Friday, July 04, 2014

Jazz Kick.




Kicks me right in the memory feels.  Best news photos of the week - The Washington Post:


Barrowman=Hilarious.  Late Night Fun - John Barrowman Messes With Stephen Amell - Bleeding Cool:"...both John Barrowman – Malcolm Merlyn on Arrow and for Stephen Amell – Oliver Queen on Arrow. During their respective panels both actor’s told the story of the first time they worked together. Here, spliced together, is both sides of the story."


If you use Tor or any of a number of other privacy... - Front Toward Enemy: "If you use Tor or any of a number of other privacy services online or even visit their web sites to read about the services, there’s a good chance your IP address has been collected and stored by the NSA, according to top-secret source code for a program the NSA uses to conduct internet surveillance. There’s also a good chance you’ve been tagged for simply reading news articles about these services published by Wired and other sites. This is according to code, obtained and analyzed by journalists and others in Germany, which for the first time reveals the extent of some of the wide-spread tracking the NSA conducts on people using or interested in using privatizing tools and services—a list that includes journalists and their sources, human rights activists, political dissidents living under oppressive countries and many others who have various reasons for needing to shield their identity and their online activity...

Actually, think about this. Your desire for privacy means you are inherently suspect. Think about that. And no, I don’t want to hear the, well, if you have nothing to hide it shouldn’t matter argument. That’s bullshit. What is being described is an illegal search, if not an illegal search and seizure. What is being described is the act of making you, me, her, him, all of us suspects for what we read, what we write, what we say. Phones. Computers. Emails. All of it...

I remember, when I was writing Smoker, he and I had a conversation where I was trying to figure out how the bad guy could assassinate their target. And that conversation revolved about how to make an IED and how it would be possible to conceal the bomb in the location in question. There were some technical details we discussed that I made a point of not including in the novel. I do my research, but I don’t write manuals; I want plausible, not necessarily possible. And we were talking about it, and we both paused, and laughed, and then he said, “Hello, Mister NSA Analyst. We’re working on a book, don’t mind us.” And we laughed some more. Not that funny, now...

If that’s supposed to make me sleep more soundly, more safely at night, it ain’t working. It’s doing the exact opposite, in fact."





Training - "Touch your toes! What am I, a gymnast?"

7/4 - wmup [treadmill walk, back xt], squats, smith machine calf raise, leg xt, hip xt, treadmill intervals - kicking drills[shadowbox/bag work], stretching


Bill Phillips Transformation: "SELFISH VS. SELF-RESPONSIBILITY Oftentimes people mistakenly believe that by accepting responsibility to take care of their own health and happiness, they’re somehow being selfish. The fact is, we are being self-responsible when we prioritize, each day, doing what we need to in order to recover and renew our physical, mental and emotional well-being. That means we must choose to make time for exercise, eating healthy meals, as well as rest and recovery. We must choose to connect with positive, uplifting people who support and encourage us. And we must choose to make at least some quiet time for self-reflection and to clear and calm the mind on a regular basis. When we do these things consistently, we become stronger and filled with energy and health. This allows us to give our best to others. Remember we can't give what we don't have so taking care of YOU is actually a selfless practice--one that helps you and those who count on you."










Mac: Bro, when you tack on mass, you sacrifice flexibility. That’s a straight-up fact. 
Charlie: That’s insane! Touch your toes!

Thursday, July 03, 2014

Comic Books Lead the Way.



Looks excellent.  Channing Tatum Stars In Foxcatcher: "Foxcatcher is based on the true story of John duPont (founder of the Foxcatcher Farm wrestling training center) and Dave and Mark Schultz. After the schizophrenic John duPont (Carell) killed Olympic Champion Dave Schultz, his brother Mark Schultz (Tatum) decides to get justice."

Of course.  Facebook manipulation experiment has connections to DoD "emotional contagion" research - Boing Boing: "Here's a new wrinkle on the massive emotion-manipulation study that Facebook conducted in concert with researchers from Cornell and UCSF: one of its researchers is funded under a US Department of Defense program to study "emotional contagion" and civil unrest. Cornell's Jeffrey T Hancock, one of the three scientists who conducted the experiment (which was likely illegal) does active work on the DoD's Minerva program, which studies the spread, manipulation, and evolution of online beliefs. The US military and intelligence apparatus has a long history of attempting to manipulate public opinion -- from sneaking Russian editions of Dr Zhivago into the USSR to the covert creation of a "Cuban Twitter". It has also actively delved into directly manipulating online discourse, commissioning "persona management" software that would allow a single spy to run 20 simultaneous online identities for message-board debates and then refining the project with a $2.76M grant to Ntrepid, an LA startup formed to create this software."



It's Not What You're Saying It Is, Part 1,434,303: Employer Health Insurance - Front Toward Enemy: "Here’s how employer-sponsored health care works. Your employer gets a volume group discount on health insurance. You WORK for your employer. Your health insurance packages is PART OF YOUR COMPENSATION FOR YOUR WORK. It is not FREE. You are, explicitly, WORKING FOR IT. Your employer does not discuss, with your doctor, what treatments you are given for any medical condition or circumstance you might encounter. Your employer has no right to your medical records. Your employer is NOT your health care provider. Part of your compensation for work is actual money. Your employer has no rights over what you choose to do with your money. The same applies to the health insurance which you have WORKED in order to EARN. It is not free. It is not a gift. It is compensation for work. I’m saying that more than once because it seems to be a super difficult thing for some of the geniuses to understand...

Reproductive care is medical health care. All methods of contraception are legal. Abortion is legal. You have a right to legal health care. There is no moral or legal difference between reproductive health care and other forms of health care. Like all health care, it is a confidential matter between yourself and your doctor. Anyone who pretends they are a “conservative”, but believes an employer has the right to interfere between doctor/patient privilege is — at best — someone who doesn’t understand conservative values of non-interference in personal lives. At worst, you’re just a fucking hypocrite who is deeply concerned about other people’s lives and choices. Health insurance is not “free abortions” or “free contraception” or “government anything.” It is compensation. For work. And it is, seriously, none of your fucking business what a woman and her doctor decide for her health care. Period. Fucking. End. You can pretend your objection is about whatever you want to pretend it’s about, but it’s pretty obvious you’re just a puritan asshole who’s afraid of ladies having the minimum control over their lives that you take for granted. My wish for you is that your employer is a Christian Scientist, and that you get appendicitis.”"

Aquaman, 1986.  I always dug that costume.
"Now an Australian Swimmer named Hamish Jolly has worked with a group of scientist to come up with a shark deterrent wet suit… and it looks kind of familiar." 





Training - "The more you're obsessed by something..."

7/3 - chins, dips, neck harness, neutral grip chins



Once more into the breach.  6th fight between legends.  [Hoost leads 3-2, all the fights went to decision.]  Round 3 from their 1st fight below.  LiverKick - Peter Aerts vs. Ernesto Hoost on October 19th on Osaka: "Well, some feuds just die hard, don't they? The last time that Peter Aerts and Ernesto Hoost stepped into the ring with each other it was 2006 and things were very, very different. Now it is 2014 and while Peter Aerts may be preparing for a fight with Freddy Kemayo in August, that doesn't mean that he can't look to the future. That future is October where he's slated to square off against fellow legend Ernesto Hoost in Osaka, Japan.  Hoost and Aerts will be competing for the WKO Heavyweight Championship."

Comedy Gold.

"Reasonable Doubt."