Training.

4/5 - P90X2 D47 X2 Ab Ripper -- Russian Pullup Program D25 20/18/16/14/12

HEALTHYLICIOUS LIVING | foll0wyourdream: get-fit-get-physical: ...:
"foll0wyourdream: get-fit-get-physical: hoorayforbutts: LATEST PROGRESS PHOTO!
 july: 124 lbs
 august: 109 lbs
 november: 114 lbs
 january 30th, 2013: 115 lbs
... lots of hard work, but I AIN’T NEVAAH GONNA STOP! awesome girl! keep it up!! Looks amazing! (via fitlittlebitch)"

Today's Internets - Manatee Gray Size.

RIP.

Legendary Comic Book Artist, Former DC Comics Publisher Carmine Infantino Dies: "Vanguard Productions publisher J. David Spurlock has reported on his facebook page that comic book legend Carmine Infantino has died today at age 87. Spurlock was a close friend of Infantino’s and author of the book The Amazing World of Carmine Infantino. Infantino was born in 1925 in Brooklyn, attending the School of Industrial Art in Manhattan. His earliest comic work was in Marvel/Timely’s USA Comics #3 in 1942, but he is best known as a creator for designing the updated version of the Flash and his new alter ego Barry Allen with Robert Kanigher and Julius Schwartz in 1956, which would become a key impetus in revitalizing super-hero comics for what is now known as the Silver Age. Among countless other characters, Infantino also co-created the Barbara Gordon version of Batgirl."

Target apologizes for accuracy.

Target's Dress Apology Over 'Manatee Gray' Plus Size Description | Contactmusic.com: "Supermarket powerhouse Target have found themselves in a sea cow-sized PR disaster, after the supermarket chain re-branded the 'Dark Heather Gray' dresses being sold on their website as 'Manatee Gray' once the dress sizes reached the XLs. The ill-mannered mix-up has unsurprisingly placed Target in quite the predicament and in a bid to avoid any further action potentially being taken against the company by irked would-be shoppers, the company has already issued a full apology and removed the item from the  website."

WTF, ladies?

Human rape: revising evolutionary perspectives. | Melissa Emery Thompson - Academia.edu: "Among college-aged women,approximately 40% of rape victims report continuing to date theirattackers (Wilson and Durrenberger 1982;Koss 1989)."

Building Your Control Model: Where Do You Spend Your Time?: "Focusing on variables beyond your control can be a drain on your time, your thoughts, your emotions and your clarity. Fulfilled, happy people are aware of what’s beyond their control, and they don’t allow it to create stress. When an outside event affects their lives, they quickly discern, “Is this something I can control? Is this something I can influence? Or, is this truly something I cannot control and cannot influence?” Many of us try to control the events around us. Although we can influence many events and maybe control some, the only things we have absolute control over are ourselves and our emotional responses."

Article discussing reactions to lifelong bachelorhood, but this applies to every decision you make outside the norm.  And you get the greatest judgement and resistance from those closest to you.  In my experience.

Don’t Be Ashamed For Being A Bachelor: "I have often wondered why it annoys people so much, and while there are many reasons for it and it varies from person to person, there is one common theme that seems to ring true for all of them: People are terrified by the fact that they may be doing the wrong thing.  When you have invested so much into the socially expected life path that would be considered safe and desirable, anything that contradicts that life path is going to question the validity of their life choices. It stings them even more when the person rejecting that lifestyle is showing signs of significant success or happiness."

The perfect relationship.

There is No...: 

"We hold each other to high but not unreasonable standards. I am a better man for her and she’s a better woman for me."

Dope.

Training.

4/4 - Russian Pullup Program D23 18/18/16/14/12  -- P90X2 D46 X2 Ab Ripper & Plyocide

Watching this I don't know that I've ever felt so motivated and/or weak in my life.
50 no kipping/no bullshit pullups.
DAMN.
RossTraining.com Blog: "I viewed the video as a testament to consistency, hard work, and belief in oneself. It is one thing to set challenging goals, but entirely different to consistently work towards achieving them. A more common scenario is to set a goal, work towards it briefly, and then move on to something else when progress has slowed. Few people have the resiliency to see challenging goals out to fruition. Many talk about what they would like to accomplish, yet few achieve what they set out to do. Achieving a challenging goal requires a consistent and diligent approach. You cannot become sidetracked by short term plateaus or setbacks. Such potholes are part of any challenging journey. A smooth ride will not bring you to the top of a treacherous mountain. Expect and prepare for arduous obstacles ahead."

