Training.

8/20 - Bas Rutten MMA Workout/Boxing/Shadowboxing - 10x2m rounds
8/19 - UBW - bench/pushups, rows/chins/hyperx, press/laterals/halos, curls, pushdowns/ovr x
8/18 - pushups, deep breathing, pull aparts, pulldown - circuit x4
8/17 - 20m treadmill intervals, leg press, calf raises, hyperx
8/16 - dips, pulldowns, flyes, row, pushdowns, curls, press/laterals, leg/knee raise, hyperx
8/15 - pushups, deep breathing, pulldowns, pull aparts, bi/tri DT, neck, hyperx, hip thrusts, twisting situps, hindu squats, air squats, calf raise, dislocates, pull aparts
8/14 - pushups/feet elevated - chins - hyperextensions - shoulder press - curls - tricep extensions - pull aparts - dislocates

Ron Paul - Jesus = Gary Johnson [with whom I seem to agree on damn near everything political.]

Gary Johnson Bets Big on New Hampshire - Reason Magazine:

"...Johnson also ran through his policy positions. “I believe fundamentally in the right for a woman to choose an abortion. I happen to believe in evolution.” He said that drug prohibition is the source of “75 percent of the violence” along the U.S.-Mexico border, and that “if we can’t connect the dots between prohibition and violence now, I don’t know that we ever will.” Johnson also dismissed the idea of building a wall (or a fence, or a moat) along the border, and called instead for a simplification of U.S. immigration policy, and for the estimated 12 million undocumented workers currently residing in the United States to receive work visas—”not green cards or citizenship.”

“I believe in global warming and that it’s man-made,” Johnson said. He doesn’t however, believe in regulatory schemes to reduce carbon emissions or greenhouse gases, saying that such policies would harm businesses while doing little to help the environment. Besides, he added cheekily, “in the future, the sun will grow to encompass the Earth. Global warming is in our future.”

Johnson reiterated that our involvement with Libya was a huge mistake, that the U.S. should leave Iraq and Afghanistan immediately, that the question of who will fill the power vacuums in those two countries will have to be answered sooner or later, and that the U.S. might as well answer it now. He also said that there is no reason the U.S. should have 100,000 troops in Europe, and that he would “have to have the case made to me that we need any troops there at all.”

“I would’ve never established the [Department of Homeland Security] or the [Transportation Security Administration],” Johnson said. “I would’ve left security to the airlines, and I dare say traveling today would still be as safe...

As for his first act as president, Johnson said that he would not rest until he’d passed a balanced budget. “We went to the moon, we can balance the federal budget.”

When he’d finished his speech, Johnson, ever the nice guy, opened the floor “for questions, comments, and any insults you may have.”

“Maybe as a result of today,” he said at the end of the Q&A, “you’ll walk out of here saying, ‘He doesn’t stand a chance, but I like what he has to say.’””

You know the whole game is rigged, right? - "Matt Taibbi: Senior SEC investigators order routine destruction of records, promote “self policing,” take jobs with the companies they “investigate.”"

Via BoingBoing:

"In his latest feature, he looks at the way that the SEC, America's financial regulator, has combined "self-policing" of criminal finance firms with a policy of destroying all records of previous investigations to produce an world in which no one has been punished for the vast financial crimes that brought the world to its knees..."

Truth - "Knowledge is power. The power to..."

Summer Vacation 2011, Phase IV - Endgame.

D.C. and Busch Gardens, VA.

Beer.  Sausage.  Awesome.

Super Happy Fun Dress Up Play Time!  [Baachan would be proud.]

Roller coasters are the best.

Fear Us.

More pictures here...  

"What makes me libertarian is what makes me an atheist -- I don't know. If I don't know, I don't believe."

I don't know, so I'm an atheist libertarian - CNN.com:

"...What makes me libertarian is what makes me an atheist -- I don't know. If I don't know, I don't believe. I don't know exactly how we got here, and I don't think anyone else does, either. We have some of the pieces of the puzzle and we'll get more, but I'm not going to use faith to fill in the gaps. I'm not going to believe things that TV hosts state without proof...

