Had checkup today. Apparently I'm still alive. Need to get the 100,000-mile timing-belt change (colonoscopy), and maybe the tires rotated. Also might need new spark plugs. The doctor said, :So for low PSA scores we no longer do digital rectal exams." Never so happy to have scored low on a test in my life. But this old horse is still running.
A chart of toddler vs CEO. So very much this. (Grokked from Patrick Nielsen Hayden)
I've always been a numbers guy. Here's 15 interesting mathematics facts. I won't say "coolest" like the headline, because there are many more "cooler" things about numbers. "3. The guy that proved the existence of irrational numbers was murdered for his finding." As well he should have been. (Grokked from George Takei)
Eat less, exercise more. It's this type of article and this type of science that infuriates me. "We tested the myth that exercising more leads to weight loss." I understand this is a common thought in the populace, but none of my doctors have ever said that (except in a "you need to start exercising/moving" manner, which is also the point of the First Lady's "Move" initiative, get them moving first, then start talking about diet because the moving part is the hardest). Eat less, exercise more. There's a lot of cluelessness going on in this article and it's hard to tease out if it's really the scientists or the reporter's angle that leads to this. Eating less will not lead to permanent weight loss (except for extreme restrictions, like Adkins, and then once you get off that diet there is a high degree of rebound weight). Your body will adapt. We've have millions of years of famine to compensate (traits from our non-human ancestors). Exercise alone will not lease to permanent weight loss. We've had millions of years of fight-or-flight responses to compensate. Your body will always compensate, this ignores the other aspects such as not having as much activity because your dieting, or eating more - and resting more - because you're exercising. Your body wants to be fat, it's been the cultural norm for "healthy" throughout human history except for the last 60 years). Fat helps your digestion in the short term, it's also good for the lean times. Fat is a protective mechanism that leads to successful reproduction. Evolution doesn't give a shit if you look good in skinny jeans. Eat less, exercise more. Can you lose more by just dieting? Sure. That's why there is a whole very vocal industry devoted to that proposition (and it makes a ton more than the exercise industry which is why there are more people in it) that is very willing and successful in taking your money. But exercise will increase your basal rate (which this article says it doesn't because the studies it quotes are not really measuring to see the difference here, but only to see the difference in stress exercising, i.e. the increased calorie burn from the actual exercise). Actual exercise burns minimal calories. As you diet your basal metabolism will decrease (because your body is going into famine mode). As you exercise there is a top limit you'll hit (this is where your basal metabolism won't increase any more because you'll damage yourself, which is why the see a "plateau"). And you're body will want to eat more (because one, more calories out and two, you may need it because you might not be able to eat again, or at least digest as the leopard is chasing you). Eat less, exercise more. Moderation. Go extreme in either direction and your body will react in ways most people don't understand (look at Kwashiorkor babies, huge swollen bellies, which are actually their liver storing fat as their bodies consume theirselves, which leads to cirrhosis, which you wouldn't think would happen because Kwashiorkor Syndrome is the result of starvation). Also, while looking at all those charts in the article, notice the time lines. If your study is less than a year, I wouldn't give it much credence. Oh, and any diet will work as will any exercise, as long as you stick to that diet and exercise. Sticktoitiveness is the factor with the highest degree of success. Eat less, exercise more. "The researchers behind the study (that tracked people for longer than a year) found that people who have had success losing weight share a few things in common: They weigh themselves at least once a week. They restrict their calorie intake, stay away from high-fat foods, and watch their portion sizes. They also exercise regularly." Eat less, exercise more. Also note that for some people, the eat less, exercise more mantra doesn't work, but for most people it does. As you exercise more, and your body becomes more "efficient" (not really, but it's also a good shorthand term) at using calories (and as you lose weight) your basal metabolism will start to lower again (this is why they'll tell you, after a while of exercising, you need to ramp up again). Which kinda sucks. Also note, BMI isn't a measurement of health or ability, it is a very loosely tied metric to total body fat. But it's cheap and easy to measure, which is why it's used. The same thing for the CO2 tests they looked at. (Grokked from Tania)
"In the southeastern Chinese city of Quanzhou, a well-known Buddhist monk named Fu Hou has been mummified and encased in gold leaf." Like you do.
"A new study, which sampled xenon from carbon dioxide-rich mineral spring gas from the volcanic Eifel province in Germany, points to an asteroidal origin for part of the volatile elements trapped in Earth’s mantle—planetary bodies whose remnants now lie between Mars and Jupiter. The mysterious xenon in the atmosphere came from elsewhere, possibly comets." It wasn't me (points at the dog). The world is weirder than you can imagine.
Preppers are still big money. Given the recent numerous conversations about peoples' "fears", it's easy to see why (also, it's easy to see who is driving the market).
To counter my narrative of humans never discovering time travel because we still have Trump, "The Large Hadron Collider, a 17-mile superconducting machine designed to smash protons together at close to the speed of light, went offline last night. Engineers investigating the mishap found the charred remains of a furry creature near a gnawed-through power cable." Well done future masters of Earth, who appear as weasels. Well done. Skynet has been averted. "Although they had not conducted a thorough analysis of the remains, Marsollier says they believe the creature was 'a weasel, probably.'" As they want us to believe. (Grokked from Hannah Bowman)
"'I think when Donald Trump debates Hillary Clinton she’s going to go down like Monica Lewinsky,' (Chairman of the Broward County GOP Executive Committee Bob)Sutton told the Post." What the fuck?! Seriously, WTF?! I would say he's an ignorant hick who doesn't know exactly what he's saying, but I'm pretty sure he does. This is what happens as you throw poorly thought out metaphors together with an attempt to tar the other person with a past event. Your mouth runs faster than your conscious brain can keep up. Your unconscious brain, however, is perfectly fine with it.
"If we can’t puncture some of the mythology around austerity, politics or tax cuts or the mythology that’s been built up around the Reagan revolution, where somehow people genuinely think that he slashed government and slashed the deficit and that the recovery was because of all these massive tax cuts, as opposed to a shift in interest-rate policy — if we can’t describe that effectively, then we’re doomed to keep on making more and more mistakes." President Obama on his economic legacy. Short answer, did some great things, didn't fight hard enough for others, missed some opportunities, some people who should know better are pretty whiney.
"Former Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) acknowledged in a Wednesday radio interview that voter ID laws help elect 'more conservative candidates.'" This is one of the problems of political chicanery like this, people tend to spill the beans before it's too late to reverse the game.
"Establishment Republicans have tried to counter (Trump's) appeal by shouting, with growing hysteria, that he isn’t a true conservative. And they’re right, at least as they define conservatism. But their own voters don’t care." Paul Krugman on what happens when the conned get fed up.
Say, remember the consternation about how protests against the Trumpster at his rallies were stifling his free-speech rights? Yeah, it was bullshit then and it's bullshit now. In Southern California, that anti-rally protest was even more violent than Chicago's, but Trump went on to speak. Funny how someone with the microphone can often speak no matter what the protest.
Tweet of my heart: @mightymur I'm pessimistic in anticipating if Hillary wins, we'll hear a lot of "sexism is dead; there's a woman in the White House. So STFU bitch."
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