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.
I have warned about people who make New year resolutions to exercise but, in case you are one of those who do so, do me a favor and get a Stress Echo first if you are a male over 40 or in bad shape over 30, a post-menopausal woman, or anybody who fatigues with either extended activity or exertion.
A Stress Echo not only can identify heart issues before they appear in daily life, but can give you a metabolic physical stress tolerance baseline. Most Stress Echo protocols push you to your max unless you have prior identified cardio-pulmonary disease, so the attending cardiologist will be able to give you a thorough cardio fitness assessment and a numerical metabolic fitness level. (This test is required regularly for firemen, pilots, athletes, etc.) Serious fitness trainers also want an OK before pushing their clients hard.
"Donald Trump would not be facing any of this so-called legal jeopardy that he’s facing today had he never run for the presidency. And if he had lost, he wouldn’t be facing any of this. But this encompasses the Department of Justice. That’s the SDNY. U.S. attorney, Southern District New York, that’s the Department of Justice. Robert Mueller, special counsel, Department of Justice, the FBI, intelligence community, they are still unified, and they are working hand in hand to destroy Donald Trump. They will not stop.
If they have to destroy his business, they will. If they have to destroy his family, they will. They want to. They are pursuing Donald Trump with more fervor and energy than I have seen them pursue terrorists..
...I have seen people in the DOJ and the Obama DOJ have more solicitousness and more tolerance and more understanding for people who participated in 9/11 than they have for Donald Trump. It is flat-out amazing. And then you add to that group of people the entirety of the mainstream media, and I’ve never seen anything like this.
I was alive during the pursuit of Richard Nixon, and I’m telling you officially now that the pursuit of Richard Nixon pales in comparison to what is going on here."
Even if you are disgusted with Trump's personality, nobody should condone these political uses of government power. After all, it could be your guy next time - or you.
Aren't these two things in life we need to protect the most? Besides the future well-being of family, of course, but that's a want-to, not a need-to.
I protect my public reputation like a demon. Not because of morals so much as because my work and future depends on it. Morals too, I suppose. I have seen all too many people permanently damage their lives with just one error of judgement. Everybody talks...and few are forgiving.
Another reputational issue just has to do with a likable, engaging personality. As far as I can tell, there's not much anybody can do about that. An unpleasant or odd personality style is unfortunate in life.
When it comes to health/fitness/vigor, I can not claim to be a Maggie's paragon in that department. At this point, just an hour daily of no-intensity cardio for the past two months. Have to start somewhere, or not start at all. Flabby muscles are neither appealing nor functional.
Are you kidding? I view bread and crackers, etc., mainly as food delivery vehicles. Other than the rare sandwich, in an Italian restaurant I like hard-crust white bread soaked in olive oil with roasted garlic schmeared on top. I dislike other than white bread because other breads interfere with the flavors of the real food. Exception: Pastrami on rye.
A recovering Lefty claims that his ex-brethren consist mostly of malcontents who are sad or angry that reality is not as they wish it to be.
Instead of developing a relationship to God and a recognition of one’s own imperfection, we wanted our non-anarchist families and friends to develop their “analysis” and recognize their complicity in the evil of capitalism. These non-anarchist friends grew increasingly sparse the longer I was an anarchist. They didn’t see how terrible the world was, and they used problematic language that revealed hopelessly bad politics. Frustrated with them, I retreated further and further into the grey echo-chamber of my “chosen family.”
If you do, you are statistically almost certain to fail in an exercise program. If serious about it, you will begin today. Of course, January is when gyms make all their money and when they are busiest. By March, they have collected all those fees and are right back to their usual daily volume of people.
As they say, "Someday" is not one of the seven days of the week.
I want to say a few words about exercise goals because it only makes sense to define, or re-define, exercise goals. I don't mean specific goals, like being able to bench press 300 lbs, or to run 10 miles at a 7.5 mph pace. I mean general goals. Your goals will determine your program.
For examples:
- Specific goals, like the two I mentioned above, require very specific training approaches designed by experts.
- Weight loss: Forget exercise. Eat right and body fat will melt away. Some cardio might help prime the pump, but not necessary.
- Psychological goals. Any form of daily exertion (not walking) is excellent for mental attitude.
- Body-building. This requires a specific sort of program to look buff. Focus a lot on isolated muscles. It's not functional so much as an aesthetic. I think it's silly, but to each his or her own.
