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.
The birds that live on Earth today have all descended from dinosaurs, the creatures who dominated the planet for a couple of hundred million years, before an asteroid impact caused their extinction. It turns out birds at the time, better called avian dinosaurs, nearly got plucked too, with only those species that lived on the ground surviving the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) mass extinction event...
Classic Italian-American Sunday supper. Yes, they term tomato sauce "gravy." Some people like this style of southern Italian food, but I find it unpleasant. Not to mention the heartburn. Call me a food snob if you want.
Sure, we've all had experiences when the voice on the GPS thing directed us poorly. Mrs. BD and I have especially had those experiences in Europe. It can waste a lot of time, but sometimes can be serendipitously interesting anyway.
One time, in Sicily, we were directed through miles of dirt roads in lemon groves because the Euroland thing was set for "most direct route". Yeah, it was an "as the crow flies" route to some obscure place we wanted to hike with the Christian tombs carved into the cliffs.
I like maps for the big picture, and the driving tech for the details. Just last weekend, driving home from a fishing trip, I kept wondering "What town are we in?" I felt like "Where the heck are we, on a map? Where are we, on the planet?" We didn't have a clue, but WAZE got us home.
I think a combination of a map and a GPS voice are a handy combination - one for the practical and one for curiosity.
My lad claims Clothes Line Rag was a parody of Ode to Billy Joe. That is astute. Lay Down Your Weary Tune is a lovely hymn. Listen to that cover. How many masterpieces has Dylan produced?
Bonus below: Lou Reed covering Foot of Pride. It's about pride and Jesus. Pride is the greatest sin, is it not? The foot of pride will getcha sooner or later and, once it comes down, your life is screwed without proper repentence and rebirth.
3:1 Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews.
3:2 He came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God."
3:3 Jesus answered him, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above."
3:4 Nicodemus said to him, "How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born?"
3:5 Jesus answered, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.
3:6 What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.
3:7 Do not be astonished that I said to you, 'You must be born from above.'
3:8 The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."
3:9 Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?"
3:10 Jesus answered him, "Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?
3:11 "Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony.
3:12 If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?
3:13 No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.
Bulldog and I are planning a bouldering day for the near future. Well, full-day rough hiking with enough challenging bouldering and rock scrambling to keep everybody on our local hiking team happy, challenged, and entertained.
Friends and family. No ropes required but a positive, can-do attitude is required. I am planning the routes and want to make it as fatiguing and stressful as possible.
To keep the wives happy, we'll throw in a brunch at Mohonk. One hour, only, is what we guys will permit because we want to move, not sit and eat oysters, filet, halibut, Kobe beef, Nantucket scallops, fine wines, and a hundred other decadent delights.
Why get in shape if you don't use it to the max? Rock scrambling is great fun, and sometimes scary and that is what builds character. Or so my Dad said. "Face all of your fears. That's how you become a man." Like his beloved Shakespeare, he viewed fearfulness as a kind of death.
He was in two wars but he never spoke of it. Never once. US Army.
"Conditioning" is the process of forcing your body (including brain and central nervous system) to adapt to new or greater physical demands. The other term, "training", typically refers to working towards a more specific goal (eg sprinting, tennis, or body-building).
Everybody knows what "good condition" looks like: looking good, moving well, trim physique, decent muscle-development, high energy and vitality, good athleticism and agility, good posture, cheerful eagerness to take on any sort of physical challenges, etc. But what is it made of?
When we posted about Fitness for Newbies, we tried to emphasize the gradual nature of advancing a fitness program. The body responds positively to good, graduated stresses at any age, but adaptation is slow so if you get over your skis it will be counterproductive in all sorts of ways. Worse, adaptation is slower at 40 than at 20.
The reason it is slow is because it is so complex on the cellular, anatomical, and biochemical level (not to mention the psychological level which is often the most formidable hurdle). The sort of program we endorse demands adaptation - change - at multiple levels: neuromuscular connections, cellular energy production and other aspects of metabolism, endocrine, muscle and tendon construction, bone strengthening, cardio-pulmonary from capillary construction to increasing cardiac output, perhaps fat loss, and so on. To learn about it is an education in basic physiology. Very interesting to me. There's a section in the textbook.
Another reason it's complicated is because each form of exercise (resistance, calisthenics, plyometrics, anaerobic cardio, and aerobic cardio) has a different and sometimes conflicting effect on the conditioning processes in the paragraph above. For one example, conditioning for endurance (aerobic) cardio conflicts with strength-building processes. This is why training for specific athletic activities/sports varies so much from sport to sport (at the higher levels, anyway). Our Maggie's program is for Fitness for Life and recreational activities in general - and might be wrong forspecialized athletes (until they retire). Thus we aim to override any conflicts and just include every component of fitness and athleticism.
Four other points about Conditioning:
- Consistency is essential in a conditioning program. That's why we say 6 days/wk of workouts is ideal. Physical condition decays much more rapidly than it accumulates. You can't put it in the bank.
- Gradually stepping up the variety and intensity of challenges is essential. When upping the challenges stops, conditioning processes stop. Conditioning processes do no more than is demanded of them. For example, jogging 3 miles every day will do nothing more for you than to maintain your ability to jog 3 miles/day. That is one-dimensional fitness just as only lifting is one-dimensional.
- The right nutrition matters. Has to be right for your goals. We have discussed this ad nauseum.
