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.
Those were my first skis. Wood Northlands. Kept them for sentimental reasons I guess. I must be ancient. Off to the garbage. At the time, my rich friends had Heads.
Gosh do I love skiing, once I am on top of a mountain. The hassle and cost to get there is what deters me often.
We're throwing out everything we can, or giving away. Closets full of older winter clothing, spare sweaters, parkas, leather jackets, fur coats, the snow-blower, the power edger, the power-washer.
Left 10 duck stamp prints off for the Ducks Unlimited event. I have never had anywhere to hang them.
And tons of stuff to church winter clothing drive, and Good Will.
It's not to prepare for Global Warming; it's to lighten the burdens of excess possession and clutter. We have too much stuff from many years and three kids. On Thanksgiving, I am going to unload all of the family antiques, family china, and art that I can onto my sibs because I will not wait for my kids to have houses.
The only things I am "keeping for the kids when they might need them" are our substantial collection of antique oriental rugs. Rugs on top of rugs, like Armenians. Trouble is, they are so out of fashion they probably won't want them.
I have too many firearms too. More than I ever use. Should sell most of them.
The pleasure in a new possession is fleeting, isn't it? It's a cliche because it is so true. It's a relief of an interesting sort to get rid of stuff.
It’s possible that the looming custodial state, where the Cloud People rule over the Ground People like game wardens, is going to be wonderful. The Ground People will embrace being cared for like children and accept being pushed around by the authorities when necessary. The sense of looming catastrophe that animates much of the alternative right will turn out to be completely misplaced. Instead, it will be viewed as a great leap forward for humanity.
‘Can you imagine a worse incentive system than one that rewards failure with higher budgets and punishes success with lower budgets?’ I can’t – yet that’s pretty much the prevailing incentive system for governments around the world.
Billionaire investor George Soros has confirmed he wants to bring down Europe’s borders, following the accusation made last week by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Last week, Mr Orban accused Mr Soros – who was born in Hungary – of deliberately encouraging the migrant crisis.
Soros is a Hungarian Jewish immigrant, was Nazi collaborator, got rich manipulating currency markets. What's his issue?
Scarborough:
No Republican Has Hosted Network Sunday Show or Newscast in 50 Years -
See more at:
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/mark-finkelstein/2015/11/02/scarborough-no-republican-has-hosted-network-sunday-show-or#sthash.0BpWQZrW.dpuf
The problem for the U.S. political class is that the provision of actual public goods is nowhere near large enough of an enterprise to justify all of the clients they want to pay on the public payroll or all of the large, complex, lavishly funded agencies that they want to establish for the purpose of putting themselves in charge of them. So they have to return to the old protection-racket model: Much of American government today exists simply to stand between you and your own goals to collect a fee.
The "modern" system that we have adopted with its low birth rates, late marriages, working parents, high social spending and retirement benefits is at odds with itself. We can have low birth rates, deficit spending or Social Security; but there is no possible way that we can have all three.
The expert consensus is that the best all-purpose exercise shoe is the Nike Metcon. I will give it a try, because the sneaks I am using are not right for all of the things I do.
Barefoot would probably be ideal, except for transmitting foot fungi. People say these Nike sneakers feel sort of like being barefoot.
I wonder how many pairs of sneakers I have been through in my life. Running shoes, trail-running sneakers, city-walking sneakers, tennis shoes, bang-around sneakers.
For whatever reason, never owned any Converse as far as I recall. Roundball is much more fun to play than to watch, but I was way too bad at it. Can dribble, can't jump. Pathetic.
Saw this on Food Channel yesterday morning while chained to the stair machine, so at Costco yesterday I picked up a big package of ribs to make today.
Long and low - that's how to do baked ribs.
Those at Costco were not exactly short ribs, but whatever. Ribs are delicious, and for me polenta is as good as grits - or better. Basically, very similar. This has cheese polenta. Nice, but plain is good enough for me if there is a great sauce.
21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
21:2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
21:3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them;
21:4 he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away."
21:5 And the one who was seated on the throne said, "See, I am making all things new." Also he said, "Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true."
21:6a Then he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.
... call this condition Bubble Blindness. It’s a contagious ideological disease that afflicts the entire corridor from Wall Street to Washington, and CNBC is the infected host that propagates it.
Hundreds of immigrant families caught illegally crossing the Mexican border told U.S. immigration agents they made the dangerous journey in part because they believed they would be permitted to stay in the United States and collect public benefits, according to internal intelligence files from the Homeland Security Department.”
A couple of years ago, my fatigue on the ski slopes and on a hunt trip in deep snow (backpack, heavy boots, firearm) let me know that I could either shape up or surrender to decay. It took me a while to commit to the effort to shape up. Why? Because it is hard and painful. I do not want to be a quitter in life, until it's time.
