Mental Notes & Random Musings

It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong. ~ Thomas Sowell

Squat (Barbell / Smith-Machine Jefferson Lift) Target Muscles: Gluteus, Quadriceps, Hamstrings, Lower back, Adductors, Hip flexors. Starting Position: 1. Position the bar on the floor standing with one leg on each side of it. 2. Firmly grip the bar, with your hands almost double shoulder-width apart. As you lift the bar off the floor, keep your shoulder blades together and chest up, and ensure there is a normal (stable) curve in your lower back. 3. Position your feet shoulder-width apart (or slightly wider), toes angled out at 30°. The Movement: 1. Begin raising yourself up, and do not lock your knees. 2. Keeping your head up and your trunk erect, slowly lower yourself down until your thighs are parallel to the ground; it is not wise to go any further than this. Keep your knees aligned over your feet, pointing in the direction of your toes. Hold for a count of one. 3. From here, pull the weight up, pushing hard through your feet and keeping your body erect as you return to the star...

Torso Twist (Barbell Standing) Target Muscles: Internal and external oblique, rectus abdominis Starting Position: 1. Start out by standing at the end of a flat bench with a barbell placed in front of you. 2. Your feet should be shoulder width apart from each other. 3. Grip the bar with your palms facing down and make sure your hands are wider than shoulder width apart from each other. 4. Begin to lift the barbell up over your head until your arms are fully extended. 5. Now lower the barbell behind your head until it is resting along the base of your neck. The Movement: 1. While keeping your feet and head stationary, move your waist from side to side so that your oblique muscles feel the contraction. 2. Only move from side to side as far as your waist will allow you to go. 3. Repeat for the recommended amount of repetitions. Tips: • Stretching or moving too far can cause an injury to occur. • Use a slow and controlled motion. • Remember to breathe out while twisting your body to the sid...

My grandmother was a Jewish juggler: she used to worry about six things at once. ~ Richard Lewis

Biceps Curl (Dumbbell Standard) Target Muscles: Biceps brachii, Brachialis, Brachioradialis Two Arm Dumbbell Curls Starting Position: 1. Stand with your feet hip-width apart or sit on the end of a bench. 2. Hold a pair of dumbbells, palms facing in towards your body. 3. Your arms should be fully extended. The Movement: 1. Curl one dumbbell up at a time in a smooth arc towards your  shoulders, rotating your forearm so that your palm faces your  shoulder at the top of the movement. 2. Hold for a count of two; then slowly lower the dumbbell back to the  starting position. 3. Repeat with the other arm and continue alternating arms. Tips: • Curl the dumbbells up slowly - do not swing them up. • Keep your upper arms fixed by the sides of your body. • Keep your body absolutely still- make sure you do not sway  backwards. • Make sure you fully straighten your arms when you lower the  dumbbells; do not shorten the downwards phase.

Pushup (Standard) Target Muscles: Pectoralis major (mid chest), Anterior deltoids, Triceps Starting Position: 1. Place your feet on the floor straight out behind you and face the floor with your upper body. 2. Place your hands directly out to your sides, fingers facing forward. The Movement: 1. Slowly push your body upwards until you are parallel with the floor. 2. Slowly bring your body back to the starting position with your nose inches from the floor. Tips: • Keep your hips perfectly straight. If you lift your hips to generate leverage, you will risk lower-back strain. • Do not arch your back as you push yourself upwards or you will reduce the amount of work done by the chest. • Do not bounce yourself off the floor. Again, this reduces the amount of chest work and risks injury to the chest muscles. • Keep your palms facing forwards and your wrists straight. Variations: Wide grip: Using an arm spacing one and a half times shoulder width apart places more emphasis on the pectorals (es...

I looked down at Mary beneath me and being jaded helps in times like these. I did not allow myself the luxury of being confused, an obvious reflex action of those that do not want to believe what is happening to them. I know what is happening to me and even though I hate it happening to me, it is happening to me. I also know more about Mary in this time than I had known before I had jumped back in time. My mind was able to process this quickly given the circumstances and I maintained my composure as I looked down at her and adjusted my knees to hold her down to the floor. She seemed none too happy about what was happening and let me tell you she seemed none too frail for a woman her age too. My mind whirled around in circles as I placed my knees on top of Mary’s arms, and she hissed and spit at me. Her snakelike qualities did not end there either since she was squirming back and forth like one. I finally reached down and grasped her around the throat, which snapped her into a semi cata...