- Decent rest is essential for physical recovery from high exertion. That means sleep - and one day/wk without high-intensity exertion (hiking and recreational sports are fine). The exertion stimulates the conditioning processes but the rest times are when those good growth and repair processes occur. Every several months, a week off from exertion seems to be fine or even good but in my case a week away from hard exertion feels terrible mentally and physically so I hate it. However, a day off, say, with just a hike or light cardio, seems to leave me full of beans the next day and ready to kill my deadlifts.
Basic tests for physical conditioning for ordinary people below the fold -
Anders couldn’t get to the bank until just before it closed, so of course the line was endless and he got stuck behind two women whose loud, stupid conversation put him in a murderous temper. He was never in the best of tempers anyway, Anders – a book critic known for the weary, elegant savagery with which he dispatched almost everything he reviewed. ..
Strange that the faculty and students haven’t demanded that Lee’s name be dropped from the university. And just wait until they learn that George Washington owned slaves, and shot people dead during the Revolutionary War.
"Socialism and the looting of capitalism are not the same thing." Commenter at Althouse
I heard one calling yesterday from a brushy thicket near a marsh. First I thought Catbird, but not really a Catbird song. Then I thought Brown Thrasher, but the habitat was wrong and the song was too harsh.
It was a Chat, and I did get a fleeting glimpse of the yellow too.
They are not uncommon but usually only found by their voice during breeding season. Found breeding all over the US especially in brushy thickets in the sun.
They are thought to be an odd form of warbler. Song and other details at All About Birds.
This whole case just goes to support my frequent contention that the only labor model the US government will fully accept is an hourly worker working 9-5 punching a time clock. Every new labor model that comes along eventually runs head-on into the government that tries to pound that square peg into the round hole of a time-punching factory worker. The Obama administration even did its best to force a large number of salaried workers into punching a time clock.
North American Porcupines are not rare in the northeastern US woodlands. The topic comes up because Mrs. BD and I watched one on his tedious climb up a Hemlock tree last week in Mohonk. Lots of fun to see one of these goofy critters.
Not only are they slow and short-sighted, they also often fall out of trees.
They are mostly nocturnal, and I rarely see them. One nailed one of our dogs (lightly) years ago in the Berkshires. We pulled the quills out of his face. As with skunks, a dog only has to be taught once.
Planks are isometric core exercises. While many or most exercises require or produce a strong core, planks are pure. They are good to throw into calisthenic circuits. (Crunches are generally not a great idea). Another good core exercise is one-handed kettlebell swings. I also do Roman Chair leg lifts weekly, the back raise thing, one-handed Farmer's Walks, and mountain-climbers.
Contrary to common belief, core exercises do not give you 6-pack abs. 6-pack abs are mainly a product of low body fat.
The key to effective planks is to make them isometrically-active. That means pulling your tummy in and tightening your glutes during the time of the plank. That's a rigid plank, not a relaxed plank.
2:1 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.
2:2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.
2:3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them.
2:4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
2:5 Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem.
2:6 And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.
2:7 Amazed and astonished, they asked, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?
2:8 And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?
2:9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,
2:10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,
2:11 Cretans and Arabs--in our own languages we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power."
2:12 All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?"
2:13 But others sneered and said, "They are filled with new wine."
2:14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, "Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say.
2:15 Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o'clock in the morning.
2:16 No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
2:17 'In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.
2:18 Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.
2:19 And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
2:20 The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord's great and glorious day.
2:21 Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.'
The big story today, and it's a biggie yet it really comes as no surprise (which is both big and tragic) is the report that leakers to Slim's Slimes (the NY Times for you rookie morons [new readers]) are confirming that the FBI essentially ran a completely illegal spy operation against the Trump presidential campaign. There were no warrants, there was no judge. The FBI at its highest levels went out and spied on a US presidential candidate for the purposes of gathering information that could be used to either sabotage his campaign or to take him out, politically or by prosecution in court. I suppose the question is did Obama and Clinton know of, authorize, approve of or even plan and initiate this or did we (and still do) have a group of "little Eichmanns" committing crimes all on their own merely because they were fellow travelers? And all things considered, is that even an important question to ask anymore considering the nature of these revelations which, frankly, we all have suspected for quite a long time now? Fact: We have a bureaucracy that lords over us no matter who we elect. Fact: we have a rogue judiciary that mostly exists to violate the Constitution in order to move the country ever leftwards. Fact: we have one political party that is hell bent on overthrowing the nation as founded and another whom elect to oppose it, yet do the exact opposite of what they promise and what we elect them for.
Reboot 
Sure, we've all had experiences when the voice on the GPS thing directed us poorly. Mrs. BD and I have especially had those experiences in Europe. It can waste a lot of time, but sometimes can be serendipitously interesting anyway. 
I guess it was yesterday. 
Bulldog and I are planning a bouldering day for the near future. Well, full-day rough hiking with enough challenging bouldering and rock scrambling to keep everybody on our local hiking 
3.5 Billion-Year-Old Fossils
Giant Flatworms
The Invention of 
I heard one calling yesterday from a brushy thicket near a marsh. First I thought Catbird, but not really a Catbird song. Then I thought Brown Thrasher, but the habitat was wrong and the song was too harsh.
North American Porcupines are not rare in the northeastern US woodlands. The topic comes up because Mrs. BD and I watched one on his tedious climb up a Hemlock tree last week in Mohonk. Lots of fun to see one of these goofy critters.
Acts 2:1-21
It is