Training.

4/19 - P90X2 D62 X2 Ab Ripper x2 -- Russian Pullup Program D29 19-1/17-3/16-2/16/12-2

No Excuses.

Today's Internets - "...optimism, as I practice it anyway, is an attitude and a strategy, not a description of the world."

My Beautiful Bubble, Bryan Caplan | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty: "Since childhood, I've struggled to psychologically and socially wall myself off from "my" society.  At 40, I can fairly say, "Mission accomplished." Why put so much distance between myself and the outside world?  Because despite my legendary optimism, I find my society unacceptable.  It is dreary, insipid, ugly, boring, wrong, and wicked.  Trying to reform it is largely futile; as the Smiths tell us, "The world won't listen."  Instead, I pursue the strategy that actually works: Making my small corner of the world beautiful in my eyes.  If you ever meet my children or see my office, you'll know what I mean...

Many people will find my attitude repugnant.  They shouldn't.  Yes, I step to the beat of my own drummer.  But I'm not trying to push my lifestyle on others.  I don't pester people who identify with America as it is.  Indeed, I wish outsiders the best of luck.  My only request: If you're not happy with your world, don't try to pop my beautiful Bubble.  Either fix your world, or get to work and make a beautiful Bubble of your own."

Always nice when you find out you're not the only one who thinks something...
The Rules Revisited: Posture And Attractiveness: "...a woman's posture accounts for 3% of a woman's external attractiveness. And because posture is 100 % controllable  ...in the same analysis that it was worthy of 5 % of the time that a woman spends on her appearance. This might not sound like much, but that 5 % was second only to fitness, hair and makeup. In other words, once you take care of those three (obvious) things, you should be shifting your attention - not to your nails, breasts or even the color of your clothes, but to your posture. Posture is important because it is a direct projection of your sense of self-worth."

The Cynical Optimist, Bryan Caplan | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty: "I've thought of myself as a cynic since junior high at the latest. But I've also long considered myself an optimist. Is it possible to be both? At least as I use the terms, it is...

In large part, I think of cynicism as the view that the average quality of human beings and the world is a lot lower than it could and ought to be. Professors should be passionate about answering the Big Questions of their fields, but most of them are boring careerists. Movies and tv ought to be creative and thoughtful, but most of it is derivative claptrap. And so on...

So how can I think this and remain an optimist? Because optimism, as I practice it anyway, is an attitude and a strategy, not a description of the world. As an optimist, I try not to dwell on boring careerists and derivative claptrap. Instead, I seek out the exceptions to the rule and appreciate what I find. Just because the average is low doesn't mean that you can't personally consume high quality. And even when the quality I consume is far from ideal, I try to mentally change the subject to another dimension where I have blessings to count."

Why You Can’t Trust the Weight Loss Advice of a Dietitian | DietDoctor.com: "Here’s a photo from a symposium for dietitians. It is not a joke. This is why you can’t trust weight loss advice from a dietitian. He or she may have been trained by The Coca Cola Company. The largest professional association of dietitians in America have sold out to the junk food industry, as previously reported. If you ask a dietitian for weight loss advice you’ll probably just be told to eat less calories. You can keep eating junk food once in a while and even drink soda, as long as you count the calories. This is exactly what the Coca Cola Company wants you to believe."

Make Your Own Bubble in 10 Easy Steps, Bryan Caplan | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty: 

"1. Amicably divorce your society... 

2. Stop paying attention to things that aggravate you unless (a) they concretely affect your life AND (b) you can realistically do something about them...  

3. Pay less frequent attention to things that aggravate you even if they do concretely affect your life and you can realistically do something about them...

4. Emotionally distance yourself from people you personally know who aggravate you...

5. Abandon your First World Problems mentality... 

6. Now that you have emptied your life of frustration, you are ready to fill it with joy.  Start doing things that make you happy even - nay, especially - if most people in your ex-society disrespect them...

7. Actively try to make more friends with people who share your likes...

8. Find a career you really enjoy...

9. If you're single, stop dating outside of your sub-sub-culture...

10. Now that your own life is in order, you are emotionally ready to quixotically visit your ex-society.  Maybe you want to publicly argue for open borders, abolition of the minimum wage, or pacifism.  Go for it.  Bend over backwards to be friendly.  Take pride in your quixotic quest.  Then go home to your Beautiful Bubble and relax..."

Dedroidify: LOL preach on Russell Brand:



Anarchism Really Does Begin at Home: The Short Version (and why Agorism gets the most right) | Free The Animal: "No human being, nor any number of human beings, have any right to make laws, and compel other human beings to obey them. To say that they have is to say that they are the masters and owners of those of whom they require such obedience."



