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Womens Olympic 10K Final
For the first time ever, I'm watching it live, uninterrupted, all 25 laps (unless NBC throws one in the live feed), no commentary. This is porn for track and field geeks!!!!:drinker:
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Presidential Candidates: How Much Transparency?
So far in this election, the Romney campaign has made a determined effort to avoid any meaningful interaction between the candidate and any media that is not Fox News. In addition, Romney has steadfastly refused to release his complete tax returns--and in fact has only released 1 yr's worth of returns (and not even a…
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The Challenges of Cutting Government Spending
A common complaint is that "government is too big" or "we need to reduce the size of the government". This argument has likely been heard since 1789. Needless to say, the Federal Government in the US is pretty big. Counting only civilians, the Washington Post estimates the number of federal government FTEs (Full Time…
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US Economic Debate is a Sham
I came across an interesting article on bloomberg.com which shows a stark disconnect between the smoke and thunder debate on the economy carried out by politicians and the views of professional economists themselves. The report summarized responses to survey questions posed to the IGM Economic Experts panel by the…
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Do 196 People Control US Govt?
And no, it's not some evil international commission of bankers. A recent article in The Atlantic by Lawrence Lessig looked at how our election system has become so distorted. http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/07/big-campaign-spending-government-by-the-1/259599/ A partial quote: And here is the money…
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The line for the wall starts right behind her......
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-romney-hamptons-fundraiser-20120708,0,4909639.story This is only tangentially related to the Mitt Romney campaign--it just so happened that the quote was made at one of his fundraisers. So I am not really bringing this up in the context of the 2012 election. I'll just let her…
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There is a boy band on the Today show right now.....
I sort of recognize the song, but I haven't the faintest clue who they are. For some reason, I find that comforting.
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Great retort--made me laugh
I was making my rounds through the club this morning and found two members sitting in a corner talking. I know both of them well. The woman was sitting on a mat on the floor, with two dumbbells next to her. Just as a joke, I pointed to the dumbbells and said, "c'mon, less yakking and more lifting". Her response: "I was…
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HRM Calories--A tale of 2 workouts
I have posted many comments and a number of blogs about HRM calorie counts. Amidst the constant chorus of "I LOVE IT!!!", I am usually the dissenting voice -- or at least the "parent" that has to tell the kids to settle down. :tongue: I am not anti-HRM, I just urge people to exercise caution (how many calories does THAT…
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No need to ditch the elliptical......(long)
This is a new blog I just posted today. Yeah, I write long. Is there one type of cardiovascular exercise that is better than all others? Does it make a difference what cardiovascular (aerobic) exercise you do? In general, the answer is “NO”. When it comes to aerobic exercise, HOW you do it is much more important than WHAT…
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If this doesn't enrage you, you're not a human being.....
I read a story tonight that still has me shaking. Entitled "Cancer vs the Constitution", it is written by a doctor about her experience with an indigent, uninsured patient she treated in an emergency room. I don't believe in quoting entire articles--authors and their publishers deserve the web traffic for their work, so…
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Employers and colleges demanding Facebook passwords
I came across this story today: http://redtape.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/06/10585353-govt-agencies-colleges-demand-applicants-facebook-passwords It seems that some government agencies are trying to make job applicants open up their private Facebook pages as part of the job interview process. Other colleges are demanding…
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Racist "Hunger Games" fans are very disappointed
Evidently some fans of "The Hunger Games" book didn't read too closely. Oblivious to the movie's financial success and positive reviews, some voiced their surprise/disappointment/outrage on Twitter after seeing the skin color of some of the characters. A story on the website Jezebel.com published some Twitter screen caps…
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Looks different in 2012
Someone tweeted a link today to some old posters from the WWII military, warning soldiers of the dangers of contracting venereal disease. They are all pretty fun--here's the whole set: http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/120278 Two I especially liked: This one cracks me up because it has a completely different…
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HRMs cannot count calories during strength training
Since this keeps coming up, I decided I am going to write this once and then just repost it. I know that we are all concerned with counting calories, and we all want to know our exercise calories. Unfortunately, there is no consistent way to calculate actual calories burned during strength training. I also understand that,…
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David Frum vs Charles Murray--A Rational Conservative
Being an analytical guy, I find it more and more difficult to find intelligent commentary written by conservatives. Don't get me wrong--there are plenty of intelligent conservatives, but most who communicate in the public arena seem to me to devote their abilities solely to glib rationalizations of republican talking…
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dogsagainstromney.com
I suppose this doesn't really belong here, but most of the other political groups are too small. And I was too wimpy to put it in the "pets" group. This has become one of my new favorite websites. Lots of cute pictures to make a serious point about character (or the lack thereof). The other main slogan is "I ride inside".…
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Estimating Calories: Activity Databases?
