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.
Almost every advice article I read about fitness makes a big point about fat loss and fat-burning. Perhaps that is what readers are interested in, given that so many people in the Western world are over-nourished but wish to look better and to be lighter on their feet if they can do it easily.
Fitness training is about strength, agility, athleticism, endurance, speed, power. Good things like that. I am a strong believer in maintaining maximum functionality with a fitness program, but mixed and balanced exercises (ie calisthenics, weights, and some cardio) done at a rational level (5-6 hrs/wk, not including walking, sports, hiking, etc) will likely have no effect on your body fat. That's not why you do it.
As the guy in this article notes (and as I have noticed countless times), after a year or two of nothing but daily cardio machines, running, or swimming, most people in the gym are just as pudgy as when they began. Sometimes more. Just putting in their time but ignoring their food intake and their exercise intensity.
To get rid of body fat, you must manage your daily nutrition. Do not rely on exercise or cardio, especially "long, slow cardio" to do it. It will not. (In fact, an excess of cardio exercise, anaerobic or aerobic, might be a bad idea for many people, if not a waste of time.)
Fitness and nutrition are separate but somewhat overlapping topics.
Jump rope is great cardio. I get winded after a couple of minutes. I figure jumping is 80% cardio and 20% strength, so you could consider it a calisthenic. I find it extremely fatiguing, but it's fun to learn all the moves. I still can not to double-unders, but I'm fine with one-foot, jacks, running man, split step, etc.
I try to practice my jump moves at least 3 times/week, trying to get better and to improve my endurance with it.
You can see how this graceful gal does a little active recovery by swinging the rope. She is fast. Her criss-cross is cool. How is that done?
Taleb believes that individuals require a great deal of autonomy in order to be truly free. In this view, working in large corporations or other hierarchical environments is antithetical to freedom.
I am sure we have readers who did wait staff jobs at some point in life. I discussed the skills involved with somebody this weekend. We laughed about two topics in particular. First, how to load and balance a full tray of plates and silverware, get under it in a squat, and lift. Second, how to load a tray of 20-30 glasses and throw a damp towel on top to glue them together.
Of course, the dramatic moments are when you drop a fully-loaded tray because some little kid scurries in front of you. Big crash, everybody has to rubberneck. Good times.
Just busing tables at large events quickly and efficiently is a skill. Delivering food to the tables is another skill. When I was in college, we figured 40 wait staff for 1000 guests, 4-5 for 150 guests. It's a work-out.
View of the lake last weekend, with Shadbush in full bloom.
My kids are 4th generation Mohonk-lovers. A perfect New York State getaway for outdoorsy people. A classic old-timey place and somewhat kid-friendly.
The place has changed a bit over its 146 years. For examples, the rustic old Quaker place has decided to serve alcohol at meals, there is no longer a daily morning prayer service (sad - it was a good way to begin a day), dancing is permitted, and they built a lovely indoor pool. Also, it has become more expensive but the meals are far better than decades past when "Quaker simple" ruled and the only dessert was rice pudding. Still, no TVs and the rooms are plain although there are 130 working fireplaces. Just call down and they will bring you wood.
Also, a 110 year-old golf course and tennis courts.
The Smiley family, who have owned and run it since the beginning, gave around 10,000 acres to the Mohonk Preserve Land Trust, but the resort still has around 4000 acres of woods, gardens, pasture, the lake, etc. Of their 85 miles of hiking (or running, cross-country-skiing, etc) trails, many of them are wide, well-maintained gravel trails built in the 1870s for horse and buggies and designed to show the mountain views. Plenty of them are rugged enough, too.
You might call it a resort, but it's really not luxurious and is all about outdoor activity in all seasons. For us, it's about the hiking. I like to do an upper-body workout in the gym early, then do hikes after breakfast and skip lunch. Just bring a banana and an orange in the day pack. On our next visit, I want to focus more on bouldering and climbing trails than on plain hiking. My relatives like to use it for runs.
I am planning a bouldering day trip there soon for our hiking pals. As a reader reminded us, if you buy one meal online in advance you can get a day pass for everything.
More of my free ad for Mohonk below the fold, with snaps -
It has become common for people to foam-roll their muscles before weights or calisthenics nowadays. Generally-speaking, before their warm-ups and stretches. It's a brief massage, "myofascial release" as it is termed but that sounds dubious to me. Sometimes it hurts, but in a good way. Sometimes people do it after a workout.
I have no idea whether it does any good, but I do it anyway: back, butt, quads, hammies, sides of upper legs, and calves. I don't do my arms. Takes less than 5 minutes, feels good.
Amazon sells them but all gyms have stacks of them.