You'd have thought Dunkin' Donuts, but no.
Upset by a Long Wait, Cop Pulls Gun on McDonald's Customer | PoliceMisconduct.net: "A police officer who was waiting in the drive-thru line at a McDonald’s restaurant in Forsyth County is accused of pulling a gun on the customer ahead of him because the officer was angry at having to wait for his food."

Joe. My. God.: Ex-Gay Poster Boy John Paulk Apologizes: I No Longer Support Ex-Gay Movement: "John Paulk, the man many "credit" with launching the "ex-gay" movement in the United States, has apologized for his past and denounced the "ex-gay" industry.  From an interview with Portland's PQ Monthly...

John Paulk was at one time the most well known and influential person in the “ex-gay” industry, appearing on the cover of Newsweek with his wife Anne in 1998 under the headline, “Gay For Life?” He was instrumental in forming the Love Won Out “ex-gay” roadshow, which subjected countless LGBT youth and their families to misinformation, indoctrination and lies, and which destroyed many families in the process. In 2000, Wayne Besen, founder of Truth Wins Out, photographed John Paulk coming out of a Washington, DC, gay bar, and the lies began to unravel. Though John resigned from the board of Exodus International following this incident, the Religious Right continued to use the Paulks’ story as evidence that the “ex-gay” life was a fairy tale rather than a nightmare, and many LGBT people and their families have been damaged or destroyed over the years as a result."

Having grown up in the SEX=AIDS=DEATH era, this is pretty interesting.

Risk Realities Related Articles: Whatever Happened to AIDS and Straight Men?: 

“Health officials have known this for years, but the politically incorrect truth is rarely spoken out loud: The dreaded heterosexual epidemic never happened. The result is a conspiracy of silence. And it’s not in anybody’s interest to clear this up.”

...Straight men and women make up 90 percent of the population, but they account for only 15 percent of non-childhood AIDS cases. Only 6 percent of men with AIDS, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says, contracted the virus from straight sex. And even that figure doesn't hold up to a closer look. Several studies now suggest that most men who claim they got the virus this way are lying. They got it from sex with other men or sharing needles with addicts. Those studies also show that many women listed in the straight-sex category are either IV-drug users themselves or have likely contracted AIDS from sex with an IV drug user...

Health officials have known these things for years. A growing pile of federally funded reports on HIV transmission, published over the past decade and available to anyone who has the time to read them, shows that men almost never get HIV from women.  In fact, according to a 1998 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, a disease-free man who has an unprotected one-nighter with a drug-free woman stands a one in 5 million chance of getting HIV. If he wears a condom, it’s one in 50 million. He’s more likely to be struck by lightning (one in 7000,000)...

America may be winning the war on AIDS, but not without collateral damage. After two decades, we are still overwhelmed with misinformation and misconceptions about how the virus spreads. Straight men are still haunted by the notion that old-fashioned sex can be lethal. Among the biggest fear factors, some AIDS educators say, is shoddy federal health data. The CDC statistics are only good as the local health departments that gather them. But many of those departments don’t have time or resources for “surveillance” staff to investigate every person’s claim of how they contracted the virus. If a man wants to lie about having had sex with other men, he can, and that makes it look like more people get AIDS from straight sex than really do. By re-interviewing victims, their doctors, and their families, Chicagohealth officials found in 1997 that in 85% of the cases the city had blamed on heterosexual transmission, other risk factors were present. This phenomenon became a source of black humor at New York City’s overworked health department in the late eighties. “What do you call a man who got HIV from his girlfriend?” the joke went. “A liar.”

Clearly, a single death from this illness is one too many. But AIDS is not killing Americans at the levels of cancer (554,000 deaths in 2001), diabetes (71,000), or Alzheimer’s (54,000). In fact, the CDC has not put the disease on its list of the top 15 killers since 1998...

In parts of the third world, AIDS has, in fact, exploded among heterosexuals. But it has taken hold only in some regions, and among people whose immune systems are already crippled. For instance, the African epidemic is largely confined to the sub-Sahara, where malnutrition, poor health care, and such diseases as malaria and tuberculosis are rampant. In addition, because of their country’s history of apartheid, many South Africans live and labor in squalid camps hundreds of miles from their homes. There, men with untreated STDs will often have sex with HIV infected prostitutes, contract the virus themselves, and bring it home to their wives, who, when they get pregnant, pass it along to their children. (Rural China, where similar conditions exist, is also suffering.) Oprah and Bono have lured TV crews to blighted African villages where the heterosexual epidemic is real. Viewers at home are left with the impression that AIDS—always the equal opportunity killer—could yet make its way into their own bed if they’re not careful.

