that information could be made available to the authorities.

This, from 2006, is my response:

Privacy protects us from abuses by those in power, even if we're doing nothing wrong at the time of surveillance.

We do nothing wrong when we make love or go to the bathroom. We are not deliberately hiding anything when we seek out private places for reflection or conversation. We keep private journals, sing in the privacy of the shower, and write letters to secret lovers and then burn them. Privacy is a basic human need.

[...]

For if we are observed in all matters, we are constantly under threat of correction, judgment, criticism, even plagiarism of our own uniqueness. We become children, fettered under watchful eyes, constantly fearful that -- either now or in the uncertain future -- patterns we leave behind will be brought back to implicate us, by whatever authority has now become focused upon our once-private and innocent acts. We lose our individuality, because everything we do is observable and recordable.

[...]

Too many wrongly characterize the debate as "security versus privacy." The real choice is liberty versus control. Tyranny, whether it arises under threat of foreign physical attack or under constant domestic authoritative scrutiny, is still tyranny. Liberty requires security without intrusion, security plus privacy. Widespread police surveillance is the very definition of a police state. And that's why we should champion privacy even when we have nothing to hide."

I am just never gonna be able to get worked up by this whole global warming thing.

While maintaining a long held belief, circa Gulf War I, that we need to get on alternative fuels because the country shouldn't be held hostage by the natural resources of another country.

The Fiction Of Climate Science - Forbes.com:

"Many of you are too young to remember, but in 1975 our government pushed "the coming ice age."

Random House dutifully printed "THE WEATHER CONSPIRACY … coming of the New Ice Age." This may be the only book ever written by 18 authors. All 18 lived just a short sled ride from Washington, D.C. Newsweek fell in line and did a cover issue warning us of global cooling on April 28, 1975. And The New York Times, Aug. 14, 1976, reported "many signs that Earth may be headed for another ice age."

OK, you say, that's media. But what did our rational scientists say?

In 1974, the National Science Board announced: "During the last 20 to 30 years, world temperature has fallen, irregularly at first but more sharply over the last decade. Judging from the record of the past interglacial ages, the present time of high temperatures should be drawing to an end…leading into the next ice age."

The fall of Saigon in the '70s may have distracted the shrill pronouncements about the imminent ice age. Science's prediction of "A full-blown, 10,000 year ice age," came from its March 1, 1975 issue. The Christian Science Monitor observed that armadillos were retreating south from Nebraska to escape the "global cooling" in its Aug. 27, 1974 issue.

That armadillo caveat seems reminiscent of today's tales of polar bears drowning due to glaciers disappearing..."

Stunning in its obtuseness.

Stuff You Can’t Make Up | The Agitator:

"The Obama administration is sponsoring a workshop on government transparency . . . that will be closed to the public."

This.

Daily Democratic Party Two-Minutes Hate | Disinformation:

"At this point, any idea that the Democratic Party and Barack Obama are “better” than the Republicans should be laid to rest. Talking about what John McCain “would have done” as President is little more than idle metaphysical speculation. The main difference between to the two parties is that the Republican Party pitches their rhetoric at the most rancorous members of the ruling class, while the Democrats aim their rhetoric at more nuanced thinking members of that class. The surface of being a party of people seems aimed mostly at middle class layers- journalists, union representatives, intellectuals- in an attempt to form a coalition which includes the top 1% of American society rather than just the top .1%. If the differences in rhetoric are minor, the differences in policy are largely theoretical."

Training.

AM - Atlas 1,8,9
PM - PT for reps/not time. 60% of the workout protocol's final max goal using multiple sets/rest pause.
Pushups - 30
Atlas Situps - 60
Hindu Pushups - 20/10
Hindu Squats - 45/45/25/25/20/20
Hindu Pushups - 15/10/5
Atlas Situps - 30/20/10
Pushups - 20/10
Chins - 10/5
Bridge - [count] 50/52
MILO DSR - 20&15

My must-see documentary for 2010 - "Grant Morrison: Talking with Gods."

Via The Grant Morrison Biopic Trailer | Bleeding Cool Comic News & Rumors

DCU geek awesomeness - EARTH ONE.

Superman by J. Michael Straczynski is impressive, but Batman by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank = TOTAL WIN.

