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.
How anybody can drive up Route 91 through Vermont without stopping at Curtis' place (just west off the Putney exit (Exit 4), next to Ron's gas station) for some authentic Mississippi barbecue is beyond me. Curtis is a Mississippi-born and bred barbecuemaster, but he spends spring to fall in Putney, VT (of all places), cooking over hardwood smoke all day long, with his pet pig and dog following him around the smoky pit. Now he sells his own Curtis' Root Beer and Barbecue Sauce too - but only at his place.
He is a busy old codger, but he will chat with you if you have anything worth saying to him. It had better be interesting, though. You do not see many places like this in New England. I'd be willing to claim that it's the best southern barbecue in Vermont.
I am not surprised about the testosterone and growth hormone results. Those are good products of extreme physical stress.
A few problems with the article: First, it only went on for 12 weeks. Second, and maybe most importantly, the study had them lifting four times/week. That makes no sense. A set of heavy deadlifts takes 4-6 days from which to recover properly. Next, you can light- deadlift 100 lbs four times a week with 25 reps if you want, but you will still not be able to lift that 200 lb. of rocks a prankster placed on your front porch. And your exercise will not be time-efficient. Part of heavy is the time-efficiency. 5 reps of heavy deads, benches, etc once a week is plenty for the average fellow to stay youthfully strong.
In any event, exercise of any sort to muscle failure is the only way to gain strength. BTW, I do do lighter-weight exercises almost weekly on off-days to failure. Squats, curls, overhead presses, etc. It's just to remind my body that it is not on vacation.
I would arbitrarily consider any movement High Rep if you can perform over 10 in a row. With or without weights, any exercise over that begins to fall into the Calisthenics category or the Warm-up category in my book. Sure, anything can feel heavy after a while, but high-rep is a different sort of exercise unless you are a professional.
Thus if you can barely do 6 pull-ups, it's strength-building Resistance. If you can do 20, it's more like Calisthenics. Likewise, 20 body-weight squats are Calisthenics, 4 Barbell squats to failure are Resistance.
It matters because High Rep exertions, even if reaching the breaking point, do not effectively improve strength. A useful thing about High Rep is that they douse your existing strength and help maintain. In other words, good for general fitness.Other examples are Jumping Jacks and Jump Rope which overlap Cardio and Cali categories but do not build strength.
Different sorts of muscle fibers are used. From here:
High reps develop Type 1 muscle fibers (“slow twitch”) that are endurance based and slow to fatigue. Lower repetitions activate Type 2 muscle fibers (“fast twitch”), which have greater power but fatigue quickly.
Getting stronger is mainly about stressing and damaging those fast twitch muscle fibers. You can do High Rep deadlifts all day long and still never be able to lift a 200 lb box of rocks.
Thus the general idea is that, for strength, Low Rep with very heavy (whatever that is for you). For general fitness maintenance, High Rep Calisthenic-type exercise. For overall conditioning, I do both, plus Cardio. Almost everybody can find time for this, especially if you do it at 5 am. Why not?
The topic came up: What sorts of critters move using the least energy per unit distance and per unit weight? Fish swimming, birds flying, or animals walking?
Photo: The new Tappan Zee Bridge (on left) under construction. A stunning engineering and construction feat. Drive by and take a look if you're in the area. Also get to see the world's largest floating crane. One of the working cranes fell down on the old span yesterday and remarkably nobody was hurt.
By now I’ve read at least four dozen essays by conservatives, libertarians and Republican stalwarts that seriously weigh Trump’s strengths and weaknesses. There are several themes—but I’ll summarize one I find most compelling.
Viscerally despising President Trump as a personality might be justifiable, Trump’s policy inclinations might well be bull-headed if not wrong-headed, and his flamboyant rhetoric may prove to be a diplomatic problem—but all of these dislikes, downsides and theoretical worries are far preferable to living under Clinton’s guaranteed lawless rule and demonstrated incompetence.
I think Trump was the only potential winner in that supposedly-deep Repub bench. Cruz would lose in a landslide, Rubio is wet behind the ears, Jeb is a schlub, etc. All true.
On trade and immigration, the returns are in. Should the GOP go back to globalism, amnesty or open borders, it will sunder itself and have no future.
And if the party is perceived as offering America endless wars in the Middle East and constant confrontations with the great nuclear powers, Russia and China, over specks of land or islets having nothing to do with the vital interests of the United States, then it will see its anti-interventionist wing sheared off.
At issue in the battle between the Party of Bush and Party of Trump: Will we make America safe again, and great again? Or are globalism, amnesty, and endless interventions our future?
GOP Convention Speakers Trash Trump - They said he's a "con artist," "narcissist," "bully," and "pathological liar" whose candidacy is "a cancer on conservatism."
I have tried any number of times and man, are they picky. I place them on the list of plants that only thrive where they feel like it. If they aren't happy, there ain't nothin you can do about it.
You just have to admit defeat.