...HIV has indeed crept into American bedrooms, but only those within pockets of poverty, malnutrition, and poor health care. It has become “ghettoized,” and is spreading fastest among black and Hispanic men (some of them hiding their bisexuality) and black women. The CDC duly reports these facts, but in media coverage the behaviors that put people at risk are glossed over.   Many of the new cases involving black women are simply blamed on heterosexual contact. But it turns out that a number of these infected women have resorted to prostitution to make ends meet. That means they are having unprotected sex, often anal sex, with needle-sharing drug users, and are likely using drugs themselves. But when the New York Times tells us in a front-page story on July 3, 2001, that HIV is taking a toll on rural black women via heterosexual sex, we have to wait until the 36th paragraph to learn that they are turning tricks."

What You Need To Know About Life, But Haven’t Been Taught | TuckerMax.me: 

"The fundamental truth that every young adult must face is the realization that the rules of society do not help you. The rules are made by those in power for their benefit, not yours, and this is hidden by rationalizations and lies. Essentially, everything you are told by the institutions that are supposed to be protecting you is bullshit."

...Why do parents tell the tale of Santa? Get their kids to behave. They perpetuate a lie to control them (because thats the only way you can control people is to lie to them). You probably think that’s ridiculous, right, Santa Claus is for kids, and I’m an adult, I don’t believe that. OK, thats fine. Here’s a fun thought experiment: Imagine you are talking to an alien. Now imagine explaining two things to them: Santa Claus and Christianity. Would they be able to tell the difference between what a parent tells a child about Santa Claus…and what Christianity tells you about heaven? Obey your parents or you don’t get presents…obey your church or you don’t go to heaven. Whats that you say, religion is true, but Santa isn’t? Really? So what would you show an alien to prove this? Exactly. They’re both lies that control you.

You want another, maybe less ideological example? Why do you think drug trials exist? We’re told they are about protecting the public good. Hmm, OK. Well, they don’t have them in Europe. Are the Danes less human than us? No. In America, we have huge and very powerful pharmaceutical companies, and they actually WANT it to be difficult to create new drugs, because it limits competition. If there is only one statin on the market, they can charge WAY more. It keeps the small guy out. How do they justify this? They lie.

The rules are made by those in power for their benefit, not yours. They say its for your own good, but its not. Thats a lie. Thats how they get you to accept shit that is obviously bad for you. The rules are for their benefit.

...Here’s another great example: College athletics. Why the focus on amatuerism? If you start pulling on the why thread, and follow it all the way back, you see where it leads: Football makes a ton of money for schools, but only if the players are amateurs. By having college athletics operate under amateurism, it restricts labor costs and the colleges don’t have to pay taxes on the profit. Do you ever hear this? No. Why not? Because the only way they can get people to accept this is to lie to them, to convince them that its about other things, while they make all the money.

...I’m not telling you this to be depressing, I don’t mean that we live in a vast orchestrated conspiracy to controls our thoughts. I don’t have a tinfoil hat on. This is a natural evolution of all institutions and bureacracies, it happens everywhere that humans exist in modern societies. 

Most people who tell these lies don’t even know what they’re doing. 

They’re just repeating what they were told, because they never asked why.

Remember this: If someone can’t explain “why”, then they are a pawn in someone else's game. There is always a reason why…the only question is if you know it. Like the poker saying–if you don't know who the sucker at the table is, then the sucker is you. If you don’t know why you’re doing something, then someone else is probably profiting from your effort more than you are. You are the sucker."

Training.

4/18 - P90X2 D60  Base + Back

Timeline Photos: "If you would have told me a couple of years ago that I would look and feel the way I do today, I would have told you no-way!!!. I have been consistently eating healthy and resistance training since April 2009 and I couldn't be happier with my results so far. You too can Achieve your goals if you put in the work and keep the Discipline that it is required of you. I'm no different from anybody else, I have a full time job as a Registered Nurse in a busy Emergency room and when I started training I was working the overnight shift and would force myself out of bed in order to get my workouts in before working the whole night. Yes, It is hard work and it takes consistency but It can totally be done!. Get started and don't stop!"

Today's Internets - "Body is not stiff..."

This is made of geek greatness.  Patton Oswalt is a genius.