And I don't think anyone really knows how to help everyone. I don't even know what's best for me. Take my uncertainty about what's best for me and multiply that by every combination of the over 300 million people in the United States and I have no idea what the government should do.

President Obama sure looks and acts way smarter than me, but no one is 2 to the 300 millionth power times smarter than me. No one is even 2 to the 300 millionth times smarter than a squirrel...

It's amazing to me how many people think that voting to have the government give poor people money is compassion. Helping poor and suffering people is compassion. Voting for our government to use guns to give money to help poor and suffering people is immoral self-righteous bullying laziness.

People need to be fed, medicated, educated, clothed, and sheltered, and if we're compassionate we'll help them, but you get no moral credit for forcing other people to do what you think is right. There is great joy in helping people, but no joy in doing it at gunpoint.

People try to argue that government isn't really force. You believe that? Try not paying your taxes. (This is only a thought experiment -- suggesting on CNN.com that someone not pay his or her taxes is probably a federal offense, and I'm a nut, but I'm not crazy.). When they come to get you for not paying your taxes, try not going to court. Guns will be drawn. Government is force -- literally, not figuratively.

I don't believe the majority always knows what's best for everyone. The fact that the majority thinks they have a way to get something good does not give them the right to use force on the minority that don't want to pay for it. If you have to use a gun, I don't believe you really know jack. Democracy without respect for individual rights sucks. It's just ganging up against the weird kid, and I'm always the weird kid.

How did we get here and how do we save everyone? I don't know, but I'm doing the best I can..."

Mmmm... philosophy.

"Dear Parents..." - You're not paying attention.

"Why I Won't Join Your Movement."

Summer Vacation 2011, Phase III - The Final Dimension.

My Japanese cousin wanted an "American" picture. Me, standing alone in an airport counts, apparently.

Turning my cousin into a Japanese Biker Gal.

Brownies and Beer. For dinner. Somewhere, 8 year old me is cheering. We did it, little dude. We did it.

Pizzapocalypse aftermath. Garden Fresh, All the Meats and a Hawaiian. Decadent, even.

Definitely making the trip back to Liberia in the luggage, umeshu for the Mrs and some nigorizake for me.

More pics here.

Training.

8/13 - LB Circuit 4x30 - hindu squats, air squats, calf raises, elevated hip thrusters + burnout set/finisher/same exercises x75 reps [rest/pause]

8/12 - Bas Rutten MMA Workout - Boxing - shadowboxing, 10x2m rounds

Mobility - hip thrusts, dislocates, chest pulls

Calisthenics/Dynamic Tension/Resistance Band - pushups, pulldowns, pullaparts, deep breathing, band presses, band curls

Pic via FITBOMB: It's Not That Hard, People

Inspiring/Motivating...  Via See how this 34 Year Old Mother got her Hot Bikini Model Body and How to get a Hot Bikini Model Mom Body Transformation | Hitch Fit Online Personal Training

"I'm zen-ish." - Charlie Crews

Charlie Crews: We have to use his own strength against him.
Dani Reese: His strength, what's his strength?
Crews: His weakness.
Reese: His weakness is his strength?
Crews: Exactly, it's like the one-handed clap.
Reese: Are you really zen?
Crews: I'm zen-ish.

Some days are just like...

Leave it to an Asian girl to do all the critical thinking.

Plus, you know, funny.

This - "...libertarianism is about a default preference for the freedom to peaceably pursue happiness as we define it without interference from government."

I need to pick up this book.  Hopeful, rather than critical, libertarianism.  If only I could clear the other dozen or so books I'm reading out of the queue.

Declaration of Independents – Part 1 | Nobody's Business:

"At it’s root, libertarianism is about a default preference for the freedom to peaceably pursue happiness as we define it without interference from government. It’s the belief that the burden of proof should rest not on the individual who wants to sell lemonade, paint his or her house purple, hop on an airplane, ingest intoxicants, or marry someone from the same sex (though preferably not in that order) but on any government seeking to thwart or control such victimless activities.