Even if you have some modest success, without netting I would lose all of the berries to the Robins and Catbirds.
On the farm where I spent my weekends growing up, wild blueberries grew all along the hayfield edges, reaching out from the woods over the barbed-wire fences. They grew up to 8' high, so every age had his own level to pick. They were so productive that it was no problem sharing with the birds. My Mom took coffee cans, made two holes with a nail and strung a string through them to hang around your neck, and painted our names on them with blue paint spots to indicate "berry can." Those cans hung in the barn for years.
I have seen similar wonderful areas of wild highbush blueberries on Cape Cod, but was never there much during blueberry season. Despite what is said about growing them, the wild bushes seem to like boggy edges, or at least lowlands. There is no doubt that they need acidic soil. Not being a Maine guy except during grouse season, I have no experience with the Lowbush Blueberry.
After a picking, my Mom would always make a Blueberry flat cake with hard sauce. Wow. Such memories. It's too bad there are no wild Blueberries on Maggie's Farm, but there are none.
The Blueberry is not a true fruit. Furthermore, it's in the Rhodadendron family. It's in the (marketing) category of "superfruits" because they are supposed to be "good for you," whatever the heck that means (nothing).
With some new full-sun garden space, I was considering trying again with a row of around 6 Blueberry bushes. Problem is, I want the small dark wild ones that look more black than blue with the intense wild tang, and not the fancy, fat, overly-sweet hybrids that you can get at the store anyway. Plus I don't want to bother with netting.
Also, in the NYT, a little story about a family of Scarlet Tanagers - a splendid bird - getting caught under bird netting. The netting has to be very well-secured to the ground unless you want to build a bird trap.
These Tanagers are not rare in Eastern deciduous woodlands, but they aren't seen often because they tend to forage high and quiet. Here's the CLO bit on them.
Do you know where these typical American garden plants originated in their wild forms before being genetically-engineered over millennia by clever humans into the international things we know and grow today?
Cucumber Eggplant Potato Tomato Onion Zucchini (and all other squash and gourds) Beans and Peas Lettuce Spinach Strawberry Radish Peppers Chard (including Swiss Chard) - chard is in the beet family - the beet was first grown for its greens, not the root Corn (maize) Asperagus Rhubarb
"Try" is one of those tricky words, isn't it? "Just try harder." "Try to study harder and you'll get it." Or my favorite: "Try to relax." What do those sorts of things mean?
My most meaningful encounters with "try" are with physical exertion, mainly exercise. When you hit the wall with an exercise the overwhelming inclination is to stop. However, when somebody says "Give me two more" or "Drive it through" you engage your inner "try." Then mind, nerves, and muscle fully engage together to do something you can't do.
10:38 Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home.
10:39 She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to what he was saying.
10:40 But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me."
10:41 But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things;
10:42 there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her."
I spent 4 hours in dental chairs yesterday, three with oral surgeon and one with the prosthodontist in the adjacent office.This was not a pleasant experience despite the fact that my oral surgeon and his young gal assistants are like stand-up comics and as anti-PC as can be imagined. Highly-entertaining repartee which would get anyone fired in three minutes in a corporate setting.
I just wish they would quit asking me questions with a mouth full of steel tools. Doc tells me they teach them to to ask questions when you can't answer, when they are in dental school. Says he'd like those sorts of one-sided chats with his wife.
They give me a valium first so I do not jump up and run out of there because dental torture is just not my thing. I tell the doc that what he is doing is against the Geneva Convention and that I intend to report him to the UN.
My teeth have sucked since I was young, despite not being a sweets addict. Also lost a couple playing hockey in high school. Now the fun is about some extractions, implants, bridges. This is needed to be able to eat steak and lobster, and so as not to look like I am from England or West Virginia. It's just a shame that Oxycodone does not make me feel good because I have lots of it.
My dental work is insanely expensive, requires a payment plan. If Obama really cared, he'd pay the bill for me. Sharks have it good. They keep growing new ones.
What are your worst and most expensive dental experiences?
Pic: Right on the fish dock in Wellfleet. It used to be Harbor Freeze, now it's Macs. It's unusual not to run into somebody you know in the ice cream line at night
The old Appalachian tunes borrowed lines from each other. That's how both Old Joe Clark and Cotton-Eyed Joe happened to die from a toothache in the heel.
Cotton-eye used to be more common. It's usually a blindness in one eye caused by a retinal detachment.
...what makes helicopter money so positively insidious is that it relieves elected politicians entirely from their vestigial fears of the public debt and from accountability for the burdens it imposes on future generations. And that’s especially true owing to the Bernanke fillip.
Folks, the Bernank is no hero whatsoever—–notwithstanding his self-conferred glorification for the courage to print. He is a demented paint-by-the-numbers Keynesian who has a worse grasp on the real world than the typical astrologer.