US torture 'indisputable', CNN's humiliation, and Iran sanctions | Glenn Greenwald | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk: "It's hardly news that the US instituted and for years maintained a systematic torture regime, but the success of the Obama administration in blocking all judicial proceedings has meant there has been no official decree that this is so. A comprehensive report just issued by a truly bipartisan group of former high-level Washington officials (including military officials) is as close as we are likely to get to such an official proclamation.

The Report explains that the impetus behind it was that "the Obama administration declined, as a matter of policy, to undertake or commission an official study of what happened, saying it was unproductive to 'look backwards' rather than forward." It concludes - in unblinking and definitive fashion - that "it is indisputable that the United States engaged in the practice of torture"; this finding is "offered without reservation"; it is "not based on any impressionistic approach" but rather "grounded in a thorough and detailed examination of what constitutes torture in many contexts, notably historical and legal"; and "the nation's highest officials bear some responsibility for allowing and contributing to the spread of torture." It also debunks the popular claim that torture was confined to three cases of waterboarding, documenting that more than three people were subjected to that tactic and that the torture includes far more than just waterboarding..."

Faith and The Really Really Weak Force: 

"Spock: “History is replete with turning points, Lieutenant. You must have faith.” 

Valeris: “Faith?” 

Spock: “That the universe will unfold as it should.” 

Valeris: “But is that logical? Surely we must…..” 

Spock: “Logic, logic, and logic….. Logic is the beginning of wisdom, Valeris, not the end.”

...While I don’t see spiritual elements to life, I do think there are some “spooky actions at a distance” that happen. But these spooky actions are real world material effects that are happening, and frankly only influences on outcomes. Or put another way, while I don’t believe in The Force from Star Wars, I do believe in The Really Really Weak Force..."

Training.

4/17 - P90X2 D59 Shoulders + Arms -- Russian Pullup Program D29 19-1/16-2/14-3-1/16/14

Awesome - Bodybuilding.com - Body Transformation: Triple Digit Shred:

Today's Internets - Of course, but maybe...

I saw Louis CK do these bits live when he came to DC.  Completely awesome.

"I'm not saying don't get married.  If you meet somebody fall in love and get married.  And then get divorced.  Because that's the best part...  Marriage is like a larva state for true happiness, which is divorce...  Marriage is for how long you can hack it, but divorce just gets stronger like a piece of oak...  If you're in the best marriage ever, stay in it.  I'm just saying, if you got out, it would be better.  It's just a fact."

This is an instant classic.  It takes you to those dark areas where all the best comedy comes from.

"Of course, children who have nut allergies need to be protected...  But maybe, maybe if touching a nut kills you, you're supposed to die...

Of course, if you're fighting for your country and you get shot or hurt it's a terrible tragedy.  Of course.  Of course.  But maybe, maybe, if you pick up a gun and go to another country, and you get shot, it's not that weird.  Maybe if you get shot by the dude you were just shooting at, it's a tiny bit your fault...

Of course, of course slavery is the worst thing that ever happened...  but maybe, maybe every incredible human achievement in history was done with slaves.  Every single thing where you go "How did they [do that]?  ...They just threw human death and suffering at them until they were finished."

This clip didn't have the one I remembered best from DC - "Of course the Make-A-Wish Foundation for terminally ill children is a wonderful thing...  But maybe, maybe, giving a beautiful memory to a kid who's gonna be dead in a week is a waste of time."

The Boston Marathon Bombing: Keep Calm and Carry On - Bruce Schneier - The Atlantic: "As the details about the bombings in Boston unfold, it'd be easy to be scared. It'd be easy to feel powerless and demand that our elected leaders do something -- anything -- to keep us safe.  It'd be easy, but it'd be wrong. We need to be angry and empathize with the victims without being scared. Our fears would play right into the perpetrators' hands -- and magnify the power of their victory for whichever goals whatever group behind this, still to be uncovered, has. We don't have to be scared, and we're not powerless. We actually have all the power here, and there's one thing we can do to render terrorism ineffective: Refuse to be terrorized."

These are good/details at the link - 10 Psychological Hurdles Keeping You From Losing Weight (and How to Overcome Them) | Mark's Daily Apple: 

"You’ve Developed Poor Habits

You’re Afraid of Being a Social Pariah

You Still Fear Fat

You Eat for Comfort

You’re Stuck on What Worked at First Even Though It’s Not Working Anymore

You Think “Why Even Bother?”

