Good News

I like the news.

Evenings in the DFAC they have been showing CNN's "Crossfire", a revitalization of an older CNN show.  I think it is supposed to be two left wing hosts (sorta versus) and two right wing hosts.  Each side gets a female; Sarah Elizabeth (or S.E.; don't know why the initialization) Cupp is the right wing and Stephanie Cutter is the left wing.  It appears that the show quickly devolves into shouting matches.  The other night the topic was Obamacare, the Rev. Cornel West was defending the policies of the program.  At least I think he was; the volume wasn't that loud and I was many rows away.

Reverend Cornel West

I'm not endorsing any of the hosts or the guests, but if you have this host:

I'm calling CNN "Crossfire" from Fox News "Red Eye" an upgrade

...or...

The photographer gave her fair warning this time.

...versus:

Happy face

...I think any message might be muted and/or lost in translation.  Like Russell Brand says, "I'm only flesh and blood; I've got instincts."

So that's what's on the telly in the dining facility.  Like any human with a functional deliciousness center int he brain, my trips to the DFAC, combined with the snacks in my work drawer, have resulted in feasts and, well, smaller feasts.  According to fitday, today I consumed approximately 4,400 calories.  Based on the number of sardine tins and macadamias left, more caloric binges are possible in the next week.  That being said, my goal has been a daily 16 hour fast, meaning from a few hours before I went to sleep until dinner time, no food.  Yeah, yeah: it's easy to not eat when you are sleeping (I don't sleep walk/sleep eat), but by confining my repasts to 8 hour blocks, the goal is to use my body fat as energy during the other hours.  I've lost some weight, but no idea on body fat percentage.

A later post will highlight the three workout strategies I've used while here: Whatever I Felt Like (bad), Confused 5x5 (better) and (almost as prescribed) Stronglifts 5x5 (more better).  Next phase (starting around 21 October): Stronglifts 5x5 with the Whole30 diet.

Smug

That mustache says, "Your opinion is beneath me."

So the pencil thin Clark Gable mustache must take a lot of trimming and a straight razor.  No way CG could end up with a barely-there smoke filter with a Mach 3.  I have not seen the classic "Gone With the Wind," but Rhett Butler has been described as, "a black sheep, who was expelled from West Point and is not received by any family with reputation in the whole of Charleston, and perhaps all of South Carolina."  (This isn't a term paper; I can quote Wikipedia.)  More importantly, Bugs Bunny was based on Clark Gable's performance in "It Happened One Night."  Bugs Bunny basically had a mustache, too.

At work, you pretty much have to follow the news.  That or cricket.  I have no idea what is going on with cricket (Why wear a polo shirt to a sports match?  I guess that shirt got its name from polo...), so CNN, Fox and BBC supply me with ad infinitum "news" coverage.  Recently, I found out that:

• President Obama played spades during the OBL raid.  I guess he couldn't get the White House IT guys to install Minesweeper.
• CNN says artificial sweetener isn't "bad" for you.  
• Fox News: Coffee could lead linked to a premature death.  Hmmm
• First, the word "linked" and the first paragraph's "...it's possible..." means the jury is still out on this one.
• Second, admittedly, 4 cups a day is probably more than most people drink.  The phrase "increase a person's chance of dying by 21%" could mean different things.  Does that mean increase from from a really, really little bitty chance to a really little bitty plus 21%, aka still !@#$ing small?  Or does it mean it was 50%, you drank a quart of Sumatra, now you have a 71% chance of dying today?  Same question for the male increase of 56%.  Wonder why they don't say "increased by 100%" instead of twofold.  Probably because people understand "chances now equal previous chances times two" rather than "Is times 2 50%?  100%  2000%?"
• Over 17 years a lot can happen.  Was the coffee black?  Was there added sugar, nutrasweet, milk, soy milk, almond milk, coconut milk, MCT oil, heavy cream or maybe Grandma's Molasses?
• It was noted that 32% of the deaths (804 of 2512 dead; total subjects were 43,727) were due to cardiovascular reasons.  So, by their findings, you have a 1.83% chance of dying from heart disease if you drink a quart of coffee a day.  The abstract doesn't mention the other 68% of death reasons.  So, did the coffee cause cardiovascular issues (I doubt it) and if so, how?
• This could be a correlation, not a causation, i.e. people who drink 32oz of coffee a day, might be doing other things that lead to an early grave, such as staying up too late, eating too many refined carbohydrates, or preparing for a movie role.
• It appears that Fox News just summarized the abstract, but left out the most important part: "However, this finding should be assessed in future studies of other populations." 

My dad told me to believe half of what I hear and none of what I see.  Thomas Jefferson said, "The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers."  

Purchased some BCAAs from the BX tonight.  We'll see how wise and wonderful my middle name is...

Bench press
Warmup: 10, 6, 4 bodweight chinups
Workout: 5-210, 5-210, 5-210, 5-225, 4-225
Cooldown: 7 bodweight chinups

I am unoriginal with my post workout meal!

Anyone know of a gluten free sausage and gravy recipe?

You are not Mark Wahlberg's brother.