As long as the world is turning and spinning, we're gonna be dizzy and we're gonna make mistakes. ~ Mel Brooks

Shoulder Press (Machine Seated) Target Muscles: Anterior and medial deltoids, Upper Pectoralis major, Triceps, Shoulder girdle muscles (Trapezius, Supraspinatus) Starting Position: 1. Sit at a shoulder press machine 2. Place your hands on the handles with a shoulder width grip. The Movement: 1. Press the handles upwards, straightening your arms but do not lock out your elbows. Hold momentarily. 2. Lower the handles slowly back to the starting position. Tips: • Keep your torso upright - don't lean backwards or arch your spine as you press the cables upwards as this will strain your lower back. • Hold your abdominal muscles taut to help stabilize your spine or, if you are using a very heavy weight, wear a weightlifting belt. • Don't shorten the movement.

Pulldown (Cable Narrow Grip) Target Muscles: Latissimus dorsi, Rhomboids, Biceps, Posterior deltoids, Fore-arms. Starting Position: 1. Hold the grips, with your palms of your hands facing each other. 2. Sit on the seat, adjusting it so that your knees fit snugly under the pads. Your arms should be fully extended. The Movement: 1. Pull the grips down towards your chest until it touches the upper part of your chest, arching your back slightly. 2. Hold for a count of two; then slowly return to the starting position. Tips: • Keep your trunk as still as possible - avoid swinging backwards. • Focus on keeping your elbows directly under the bar and squeezing the shoulder blades together. • Do not shorten the return phase of the movement - extend your arms fully. • Do not lean back too far. • Use wrist straps to improve your grip when using heavy weights. • Do not pull the bar down behind your neck. This can stress the weaker muscles in the shoulders and reduce the work done by the back muscle...

There is generally nobody alive right now that doesn’t remember the United States at war with some country or another. I would be lying if I said I remember anything firsthand about the Vietnam War (or was that a conflict) because when the last American troops were removed, I had only just turned three, and Communists rolled over the rest of the country in 1975. I was only five, and fortunately blissfully ignorant to it all. I was nine years old when Iran was overthrown by Islamic Theocracy and remember the hostages being taken from the American embassy. It became part of my late elementary school social studies classes, and we weren’t across the Rubicon of the Educational Theocracy taking full control of the school system. Carter looked foolish the entire time, even to a nine and ten-year-old.  Looking back on this with adult eyes it is amazing that a child in Portsmouth New Hampshire (the foremost beachhead of far-left idiocy for the entire state of New Hampshire now a days) coul...

Most people give up just when they're about to achieve success. They quit on the one yard line. They give up at the last minute of the game one foot from a winning touchdown. ~ Ross Perot

Squat (Machine Hack) Target Muscles: Gluteus, Quadriceps, Hamstrings, Lower back, Adductors, Hip flexors. Starting Position: 1. Position yourself in a hack squat machine. 2. Place your feet firmly on the platform with your heels at least six inches above the bottom edge. Your legs should be fully extended and feet hip-width apart. Release the safety catch. The Movements: 1. Press the platform away from you as far as possible. 2. Bring your knees down as far as possible. In a perfect world they would make it into your armpits. Tips: • Do not hurry the reps or bounce up from the bottom. • Stretch your hamstrings fully at the bottom of the movement - your heels should be lower than your toes. • Keep your legs slightly bent at the top of the movement.

Torso Twist (Extension Bench Bar) Target Muscles: Internal and external oblique, rectus abdominis Starting Position: 1. Start out by placing your feet under the support pads of a back extension bench. 2. Your feet should be shoulder width apart from each other. 3. Grip the bar with your palms facing down and make sure your hands are wider than shoulder width apart from each other. 4. Begin to lift the bar up over your head until your arms are fully extended. 5. Now lower the bar behind your head until it is resting along the base of your neck. The Movement: 1. While keeping your feet and head stationary, move your waist from side to side so that your oblique muscles feel the contraction. 2. Only move from side to side as far as your waist will allow you to go. 3. Repeat for the recommended amount of repetitions. Tips: • Stretching or moving too far can cause an injury to occur. • Use a slow and controlled motion. • Remember to breathe out while twisting your body to the side and in whe...

You know me. I am all about saving the planet through recycling, and this is just my latest example. Have whatever kind of day you want! It's not stealing. I give these to you freely to use wherever you want.

The reverend closed the book and then in his own words said, “I’m rather impressed that I puzzled that one out before,” and then he waved Timmy along into what he had learned earlier.   “None of them seemed to know why he set the boat on fire, but he did. They mentioned that he tore the head off another one of the goons and threw it in the water. His back was to them all, so they didn’t see what I think you and I know happened,” he then sighed, “Several of them watched him scale a wall and just disappear.”  The reverend noted, “Well I think we already know that he lives and travels on top of the brownstones.”  “Yes, but I am pretty sure he must have run along the roof of my building in his travels, which was a bit unsettling, despite my fixation of the creature,” Timmy stumbled on the word creature as he always seems to do when trying to figure out how to identify Craven. “The newspaper appears to be wrong about one thing. Craven didn’t shred Mangione, his body was b...

