Chant 'til It's True

The republican tactic, chant 'til it's true. I believe Stephen Colbert dubbed a similar term, 'truthiness'. Where you claim something to be true regardless of evidence or whether it is, in fact, true. During the republican national convention they got to echo their truthiness to the entire world over and over again. Mike Huckabee exclaimed that Palin got more votes for mayor than Biden got when running for president. Sorry Mike, not even close. But the largest and most important lie is when the Repubs claim Obama will raise taxes on the middle class. Uhhh wut? Not so much there John. Not unless you consider middle class to be those who make more than $600,000 a year.

The scary thing is, the mass majority of people will never check these facts and take them as is. The Repubs know this. They know that they can say and claim whatever they want and if someone from the media calls them on it, it will be way after the fact and will reach far less viewers. Now I know that Dems as well as all other polititians will stretch, emellish the truth to shed the best light on them. This is to be expected. But only the neo-conservatives have had the stones to flat out lie. Even with facts as clear as numbers.

Good Times a' Coming

Lots of good times have come since the last time I posted. Obama gave an incredible speech that hit all the notes needed, Senator Biden was selected as a powerhouse VP that compliments the Dem ticket, and McCain picked a joke of a vice candidate who comes ready with scandal and admits she doesn't know jack about Iraq. Apparently the GOP believes women are stupid enough to vote based soley on which ticket has a female, regarless of policy differences. Gotta wonder why else they picked someone with even less experience than Obama. Oh well, good news for the world I suppose. Unfortuneatly, I don't feel the same excitement about the MN Dem senate candidate. Although Al Franken is a celeb with decent policy, is he really the best we could have come up with? Norm is a slippery guy with lots of practice stirring big pots of b.s. I guess we'll just have to hope for the best.

The Shine Faded A Bit

What shine faded? The luster of Barack, just a bit for me after the news of his support of the FISA bill that includes retroactive immunity. He is against the immunity portion, but in his statement he stated, "I will work in the Senate to remove this provision", a convenient political b.s. statement that gives him wiggle room to do nothing. Not quite a swift kick, but certainly a tap on the coin purse. For me it's the first chip in a brick wall of hope. A brick wall is solid and strong against an obvious and large opponent; but if you chisel it away, piece by piece, over time it crumbles. Perhaps it was a fluke and he'll hold the telecoms accountable for illegally spying on Americans, but I doubt it.

Now, Barack is still my horse by a long long shot. But I can't help but feel like the little kid that finally figured out that his dad is not superhuman. You still love your dad, but he can't stop a speeding bullet.

Ammo Surplus Against McCain

Let me first say that I used to like McCain as he earned his reputation as the maverick of the republican party, when he didn't walk in lock step with the neo-conservative line. He used to co-author progressive bills like McCain-Feingold and McCain-Lieberman, he spoke loudly against torture having experienced it himself. He really was a decent lawmaker.

But then his bid for the presidency became a reality and new friends he had to keep. He had to separate himself from the crowd of other republicans who were distancing themselves from Bush. As he aligned himself with the Bush doctrine it all changed. That change will provide a surplus of ammo for Obama in the general election because it provides several direct contradictions of what McCain used to stand for from what he now stands for. McCain used to be anti-torture and was the only contending republican to include waterboarding as torture during the debates. However, as recently as Feb 08 McCain voted against a ban on waterboarding allowing the CIA to still use this technique among others. McCain used to be known as an independent, not owned or influenced by top dollar Washington lobbyists. However, his campaign employs more lobbyists than any other 08 candidate and continues to employ more. McCain was known for his blunt honesty and morality but has now stooped to breaking the law to finance his campaign and is now being sued by the DNC. McCain hinges his campaign on his war hero status but voted against Senator Webb's troop-protection amendment and won't support a new GI education bill. These are big big issues independent of his verbal slip-ups: "bomb bomb Iran", "100 years", confusing shiite, sunni and al qaeda etc etc. These are not little bullets, they're ball busters. If all McCain can muster up against Obama is some small-town comments, pastor comments and a picture of him in a head dress, it won't be a nail bitting election come November.

Want Abs? Skip the Crunches

Everyday in the gym I see a variety of crunches, bends and leg lifts being performed feverishly by men and women struggling to get ever coveted ab definition. The media fuels the mantra with various ab devices and secret core workouts. While these methods do have benefits, the truth is that they are inefficient when trying to achieve ab definition.