Like the magazine we write for, we agitate for the aspirational goal of “free minds and free markets,” celebrating a world of expanding choice — in lifestyles, identities, goods, work arrangements, and more — and exploring the institutions, policies, and attitudes necessary for maximizing their proliferation. We are happy warriors against busybodies, elites, and gatekeepers who insist on dictating how other people should live their lives...

Within the broadest possible parameters, we believe that you should be able to think what you want, live where you want, trade for what you want, eat what you want, smoke what you want, and wed whom you want. You should also be willing to shoulder the responsibilities entailed by your actions...  as basic principles, they go a hell of a long way to creating a world that is tolerant, free, prosperous, vibrant, and interesting."

One part insane, one part awesome. - "Phoenix Jones, Real-Life Superhero."

After spending most of the article [lightly] poking fun, it comes to this, which is actually kind of inspiring.

Phoenix Jones, Real-Life Superhero: Newsmakers: GQ:

"...At this, one of the gang heads toward us. If you were watching from across the road, it would seem as if he just wanders past, but in fact he whispers something as he does: 'You keep staying on our block, we gonna have to show you what the burner do...'

...The men get closer.

"Are we leaving or are we standing?" says Phoenix.

"We're standing," says Ghost.

"We're standing," says Pitch Black.

"You're willing to die for this shit?" the first guy, who seems to be the leader, is yelling. "You're willing to DIE for this shit? You guys are dumb motherfuckers. I don't even know what to say. You guys are fucking stupid." He stares at Phoenix. A moment passes. This is what I imagine a standoff feels like the instant before the shooting starts. But then his voice softens. "If you guys are going to stand here and die for it, I guess we're going to have to walk home. We should shoot your ass, but I guess we've got to go home."

And they do. They disperse. They go home.

Stunned, I look at Phoenix. He suddenly seems smaller than six feet one, lighter than 205 pounds, younger than twentysomething..."

I love karma - "Juvenile justice bribery earns judge 28-year term."

Juvenile justice bribery earns judge 28-year term - World - TheChronicleHerald.ca:

"A longtime northeastern Pennsylvania judge was ordered to spend nearly three decades in prison for his role in a massive juvenile justice bribery scandal that prompted the state’s high court to toss thousands of convictions.

Former Luzerne County Judge Mark Ciavarella Jr. was sentenced Thursday to 28 years in federal prison for taking $1 million in bribes from the builder of a pair of juvenile detention centres in a case that became known as 'kids for cash.'

Ciavarella was motionless when the decision was announced and had no reaction. From behind him, where family members of some of the children he sentenced sat, someone cried out 'Woo-hoo!'"

Training.

8/11 - pushups, pullups [grip variations], bb row, deadlift, 1A db row, hyperextensions, curls, heavybag lift [grass to alt shoulders], farmer's walk/heavybag hug
8/10 - GUTS BW Circuit - pushups, situps, hindu squats, situps, pushups, MILO dynamic tension - mobility work/band dislocates, chest pulls, hip thrusts
8/9 - Bas Rutten MMA Workout - Shadowboxing - Boxing - 7x3m rounds
Circuit x3 - hindu pushups, hindu squats, bridge

"Train Insane or Remain the Same."  Outstanding fitness athlete Vanessa Tib and her training results.

New Desktop Wallpaper.

Exemplary body control & strength.

"Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's because midichlorians are clearly what Obi-Wan meant when he said the Force both binds us and penetrates us." - Religious People Are Nerds

"Have you ever the horrible misfortune of telling a nerd you're not quite into the thing that he's super-duper into?"

This - "Is “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” a TRUE STORY?"

Good movie, too.

Via TOM THE DANCING BUG: Is “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” a TRUE STORY? (Yes, and you’re living it.) – Boing Boing