Saturday, December 21, 2013

"I did it for me."

'Breaking Bad': Creator Vince Gilligan explains series finale | Inside TV | EW.com:
"Walt...  has managed to do the one thing he set out to do, which is a victory. He has managed to make his family financially sound in his absence, and that was really the only thing he set out to do in that first episode. So, mission accomplished.”

Walter White.  In the pilot episode he's a beaten down, whipped, middle-aged man living the "American Dream" with the requisite family, suburban house and a stable, if low paying, job.  But what does that mean for him, exactly?  It means that his wife gives him shit about $16 dollar credit card purchases and makes him eat veggie bacon "for his own good."  It means he has to wipe down one of his asshole student's cars at his second job at a car wash, while the kid mocks him and takes pictures.  The peak of his existence is a sad, pathetic birthday handjob by his clearly disinterested wife.  His life is defined by lost opportunities and what could have been.  And then he gets lung cancer. 

Spending his life playing by the rules and doing what was expected of him grants him a dull, joyless, ineffective & powerless life.  Cancer is his wake up call.  Consequences and views of society be damned, he finds something he's good at, and he excels at it.  It terms of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, he finds his esteem & becomes self actualized.  [Well, minus the 'morality' bit that Maslow includes.] 

Finding something you're good at, and doing it well, that's a core component of living, of being alive, that all too often gets lost.  He grabs life by the throat and doesn't care anymore about the bullshit rules and conditions life & society lays out for him.  Discovering that your life is yours alone, and you are beholden to nothing and no one unless you so choose, that's powerful stuff.  Seeing the world as it is, and choosing what you want.  Deciding to really LIVE, not just exist.

A brahmin once asked the Blessed One: "Are you a God?" 
"No, brahmin," said the Blessed One. 
"Are you a saint?" 
"No, brahmin," said the Blessed One. 
"Are you a magician?" 
"No, brahmin," said the Blessed One. 
"What are you then?" 
"I am awake."









Also, Bryan Cranston is just a bad ass.


Beauty isn't in the eye of the beholder.

For men & women.  Human beings are pattern recognition/generation machines.  The eye recognizes symmetry, proportion & beauty across cultures & across history.

"Why do we want men to have broad shoulders? Why is it attractive for women to have narrow waists and healthy hips? The answers to those questions, as I’ve discussed on the blog, are grounded in HARD SCIENCE. To summarize, we view certain physical traits as desirable in members of each sex: an X-shaped physique for men implies virility and strength; an hourglass shaped body on a woman, on the other hand, implies fertility and good mothering. We view what is attractive partially through the eyes of people looking for mates—we view these bodies as “sexy“—because of scientifically proven NUMBERS...
You see, our brains are programmed to look for symmetry and balance everywhere; programmed to be attracted to it and to try to create it. And so in part, what we consider a good body is really based on what we view as a body that projects certain characteristics that imply bodily symmetry…which is based on numbers like “The Golden Ratio.” The Golden Ratio is number that shows up all over the human body, from the length of the arms and legs compared to the torso, and it seems to define what proportions look best; that is, most attractive. In fact, artists and sculptors have known about the golden ratio for a long time and have used it to create sculptures and artwork of the ideal human figure. Even plastic surgeons and dental surgeons use it to restructure the human face. It’s a really interesting bit of science and evolutionary psychology that makes you think."


"To that end, an X-shaped physique means broad shoulders, a narrow waist and strong, well-developed calves. For broad shoulders, focus on core movements that allow for maximal recruitment, such as the push press and some isolation exercises to focus on the medial delts and increases in width, such as lateral raises. A narrow waist is primarily the result of a low level of body fat, obviously. However, it is important to understand that the muscles around your waist respond to weight training in much the same way that all other muscles do: by growing. So while it isn’t necessary to avoid certain exercises completely, train with the caveat that you should avoid rotational exercises with either a heavy weight or high volume. The goal, overall, is to develop a waist-to-shoulder ratio of about 1.618 -- the Golden Ratio."

"To build the perfect body, it helps to have the right dimensions. Thankfully, the magic formula for those dimensions has been known for centuries. It's called the golden ratio—a dividend of two measurements that's roughly equal to 1.618. Its influence can be seen in the shape of a seashell, the spirals of a pinecone, and the Parthenon in Athens. And in blueprints for the archetypal human form: Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man and Michelangelo's David."

