Dec 25 2008

Workout notes I didn’t feel great when I woke up but going outside made me feel much better. So I’ll get out there and do 4-6 miles easy; maybe run 3, walk 3, or just walk 4; whatever my body appears to be up to. It is just too pleasant outside to stay cooped up.

Update: 4 mile run (4.2 mile) on the Hike and Bike in 41:22 (29:40 at mile 3, 37:06 at 3.75) followed by a 1 mile cool down walk.

Yep, I have a bug so I took it slowly; it actually felt good after mile 1. But it was oh-so-easy.

There was a group (4-5) of runners going around the trail wearing bells and wishing everyone good cheer; my “eyeball estimate” would peg them as 3-3:15 marathon runners.

I did see one “almost elite” runner as well.

Side note Two birthdays today: Sir Issac Newton and one Nellie B. Nanyes (my mom).

Friendly Atheist reports the following from Austin, TX

Cosmic Variance: wishes people a Thermodynamically Consistent Christmas.

This is actually a short article that talks about entropy (the tendency for a system to move toward disorder given that there is no work being put into order) and talks about how unlikely it would be for a system that interacts with the world to consistently tend toward order and applies those principles to the film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Some would argue that scientists are incapable of enjoying anything meant for consumption in the general public, but many scientists get enjoyment thinking about “what is wrong here”.

Professor Moran talks about the article on Pop-evolutionary psychology that appeared in the latest issue of Scientific American. His point is that it isn’t exactly news that there are numerous problems with evolutionary psychology but rather that science journalists don’t always point this out when they write about it.

The Scientific American article didn’t teach him anything new, but it was useful for a non-expert such as myself.

WTF? Notre Dame plays a complete game

(more photos at yahoo)

Notre Dame raced to a 28-7 halftime lead. They were hounding the Hawaii quarterback and moving the ball at will.

But Notre Dame has had large leads before (North Carolina, Pitt, Syracuse).

This time, they opened the second half with a touchdown and rolled to an easy 49-21 victory over the Rainbow Warriors.

ND’s quarterback Clausen threw for 401 yards before resting most of the 4′th quarter; ND also got a kickoff return for a touchdown after the Warriors had cut the lead to 42-14.

The Irish sacked the Warrior quarterback 8 times, using a variety of blitz and coverage schemes.

For once, ND appeared to be more excited about the game than their opponent.

One Final Christmas Wish

This post at Republican Faith Chat had me about to pee in my pants:

I wish you and your families the best during the Christmas season. But I implore you to remember the true meaning of Christmas. We are celebrating the birth of our Savior — the Son of God, who suffered a brutal, agonizing death so that we won’t have to suffer a brutal, agonizing eternity.

Whatever you do, don’t focus your holiday on gift-giving and big meals. Keep the alcohol out of the Egg Nog. Avoid other sacrilegious practices. And please, for their sake and yours, refrain from lying to your children about some fictitious, wheezing, obese, old man who uses deformed little people to make toys for children who have been good. [...]

The post goes on to remind people to be pure and that, if you intimidate your kids enough by scaring them with visions of hell:

If you’re firm and aggressive enough, they won’t be complaining about the things they wanted that you didn’t buy them.

PS: I am 99 percent certain that Republican Faith Chat is a snark site…but one can never be completely sure.