Sunday, February 01, 2009
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Socializing in the 21st century.
gary vaynerchuk » It’s not stalking, it’s a darn handshake. - my 2 minute take on life
The internet always reminds me of the Richard Bach quote - "Live never to be ashamed if anything you say or do is published around the world, even if what is said is not true."
"You've got all these people who know how to mingle in real life, but when it comes to the internet they want to protect everything... they want to control everything... but you've got to get over it, because the world's changed."
The internet always reminds me of the Richard Bach quote - "Live never to be ashamed if anything you say or do is published around the world, even if what is said is not true."
"25 things about me" crossposted from Facebook.
1 - I have mixed feelings about Facebook. While I think it's cool to see and know what a bunch of people you used to be close to are doing with their lives... at the same time I think being in closer contact with people who you *used* to know - and who define you as a person as the person you *used* to be - hampers and hamstrings efforts at your own personal evolution and whatever efforts you make at changing yourself for the better. In my experience the people "closest" to you are the ones who give you the most grief when you try to change from who they "think" you "are." And I worry that I do that to the same people I "friend" on Facebook.
2 - I'm 36 years old and still am not entirely clear on who I am or who I want to be when I "grow up."
3 - Marriage is simultaneously the most gratifying, fulfilling, frustrating and difficult thing I've ever been a part of. I do know that I am a *much* better and psychologically much, much healthier person because of my wife. Thank you Sandy. I don't say that enough.
4 - Being the youngest of three boys, in hindsight, probably continues to have much more effect on me than I realize. At the very least, hardly ever winning at anything you compete in growing up, from Atari to driveway basketball, is sure to fuck with your head. As does trying to live up to the reputations and expectations of two highly achieving superjock older brothers.
5 - I spent the first 26 years of my life, to a large degree,trying to fulfill the expectations and gain the approval of others. From making good grades to playing football to going to the Naval Academy to joining the Marine Corps, I can see now, despite the good and the coolness I drew out those situations and experiences - which were admittedly very, very cool at times - that the reason I did them is because I just wanted the people I loved to love me back. That is a fucked up thing to realize after 26 years.
6 - I'm often just really disappointed by the people and the world. They should be better. They really, really should.
7 - I think Bill Hicks was a bodhisattva, George Carlin was a saint and Joe Rogan is a prophet. And Robert Anton Wilson was the greatest philosopher of the 20th Century.
8 - I have extremely mixed feelings about having kids. On the one hand, I thoroughly enjoy and delight in playing with kids, both at my job at elementary school and in Jr High. They are filled with joy and wonder and awesomeness. On the other hand, looking at it honestly, I feel like I'm too selfish to have kids. I don't think I could live the life I have if I had had kids. And when I think about kids of my own I usually find myself thinking of how they'd limit my options. And how it seems to me that when people have kids they abandon their own growth, dreams and development "for the children." And I honestly think and fear about what kind of permanent and scarring emotional damage I might inadvertently and irreparably cause to a child. I feel like I'm constantly struggling on where to go with this decision.
9 - I don't think there is any one right way for people to live. And I think that the vast majority of the world's problems are caused by people who think they know what other people should be doing with their lives and how other people should be living.
10 - I ignored most of these "25 things about me" things, until Aki did one. The way Jr always talked about Aki as an uber-cool older brother made me respect him a lot - even though I've only met the man all of twice. And hell, if he could write one of these things up, I can too. The opinions of my friends apparently means a lot to me. I don't know yet if that's a good or a bad thing.
11 - I thought I'd breeze through these. Now I think, writing this, I'm writing TMI and turning into a big, whiny, navel-gazing, introspective girl. [And now, apparently, I'm sexist as well.]
12 - I wish I could go back in time, do just about everything different, be a completely different person and have lots and lots of different experiences, but still end up exactly where I am now. I also know these kinds of regrets and thinking back are nothing but wasted time and emotions.
13 - I live in my head too much. I think too much. I read too much. I surf the internet too much.
14 - I know I'm too negative and cynical and need to work on being more optimistic. The great thing about my job is that I get to suck up and enjoy all the youthful optimism, cheer and joy of my kids. My job really does rock.
15 - Knowing that I spent a lot of my life trying to meet the expectations of others, these days I'm a lot more inclined to tell you to fuck off and that I couldn't possibly care what you think. This does not make me a hit at parties.
