What you learn raising daughters

And as my ladies grow up, I’m sure I’ll learn many more things from them along the way -- like knock before ever entering a door in my own house, or how to purchase tampons while still keeping a shred of my dignity (clue: drive to another city and wear a disguise) -- but for now, I feel like it’s time to share what I have learned from raising my daughters so far. Here’s hoping karma will cut me a little slack.

Life is a Sport

Life is a Sport! 7 Homes With Amazing Sports Amenities
No matter what game you fancy, these abodes will satisfy your athletic side.

You will believe what we tell you to believe

Recent paper by Obama adviser Cass Sunstein proposes bizarre methods to stamp out "false conspiracy theories," including taxing the people who engage in them.

Why You Don't Want to Rely on Fortified Foods

It should be clear by now that fortified processed foods will never be equal to fresh whole foods. Similarly, synthetic vitamin supplements cannot compare to whole food supplements that contain naturally occurring vitamins in their unadulterated form.

With all the focus on getting enough of certain essential nutrients, many have been fooled into thinking they can supplement their way to good health, using fortified foods and vitamin supplements as an easy way out of having to make significant dietary changes.

More often than not, this simply will not lead to the healthy results you’re looking for.

Who watches the watchers?

This city's afraid of me. I've seen it's true face. The streets are extended gutters, and the gutters are full of blood. And when the drains finally scab over, all of the vermin will drown. The accumulated filth of all their their sex and murder will foam up around their waist, and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout,
"Save us!"
And I'll whisper,
"No".

Now the whole world stands on the brink, staring down into bloody hell. All of those liberals and intellectuals, and smooth talkers, and all of a sudden no one can think of anything to say. Beneath me, this awful city. It screams like an abottoir full of retarded children. And the night reeks of fornication and bad consciences...

From my favorite character from any comic book-based movie ever.

Alt Text: Wilderness Survival, iPhone-Style

If you scan the list of top iPhone apps, you might be forgiven for thinking that the device, like adolescence, is mostly for playing videogames, making rude noises and connecting to Facebook.

However, a more thorough examination of the digital delectables on offer in the app store will reveal that, far from being merely a plaything that receives phone calls — as long as you don’t live in rural Montana or my neighborhood — the iPhone is actually a hard-core survival tool.

CIATFBI

This is War

This is a call to arms, gather soldiers
Time to go to war
This is a battle song, brothers and sisters
Time to go to war

Did you ever believe?
Were you ever a dreamer?
Ever imagine heart open and free?
Did you ever deny?
Were you ever a traitor?
Ever in love with your bloodless disease?

This is a call to arms, gather soldiers
Time to go to war
This is a battle song, brothers and sisters
Time to go to war

Ever want to be free?
Do you even remember?
Want to be god and devil like me?
Ever want to just stop?
Do you want to surrender?
Or fight for victory?

Here we are at the start, I can feel the beating of our hearts
Here we are at the start...

Darkness falls, here comes the rain to wash away the past and the names
Darkness falls, here comes the rain to end it all, the blood and the game

Far, far away in a land that time can't change
Long, long ago in a place of hearts and gold
Far, far away in a land that time can't change
Long, long ago in a place of hearts and gold

This is a call to arms, gather soliders
Time to go to war (Far, far away...)
This is a battle song, brothers and sisters
Time to go to war (Long, long ago...)
This is a call to arms, gather soliders
Time to go to war (Far, far away...)
This is a battle song, brothers and sisters
Time to go to war

This is a call to arms, way of the night
This is a battle song, way of the night

Stossel on Rand, pt. 1

Duck Tales - Inflation Lesson

Fog of War Demystified by Financial 'Power Law'

War is hell, but scientists are learning more about the devil that governs major conflicts.

Attacks and casualties as a result of modern warfare can now be predicted using a mathematical model developed by scientists in the United States, the United Kingdom and Colombia. The research could save the lives of soldiers in the field or prevent future attacks.

"When you hear about these attacks on the news at night, they just sound haphazard," said Neil Johnson, a scientist at the University of Miami in Florida and a co-author on a recent paper in the journal Nature. "But when we looked at them, we found that there were universal relationships across conflicts."

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Occupation, territories occupied, civilian casualties caused by occupying forces, world policing, treaty violations, geography, demographics, prominent religion, broken promises, and motive. Boom. I got all the information I need for an accurate model, and I just saved you millions in funding and man-hours.

The U.S. Is In Deep Doodoo

The following article was first written in 1998. I am relinking it here not so much as to say "I told you so", but to point out that the long term economic future of the United States was obvious, or should have been obvious, to the people who are awarded lofty degrees and paid huge salaries to comprehend such things. Instead, the economists persisted in explaining away the visible signs of gathering troubles and earned their salaries by justifying why the policies that robbed the poor to give to the rich should continue unabated.

Always losing your phone? Put a leash on it.

Laurie Penix, co-founder and president of Zomm, came up with the idea for the gadget earlier this year after a friend's husband lost his third iPhone. She started the company with her husband, Henry Penix, who is also its CEO.

Humans in Flight

wingsuit base jumping from Ali on Vimeo.

Travis' New Year's Eve Jump

CG rendering of Pastrana's New Year's Eve jump from Nitro Circus on Vimeo.

Travis takes his first visit to the site of his upcoming world record jump attempt for a healthy dose of holy-sh*t-this-is-going-to-be-huge. Also in the clip is a first-look at a CGI animation of how the jump will look when it's televised live on ESPN.

This New Year's Eve, action sports icon Travis Pastrana will star in Red Bull: New Year. No Limits., live on ESPN. Travis will attempt to shatter the world record for distance jumping in a car at the Pine Street Pier in Long Beach's Rainbow Harbor.