The notion of "moral license" is an interesting one. If on the side of the angels, rules do not apply. Consider the Clintons, Weiner, Weinstein, Schneiderman, et al. Related, below -
Now that we can see what they wanted to conceal, it is clear, yet again, that the Justice Department and the FBI cannot be trusted to decide what the public gets to learn about their decision-making.
Now none of this is to insult any of these peoples. It's to insult leftists. Or more precisely, it's to tell leftists they can pound sand, every one of them. No matter where you're from, no matter what you look like, your culture is not your culture. Your culture is just there and I can appropriate it any time I want for any reason I see fit. Know why? I'm a free American man, I don't care what you think and I can do whatever I like. And I like scratching my butt itches with the Prince of Yan.
Cultural appropriation is not a glitch of American life. It's a feature. It's part of what makes the country great. We take your culture, we get rid of the oppression, the mass murder, the slavery, the intransigent poverty and the endless internecine wars. We keep the pasta and the funny hats, and occasionally we dress up as you on Halloween. It's a good deal for everyone.
Usually I regret whenever I'm flipping through channels of the car radio and come across NPR's pretty consistent litany of liberal and leftist commentators. So, I was amazed when I stumbled upon this show just now on my local NPR station. I heard the words University of Nebraska and hesitated to move on because a good friend graduated from there, so I was curious.
An hour radio show traced in detail the gross attacks by a faculty member upon a conservative student and the outcome: the faculty member was banned from teaching, the attempted coverup emails by the admin at U of Nebraska was exposed, and the state legislature may pass a free speech bill over the protests of the usual opponents of free speech for anyone but themselves. Yes, this triumph for free speech and students' rights on campus is out of the ordinary on campuses and in states and media dominated by the liberal left, but it can be a portent if enough determined conservatives and others of good conscience act.
Here's a follow up about the resulting action by the U of Nebraska Board Of Regents. Here's the action by the state legislature. The Goldwater Institute furthers such bills in state legislatures.
Scoop of the best vanilla ice cream you can find or make. Splash a shot of the best whisky you can afford on top. Then dust with finely-ground (powdered) espresso coffee.
Who knew that Italians drink Scotch? According to government guidelines, this recipe contains all three basic food groups: dairy, alcohol, and caffeine.
The idea that government knows how we ought to eat is absurd. Many of us assume that government is stupid, but even your Mom doesn't know.
Nobody can say what a "healthy" nutrition plan is because humans and all higher primates are omnivorous. That means humans can thrive on almost anything as long as it contains sufficient calories to support life. I've seen enough kids grow big and strong enough to play varsity football on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on Wonder Bread to be convinced of that.
Because of the ambiguity of being omnivorous, everybody has an opinion about what is best. "Clean diet," paleo diet, low-fat diet, high-fat diet, vegetarian diet, vegan diet, Mediterranian diet, bla bla bla. My advice is to eat moderate amounts of everything. Small meals are best for health, fitness, energy, and mental clarity.
With a few comments:
- If overweight and if you do not want to be, cut the carbs and cut the volume. Don't be a pig. If fat and happy, that's fine with me because I am neither your doctor, parent, or spouse. - If you exercise hard daily, especially with heavy weights, keep daily protein up to around 80-90 gms/day for adequate muscle repair, and eat some sugar - Coke, candy, fruit - before the workout. - If you hate vegetables, take a multivit. If you think fruit is "healthy", show me the data. (There is none. Fruit is dessert or a quick sugar fix.) - If you worry about overly-high bad triglycerides, discuss with your doctor. Bear in mind that elevated cholesterol does not appear to correlate with heart disease (except in diabetes and familial hypercholesterolemia). Your doc knows that.
15:9 As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.
15:10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.
15:11 I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.
15:12 "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
15:13 No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends.
15:14 You are my friends if you do what I command you.
15:15 I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.
15:16 You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name.
15:17 I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.
He had good reasons. The French should have gotten their fleets out of the Med - anywhere else. Tough decision for Churchill to make, though. Perhaps the main point was to prove to FDR that Britain was determined to defend itself.
I am mostly AWOL for a bit, hiking, bouldering, birding, and wildflower-identifying in the Catskills or, more specifically, the Shawangunks ("Gunks") around New Paltz, NY. I brought my Meindls.
Diet 
“GATES APPEAL TO ME BECAUSE OF THE NEGATIVE SPACE THEY ALLOW. THEY CAN SHUT YOU OUT OR SHUT YOU IN. AND IN SOME WAYS THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE.”
It has become common for people to foam-roll their muscles before weights or calisthenics nowadays. Generally-speaking, before their warm-ups and stretches. It's a brief massage, "myofascial release" as it is termed but that sounds dubious to me. Sometimes it hurts, but in a good way. Sometimes people do it after a workout.
"Bring everything."
Dylan: 
The idea that government knows how we ought to eat is absurd. Many of us assume that government is stupid, but even your Mom doesn't know.