16 - From 15 - Obviously, my people skills suck.
17 - Despite 4 years at the Naval Academy and 5 years in the Marine Corps, the concept of patriotism doesn't make any sense to me AT ALL. The idea of loyalty to some imaginary lines drawn on a map, based on an accident of birth, where people got tired of fighting, strikes me as insane. Idealistically and naively I get that people are loyal to the ideals of a nation, but the fact of the matter is that no military is deployed based on the ideals of a nation - and are instead are expected to fight due to matters of political expediency and geopolitical influence. One of the many reasons I left the military is that it seems insane to kill and die based on the whims and decisions and venal and ridiculous politicians.
18 - Finding out a few years ago I have family - close family - I've never met and never even knew about makes me feel angry, deceived and cheated, and convinces me more and more that my childhood was filled with lies and deception. And affirms that the ideas of friends and "chosen families" are more influential than blood.
19 - Almost everything in my life can be tracked back to comic books. The box under my older brother's bed and the used bookstore my dad used to take me to. Batman takes me to Bruce Lee, Sherlock Holmes and Harry Houdini. Which matches a lifelong interest in martial arts, critical and analytical thinking, deception and psychology. Dennis O'Neil's 'The Question', Frank Miller's 'The Dark Knight Returns' and Alan Moore's 'Watchmen' takes me into existentialism, metaphysics, zen and philosophy. Warren Ellis takes me to Hunter S. Thompson and transhumanism. To some degree I still want to be the comic book characters I read about as a kid.
20 - Over the last 10 years my diet has run the gamut from vegetarianism to lacto-ovo to pesco to low carb to paleo to omnivore. I understand and agree with the ideas of vegetarianism as an ethical choice, but think, more and more, that vegetarianism isn't an evolutionarily viable option. Nor a healthy one.
21 - Since getting out of the military my fitness and health level has rollercoastered all over the damn place as I've had to reconfigure and break down the difference between coercion and discipline [discipline comes from within.] Finally, about 10 months ago I finally hit my own rock-bottom. Since then I've lost about 22lbs and finally feel like I'm back on the path of moving towards the person I want to be.
22 - I think I tend towards an addictive personality. Be it information/the internet, food, alcohol or sugar, I find myself needing to be aware of that fact.
23 - I sometimes feel obsessed with pithy aphorisms, saying, quotations and truisms. I think there's wisdom in them most people don't pay attention to. My two current favorites are - "I don't believe anything. Since we all create our habitual reality-tunnels, either consciously and intelligently or unconsciously and mechanically, I prefer to create... the happiest, funniest, and most romantic reality-tunnel consistent with the signals my brain apprehends. I feel sorry for people who persistently organize experience into sad, dreary and hopeless reality tunnels, and try to show them how to break the bad habit, but I don't feel any masochistic duty to share their misery... My goal is to try to get people into a state of generalized agnosticism... not agnosticism about God alone, but agnosticism about everything." - Robert Anton Wilson AND "It is always about you and your body... It's how you see yourself, and as a result, how you see the rest of the world. The body dictates everything. It's where it all starts. What you can make it do. What you can make it endure. How quick you can be. How precise. How quiet, and strong, and flexible and still... It is at the heart of eveything you do, and you must be able to trust it absolutely..." - Critical Space, Greg Rucka
24 - I am clearly, when it comes to writing, a long winded motherfucker. Which is a marked contrast to how little I verbally express myself.
25 - I think organized religion is bullshit. I get why people gravitate towards it for a sense of community or purpose, but even the most cursory examination of history or comparative theology can show you it's nonsense, if you're even half willing to critically examine your own social conditioning. Even if you grant that in its origins most faiths have a kernel of decency and goodness, when you look at history, it's all pretty immediately perverted into tools of control, power and destruction.
I have a hard time dealing with religious folks. Abandoning critical thought and introspection for the comfort of dogma, groupthink and faith strikes me as a profoundly cowardly way to live.
I don't doubt people have incredibly moving spiritual experiences. I just think they're shaped by your own personal psychology and culture and like anything else, your religion and your experiences say more about you than it does about the true nature of spirituality or god.
