Today's Internets - The Weekend Roundup.

The 10 Most Compelling Subplots on Your Facebook Newsfeed - BroBible.com: 

"3. The Couple Who Got Married Way Too Early, Have a Kid, and Clearly Won’t Make It Too real/depressing/terrible to mock completely. Only cause the kid though. Key Storylines to Watch: How many times per week is social media employed to publicly declare sentiments of everlasting love? When something is wrong--do we see statuses consisting of profound, substance-heavy statements about people and relationships, with a dark and depressing spin? Is there someone commenting “everything ok?” under that status?"

Bradley Cooper does Christopher Walken.

This is also my job.

Damon does McConaughey.

RIP Joe Weider.

Joe Weider legendary bodybuilding and fitness icon dies at 93 - latimes.com: "Joe Weider, the legendary fitness and publishing figure who popularized the modern conception of fitness and nutrition, and is considered the father of the sport of bodybuilding, died this morning in Los Angeles of heart failure. He was 93 years old. Arnold Schwarzenegger writes on his Facebook page, "Today, I lost a dear friend and mentor, and the world lost one its strongest advocates of living a healthy lifestyle. Joe Weider was a titan in the fitness industry and one of the kindest men I have ever met." "

Michael Caine does Michael Caine.

Norman Reedus, FTW.

Opinion: The Internet is a surveillance state - CNN.com: "The Internet is a surveillance state. Whether we admit it to ourselves or not, and whether we like it or not, we're being tracked all the time. Google tracks us, both on its pages and on other pages it has access to. Facebook does the same; it even tracks non-Facebook users. Apple tracks us on our iPhones and iPads. One reporter used a tool called Collusion to track who was tracking him; 105 companies tracked his Internet use during one 36-hour period."

Opinion: The Internet is a surveillance state - CNN.com: "Increasingly, what we do on the Internet is being combined with other data about us. Unmasking Broadwell's identity involved correlating her Internet activity with her hotel stays. Everything we do now involves computers, and computers produce data as a natural by-product. Everything is now being saved and correlated, and many big-data companies make money by building up intimate profiles of our lives from a variety of sources."

Opinion: The Internet is a surveillance state - CNN.com: "Maintaining privacy on the Internet is nearly impossible. If you forget even once to enable your protections, or click on the wrong link, or type the wrong thing, and you've permanently attached your name to whatever anonymous service you're using. Monsegur slipped up once, and the FBI got him. If the director of the CIA can't maintain his privacy on the Internet, we've got no hope."

Opinion: The Internet is a surveillance state - CNN.com: "In today's world, governments and corporations are working together to keep things that way. Governments are happy to use the data corporations collect -- occasionally demanding that they collect more and save it longer -- to spy on us. And corporations are happy to buy data from governments. Together the powerful spy on the powerless, and they're not going to give up their positions of power, despite what the people want."

Only somewhat surprising, the internet being what it is.

Opinion: The Internet is a surveillance state - CNN.com: "So, we're done. Welcome to a world where Google knows exactly what sort of porn you all like, and more about your interests than your spouse does. Welcome to a world where your cell phone company knows exactly where you are all the time. Welcome to the end of private conversations, because increasingly your conversations are conducted by e-mail, text, or social networking sites. And welcome to a world where all of this, and everything else that you do or is done on a computer, is saved, correlated, studied, passed around from company to company without your knowledge or consent; and where the government accesses it at will without a warrant. Welcome to an Internet without privacy, and we've ended up here with hardly a fight."

The Whole Logic Behind the Milk Intervention, Part 1 | Free The Animal: "I took at this milk thing as I take all things Real Food and Paleoish (from a human evolutionary standpoint). Get this into heads: Paleo is not about what cavemen ate, how they moved, slept, fucked, raised their children...or did without Breaking Bad on cable. It's about what we evolved to eat, beginning with the basics and moving out from there. Dairy in all its forms, as a mammalian first essential beverage, is likely the very first logical choice."

The Whole Logic Behind the Milk Intervention, Part 2 | Free The Animal: "It's really that last category—prolonged drug therapy for chronic conditions—that has the most potential for abuse. At the same time, the drug business is a drug...business. So in one respect, it's really kind of non-sequitur to lament that the drug companies aren't out promoting the milk diet—or anything for that matter that's not a drug they can sell to the public. Ford Motor Company doesn't manufacture and promote bicycles as an alternative treatment for transportation. Not their business."