The argument for a public option now amounts to a back-door opening for the single-payer system that Democrats wanted all along. Unlike the co-ops, which didn’t have direct access to general-fund spending, public-option plans would allow the executive branch to direct funds on a nearly unlimited basis as an entitlement program, removing the barriers to a sea of red ink. All it does is rearrange the deck chairs on a sinking ship – and like the Titanic, there won’t be nearly enough lifeboats for the rescue needed from the coming disaster.
“The French must die by the thousands…. Towards paradise, that is the path….Come, brother, let’s go to paradise, our women are waiting for us there, with angels as servants. You will have a palace, a winged horse of gold and rubies….With a little rocket-launcher, you can easily get one of them… you do something like that in the name of Dawla (Islamic State), and France will be traumatised for a century.”
Never in the history of world has a human being been so completely buried under a mountain of no evidence. Hillary Clinton can say there’s no evidence she sent classified emails until the evidence shows up, at which point there is no evidence she knew they were classified, until evidence of that shows up, at which point there is no evidence anyone got hold of it, until 400 people are willing to stake their lives that it was certainly compromised by sophisticated bad actors, at which point there is no evidence that it mattered.
Mrs. BD and I are 14 months into our program, so we are now officially past the Beginner phase of weights and calisthenics. Novices, now.
Trainers say that it takes two years with 1 hr. 5-6 days/wk (approx 2 hrs of weights, 2 of calis, 1+ of cardio not counting fast walks) for middle-aged people with the right work-out diet to reach a good level of conditioning for a given age and build. Not for bulging muscles, but for full fitness for life and a fairly tight, firm, beachable, streetable, athletic bod.
Athleticism is a good goal for the middle-aged because almost everybody in America has a sport or two which they love.
Based on my dedication to this, I think that the time frame must be right because, for example, I still can not do a deep barbell squat of my body weight. Bench press? Almost there, a few more weeks to press my weight for one or two reps. Those are normal, modest and realistic strength goals for the average middle-aged guy. We up the heavy weight exercises by 5 lbs/wk and I practice holds with much heavier weight.
Anyway, Mrs. BD and I have decided that we can now do our calis without trainer supervision, so we do them together. Good fun, terribly fatiguing. For example, I'll do a plank while she does wall slams, I'll jump rope while she does the burpee/ mtn climber/ j jack routine. etc. We can group them up as supersets or triplets, and switch off.
One day/week we'll do three sets of almost each pair or triplet on our list (our cali list below the fold) for about 40 mins, and finish with 20 min. cardio intervals. Two days/wk we'll do 20 min of additional calis and 20 min cardio intervals. Saves money this way, and we can push each other and correct each other. Married couples are very good and experienced at that... fun.
We'll keep our trainer for two individual hours of weights per week for now. It is difficult to advance in strength training without a pro watching you like a hawk and pushing you further like a sadist.
Mrs. BD also does Yoga, but I do not. Interestingly, the weight work has done wonders for her ex-dancer joint pains. She is now doing deadlifts, weighted squats, bench press, leg press, rows, overhead presses, curls, etc - all the things I do. Pain-free at last thanks to our genius trainer. Muscle and stronger tendons can help compensate for half-rotten joints.
Black Lives Matter activists and their propagandists have waged a very effective War On Honesty. Black Lives Matter leaders employ vicious charges of racism to silence political opponents, or, failing that, deter media criticism of their radical tactics, which include violent language and occasional violent incidents. The goal is political provocation and divisiveness. Yes, Black Lives Matter benefits as an organization from divisiveness. It serves their political goals.
Simple, juicy, and crunchy on the surface:Sauteed Parmesan Chicken Breast
Slice the chicken breasts horizontally in half for thinner filets. Season with s&p, and dip filets in egg, mayo, or sour cream. Then cover with a mix of plain bread crumbs and grated parmesan and sautee in a mix of butter and olive oil until toasty brown.
Amazing the way it stays juicy and tender. It is obviously served with mashed taters, or preferably garlic mashed taters.
Clean eating and dirty burgers: 
40 Percent of the Buildings in Manhattan 
I would arbitrarily consider any movement High Rep if you can perform over 10 in a row. With or without weights, any exercise over that begins to fall into the Calisthenics category or the Warm-up category in my book. Sure, anything can feel heavy after a while, but high-rep is a different sort of exercise unless you are a professional.
Image stolen from
Ever tried growing Blueberries?
Why Turtles Evolved Shells:
Do you know where these typical American garden plants originated in their wild forms before being genetically-engineered over millennia by clever humans into the international things we know and grow today? 
It's a Prohibition-era summer cocktail from the 21 Club.
I spent 4 hours in dental chairs yesterday, three with oral surgeon and one with the prosthodontist in the adjacent office.This was not a pleasant experience despite the fact that my oral surgeon and his young gal assistants are like stand-up comics and as anti-PC as can be imagined. Highly-entertaining repartee which would get anyone fired in three minutes in a corporate setting.
Mrs. BD and I are 14 months into our program, so we are now officially past the Beginner phase of weights and calisthenics. Novices, now. 