justice

Let me make this absolutely clear:

I abhor violence. Physical confrontation is the tool of the weak-minded and the short-sighted. To intentionally harm another human being is the most despicable thing you can do. In fact, it is pretty much the one thing that I would consider to be 100%, absolutely, and objectively wrong.

But.

That doesn't mean violence is never justified...or at least excusable.

Beyond the obvious cases of self-defense and defense of the defenseless, I am fairly certain that seeing these bottom-dwellers at the funeral of someone I loved would inspire me--police protection notwithstanding--to do everything in my power to cause them physical pain. I think that would be worth spending a night in jail over.

This is probably not as immediately satisfying, but as justice goes, it's pretty good.

These are the kind of people that make me genuinely regret that I don't believe in Hell.

why I am a libertarian

The headline says it all.

Working for an arm of the leviathan has only served to reinforce my convictions.

(via)

how could hell be any worse?

Wow...the opening minutes of the Daily Show tonight were just brilliant. To summarize: a good chunk of SoCal catches on fire, CNN blames global warming, and Fox blames Al Qaida.

Which channel blames the fact that a densely populated arid grassland/desert gets a BIG FUCKING WIND DURING THE DRIEST PART OF THE YEAR??? That's the one I want to watch. Until I figure out who that is, Comedy Central will have to do.

Of course, FEMA's press conferences these days are basically rendering the fake news redundant.

(And yeah, I know I'm playing fast and loose with my geography in the title reference, but no one writes songs about the destruction of San Diego. Songs about destroying LA practically constitute a genre.)

i'm feeling better

I should post about my groin more often...I get great comments when I do.

Thursday, I did 30 min on a stationary bike (no problems, except in the dressing room putting my shorts on which hurt like hell) and by the end of it felt loose enough to try a little light jogging. I managed 0.25 mile before it was clear I wasn't ready for that yet.

Friday was rest, except for walking.

Saturday I did a 3-mile dogwalk in the morning, and felt good so I hit the gym, did some weights, and then figured I'd give the treadmill another whirl. Started very slow, felt good, and gradually ramped up my speed. Was a little tight through the first 15 minutes, then felt fine. Ended up finishing 5 miles in 43 minutes (typically this takes me 38-40). So that's pretty good.

No pain since.

I should mention I was taking ibuprofen at 3x 800mg/d the whole time, and am now tapering that off.

Still don't know what the hell this was/is, but the intensity of the pain and the rapidity of (apparent) recovery don't really make much sense to me. But I'm not complaining.

since i'm walking funny anyway

I may just have to go get in on this.

At the very least, I'll go snap a picture or two.

sports medicine bleg (or, a post about my groin)

Yeah, sorry.

Since I count among my readership a good number (and variety) of amateur athletes (how many ACL surgeries among the old ultimate team is it now?) and at least one bona fide MD, I'm just going to throw this one out there.

Is anyone aware of an injury/condition that manifests like a classic groin pull/strain, except:

1) I cannot pinpoint a moment of acute injury
2) During normal, non-strenuous activity, there is no pain (except for a period of time after an acute incident, see (4) below)
3) There is no external sign of inflammation (also no visible or palpable herniation as far as I can tell, standing, lying down, coughing, etc.)
4) Lifting and twisting of the leg on the affected side (think putting on pants while standing), OR, any sudden lunging type movement (like when your dog decides to suddenly cut across your line on a short leash and you trip over him) results in shooting, blinding pain that makes you contemplate passing out and/or throwing up (and also makes walking suddenly very uncomfortable).

And please don't say sports hernia, OK? Really.

As far as my typical level of activity, I run 10-20 miles a week (typically 3-6 miles at a time, pace from 9-7:30/mile), do some high-intensity/low rep weight training 1-2 times a week, and walk with the dog (1-3 miles) daily. Some yoga once a week or so, when I have time, which I haven't in a couple of months. I haven't really done any sports that involve cutting or sprinting in years.

today my favorite country is

Ecuador.

more writing, less pipetting

The best part of my job is the part that I can do at home, in shorts, dog at feet and beer on the desk.