Of course he was.

Cardinal was in physical relationship with accuser | Herald Scotland: "Cardinal Keith O'Brien had a long-standing physical relationship with one of the men whose complaints about his behaviour sparked his downfall as leader of the Catholic Church in Scotland."

Filled with truth.

How Noam Chomsky is discussed | Glenn Greenwald | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk: "One very common tactic for enforcing political orthodoxies is to malign the character, "style" and even mental health of those who challenge them. The most extreme version of this was an old Soviet favorite: to declare political dissidents mentally ill and put them in hospitals. In the US, those who take even the tiniest steps outside of political convention are instantly decreed "crazy", as happened to the 2002 anti-war version of Howard Dean and the current iteration of Ron Paul (in most cases, what is actually "crazy" are the political orthodoxies this tactic seeks to shield from challenge)."

How Noam Chomsky is discussed | Glenn Greenwald | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk: "This method is applied with particular aggression to those who engage in any meaningful dissent against the society's most powerful factions and their institutions. Nixon White House officials sought to steal the files from Daniel Ellsberg's psychoanalyst's office precisely because they knew they could best discredit his disclosures with irrelevant attacks on his psyche. Identically, the New York Times and partisan Obama supporters have led the way in depicting both Bradley Manning and Julian Assange as mentally unstable outcasts with serious personality deficiencies. The lesson is clear: only someone plagued by mental afflictions would take such extreme steps to subvert the power of the US government."

Fuck me.  I have to re-work my whole obsessive-compulsive internettery now.

Like a Dagger to Bloggers' Hearts, Google Just Killed Google Reader - Adam Clark Estes - The Atlantic Wire

This sums it up perfectly.

Equal parts enlightening/disturbing.  Also, all religions are like this.

'Kumare': Fake Guru Exposes Real, Desperate Desire to Believe - ABC News: "Kumare speaks with a thick Indian accent. His hair is long, his beard is full, his feet are bare. Wrapped in a saffron sarong, Kumare effortlessly becomes a spiritual beacon for a curious bunch of truth seekers in Phoenix. But Kumare, whose real name is Vikram Gandhi, is actually a hip 33-year-old filmmaker from New Jersey, who created a fake "yogalebrity" persona but wound up with a real American following."

Teenager falsely accused of rape beaten to death by gang - Telegraph: "Five killers carried out the 'extraordinarily callous, violent and brutal' murder of a teenager after the sister of one wrongly claimed he had raped her, a court heard today."

Training.

3/24 - P90X2 D35 X2 Yoga & X2 Ab Ripper

3/23 - P90X2 D34 rest/off

Today's Internets - Imagine.

Pretty Powerful.

Let Them Eat Fat: In Praise of Fatty Foods - WSJ.com: "Eating fatty foods has become the culinary version of "Breaking Bad": a dangerous walk on the wild side for the otherwise timid consumers of tasteless butter substitutes and Lean Cuisine. Soon the fear-of-food crowd will leave us with nothing but watery prison gruel (whole grain, of course) and the nine daily servings of kale, collards, spinach and other pesticide-laced and e-coli-menaced greens and fruits on the agribusiness-promoted "food pyramid.""

Let Them Eat Fat: In Praise of Fatty Foods - WSJ.com: "Still worse is the ninth circle of food hell to which the fat-phobic ninnies have consigned us: egg-white omelets. Is life worth prolonging for a few (alleged) extra months if said life has been spent enduring the repellent slabs of gluey, pasty albumen that so many self-congratulatory "health conscious" types consider to be a sign of their sanity? They want to purge themselves of dietary sin. I just want to purge."

Let Them Eat Fat: In Praise of Fatty Foods - WSJ.com: "In fact, some new developments have undermined antifat absolutism. Consider the recent New England Journal of Medicine report on a study of the olive-oil-heavy "Mediterranean diet," a study that included this fairly sensational revelation (as summarized by the Atlantic Online): "After five years of watching trends in heart disease and strokes among people at high risk, the researchers could not in good conscience continue to recommend a 'low-fat diet' to anyone." Hear that, you fat-shamers? You're killing your credulous low-fat followers. Condemning high-risk people to a life that is not only dangerous but terminally boring—a terrifyingly tedious life of austere cuisine. Doctors had to intervene to save lives from your low-fat junk science!"