Before you cut these methods out though lets first point out the major benefit. Crunches and other core exercises certainly improve core strength. Your abs are muscle just like any other. By working them and eating properly they will increase in size and strength. So if your goal is core strength for work or play then certainly keep these exercises in. However, if your main goal is ab definition they are inefficient. The best way to explain why is to expel some myths.

Spot Reduction - is a term that describes burning fat over a certain area by working that area. Like trying to burn belly fat by doing crunches. Unfortunately this is a myth. Your body fat rises and falls as one. Where the body fat is located depends on genetics alone. Think of a pool with a shallow end and deep end. You cannot lower water from the deep end without lowering the entire water level of the pool.

Shaping Abs - is a concept that says by doing crunches etc. you will produce more cuts and lines in your abs. While it is possible to grow your abs, the cuts and lines are predetermined by your genetics. Boyer Coe was a champion bodybuilder who competed extremely ripped, but he never had lower abs just because of his genetics. One could argue that by growing your abs your cuts are getting deeper, but I assure you it will make little difference if they're covered by fat. To detect such changes in cut depth one's body fat would have to be at extremely low levels. In the end if your abs are growing to a significant degree your waist will be larger. There's more muscle.

So why are they inefficient?

Abs are a relatively small group of muscles relative to the entire body so the amount of calories you burn over the amount of time you spend doing them isn't a very good ratio when compared to high intensity cardio or weight training. Your ab definition is already there, genetics put it there but it's covered by fat. You have to reduce your total body fat percentage to see the gift genetics wrapped for you. In order to do that you must burn more calories than you consume over an extended period of time. Not starving, just a slight deficit. Doing high intensity cardio or weight training will burn more calories than ab exercises during the same time interval. And since doing the ab exercises won't really change the way your abs look, you're better off doing something more efficient and getting home earlier.

If anyone wants more info about diet or has questions, you know where to find me. I hope this helps someone save some time and gets them those abs.

Job Accepted

Yes, tis true. I accepted a job. Which job? The Structural E.I.T. position at Uni-Systems in Minneapolis. It's located on the NW side of the city near Robbinsdale. It's a career that fits me perfectly, near a large city with an excellent offer. Couldn't refuse it.

Uni-Systems has agreed to assist in relocation and help Kelly find a different position. Kelly will likely stay with HNTB through most of the summer while I start at Uni-Systems and try to find a good place to live. Bro and Sis, I'll need to take you up on your offer in the mean time. I'll bring the sacred oils from India. So that's the story, the scoop. Hopefully I can graduate on time. Keep livin'.

Save The Planet?

I must first disclose myself as an Obama supporter; his policies and ethics are closest to mine given the current field. However, there are still issues that concern me. One in particular struck me during his super bowl ad where it claims that we can save the planet. I cringe when I hear this phrase. I roll my eyes and think to myself oh no he didn't! My reaction is shaped mostly by this bit by George Carlin titled The Planet is Fine. In it he points out that the the planet doesn't need saving, only our ability to live on the planet does. The planet doesn't care if the ice caps melt, or if insects can survive at higher latitudes or if there are more tornadoes and hurricanes... but we do.

When I hear save the planet it sounds like elitist, yuppie propaganda used to tie up our self-serving needs in a pretty bow. Lets be honest, if we had found that CO2 somehow increased our ability to survive we'd be having oil can bonfires and advocating SUV's for every man woman and child. By this logic the state of the planet's health is directly proportional to our ability to live on it. In reality we have no idea what the planet wants or feels, it's a planet. Maybe it wants to be warmer, maybe it's tired of ice, maybe it wanted plastic all this time but didn't know how to make it. Our perception of the planet's health is a completely self-serving one and was basically made up.

We need to quit lying to ourselves with this false language and propaganda. Yes we need to make changes, yes we need to be greener, not to save the planet but to save ourselves! I honestly believe that if we start being honest about our self-serving motivation we could get a lot more people on board and start making some serious progress. Stop the abstract, planet hugging rhetoric and start promoting reality. We need to change so we don't screw ourselves. I see nothing wrong with that. It's honest, it's true and it's something everyone can get behind. Save the planet pigeon holes the movement into a crazy, leftist, hippie movement and garners images of tie die and folks chained to trees. It debilitates people.

"We do think in language, so the quality of our thought can only be as good as the quality of our language." - G.C. Lets not save the planet, lets save ourselves.