Archive for August 2008
Sarah Palin
Ah, the sport of politics. I wondered what it was going to take to get most of the long-term-republican-conservative McCain haters (or Reagan lovers -- same thing) to become McCain's bitches & fools. Spend five minutes in the comments section of any popular conservative blog (they've all blogged on it, by now) and you'll see that the wait is over. Fools. Well, I guess that's what it takes to keep the scam always rolling forward like it's a brand new day, or something.
Read MoreThe Hunger Returns: Fasting
I had intended to do a 30-hr fast beginning at noon, yesterday, with both a hearty breakfast and lunch prior. It didn't work out that way. I wasn't really hungry in the early morning (never am, anymore), so I didn't fix anything until about 9am. I hadn't had bacon & eggs in a while (really), so I fixed five strips and fried up two eggs in my newly acquired lard. I had intended to add in some red grapes, but apparently Bea absconded with those for her packed lunch. Oh, well. Then came noon; then 1pm, and still not hungry. Oh, well; again. I guess my fast begins at 9:15am. By around 4pm I was getting hungry and didn't really relish going until bedtime. What to do? I decided on walking the five minutes over to the gym for some self-experimentation. Let's back up. Some will recall around the first of the year when I began experimenting with intermittent fasting, the idea being that we are evolutionarily adapted to going long periods without food, and that when we do, we turn to burning fat in place of muscle glycogen (stored carbohydrate). The body also releases growth hormone in response to...
Read MoreHow to Cook
My brother rings in from Texas. Here's my problem: I am not a cook. You want a over/under absorption and recapitalization analysis on revenue of fifty million dollars per month? No problem; I'll have it done in a day or two. Ask me to plan a healthy menu for the next week, and, well, it's a deer in the headlights look. I don't have a clue. Where do I start? Well, first, you have to determine that you're going to cook. Eating out -- even at nice restaurants -- is a very poor substitute for sound nutrition and physical health. Second, if you're going to cook and you don't know how, you have to learn. Third: simple simple simple. You can teach yourself through trial and error, which means you'll really learn. And the more you teach yourself, the more you learn. Repeat. Don't overthink it. First: real food only. meat (inlcuding any organ meats you might like), poultry, fish, shellfish most vegetables (keep potatoes to minimum) some fruits (berries and melons, primarily) nuts (peanuts aren't nuts but legumes -- focus on almonds, macadamia, walnuts, brazils, hazels, pecans) fats (lard, butter, ghee, COCONUT OIL, olive oil). Excellent review of oils...
Read MoreBy Popular Demand: Food Pics
Of all my food & fitness postings it seems like people are most enthusiastic about the food. At least that's the sense I get from some of the feedback I get in email, as well as comments. While I've been lax in photographing most of what I make, I've taken a few over the weeks and months, and so I guess I'll post them over the next few days. Let's start with some of the more recent, and for this, I've a couple of photos and also a video. Here's the video, which I call: This is Camping. It's the stir-fry I blogged on our recent trip to Hat Creek, but here's the video version just as I'm finishing it off with the meat added back in. You also get a look at some of the serious cooking gear gear my family takes camping. I did a UTube version, as well, but the res was so crappy that I redid it on my .Mac Gallery. I wish I'd taken more pics of the stuff my brothers, mom, and I fixed, but I didn't, so that's that. I did, however, get some shots of my brother's Paella. This was just about...
Read MoreBeemer
Yesterday, I made the final lease payment on my 2006 BMW X5 (4.4L V8). Best car I have ever "owned" in terms of engineering excellence, reliability, service, raw power and handling, and a host of other things. It's not the most expensive car I've owned, either. Add to that: the residual is on the order of $34k, while the value (and all the ads for 2006 models here and there) is around $45k. So, obviously, I'm going to now buy this car. I've been so happy working with BMW, and even though I have a standing auto financing arrangement with another company I've done business with since 1982 (and who finances my wife's Infinity X-35), I decided to give BMW finance a shot. I called up and got Kristen on the phone who, proceeded to offer me 3.9%. I said let's go and she politely indicated they'd have to run it past underwriting. She just personally called back and the docs are on the way for the same deal she quoted me, to the penny. The one thing she emphasized is that there's no prepayment penalty, explicitly indicating that some people purchase at end-of-lease and flip for a quick profit....
Read More“To hell with these liars”
Damn right: I think this is splendid. "Ideological diversity" is horseshit. What's needed is ideological clarity: the honesty of publishers' convictions laid out straight in what they produce. Adolph Ochs' delusion of objectivity, seminal in American journalism, was essentially overthrown at The New York Times in two generations for the very good and natural reason that thinking ordinarily results conclusions and convictions, with the equally natural caveat that peoples' ethics condition their thinking. The question must always be held in mind: "What values are these people moving for?" This is the enormous question that has always gone hidden under the patina of "objectivity", and these people are dying because readers -- being hip to it for decades now -- now also have object lessons in these principles raining down out of the internet 24/7. Billy Beck puts Glen Reynolds in short pants over the crumbling Sacramento Bee. As an aside, it's not only political ideology that's driving a wedge between the privileged dishonest and the honest, fuck-you-if-you-don't-like-it true intelligentsia. The dishonest were never intelligent; just calculating, pragmatic, mendacious. To be candid, they have lots of fools ready and willing -- indeed enthusiastic -- to lap up the lies, because, after...