"Although most were initially drawn to the woman's cleavage, her hips and waist were key to attraction. A waist-to-hip ratio of 0.7 - or a waist measurement exactly 70 per cent of the hip circumference - scored the highest marks. Examples include some of the world's most beautiful women. Marilyn Monroe, modern-day starlet Jessica Alba and Victoria's Secret model Alessandra Ambrosio all possess the perfect figure. As does Kate Moss, despite her apparent lack of curves. And the attractiveness of the hourglass figure holds true across countries and cultures, research shows."


"“Beauty is in the phi of the beholder.” It has long been said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and thought that beauty varies by race, culture or era.  The evidence, however, shows that our perception of physical beauty is hard wired into our being and based on how closely one’s features reflect phi in their proportions.  Take another look at beauty through the eyes of medical science. A template for human beauty is found in phi and the pentagon Dr. Stephen Marquardt has studied human beauty for years in his practice of oral and maxillofacial surgery.   Dr. Marquardt performed cross-cultural surveys on beauty and found that all groups had the same perceptions of facial beauty.  

He also analyzed the human face from ancient times to the modern day.  Through his research, he discovered that beauty is not only related to phi, but can be defined for both genders and for all races, cultures and eras with the beauty mask which he developed and patented.  This mask uses the pentagon and decagon as its foundation, which embody phi in all their dimensions.  For more information and other examples, see his site at Marquardt Beauty Analysis."

Friday, December 20, 2013

Training - "Exercise becomes a habit when you do it every day without fail. Taking rest days between exercise days breaks up the pattern that creates habits."

12/20 - squats, split squats, glute bridge, hip thrusts -- 3x2min shadowboxing, 3x2min heavy bag, 4x2min shadowboxing/Bas Rutten MMA Workout-Kickboxing, hand conditioning

12/19 - bench, dips, neck nods/rotations, db rows, neck harness 

"Other successful exercisers get up long before the sun to do their workouts. Still others go straight from work to the gym. In each case the key is to have a predictable system. The method that never succeeds is exercising whenever you have some spare time. If you’re like most adults, you haven’t seen spare time in years."

"If you want to make a habit of something, the worst thing you can do is pick and choose which days of the week you do it and which ones you don’t. Exercise becomes a habit when you do it every day without fail. Taking rest days between exercise days breaks up the pattern that creates habits. It also makes it too easy to say today is one of your nonexercise days, and maybe tomorrow too."

How's This for a Long-Term Effect? | DietDoctor.com:
 "Dan Moffett is still doing great on an LCHF diet, here’s an email I got yesterday: Thank you for all you do. Thanks in part to your site I have lost over 160 pounds and have been keeping it off going on 4 years now. You can see my story and pictures at: www.DansLowCarbJourney.com"


"Hi! I’ve submitted before but wanted to again as every time I take a new progress picture I get re-inspired and want to inspire others. I started this journey about 8 months ago and I have never looked back!!! There is no magic pill or trick. I eat clean 80% of the time, stay active, lift like a maniac and LIFT HEAVY. :) Don’t ever give up on yourself! You’re the most important person you will ever know!!!"






Jingle Bell Rock!  Get it?  
... 
...I stole that joke.


Thursday, December 19, 2013

"It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published..." - Dr. Marcia Angell, Harvard Medical School, The New England Journal of Medicine.

"And you're playing into the aims of the image's creators. For many - arguably most - Americans, this guy is hipster douchitude on a cracker....  The whole packaging, including the Christmas postcard styling of the image, the infantilized image of man-child, the vaguely imperial "GetTalking" hashtag, etc..."



"Can you look at that swaddled manlet for more than two seconds without laughing? I could carve a better man out of a banana...  Perhaps the creators thought that a gelding in a onesie was the way to appeal to the SWPL yuppies they need to sign up. If they thought this, and their intentions were sincere, we can conclude that stuff like this works on SWPLs because SWPLs take a kind of twisted retard pride in acting and looking like house eunuchs. To them, this androgynous lifestyle of hot cocoa and plush jammies signals sophistication and success...  So here we are, presented with yet another emasculated white male as the punchable face of America...  A male in a onesie...  A soft, neutered pale Ewok as the representative of America’s bold march into a progressive, humanist future."


Conan Wins.  Hilarious.

