Bend it like Beckham

I'm a soccer fan. I don't watch much US soccer, mostly because compared to international play, it's just second rate. I was uninterested in all the hoopla about David Beckham coming to play in the states, again, I don't follow MLS, and most of the hype had to do with his celebrity, not his skill.

Mike DeCourcy in the Sporting News has a nice commentary on Beckham, and why the media, specifically the sports media, might be well served to pay a little more attention to the sportsmanship instead of the celebrity.

The celebrity will get old, quick.

One small win against tyrrany

A US appeals court in DC ruled that detainees at Gitmo can indeed see the evidence the Goverment has.

Your government has 385 people locked up with no charges and no trials. For 5 years.

That's why we have a Constitution. How this administration keeps getting away with ignoring it; well, that's something the American Sheeple need to take responsibility for, isn't it?

Why did the neocon cross the road

Andrew Sullivan has a post up to collect neocon jokes.

This should be great stuff.

Meet the New Boss...

Hit and Run finds, well, nothing new.

Over Under

The Benoit toxicology came out. We'll ignore all the alcohol, and instead focus on the illegal stuff.

I'm now taking bets on the over under on how long it is before someone proposes new anti-steroid legislation.*

* Not really, because that would be illegal. I never do anything illegal.

Good Times!

Had a great time last night. J and I, along with our friends K, A, and K went to see the Bacon Brothers outside at the Western Park at the Inner Harbor, then stayed for a screening of 'Diner'. Even a quick shower didn't dampen our spirits (K had a sheet big enough for all of us to huddle under.)

Just sitting outside with a margarita watching a band backed by the Baltimore skyline was a treat, and made me love living in the city just a bit more. I may never go back to the 'burbs.

Training

A couple of weeks ago, I was challenged to overcome bodybuilding mythology that beginners shoudl use bodypart splits. This was the impetus I needed to get back to things.

My training for the next 8 weeks will be primarily to bring my GPP up to par; I need to get in shape. I'll use a very basic routine ripped off from Mark Rippetoe, plus some cardio and stuff.

Workout A:
Squat 3x5
OH Press 3x5
Bent Row 3x5
15 minutes of whatever

Workout B:
Squat 3x5
Bench Press 3x5
Deadlift 1x5
Chin 3 x as many as I can do
15 minutes of whatever.

I'll post updates here, but I'll probably post workouts on the Jacked Libertarian.

Positive reviews

Made a purchase yeaterday of a Buffalo Linkstation 500G NAS. I'm not a technical wiz, and was a little concerned that it didn't really come with much of a manual.

10 minutes later, it was hooked up and I was saving files to it. Easy as pie to set up. I haven't messed with any configuation stuff yet, but I don't really know that I'll need to.

Also downloaded Mediamonkey to rip my CDs to the NAS in flac (lossless) format. It took me a few minutes to figure out how to get the album art (and get that to work with sonos), but that's also easy as pie to use. I still need to test the conversion from flac to mp3 to get things on my new 8G Sandisk Sansa.

I love toys.

Oh, by the way, another plug for Sonos. It took me about a minute on their forums to find the solution to the album art issue. It's still the coolest thing ever.

Steroids are sexier than wine.

Straight shootin, and it's refreshing they let him on. But the idiots still want to blame teh steroids. (He makes a great point that no one cares that there was alcohol in the house.) I love how they cut him off at the end - talk about credibility.

Steroids didn't kill anyone. "Roid rage" is a bunch of crap. Come on.

How many stupid people run for President?

At least one.

Mitt Romney, in a fit of what can, at best, be described as incredible stupidity, recounts a story about lashing his dog (in a carrier) to the roof of his car for a cross country trip. Apparently, this story is supposed to demonstrate his ability to remain calm under stress.

Now that I think for a minute, I guess this is a good skill to have: the ability to remain calm when you do something stupid and your dog shits all over your car, or say, you invade Iraq and your plan shits all over your car...

Anyway.

There is a response - Dogs Against Romney.