Read MoreWhy I’m Not Interested
February 7, 2004. Read it; or, here's the short version: republicans are fools. The democrats are evil fucking commies, but the republicans are fools. Don't know which I hate worse, but I have this sort of visceral respect -- at least -- for someone who honestly stands on their principles, and that would be the democrats (it's analogous to the condition that I have more respect for a common thief than for those jobholder thieves in government who enjoy legal immunity). And now look what you've got: John Fucking McCain. What a laugh. You deserve every last inch of him. Good and hard.
Read MoreCan You Guess?
What this is? You'll notice the cap. So, a beer, to go? Nope. Lard. Freshly rendered, and still warm. Better is that I got it not 2 blocks from home, and actually walked over. Mi Pueblo Food Center. They have a really nice meat department, too. And not bad on the produce either, though they could do with some additional fruit selections, especially berries. Here's the meal preparation tonight, 15-20 minutes start to finish. Tri-Tip steaks with a dry rub (grilled on high, 4 minutes per side) and a simple stir-fry of broccoli, cauliflower, and celery, in the wok with coconut oil, high heat for about 5 minutes. It retained a nice light crunch. There's plenty of leftover meat which I'll finish off (along with a half-slab of leftover baby-backs from last night) prior to commencing a 30-hr fast tomorrow at noon.
Read MoreTurbulence Training
Craig Ballantyne really does good work. See for yourself. That's 12 weeks, people. Here's the results from his spring contest. And yet, day after day and week after week I see the same people trudging away on the treadmill, elliptical, cycle...making no progress. Then there's the joggers out on the trail every morning. There's this one, in particular. Three years ago when she first showed up, she was a bit plump, but not too bad, and hard a certain Meryl Streep charm about her. She must've stuck with it for about three months, maybe. Then you never saw her. Then, months later, she's out there again, and fatter. Repeat. I saw her this morning for the first time in a long time, and now way fat, bordering obese. No doubt the product of a low-fat diet. The diet and exercise "gurus" that line the shelves of your local B&N or Borders ought to be quaking in fear. This is the future, folks; people taking matters into their own hands, becoming their own laboratory, holding themselves publicly accountable, and getting real results. And you know what? It's so god dammed simple. And easy. It's just that real food and real exercise...
Read MoreAnother Election Resource
the Onion: War for the White House.You'll want to keep that one bookmarked. Latest Poll Reveals 430 New Demographics That Will Decide Election
Read MoreMockery
I guess it was rather early in the AM, yesterday, when I noted that the top news item on my Yahoo "home page" was that 'ol Barack was about to announce a running mate. I could only imagine the millions who must've worn out their mice buttons throughout the day clicking on the refresh, over and over. I paid no attention at all, and then when I went to the gym at 4pm pacific, noted afterward on the locker-room TV that Matthews of "Hardball" infamy was being his usual self, acting as though American Civilization was on the cusp of some momentous event. Still no announcement... Ooh; Ah. Well, as I understood it, several "reasons" were proffered for the delay. "He wants to lure many more to sign up for the text message announcement," of course so he can send out additional text messages for the remainder of the campaign to tell people just how it's "the most important election of our time" (So send money. Now.), or, at least, the most important since the last one and of lesser importance than the next one, which, he would not say in any event but is implicit in the whole scam....
Read MoreBitch Charm II
Those who were around last January and took a look will recall Bitch Charm. And now I'll introduce you to Bitch Charm II. That's our 3-yr-old Rat Terrier, Nanuka ("Nuke"). The other dog is Spot, a sheep herding breed and a very nice dog. If you saw my flying video from the other day, he's featured in my landing. He does this to all the pilots. At about 300-500 ft AGL ('above ground level') he gets "missile lock," as Page, the human Spot owns, describes it. It's very interesting to watch. Rather than simply chasing underneath the glider in the air, he maintains an angle (that's an "intercept vector"), always turning inside the glider on it's DBF ('downwind, base, & final') and always ends up right underneath at landing. Every pilot I've seen welcomes it just fine. Anyway, Nuke likes Spot just fine too. Down, and literally dirty. See for yourself.
Read MoreWhere this moment?
Trials Pub. Hot ckicen & bacon salad.
Read MoreAnecdotal Data Point
So driving back from getting my wife's new car battery, I encountered the stupidest, most reckless driver I've seen in perhaps months. First, she runs a red light turning left into a 4-way lighted intersection where the cross traffic had the green (for a while). I had to brake to avoid. Then, she slows and slows, eventually stopping right in the middle of the roadway, looking this way and that. I finally got around, to be done with her. Punchline: bumper-sticker; "Obama '08."