Training.

4/3 - P90X2 D45 Base + Back & X2 Ab Ripper

Today's Internets - Keep Crom.

I loved Omni as a kid.

Omni: The Forgotten History of The Best Science Magazine That Ever Was | Motherboard: "Omni was a magazine about the future. From 1978 to 1998 (it switched to full-time online publication in the mid-1990s) Omni blew minds by regularly featuring extensive Q&As with some of the top scientists of the 20th century–E.O. Wilson, Francis Crick, Jonas Salk–tales of the paranormal, and some of the most important science fiction to ever see magazine publication: William Gibson's genre-defining stories Burning Chrome and Johnny Mnemonic, Orson Scott Card's Unaccompanied Sonata, novellas by Harlan Ellison and George R. R. Martin, Thanksgiving, a postapocalyptic tale by Joyce Carol Oates–even William S. Burroughs graced its pages."

Get Swole: "have you ever been so angry that you hit a fucking wall with a tire"

Training.

4/2 - P90X2 D44 Shoulders + Arms

Today's Internets Generalizations.

Point. 

Fred On Everything: "While it contains many generalizations, generalizations are generally true, which is why they are generalizations."

It's about choices, not access.

The Ecology of Obesity | Newgeography.com: "Food justice advocates were thus taken aback last April when new public health research revealed that there were more grocery stores and supermarkets in poor communities than in middle- and upper-income ones. More importantly, the studies found no relationship whatsoever between childhood obesity and neighborhood food availability. In effect, children who have more access to grocery stores and supermarkets are no more likely to become obese than children who have less. The findings — independently arrived at by two large national studies published by RAND and Social Science and Medicine — landed on the front page of the New York Times."

Marines Test Women for Infantry Roles - NYTimes.com: "Behind them, two more Marines, both women, prepared to start the course. One, a former enlisted Marine who was shivering in the 40-degree breeze, tried repeatedly to surmount the first bar, but failed. The second, a recent Naval Academy graduate, did better, meticulously, sometimes ingeniously, working her way through many of the obstacles. But as she was determinedly attempting the ropes, a captain walked briskly up to deliver bad news: Neither woman had met a time limit. Silently, they shouldered their packs and trudged into the woods, their chances of becoming the first women to complete the Marine Corps’ demanding Infantry Officer Course summarily ended on its arduous first day on Thursday. (Twelve of the 108 men also were dropped that day.)"

In Femininity, There Is Strength |: 

"The strengths of femininity: 

Pleasantness in the face of rudeness 

Happiness in the face of sorrow 

Willingness to forgive 

Desire to nurture and not control 

Discretion despite anger 

Modesty when others insist on exposure 

Kindness in the face of belligerence"

Fred On Everything: "The lack of femininity. The word is hard to define, but the quality is impossible to mistake. American women seem to want to be either androgynous horrors or smaller men with the appeal of a truss ad. On the street they dress in those awful Brooks Sisters business suits with the ugly blazers and little shoulder pads. You see them in restaurants, drinking too much and yelling, “He’s a fucking piece of shit,” apparently in the belief that talking like a jock in a rural locker room makes them one of the guys. Some of us don’t want to date one of the guys. We want to date a woman. They don’t want to be feminine, don’t know what the word means and, if you bring the subject up, they say—spare me—“You just want a submissive woman.” No, actually, I don’t. Submissive women are boring."

The story of my youth.

Fred On Everything: "They do not—believe me—see you as having a right to know your kids. I talked once to a (female) divorce attorney. She confirmed what many in fathers-rights had told me: Men in divorce are invariably happy to give the woman access to the children. Women very often are not. They use them as weapons, and the courts support them in it. Stealing a man’s children is an excellent form of revenge. They use it to the hilt."

