Miscellaneous

A BETTER NAME FOR AI: Rapid stupidity, because it does things no intelligent human would ever do, but much faster.

Around 1980, in a book which I had checked out of a public library, which had been written by Caroline Coon and published in 1977, entitled 1988: The New Wave Punk Rock Explosion, I read, apparently from the author's personal impressions of John Lydon, that at age 20, his favorite insult of anyone over age 16 was, "You're too old," and -- from memory! and probably, therefore, inaccurate! -- that although married, he said, "Love is something that you feel for a kitten. If you feel it for another human being, it just shows that your brain isn't working properly." And I said to myself, "AAAAAAAAGGGHHHH!!! I knew it! I knew Johnny Rotten was alright!  HE LOVES KITTIES!!!! squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" *thud*

 

I've already said it more than once on this blog, but it bears repeating: I'm not going along with this blanket condemnation of billionaires. Maybe most of them are poisonous reptiles, but we won't know unless we examine each of them as individuals, just the same as we do with any other group, unless we're prejudiced, because that is the definition of prejudice. Furthermore, more and more I have the impression that most of these yahoos spouting blanket condemnations of all billionaires -- are millionaires. They tend not to have the look of the vagabond, as that hair stylist in Down and Out in Beverly Hills said of the homeless. I don't see thrift-store clothes or homemade haircuts on these denouncers of billionaires, and I get a definite sense of private colleges and homes in stylish neighborhoods and $10 coffees and so forth. In short, they profess to be critical of capitalism while having themselves greatly benefited from it, but they focus on the size of a person's stack -- while possessing large stacks. ENORMOUS stacks from the perspective of the great majority of people on Earth.

It's NOT the size of your stack, it's what you're DOING with it! And if you're dissing all billionaires instead of focusing on specific acts by specific billionaires -- you're not doing much with your stack! I'm unimpressed! Also, if you succeed in stirring up enmity based on the size of a person's stack, and your own stack looks huge to most people on Earth -- that could really come back and bite you on the ass, you tedious and yet also horrible moron!

A month ago I got a shot of cortisone in my right shoulder, which had been very painful, and from that time until now, my right shoulder has been COMPLETELY pain-free! I'm 62 years old! This is the first time in years ANY of my joints has been pain-free! Steroids are amazing (cortisone is a steroid. I had one dose of it a month ago, administered by an MD. I favor the medically-responsible use of steroids, not the daily massive abuse which kills and maims for the sake of more frequent wight training)!

I'm Okay. Really

Yesterday, after writing a blog post about medicine balls, I ordered a 45-pound slam ball from Amazon. This particular brand of ball does not seem to have the best reputation for quality and endurance (nor the worst), but the 45-pound model was ridiculously cheap. So cheap, I have to wonder whether the price was a mistake. So cheap, I honestly wonder whether what I paid would even cover the cost of free 2-day shipping of an item that weighs 45 pounds.

I'm not on steroids. (I know: that's exactly what most steroid users say. But I'm not.) Just in case any of you were worried about that, or worried about me in general and my new enthusiasm for medicine balls. I'm aware that many or most or all of the people (besides me) who are genuinely interested in 300-lb medicine balls

are on steroids. I'm not interested in becoming even bigger than I already am. I'm not interested in competing in strongman competitions. What I want to do is become thinner. I want to use the medicine balls to burn off fat, more than I want to use them to pack on muscle. If some of my muscles get bigger in the process of burning off fat, that's okay with me, but it's not the main focus.

If I were seriously interesting in developing huge muscles, I would be starting an exercise program centered primarily around lifting barbells and dumbbells -- and around taking steroids and HGH and things like that. But I don't want the huge muscles. I want to get smaller. I want MORE of a neck, not less of one. I don't even know very much about steroids and HGH and other things used by -- well, apparently by top athletes in every single sport where it's not specifically banned and rigourously tested, as well as a lot of the top athletes in sports where it is specifically banned and rigourously tested. I don't know very much about the banned substances, but I get the distinct impression that they're dangerous in various ways. Some people insist they're not, but those people seem to me to be either using steroids (etc), and in denial -- or selling steroids (etc).

I hear that steroids (etc) are expensive, too, so even if I were convinced that they were safe as milk, even if I wanted to take them, I couldn't afford to. (I don't even drink milk, because of health concerns. I don't pour milk on my cereal or oatmeal. If I'm in the mood for a beverage which resembles milk, it's almond milk for me.)

I'm not planning a lot of barbell and dumbbell lifting. Just calisthenics and and cardio and medicine balls. And the medicine balls are mainly intended to intensify the effects of the calisthenics and cardio: burning fat, strengthening my heart and lungs, lowering my blood pressure and resting pulse rate.

HEALTHY stuff. Before my surgery back in August, I said to myself that if I survived, I would make a stronger commitment to my physical health. And that's exactly what I'm doing. And my blood pressure and pulse rate have been coming down -- not dramatically yet, but that's okay. I'm taking small steps in the right direction.

You know, some day I will meet a beautiful woman who is into heavy slam balls and mechanical watches and the Latin language and languages in general and healthy, steroid-free living and quantum theory and Moleskine notebooks and almond milk and kitties, and sparks will fly.

Is Usain Bolt Clean Or Has He Just Not Been Caught Yet?

Same question for Michael Phelps.

Remember back when Lance Armstrong was a great guy and a wonderful role model?

I was a big Barry bonds fan. Well, I still am. I haven't turned from loving him to hating him. It's just that I finally stopped kidding myself about the overwhelming evidence that he was breaking the rules -- and, for example, paying a friend to spend years in prison to help him break the rules. My denial about Bonds lasted a long time, but not as long as some San Francisco Giants fans. I do believe some of them still think Barry's innocent, God bless their innocent, trusting hearts. I still believe that Barry is a whole lot of amazing things (Lance, too, for that matter), but innocent is no longer one of those things.

Reggie Jackson is Barry's uncle. Back when I was still standing up for Barry in arguments over whether he was juicing, I kept saying that some men just get much more muscular when they're in their 30's, which is true, and I pointed to Reggie as an example. Reggie bulked up big-time late in his career (1967 to 1987 in the bigs.) When I stopped fighting the accusations against Barry, my entire view of sports and athleticism just collapsed, and I figured anybody could be doping, including Reggie back when he had played. If Reggie did it, would that even have meant he was ahead of his time? Accusations of doping in Major League Baseball weren't yet flying in the late 70's when Reggie was the remarkably-buff Mr October,

but steroids and human growth hormone had already been used in bodybuilding for some time, and had taken that sport from this

to this:

and even before 1980 a few baseball stars had sudden eye-popping muscle growth. They said it was Nautilus and free weights. And no doubt it was. Just ingesting roids won't grow muscle on you. The roids just allow you to work out more often by making your muscles recover faster.

Not only do I now suspect pretty much every successful athlete of using banned substances, I'm sort of in favor of sports just not banning substances any more. Why? Because the bans are not being successfully enforced. The steroid era is not over. Let everybody juice as much as they want. Yes, using that stuff is dangerous. But so is chronic denial of the obvious.