signs of life in an otherwise stagnant pond

Not a luxury, but a necessity…

Thoughts on preparedness after major earthquakes jolt the planet

What if Global Warming isn’t real?

I can’t sleep. I did sleep earlier, about three hours. But, since I wasn’t where I should have been (in bed, instead of upstairs in front of the television), my sleep got interrupted. Generally, when my sleep gets interrupted, I can’t fall back asleep easily. This is why I usually get only four or five hours of sleep every day. My body will almost never let me sleep past six or so any morning. Watching TV usually makes it worse, as something usually gets my mind going. Plus, I …

I just went over some of my fitness goals for 2009.  If I can stick to an actually-achievable goal schedule, the difference I could make in just four months is pretty amazing.  It will take a LOT of iron slung about, and a LOT of protein.  But – I did it in 2006, and I’ve managed to retain a lot of that muscle mass, even if a fair amount of bodyfat found its way back on.  We’ll see how it goes.
Try not.  Do or do not.  There is no try.

I’ve been trying to catch up on this guy‘s posts – he runs the range of the humanities and beyond.  This one I found exemplifies the state of modern humanity.  Here’s the telling quote:
I sometimes wonder what an ancient Greek, transported through time, would think of us, cooped up indoors as we are much of the time, hunched over a computer keyboard or staring slack-jawed at a television screen. I suspect he would laugh at our pale, puffy bodies, never exposed to wind or sun, and would regard us as …

CNN, about the new “The Dark Knight” Batman movie:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Movies/07/02/film.ledger.oscarbuzz.ap/index.html
Many of you know I have been a fan of Batman for some time.  I have attempted to understand the character, as well as the villains that have been featured, especially during the Jason Todd/Tim Drake-as-Robin years.  The first Batman movie came out (Tim Burton) and I thought it captured the darkness of the genre very well.  That said, there was still a certain comic-book character to the film; as if Burton was attempting to appeal to the grown-up audience by using …

Props to this man for losing eighty pounds.  However…..
CNN – 80 lbs. lost on McMiracle diet
Nearly anything that actually gets that much extra bodyfat off you is good.  The man had a fifty-inch waist.  However, the quality of food he used to get where he is now is atrocious.  Never, ever, ever, should you skip breakfast.  Let alone while substituting the most powerful diuretic outside of a pill.  Caffeine plus an unexercised heart is a simple equation for heart attack.
The list of things he should do continues; eat a balanced …

Here is a link to an article that speaks to the possible effect of losing even one night’s sleep: link
In reading it, I looked back in my mind to moments where I had conversations about sleep, and I recall that there is an almost “hero-worship” for people who fail to get enough sleep.
“Oh, I couldn’t go to sleep until four last night, and I get up at six…”  “Wow, you’re hardcore…”
“No sleep for me tonight, I’ve got to work a double.”
How is it that the people who do it WRONG …