How I Dealt with Beard HateThe Hunt | The Hunt: "The first words out of her mouth when I walked onto the unit were about my beard. I played it back to her a little, and then asked if I could speak to her privately for a moment. She all of a sudden needed to leave quickly, had things to do. Right… I tried to be professional. I tried to do the right thing, let no one say that I didn’t. Instead this had to happen (with spectators): Me: Do you want to fuck? Cunty Nurse: What??? Me: (Raises eyebrow questioningly) CRN: Are you ser– What? Me: The only women whose opinions that I would care about when it comes to my personal grooming habits are those that I’m fucking. Are you looking to earn an opinion? CRN: People? How many are you fucking? Me: That, like my beard, is none of your damn business."

There Is No Such Thing As A “Calorie” (To Your Body) - GNOLLS.ORG: "...our bodies are not steam engines! They do not burn the food we eat in a fire and convert the heat into mechanical work. Thus: There is no biochemical system in our bodies whose input is a “calorie”."

There Is No Such Thing As A “Calorie” (To Your Body) - GNOLLS.ORG: "Takeaways There is no biochemical system in our bodies whose input is a “calorie”. The food we eat has many possible fates, only one of which approximates the definition of a dietary “calorie”. The fate of a “calorie” of food depends completely on its specific molecular composition, the composition of the foods accompanying it, and how those molecules interact with our current metabolic and nutritional state—our satiety. Therefore, the concept of the “calorie”, as applied to nutrition, is an oversimplification so extreme as to be untrue in practice. Therefore, the concept of “calories in, calories out”, or CICO, is also unhelpful in practice."

There Is No Such Thing As A “Calorie” (To Your Body) - GNOLLS.ORG: "The health-supporting fates of food involve being used as raw materials to build and repair tissues; to build enzymes, cofactors, and hormones; to build bile, mucus, and other necessary secretions; to support “good” gut bacteria, while discouraging “bad” bacteria; and, once all those needs are taken care of, providing energy sufficient to perform those tasks (but no more). Therefore, we should eat foods which are made of the raw materials we need to perform and support the above functions. Biochemical individuality means that the optimum diet for different people will differ—as will their tolerance for suboptimal diets. However, eating like a predator—a diet based on meat, fish, shellfish, vegetables and fruit in season, and just enough starch to support your level of physical activity—is an excellent starting point."

Boom.

Women be judging.  Jealousy is an ugly thing.

The Veronica Mars movie is a thing that is happening.  So much awesome.

Has 'Veronica Mars' Kickstarter Campaign Ushered in a New Era of Movie Development?: "Three days into its campaign, The CW drama-turned-movie has shattered several crowd-funding records: fastest Kickstarter project to hit $1 million (4 hours, 24 minutes). Highest goal ever set in the 4-year-old website’s history. And 10 hours after its launch on Wednesday morning, the proposed Veronica Mars movie became the fastest project to hit that $2 million mark. As of Thursday night, it had received more than $3.2 million in pledges, with 28 days to go."

You should watch this.  Because it is made of greatness.

The Veronica Mars Movie Project by Rob Thomas — Kickstarter: 

"57,911 backers 

$3,775,826 pledged of $2,000,000 goal 

21 days to go"

"A long time ago, we used to be friends, but I..."

Rob Thomas: 10 Things you need to know about the 'Veronica Mars' movie - CNN.com

Grow Up | delicioustacos: "“You better grow up” sounds like “you better be miserable.”  It sounds like “why are you not doing something that sucks right now.”  Why aren’t you home with your kids, swabbing shit out of the crack of their ass with a woefully inadequate hand-e-wipe.  Why aren’t you rich.  Why don’t you have a mortgage.  Why don’t you own your own home and if you do why aren’t you on the phone with the contractor right now improving it in a manner that will increase its value so you can flip it.  Why didn’t you get your cholesterol tested.  Why is your credit rating below eight hundred.  Why don’t you have kids yet and if you do why aren’t they enrolled in the finest schools.  Why don’t you have a complete cable and internet package with a million channels you will never have time to watch."