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UPDATE:

In Defense of Titties

Now, I know what you’re saying: “Ryan, why do you have to defend titties? Who could hate titties? I love them!” I’m not talking about those wonderful delights that have caused men to spend crazy amounts of money on dinners at the Olive Garden. I’m talking about those wonderful MMA fighters who may not be in the best possible shape. The ones who look as if they just got done with a workout of 12-ounce curls. They may have a little junk in the trunk, if you will. They’re husky. Big boned. Yep, use pretty much every line a mother uses to make her son feel better for loving to eat Cheetos for every meal. (They’re so tasty, though!)

Let’s face it: You have moobs. Man boobs. If you’ve been watching this season’s The Ultimate Fighter (and if you haven’t, what’s wrong with you? Rampage, Rashad, Kimbo!?!?), then you’ve seen Rampage continue to make fun of Darrill Schoonover by calling him “titties,” since Big D may not be the best physical specimen on Earth. But having an amazing physique doesn’t make you a good fighter. As Kenny Powers says in Eastbound and Down on HBO, “I play real sports … not trying to be the best at exercising.” So even though these guys may not have beautifully etched abs, cannonball delts, cobra-like lats, muscular thighs, and a firm bottom, it doesn’t mean they can’t scrap. (Did I really just write that sentence? Holy hell! I need to go look at pictures of hot chicks ASAP.)

Read more...

Superfoods

Superfoods for an MMA fighter prolong endurance and work capacity, help with muscle recovery and growth, and help prevent injury, which ultimately helps in and out of the cage. Here are 10 essential foods you need to add to your diet to help with your fight preparation.

(These are great for anyone, not just fighters!)

10 Most Wanted

Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today released its 2009 list of Washington's "Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians." The list, in alphabetical order, includes:

The True Origin of Christmas

Why do people think that Christmas is wonderful? It certainly felt wonderful to me. I trusted what my parents told me. I had no reason to doubt them. They were merely teaching me what their parents had taught them. I never questioned the true origin of Christmas!

Most never reflect on why they believe what they believe or do what they do. We live in a world filled with customs, but few ever seek to understand their origin. We generally accept them without question. Most people basically do what everyone else does—because it is easy and natural!

It was 300 years after Christ before the Roman church kept Christmas, and not until the fifth century that it was mandated to be kept throughout the empire as an official festival honoring “Christ.”

December 25th was not selected because it was the birth of Christ or because it was even near it. It was selected because it coincided with the idolatrous pagan festival Saturnalia—and this celebration must be carefully examined. In any event, we do not know the exact date of Christ’s birth.

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It is also asserted that the very same astrological events (particularly Winter Solstice) that gave rise to the "pagan" practices described in the article were also the basis for the world's major religions.

The Ponzi Decade

It is fitting that we end the current decade just like we started it, with the bursting of bubbles. In the early part of the decade we were dealing with the fallout of the technology bust. That was quickly replaced by the even bigger housing bubble and that has now popped as well. The trillions lost by average Americans is incredible but in reality nothing was technically lost because the entire decade was one enormous Ponzi scheme and like all Ponzi schemes the wealth created is false. Bernard Madoff was simply the mascot of a decade built on phony money spewed out by the corporatocracy of Wall Street. What is even more troubling is how the actions taken by Wall Street are not being prosecuted in the same fashion as our justice system took on Bernard Madoff. The reason for that is the corporatocracy has legalized national bank robbery.




Read more...

Chief counterfeiter is "Man of the Year"

Aspartame alert: Diet soda destroys kidney function

(NaturalNews) Scientists from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston have revealed results from a study outlining some of the effects of artificial sweeteners on the body. Conducted on a group of 3,000 women, the results indicated that those who drank two or more artificially-sweetened beverages a day doubled their risk of more-rapid-than-normal kidney function decline.

When aspartame was first approved in the 1970s under the name "NutraSweet", studies were submitted as supposed proof that the artificial chemical was safe. The FDA initially approved the chemical in 1974 for use in a limited number of foods based upon the studies submitted by G.D. Searle Co., the company that invented aspartame.

Following a discovery made shortly thereafter by a research psychiatrist who found that aspartic acid, a primary ingredient in aspartame, caused holes to form in the brains of mice, the FDA decided to form its own internal task force to investigate the initial claims made by the Searle Co.

What the agency discovered was a series of falsified claims, compromised study results, and missing information. The claims made in favor of aspartame were so dubious and the evidence so faulty that the FDA decreed that a grand jury should investigate Searle Co.'s claims. Unfortunately, the case failed to move forward when U.S. Attorney Thomas Sullivan and Assistant U.S. Attorney William Conlon failed to initiate any legal action. Conlon was later hired by the law firm that represented Searle Co.

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No kidding

10 Health Benefits of Vinegar

Many of us are aware of the many ways that vinegar can clean just about anything, from your windows to the outflow pipes of your air conditioner. However, how many of us realize the health benefits of vinegar?

Surveillance Shocker: Sprint Received 8 MILLION Law Enforcement Requests for GPS Location Data in the Past Year

This October, Chris Soghoian — computer security researcher, oft-times journalist, and current technical consultant for the FTC's privacy protection office — attended a closed-door conference called "ISS World". ISS World — the "ISS" is for "Intelligence Support Systems for Lawful Interception, Criminal Investigations and Intelligence Gathering" — is where law enforcement and intelligence agencies consult with telco representatives and surveillance equipment manufacturers about the state of electronic surveillance technology and practice. Armed with a tape recorder, Soghoian went to the conference looking for information about the scope of the government's surveillance practices in the US. What Soghoian uncovered, as he reported on his blog this morning, is more shocking and frightening than anyone could have ever expected.

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