Personally, I blame Catholicism and Christianity for for infusing and permeating my childhood psychology with deep seated notions of fear, shame, punishment and guilt. And I think what religion does to kids is tantamount to child abuse if anything is. Filling impressionable children's heads with images of a vengeful god that will burn you in the painful fires of hell for all of time and eternity [but he loves you!] if you don't worship him and do what he says is so amazingly fucked up it leaves me without words.
But I'm not nearly arrogant enough to say that no god exists. In fact, I'd lay odds that that there is a transcendental aspect to reality.
2 - I'm 36 years old and still am not entirely clear on who I am or who I want to be when I "grow up."
3 - Marriage is simultaneously the most gratifying, fulfilling, frustrating and difficult thing I've ever been a part of. I do know that I am a *much* better and psychologically much, much healthier person because of my wife. Thank you Sandy. I don't say that enough.
4 - Being the youngest of three boys, in hindsight, probably continues to have much more effect on me than I realize. At the very least, hardly ever winning at anything you compete in growing up, from Atari to driveway basketball, is sure to fuck with your head. As does trying to live up to the reputations and expectations of two highly achieving superjock older brothers.
5 - I spent the first 26 years of my life, to a large degree,trying to fulfill the expectations and gain the approval of others. From making good grades to playing football to going to the Naval Academy to joining the Marine Corps, I can see now, despite the good and the coolness I drew out those situations and experiences - which were admittedly very, very cool at times - that the reason I did them is because I just wanted the people I loved to love me back. That is a fucked up thing to realize after 26 years.
6 - I'm often just really disappointed by the people and the world. They should be better. They really, really should.
7 - I think Bill Hicks was a bodhisattva, George Carlin was a saint and Joe Rogan is a prophet. And Robert Anton Wilson was the greatest philosopher of the 20th Century.
8 - I have extremely mixed feelings about having kids. On the one hand, I thoroughly enjoy and delight in playing with kids, both at my job at elementary school and in Jr High. They are filled with joy and wonder and awesomeness. On the other hand, looking at it honestly, I feel like I'm too selfish to have kids. I don't think I could live the life I have if I had had kids. And when I think about kids of my own I usually find myself thinking of how they'd limit my options. And how it seems to me that when people have kids they abandon their own growth, dreams and development "for the children." And I honestly think and fear about what kind of permanent and scarring emotional damage I might inadvertently and irreparably cause to a child. I feel like I'm constantly struggling on where to go with this decision.
9 - I don't think there is any one right way for people to live. And I think that the vast majority of the world's problems are caused by people who think they know what other people should be doing with their lives and how other people should be living.
10 - I ignored most of these "25 things about me" things, until Aki did one. The way Jr always talked about Aki as an uber-cool older brother made me respect him a lot - even though I've only met the man all of twice. And hell, if he could write one of these things up, I can too. The opinions of my friends apparently means a lot to me. I don't know yet if that's a good or a bad thing.
11 - I thought I'd breeze through these. Now I think, writing this, I'm writing TMI and turning into a big, whiny, navel-gazing, introspective girl. [And now, apparently, I'm sexist as well.]
12 - I wish I could go back in time, do just about everything different, be a completely different person and have lots and lots of different experiences, but still end up exactly where I am now. I also know these kinds of regrets and thinking back are nothing but wasted time and emotions.
13 - I live in my head too much. I think too much. I read too much. I surf the internet too much.
14 - I know I'm too negative and cynical and need to work on being more optimistic. The great thing about my job is that I get to suck up and enjoy all the youthful optimism, cheer and joy of my kids. My job really does rock.
15 - Knowing that I spent a lot of my life trying to meet the expectations of others, these days I'm a lot more inclined to tell you to fuck off and that I couldn't possibly care what you think. This does not make me a hit at parties.
16 - From 15 - Obviously, my people skills suck.
17 - Despite 4 years at the Naval Academy and 5 years in the Marine Corps, the concept of patriotism doesn't make any sense to me AT ALL. The idea of loyalty to some imaginary lines drawn on a map, based on an accident of birth, where people got tired of fighting, strikes me as insane. Idealistically and naively I get that people are loyal to the ideals of a nation, but the fact of the matter is that no military is deployed based on the ideals of a nation - and are instead are expected to fight due to matters of political expediency and geopolitical influence. One of the many reasons I left the military is that it seems insane to kill and die based on the whims and decisions and venal and ridiculous politicians.
