Ending Evil vs. Defending the Country - Reason.com: "President Obama concedes that the Islamic State in Iraq and the Syria (ISIS) does not pose a direct threat to our country but argues that one day it might. That is the core of the case for the new war in the Middle East that Obama announced this week, although it's easy to forget amid all the other rationales.
Most of those rationales have little or nothing to do with U.S. national security, and some are breathtakingly broad. In a recent London Times essay, Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron declare that "we will not waver in our determination to confront ISIL" (a.k.a. ISIS) because "we have a real stake in making sure that [our children and grandchildren] grow up in a world where schoolgirls are not kidnapped, women are not raped in conflict and families aren't slaughtered because of their faith or political beliefs." Those are all terrible things, but the U.S. government has neither the mandate nor the ability to prevent them, as Obama himself occasionally acknowledges. "Not every regional terrorist organization is automatically a threat to us that would call for a major offensive," he told NBC's Chuck Todd on Sunday. "Our goal should not be to think that we can occupy every country where there's a terrorist organization." So ISIS is "a threat to us"? Not quite. "We have not seen any immediate intelligence about threats to the homeland from ISIL," Obama emphasized. "That's not what this is about. What it's about is an organization that, if allowed to control significant amounts of territory, to amass more resources, more arms, to attract more foreign fighters…can be a serious threat to the homeland."
You may or may not find this preventive/pre-emptive argument for war persuasive. It seems to me that ISIS is, first and foremost, a problem for its various regional adversaries, including Iran, the Persian Gulf states, rival rebel groups and the Assad regime in Syria, and the Kurds, Shiites, and moderate Sunnis of Iraq.
...the world is full of evil, and no country, not even the United States, can hope to eradicate it. Trying to do so is dangerous because of the potential for unintended consequences. Consider Iraq and Libya, where chaos prevails not just despite but because of U.S. meddling. Given these and many other examples of foreign adventures gone awry, it is quixotic to believe that the U.S. can intervene in Syria's civil war in just the right way, attacking ISIS without shoring up the brutal Assad government or magnifying the terrorist threat to our country. "
Inside The Next Chapter Of "Veronica Mars": "Play It Again, Dick — a Hollywood-skewering webseries that doubles as the latest extension of Rob Thomas’ Veronica Mars franchise. Revolving around Hansen’s attempt to capitalize on the cast’s resurgence in popularity following the 2014 feature film, the series, running on The CW’s online content portal CW Seed, once again reunites the cast, this time under very different circumstances. Embracing an absurdly comedic tone, Play It Again, Dick — which chronicles the misguided production of an even more misguided show-within-a-show centering on self-professed playboy Dick Casablancas (Hansen), now a private investigator for hire — calls for each of the actors to play a slightly skewed version of themselves, as well as reprise their beloved Veronica Mars character. “It’s like fan porn,” Hansen told BuzzFeed News with a laugh. “It’s a fun way to see everybody be goofy, but still have the characters together.”"
Well played.
Well, that's disconcerting. Majority of Chinese Expect War With Japan by 2020, Poll Finds | TIME: "53 percent of Chinese respondents expect war to break out between the two countries before the end of the decade, a new survey found More than half of China’s citizens expect their country to be at war with Japan in as little as six years, according to a new public opinion poll that finds a widening sense of mistrust and hostility between the two countries."
Survey finds pessimism in ties with Japan[1]|chinadaily.com.cn: "In China, the survey included 1,539 Chinese residents in the major cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Shenyang and Xi'an, 201 international relations scholars from around the country and 813 university students and faculty members at five top Beijing universities. In Japan, respondents included 1,000 members of the public and 628 intellectuals, mostly with experience of China."
Barry Eisler - One of the most common (and depressing) false...: "One of the most common (and depressing) false binaries I've seen regarding reluctance to launch another war in the middle east is "What are we supposed to do, offer them tea/say pretty please/make friends?" I sometimes get a similar reaction in response to my protests against torturing terror suspects: "What are we supposed to do, give them a nice massage?"
A person who can't think of another way to deal with our adversaries other than torture and war has been virtually lobotomized by government propaganda. Of course, forcing people's mind into the box of "It's either war or the Black Flag of Isis flying over the White House!" and "It's either torture of a mushroom cloud over Los Angeles!" (the clear, scary imagery is always important) is precisely the purpose of that propaganda. What amazes me is how well it continues to work. I don't know what to make of that, other than that propaganda isn't very hard, or that people are awfully easy. Or both."
"Our food isn't food anymore, nobody is sleeping, and stress is out of control for people. Fix your body and your results will fly." - Abby Huot - Athlete, Writer, Fitness Model - 12 Graphs That Show Why People Get Fat:
12 Signs You Need to Eat More Protein | Mark's Daily Apple: "For years, the elderly have been told not to expect anything from their bodies but decay and decrepitude. They can lift weights if they want, but they’re not going to get very strong and if anything they’ll just improve “tone” and “balance.” Well, that’s nonsense. The elderly absolutely can get stronger and even build muscle and improve their bone mineral density by lifting heavy things. Maybe not as easily as a 22 year old. Maybe not as much as when they were younger. But they can do it. There’s just one caveat: they need more protein than their younger counterparts. The elderly aren’t as efficient at processing protein. To maintain nitrogen balance or tip the scales toward lean mass accrual, an older person is going to need more protein than a younger person – all else being equal. That goes for resistance training oldsters, puttering around the garden oldsters, and taking an hour to walk around the block oldsters. More protein is better than less...
Traditional calorie-restricted dieting certainly can help you lose body weight, but it also causes the loss of lean muscle mass. That explains why so many people who simply reduce calories to lose weight end up skinny-fat. Luckily, increasing the amount of protein you eat can offset some of the muscle loss caused by calorie restriction: In weightlifters, a low-carb hypocaloric diet with 2x the RDA for protein resulted in greater nitrogen balance than a high-carb hypocaloric diet with RDA protein. In women, a low-calorie, high-protein diet was better than a conventional high-carb, low-fat diet at promoting lean mass retention, even in the absence of exercise. If you’re reducing calorie intake, you’d better increase the absolute amount of protein you’re eating. As an added bonus, the satiety from increasing protein will make the cutting of calories – an infamously onerous task – much easier..
For the most part, plant proteins are less efficient than animal proteins. They’re often missing essential amino acids. And in the case of something like soy protein, it’s just not as effective as an animal protein like whey: Following resistance training, soy protein blunts testosterone production in men. In both the young and the elderly, whey promotes greater muscle protein synthesis than soy protein. Compared to milk, soy protein results in less hypertrophy following resistance training. Women who consume animal protein have greater muscle mass than female vegetarians. The easiest thing would be to add a whey protein supplement or start eating pastured eggs..."
- the excellent, if slightly uneven, follow up to 
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and 
- reviewed 
by Serge Michel & Michel Beuret details, well, exactly what the title suggests - how China is rapidly expanding its influence and trade throughout the continent. It makes a good case for how China sees Africa as the stepping stone to a powerful economic empire second to none in the world. And it is, in that respect, an excellent book providing a very thorough overview of all the geopolitical implications that situation engenders. 
by Dambisa Moyo was really excellent and a book I'd wanted to read ever since I came across it online, back in Japan. Can't recall how she and her book popped up on my radar, but I posted a bit about her and her ideas, including vids, on the blog 