Dr. Who - The Triumph of Intellect & Romance Over Brute Force & Cynicism.

Science often isn't.

Scott Adams Blog: Knowledge is Health 04/01/2013: "Did you know that 50% of second opinions from doctors contradict first opinions? And did you know that 80% of the findings in medical literature are wrong? I'm fascinated by a new company called Metamed that offers to be your personal medical researcher. For a fee of $200 per researcher per hour, with a $5K minimum, you can make sure the full force of science is on your side. Metamed analyzes the medical literature and tells you which study results about your condition are reliable and which are not. They assess the value of various diagnostic tests, and create a map of all possible medical correlations. It's the sort of thing your doctor would love to do for you if he had the resources."

"Hermione just stole all of our shit."

Coulson Lives.

S.H.I.E.L.D. TV Series Details from Clark Gregg (Agent Coulson). Plus Could He Be in More Marvel Movies | Collider: "“Coulson Lives”.  Clark Gregg, who has been doing terrific work throughout his career, finally found a devoted fan following for his beloved performance as S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Phil Coulson.  A minor character who still managed to steal scenes with only a few lines, Coulson really got to stand out in The Avengers, and his death left fans reeling.  Then a S.H.I.E.L.D. TV series was announced, and it turned out Coulson wasn’t quite so dead after all.  Fans rejoiced, and while a pilot for the show has been filmed, details are still scarce.  Now that Coulson is back in the world of the living, Gregg spoke with Steve at WonderCon about joining the TV series, how it will explain Coulson’s return, working with a smaller budget, and if Coulson will come back to the movies.  Hit the jump for what he had to say."

Training.

4/1 - P90X2 D43 V Sculpt [Back & Biceps]

Food Log.

3/20 - coffee, half & half, water, Animal Rage, Universal Shock Therapy, MP Amino1, turkey sausage, Monster Multi, eggs, bacon bits, shredded cheddar

3/21 - coffee, half & half, water, coconut oil, Animal Rage, Universal Shock Therapy, MP Amino1, MP Combat, peanut butter, bacon

3/22 - coffee, half & half, water, Animal Rage, Universal Shock Therapy, MP Amino1, Monster Multi, MP Combat, peanut butter, milk, Cheesy Breadstixx, diet soda, Pizza [Original Crust, Mozzarella, Hamburger, Cheddar, Sausage]

3/23 - water, Pizza [Original Crust, Mozzarella, Hamburger, Cheddar, Sausage], Greek Salad [Pepperoncinis, Romaine, Feta, Tomatoes, Red Onions, Cucumber, Black Olives], Cheesy Breadstixx, tea, Diet Coke, chocolate peanut butter cup, mozzarella, roast beef, ice cream, chips, popcorn

3/24 - coffee, half & half, bottled coffee, peanut butter, turkey burger, water, shredded cheese, mayo, coconut oil

3/25 - coconut oil, coffee, half & half, water, Animal Rage, Universal Shock Therapy, milk, MP Combat, Monster Multi, steak, chicken

3/26 - coffee, half & half, coconut water, water, beer, buffet [seafood + dessert]

3/27 - coffee, cream, Animal Rage, milk, MP Combat, Monster Multi, water

3/28 - coffee, cream, Animal Rage, Universal Shock Therapy, Monster Multi, MP Combat, milk, steak, avocado, chicken, Pepsi Next, Atkins PB cups, water

3/29 - Atkins PB cups, coffee, half & half, cream, peanut butter, Pepsi Next, chocolate milk, Monster Multi, Animal Rage, Universal Shock Therapy, water

3/30 - coffee, half & half, water, Animal Rage, Universal Shock Therapy, Monster Multi, Pepsi Next, Double Quarter Pounders [no bun], peanut butter, Beef Jerky Chocolate Bar, Bacon Chocolate Bar, Mocha Porter

3/31 - coffee, half & half, Mocha Porter, Orion, chocolate bar, peanut butter, swiss cheese, avocado w/mayo, cheese, bacon bits, milk, MP Combat

Today's Internets - "Breakdance has been a very important part of my life." - Nick Offerman

Ron Swanson gets cooler & cooler.

