16 December 2010 early AM

Workout notes
I got to the Riverplex at 5:00 and lifted prior to yoga:
Squats: 20 x 45, 10 x 135, 10 x 155, 10 x 175 (depth not the best but not the worst), 10 x 135 wider
Leg press: 20 x 180, 20 x 270, 10 x 360
Extension: 3 sets of 10
Leg Curls: 3 sets of 10
toe: 3 sets of 30
Rotator cuff (2.5 pound dumbbells) easy stuff

Shoulder: feels much better, but I am on Naproxen again. Still it isn’t bothering my sleep nearly as much.

Personal: done with grading!

College Football: I created my pick set on Yahoo and then did one in which I blindly used the Sagarin ratings to make both the picks and the confidence ranking.

The closest (according to the computer; these are less than 1 point apart)
1. Champs Sports: North Carolina v. West Virginia
2. Poinsettia: San Diego St. v. Navy
3. Beef O’Brady: S. Mississippi v. Louisville
4. Humanitarian: Northern Illinois v. Fresno State
5. Sun: Notre Dame v. Miami
There are also several other games where the spread is less than 3 by the computer
6. Cotton: LSU v. Texas A&M
7. Sugar: Arkansas v. Ohio State
8. Texas: Baylor v. Illinois
9. BCS: Oregon v. Auburn
10. Chick Fillet: South Carolina v. Florida State.
11. Liberty: Georgia v. Central Florida
12. Music City: North Carolina v. Tennessee

The Bowls I am interested in, besides the BCS game:
Poinsettia (Navy), Sun (Notre Dame), Texas (Illinois), Rose (TCU), Capital One (Michigan State), Rose (TCU v. Wisconsin), Sugar (Ohio State)
4 of those are on the “closest list”.

What about the blow-outs?
1. Fiesta: Oklahoma v. Connecticut
2. Go Daddy: Miami-Ohio v. Middle Tennessee
3. Fight Hunger: Nevada v. Boston College
4. New Mexico: BYU v. UTEP
5. Holiday: Nebraska v. Washington
The above have a spread of 10 points or more.
6. Insight: Missouri v. Iowa (this one surprised me; the spread is about 9 points)

There a few in the 8 point range; Standford v. Virginia Tech, Maryland v. East Carolina and one that surprises me: Alabama v. Michigan State (Alabama favored by 8 points according to the computer).

Posts

Census Data: see maps of the United States or your own location by race, educational level, income, etc.

Don’t bother me with facts (as Paul Krugman says):

So Republican members of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission are going to issue their own report, placing primary blame on the government — because it’s always the government’s fault.

And according to reporting at the Huffington Post,

all four Republicans voted in favor of banning the phrases “Wall Street” and “shadow banking” and the words “interconnection” and “deregulation” from the panel’s final report, according to a person familiar with the matter and confirmed by Brooksley E. Born, one of the six commissioners who voted against the proposal.

Yep. It was all Fannie and Freddie, which somehow managed to cause housing bubbles in Ireland, Iceland, Latvia, and Spain as well as the United States; and the repo market had nothing to do with it.

And bear in mind that this wasn’t one Republican; it was all of them.

I really do wonder how this country can remain governable, when one party insists on creating its own reality. Next thing you know they’re going to reject the theory of evolution. Oh, wait …

These people really are a trip. You should see some of the “oh heck, it is cold outside so global warming must be a hoax and Al Gore is a moron” posts by my right wing classmates. When I tried to explain that weather was caused by factors such as the jetstream and the location of the arctic air mass, I got “oh, so now cold weather is proof of global warming”. Sigh…..either they are deliberately being obtuse or they are too stupid to understand that “does not invalidate” is NOT the same as “I claim that this is evidence of”.

Yes, I know that some people make the equally stupid argument that a heat wave during the summer is evidence for global warming…but I don’t.

In any event, communicating with stupid people people who act this way is unpleasant
Keep in mind that many of these people are young earth creationists or intelligent design creationists.