It's healthy to laugh at stupid people.

Congratulations, Mr. Romney, on being the idiot of the day.

Me gusta cervesa

Anther one of those 'my life is great' kind of nights. Went to an open house at a new, really cool project calle Tailros Row. Each of 5 houses has commercial space on the first level, for either a work/live kind of deal, or you can rent it out, or use it as part of your house.

Hooked up there with another Realtor friend, R. We decided to meet his girl T, along with two friends of theirs at Arcos, someplace I've wanted to go for a while.

had a couple of Dos Equis waiting for everyone and waiting for a table. Everyone else had margaritas, all approved. This place is a little North on Broadway, and is on the edge of some rough areas.

The atmosphere at this place is unbelievable. We ate outside, which is all brick, with cool wood deatails. We started out with chips and salsa and guac. The guacamole is some of the best I've had. Dinner was OK, Carne Asada, but nothing special. Atmosphere - 9 out of 10. Food - 5 out of 10. Service was a little too relaxed.

All in all, a great night though.

A Layman's Guide to Anthropogenic (Man-Made) Global Warming

This is fantastic stuff. Read it all when you have time, and dare to challenge the global warming religion.

Apparently, they didn't like the taste

Yet another giant goverment program that's a failure. Shocking.

But an Associated Press review of scientific studies examining 57 such programs found mostly failure. Just four showed any real success in changing the way kids eat - or any promise as weapons against the growing epidemic of childhood obesity.

"Any person looking at the published literature about these programs would have to conclude that they are generally not working," said Dr. Tom Baranowski, a pediatrics professor at Houston's Baylor College of Medicine who studies behavioral nutrition.

The results have been disappointing, to say the least:

_Last year a major federal pilot program offering free fruits and vegetables to school children showed fifth graders became less willing to eat them than they had been at the start. Apparently they didn't like the taste.

_In Pennsylvania, researchers went so far as to give prizes to school children who ate fruits and vegetables. That worked while the prizes were offered, but when the researchers came back seven months later the kids had reverted to their original eating habits: soda and chips.

_In studies where children tell researchers they are eating better or exercising more, there is usually no change in blood pressure, body size or cholesterol measures; they want to eat better, they might even think they are, but they're not.

Unfortunately, doctors don't really seem to get it, either:

The forces that make kids fat "are really strong and hard to fight with just a program in school," said Dr. Philip Zeitler, a pediatric endocrinologist and researcher who sees "a steady stream" of obese children struggling with diabetes and other potentially fatal medical problems at The Children's Hospital in Denver.

What does he tell them?

"Oh God, I haven't figured out anything that I know is going to work," he said. "I'm not aware of any medical model that is very successful in helping these kids. Sure, we try to help them, but I can't take credit for the ones who do manage to change."

Tell them to get off the couch, sell the freaking Nintendo, buy a soccer ball, and get their kids outside. Tell them to quit feeding their kids just peanutbutter and jelly sandwiches on Wonderbread - give them some meat, some veggies, and some fun stuff they like.

Sometimes there is a time and place for a 'when I was a kid' story. Here's one. My mom is a hell of a cook. She's from a Southern family, and there were lots of meals in my house that were fried in Crisco. Every dinner had potatoes. Not a worry about fat content.

But every dinner also had a vegatable. There was always fresh fruit in the house. We drank our milk.

I lived on sweet (with real sugar) tea, sodas, cakes, cookies, and potatochips, too. And when I graduated from high school, I was 5 feet 11 inches, and weighed a whopping 135 pounds.

Why?

Because I went outside and played. Because when I turned 16, I got a job where I was on my feet. Because I was active. Not a star athlete, not necessarily even a good one. But I was out doing stuff.

This isn't difficult to understand, and it isn't difficult to fix. And goodness knows, we don't need another government program to 'help'.

Idiot of the Day

The states of Minnesota, Arizona, and Tennesee

Keeping us safe from the scourge of inexpensive flags not made in the USA. Or, maybe, polititians are protecting someone who gave them some money.