Ex-Atlanta Schools Chief Charged in Cheating Scandal - NYTimes.com: "In the fall of 2010, Ms. Parks, a third-grade teacher at Venetian Hills Elementary School in southwest Atlanta, agreed to become Witness No. 1 for Mr. Hyde, in what would develop into the most widespread public school cheating scandal in memory. Ms. Parks admitted to Mr. Hyde that she was one of seven teachers — nicknamed “the chosen” — who sat in a locked windowless room every afternoon during the week of state testing, raising students’ scores by erasing wrong answers and making them right. She then agreed to wear a hidden electronic wire to school, and for weeks she secretly recorded the conversations of her fellow teachers for Mr. Hyde."

"Pain or damage don't end the world. Or despair, or fucking beatings...

 ...The world ends when you're dead. Until then, you got more punishment in store. Stand it like a man. And give some back."

"It's been a long and lonely trip, but I'm glad I took it...

The most important thing that I did was recite my own words at a service, 

Realizing the person I was addressing, 

Probably wasn't looking down from heaven...

It was beautiful, it was brutal, 

It was cruel, it was business as usual.

Heaven.  It was hell.

Used to wonder if I'd live to see twelve.

Don't listen when they tell you that these are your best years, 

Don't let anyone protect your ears, 

It's best that you hear what they don't want you to hear..."

H/T Dedroidify, for that...

1. Technological determinism & defeatism Or, the... • Richard Kadrey's Damn Tumblr: 

"1. Technological determinism & defeatism Or, the cultural belief that technological development and progress is inevitable, and we have to adapt. 

2. Technological solutionism Or, the cultural belief that technology is the best solution to life’s problems. 

3. Quantification imperatives Or, the cultural belief that everything can and should be measured, and that everyday life would be better if all our decisions were based on these data. 

4. Connection & sharing imperatives Or, the cultural belief that everyday life would be better if more information was transmissible and accessible to people. 

5. Convenience & efficiency imperatives Or, the cultural belief that people would be better off if there were more technologies to make daily life more convenient, and common tasks more efficient.

“Five things that make me nervous about Ubiquitous Computing” by Anne Galloway. (via betaknowledge)"

"Marc Maron is sad and draining with his soul sucking jokes." - But in an awesomely funny way.

TSA routinely violates own rules and the law to discriminate against people w/disabilities - Boing Boing: "Sai has "a neurological disorder that causes episodic muteness and muscle spasms" -- basically, he sometimes becomes mute and gets bad shakes. His doctor has advised him to have juice continuously available, and this helps control his condition. TSA rules allow him to bring any amount of juice through a checkpoint. Unfortunately, the TSA doesn't read its own rules. Instead, Sai is detained at checkpoints for endless, illegal questioning and searches of his personal papers, confidential business documents, etc. When he loses the ability to speak, he uses pen and paper to communicate, but the TSA takes the pen and paper away as soon as he cites language from a landmark legal case limiting their power to search him...

...the video of his run-in at SFO is fantastically infuriating. The TSA and its private contractors are vindictive, lawless, brutal. But Sai is an inspiring example of calm under fire, a guy who knows his rights back and forwards, and doesn't let the fact that his physical condition is deteriorating -- you can see his tremors -- make him lose his cool (here's the unedited version, which runs to about an hour)."

Fixing Flat Tires and Relationships: "It’s 2013 and women no longer need to be frankly insulted by offers of being rescued from anything by men. Like a fish needs a bicycle and all that.  I-don’t-really-need-a-man-for-anything-when-I-have-my-vibrator-my-chocolate-and-all-these-adorable-cats. 

So I exaggerate a little..."

Your Fat Has a Brain. Seriously. And It's Trying to Kill You. | Fitness - Health and Fitness Advice | OutsideOnline.com: "Body fat is just an inert layer of blubber, right? If only. New research shows that it's more like a toxic parasite that doesn't want to let go. The good news: if you exercise and eat right, you can force it to."

Training.

3/31 - P90X2 D42 X2 Yoga

Bodybuilding | missmuscles: I’ve probably reblogged this...:

Today's Internets - Easter Weekend Edition.