New blog I wrote this morning. As usual, it's long, but hopefully some might find there is useful info: An important part of tracking energy expenditure is knowing how many calories you are burning during exercise and non-exercise activity. There are a number of tools available for this purpose: Activity Database (e.g.…
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Reasons why no one responded to your topic
I have seen what seems like an increased number of topics where an OP has posed a question as a new topic, does not receive any comments after a while, and then posts a comment along the lines of: "well, I guess nobody cares about (me, my question, my concerns, I thought this was a supportive place, etc). Here are some…
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Teachers Don't Need Money Because They Have a "Calling"
You can't make this stuff up--remarks by a State Senator from Alabama: : http://times-journal.com/news/article_16355b2a-4c64-11e1-a0b1-001871e3ce6c.html The state legislator recently made remarks defending two of his positions: approval of a 62 percent increase in pay for himself and other state legislators, and keeping…
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Why I don't count exercise calories
Here is an older blog I decided to repost just for fun: Why I don't count exercise calories Or--why I don't count them that much. Sometimes it seems like half the comments on these boards are concerned with estimating, tracking, and logging exercise and activity calories. At any given time of day or night one can find the…
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Top 10 Mistakes in an Article About Mistakes People Make on
This article was posted in another thread. It was about "mistake" than people make when using elliptical trainers. Whoever posted it originally went to the trouble of finding something they thought was useful and sharing it with the group. Ironically, an article about "workout mistakes" contained what I feel was a lot of…
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Best Lisbeth Salander: Rooney Mara or Noomi Rapace?
OK, the heck with all this existential BS, let's get to something real. Has anyone seen both "Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" movies? The Swedish version from 2009 and the latest from David Finch? Mrs Azdak and I ventured out into the real world this week to see our first two movies of 2011--GWTDT and "Hugo" (also superb).…
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BTW This is what REAL Media Bias Looks Like
Taken from -- where else --Fox News Note the imperceptible change between October and November, even with the 0.4% drop. Oh, you say, that's just a small change, not enough to affect the graphic. Except......look and Feb and March where the HIGHER numbers actually are shown to be LOWER than the 8.6% achieved in November.…
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Why I don't count exercise calories
Some of you have seen this before, but I like to repost it from time to time. Or--why I don't count them that much. Sometimes it seems like half the comments on these boards are concerned with estimating, tracking, and logging exercise and activity calories. At any given time of day or night one can find the topic "what…
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Survival of the Fittest?
Rarely do I get such a laugh from reading scientific journals, but this one cracked me up. From Medicine and Science in Sport and Exercise (ACSM Journal) Title: Role of Childhood Aerobic Fitness in Successful Street Crossing Copyright restrictions prohibit posting the full abstract, but, in essence, the study stated that…
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I am getting my Body Bugg today
At least for a week. They decided to start selling them at our club and they want all the fitness specialists and trainers to become certified. We have 3 "demos" and every couple of weeks they get passed down. Now it's my time. It is interesting in that most of the fitness specialists/trainers were not even aware the…
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Shoulder "Packing" - U Needz it!
The shoulder "joint" is actually more of a joint "complex"--it consists of a complex configuration of bones, cartilage, ligaments, and muscles which combine to allow complex upper limb movements and provide a stable base of support for the intricate and skilled functions performed by the hand. Because of the physical…
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Coming Home to an Empty House....
I was 50 years old before I got my first dog. I was never a big dog person--most of my experiences with dogs were less than pleasant as I was out running or cycling. It took two years after I married my current wife before she and the kids talked me into it. I resisted partly because I knew who would end up taking care of…
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Bogus "toning" shoes = $25 million penalty for Reebok
http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/09/28/8013146-reebok-settles-deceptive-toning-shoe-ad-charges-for-25-million $25 million is not even a slap on the wrist for Reebok, but hopefully it puts the final nail in the coffin of the whole BS concept of "toning shoes".