DC Universe: The Source » Blog Archive » DCU IN 2010: WELCOME TO EARTH ONE:

"Starting next year, DC Comics will unveil SUPERMAN: EARTH ONE and BATMAN: EARTH ONE, two graphic novels spotlighting the most powerful heroes of the DC Universe, with their first years and earliest moments retold in a standalone, original graphic novel format, on a new earth with an all-new continuity.

...Watch from the darkest corners of Crime Alley as a young boy is struck by unbelievable tragedy that will forge the greatest crime-fighter to ever stalk the rooftops of Gotham City in BATMAN: EARTH ONE, by writer Geoff Johns and artist Gary Frank."

...and the new Alfred looks kick-ass, quite frankly.

Si Spurrier is humorously and entertainingly hateful.

Short ‘n Curlies #21 by Si Spurrier | Bleeding Cool Comic News & Rumors:

"There’s a reason people commit murder, my friends, and it’s called “Other People.”

...Work continues apace on the CityGuide To A Fictional Town... Frankly, I was worried about this one.

...it became harder and harder in my mind to justify some of the narrative plot-points within this increasingly Solid world I was fleshing-out. For instance, there are scenes in which whole mobs must be incited to open violence by a seemingly minor act...

How can the inexplicable, or the intolerable, or the ugly, or the desperate, or the extreme, or the unlikely — or anything else that strains the boundaries of human understanding — possibly work in a solid, functioning universe?

Now, living back in London again, I know I needn’t have worried.

Two days ago I watched a middle-aged mother, standing on a tube platform, scream “I HATE YOU” into her toddler’s face, then gather the sobbing kid up and cuddle her, like a hot-water bottle in an ice-storm, all the way down the Bakerloo line. Last week I saw a scruffy-looking emo-kid give a tramp £20 on a whim, then watched another doorway-dweller scream abuse because he’d got nothing. I’ve watched pigeons eating a pigeon. I’ve watched a hundred men in blood-red outfits and synthetic bearskin helmets march and pivot with clockwork precision, because they thought it would impress a woman whose family is more riddled with inbreeding than a creationist’s History Of The Human Race, but who claims to’ve been chosen to Rule by God — So That’s Okay Then. I’ve watched four cops shelter from the rain while — a hundred yards up the street — a crazy guy knelt on the pavement and screamed — screamed, you understand — at passers-by, because they refused to accept the wisdom of a tortured Nazarene-on-a-stick into their lives. In the past week I’ve eaten food from four different continents, have listened to a mate miserably explain how he can’t choose between the two girls who claim to Love Him, have seen a popular racist bigot and one-eyed cuntflap announce his intention to run for parliament at the next general election, and heard the news of a Kid in Romford being shot at close range by a rocket-propelled Distress Flare.

This fictional cityguide of mine shouldn’t frighten me quite so much. The truth is, it’s not that constrictive at all..."

Because it's all been [mostly] fear-mongering nonsense.

Study Confirms Low Mortality for Swine Flu - ABC News:

"One of the most systematic looks yet at the swine flu pandemic confirms that it is at worst only a little more serious than an average flu season and could well be a good deal milder, researchers said on Monday."

Flu pandemic could be mildest on record - washingtonpost.com:

"With the second wave of H1N1 infections having crested in the United States, leading epidemiologists are predicting that the pandemic could end up ranking as the mildest since modern medicine began documenting influenza outbreaks."

Battling reality.

texts from last night:

"(612): Those are some awfully high standards for someone of your weight"

Training.

12/7
AM - Atlas 1,8,9
PM - Pushups [1m] - 25
Atlas Situps [3m] - 55
Hindu Pushups [2m] - 20
Hindu Squats [12m] - 192
Hindu Pushups [2m] - 15
Atlas Situps [3m] - 45
Pushups [1m] - 22
MILO DSR [4m] - 20/15

12/6
AM - Atlas 1,8,9
PM - Atlas 1,8,9

They really are just weasely little douchebags, aren't they?

US Trade Rep weasels and squirms when cornered on an airplane and questioned about secret copyright treaty Boing Boing:

"Read this account of James Love's conversation with Ambassador Ron Kirk, the head US Trade Representative, on the question of why the Draconian Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement is taking place in secret. Love cornered Kirk on a United Airlines flight from Geneva to DC following a WTO Ministerial meeting. Love asks Kirk why the treaty isn't public, and Kirk's answers are -- at best -- total weaselling and at worst fabrications."