You’re Embarrassed to Go to the Gym

You Think in Black and White/All or Nothing

You’re Depressed

You’re Constantly Comparing Yourself to Others"

CISPA: Congress wants to create unlimited Internet spying powers - KILL THIS BILL! KILL IT WITH FIRE! - Boing Boing: "CISPA is the latest Congressional proposal to do something unbelievably horrible with the Internet -- this time, it's letting US law enforcement and intelligence service raid all of your data, all the time, without letting you know, regardless of your service provider's privacy policy, in the name of preventing "cyberattacks," whatever they are."

Take action on CISPA here: CISPA is Back. - Take Action Now: "Send a message to your representatives asking them to oppose this dangerous bill."

"He's sleeping."

CollegeHumor's Favorite Funny Videos

Why are the geek fallacies wrong?: 

"Friends Accept Me As I Am

 Friends care about you and have your best interests in mind. This can be, but is not necessarily, synonymous with accepting you as you are. Also, since humans are dynamic beings, what you are changes over time and not necessarily in a good way. A true friend will not simply accept your incipient descent into depravity and depression because that is who you are, he will attempt to arrest it. Accepting you as you are is an excuse for inaction and indicative of indifference, not friendship. And substantive and legitimate criticism is one of the greatest gifts a friend can give you; who else cares enough to be honest with you?"

Oops.

‘Other Wife’ Found On Facebook: First Wife Discovers Bigamist Husband Alan O’Neill On Facebook: "A Washington woman inadvertently discovered that her husband had a second wife, when an automated Facebook pop up suggested that the two women become “friends” on the social media network."

A Never-Ending Game of Cat and Mouse - Reason.com: "Before the Revolution, the British imposed tariffs, quotas, and regulations on the American people, not to serve the colonists’ interests but to enrich the English. But enforcing these policies proved much harder than the authorities expected, as resilient Americans circumvented the laws. America, in short, has long been a land of smugglers. Peter Andreas’ fantastic book Smuggler Nation goes so far as to say that smuggling has shaped the country’s identity and defined its essence. Where there’s demand, there’s profit; where there’s profit, there’s supply; and when the law restricts supply, there will be smugglers."

Well, thank god.

Effort to criminalise oral sex fails - Boing Boing: "A homophobic politician's attempt to recriminalize anal and oral sex has ended in failure in Virginia. Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli wanted to revive the state's “Crimes against Nature” statute; the Fourth Court unanimously blew him off."

Goals, Weight Loss, and Motivation: "“Why am I not achieving my goals?” So there it is, the million dollar question. Believe me, as a trainer, there isn’t anything more frustrating than training someone who is progressing slowly...

Let’s talk about the other goal that most Americans have: to lose weight. This is another one that doesn’t tell the whole story. More importantly than weight is body fat. If you lose your body fat, you’re left with lean muscle. I assure you that if you’re walking around with mostly muscle, you will look and feel like muscle, which will make you forget about what your weight is...

So why aren’t you achieving your goals? Maybe you can tell me the answer, but no matter what your answer is, it is always the same answer—you haven’t yet committed yourself to them."

Karen De Coster » Fear, Paranoia, and Prayer in Government Schools: "The fundamentalists can’t let go of the fact that personal and voluntary prayer to one’s God is not compatible with a compulsory and despotic government school system that suppresses individuality in order to indoctrinate children collectively. And these schools that formerly embraced God are the same schools that have always promoted the worship of the state, its flag, its wars, its military superiority, and American exceptionalism, all while paying lip service to the tenets of diversity and political correctness."

When, And Why, to Call a Bombing 'Terrorism' | Danger Room | Wired.com: "Not every bombing, no matter how many civilians are killed or how terrifying it is, is terrorism. The Boston Marathon atrocity on Monday afternoon may qualify or it may not. Since the discourse around terrorism in the U.S. is an exceptionally fraught one, here’s how to think through the issue. Terrorism is not just violence aimed at civilians. Terrorism is violence aimed at civilians with a political objective — most often, designed to cause a spectacle. The Boston Marathon attack brought violence against civilians: three are dead and over 150 injured, several critically. The bombs were placed near the marathon’s finish line at Copley Square, where banks of video cameras and spectator smartphone caught the race’s end, so it’s safe to say it caused a spectacle. We don’t yet know whether it carried a political objective, and that’s the crucial criterion."

Petty bureaucrats jumped up on their own trivial authority = what's generally wrong with the world.