Evidence Based Medicine: Fraud, Double Standards and Ignorance: "Ok, as a caveat up front, I am NOT saying there is no credible Evidence Based Medicine (EBM). I am not Anti-Science. I know a few nut-swingers will say this. If you fall into this trap you clearly have poor reading comprehension and your mama dresses you funny. What I AM, is skeptical of the skeptics, the folks who live and die by what is (or is not) in PubMed. Mainstream medicine got itself into a bit of a pickle a few years ago when holding “complimentary and alternative medicine” to some pretty high standards of research validation."

Evidence Based Medicine: Fraud, Double Standards and Ignorance: "I forget the exact number, but 70-80% of what is practiced in your standard hospital or medical office has NO randomized controlled trial (RCT) establishing efficacy. I cannot tell you how many people I’ve run across who will dismiss things like Ancestral Health or gluten free eating due to a paucity of RCT’s , the “gold standard” in medicine… (although even these frequently have huge methodological problems like not keeping people in a metabolic ward for the duration of the study…). These same people think nothing of using methodology which lacks RCT backing (most of standard medical care), yet shoot down new therapy using the same criteria. What they are relying on is, GASP! Observation! That dirty, dirty word to the EBM crowd, yet the very thing which forms a remarkable chunk of the foundation of their practice."

How Cops Became Soldiers: An Interview with Police Militarization Expert Radley Balko | Motherboard: "In 2007, journalist Radley Balko told a House subcommittee that one criminologist detected a 1,500% increase in the use of SWAT teams over the last two decades. That's reflective of a larger trend, fueled by the wars on drugs and terror, of police forces becoming heavily militarized. Balko, an investigative reporter for the Huffington Post and author of the definitive report on paramilitary policing in the United States, has a forthcoming book on the topic, Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America's Police Forces. He was kind enough to answer some questions about how our police turned into soldiers as well as the challenges of large-scale reform."

The TL; DR Generation: "Avoid mass media as much as possible. Following the news is a colossal waste of time and 95% of television is soul-destroying garbage."

'Sherlock' Star Benedict Cumberbatch Confirms Fourth Season: "Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman have signed on for a fourth season of the BBC1/PBS Masterpiece drama Sherlock, which started its Season 3 table read yesterday ahead of shooting next week."

Training.

3/22 - P90X2 D33 Base + Back

I miss my free weights that are in storage.
HEALTHYLICIOUS LIVING | “The deadlift is more functional in that it’s very...: "The deadlift is more functional in that it’s very hard to imagine a more useful application of strength than picking heavy shit up off the ground."

Today's Internets - The Return of the Product...

...of the Environment.

"When push comes to shove, shove comes to fists, you either show and prove or get dissed."

Fred On Everything: "The United States is the most hated country in the world, followed closely by Israel, and then by nobody. Why? Why not Ecuador? China? Russia? East Timor? The hostility puzzles many Americans, who genuinely believe their country to be a force for good, a pillar of democracy, a defender of human rights.

To the rest of the world, none of this is even close.

 If you have lived abroad, as so very few Americans have, the explanation for the hatred is obvious: Meddling. Relentless, prideful, uncomprehending meddling, frequently military, often with horrendous death tolls. Americans, adroitly managed by a controlled press, historically illiterate, incurious, decreasingly educated, either have never heard of the American behavior that angers others, or believe it to have been inspired by virtuous motives. Nobody else thinks so. Add to unfamiliarity with the wider world the constantly inculcated assertion that America is the greatest, most wonderful nation ever to exist, a light to the world, a shining city on a hill, and you get a dangerously delusional state. Especially now. In the past, American economic and military supremacy were such that the US didn’t have to care what others thought. The times, they are a-changing."

Fred On Everything: "It might be wise to compare briefly the view through American and foreign eyes. Consider Iraq. To most of the world, the war on Iraq was brutal, unprovoked, and murderous. More than a few, looking at the ruins of Fallujah, thought of Guernica—of which few in the States have ever heard. Many Americans do not believe that we destroyed Iraq for oil, empire, and the Israel lobby, as was in fact the case. No. We wanted to topple an evil dictator and dispense the precious gift of democracy. It was a question of goodness. Many apparently still believe that Iraq had something to do with the attacks on New York. Again, controlled press, poor schooling, little curiosity."

Fred On Everything: "Similarly, Americans tend to see the war on Afghanistan as having to do with ending Terror or sprouting democracy—not as the Great Game (“Hanh?”) redux, or the quest for the TAPI pipeline (“Say whuh?”) or Caspian hydrocarbons. (“Caspian? You mean the Friendly Ghost?”) To most of the world, Afghanistan is just another sorry spectacle of American fighter-bombers killing peasants, of gutted children and drone attacks on half-identified targets. This, the merciless use of overwhelming firepower against lightly armed campesinos, is what the world sees, over and over. Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan. It isn’t pretty."

Fred On Everything: "Nobody beyond the borders buys our song about spreading freedom and human rights.  America has supported countless sordid dictators ruling by army and torture chamber (the Saudis being a current example). We have put many dictators on their thrones, such as Pinochet (“That little wooden guy, his nose got long when he told a lie, right?”) in Chile. (“Isn’t that Texmex soup with beans in it?”)"

Fred On Everything: "This is why they hate us—meddling, bombing, invading, droning, telling them how to run their countries. No, George, it is not because of our freedoms."

STOP EVERYTHING: NEW POPE | Free The Animal:

"Those who love the Institution of the Roman Catholic church just love the Pope and all the drama surrounding the change from one old fuck to a slightly less old fuck. They overlook the fact that a huge part of the Popes' and exalted next-in-line Cardinals' job, now, is to control the bimbo eruptions. Yea, "bimbo," as in: altar boys and candle-lighters and helpers in general and whatnot who trustred that you & ilk said the Church was good.

And they wanted to be good. Their innocent, salutary virtue got them fucked in the ass, literally. In payment for their trust in you & ilk—as you continued to overlok the evil of rape that you heard about in whispers over decades—they got bent over forcibly, or seduced by an authority of your own propped-up making."

WIL WHEATON dot TUMBLR, twentypercentcooler: the-hero-dies: Wonder...:

Training.

3/21 - P90X2 D32 Shoulders + Arms & X2 Ab Ripper -- Russian Pullup Program 18/16/14/12/12 -- glute bridge 3x30

ChAoS & PAIN: Transhumanism- No Longer Just For Cyborgs: 

"Your physical stature is a direct result of the food your parents fed you growing up and your level of physical activity.  That's called nurture, motherfuckers, not nature.  If you suck, it's because your parents trained you to do so and you decided to continue on the path they chose for you. 

...greatness is earned by a will to power; a will to surpass one's humanity; a will to become the übermensch.  No fancy program is necessary, no incremental progression will lead to greatness, and no amount of conversation about it will do a motherfucking thing.   Stop talking and start doing.  Will yourself to power."

Inspiring/Ridiculous/Awesome Conditioning.

Training.

3/20 - Russian Pullup Program 18/16/14/12/10 -- 3x10 dips, 1L glute bridge, pike pushup, elevated split squat -- P90X2 D31 Recovery + Mobility

3/19 - P90X2 D30 Plyocide

3/12 through 3/18 - Vacation.  Tried to turn it into a P90X2 Recovery Week but only managed to pull off the X2 Yoga routine 2x plus an old school bodybuilding workout one evening with a buddy [3-4 sets, 8-10 reps, upper body, supersets].  So last week was a wash, as far as P90X2 goes, and I hit the cosmic reset button from the 19th, and pick it up from last Monday.

3/11 - P90X2 D29 Chest + Back + Balance & X2 Ab Ripper

Age 42/No Excuses - Bodybuilding.com - Body Transformation: New View At 42!:

Five Days In Japan.

Pictures at this link.

Food Log.

Eight days of international travel and unhealthily indulgent food choices.  

In other words, vacation.  

Tried to keep track at the beginning, but quickly lost the plot somewhere between ramen, beer and Pocky sticks.  Above, a small sampling of the past week.

Back to eating healthy/healthier riiiiiiiiiiiight...  now.