Read MoreNot All Work
A curious car-centric day. First, I had an idea that the battery life on my wife's Infinity FX was coming to an end. I recently had to jump it, but wasn't sure if it was an anomoly, or what. After sitting idle for a week, it became clear. So, the day began with me going down and pulling the thing, which isn't like your father's car. Significant amounts of engine-compartment cowling had to be dissasembled just to access it. But then, it was quick work taking the core over to Kragen, getting a new one and getting it back together. Total time of operation: about an hour or so. Then I got back to the paperwork shuffle and catch up, review of outstanding issues, and then it was over to Provanta for the monthly Board of Director's meeting, in which I undertake the role of Chairman. After that, more car stuff. My fellow director Chris just turned in his S-Type Jaguar (now discontinued) and got a new XK. Yowzer! So, this is what I've been "test" driving for the last bit. It has the paddle shifters right conveniently located on the back of the steering wheel; right for up, left...
Read MoreLogical Simplicity
The only thing really complicated about Mike's list of mistakes people make is that most people are so enthusiastic about the havoc they're wreaking on their bodies that they aren't really stopping to assess why it is that they make no gains and often get worse -- chronically worse. That's to say it's rather complicated figuring out why one can observe plain old animals, like dogs, behave in accordance with their natures, while humans have all this benefit of knowledge, science, technology and so very many use these things to violate their biological natures rather than to enhance and promote them. I'm all for "out-competing god" (one of my favorite metaphors), and I have no problem in the world with artificial or man-made means of either obviating the continued necessity of biological processes in a natural, evolved way, or circumventing nature altogether. However... Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed. -- Francis Bacon I might state it that nature, to be commanded, must first be obeyed. You must first understand what you are doing, form hypotheses, test them, and keep testing them and developing new ones. This ensures that you are first obeying nature all the while you are trying...
Read MoreThis & That
Back home and in full force, finally. Lots to do. Lots & lots. ...General work involving an existing company, a start-up company, a town home building project, this blog's new nutrition & fitness direction and ancillary projects surrounding that endeavor. The bottle of scotch will just have to age a bit more. In the meantime, here's a shot of the full moon I took the last night of camping at Hat Creek, CA.
Read MorePresumptions
Here's a conversation with a waitress at a nice little restaurant this morning. Me: I'll have the eggs, ground beef patty, potatoes; no toast. Over easy and medium. Her: Oh, the ground beef has almost no fat in it. Me: That's unfortunate. Her: Oh, yea, she gets the ground beef with almost no fat in it and cooks it well done, so it's healthy. Me: I beg to differ. I eat 60-70% of calories from animal fat and have the healthiest blood lipids you will ever see in your life. Anyway, how about the sausage patty? Is that low fat too? Her: Oh no, not at all. Me: Alright then. Sausage it is. Of course, she knows nothing about "health," neither does the cook, and neither do over 99% of the people in the civilized world. Primitives and savages know about nutritional health, but then again, they have to in order to survive. They don't have the "convenience" of being able to blank out and simply follow and regurgitate the "points and authorities" of the anointed, which, I hasten to add, have been a general disaster for most people who've ever followed them. She only spouts off with the "low...
Read MoreArthur De Vany in the UK Times
The diet that really works Bryan Appleyard thinks he has found a diet that really works: it took him three weeks to shed 14lb with healthy ease. But he had to go back 5,000 years to discover the science behind it This isn’t just background, it is essential to an understanding of Arthur’s approach to diet and fitness. It is very rigorous and thoughtful – which is why Nassim’s [Nicholas Taleb] advocacy got me on the diet. The first point is that economics happens inside the body as well as outside. His work is all about the dynamics of complex, adaptive systems; he calls himself a complexity scientist. Central to this is the overthrow of old statistical models. Basically, we have all been taught that events – human wealth, earthquakes, blockbuster movies – cluster round an average forming a graph in the shape of a bell curve. This is an illusion and the concept of the average leads to fatal errors. In reality, almost all events of significance follow what are known as “power laws”. This means, to simplify, that what are thought of as rare events are, in fact, more important than any average. We think of bank crises,...
Read MoreWing in a Bag
Here's some video footage I mashed together in about 5 minutes in iMovie. So simple and easy. The nice gentleman giving me a hand with pre-launch checks and standby -- just in case -- is Page, a local who gave me an intro to the site prior to my first flight here 12 years ago, and who has been an annual flying buddy ever since. I've probably had 50 flights here, and never have I failed to be able to fly on any day I came to launch, and never have I failed to have an extended flight with altitude gains of hundreds -- usually thousands -- of feet over launch. This flight was 30 minutes, and was my first flight in two years. On the landing, the hand position was perfect, and the flair timing a tad early. Being early is OK, and far, far preferable to being late, where you don't have sufficient energy (airspeed) to execute a full flair and you just mush for a good pound-in. My mistake was in not holding the flair, which is always rule #1, but goes counter to evolutionary "instinct." It's tough to do something your senses were not designed to...
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