30 November 2010

I’d better get to work….

Workout notes yoga; I was very stiff and sloppy. But I was loser by the end.
Our teacher did this weird version of “child” pose where one actually lifts and rotates their whole butt in a circle; I admit that I enjoyed watching her do it more than I focused on doing it myself.

Then at Bradley: 1 mile of walk a lap, run a lap (8 laps to the mile), 1 mile of walk 1 lap, run 3 laps (felt better), 2 miles on the treadmill in 18:35 (9:45/8:50); 1 mile walk on the track. Total: 5 miles (3.25 running)

Posts
From the BBC:

This is also known as the Moron Magnet. Hey, though this is embarrassing (for the United States), it isn’t as if this is ruining the minds of anyone with potential.

I wonder if Sarah Palin should announce her intentions to run for President from here? It would be perfect.

Politics
We have moronic Democrats too.

Sarah Palin: hey Republicans, don’t whine too much. YOU created her; Ronald Reagan was the first step. He made it cool to be anti-intellectual.

They don’t always get away with it!

29 November 2010 pm

Workout notes
lifting;
rotator cuff (dumbbell series) with
curls 20 x 15 lb (3 sets)
overhead dumbbell presses (30 x 30 lb, 20 x 35 lb, seated)
bench press: 30 x 35 lb. (dumbbell)

Pull downs (3 sets of 15 with 120)
rows (3 sets of 10 x 180, (90 each arm))
incline bench (20 x 95, barbell)

Leg presses: 20 x 180, 20 x 270, 10 x 360
Squats: 20 x 95 single leg, Smith
Squats: 10 x 135, 10 x 135, 10 x 135, 10 x 155; last two sets without the pad
Sit ups: 4 x 25
Leg extensions (10 x 110)
Leg curls (10 x 110)
toe (30)
glute 8 x 150 (tough)
back: 20 reps
leg lifts: 20 reps

Note: right shoulder sore…brought on by trying to get the squat bar in position? No night pain.
Legs held up ok.

Posts
Science
Check out the star formation images from the space telescope:

Fresh starbirth infuses the galaxy NGC 6503 with a vital pink glow in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. This galaxy, a smaller version of the Milky Way, is perched near a great void in space where few other galaxies reside.

This new image from Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys displays, with particular clarity, the pink-coloured puffs marking where stars have recently formed in NGC 6503′s swirling spiral arms. Although structurally similar to the Milky Way, the disc of NGC 6503 spans just 30 000 light-years, or just about a third of the size of the Milky Way, leading astronomers to classify NGC 6503 as a dwarf spiral galaxy.

NGC 6503 lies approximately 17 million light-years away in the constellation of Draco (the Dragon). The German astronomer Arthur Auwers discovered this galaxy in July 1854 in a region of space where few other luminous bodies have been found

Here is a conjecture about the Big Bang:

Roger Penrose says that by examining the cosmic microwave background radiation, he’s discovered echoes of events before the Big Bang that’s generally believed to have kicked off our universe.

Penrose says that black hole encounters prior to the Big Bang would leave an observable affect on our own universe, in the form of concentric circles around galaxy clusters within which there would be anomolously low variation in temperature.

Penrose has long posited the idea that so-called inflationary theory – the idea that the universe was crated by the Big Bang and has been expanding ever since – is wrong. Instead, he proposes a theory called Conformal Cyclic Cosmology, which requires no beginning to the universe.

And the data backs this theory up, he says.

“The analysis of Wilkinson Microwave Background Probe’s (WMAP) cosmic microwave background 7-year maps does indeed reveal such concentric circles,” he says in a report on the Arvix website.

“This is confirmed when the same analysis is applied to BOOMERanG98 data, eliminating the possibility of an instrumental cause for the effects. These observational predictions of CCC would not be easily explained within standard inflationary cosmology.”

That is, space-time might be a closed manifold without boundary.

Evolution

How natural selection works and why ID is an unnecessary conjecture.

Note: many think that they accept evolution, but if one thinks that humans (or any other organisms) were the intended outcome of some process, then one really does not accept scientific evolution.

Medicine
A university athlete recently died due to an undiagnosed heart condition. The university administration decided to test other asymptomatic athletes. Here a doctor explains why this is unnecessary and counterproductive:

[...]The current standard of care, in both the NCAA and the IHSA, is that screening is not required nor recommended. In addition, the American Heart Association (AHA) recommends against screening members of the general athletic population who do not have symptoms. Reasons include poor sensitivity of the tests, a high false-positive rate, low likelihood of disease and cost. The AHA estimates a cost of over $3.4 million to prevent one death. In addition, the potential for lost scholarships and educational opportunities as a result of false-positive tests could hinder some student athletes’ abilities to obtain an education.

The European Society of Cardiology, the International Olympic Committee and some professional sports teams do perform these tests as part of routine screening. In a specific area of Italy, cardiac deaths have decreased due to a specific heart condition being identified by screening. Some major universities in the U.S. are also starting to use some form of screening. One study done in the U.S. estimated a cost of only $44,000 per life saved, which refutes the aforementioned AHA figure.

As you can see, the data is far from complete as to the true effectiveness and cost of screening. Our initial reaction when a tragic event occurs is to say “we should start screening.” I have also heard the question, “How can you put a price on someone’s life?” However it is important to know that all screening recommendations (breast and prostate cancer, cholesterol, etc.) are partially decided by cost per life saved. Also, non-athletes die of sudden cardiac death at similar rates to athletes (unfortunately, there are more sedentary students than athletes). Should we screen all students?[...]

Chris Miles is a physician who is a board-certified sports medicine specialist with Methodist Medical Group. He lives in Washington.

Another case of unscientific thinking Our actions to combat terrorism against us sometimes have us giving up a large amount of freedom. That isn’t always desirable:

The point is clear: Security is expensive, and driving up costs is one way jihadists can wear down Western economies. The writer encourages the United States “not to spare millions of dollars to protect these targets” by increasing the number of guards, searching all who enter those places, and even preventing flying objects from approaching the targets. “Tell them that the life of the American citizen is in danger and that his life is more significant than billions of dollars,” he wrote. “Hand in hand, we will be with you until you are bankrupt and your economy collapses.”

None of this would work if we don’t help them by terrorizing ourselves. I wrote this after the Underwear Bomber failed:

Finally, we need to be indomitable. The real security failure on Christmas Day was in our reaction. We’re reacting out of fear, wasting money on the story rather than securing ourselves against the threat. Abdulmutallab succeeded in causing terror even though his attack failed.

If we refuse to be terrorized, if we refuse to implement security theater and remember that we can never completely eliminate the risk of terrorism, then the terrorists fail even if their attacks succeed.

Try to get a mathematically illiterate administrator to see this.

Politics
Economics
Paul Krugman points out that there are progressive plans to deal with our economic troubles but those who back them don’t have the President’s ear and may never will.

Sarah Palin: perhaps she is a more viable Presidential candidate than I am willing to admit?

NFL-Religion

(note: this will probably get nuked by the NFL)
So how did the receiver respond? This way:

I PRAISE YOU 24/7!!!!!! AND THIS HOW YOU DO ME!!!!! YOU EXPECT ME TO LEARN FROM THIS??? HOW???!!! ILL NEVER FORGET THIS!! EVER!!! THX THO…

I suppose he is blaming a deity for his dropped pass, though he might be asking: “ok, how do I learn and grow from this”. Still..this is rather strange.
But then again, I don’t expect intellectual excellence from football players. Some probably are smart, but these guys aren’t there for their brains.

Religion
Some Christians are awfully thin skinned. They are up in arms over a billboard (again).

Here is a video about it: