Western Civ 101.

The Gospel According to St. Carlin.

"It's a weird thing that you do when you make nature against the law."

Great documentary.  The Union: The Business Behind Getting High - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "The film explores the growth, sale and trafficking of cannabis. The documentary examines the underground market by interviewing growers, police officers, criminologists, psychologists, economists, doctors, politicians and pop culture icons, revealing how the trade is booming despite being a criminal enterprise. The history of cannabis and the reasons for its present prohibition are discussed, often comparing it to the prohibition of alcohol in the United States in the 1920s, suggesting that gang drug warfare and other negative aspects associated with cannabis are a result of prohibition, not the drug itself. The gangs that grow and traffic the drugs are likened to those that appeared in major US cities during Prohibition, with the intention of profiting from the sale of illegal alcohol. The film answers many questions about cannabis, including the purported health effects of cannabis use, the gateway drug theory, and what could happen if cannabis was legalized. The film also discusses the medicinal value of the cannabis plant and what the pharmaceutical industry stands to lose from cannabis legalization."

The Union: The Business Behind Getting High (2007) - Quotes - IMDb: "If you've been caught - a young person, who's had so much as one marijuana cigarette - you can't get a loan or grant from the government to go to college. If you've been convicted of murdering somebody or raping someone, no problem; you go right down, they give you the loan. I guess the message is: It's okay to rape, and murder and pillage, just don't smoke a joint afterwards."

DVD here.  Or low-res embed below.

"We pendulum between our need for peace and growth and our need for destruction and re-creation."

'Comics Will Become A Lasting Aspect Of My Output' - Chuck Palahniuk Talks Fight Club 2, Plus Preview - Bleeding Cool : "“Evil” is such a pejorative word. Let’s just say that people crave change. We pendulum between our need for peace and growth and our need for destruction and re-creation. Most stories begin at the point where an existing peaceful system is failing."

Training.

5/26 - press [repPR 70/154x8], push press, btn press, gtg/chins

"When the end comes, nothing's worse than regret."

Training.

5/22 - squats [repPR 110/242x11], knee raises

Training.

5/21 - bench [100/220x11 repPR], chins, pushups

Bodybuilder vs. Football Player: 315 lb Bench Press Challenge

"The experts were wrong. Completely and utterly wrong. Damagingly wrong."

Sorry seems to be the hardest word | Dr. Malcolm Kendrick: "Organisations... have been haranguing the entire population of the world about the dangers of cholesterol, saturated fat, and salt for the last thirty years. Foodstuffs which they now seem happy to admit, cause no harm, indeed they are almost certainly good for you. 

At the same time, they have bombarded us with messages to consume sugar(s). They usually call them carbohydrates, which is disingenuous in the extreme. Carbohydrates are all just sugars in disguise. A disguise that the digestive system can strip off in a few minutes. Yes, all those healthy fruit and vegetables are simply extended chains of simple sugar(s). And once they enter your digestive system, your body cares not whether or not you ate a carrot or a sugar cube. It delivers them into your bloodstream as sugar [primarily glucose and fructose]. 

 Now there have been a number of people, including me, who have been saying for years that cholesterol and saturated fat are perfectly healthy, salt is good for you and sugar (in large amounts) is bad. We have all been dismissed as cranks and idiots who would have caused the deaths of thousands of people, if they had ever dared to listen to what we had to say. It turns out the cranks and the mavericks were right. The experts were wrong. Completely and utterly wrong. Damagingly wrong. Whilst the words ‘I told you so’ are temptingly easy to say; and saying them should be resisted. There is another, single word, that appears impossible to say. Sorry."

Not that awkward of a moment, really.

"You've been busy."

Fitz, you dry-humored sonofabitch.

You never know.

"Microaggressions."

'Diversity Officer' - ‘Kill All White Men.'

Diversity Officer Who Tweeted ‘Kill All White Men’ Deserves Ridicule, Not Arrest - Hit & Run : Reason.com: "Some students at Goldsmiths, University of London have created a petition demanding the resignation and arrest of Bahar Mustafa, the campus’s diversity officer, because, well, she said a lot of hateful, racist things. And she should be mocked for them—relentlessly. She should not, however, face charges. 

Her statements include some pretty troubling stuff. Mustafa unapologetically defended her use of the hashtag “kill all white men,” according to The Independent: “It's a way of reclaiming the power from the trauma many of us experience as queers, women, people of colour, who are on the receiving end of racism, misogyny and homophobia daily," she added. 

 She recently instructed men and white people to steer clear of a diversity event she helped organize: "Also, if you've been invited and you're a man and/or white PLEASE DON’T COME just cos I invited a bunch of people and hope you will be responsible enough to respect this is a BME Women and non-binary event only." 

 Amidst charges that she is racist and sexist toward white men, Mustafa explained in a recorded message that this was literally impossible: I, an ethnic minority woman, cannot be racist or sexist towards white men because racism and sexism describe structures of privilege based on race and gender and therefore women of colour and minority genders cannot be racist or sexist, since we do not stand to benefit from such a system. 

 She also made a bunch of ridiculous claims about the need for “liberation movements” on college campuses and flatly denied that her job was to represent all students, since “all people… by virtue of their gender, race, and class, have opposing interests.” To deny the legitimacy of any of this nonsense “is to commit an act of violence,” she said. “Resistance to our resistance is futile.”"

"...the notion that art and creative expression can somehow be de-linked from commercial pressures and expectations is bullshit cooked up in the Romantic era, mostly by artists with trust funds or deep-pocketed patrons."

Yes, Mad Men's Don Draper Created the "I'd Like to Give the World a Coke" Ad [Updated with grim reminder of M*A*S*H's terrible finale] - Hit & Run : Reason.com: "Like the Pop Art era that it partly chronicles, one of its most interesting ideas is precisely the notion that art and creative expression can somehow be de-linked from commercial pressures and expectations is bullshit cooked up in the Romantic era, mostly by artists with trust funds or deep-pocketed patrons. Rather, art and commerce are inextricably linked, especially in popular forms that seek an audience in a marketplace."

Training.

5/19 - deadlift, situps, back xt, walk, steam

Why Having to Start Over – AGAIN – Is Great | Nerd Fitness: "Every time we try to get fit and fail, we learn a little bit more about how the controls work. Maybe we lost a few pounds with strategy A, but failed with strategy B. If we go to the gym for a few weeks and give up, when we come back next time we are familiar with the inner workings, and don’t need to get over the fear of exercising in a public place like the first time. Each time you start over, you’re getting closer to that point of making things stick."

"It's about the questions, not the answers."

"Age of the Geek, baby. We run the world."

Thailand gets it.

Training.

5/18 - press, chins, dips

Training.

5/17 - squats, leg raise, lunges [make up PT for Fri's missed wkout.]