Training.

Simplefit L3W3 - 16 chins/33 pushups/33 prisoner squats for time - 4:24  - Level up.  Or down to level 1 again in my case, substituting pullups for chinups next week.  Did the same thing after 'leveling up' from bw rows to chins after completing level 3 with rows a few weeks ago...  plan to stick with SF w/pullups till mid-April or till I complete all 8 levels, whichever comes first.  Probably April, I'd imagine.
WC 49 - 49 lunges/33 chins/16 pushups
Neck nods/rotations

*MMPM [minor mental progress marker]* - hit double digits in dead hang chinups on my first set today - 11.  Well, 10 really, as the last had a little English on it.  Not especially impressive, but much better than the pathetic 4 I maxed out at the beginning of January.  Next mental benchmark floating around the back of my head is 20 dead hang chins, which was what I could get back in my jarhead days.  Or at least the max # for score you could get on the PFT back then.

"Why Isn't Wall Street In Jail?" - video on the Matt Taibbi article.

If you can't be bothered to go through the full article here, this talking head clip lays a bunch of it out. Two-tiered justice, government & business corruption and collusion.

"If you sell a dime bag on the street and a cop sees you, there's a very good chance that you will actually go to jail - you will do real jail time. But insider trading, fraud on a massive scale, stealing billions of dollars, putting a million people into foreclosure, defrauding thousands of janitors, cops and firefighters out of their pensions - nobody's going to jail for this stuff."

"The Real Cost Of Religious Faith." Awesome.

"Why do you want to partition yourself off into some little sub-group where if people aren't in that group with you, they're bad? Why is this appealing? You want to believe that... stating our opinion on TV we deserve to be tortured forever?"

"Even if the bible were true...  that still does not put one in a position where they are worshiping out of anything but fear of a monster that is grotesque and wants to punish people...

The god that Christians believe in...  if it wants to actually achieve its goal of spreading this information to humanity - by relying on text, by relying on languages that die off, by relying on anecdotal testimony - that's not a pathway to truth.  And anything that would qualify for a god should know this.  Which means that either god doesn't exist or it doesn't care enough about those people who understand the nature of evidence to actually present it.  Now which of those possibilities do you think is accurate?

...Faith isn't a pathway to truth.  Every religion has some sort of faith.  If faith is your pathway then you can't distinguish between Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, any of these others...  What kind of god requires faith instead of evidence?"

New Thor Trailer.

Even better than the first, I think. I'm now officially a supporter of movies where dudes throw big metal hammers into other's faces.

Of course - "Study Finds No Link Between MDMA and Cognitive Impairment."

NIDA-Funded Study Finds No Link Between MDMA and Cognitive Impairment - Hit & Run : Reason Magazine:

"A new government-funded study finds, contrary to earlier research, that MDMA use is not associated with cognitive impairment. The study, reported yesterday in the journal Addiction, sought to address the weaknesses in comparisons that have been widely cited as evidence of brain damage caused by MDMA"

The modern dilemma + awesome geekbait reference.

Just, wow. So Much Government Doublespeak and Cognitive Dissonance.

Secretary Clinton talks internet freedom & Mideast protests at the exact same time government lawyers try to crush Wikileaks. Additionally, a silent protester at her speech is forcibly removed and injured as she doesn't miss a beat. It's really just astounding on several different levels.

Secy of State Clinton espouses pure cognitive dissonance strategy | Beyond The Beyond:

"(…)

“Clinton tried to reconcile the US administration’s support for the internet as a motor for change in the Middle East, China and elsewhere with its fury over WikiLeaks. She said: “Liberty and security. Transparency and confidentiality. Freedom of expression and tolerance. There are times when these principles will raise tensions and pose challenges, but we do not have to choose among them. And we shouldn’t. Together they comprise the foundation of a free and open internet.”

(((Who the heck wrote that amazing paragraph?! I’d like to shake that guy’s hand! He’s found some incredible diplomatic rhetorical middle-ground between honesty and dishonesty. It’s like a marriage which is firmly founded on a “challenging tension” of chastity and adultery. And, well, to tell the truth, that’s been known to work out — somehow. I mean — what else can she possibly say? Think about it.)))

...“In courtroom 500 in Alexandria, the lawyers were arguing that the government orders be declared unlawful and that they should also be made public. (((We’re looking for the thriving middle ground between publicity and secrecy.))) One of the lawyers, John Keker, told the court it was “ironic” that the case was being heard against the backdrop of the Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings. (((I didn’t realize that irony came in powers-of-ten.))) He argued that if the government request was successful it would allow the government to intrude into the lives of individuals previously protected by constitutional rights. “This is something brand new,” he said. (((Unless you’ve been systematically wiretapped by the NSA for decades, and come on, who hasn’t.)))"

Partnership for Civil Justice: At Clinton Speech: Veteran Bloodied, Bruised and Arrested for Standing Silently:

"As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave her speech at George Washington University yesterday condemning governments that arrest protestors and do not allow free expression, 71-year-old Ray McGovern was grabbed from the audience in plain view of her by police and an unidentified official in plain clothes, brutalized and left bleeding in jail. She never paused speaking. When Secretary Clinton began her speech, Mr. McGovern remained standing silently in the audience and turned his back. Mr. McGovern, a veteran Army officer who also worked as a C.I.A. analyst for 27 years, was wearing a Veterans for Peace t-shirt.