18 - Finding out a few years ago I have family - close family - I've never met and never even knew about makes me feel angry, deceived and cheated, and convinces me more and more that my childhood was filled with lies and deception. And affirms that the ideas of friends and "chosen families" are more influential than blood.
19 - Almost everything in my life can be tracked back to comic books. The box under my older brother's bed and the used bookstore my dad used to take me to. Batman takes me to Bruce Lee, Sherlock Holmes and Harry Houdini. Which matches a lifelong interest in martial arts, critical and analytical thinking, deception and psychology. Dennis O'Neil's 'The Question', Frank Miller's 'The Dark Knight Returns' and Alan Moore's 'Watchmen' takes me into existentialism, metaphysics, zen and philosophy. Warren Ellis takes me to Hunter S. Thompson and transhumanism. To some degree I still want to be the comic book characters I read about as a kid.
20 - Over the last 10 years my diet has run the gamut from vegetarianism to lacto-ovo to pesco to low carb to paleo to omnivore. I understand and agree with the ideas of vegetarianism as an ethical choice, but think, more and more, that vegetarianism isn't an evolutionarily viable option. Nor a healthy one.
21 - Since getting out of the military my fitness and health level has rollercoastered all over the damn place as I've had to reconfigure and break down the difference between coercion and discipline [discipline comes from within.] Finally, about 10 months ago I finally hit my own rock-bottom. Since then I've lost about 22lbs and finally feel like I'm back on the path of moving towards the person I want to be.
22 - I think I tend towards an addictive personality. Be it information/the internet, food, alcohol or sugar, I find myself needing to be aware of that fact.
23 - I sometimes feel obsessed with pithy aphorisms, saying, quotations and truisms. I think there's wisdom in them most people don't pay attention to. My two current favorites are - "I don't believe anything. Since we all create our habitual reality-tunnels, either consciously and intelligently or unconsciously and mechanically, I prefer to create... the happiest, funniest, and most romantic reality-tunnel consistent with the signals my brain apprehends. I feel sorry for people who persistently organize experience into sad, dreary and hopeless reality tunnels, and try to show them how to break the bad habit, but I don't feel any masochistic duty to share their misery... My goal is to try to get people into a state of generalized agnosticism... not agnosticism about God alone, but agnosticism about everything." - Robert Anton Wilson AND "It is always about you and your body... It's how you see yourself, and as a result, how you see the rest of the world. The body dictates everything. It's where it all starts. What you can make it do. What you can make it endure. How quick you can be. How precise. How quiet, and strong, and flexible and still... It is at the heart of eveything you do, and you must be able to trust it absolutely..." - Critical Space, Greg Rucka
24 - I am clearly, when it comes to writing, a long winded motherfucker. Which is a marked contrast to how little I verbally express myself.
25 - I think organized religion is bullshit. I get why people gravitate towards it for a sense of community or purpose, but even the most cursory examination of history or comparative theology can show you it's nonsense, if you're even half willing to critically examine your own social conditioning. Even if you grant that in its origins most faiths have a kernel of decency and goodness, when you look at history, it's all pretty immediately perverted into tools of control, power and destruction.
I have a hard time dealing with religious folks. Abandoning critical thought and introspection for the comfort of dogma, groupthink and faith strikes me as a profoundly cowardly way to live.
I don't doubt people have incredibly moving spiritual experiences. I just think they're shaped by your own personal psychology and culture and like anything else, your religion and your experiences say more about you than it does about the true nature of spirituality or god.
Personally, I blame Catholicism and Christianity for for infusing and permeating my childhood psychology with deep seated notions of fear, shame, punishment and guilt. And I think what religion does to kids is tantamount to child abuse if anything is. Filling impressionable children's heads with images of a vengeful god that will burn you in the painful fires of hell for all of time and eternity [but he loves you!] if you don't worship him and do what he says is so amazingly fucked up it leaves me without words.
But I'm not nearly arrogant enough to say that no god exists. In fact, I'd lay odds that that there is a transcendental aspect to reality.
Burton Richardson, probably the best martial arts instructor I've had the pleasure of being trained by.
Burton Richardson's JKD Unlimited program in Hawaii was some of the best training I've done. And Burton was easily one of the nicest, most talented and generous instructors I've trained under.