Blogging Hiatus.

Pretty much offline the next 7-10 days as I travel to a magical land where wonders await.  

See you on the other side.

Food Log.

3/4 - coffee, half & half, water, MP Amino1, MP Assault, MP Combat, steak, coconut oil

3/5 - coffee, cream, water, MP Amino1, MP Assault, MP Combat, peanut butter, hamburger, bacon, mayo, shredded cheese, Monster Multi

3/6 - coffee, cream, water, hamburger, shredded cheese, mayo, avocado, peanut butter, Atkins bars

3/7 - coffee, cream, water, Universal Shock Therapy, Animal Rage, Monster Multi, MP Combat, peanut butter, steak

3/8 - coffee, half & half, water, MP Amino1, Universal Shock Therapy, Animal Rage, pork cracklins, coconut oil

3/9 - coffee, half & half, Starbucks Doubleshot Energy, protein bar, steak, salad, ranch, potatoes, sour cream, shredded cheese, donuts, chocolate milk, liquor, Diet Coke, sweet tea, chicken nuggets, fries, mayo

3/10 - coffee, half & half, water, MP Amino1, Universal Shock Therapy, Animal Rage, protein bar, bacon, milk

Training.

3/10 - P90X2 D28 X2 Ab Ripper & X2 Recovery + Mobility -- Russian Pullup Program D17 16/16/14/12/10 -- glute bridge x50 -- pushups x30/25/20/15/10/5 -- chins/dips x10/8/6/4/2 -- pike pushups/single leg glute bridge 2x10

Never too old.  Never too late.  Never give up.

Cloud vs. Hopkins results: Bernard Hopkins defeats Tavoris Cloud to win world title at age 48 - Bloody Elbow: "Bernard Hopkins may not always be everyone's favorite fighter, but he turned in an absolute clinic tonight. Over the course of 12 rounds, Hopkins showed what makes him great, using brilliant movement and skills to defeat Tavoris Cloud. And he did it all at the age of 48 years old. With this win, Hopkins becomes the IBF Light Heavyweght champion, breaking his own record as the oldest man to win a major world title in boxing."

Today's Internets Sabbath Tomfoolery.

Three Democratic myths used to demean the Paul filibuster | Glenn Greenwald | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk: "Comencing immediately upon the 9/11 attack, the US government under two successive administrations has spent 12 straight years inventing and implementing new theories of government power in the name of Terrorism. Literally every year since 9/11 has ushered in increased authorities of exactly the type Americans are inculcated to believe only exist in those Other, Non-Free societies: ubiquitous surveillance, impenetrable secrecy, and the power to imprison and even kill without charges or due process. Even as the 9/11 attack recedes into the distant past, the US government still finds ways continuously to increase its powers in the name of Terrorism while virtually never relinquishing any of the power it acquires. So inexorable has this process been that the Obama administration has already exercised the power to target even its own citizens for execution far from any battlefield, and the process has now arrived at its inevitable destination: does this due-process-free execution power extend to US soil as well?"

Three Democratic myths used to demean the Paul filibuster | Glenn Greenwald | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk: "All of this has taken place with very little public backlash: especially over the last four years. Worse, it has prompted almost no institutional resistance from the structures designed to check executive abuses: courts, the media, and Congress. Last week's 13-hour filibuster of John Brennan's confirmation as CIA director by GOP Sen. Rand Paul was one of the first - and, from the perspective of media attention, easily among the most effective -Congressional efforts to dramatize and oppose just how radical these Terrorism-justified powers have become. For the first time since the 9/11 attack, even lowly cable news shows were forced - by the Paul filibuster - to extensively discuss the government's extremist theories of power and to debate the need for checks and limits."

Three Democratic myths used to demean the Paul filibuster | Glenn Greenwald | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk: "All of this put Democrats - who spent eight years flamboyantly pretending to be champions of due process and opponents of mass secrecy and executive power abuses - in a very uncomfortable position. The politician who took such a unique stand in defense of these principles was not merely a Republican but a leading member of its dreaded Tea Party wing, while the actor most responsible for the extremist theories of power being protested was their own beloved leader and his political party."

Reposts below.  Don't care.  Funny.