"Harvard Medical School’s Dr. Marcia Angell is the author of The Truth About the Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What to Do About It. But more to the point, she’s also the former Editor-in-Chief at the New England Journal of Medicine, arguably one of the most respected medical journals on earth. But after reading her article in the New York Review of Books called Drug Companies & Doctors: A Story of Corruption, one wonders if any medical journal on earth is worth anybody’s respect anymore. “It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgment of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines. I take no pleasure in this conclusion, which I reached slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as an editor of The New England Journal of Medicine.”"



"...you would think we would learn the way these things work, which is this: 
1) everything that’s already in the world when you’re born is just normal; 
2) anything that gets invented between then and before you turn thirty is incredibly exciting and creative and with any luck you can make a career out of it; 
3) anything that gets invented after you’re thirty is against the natural order of things and the beginning of the end of civilisation as we know it until it’s been around for about ten years when it gradually turns out to be alright really. 
Apply this list to movies, rock music, word processors and mobile phones to work out how old you are." - Douglas Adams 



Boom.


"A group of researchers from the UK have used inkjet printing technology to successfully print cells taken from the eye for the very first time.

The breakthrough, which has been detailed in a paper published today, 18 December, in IOP Publishing's journal Biofabrication, could lead to the production of artificial tissue grafts made from the variety of cells found in the human retina and may aid in the search to cure blindness."





If some can "hate the sin but love the sinner" then I can find the religion ridiculous, be friends with the religious, and bask in joyful schadenfreude when espousing archaic, bronze-aged Middle Eastern mythologies and fairy tales causes problems for somebody in the 21st Century - Why ‘Suspending’ Phil Robertson From Duck Dynasty Was A Brilliant, Cynical PR Move - The Superficial - Because You're Ugly:
 "I can’t count how many times I’ve explained this, but I’m going to keep doing it. Was Phil Robertson put in jail or fined by the government? Then his freedom of speech is fully intact. That said, should A&E actually be suspending him for his comments that in no way shape, or form should’ve surprised them, it’s in his contract that they can. A&E is Phil’s private employer, and at some point during negotiations for the show, his lawyers were given a contract that included a clause saying A&E can terminate him at any point if he does anything that negatively affects the network or Duck Dynasty. That is standard, perfectly constitutional procedure, and something Phil agreed to in exchange for $200,000 an episode. And if he suddenly doesn’t agree with those conditions, then he’s a sinner who gave false testimony...

Owning someone like property is persecution. Hanging someone for the color of their skin is persecution. Using the full weight of the law to beat and attack someone with a firehose is persecution. Firing, or not hiring, someone for the color of their skin, gender or sexual orientation is persecution. Telling someone who they cannot speak to, share a bathroom with, date, or marry is persecution. Having someone disagree with you on the Internet is fucking words on a screen. Christians are still the majority religion in America and still influencing every single level of state, local and federal government. No one’s trying to make laws that throw you in jail for what you do in your bedroom, or denying your partner health benefits or the simple right to visit you in the hospital. Your shit is golden."

& blacks were happy being segregated cotton pickers.  And they're singing!  Holy.  Fuck.  Ignorance level is just mindfuckingly off the charts.   - 'Duck Dynasty' star suspended - CNN.com
"He also made comments regarding race and growing up in Louisiana before the civil rights era. "I never, with my eyes, saw the mistreatment of any black person. Not once. Where we lived was all farmers. The blacks worked for the farmers. I hoed cotton with them. I'm with the blacks, because we're white trash. We're going across the field. ... They're singing and happy. I never heard one of them, one black person, say, 'I tell you what: These doggone white people' -- not a word! "Pre-entitlement, pre-welfare, you say: Were they happy? They were godly; they were happy; no one was singing the blues," GQ quotes Robertson as saying."



Warmed my cold dead heart.  If you don't love this, I have no use for you - So Many Feels: Watch a Man with Down Syndrome Read an Acceptance - BroBible.com
"Rion Holcombe -- a 20-year old man with Down syndrome -- recently received a letter from Clemson University’s LIFE program, a program designed for students with intellectual disabilities who desire a postsecondary experience on a college campus. Rion and his father read the letter while his mom turned on the camera. Rion's excitement will bring a tear to your eye.  If this doesn't warm your cold winter heart, quite life. Best. Video. Ever. "










Flashback.  Though I was never this cool.  Probably.

"Please & Thank You." - Yep, NC.