I've portrayed so many diverse individuals on the screen that my own personality never emerged. ~ Eleanor Parker

Biceps Curl (Barbell Preacher) Target Muscles: Biceps brachii, Brachialis, Brachioradialis Starting Position: 1. Sit on the seat of a preacher curl machine, adjusting it so that your  armpits rest over the top edge of the pad. 2. Hold a barbell with your hands shoulder width apart, palms facing  forwards. 3. Your arms should be fully extended. The Movement: 1. Bend your elbows as you curl the bar up in ,a smooth arc towards  your shoulders, stopping about 20-30 cm short of your shoulders. 2. Hold for a count of two; then slowly lower (the bar back to the starting  position. Tips: • Keep your shoulders back and relaxed ­avoid leaning forwards as you  curl the bar up or the emphasis will shift from your biceps to your  shoulders. • Keep your body still and your wrists locked. • Lower the bar until your arms are fully extended - shortening the  downwards phase will reduce the effectiveness of the exercise. Variations: EZ-bar preacher curl: Preacher curls ...

Dip (Machine) Target Muscles: Pectoralis major (lower chest), Anterior deltoids, Triceps, Pectoralis major Starting Position: 1. Sit down at a parallel press machine. 2. Place a hand on each bar, and then press the handles downward to get into the starting position with your arms locked out. The Movement: 1. Begin by flexing the elbow, lowering the handles until your arms straighten out. 2. Reverse the motion by extending braking the elbow 90 degrees. Tips: • Avoid swinging, and maintain good posture throughout the descent. • Do not overextend yourself.

If I make it for a blog you know it is going to be in the MEME rotation sooner or later. If you are Gen X you get this. Have whatever kind of day you want! It's not stealing. I give these to you freely to use wherever you want.

When Teddy Roosevelt had the talk with his rich friends about their companies unionizing whether they like it or not, as well as the huge land grabs that were made for “the sake of preserving nature” the progressive era began its insidious creep. Many would say when Teddy started the Bull Moose party and forced the most divisive progressive racist president to ever sit in the Whitehouse, Woodrow Wilson upon the country, was the start. That is because many are in denial about how progressive and anti-human Roosevelt was, and the rest were all in for it. It sure makes taking over the industry and the land easier though, and slowly but surely, we have watched imminent domain for whatever stupid reason a corrupt politician and a judge can come up with ensue.  7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the state; the bringing into cultivation of waste lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan   The United States has...

The “No Kings” rally as painful as it was to watch from the perspective of a mid-generational, Gen X member like me, should be a learning experience to the chest thumping MAGA aficionados, hollering about how the mainstream news media is finished. They now pound their chests about how it was a bunch of old people at the “No Kings” rallies while at the same time the young and criminally sympathetic are out burning cities and throwing rocks at cars. Pointing these things out for online engagement and not doing anything constructive to fix any of it is starting to become the MAGA thing, and it was an online death sentence a few months ago to point out we were going there, but here we are.  The mainstream news media still has full control of two major factors in the sociopathic left. The elderly folks that never really got into technology, and those that did only use it to keep up with the family on Facebook. They rely on a vapid Facebook experience to give them all their online news, ...

People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf. ~ George Orwell

The more the leftist white women of America cosplay, the more they tell us how they behave with the door closed in the bedroom. Have whatever kind of day you want! It's not stealing. I give these to you freely to use wherever you want.

Tug has always believed that catcher's bat last, it was the way he did it in his day, and it is going to be how his team does it now. The way this game is going already, both pitchers are throwing a shutout, and Lily grabs her bat and starts walking towards the exit from the dugout, so that she can take her place in the on-deck circle for her first major league at bat. The hand that grabs her as she is walking by belongs to Jack, as he says to her, “Ok you must take care of your pitcher Lily, and you of all people should know that. Do not leave me hanging into the eighth inning with a zero-to-zero tie going, ok?” and then he gives her a wink, to signify the understanding that he hopes she has. “Nothing like a little more pressure Jack, thank you,” she says to him as she winks back. She looks down to the end of the dugout where her brother sits staring out at the field, and as usual she tries to figure out what he is looking at, but as she does, she sees Jack go back over to sit nex...