"I was over in Australia during easter, which was interesting. Interesting to note they celebrate Easter the same way we do; commemorating the death and resurrection of Jesus by telling our children a giant bunny rabbit left chocolate eggs in the night. Now, I wonder why we're fucked up as a race, anybody? Anybody got any clues out there? Where do you get this shit from, you know? Why those two things you know? Why not ‘Goldfish left Lincoln Logs in your sock drawer’? As long as we’re making shit up, go hog wild. At least a goldfish with a Lincoln Log on it's back goin' across your floor to your sock drawer has a miraculous connotation to it. 'Mummy, I woke up today and there was a Lincoln Log in me sock drawer!'. 'That's the story of Jesus'. Who comes up with this shit?! I’ve read the Bible. I can’t find the words ‘bunny’ or ‘chocolate’ anywhere in that fucking book." - Bill Hicks



Made of Awesome.  Filled with Victory - Michael 'Flathead' Blanchard Obituary Could Be Best Ever:
"Judging from his paid obituary, Michael 'Flathead' Blanchard was one heck of a guy. In an obit published in the Denver Post, Blanchard is described as a man who enjoyed "booze, guns, cars and younger women until the day he died." From the obit: Weary of reading obituaries noting someone’s courageous battle with death, Mike wanted it known that he died as a result of being stubborn, refusing to follow doctors’ orders and raising hell for more than six decades. He enjoyed booze, guns, cars and younger women until the day he died. So many of his childhood friends that weren’t killed in Vietnam went on to become criminals, prostitutes and/or Democrats. He asks that you stop by and re-tell the stories he can no longer tell. As the Celebration will contain Adult material we respectfully ask that no children under 18 attend."

Oops - El Chuco | delicioustacos: 

"But he got into some legal trouble. I don’t know what, yet, except it’s a restraining order and he’s gotta get rid of seven grand worth of guns. Going to transfer them into my name and I’ll have to sell them. I hope someone tries to rob me when they’re in my house. Last time he got a restraining order it was from this chick Mandy. They had an S&M relationship, were into swinging. They’d go to big parties full of sweaty old people and he’d swap her ass around. She liked to get choked; she liked to get hit. I’d walk in on her sucking his dick and she’d be complaining that she wasn’t into it because he wasn’t punching her hard enough. They had sex swings, those weird fake whips, all that shit.

But they got in a fight and she freaked out and called the cops. Which was a problem, because, her father is the sheriff of (REDACTED) County. They came and dragged his ass to jail. He’d done time already for stabbing a guy, had a record. They had evidence because she had bruises on her thighs and ass. She said he beat her. Well yeah, she demanded to get beaten across the thighs and ass and he complied. She was what they call a smart ass masochist. A person who has to taunt someone into hitting them to get off. By the way, what are the odds that she liked to get hit because the Sheriff of (REDACTED) County punched her after he made her suck him off? If it were a horse, I wouldn’t bet against it."

The Most Astonishing Cosplay at Wondercon 2013:

Grant Morrison Answers All Your Questions About The Death Of Robin: 

"She's very angry, but she mostly hates Batman. And the thing for me was to tell a story about divorce. Because when I was a kid, my parents divorced. So I always kind of wanted to tell the story of what if you were a child of Batman and this incredible, exotic, brilliant woman who runs a criminal empire? There was once a time when Batman was in love with her and she was in love with him, but now she hates him, she hates him so bad. Because that's what happens to people, and it's really sad — people who used to really love each other end up in divorce courts, shouting at each other and bringing out the worst qualities of one another, and they hate each other. So I thought, let's expose this little kid to this. This new Robin, who is right in the middle of these two people, and because it's Batman and Talia, it's not just Damian's parents falling out, but when they fall out, the whole world ends. A superhero against a super-criminal. So it's really a way to explore what happens to kids when their parents really grow to hate one another.

...it's about the hate that grows between lovers and the horror of being a little kid trapped in between that — and wondering why your parents don't just get on, and why everything isn't OK."