Blind-sided by security officers who pounced upon him, Mr. McGovern remarked, as he was hauled out the door, 'So this is America?' Mr. McGovern is covered with bruises, lacerations and contusions inflicted in the assault."

Training.

WC - 48 chins, pushups, lunges
Rutten MMA wkout - 10x2m rounds - boxing
Hindu pushups/squats/bridge

2/16
Simplefit L3W2 + WC - 5 rounds for time - 3 chins/10 pushups/16 prisoner squats - 254s [level up] + 47 lunges, 32 chins
Rutten MMA wkout - 3x3m rounds - thai boxing

2/15
WC - 46 chins, pushups, lunges
Rutten MMA wkout - 10x2m rounds - boxing

2/14
Simplefit L3W1 + WC - max rounds/20m - 2 chins/3 pushups/5 prisoner squats - 25 rounds + 45 lunges
Neck nods/rotations, hip thrusts, shoulder dislocates, facepulls, chestpulls, grip, hyperxtensions

Well, missed my first wkouts of 2011. After effects of over indulgence on last Thursday cost me Friday, and then Sat/Sun as I worked through my standard "oh, I've blown it all, what's the point, I'll eat a carton of doughnuts and drink a quart of rum" mentality/nonsense. Back on point now. Onwards.

I get the appeal of video games now...

...as long as it's Rock Band and includes alcohol, apparently.

 And while I enjoyed it, I still sucked.  As I have with all video games since, let's see, circa 1984 playing Activision Decathlon on my Sears brand Atari 2600 knock-off.  And even then my older brother whupped my ass.  Appearances below to the contrary, I cannot be taught.  Which lead my wife to calling me a "mic hog" when in truth that the only thing I was confident I wouldn't screw up, apparently lacking the hand-eye dexterity and coordination of the average 21st century elementary school child.

  Whereas below, the wife has clearly mastered laid-back Rock Band'ing.

The week in food.

Food log/culinary-ness.  Way late on this this week, mostly due to dodgy internets - "This too is Liberia" - followed by procrastination.  We'll start with the Mrs this week, as there's not much to tell.  She had 3 separate dinners out last week for personal and professional obligations, so not a lot of cooking to be seen.  Plus the batch of chicken chili I mixed up early in the week went a long way in terms of leftovers and repeated helpings.

As for me, let's see...  Did really well till Thursday PM.  Friday a holiday, we had a dinner out Thursday eve [not pictured - beef carpacio, garlic shrimp & a couple scoops of rice] and a late night of drinking & video gaming where I went way of the wagon, nutritionally speaking.  Jack & Coke remains my nemesis.  The nemesis I love, clearly.  Over-indulging led to a Friday of hangover food - burger, nuggets & chocolate - and over the wkend the grocery store run included V8s, diet sodas, 0cal drinks and the highly wonderful and addictive coconut water.  Not the worst, not the best.  Back on track by Monday, work in progress, etc, etc...

"The surprising truth about what motivates us."

This is awesome. Both the information and the animation. I didn't even realize it till after I watched it that it was off a presentation by Dan Pink, whose "The Adventures of Johnny Bunko:  The Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need" I dug.

Wall Street Reality - "Everything's fucked up, and nobody goes to jail."

Matt Taibbi consistently best explains just how exactly our financial system is a ridiculously corrupt house of cards. Worth reading in full, if only to peg your outrage meter.

Why Isn't Wall Street in Jail? | Rolling Stone Politics:

"Over drinks at a bar on a dreary, snowy night in Washington this past month, a former Senate investigator laughed as he polished off his beer.

'Everything's fucked up, and nobody goes to jail,' he said. 'That's your whole story right there. Hell, you don't even have to write the rest of it. Just write that.'

I put down my notebook. 'Just that?'

'That's right,' he said, signaling to the waitress for the check. 'Everything's fucked up, and nobody goes to jail. You can end the piece right there.'

Nobody goes to jail. This is the mantra of the financial-crisis era, one that saw virtually every major bank and financial company on Wall Street embroiled in obscene criminal scandals that impoverished millions and collectively destroyed hundreds of billions, in fact, trillions of dollars of the world's wealth — and nobody went to jail. Nobody, that is, except Bernie Madoff, a flamboyant and pathological celebrity con artist, whose victims happened to be other rich and famous people.

The rest of them, all of them, got off. Not a single executive who ran the companies that cooked up and cashed in on the phony financial boom — an industrywide scam that involved the mass sale of mismarked, fraudulent mortgage-backed securities — has ever been convicted. Their names by now are familiar to even the most casual Middle American news consumer: companies like AIG, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley. Most of these firms were directly involved in elaborate fraud and theft. Lehman Brothers hid billions in loans from its investors. Bank of America lied about billions in bonuses. Goldman Sachs failed to tell clients how it put together the born-to-lose toxic mortgage deals it was selling. What's more, many of these companies had corporate chieftains whose actions cost investors billions — from AIG derivatives chief Joe Cassano, who assured investors they would not lose even "one dollar" just months before his unit imploded, to the $263 million in compensation that former Lehman chief Dick "The Gorilla" Fuld conveniently failed to disclose. Yet not one of them has faced time behind bars..."

