We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.
The slightest glance at political, entertainment, and business headlines demonstrates that the bourgeois virtues of restraint, frugality, reticence, self-control, self-discipline, and fidelity are not only absent in our public life. They are denigrated. Nor is this a mere political phenomenon. The liberation of the sovereign self transcends race and creed, religion and party. It has bloated our waistlines along with our national deficits, tossed families into a spin cycle of disorientation and breakdown, and endangered and addled children. And though a great many families of schooling and wealth have been able to insulate themselves from the gale-force winds of instant gratification and narcissistic self-expression, those in the middle- and lower-ends of our society do not have the luxuries of loving two-parent families, good schools, safe neighborhoods, well-paying jobs, and welcoming churches.
The idea of settlements for congressional misconduct being paid secretly with taxpayer money in a republic is absurd. On what planet does a government that makes even a pretense of accountability allow the miscreants in its ranks to engage in malfeasance and stick the public with the bill without even admitting their misdeeds?
“I come from the poor people and I’ve been here working my whole stinking career for people who don’t have a chance, and I really resent anybody saying that I’m just doing this for the rich. Give me a break. I think you guys overplay that all the time and it gets old, and frankly, you ought to quit it,” said Hatch, clearly agitated.
Let’s be clear: all claims that a person’s tribe or indigenous nationality can be determined from their genomes are scientifically inaccurate. First, this is because there simply are no currently known genetic markers that allow us to identify individual tribes or nations; although we see geographically patterned genetic variation throughout the Americas in ancient and contemporary populations which allows us to differentiate them (as done in this study), genetic lineages are not tribal or nation-specific.
Entirely rebuilt. Perfect example of something I want but don't need. Golly, I know everything about that tough old machine. It will run forever. The Cub is identical, basically, to the larger version that I grew up with. Just shrunk.
... you should not bother to tell us how you feel about a topic. Tell us what you think about it. If you can’t think yet, that’s O.K.. Tell us what Aristotle thinks, or Hammurabi thinks, or H.L.A. Hart thinks. Borrow opinions from those whose opinions are worth considering. As Aristotle teaches us in the reading for today, men and women who are enslaved to the passions, who never rise above their animal natures by practicing the virtues, do not have worthwhile opinions. Only the person who exercises practical reason and attains practical wisdom knows how first to live his life, then to order his household, and finally, when he is sufficiently wise and mature, to venture opinions on how to bring order to the political community.
One of my goals for you this semester is that each of you will encounter at least one idea that you find disagreeable and that you will achieve genuine disagreement with that idea. I need to explain what I mean by that because many of you have never been taught how to disagree...
A balanced fitness program at any age has to include Strength (resistance, mainly the powerlifts for time-efficiency), Calisthenics, and Cardio. (As I have said, 5 1/2-6 hrs/week is all it takes to get into fighting shape - 2 hrs of mostly heavy wts, 2 hrs of calis, and 1 1/2-2 hrs of cardio.)
Cardio training is for general energy and endurance - but it is also to help you survive your first heart attack and to fend off senility. Weight training and Calisthenics do not require any age adjustments, but cardio training generally does because your Maximum Heart Rate (MHR) tends to decline with age (or in my case, is actually suppressed by my BP pills).
Alzheimer's is such a common occurrence in ageing that it might be considered a normal variant like hypertension. It used to be called plain "senility."
What factors are associated with increased risk?
- Age (obviously) - Family history, mainly maternal history, of dementia. The genetic components may be necessary but insufficient predispositions. - Overweight - Being female - Lack of daily exercise - A wrong diet: The researchers generally recommend a diet which includes daily wine, berries, olive oil, and leafy greens but is low in sweets, dairy, non-berry fruit, and other carbs.
nb: Correlation does not mean causation. These things just represent the current knowledge. Also, medical researchers never include "Bad luck" as a disease risk factor, but it is usually a major one in most ailments.
You can actually spend $250 on a jump rope. That's not necessary. Those are for the jump rope experts, the show-offs, pro jump teachers, and advanced jumpers who can do triple-unders.
