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.
Scientists discover laws of nature by acquiring evidence that some apparent regularity is not only never violated but also could never have been violated. For instance, when every ingenious effort to create a perpetual-motion machine turned out to fail, scientists concluded that such a machine was impossible – that energy conservation is a natural law, a rule of nature’s game rather than an accident. In drawing this conclusion, scientists adopted various counterfactual conditionals, such as that, even if they had tried a different scheme, they would have failed to create a perpetual-motion machine. That it is impossible to create such a machine (because energy conservation is a law of nature) explains why scientists failed every time they tried to create one.
I've had to come into my NYC offices this week for executive presentations. Catching a train each morning at 7am, the usual pre-covid commuter grind. Hopefully going back to that in some format. Two days ago, however, it wasn't the usual grind. As I reached the platform and waited for the train, I noticed a young man with one eye in uniform, with his battle gear in bags next to him, and the Ukrainian flag on his shoulder.
I asked him the obvious question, "Are you headed over?" He smiled and said "I have a choice. But my friends and family do not. So, I have no choice. I have to go."
I wished him good luck and a safe return, and he replied "I am Ukrainian, but born in Russia. I had to fight my way out of Russia to get to Kyiv in 2002. I joined my extended family there, got my citizenship, and came to the US in 2008. I am very happy to be here, but I can't ignore what I left behind."
We chatted a bit, and he told me a few stories his friends and family were sharing from the war zone. He followed that up with a brief "I don't trust the news here any more than the news the Russians tell. It's not telling us everything, just one side." Then he showed me his coffee container, which had an "Occupy Mars" sticker on it. He smiled and said "this would be better."
I smiled wistfully, shook his hand and told him to come home safe. He replied "There is no other choice."
This morning, as I rode in, I thought about where he was at that moment. I have no doubt he is in Ukraine. I wonder how close to the front lines he is, and I wondered at how different circumstances lead us to different situations - that luck is a huge part of life. I'm doing executive presentations, and he's hoofing to the front lines. I couldn't fathom the vast differences in our priorities.
Unfortunately, this isn't a war that was inevitable. It was avoidable. I don't believe Putin is a madman, and I don't believe he was right to invade. Sadly, in today's world many people feel these two viewpoints are contradictory and saying it means you're pro-Putin, pro-Russia. I'm not. I'm just realistic. There were paths to avoiding conflict, and we chose to not follow them. This costs young men like my train platform friend dearly.
We may sit here and comment on how the war hurts us because of price and supply chain disruptions. People will remind you that your home isn't being bombed, your family isn't at risk, so consider yourself lucky. I disagree. While our problems are first-world problems, they are important. If we don't worry about them, and we don't deal with them effectively, our first-world problems will become very big problems just like the one he headed off to. His reality can become ours, sometimes when we least expect.
It is normal for guys to want to be strong and to look good (ie appealing to females or imposing to males). It is instinctual. Body-building is the extreme version, but is a harmless hobby for some men (and some women too).
Rippetoe speaks mainly to men, but I think his strength-training advice applies just as well to women. His focus on strong=big, however, is only for guys who want to get "big." Most guys who pursue general fitness have no major desire to look conspicuously jacked, and women can't do it if they try. When it comes to appearance alone, it seems to me as if men and women want to look athletic.
When it comes to general fitness for life, muscle hypertrophy is unimportant although some amount of muscle growth will occur with any balanced fitness program. (As our readers know, our recommendations are 1/3 HIIT cardio, 1/3 mixed calisthenics, and 1/3 stressful weights for strength. This is a recipe for looking, and being, in athletic shape.)
1-2 lbs/week is enough. Sustaining a 2 lb/week loss is difficult, might be too much. Furthermore, fat loss is never steady.
That loss is almost entirely about nutrition. The reason to include exercise, or fitness training, is to minimize muscle loss while getting rid of the fat burden.
He has been an enjoyable author, also a crank and sentimentalist. I like those types:
“I do not see that computers are bringing us one step nearer to anything that does matter to me: peace, economic justice, ecological health, political honesty, family and community stability, good work.”
Most of you remember our Urban Hike as a springtime event. With Covid shutting down the 2020 expedition (tentatively The Bronx), we went with an autumnal perambulation in 2021 through Greenwich Village.
BD and I have communicated and feel we can get back on a vernal schedule and we're thinking the Upper East Side and Roosevelt Island.
If you're like me, you've probably never taken the tramway. And Roosevelt Island has a subway stop now, so it can be easy-on/easy-off. The Upper East Side has many good locations, and The Met may even be a great starting point. Lots to see up there and I'll start mapping it out.
For me, late April and early May are out, due to vacation. But early April can work, as well as the second week of May (3rd week is the Preakness, where I meet friends every year, so that's out for me, too). BD and I will find a date and get back to you soon.
We had a great turnout in the fall, so I hope we can have another good one this spring!
4:1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness,
4:2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished.
4:3 The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread."
4:4 Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'One does not live by bread alone.'"
4:5 Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.
4:6 And the devil said to him, "To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please.
4:7 If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours."
4:8 Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.'"
4:9 Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here,
4:10 for it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,'
4:11 and 'On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'"
4:12 Jesus answered him, "It is said, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"
4:13 When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.
The federal government has infinite amounts of free money to hand out to solve every conceivable problem of the people. There are no costs, no downsides, no tradeoffs — or at least none worth mentioning. Name the issue, and the feds will create a “program” and pass out the money.
Sad, but Ukraine never had a prayer and that has been clear for months.
What comes after is unclear but the Ukraine will be back in the Russian fold instead of moving towards the EU and the NATO (aka American) fold. The efforts of the latter to play this game were not likely to succeed because Russia would never put up with that. It was said repeatedly.
Deadly Fashion Trends from the Georgian Era.
Salt Cod has been an important export of the northeastern US for centuries. I think most of it went to Spain, Portugal, and Italy.