The more you work with anyone, the more comfortable and safe you feel. The more you have an understanding. ~ Nancy Allen

Shoulder Press (Barbell / Smith-Machine Seated) Target Muscles: Anterior and medial deltoids, Upper Pectoralis major, Triceps, Shoulder girdle muscles (Trapezius, Supraspinatus)  Starting Position: 1. Sit on an upright bench, angled at 75-90° so that your lower back is firmly in contact with the bench. 2. Hold an evenly weighted barbell, hands facing forwards, level with your shoulders. The Movement: 1. Press the barbell upwards until your elbows are nearly straightened. Straighten your arms but do not lock out your elbows. Hold momentarily. 2. Lower the barbell slowly back to the starting position. Tips: • Keep your torso upright. Don't lean backwards or arch your spine as you press the bar upwards as this will strain your lower back. • Hold your abdominal muscles taut to help stabilize your spine or, if you are using a very heavy weight, wear a weightlifting belt. • Lower the barbell until it touches your shoulders. Don't shorten the movement.

Pulldown (Cable Wide Grip) Target Muscles: Latissimus dorsi, Rhomboids, Biceps, Posterior deltoids, Fore-arms. Starting Position: 1. Hold the bar, with your hands just over shoulder-width apart and palms facing forwards. 2. Sit on the seat, adjusting it so that your knees fit snugly under the pads. Your arms should be fully extended. The Movement: 1. Pull the bar down towards your chest until it touches the upper part of your chest, arching your back slightly. 2. Hold for a count of two; then slowly return to the starting position. Tips: • Keep your trunk as still as possible - avoid swinging backwards. • Focus on keeping your elbows directly under the bar and squeezing the shoulder blades together. • Do not shorten the return phase of the movement and extend your arms fully. • Do not lean back too far. • Use wrist straps to improve your grip when using heavy weights. • Do not pull the bar down behind your neck. This can stress the weaker muscles in the shoulders and reduce the work do...

No I haven't forgotten that there is an Empress of Star Wars that will just keep coming back and ruining stories until the end of days as well. We'll probably have a CGI one of her going into the 3000s. Have whatever kind of day you want! It's not stealing. I give these to you freely to use wherever you want.

Here we are at the post-midlife part of “As Jeremy’s World Turns” the audiobook. Over the last 20 years or so, I have had a steady stream of old classics, new classics, fantasy, science fiction, and history lectures from the great courses. They have all molded my free time in the car, airplane rides, as well as the insanely long amount of time you must hang out in terminals and of course the long walks through town. Music gets stuck in my head, but audiobooks get stuck in my heart. It is impossible to cover everyone I have listened to, but these are the ones I hope nobody misses. Most of them are a hand-arounds at work, as there is a dozen of us who are audio book listeners outside of work, and audiobook discussers at work. I will also talk about the readers of the audiobooks as they really do make the book better, or worse.  Brandon Sanderson: Stormlight Archive – Read by Michael Kramer and Kate Reading  I wouldn’t have known Brandon Sanderson at all had I not decided to star...

I think the Democratic Party has picked a lot of the wrong candidates, the kind that Middle America, or people who are more down the middle and more rational, can't side with. I think that's been the problem. ~ Glenn Danzig

Squat (Barbell / Smith-Machine Barbell) Target Muscles: Gluteus, Quadriceps, Hamstrings, Lower back, Adductors, Hip flexors. Starting Position: 1. Position the bar across the upper part of your back so it is resting on your trapezius muscles (not your neck). 2. Firmly grip the bar, with your hands almost double shoulder-width apart. As you lift the bar off the rack, keep your shoulder blades together and chest up, and ensure there is a normal (stable) curve in your lower back. 3. Position your feet shoulder-width apart (or slightly wider), toes angled out at 30°. The Movement: 1. Begin lowering by bending at the hips, then knees. 2. Keeping your head up and your trunk erect, slowly lower yourself down until your thighs are parallel to the ground; it is not wise to go any further than this. Keep your knees aligned over your feet, pointing in the direction of your toes. Hold for a count of one. 3. From here, press the weight up, pushing hard through your feet and keeping your body erect ...

Torso Twist (Bent Over Bar) Target Muscles: Internal and external oblique, rectus abdominis Starting Position: 1. Start out by sitting at the end of a flat bench with a bar placed on top of your thighs. 2. Your feet should be shoulder width apart from each other. 3. Grip the bar with your palms facing down and make sure your hands are wider than shoulder width apart from each other. 4. Begin to lift the bar up over your head until your arms are fully extended. 5. Now lower the bar behind your head until it is resting along the base of your neck. The Movement: 1. While keeping your feet and head stationary,bend over and move your waist from side to side so that your oblique muscles feel the contraction. 2. Only move from side to side as far as your waist will allow you to go. 3. Repeat for the recommended amount of repetitions. Tips: • Stretching or moving too far can cause an injury to occur. • Use a slow and controlled motion. • Remember to breathe out while twisting your body to the ...