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.
20:2 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery;
20:3 you shall have no other gods before me.
20:4 You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
20:5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me,
20:6 but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.
20:7 You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.
20:8 Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.
20:9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work.
20:10 But the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall not do any work--you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns.
20:11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.
20:12 Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
20:13 You shall not murder.
20:14 You shall not commit adultery.
20:15 You shall not steal.
20:16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
20:17 You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
High step-ups (14-20 inches - or maybe even 24" depending on fitness level and your height) are plyometric in some ways because, even though they do not involve jumping, the step should involve explosive movement. It almost has to. It is calisthenic, not weight-lifting. It is tough to get up there repeatedly.
It's good to do them forward and also sideways on a box. It they are too easy for 20 reps with each leg, raise the height or grab a hand weight or kettlebell to raise the intensity.
3 sets of 15-20 on each leg is good leg exercise - quads, glutes, and hammies. With exercises like this, use a 30-40-second plank as a recovery before the next set so you aren't just standing around. These step-ups will help with your box jumps too - not to mention your mountain hiking which is the important thing because fitness may be made in the gym (and with nutrition) but it is for living life vigorously rather than being a lazy book-reading and internet-surfing slob like I used to be.
The Damore panel we posted yesterday mentioned two related fallacies, "Is-Ought" and the naturalistic fallacy.
"Is-Ought" generally is used to refer to the mistaken assumption that a statement of fact is some sort of moral endorsement of the fact. This assumption often lies behind efforts to suppress or ignore unpopular facts.
"The term "naturalistic fallacy" or "appeal to nature" may also be used to characterize inferences of the form "Something is natural; therefore, it is morally acceptable" or "This property is unnatural; therefore, this property is undesirable."" (Wiki). "Natural," however, is near-impossible to define in human terms because formation of culture is natural for humans.
I suspect those Czechs and Slovaks would understand very well the mentality that got those two food service workers at NYU fired. We don’t even know if those fired workers were conservatives or not. All we know is that they were denounced by this middle-class black daughter of a Chicago administrative judge, and now they are jobless, with the scarlet letter of Racism staining their resumés forever.
You can't fool Mother Nature. We know why you built there. Federally-subsidized flood insurance. It all makes no sense to me. Unsheltered waterfronts are not for housing, nor are river floodplains. They are called floodplains for a reason.
It's actually "middle-class privilege", if you need to call it "privilege." From a reader's comment on Wednesday:
Concepts like self actualization, self discipline, fairness, loyalty (though not blind loyalty), valuing individual lives, integrity, rectitude, civic mindedness, reliability and accountability, courage, autonomy, problem solving, saving and postponement of gratification, being productive and contributing to the community and the economic pie. This is privilege?
Plyometric calisthenics entail more-or-less explosive, usually full-body, movements. Other examples might be jumping burpees, donkey kicks, jumping lunges, high-box step-ups, high wall-balls, and squat jumps.
As I become fitter, my ability to do box jumps is improving. I am now able to do a good series of 18" box jumps. The young athletes I see get much higher. Although these are muscle- and agility-training exercises, they are also HIIT cardio. 15 box jumps gets my heart pounding through my chest. (My gyms use soft boxes, to avoid bleeding shins. Crossfit uses hard boxes, of course.)
Wherever men and women are in routine contact (and I suppose, any place where gays are in routine contact), biology requires that there will be some sex and/or romance in the air. Office romance and attraction is, and historically has been, so common as to be a cliche.
With far more women in the workplace than a generation or two ago, what are the rules for men and for women? And what about dress and make-up? And why do most discussions ignore women's sexual and romantic interests? How is it different from college, or high school for that matter?
Peterson is an expert at saying "I don't know." We can all learn from that.
Where I work out, we have to do Birthday Burpees. That is, your age in burpees on your birthday. Not non-stop, of course... unless you can. Burpees are plyometric calisthenics.
Bragging about how they met Mick Jagger. Brian was the foundation. He could play anything. Best rock/pop band ever. Beatles quit rock quickly in their brilliant and short-lived career. OK, McCartney went back to rock on his own and did very well.
Your moral and intellectual superiors and experts feel fit to run your life. We regular people know that they put their pants on one leg at a time just like us, and that we probably have more real life experience and practical sense than they do.