BJJ phenom and trainer [and Joe Rogan buddy] Eddie Bravo on Burton Richardson.
Good on Burton... he apparently wrote, produced and directed an independent film. Check the trailer.
BJJ phenom and trainer [and Joe Rogan buddy] Eddie Bravo on Burton Richardson.
Good on Burton... he apparently wrote, produced and directed an independent film. Check the trailer.
Glorious - "Take Bacon. Add Sausage. Blog."
The Bacon Explosion - Take Bacon. Add Sausage. Blog. - NYTimes.com:
The recipe can be found here - http://www.bbqaddicts.com/bacon-explosion.html
"This recipe is the Bacon Explosion, modestly called by its inventors “the BBQ Sausage Recipe of all Recipes.”
The instructions for constructing this massive torpedo-shaped amalgamation of two pounds of bacon woven through and around two pounds of sausage and slathered in barbecue sauce first appeared last month on the Web site of a team of Kansas City competition barbecuers."
The recipe can be found here - http://www.bbqaddicts.com/bacon-explosion.html
Friday, January 30, 2009
"Fuck being normal" - An Interview with Dave Tate.
Dave Tate is awesome. Great interview over at T-Nation.
T-Nation.com | An Interview with Dave Tate:
T-Nation.com | An Interview with Dave Tate:
"Look, any dog will bite if you fucking kick it hard enough. You've got to be willing to fix your attitude and get your shit tuned in. You've got to be around people with the same attitude that you want to cultivate. If you start hanging out with successful people, you're more inclined to be successful.
If you see guys busting their ass, straining and pushing against weights you didn't think they could move, it's going to teach you a lesson. You're going to find out that you're a lot stronger than you think you are once you stop being a pussy. I think you can learn attitude. Everyone's got it in them.
And everybody's emotional strength falls on different levels. Just because one guy is psyched up and has a look of intensity doesn't necessarily mean that the other guy next to him who looks like he's falling asleep isn't internally just as driven as the first guy. That's where people get a lot of this confused.
Attitude is contagious, right? But it's also the fucking plague. So if you get a guy in there who's working against the group, who won't shut up or is asking stupid questions, you need to get rid of the dipshit and move on.
Fuck Moderation
I have two speeds: blast and dust...
The Strength and Resolve of a Five-Year-Old Kid
I've volunteered in my son's kindergarten class most of the year, and it's been a great time. I was there yesterday, walking down the hallway listening to the morning announcements. I heard something about a fire and donations for the family.
So I go to the classroom and I'm sitting there not even thinking about it. At the beginning of reading time, the teacher brings up one of the kids in the class. Well, it's the kid who just lost everything in the fire over the weekend. You could tell the kid wasn't in the highest of spirits.
The teacher's explaining to the class that the important thing was that nobody was hurt. She's doing exactly what she should do because the kids have questions, you know?
"Did you lose your clothes?" "Did you lose your toys?"
He starts talking about how one of his cats ran off because it was scared of the fire, and his two dogs are now in heaven. And it's just killing this kid to sit up there and talk about it.
All of a sudden these little kids start saying things like, "You can have some of my clothes" and "you can have my dog" and "you can stay at my house." Every single kid in this class is willing to give this kid their toys. He looks up and says that everything's fine and he has everything he needs right in front of him.
I had to get up and fucking walk out of the room.
All these kids know the most important things in life are friends and family. And I'm standing in the hallway and it just dawns on me. Where did we get so fucked up? Because we're really starting off okay. It was one of the most inspiring moments I've had in my entire life, seeing the strength and resolve of a five-year-old kid."
How I should be eating.
Every deviation from this HAS CONSEQUENCES. I can indulge, on occasion, done consciously and with awareness [or if I'm carb cycling] but this is the ideal.
Achieve Your Health Goals - Lose Weight, Get Ripped, Stay Motivated | Mark's Daily Apple:
Achieve Your Health Goals - Lose Weight, Get Ripped, Stay Motivated | Mark's Daily Apple:
"Get Real Meat
Eat real, actual meat. You want a slab of beef untouched by preservatives, by antibiotics, by hormones, and by soy feed. You want a whole roasted chicken so you can crack open the bones and suck the marrow. Eat clean, wild fish and pick out the rib bones. Most importantly, don’t try to fool yourself into thinking that greasy little Slim Jim you picked up at the gas station on the way home from work that oozes slimy nitrites with every bite is real meat. Nor are, for that matter, the treated cold cuts, the bargain bin bacon that miraculously survives for months in your fridge, and that pepperoni you pick off your spouse’s pizza. Get real meat, folks.
