16 June 2011 (am)

Workout notes Yoga with Ms. Vickie; I went to class with Lynn and lined up next to her; I should have worn ear plugs to muffle all of the whining.

Then I ran my 4.2 mile course in 44 minutes or so; the weather was too pretty to not get out there. I felt ok during the run (some mild tingles) and then lifted weights.

Weights: incline: 10 x 115, 10 x 130, 4 x 135, 4 x 135
curls (dumbbell) 4 sets of 10 x 25
pull downs: 3 sets of 10 x 140
rows: 3 sets of 10 x 200 (medium grip; Hammer machine)
sit ups: 40, 40, 20 (1, 2, 3 incline)
stretches, PT, hip hikes, rotator cuff stuff

Injury: the piriformis has been acting up; this started in April when I stubbornly started to do some longer walks. I am not ready for that; I don’t think that I have to go to zero miles but I’ll see where doing some gentle 3-4 mile run/walks gets me. Yes, I’ll have to stretch, do the pressure stuff, etc.

Good news: the shoulder feels ok.

What I never see on my runs:

(click on the thumbnail to see at the source; you might have to sign in)

It is a pretty photo….:)

Science
It was known that a spider can spin something like a “diving bell” for it to be able to go underwater. But:

But scientists didn’t know if the diving bell spiders’ diving bells, which the crawlers can leave behind while they go grab food or find a mate, were anything but scuba tanks, holding a one-time supply of air.

It turns out that, like plastrons, the diving bells behave like gills too. Roger Seymour of the University of Adelaide in Australia and Stefan Hetz from Humboldt University of Berlin discovered. At least five times the original supply of oxygen can diffuse into an occupied bell throughout the bell’s lifetime, Seymour says. Using tiny oxygen probes, the team discovered that the oxygen coming into the bell may, at times, match a resting spider’s consumption. By estimating the oxygen needs of a spider resting in an average-sized bell, “we showed that the spider was quite happy for more than a day,” Seymour says. In fact, the bells’ endurance seems to be largely limited by nitrogen rather than oxygen, he adds. Nitrogen gas slowly leaks out of the bubbles like helium from a helium balloon, leading to collapse.

Diving spiders may have to visit the surface more than daily, however, since they do more than rest. In this study, the team observed that before dining on insects captured in underwater webs — an energy-intensive feat — spiders paddled to the surface to squirrel away more air.

Fascinating, no?

Politics
Dick Morris talks about the Republican debate and the “state of the race” as he sees it. Remember that his initial call was “Huckabee, Gingrich and Bachmann” as the top 3.

Back to his analysis: yes I agree that Tim Pawlenty looked terrible; he appeared to be intimidated by Mitt Romney; it is almost as if he is salivating after the VP slot. But check out what Mr. Morris says about Ms. Bachmann:

Iowa will resolve the remaining question: Who will oppose Mitt? The first question is whether Newt Gingrich can survive. His debate performance was stunning. He showed an intellectual breadth and depth that the others did not have. Only Michele Bachmann could rival his real-time knowledge about what was happening in Congress. And the creativity of his thinking was evident to all. But politics is pragmatic. Someday the Internet will replace television and we won’t have to buy TV ads and fundraising will no longer be the deciding factor. But we aren’t there yet. And Newt cannot hope to prevail without grinding it out. You wonder if he’s got it in him.

Rick Santorum probably will not have the grassroots enthusiasm surrounding a Herman Cain or a Bachmann candidacy, and Romney will foreclose his ability to raise big money. Santorum is not going anywhere.

So it will be between Cain and Bachmann for the nod to oppose Romney down the stretch. In the debate, Bachmann showed how strong she is rhetorically and substantively. She has Palin’s zest and instinct for a killer zinger but Newt’s knowledge of substance.

Hmmm, I had to reread that; at first I thought that he was praising her knowledge of substance. Then I remembered this:

Ok, it was Smoot-Hawley and not Hoot-Smalley, but that isn’t what is important: these were Republican Senators and it was signed into law by President Hoover in 1930…a Republican. Remember this is a prepared floor speech and not an off-the-cuff gaffe; the latter is excusable from time to time.

Here is more of her “knowledge”:

Most ridiculous was her “carbon dioxide” gaffe. The problem is that too much of it in the atmosphere means that the atmosphere doesn’t permit enough heat to escape away from the earth. That is roughly how glass works in a greenhouse. Besides, if she doesn’t see the danger of too much carbon dioxide, let her put a plastic bag over her head and seal the opening. Hey, there will be a lot of CO2 in the bag! It isn’t dangerous, right?

(for more of her quotes, go here)

I suppose that is what passes for intelligence in Republican circles!

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