Ah, Japan - "62 percent responded that they feel teaching English is burdensome."

While I worked with some truly excellent elementary school home room teachers in Japan, I'm not at all surprised by this. The reaction of the majority of them, even with me after 5 years, to teaching English was more commmonly one of trepidation, apprehension, avoidance or withdrawal. OTOH, those that did choose to engage were phenomenal. Probably true of all good teachers everywhere, I'd imagine. More at the link, of course.

Most public elementary school educators feel specialists should teach English - The Mainichi Daily News:

"...Of homeroom teachers who are already teaching English as non-compulsory subjects at elementary schools, 62 percent responded that they feel teaching English is burdensome."

Of course - "Defector admits to WMD lies that triggered Iraq war."

Defector admits to WMD lies that triggered Iraq war | World news | The Guardian:

"The defector who convinced the White House that Iraq had a secret biological weapons programme has admitted for the first time that he lied about his story, then watched in shock as it was used to justify the war."

"Expuberance: The satisfaction of realizing..."

Understanding Men - "Good talk, bro. Good talk." Via 'Questionable Content.'

Via Questionable Content: New comics every Monday through Friday

I love Charlie Sheen's unabashed shamelessness and unrepentance.

Charlie Sheen Says Sobriety 'Bores' Him, Crack Okay if You Can 'Manage It Socially' - FoxNews.com:

"Charlie Sheen said that sobriety 'bores' him and that he may revert to substance abuse.

In a call to DirecTV/Fox Sports Radio's "The Dan Patrick Show," Sheen said "I was sober for five years a long time ago and was just bored out of my tree," he said... "It's inauthentic -- it's not who I am. I didn't drink for 12 years and, man, that first one [drink], Dan. Wow."

The star of "Two and a Half Men" laughed off the ethics clause in his TV contract.
"Yeah, blah, blah, nitpick, nitpick," he said. "I haven't read it, but I don't think it covers 'Let us totally dominate and interfere with your personal life.'"

When pro-lifers get abortions = Cognitive Dissonance 101 - "The Only Moral Abortion is My Abortion."

Just jaw-droppingly astounding the levels of denial, rationalization, justification and stupidity. Cognitive Dissonance 101, indeed. Here's only two of many examples. Completely worth the clickover to read them all.

"The Only Moral Abortion is My Abortion" - When the Anti-Choice Choose:

"'In 1990, in the Boston area, Operation Rescue and other groups were regularly blockading the clinics, and many of us went every Saturday morning for months to help women and staff get in. As a result, we knew many of the 'antis' by face. One morning, a woman who had been a regular 'sidewalk counselor' went into the clinic with a young woman who looked like she was 16-17, and obviously her daughter. When the mother came out about an hour later, I had to go up and ask her if her daughter's situation had caused her to change her mind. 'I don't expect you to understand my daughter's situation!' she angrily replied. The following Saturday, she was back, pleading with women entering the clinic not to 'murder their babies.'' (Clinic escort, Massachusetts)

...

"We have anti-choice women in for abortions all the time. Many of them are just naive and ignorant until they find themselves with an unwanted pregnancy. Many of them are not malicious. They just haven't given it the proper amount of thought until it completely affects them. They can be judgmental about their friends, family, and other women. Then suddenly they become pregnant. Suddenly they see the truth. That it should only be their own choice. Unfortunately, many also think that somehow they are different than everyone else and they deserve to have an abortion, while no one else does." (Physician, Washington State)"

Via We have anti-choice women in for abortions all the... - APE IN A CAPE

Know your history - the origins of Valentine's Day.

The Dark Origins Of Valentine's Day : NPR:

"Though no one has pinpointed the exact origin of the holiday, one good place to start is ancient Rome, where men hit on women by, well, hitting them.

From Feb. 13 to 15, the Romans celebrated the feast of Lupercalia. The men sacrificed a goat and a dog, then whipped women with the hides of the animals they had just slain.

The Roman romantics 'were drunk. They were naked,' says Noel Lenski, a historian at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Young women would actually line up for the men to hit them, Lenski says. They believed this would make them fertile.

The brutal fete included a matchmaking lottery, in which young men drew the names of women from a jar. The couple would then be, um, coupled up for the duration of the festival – or longer, if the match was right..."

Why Asia Will Win.

Ron Paul wins CPAC poll for the 2nd year.

My prediction?  No one listens, things get worse.  Yes, I'm in a mood.  Shut it.

Ron Paul wins CPAC straw poll again:

"Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) won the always-anticipated, rarely predictive presidential straw poll Saturday at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington..."

See, it's funny because it's true.

"Don't be sexist..."

I don't care, it made me laugh.