Sunday’s Topics

So far so good; my IT band handled this long slow walk well.

Topics:

Conservative wins the French Presidency
From Yahoonews

Conservative Nicolas Sarkozy won the French presidency by a comfortable margin Sunday and immediately signalled his victory would mean friendly relations with the United States.

His socialist opponent, Segolene Royal, conceded defeat for her hopes of becoming France’s first woman president. With nearly 70 percent of ballots counted, Sarkozy had just over 53 percent of the vote, according to the Interior Ministry.

Washington can “count on our friendship,” Sarkozy told hundreds of cheering supporters, though he added that “friendship means accepting that friends can have different opinions.”

President Bush swiftly phoned the new president-elect to offer congratulations.

“The United States and France are historic allies and partners. President Bush looks forward to working with President-elect Sarkozy as we continue our strong alliance,” said Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the White House National Security Council.

Largely untested on the global stage, Sarkozy delved into foreign policy in his first speech as president-elect, urging the United States to take the lead on climate change and saying the issue would be a priority for France.

“The people of France have chosen change,” Sarkozy said, while pledging to be “president of all the French.”

Voter turnout was projected at 85 percent — a level not seen in 40 years — thanks to the dynamism of both candidates and the high stakes for a nation losing global clout to neighbors Britain and German and even developing countries like China and India.

“I gave it all my efforts, and will continue,” Royal told supporters as she conceded defeat. “Something has risen up that will not stop.”

Sarkozy — a charismatic but divisive figure known for uncompromising, even brutal language — inherits from Jacques Chirac stagnant wages, a lagging economy and frustration in impoverished, immigrant-heavy suburbs.

A conservative who wants to take on climate change? He wouldn’t be a conservative in the United States! Why we are stuck with idiots like Inhofe is beyond me.

Obama: a primer on his record as a State Senator. Previously, I had blogged about Obama taking the lead to combat racial profiling in Illinois. Here is the article that I referenced.

Chigirl88 made a nice summary of stuff he worked on as a State Senator in Illinois.

Except where indicated, I have included only bills for which Barack Obama was the primary sponsor, or the primary (IL) Senate sponsor. The list is by no means exhaustive; I have only included bills from the 93rd session, Obama’s last session in the Illinois legislature (according to this article Obama sponsored more than 780 bills in that session alone).

I’ve tried to highlight the broad issues (tax relief, health care, poverty, labor) he worked on in Illinois which might shed some light on what a potential President Obama administration might look like.

All commentary on the bills (unless a link is provided), is my own, from my own admittedly non-legal reading of the actual language of the bill. Any interpretation or commentary beyond what I’ve managed to cobble together, is most welcome.

I’d recommend visiting her diary and reading the various bills.

Religion

A mathematical proof that god exists

I knew that the Flying Spaghetti Monster was real!

In all seriousness, this professor is indeed accomplished, with 6 articles published in Nature. But what he says with his equations is: “I have a model of spacetime which supposes a closed universe with singularities: the Big Bang and the Big Crunch. Information (in the form of entropy) is stored at the singularities; hence we will “live again” when time reverses itself.”

This theory (of spacetime) is not a crank theory but is nothing new. Of course, if the universe is proved to be “open” (or noncompact), his theory would be shot down. His theory does NOT imply the existance of any deity but rather allows for the existence of a deity. (He seems to equate the devine with the singularity; the so-called “omega point.” I suppose it provides for some innocent amusement; I swear this guy appears to be getting a kick out of this.

Richard Dawkins
I just finished reading his book The God Delusion. I’ll be writing a review of it within the next couple of weeks or so; I completely enjoyed it.

But, at his site, you can find negative reviews of his book; enjoy! You have to love someone who is so confident of himself that he actually links to his critics and lets you make your own judgements!

Pathetic, but useful

Yesterday I went to a “wedding celebration” for my daughter in law. She and her husband had eloped a few months ago, but now wanted to celebrate it with the public.

The church ceremony was well done, and then they had a party at Wildlife Prairie Park; you could see the praire (with the herds of elk and bison) from the room. I also had a nice discussion with the local UU minister about Dawkins’ book The God Delusion.

While there, I thought: “why don’t I walk my 12 hours that evening and sleep in”?

Earlier, I had done two yoga classes and walked a relatively quick 3 miles (while my yoga teacher ran).

That was both a good thought and a bad one.

I went to our local .4 mile to the lap track (actually 2.1 for 5 laps) and started at 6:40 pm.

I was going right around a 15 minute per mile pace; I ended up struggling and bailing 4:50 (and a mere 17 miles) later.

I had trouble staying awake (despite the diet Pepsi), I almost bonked (and so ate some dried fruit) and was just wobbly and reduced to the “survival shuffle” with 8-9 hours left!

So I went home, went to bed and shall resume walking when I get off of the computer.

The IT band barked a bit (up near the hip) but settled down.

As far as FANS: 62 miles is a challenging goal; I need to really start off slowly, eat, rest, stretch and mix in street walking from the get-go. I am just not in anything resembling ultra-shape, and one can’t do a crash course to get ready. At least I can’t.

What I learned: much of what I am dealing with in an ultra is simple sleep deprivation and mental fatigue. I think I’ll keep this type of workout and use it once in a while…once I am in ultra shape (as I am NOT right now).

Update I got 17.3 miles outside (pathetic 4:40) and then 2 more on the ‘mill; I thought that I had 20 but to the intersection of Mt. Hawley Road and Knoxville is only 8.65 and NOT 9

But I was still ok with this walk; the injury was silent and I got more miles on tougher terrain (minor evelation gain on the way out) than I did last night even though I’ve yet to eat anything. Sleep and rest make a huge difference.