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.
Take a ride on NYC's #7 Express train from Queens to Hudson Yards on the west side of Manhattan. This train passes by Citi Field, the US Tennis Center, Long Island City, etc.
Trade and technical schools are being praised and promoted by the Department of Education, corporate America, and industry associations. How well is the system working?
- My weekly Sunday before-church "cardio" workout: 10 min elliptical raising resistance every 60 seconds. 10 minutes Stairmaster, raising speed every 60 seconds, final minute slow. 45 minutes treadmill, rotating 2 min slow walk, 2 min high incline fast walk (10-12% incline), 2 min slow walk, 2 min 4 mph jog, 2 min slow walk, 2 min 7 mph run. Rinse and repeat.
- Watch that renewable energy talk we posted yesterday. I mostly agree with the guy, but I am not worried about "climate". Not one bit. I am a conservationist, not a climate wacko. Their priorities are screwed up.
- With snow cover mostly gone (for the moment, at least) a good chance for outdoor clean-up. Also, try to repair fence the damn fallen tree crushed in an ice storm a couple of weeks ago. A good day for real work, which is what we try to stay in shape for. I'll keep an eye out for our local breeding Bald Eagles overhead. Love seeing them hunting my rabbits and, I hope, the neighbors' cats.
And there is this: Boomer Ballads: Visions Of Johanna (perfection, beauty. Thanks for that masterpiece, Bob, because it enriched my life)
Finally, to make today complete, Van Morrison with The Chieftains. Cry if you must. Sheesh, I am not even Irish but there is so much soulful beauty in this world - The world is so cold, don't care nothing for your soul...:
3:17 Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us.
3:18 For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears.
3:19 Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things.
3:20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
3:21 He will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself.
4:1 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.
This Greenie guy came to realize the environmental damage of "renewables." Good for him. (h/t SDA). I am all in for nuke power too, but not because of climate. Just because it seems so obvious.
I am having fun learning about some of the technical aspects of aviation. (One thing I have been learning is that aviation is for solid, non-neurotic, practical, calm people with good mental clarity. There are surely personality types which are not suited for aviation.)
I was confused about the definitions of Classes A to E airspaces. Here are the definitions.
Piece Found At Ethiopian Airlines Crash Site Shows Jet Was Set To Dive. A screw-like device found in the wreckage of the Boeing 737 Max that crashed last Sunday in Ethiopia indicates the plane was configured to dive.
If Beto had an R after his name instead of a D, you’d hear he was boarding-school-attending judge’s son who dodged serious charges for the DUI & burglary, used eminent domain to gentrify poor Latino neighborhoods & married into a billionaire’s family.
Well, this year, (Mrs.) Zuckerberg noted, the magazine would aim to make sure that “at least [at least] 70 percent of our contributors be women and 20 percent of our writers be poc,” i.e., “people of color,” i.e., not white. (But isn’t race merely a “social construction”? No, silly, that was last year.) And just how are those percentages going to be achieved? Well, going forward, Eidolon will ask people pitching stories for “demographics,” i.e., are you black or white? Male or female? “I have no interest,” Zuckerberg sermonized, “in providing bland and false reassurances that we only care about good ideas and good writing and not who our authors are.” Who would doubt it? And what about merit? “[A]ppeals to merit,” she said, are “often . . . white supremacist dog-whistles.” So: “If you’re white and we publish you, you will know, for maybe the first time in your career, that it was because of the merit of your idea and not because you’re white.”
We’d like to know if there are any cases of anyone anywhere being published in a classics journal because he (or even she) was white. Still, Zuckerberg’s destruction of Eidolon as a serious journal does raise an interesting question about the level of masochism among white classicists, especially white male classicists. Why would anyone of that description who was not a masochist submit work to a journal that is self-confessedly hostile to them? Indeed, why would anyone not a masochist read it?
Stéphane Breitwieser robbed nearly 200 museums, amassed a collection of treasures worth more than $1.4 billion, and became perhaps the most prolific art thief in history. And as he reveals to GQ’s Michael Finkel, how Breitwieser managed to do all this is every bit as surprising as why.
A high-trust, traditionally homogenous community with a deep civil society marked by thrift, industriousness, and openness, Minnesota seemed like the ideal place to locate an indigent Somali population now estimated at 100,000.
These august American institutions have been so completely terrorized by something called the transgender rights community that that meekly acquiesce to any form of science denial. In this case, to biological science denial.
There’s little doubt, as many commentators would warn, that Trump’s rise would forever transform the Republican Party. I argued the very same. Yet, in the end, no institution would be changed by Trump’s victory quite like the Democratic Party...
I am a highly motivated Trump voter because the Democrats have motivated me up to my eyeballs. I have never been more motivated in my life, because the Democrats are terrifying me.
The muscles of the forearm are mainly about grip. Since they are about grip, they can be a limiting factor in strength development because if you can't hold onto something, you can't challenge it.
You depend on forearm strength for things like pullups, deadlifts, climbing ropes, and many other things in the gym and in life. We often neglect small muscle groups here (eg calves, forearms, biceps, triceps) because they get so much good use in compound exercises, but if the limiting factor in your deads, for example, is grip strength, you can work on it. After all, the mighty mighty deadlift is the best resistance exercise.
I do grip exercises regularly, but maybe not often enough. My forearms are skinny like Obama's. Good forearm strengtheners:
- Farmers Walks (with kettlebells or dumbbells, as heavy as tolerable). Squeeze that handle as hard as you can and stand up straight. It's a compound exercise, but grip is the limiting factor. To make it harder, wrap a towel around the handle and carry them by the towel.
- Those hand gripper things. Rogue Fitness sells them at all levels of challenge. People keep them on their desks for stress-relief. (Best way to use them is to squeeze and hold for 5-10 seconds.)
- Dumbbell or barbell overhand ("reverse") curls. Overhand curls are weaker than underhand curls. The curl at the top of ordinary underhand curls is all forearm stress too.
The muscles of the forearm are complex. These are just the posterior muscles - anterior muscles of forearm are below the fold:
- My weekly Sunday before-church "cardio" workout: 10 min elliptical raising resistance every 60 seconds. 10 minutes Stairmaster, raising speed every 60 seconds, final minute slow. 45 minutes treadmill, rotating 2 min slow walk, 2 min high incline fast walk (10-12% incline), 2 min slow walk, 2 min 4 mph jog, 2 min slow walk, 2 min 7 mph run. Rinse and repeat.
Wiped out: 
Man Gives Up All Food And Drink For Lent…
The muscles of the forearm are mainly about grip. Since they are about grip, they can be a limiting factor in strength development because if you can't hold onto something, you can't challenge it.