Get Real Vegetables
Don’t eat corn (on the cob, popped, or otherwise prepared – it’s actually a grain!), potatoes (although sweet potatoes and yams are decent in moderation), vegetable tempura (don’t let that flaky, crispy batter fool you), or veggie chips (the chubby vegetarian’s best friend)... Instead, load up on the stuff that you know to be good. Broccoli, greens of all kinds, cauliflower (mash it up for a superior potato substitute), carrots (hold the cake), peppers, tomatoes (real ones), squash, and eggplant (among numerous others) work quite well.
Get Real Fruit
And get realistic amounts of it. Fruit was a luxury for Grok, a seasonal delicacy. He wasn’t slurping sherbet-based smoothies every morning, nor was he munching on apples engineered for maximum sugar content. When you eat fruit try to stick to organic. Rather than drink juice or smoothies (albeit, a better choice), try to eat whole fruits...
Get Real Nuts
Lose the peanuts, the candy-coated almonds, the caramel-fudge-encrusted macadamia nuts, those clusters of candy and nuts masquerading as healthy snacks (they may have exotic spices like anise and cayenne, but they’re still covered in a fine sheen of syrup). Eat real nuts and seeds instead: almonds, walnuts, pecans, pumpkin, sunflower, hemp. And please – do not eat those dried crispy soybeans.
Get Real Fat
... you need to get real sources of good fat in your diet. Avoid the processed, hydrogenated (partially or totally), trans garbage. You should be eating real animal fat (lard, tallow), olive oil and fats from avocados, eggs, nuts, seeds, and good cuts of meat (eat that crispy chicken skin!). If you’ve bought into the widespread ridiculous fear of fat in favor of artificial vegetable oils, margarines, and other disgusting lab creations, you need to get real.
Get Real About Grains
CW likes to tout grains as “the staff of life” – the foundation for the human diet. Deep down, you know better. You know that the best alternative to grains is eating real food our bodies were designed to eat. Meat, nuts, seeds, vegetables, fruits, and fats are highly superior to grains, and they don’t require loads of processing, heating, pressing, fermenting, soaking, or any other tampering just to be digestible. Get real about the Primal Blueprint, stay off the grains for a few months, and you’ll forget all about your former masters..."
This is a phenomenal comic - "The New Face of War: Dysart on 'Unknown Soldier.'"
The new Unknown Soldier comic from DC Comics Vertigo line is out-freaking-standing. And I usually don't care much for war comics. The writer gives a hell of an interview over at Newsarama on the series.
He also keeps a hell of an interesting blog on the background of the war in Uganda here -Behind the Scenes: "Unknown Soldier"
And it wouldn't be me if I didn't note/point out the fact that the war in Uganda is another mindless, cruel and bloody clusterfuck brought to you by the healing powers of religion.
Newsarama.com : The New Face of War: Dysart on Unknown Soldier:
He also keeps a hell of an interesting blog on the background of the war in Uganda here -Behind the Scenes: "Unknown Soldier"
And it wouldn't be me if I didn't note/point out the fact that the war in Uganda is another mindless, cruel and bloody clusterfuck brought to you by the healing powers of religion.
Newsarama.com : The New Face of War: Dysart on Unknown Soldier:
"NRAMA: ...this new Unknown Soldier hears advice and complex military tactical information.. but he's just a doctor. The big question is 'where is this information coming from?'. What's behind the secret?
JD: To me that’s not really the big question. I mean we are all a lie to some degree. So Moses turned out to be a really big lie, oh well. Why or how he’s a lie is just a matter of plot mechanics. For me, what causes the voice isn’t the big question. The big question is how much of Moses’ actions are made by personal choice and how much are coming from an unknown source? Where is free will in all of this and where is socialization, or programming or even pre-determinism? That’s what’s interesting to me.
NRAMA: An interesting turn for this book is the fact that from the outset, the identity of the Unknown Soldier is known to us. If he's known, what is the unknown here?