Now, if only I could get to doing that part during the day instead of at night...

monday morning

This morning I had a dream in which I was asked to fill in for the head coach of the high school football team of the my old high school's cross-town rival. I spent a disconcertingly long period of time trying to figure out what to wear on the sideline (because though I was willing to coach the team, I was NOT wearing their colors) eventually deciding on a sort of updated Tom Landry look (similar hat, but just a sports coat sans tie rather than a suit). I remember being greeted by the opposing team in a narrow, sweaty corridor as we arrived (by train, like it was 1925 or something) in a strange small town for the game. Passing into the town square, I was confronted with a mural depicting the time in the town's history when Abraham Lincoln had briefly served as their mayor...from 2002 to 2004. Someone explained to me that it was a little-known fact that Mr. Lincoln was in fact our oldest living former president, and that he was the only president to have served as a mayor after the presidency. Now, they say most people can't do math or read in their dreams, but I do distinctly remember trying to calculate that that this would mean that Abraham Lincoln was at least 170 years old (in actuality, he would be 198) and thought that this was fairly amazing.

It wasn't until I woke up that I remembered that Lincoln had been assassinated in 1865.

Somehow, I think that work is going to seem less interesting today by comparison.

core dump

Everyone should be real nice to Google. I don't mean the company...I mean the search engine. When it becomes self-aware, it is going to know an awful lot about us. Personally, I want to be on its good side.

I need new glasses. I'm probably going to get either these or these (either one in black, natch). I also think these are cool, but M hates them. I like the idea of these, but I'm having a hard time figuring out how they might look on me.

Rob posts even more sporadically than I do, but I still check his page almost daily, because I am very envious of his story-telling abilities. Though in this case, I am not particularly envious of the story.

Probably the coolest performance space in Durham is closing before it even got off the ground. For this we can thank the City, who halted performances last spring after determining that they didn't have enough bathroom stalls. Never mind that 305 South could have very well anchored an economic revitalization of one of the most blighted commercial areas of central Durham (the one show I managed to see at 305 easily had several hundred in attendance). I am continually amazed at the ability of local government to cut off its nose to spite its face.

which way is she spinning?

The answer is (allegedly) an indicator of hemispheric dominance. Don't read the rest until you have figured out which way she is spinning.








Don't worry...I'll wait.











Yeah I haven't figured out how to code a post with breaks. So sue me.












If she is spinning clockwise, your right hemisphere is more dominant; if she is spinning counter-clockwise, your left hemisphere is more dominant. If there isn't a (rather impressive) silhouette of a woman twirling around at the top the post, you need to update your web browser.

More on what this means here.

I think the left-brain/right-brain thing is a lot more complicated than popularly presented, but I do find it interesting to see how different people see this, and how it correlates (or not) with what they do for a living.

More interesting is whether you can make yourself see it both ways. As of posting, I cannot, and I find this infuriating.

Anyway, I see her spinning clockwise, which means I am right-hemisphere dominant and probably in the wrong career. But I already knew that.

What about you?

"kill a lot of people, then stop"

I really did want to write a bit more about Al Gore winning the Nobel Peace Prize, but then I read this piece by Jesse Walker, which has rendered anything I could have come up with utterly pointless and redundant. Perhaps most importantly, he points out the at the Prize has never really been about peace:

In 1919 it gave the prize to League founder Woodrow Wilson, whose previous contribution to peace was to plunge the United States into the most pointless major war in its history.

Read the whole thing.

foresight

On a day when an American politician is being lauded the world over for his foresight, I think it is only appropriate to point out this quote by another American politician--one who is actually running for president this year--that I found in an article on the same:

"Our current foreign policy does nothing more than stir the flames of hatred on both sides... Hatred towards America will continue to escalate, and the United States security will continue to diminish due to the threat of terrorist attacks... The greatest threat to our national security is our own bad policy. [emphasis added]"

That was Ron Paul, speaking on the floor of Congress.

In 2000.

(Dr. Paul's statement in full an be found in the Congressional Record here.)

when i am king the labels will be first against the wall

Radiohead's new album, In Rainbows, will be available for download here on October 10.

The price will be whatever you wish to pay.