In Which The City of Portland Makes Me Seriously Consider Becoming a Registered Libertarian — The League of Ordinary Gentlemen: 

"First of all, the new trees cannot go where the old ones were, because those were within five feet of the road and the city does not allow trees to be within five feet of the road.  Yes, that’s right: the trees he is angry I removed without permission were in a place the city does not allow trees to be. The trees need to be one of several species that are between 50 and 100 feet tall, and must be – I s**t you not – fully mature at the time of installation.  Further, they each need to be at least twenty feet from any other tree.  Because of the yard layout and existing trees, we cannot put in any trees that will be 20 feet from other trees unless we remove some existing trees first – which, as I now know, I will need a permit in order to do...

A review of city code has revealed that almost none of this is per written regulation.  Portland ordinance only allows for fines of $1,000 per tree, and the species the inspector insists we use are specifically cited as recommendations; there actually is no requirement for species when replacing trees at the city’s demand.  Also, written regulations state that replacement trees can go anywhere on my property, not just a small area where the inspector demands they be put...

And of course, this kicker: once the trees are in place and the city gives its final approval, it reserves the right to still fine me all of the money it was going to fine me in the first place. This weekend we hired an arborist to come out and review the options.  According to him, if he plants the species of tree the inspector is insisting upon in the area we’re being told to do so, the trees will either not survive or their roots will choke out the existing trees and may even eventually damage the street.  He suggested a few other species better suited for the space requirements.  I forwarded these concerns and recommendations to the city inspector.  He doesn’t really care what the arborist says; we need to do it his way...

I have no idea exactly how this is all going to play out, but I do know this: by the time this is over, I am going to have spent a lot of time and money for taking down two dead trees that were in a place the city didn’t want them to begin with."

All the cool kids wear the toe shoes.

Hugh Jackman a.k.a. Wolverine Runs in FiveFingers Speeds Toe Shoes:

The best is "Hello Japan!" but the Heath Herring KO is a classic.

Today's Internets.

Downing Street Defends Thatcher Funeral Expense, 'Pretty Extraordinary' Not To Hold Ceremony: "Downing Street has said it would "pretty extraordinary" if Margaret Thatcher was not given the expensive and large ceremonial funeral at St Paul's Cathedral as planned. The cost of Wednesday's procession from Westminster to St Paul's and the funeral itself has been estimated to be as much as £10m. The government will only publish the full cost to the taxpayer of the event after Wednesday's lavish event and has not given a formal estimate of how much it will be. On Monday the prime minister's spokesperson refused to say whether there was any budget or limit to the expense. "The government has not given an estimate. What the government will do after the funeral is publish the cost to the public purse," the spokesperson said."

APE IN A CAPE:

D A R L I N G | The musings and observations of a 30 year-old woman: "I can’t tell you how often I hear something like, “I wouldn’t trust my husband to make that decision,” or “having a husband is just like having another child.”  These women treat their husbands like moronic, sperm donors and bank accounts and then cry to their friends when he starts acting cold, bitter and resentful toward them.  “It’s just so strange, why would he suddenly be treating me this way??”"

The One Percent | You So Would...:  

"Most people are average. Average intelligence, average appearance, average ambitions. If you compare yourself to these people, and find that you are better, guess what that makes you – above average.

Now I don’t know about you, but “above average” is not something that I find myself being proud of. It’s the /bare fucking minimum/ acceptable standard for life. It’s the baseline, the starting point, from which the battle for excellence truly begins.

I couldn’t care less about what 99% of the people are doing. The metric against which I choose to judge myself is the top 1%. The far outlying edge of the bell curve."

At Little Round Top, site of Colonel Chamberlain's famous "Fix Bayonets!" defense. One of the few stories I remember from my military indoctrination days, due to its sheer badassery.  

And the made for TV movie version of that event from Gettysburg.

Out of ammo?  Fix bayonets and charge.  Like a boss.

Good call on making that a “nonfat” | D A R L I N G: "The girl in line in front of me is pretty hefty.  I’m going to ballpark her at about sixty pounds overweight.  In and of its self not so strange any more, but her drink order caught my attention. Lady: “Hi, can I get a venti, non-fat, java-chip frappuccino with extra whipped cream and caramel?” Barista: “Venti, java-chip frappuccino, extra whip and caramel.” Lady: “Nonfat.” Barista: “Right.  Nonfat.” Ha! Nonfat.  This woman is about to consume 500+ calories before 8:00am in the guise of her morning cup of joe.   Thirty whole calories she’s saving by using nonfat milk and she’ll be damned if that sneaky barista is gonna slip those extra calories in there using whole milk!"

| If there is one thing I have learned time and time...: "If there is one thing I have learned time and time again it is that attitude is everything. In the gym, as in life, when stepping up to the challenge that lay ahead of you, your mind, your immediate feelings that sit in the forefront of your brain, will absolutely determine the outcome regardless of your skills or previous training. Tell yourself that the task is beyond your abilities, that you aren’t capable, and failure is almost immanent. But change the voice, change the message, and suddenly nothing stands in your way."