In the 19th century Alexis de Tocqueville described the phenomenon of bureaucracy almost before it had revealed itself. He called it centralized administration, which he considered the new form of despotism that democracies must fear if they are to remain free. This democratic disease had not yet infected the Jacksonian America he examined; in fact, he praised America for its burgeoning civil and political associations, and for the absence of centralized administrative rule. The Constitution and a federal system had allowed for a decentralized political and administrative system of government, which inhibited the rise of the administrative state. Nonetheless, Tocqueville in Democracy in America warned against abandoning those traditional political and social institutions that had prevented its growth...
It's a complicated topic. I know that I was fortunate, or some might term it "privileged", to be raised in a stable middle or upper-middle class two-parent family with plenty of travel, worldly exposure, and ivy League education. I had parents who set a good example for responsibility, affection, discipline, and self-discipline. I was also advantaged by an IQ over 100 (with which only 50% are blessed) and a fully-functional, somewhat-athletic body.
I know that I have never made the most of these gifts, but have made a good life given circumstances, chance, opportunities, and life's exigencies. I had choices. I had college classmates die of drug overdoses. Character traits and talents are far more important in managing life than IQ. I am bright enough, but without special talents, and lacking in a high level of ambition. I just like to be content and to pursue my various interests in a serene environment.
Had I been born to a single crack-addicted mother in Baltimore, God knows where my life might have gone financially and otherwise. Likely not too well, because it was only external discipline which kept me on productive tracks. I needed that because, despite some innate curiosity, I am someone who would always prefer sports, fishing, hunting, etc. than sitting in a classroom or office. Since I do like to make money, I might have been a drug-dealer although, being me, I might have had conscience issues with that. Who knows?
Nothing in life is distributed fairly, especially parents and genetics. In my case, I credit my parents for making the efforts and sacrifices to set us kids up as best they could. Doing the same for my own offspring has been my main goal and satisfaction. At the same time, my life has been rich in many other non-financial ways.
Metcon ("Metabolic Conditioning", also sometimes named "Cross-Training" or "Athletic Conditioning") classes are satisfying experiences if you want to work to your max. These are general fitness classes, with plenty of high cardio and total-body muscle use, but no muscle-building. It's a type of workout for which you need a class with an enthusiastic and demanding leader.
No metcon exercises require much technical training or athletic ability. It's the repetition that gets you. These classes will kick your ass more than any hour of powerlifting. The routines and the rest times are timed to the second (eg 5-second rests and 15-second rests). Your real rest and recovery comes after the 50 minutes is over.
Trainers who run metcon classes usually vary the routines from week to week. Right now, I do one metcon class/week to complement the other exercises I do. I'd like to fit in another. My experience is that at 5 or 6 AM you really are not eager to face this trial, but after a 5-minute warm up with all the friendly people, you feel ready to get going. You might hate to go, but are always glad you went. I am not the oldest guy or gal in my class, but I guess I am on the upper level of age with more than a touch of grey. So what? Bring water.
For example, the guy below runs a two-ring metcon circus. (Sometimes my classes actually require four rings. A quarter will be running sprints, a quarter rowing sprints, a quarter squat and presses, and a quarter doing burpees). "Five, four, three, two, one - Switch!" A Metcon routine example:
Trump represents such a monumentally grotesque embarrassment to the permanent Washington establishment that they will pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the removal of this odious caitiff.
And in the process abandon all reason and decency.
“So now we know that the Parkland shooter was known to the local police, who did nothing. He was known to the FBI, who did nothing. His unstable behavior was known to teachers, who did nothing. The armed guard at the school stood there with his thumb up his butt while the the school was being shot up, and did nothing. In other words, we have a avalanche of failures from the highest levels down to the lowest. Every rule, every procedure, every safeguard that was put in place to stop these shootings from happening failed to stop this one from happening because the adults who were entrusted with the responsibility to keep shootings from happening did not do their f*ing jobs. Everybody knew the kid had serious problems, but nobody wanted to step up and actually do anything about it. And now we’re treated to the spectacle of these fake ‘townhall’ meetings organized by left-wing agitators who teach the kids to recite the anti-gun talking points that they want them to say and we’re supposed to just nod our heads and pretend that all we need to do is pass a few more laws and then everything will be just ducky. Sometimes I think we’re all just cardboard cutouts living in a Potemkin village."
Camille Paglia on Movies, #MeToo and Modern Sexuality: 