Here is one reason why talking to these types is a complete waste of time:

Ok, in fairness, let me stipulate that many who vote the same way that I do are creationists OR openly embrace new-age woo.

Civil Liberties
Other countries don’t have the same free speech protections that we do. That leads to hilarious stuff like this:

An Austrian has been fined for yodelling while mowing his lawn because it offended his Muslim neighbours next door.

A judge decided Helmut Griese, 63, was ‘ridiculing’ their beliefs and fined him nearly £700.

Rather than face a protracted court case with all its attendant legal costs, Griese agreed to pay.

The court heard how the Muslim family regarded Griese as a ‘grumpy old man’ and came to view his open-air versions of the Alpine chanting as racist asides aimed at them.

Austrian media reported how the pensioner was accused in the court in Graz of trying to ‘mock and imitate’ the call of the Muezzin.

They alleged that he always began his yodelling just as they knelt down to pray to Mecca.

‘It was not my intention to imitate or insult them. I simply started to yodel a few tunes because I was in such a good mood’ he told Austria‘s Kronen newspaper.

Get that? People felt ridiculed when they prayed to their imaginary friend in the sky. Well, perhaps I can claim insult when my neighbor opens up with his leaf blower when I am playing with my stuffed frogs? I know; that wasn’t in the US where speech is protected.

History: this is supposed to be a list of “Myths of the American Revolution”. Actually, it would be more accurate to call this: “there is more to the simple minded stories that you’ve heard.”

Peoria: Damn it is cold!

Perhaps this might warm me up:

Nah…I like the bikinis but it makes me shiver to look at them.

I’ll have to settle for some winter spandex:

Rachel Maddow: Broken Senate in lame duck frenzy

Note: though the Republicans have abused the filibuster as never before, I see this as a consequence of the “escalation effect”; notice that the numbers of filibusters appears to be growing exponentially and that the rate of growth doesn’t appear to change when the Senate changed hands. Hence, it might be time to change the rules…all the well knowing that the Senate will change hands. After all, if a party is in office, it ought to be able to govern without needing a super-majority every time.

Rachel Maddow: Broken Senate in lame duck frenzy, posted with vodpod

14 – December – 2010 – Parker Spitzer – CNN.com Blogs: Zakaria on Manana Politics

Note: Zakaria doesn’t let the public off of the hook; in fact he takes us all to task! Politicians who “do the right thing” will get voted out of office. Ultimately, we get the government we all deserve. Note that he thinks that the government does need to make some public investment.

14 – December – 2010 – Parker Spitzer – CNN.com…, posted with vodpod

15 December 2010 am

Workout notes
2 mile AMT, 3.12 mile treadmill run: 9:59, 19:16, 27:44, 28:41, 1.1 mile elliptical, 15 minutes of walking (1 mile) for 7 miles total.
Then rotator cuff stuff (forward, side, 3/4, side pulley, “bench push toward the sky”, row/rotate and press. I did not do the “volleyball” rotation; I am not ready for that one yet.

Last night: I took naproxyn and the shoulder felt somewhat better; I have to remember that when the shoulder gets to be pain free again, it will be about a 3-4 month period before I can lift hard.

Posts
Economics
Robert Reich talks more about the the disparity of wealth and how that is unsustainable and how nothing we are doing is helping with that problem.

Of course, the Obama-GOP tax cut deal is catching heat from conservatives though it has now passed the Senate.

Health Care Reform: The mandate provision was struck down by one right wing judge, though other judges didn’t find a problem. My guess: it isn’t going away, no matter how much the right wing bellows.

How is all of this playing out politically? President Obama’s job approval numbers really haven’t changed much at all.

So, what about compromise and labels? I share the opinion with some of my fellow liberals and hated conservatives that labels, in fact, matter and tell you something about how someone sees the world.