FuturePundit: Angry Female Faces Look Less Female: "Rockville, MD – "Why is it that men can be bastards and women must wear pearls and smile?" wrote author Lynn Hecht Schafran. The answer, according to an article in the Journal of Vision, may lie in our interpretation of facial expressions. In two studies, researchers asked subjects to identify the sex of a series of faces. In the first study, androgynous faces with lowered eyebrows and tight lips (angry expressions) were more likely to be identified as male, and faces with smiles and raised eyebrows (expressions of happiness and fear) were often labeled feminine. The second study used male and female faces wearing expressions of happiness, anger, sadness, fear or a neutral expression. Overall, subjects were able to identify male faces more quickly than female faces, and female faces that expressed anger took the longest to identify.  

We are wired up to have different expectations for male and female faces and the emotions they express. Hess said that the same cues that make a face appear male – a high forehead, a square jaw and thicker eyebrows – have been linked to perceptions of dominance. Likewise, features that make a face appear female – a rounded, baby face with large eyes – have been linked to perceptions of the individual being approachable and warm. Male anger is seen as more intense than female anger while female happiness is seen as more intense than male happiness. "This difference in how the emotions and social traits of the two sexes are perceived could have significant implications for social interactions in a number of settings. Our research demonstrates that equivalent levels of anger are perceived as more intense when shown by men rather than women, and happiness as more intense when shown by women rather than men. It also suggests that it is less likely for men to be perceived as warm and caring and for women to be perceived as dominant.

So angry girls and happy guys aren't taken seriously. So what are the implications of these results for our daily lives? Should guys try harder to seem happy or not even bother to make the effort? Should women hold up cue cards saying things like "I am really angry now"? Or just start throwing dishes?"

Heh.

Tracy Morgan Pissed Off Some Women In Australia | What Would Tyler Durden Do: "I hope that when “Sue” and the rest of the PG police stormed out, they were ushered into another theater, where the ghosts of Richard Pryor and Red Foxx were performing for the rest of eternity, and the doors were welded shut behind them."

Obama, Guantanamo, and the enduring national shame | Glenn Greenwald | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk: "The New York Times this morning deserves credit for publishing one of the most powerful Op-Eds you will ever read. I urge you to read it in its entirety: it's by Samir Naji al Hasan Moqbel, a Yemeni national who has been imprisoned at Guantánamo without charges of any kind for more than 11 years. He's one of the detainees participating in the escalating hunger strike to protest both horrible conditions and, particularly, the supreme injustice of being locked in a cage indefinitely without any evidence of wrongdoing presented or any opportunity to contest the accusations that have been made. The hunger strike escalated over the weekend when guards shot rubber bullets at some of the detainees and forced them into single cells..."

Saw this last week on TV.  Countering the dominant paradigm + she dated Superman [Dean Cain] years ago...

Gabby Reece: Women being submissive is 'a sign of strength' - TODAY.com: "In discussing her new book about her challenges as a mother and wife on TODAY Friday, former volleyball star and fitness advocate Gabrielle Reece said she believes women being submissive in a relationship is a sign of power rather than weakness. In “My Foot is Too Big for the Glass Slipper,” she writes that “to truly be feminine means being soft, receptive, and – look out, here it comes – submissive...”"

Another peal of feminism’s death knell: Gabriella Reece on the joys of being a submissive wife. | Sunshine Mary: "Gabriella Reece, 43, with her husband of 17 years, surfer Laird Hamilton, and their three daughters Look at Gabriella Reece, a former volleyball star turned model and fitness expert, and what do you notice about her appearance?  Has she cut her hair off into a mannish, middle aged mom-do?  Gained forty pounds?  Is she dressed sloppily?  Nope.  Notice her soft, long waves, healthy body, understated but lovely makeup and pretty dress..."

Meek is a Four Letter Word | On the Rock: "Gabrielle Reece is finding out first hand how people view the word submissive this week. She’s written a book about her marriage.  The comments in these articles (the few I read) are very interesting.  People are aghast that she would let her husband walk all over her (she’s a doormat!!), they are lauding her courage, they are saying how weak she is while saying in using different words that they are in a very similar marriage.  In short, opinions are all over the place.  The word submission is a dirty word and it elicits a fear in people of becoming a doormat and of giving up control (in their marriages, in their lives and in our society)."

I don't know what's happening here, but it seems magical.

The Boston bombing produces familiar and revealing reactions | Glenn Greenwald | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk: "One particularly illustrative example I happened to see yesterday was a re-tweet from Washington Examiner columnist David Freddoso, proclaiming: Idea of secondary bombs designed to kill the first responders is just sick. How does anyone become that evil?"

I don't disagree with that sentiment. But I'd bet a good amount of money that the person saying it - and the vast majority of other Americans - have no clue that targeting rescuers with "double-tap" attacks is precisely what the US now does with its drone program and other forms of militarism. If most Americans knew their government and military were doing this, would they react the same way as they did to yesterday's Boston attack: "Idea of secondary bombs designed to kill the first responders is just sick. How does anyone become that evil?" That's highly doubtful, and that's the point."

Vadering | Know Your Meme: "Vadering is a photo fad that involves two people recreating the Star Wars scene in which Darth Vader uses the Force to grab an opposing character in a choke hold."

The Man Translator: What He’s Really Thinking | Staked in the Heart:

What You Say:                                      What He Hears:                                                                    

“I don’t need a man.”                               “I don’t need or want you.“

“I’m a princess.”                                       “I’m a high maintenance, royal pain in the ass.”

“I’m strong and independent.”                  ”I’m domineering and controlling.”

“I’m a challenge.”                                      ”I’m a nightmare.”

“I’m competitive.”                                     “We’re going to be fighting all the time.”

“I’m a brat.”                                                ”I’m really immature.”

“I like to party.”                                           “I’m a slut.”

“I’m hard to handle.”                                  ”The cops have to be called on me all the time.”

“My ex and I are just friends.”                   “My ex is still in the picture and wants me back.”

When you put a man in the dreaded Friendzone, don’t do it with the idea that some time down the road you’re going to be a couple. Men don’t like being Friendzoned and put on the back burner.

When you say, “Let’s just be friends.”

He hears: “I don’t find you attractive enough to have sex with, but I want you around to cry on your shoulder over other dudes I do bang who have mistreated me. In exchange for your strictly platonic devotion, we can gossip about shit I’m into, but you aren’t.”

  One of my girlfriends feels compelled to tell men on the first date how badly other men have treated her. She goes into painful detail. She tells the new man how he is going to have to work “extra hard” to win her over because she doesn’t trust, blah, blah. She thinks she’s communicating to him about her heartache, and that he needs to have patience and do all the pursuing.

But this is what a man thinks when she shares all this:  ”What’s wrong with her?”

The Boston bombing produces familiar and revealing reactions | Glenn Greenwald | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk: "The reaction to the Boston attack underscored, yet again, the utter meaninglessness of the word "terrorism". News outlets were seemingly scandalized that President Obama, in his initial remarks, did not use the words "terrorist attack" to describe the bombing. In response, the White House ran to the media to assure them that they considered it "terrorism". Fox News' Ed Henry quoted a "senior administration official" as saying this: "When multiple (explosive) devices go off that's an act of terrorism."

Is that what "terrorism" is? "When multiple (explosive) devices go off"? If so, that encompasses a great many things, including what the US does in the world on a very regular basis. Of course, the quest to know whether this was "terrorism" is really code for: "was this done by Muslims"? That's because, in US political discourse, "terrorism" has no real meaning other than: violence perpetrated by Muslims against the west. The reason there was such confusion and uncertainty about whether this was "terrorism" is because there is no clear and consistently applied definition of the term. At this point, it's little more than a term of emotionally manipulative propaganda. That's been proven over and over, and it was again yesterday."

The Boston bombing produces familiar and revealing reactions | Glenn Greenwald | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk: "The history of these types of attacks over the last decade has been clear and consistent: they are exploited to obtain new government powers, increase state surveillance, and take away individual liberties. On NBC with Brian Williams last night, Tom Brokaw decreed that this will happen again and instructed us that we must meekly submit it to it: "Everyone has to understand tonight that, beginning tomorrow morning early, there are going to be much tougher security considerations all across the country, and however exhausted we may be by that, we're going to have to learn to live with them, and get along and go forward, and not let them bring us to our knees. You'll remember last summer, how unhappy we were with the security at the Democratic and Republic conventions. Now I don't think we can raise those complaints after what happened in Boston.""

Friends helping friends. 

Things used to be different, apparently.