- Physical endurance. Young or old, we all want more of that and enjoy more of that. We do not want to feel lazy or tired and we want to look, and be, fit for life and ready for any adventures (eg climbing Mt. Washington on a crisp autumn day). Improvement comes from regular intense, interval cardio work, not from jogging, plain swimming, or walking - or it can come from intense forms of calisthenics. Cardio work is usually done with a mixed interval approach (2 or 3 of: swim, treadmill, running, elliptical, stairs, rower). It's not the time, it's the intensity that counts. That has to be complemented with high-rep resistance and/or body-weight exercises because endurance is a total body affair. Endurance is about high-rep and high stress, but not high resistance.
Normal Crossfit (not the competitive, high-weight form of Crossfit) is about fitness and endurance through intense and varied calisthenics instead of the tedious machines or the tedious pool. Part of the fun people find in Crossfit is that it's a regular group in which people get to know each other and cheer each other on regardless of their level.
It is generally thought that 20 minutes of intense cardio 3-5 days/week is good enough for cardiovascular fitness, but it is not enough for overall endurance improvement. 40-50 minutes of gradually-increasing intervals will increase endurance. Up the intensity of the intervals every week or two until it's enough and we are satisfied with our fitness level (but who can be?)
My Friday program is basically a Crossfit-type hour. It's a killer. Anytime I can do something, he raises the bar until I break. On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, I do standard cardio intervals on treadmill, elliptical, and stair machine. If I can walk without stumbling, it hasn't been intense enough to be worth the time.
- Strength and power. Good things for life and for bones but only obtainable from making special effort with lower-rep heavy weight resistance exercises. We all want to attain and maintain our good normal strength as we grow up or grow older, but building strength takes special effort for those who do not do daily physical labor. Nature, indeed, wants to kill us after we have bred and ultimately will, but nobody wants to live life with the fitness of the gal behind the desk at the DMV - or of your accountant. Physically lazy is shameful and un-American. Sloth is one of the deadly sins.
It seems to me that most people want to be in good, fit shape but do not really aspire to greater strength and power if it takes blood, sweat, and tears. They want what is called "functional" fitness and endurance. That's basically what I wish to maintain or to improve, too but I need a bit more strength and power to get there. Just a few more months, I think. I do not want to get nutty about it but I would like to inspire others.
- "Toning." It's an aesthetic term, mostly used by females. It is not a physiologic term. It means more muscle, less fat.
- When friends discuss the exercise topic with me, I ask whether their goal is endurance, muscle power, agility, fat removal, mind-body discipline, or just to try to defeat aging. The answer is always "Yes."
- Structure and discipline. As in most areas of life, going to war against over-40 decay requires structure and discipline. Many, like me, need discipline and accountability to do the hard things (eg, paperwork, exercise, hedge-trimming, weeding). Some folks do the hard things automatically. God bless them.
The turmoil in the trucking industry is a window into the social and economic changes sweeping the country; expect to see more industries faced with similar challenges as the blue economy fades away.
Taking on The Teamsters. Teamsters don't like that.
That's the NYC term for people who work at any level in the "rag trade." That is, fashion and attire. It was once a Jewish business in NY, now mostly Asian.
NYC remains a bustling center for design and manufacturing, even though most cheap stuff we buy is made in Asia.
A NYC daughter emailed me her iPhone pic in front of a Crossfit in the garment district, with the comment "Poor skinny Chinese guy struggling with his heavy cart of fabrics for $5 an hour while yuppies pay $200 an hour to lift boxes inside Crossfit."
My thought was "This lucky Chinese immigrant will live to 100, his kids will go to Harvard and end up going to Crossfit to stay in shape with their white collar jobs in finance and medicine."
Photo is your editor, after 6 months of exercising.
-Want to get bigger and heavier? If you are a scrawny and weak guy (or gal) like I was, your fitness job is relatively easy compared to flabby guys and gals. Just lift weights for 40 minutes 3 days/wk, eat carbs and meat, and avoid cardio exercise for a few months.
They also have good advice there about exercising in general. I like their idea of eventually getting fit and strong enough to handle just a few full-body resistance exercises involving, combined, pretty much all muscle groups. It is efficient but takes work to get there. Eg:
Those were my first skis. Wood Northlands. Kept them for sentimental reasons I guess. I must be ancient. Off to the garbage. At the time, my rich friends had Heads.
Decade long ice age
I ate your candy! Jimmy Kimmel Pulls Off Halloween Candy Prank for 5th Straight Year,
Images via
The expert consensus is that the best all-purpose exercise shoe is the 
Saw
Why leaves change color 
Hitchhiking 
That's the NYC term for people who work at any level in the "rag trade." That is, fashion and attire. It was once a Jewish business in NY, now mostly Asian. 
Photo is your editor, after 6 months of exercising.
Halloween pic 