Sandy Van Leiu, chairman of the Flag Manufacturers Association of America, said the imports are cause for concern even though U.S. companies still dominate the flag market.

"That door is going to keep opening," said Van Leiu, a sixth-generation executive at the family-owned Annin & Co., a 160-year-old business that supplies retailers like Wal-Mart. "It starts small, then it gets big. You're just opening Pandora's box."

To help consumers identify the origin of their flags, the association created a certification program two years ago that bestows a seal-of-approval logo to flags made with domestic fibers and labor.

Whether Minnesota's law violates international trade agreements — and whether anything would be done about it — is an open question.

Under World Trade Organization standards, the U.S. government can't treat foreign products less favorably than those produced within its boundaries, said Peter Morici, a business professor at the University of Maryland and the former chief economist for the U.S. International Trade Commission. How the rules apply to states is debatable, he said.

Morici said a foreign business harmed by the law would have to get its government to take action against the U.S. government. Robert Litan, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution think tank, said while the likelihood of Minnesota's law sparking a dispute is slim the symbolic message is hard to miss.

"It's symptomatic of an anti-foreign bias moving through the country right now. It would not surprise me if other states copied it," Litan said. "It's hard to oppose politically."

When the bill was debated this spring, some legislators argued it sent the wrong message to close Minnesota's borders to foreign-produced flags.

"That flag should be made throughout the world because it is our message to the world that there is hope for freedom and justice," Republican Rep. Dan Severson said at the time.

The law's sponsor, Democratic Rep. Tom Rukavina, said the flag deserves extra protection. To celebrate his legislative victory, he plans to hand out 1,000 miniature flags at Fourth of July parades in his district.

"The biggest honor that you can give the flag is that it be made by American workers in the United States of America," he said. "Nothing is more embarrassing to me than a plastic flag made in China. This replica of freedom we so respect should be made in this country."

The new law doesn't spell out a penalty for violators. In Minnesota, the default punishment for prohibited acts is a misdemeanor offense, carrying up to a $1,000 fine and 90 days in jail.

I blame rock music.

Tipper probably should have done a better job, huh?

Of course, if my father made me drive a Prius, I'd smoke weed, too.

Happy 4th of July!

The 4th is always a day of mixed emotions for me. On the one hand, we get to celebrate with vigor the ideals on which our country was founded - Liberty being first and foremost.

Then, I think about what we are now.

It isn't at all what we were shooting for.

Dave just gets it.

Dave Tate, from Elite Fitness Systems, rants a bit about getting lean in his training log.

Read it a couple of times. It's the truth.

This struck a chord with me today. I've been eating like shit for the better part of two years, and haven't been training regularly. I was smoking again. I drink too much. Not just strength stopped being a priority, my health did.

Over the course of the past month or so, I've had some people close to me get very, very bad health news, and I've been dealing with something that could end up being pretty serious, too. Dave's little rant is one more thing helping me put it back together.

Cheatin'

If you follow NASCAR, you know by now that Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon's (Hendrick) teams were caught working 'in a gray area' before qualifying for the race last weekend. Penalties were handed down today. Each team loses 100 points and $100K, and each crew chief is suspended for 6 weeks.

woo.

Soe each team loses $100k, which is meaningless. 100 points? In the new playoff format, meaningless. Crew chief suspensions, in an era of easy wireless communication, meaningless. They'll both be in a hotel room down the road with a 2 way and a laptop.

If NASCAR wants to show it's serious about cheating, they need to start sending teams home, or suspending teams for races. Knauss (the crew chief for the #48) has been caught a number of times. This time, they should have not allowed that team to race on Sunday.

Then the sponsors will get involved and put a stop to cheating.

Health care crisis

Take a gander at this post. Great stuff - as usual, when someone says it better than I can, just link to it.

Update

Sorry for the gaps in posts, I've been distracted lately with some other stuff.

The good news: I've been inspired to get back to training, via a bit of a challenge. I'll post more about it later.