Happy Pagan Fertility Day! Celebrations of rebirth predate Christianity by centuries and are a feature of any civilization that managed to figure out the equinoxes and when longer days, good weather and life was returning to the world. The Roman cult of Cybele, a mother goddess, for example, featured Attis, the consort of Cybele and a god of vegetation, and in his self-mutilation, death, and resurrection he represents the fruits of the earth, which die in winter only to rise again in the spring. Cybele's worship featured a "Holy Week" in March, called Hilaria, that culminated in a procession on March 28th located at what is now, wait for it, Vatican Hill. Easter is named for Ēostre, the Great Mother/fertility goddess in Germanic paganism, whose symbol was a rabbit or hare.

How the News Media Betrayed Us on Iraq - Reason.com: "Put bluntly, the disastrous invasion of Iraq, which was sold on the basis of lies told by President George W. Bush, Vice-President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, national-security adviser Condoleezza Rice, and others might not have happened without the enthusiastic help of The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, ABC, NBC, MSNBC, CBS, CNN, Fox News, and others. The blood of more than a hundred thousand — perhaps more than a million — Iraqis and 4,500 Americans is on their hands too."

How the News Media Betrayed Us on Iraq - Reason.com: "Today, like the Bush administration alumni attempting to duck responsibility, the media blame “bad intelligence” for their conduct. But that will not wash. The dissenting reports of Knight Ridder’s Warren Strobel and Jonathan Landay, along with a very few others, show definitively that in 2002–03 solid intelligence information undermining every propagandistic administration claim was readily available to anyone willing to use traditional reporting techniques. Strobel and Landay were mostly ignored. On the rare occasions when The New York Times or The Washington Post reported on the doubts intelligence personnel had about the Bush narrative, the stories were buried deep in the paper. (See Bill Moyers’s special “Buying the War” and Greg Mitchell’s book Wrong for So Long.)"

How the News Media Betrayed Us on Iraq - Reason.com: "The media did not merely pass along baseless assertions; the television channels also attempted to shape public opinion with a biased selection of guests. Prowar voices abounded, while informed war skeptics were scarce. Even when an opponent of war was featured, he or she had to share the time with a prowar advocate, yet the prowar side was often featured unchallenged. As the war became regarded as inevitable, the cable news channels shifted almost exclusively to military analysis, as though the question was no longer whether the nation ought to go to war, but rather how it would be fought. Many of the retired generals who were presented as objective experts had seats on the boards of defense contractors and were getting Pentagon briefings."

How the News Media Betrayed Us on Iraq - Reason.com: "What motivated those who covered the run-up to the Iraq invasion this way? Several factors were surely at work. Groupthink and the fear of going out on a limb must have played a large role. The vaunted courage of journalists is more pose than fact. (This makes the work of Strobel and Landay, Phil Donahue of MSNBC until he was cancelled, and Bob Simon of CBS’s Sixty Minutes all the more admirable.) “Pack journalism” is reinforced by a fear that reports suggesting skepticism about a military action will be interpreted as unpatriotic. The smear factories run by militarist right-wing media watchdogs ensure this will be the case. Moreover, being branded un-American for doubting a president’s case for war may lead to viewer or reader boycotts, which in turn may lead to pressure from advertisers. Thus, the corporate bottom line played a role.

Another factor is the simple truth that war makes better news than peace. No one wins a Pulitzer Prize for being a peace correspondent. We must not underestimate this as a motive for favoring war. Finally, we can’t overlook that many in the media were simply motivated by nationalism and deference to the state with its dazzling war technology."

These crack me up.

2/10 Would Not Bang | Know Your Meme: 

"2/10 Would Not Bang is an image macro series in which photos of physically attractive women (and occasionally men) are scrutinized for minor or imagined flaws, prefaced by an ironically low rating on a scale of one to ten. The images are meant to parody hypocritical judgments made about women’s sex appeal on the Internet."

And the requisite deviations...

Psychology is Physiology: "“It might be a placebo effect, but it’s still an effect,” Chuck Liddell said at the same time he was the most dangerous man on the planet. Placebo effects are real. Belief will boost your probability of success regardless of endeavor. “Psychology trumps physiology every time,” said bestselling fitness author, Alwyn Cosgrove. Psychology will directly influence physiology and how you perform."