- Strength training. This entails 4 days/week of heavy weights, powerlifts, with some accessory weight exercises.
- General conditioning for out of shape people. This is the bread and butter of professional trainers, and in some ways the most rewarding for them because these people, if dedicated, can make the most dramatic progress because they have so far to go. I have seen schlubby people make remarkable changes in one or two years. Including grandmas.
- "Functional fitness". This is the goal for most people aged 30-80, and why Crossfit is so popular. This is about building or even just maintaining strength, agility, balance, power, appearance, endurance, speed, athleticism, etc. for a vigorous life. All that is a lot to ask for, which is why we feel it takes 6-7 hours/week. It won't make you a marathoner or an impressive lifter, but should make you ready for anything life offers - especially sports and recreation.
The Maggie's Fitness For Life (where is that TM thing?) is for Functional Fitness. We sometimes have good ideas for conditioning, but once basic conditioning is achieved (ie fat control, ability to participate in exercise classes, ability to jog a mile, basic hand weights and cables) is where our ideas come into play. Calisthenics, Heavy weights, HIIT and Endurance Cardio.
Whatever "anti-aging" is, it sounds good to me. So fit those things into your program. What we feel is important, at least to us, is "Fitness for Life" which means Strength, Endurance, and Athleticism. So, without neglecting your telomeres, it's good to get balanced fitness so as to be as fully in life as possible.
No exercise can extend your life to any important degree (for life extension, try not being heavy, and getting full medical check-ups every few years) but a balanced fitness program can keep you active as long as you do not do too much road running. That destroys joints and cripples many people.
It's a centuries-old complaint that Christian morality detached from its religious roots can turn into a monstrous and terrifying thing. Take utilitarianism, take angry moralizers, take witch trials, take communism, and a hundred more examples of humanist evil.
Christianity is not primarily about morals and resistance to humanity's animal nature. I think Christ was clear about that in word and deed. I think he was clear about it, and that Paul elaborated on the religious truth that transcendent blessings like those of faith, mercy, love and kindness, hope and good cheer, are consequences nurtured through interactions with God and Christ through the Holy Spirit. Not rules, but secondary effects which can bind people together through God's graciousness and His tough sort of love.
As One Cosmos often explains, earthly gravity pulls us to the x-axis, the horizontal plane, of daily life and its struggles, but there is the vertical axis, the transcendent axis, available to us and for which we were born.
It's been part of my religious "journey" (I hate that smarmy expression) to come to realize that spiritual warfare is not Good vs Bad or Evil, but the inner battle of holding highest what is most high vs. the temptation to worship false idols. "I, me, mine," etc etc. Even pride in virtue is a false idol - it is about Self Love.
"Stop that, Bird Dog! No more preaching! You ain't no eddicated Preacher!" Well, ok, but Advent is our chance to be pregnant, in a spiritual sense, with holiness, and a time to have a dramatic chance to feel reborn ourselves as naked babies. That's the story of A Christmas Carol.
Matthew 18:2
2 He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. 3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Happy Advent. Whether my theology is correct or not.
3:1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene,
3:2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.
3:3 He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,
3:4 as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah, "The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
3:5 Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth;
3:6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'"
I think I missed Columbus Day while I was in Italy. Christoforo Columbo was, of course, from the Republic of Genoa. He spoke Italian and Spanish, and, I'd like to think, Portuguese too since he had a Portuguese mistress.
Anyway, when I think about Columbus I like to remember the details of our sailing cruise (yes, with sails) in 2015 from Lisbon down the coast to Morocco and then out to the Canary Islands where Columbus always loaded up stuff for his trans-Atlantic trips.
Evert time our craft left a harbor (Lisbon, Casablanca, Agadir, Tenerife, Palmas, Gomera, etc, our Captain would blast this Vangelis piece over the ship's speakers, so it is seared - seared - into my memory. After all, this was roughly the route that Columbus took on the beginnings of his trips to the West Indies. We saw his house in the Canaries. Still there.
Survey reveals 
Photo: 4 faiths celebrate in Haifa: Bahai, Christian, Jewish Muslim 
In one way or another, most books are about human nature. This one is now a best-seller: 
It's a centuries-old complaint that Christian morality detached from its religious roots can turn into a monstrous and terrifying thing. Take utilitarianism, take angry moralizers, take witch trials, take communism, and a hundred more examples of humanist evil.