JD: The title doesn’t necessarily suggest that the “unknown” will be kept from the reader. It’s more about what the characters themselves do not know. The voice in Moses is an unknown soldier to him. Moses, in turn, becomes an unknown soldier to the Acholi people. Kony is an unknown soldier to the world. And this war is an unknown war. So there are lots of unknowns here. On top of it all, there’s also the notion of the Unknown Soldier that was put forth in the 1950’s Finnish novel of the same title, meaning the unknown plight of the common soldier during the timeless act of war. I think that’s part of our play on the title as well.NRAMA: This title has a big history in comics, although your incarnation is new. How does this book tie in with the previous Unknown Soldier stories?
JD: That’s a surprise for the readers to find out. Although the astute among you have probably already got a pretty strong lock on it at this point.
NRAMA: One issue I saw brought up early on was the role of religion – specifically Christianity. Will religion play a bigger role as the series progresses?
JD: Christianity is a huge thing in Uganda and a defining aspect of this war. The British conquered with the bible before they conquered with the gun. Christianity is so pervasive that many American evangelicals and faith healers tour there often and fill whole soccer stadiums. Most of them charging, what to a Ugandan can be a great deal of money, to - I feel - prey on their belief.
NRAMA: In the Vertigo column "On The Edge", you describe yourself as an off-again on-again pacifist. Where does that thin line between the two lie for you, and how does it relate to this book?
JD: Truth is, I’m not a pacifist. I don’t identify myself as that any more. I was once. And I do still see violence as the absolute last resort. I, for instance, do not agree with Moses’ actions in this book. The use of violence calls for great care as it virtually always causes more problems then it solves. Kill a man and you make an enemy of his whole family. Kill a people and you make an enemy of the world. So, not even speaking morally, just pragmatically, violence should only be used as an absolute final means of problem solving. The question is, who decides when all the other avenues of negotiation and problem solving have been fully exhausted? That question is mankind’s perpetual struggle. And that’s a lot of what I hope this book is about."
Training 286/P90X 55.
Rest/Free day.
Inspiration/Motivation - Bodybuilding.com - Female Transformation Of The Week - Female Transformation Of The Week - Francina Segbefia!:
Inspiration/Motivation - Bodybuilding.com - Female Transformation Of The Week - Female Transformation Of The Week - Francina Segbefia!:
"Name: Francina SegbefiaBodybuilding.com - Over 40 Transformation Of The Week - Over 40 Transformation Of The Week - Matthew Eubanks!:
Before:
Age: 31
Height: 5'6
Weight: 155 lbs
Body Fat: 29%
After:
Age: 31
Height: 5'6
Weight: 125 lbs
Body Fat: 15%"
"Name: Matthew EubanksT-Nation.com | Look at These Breasts:
Before:
Age: 40
Height: 5'10'
Weight: 218 lbs
Body Fat: 26%
After:
Age: 40
Height: 5'10'
Weight: 192 lbs
Body Fat: 5%"
"...[she said] 'I don't look like the girls pictured on sites like that. I'm not going to get a facelift. I'm not going to get my breasts done. I'm into the martial arts, and they teach that aging is a natural and beautiful thing.'
I started to hoist myself onto my high horse, but thought better of it and sat back down on my medium-sized horse and attempted a diplomatic approach. I started to ramble on about how most people aspire to the physical ideals in many of the photos. That's what motivates them. What's the alternative — that people shoot for mediocrity? Sure we depict physical ideals, but if they bother her she should ignore the images and just benefit from the information we provide.Furthermore, what's 'natural'? Do you shave your legs or arms or use deodorant? That's not natural, either. Do you wash your karate gi in one them-there new-fangled washing machine gizmos, or do you go to the riverbank and scrub it with rocks and natural sponges?Anyhow, our conversation got me to thinking how this kind of thinking is pervasive in the training world. There isn't any faction, it seems, that it isn't plain pissy about all the other factions. The bodybuilders don't like the power lifters because they're fat bastards. The powerlifters don't like the bodybuilders because they're weak, narcissistic, and maybe even borderline gay.
Olympic lifters don't like powerlifters because their lifts don't require as much athleticism and they dislike the bodybuilders because they're weak, narcissistic, and maybe even borderline gay.