As we have posted in the past, jumping is an excellent almost zero-impact (you land on your toes with soft knees) cardio stressor (roughly equivalent to sprinting depending on your turn speed), and there are countless step variations to work on to keep it fun (one-footed, spread-leg, running man, split jumps, skipping, etc etc). Varying the speed and extending the duration also keep it interesting. If you can do a minute or two of double unders, I tip my hat to ya.
Jumping is not just for guys, but it's mostly guys who do it to train their athleticism. Watching a skilled jumper vary his steps and speeds seemingly effortlessly (it's not), as if almost weightless, is a thing of beauty. I use jumping as an HIIT component of my Cardio or Calisthenics days. I only go for a few minutes per set, but good jumpers go for 10, 20, or 30 minutes. I just do not have that kind of endurance....yet.
We recommend the Rx Smart Gear ropes. You have to get the right length for your height, and you have to pick a cable weight.The lightest ones are not for amateurs, and the heaviest ones are a bitch but a heck of a one-minute cardio workout. If a beginner, go for a beginner rope.
Great, if you assume that inside each little brat is a hidden Euclid or Archimedes or Newton just waiting for the chance to emerge. Since the odds are strongly against that, we have instituted the concept of "education," meaning learning what much smarter people have already figgered out.
“The sizeable portion of the Vietnam age group who declined to support the counter-culture agenda, and especially the men and women who opted to serve in the military during the Vietnam War, are quite different from their peers who for decades have claimed to speak for them. In fact, they are much like the World War II generation itself. For them Woodstock was a sideshow, college protesters were spoiled brats who would have benefited from having to work a few jobs in order to pay their tuition, and Vietnam represented not an intellectual exercise in draft avoidance or protest marches but a battlefield that was brutal as those their fathers faced in World War II."
Cuttyhunk seems remote, but it is only ten minutes by air from New Bedford. I don't know how well Amazon Prime works there. Cell service? Don't count on it. Around 40 people live on Cuttyhunk year-round.
Prof. Peterson seems in pretty good shape for a late-50s academic. Here's his daily routine: 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, and a 10km run EVERY SINGLE DAY!
That is a hell of a lot better than a lazy and sedentary schlub, but it's not a program we would recommend. It's not varied enough, for one thing. Repetition builds efficiency, and thus reduces effectiveness. Anyway, the Prof has high vitality and productivity so it works for him.
Years ago, I ran 10k every morning in the dark. A complete waste of time even though I enjoyed the supposedly "healthy" ritual. Since I know Peterson's IQ is at least 20 points above mine, I would not presume to give him fitness advice though.
Here's his advice to younger people, which is basically something like "Do anything, do not feel "above" any sort of work, grab any opportunity, be humble. Life is very difficult so you need to be in it as much as you can."
(Anita) Hill was believed by the people who wanted to keep Clarence Thomas off the Supreme Court and not by those who wanted him on. Paula Jones was disbelieved by those who wanted to keep Bill Clinton in the White House, but believed by those who wanted him out.
Human joints in general are delicate structures. Part of the reason is because we were not entirely designed to walk upright, but part of the reason is because we were not designed to live as long as we do or to be as heavy as many of us are. You can argue that our bodies were designed to live around 40 years - long enough to breed asap and raise some little ones like the other great apes.
While muscles respond well to stress, joints do not. The worst thing you can do to your hips and knees is to be overweight. That is why, in the UK and many other European nations, if you are overweight they will leave you a cripple and tell you it's your own fault. Government medicine will buy you a 12-Euro cane. In Euroland today you see people with canes, walkers, and wheelchairs who would be playing tennis and hiking in the US.
"Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help" was the usual warning. But somewhere along the line conventional wisdom discarded this injunction and media began to create the myth that there were special people to rule over us. Celebrities. A cultural elite. Role models. The only adults in the room. The smartest woman in the world. As social media exposes celebrity after celebrity as flawed, we are relearning just how fragile that foundation is.
Bird hunting today with what I am told will be maybe the best dog we've ever used. Pheasants for Thanksgiving?
A balanced fitness program at any age has to include Strength (resistance, mainly the powerlifts for time-efficiency), Calisthenics, and Cardio. (As I have said, 5 1/2-6 hrs/week is all it takes to get into fighting shape - 2 hrs of mostly heavy wts, 2 hrs of calis, and 1 1/2-2 hrs of cardio.)
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