Religion
Many people try to claim that atheism is a “type of faith”. Nonsense; being an atheist is a bit like not accepting alchemy or astrology or not accepting the power of healing crystals. This is a good little video that explains it:

Political Humor Evidently John Boehner likes to cry a lot; this man CARES about the plight of the very rich. How touching.

.

So, I think of him when I hear this song:

Peoria in Winter Sucks
It has been bitterly cold lately and though our streets are still slick with snow, we are getting dumped on AGAIN; right now it is coming down in buckets. Gads, I hate this place. I wonder if the old Soviet industrial towns are like this.
So, I need some cheering up:

Ok, these women are fine athletes; those moves are difficult to do and to time. But I kept wondering: “how high is that suit going to hike up?”

And though right now this place is a dirty, stinky (ADM factory), frozen ice box, summer will be in a few months:

(be sure to click on the image on the site “thespandexstatement” as it enlarges quite a bit)

And there will be some time to walk and run on the trails:

I just need to hang on until spring.

Saying Goodbye to Another Running Parter: Jerry Crump RIP

Within the past couple of years, I said goodbye to a couple of running buddies (Steve and Sam); today I said goodbye to another. Jerry Crump died yesterday after a long illness; he was 67.

I met Jerry through the running races; it was his style to have a training partner and I was to become good friends with his first one. He also was active in Building Steam (to train new runners).

He was a fiercely competitive runner who cared about his times and places; he even ran a marathon in the 2:50′s as a 50 year old.
We ran a few long runs together; he took me on a variety of courses and I took him on my half marathon course from our house through Springdale Cemetery. He also introduced me to Farmdale Cemetery.

We entered many of the same races, but unless he was recovering from something (say, a 50 miler), I was rarely ahead of him.
I especially remember the 1998 Galesburg half marathon. It was very, very windy. I was in 1:3x shape but the win whipped me and whipped me bad; I ran a 1:42 and it was a real struggle. But Jerry just tore through the wind with no trouble at all; he was exiting a park just as I was entering it and he was in full stride, with his skinny body upright and tearing through the wind.

He didn’t strike an imposing figure; he was very, very slender with a bald stop and scraggly beard. He was an accountant and his personality very much fit the part. He was organized, dependable, sincere and very, very private.

He appreciated the beauty of a course; there was time to push, a time for speed work, and a time to do a course that was “good for your soul” as he used to say.

I found out that he was terminally ill this summer; he just didn’t look good. He told me that he was ill but also asked me to keep my mouth shut, and so I did.

Here are a few of our adventures:
Our last race together was the Park to Park 5 miler in 2005; he did very well in his age group:
96 Jerry Crump East Peoria IL 62 1 M 60-64 36:41.8 7:20/M
165 Ollie Nanyes Peoria IL 45 18 M 45-49 41:04.5 8:13/M

(ok, I was in ultra walking mode and had no running speed. )
That day was hot as all get out; my friend Tracy and his training partner went with us.

We also traveled to the Quad Cities to do a half marathon in 2002; this was my last half marathon at a pace faster than 8 minutes per mile:
2 Jerry Crump Peoria IL 58 49 1:38:44.69 7:32 (2n’d age group, 49′th overall)
16 Ollie Nanyes Peoria IL 42 78 1:43:06.23 7:52 (16 out of 39, 78′th overall)

And we met at some other races:
At Delevan in 2001, he and I ran the first part of it together; he was worried that we had gone out too fast. Of course, I couldn’t stay with him all the way.

26 Jerry Crump M 57 East Peo. IL 1:36:59
28 Ollie Nanyes M 41 Peoria IL 1:37:32

Still, that was a good one for me.

And there was the Mitsubishi Half Marathon in 1999; I ran my PR and beat my “special rival (Jerry’s training partner); Jerry was upset with his time.

26 Jerry Crump 56 M 1:33:57
30 Ollie Nanyes 40 M 1:34:16
31 Deborah Wresinski 33 F 1:34:28

There were many other events.

Jerry, you left us much too early. You’ll be missed.