Female bodybuilders don't like Figure competitors because they're smallish in comparison and for some weird reason refuse to grow angry 3-inch clitorises. Figure competitors don't like Fitness competitors because all that bouncing around on stage is just a little too close to what the girls at Bada Bing are doing and they'd prefer the schism — and not so much their legs, thank you — to be a little wider.
Strongwoman competitors are disdainful of Figure and Fitness competitors because the poor little things just don't hoist enough weight, sniff, and they wear high-heels during competition instead of smelly Chucks.
The HIT guys don't like anybody except the occasional other HIT guy because HIT is the only true way to train and all non-believers are going to die and be sent straight to the fiery gym in H-E-double hockey sticks.
The CrossFit guys don't like anybody who uses any equipment that can be found outside a park or, I don't know, a petting zoo or cemetery, where tombstones can be used as impromptu pulling sleds.
And the assorted bodybuilders and powerlifters and strength athletes dislike the CrossFit people because, well, all that endurance and grace the CrossFit guys exhibit in their assorted Sally, Alice, and Shakira exercise routines makes them all jealous because those graceful guys might just qualify for a role in the next off-Broadway production of Guys and Dolls and by God, the bodybuilders and powerlifters and strength athletes know they can't do that!
...And female martial artists, I guess, don't like Figure competitors that have large breasts because large breasts make it hard for karate boy or girl to plunge their fist through the big-breasted opponent's chest cavity and remove their still beating heart. Why, you'd likely remove your fist to find that you just pulled out an implant instead of the still-beating heart and boy would that be embarrassing....
It's all arrogance of a type. Close-mindedness so complete, mental prisons so tight, we don't even know we're locked up...
But that ain't right. You've got to fight the default setting...
...Back in the day, the only difference between powerlifters and bodybuilders was what they ate. The bodybuilders obsessed about protein while powerlifters didn't. Bodybuilders chose egg-white omelets while powerlifters chose flapjacks. Other than that, they lifted the same weights. They worked out at the same place. There was some element of camaraderie.Not so much anymore. Anyone with a different philosophy or goal is an asshole, is misguided, or just hasn't seen the heavenly light yet. The truth is, we're all freaks and there's plenty of room in our circus... all this bickering between sects is counterproductive. So's the arrogance.
You know who gets to be arrogant in this life? The guy who won a gold medal in the Olympic Decathlon and who was also awarded the Nobel Prize for both Literature and Medicine. To my knowledge, that guy doesn't exist, or at least he's not hanging around with someone as ordinary as me. If he does exist, he's got my permission to be as arrogant and pompous and self-righteous as he likes.
The rest of us should probably cut each other some slack..."
The cool thing about the internet is when you come across something that mirrors exactly what you think...
The Agitator » Blog Archive » “The Gore Effect”:
"Can we stop this nonsense where every time a snowflake lands on Al Gore, we laugh about how it proves he’s wrong about global warming?
There’s lots not to like about Al Gore. And while I’m generally convinced that the earth is getting warmer, I’m also skeptical that (1) it’s entirely man-made, (2) there’s much we can do it about, (3) even if we could marginally offset it, it would be worth the enormous costs, (4) anyone really knows what the consequences of it will be..."
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Helio Gracie, RIP.
Helio Gracie Dead:
"Helio Gracie, the father of Gracie jiu-jitsu, is dead at the age of 95. Gracie passed in his sleep early Thursday in Itaipaiva, Rio de Janeiro, after he had been admitted to a local hospital a few days prior for stomach problems.
...Gracie was involved in two legendary fights. He lost to Masahiko Kimura -- a man who outweighed him by some 40 pounds -- in 1951 when Carlos threw in the towel after Kimura broke Gracie’s arm with the shoulder lock that now bears his name. Four years later, Gracie fought former student Valdemar Santana for nearly four hours before losing.
His impact on the sport of mixed martial arts was profound. His son, Rorion, was credited with developing the concept that became the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and another of his sons, Royce, won the first two UFC tournaments in 1993 and 1994. Two other sons, Rickson and Royler, also competed in MMA."
Boom.
Overheard in the Office | Damn You, Gloria Steinem, You've Foiled Me for the Last Time! *shakes Fist*:
"Female coworker, after cutting in line to get her lunch: What happened to 'ladies first'?
Male coworker: The womens' rights movement.
Potrero Hill
San Francisco, California
Overheard by: amanda"
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