GlibFit 4.0 – Coronavirus Edition XXVII or Rosh Hashanah Edition?

by | Sep 20, 2020 | Big Government, First Amendment, Fitness, GlibFit, Rant, Religion | 221 comments

It’s Rosh Hashanah this weekend and this week was packed at work.  That’s my way of saying this isn’t going to be much better than an open post.

Rosh Hashanah begins the ten days of penitence leading up to Yom Kippur.  I don’t claim to spend the ten days contemplating my sins this past year but I do get contemplative. I’ve made my share of mistakes but I’m not confessing them here. Noticing this is week 27 of the coronavirus edition is another story.

Truly my state is populated by sheeple.  My synagogue is doing everything remotely so today (Saturday) I attended services via the internet. Well, that isn’t exactly true because our internet has been going in and out for the last two days. You know what really distracts from prayer? Not being able to hear the prayer because the internet dropped out.

Tell me again how closing houses of worship is not a violation of the First Amendment. doG I hate my governor. What’s worse, I’m getting bit angry with my congregation. Why are we taking this? Why are we not suing the governor in state and/or federal court?  

I have a pretty good idea of the population mix that attends High Holy Days services. There is a good chance our board of directors would either limit attendance or even require we go all virtual to protect the vulnerable among us. I might grumble at this and argue the SCIENCE! of doing so but it would be our choice. Letting the government take this from us feels wrong down to my bones.

But look, Newsom may at some point worship indoors…someday… in some number… as the mood moves him. I think I read a story about people who sailed across an ocean because they couldn’t worship as they chose.

This week’s music choice. Those commies get it right in the chorus.  Best to ignore the rest of it.

About The Author

Chafed

Chafed

I'm looking California but feeling Minnesota

221 Comments

  1. Count Potato

    “Tell me again how closing houses of worship is not a violation of the First Amendment. doG I hate my governor. What’s worse, I’m getting bit angry with my congregation. Why are we taking this? Why are we not suing the governor in state and/or federal court? ”

    It’s very disappointing all round.

    • Count Potato

      I don’t just mean religious people, but all sorts of “congregants”. Why am I watching football with empty stands?

    • Count Potato

      I’m thinking that the censoring of social media is huge part of it. Remember the “Arab Spring” and how it was mostly organized on Facebook and such? That isn’t happening here because big tech is against it.

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      Because it’s worked out mostly or wholly poorly for the gentiles so far?

      • Count Potato

        It doesn’t seem like any religion is putting up much of a fight.

    • Drake

      My church is full of state-worshipping liberals. If we were going to live here much longer, we’d be looking for a new one.

  2. Ted S.

    Didn’t a congregation in Nevada sue and get given the finger by Roberts?

    • DEG

      A church got the finger from Roberts about Lil Rona Panic measures shutting down churches. I thought the church was in California? I’d look it up, but I’m feeling a bit lazy.

      • blackjack

        Big church out here. Sun Valley, CA. Pastor says he’ll start a prison ministry if they send him there.

      • westernsloper

        Roberts can go fuck himself. So can GW Bush for appointing him.

      • DEG

        Seconded.

      • DWB

        An amazingly BAD pick …. looks like he’s about to burst into tears at any moment

      • Ted S.

        Let him.

      • Ownbestenemy

        It was some churches here in Nevada. Roberts ok’d the arbitrary application of restrictions. Casinos, restaurants, super markets…all 50%. Churches? 50 people, no matter the size of the venue.

        That is what people are pissed about.

  3. Ted S.

    I know it’s not constitutional, but part of me thinks we need to shut down the TV station transmitters and cable channels 23 hours a day, and keep all the reporters shut in their houses for those 23 hours. If religious services are non-essential, so are reruns of The Bachelor and the umpteenth showing of the same episode of E60.

    • Sean

      “I know it’s not constitutional,”

      I think Ted S. is entering politics. What office ya running for?

    • Plinker762

      Your supposed to say: “I believe in the freedom of speech but…..”

  4. westernsloper

    Why are we not suing the governor in state and/or federal court?

    DO IT!!!!

  5. Ted S.

    Three walks with the dog this week. A shorter one in between work and dinner on Friday (can’t really go out after dinner with it getting dark so early); the more normal hour-plus walks after lunch yesterday and mid-morning today.

    Unsurprisingly, didn’t see anybody Friday. Slightly less so yesterday and today, but this morning it was 45F when we left the house, so I’m not that surprised the bikers didn’t want to be on the trails.

    The bad news is I got stung by a bee on my walk on Friday. It was near the ground and I didn’t even see it.

    I blame Fourscore. 😉

  6. DEG

    Letting the government take this from us feels wrong down to my bones.

    Yep. It is wrong.

    Weight is down this week. 277 to 276.2. Bodyfat analyzer says no lean mass change, so that is all fat loss.

    I had some improvement with squats. Under the eye of a trainer at my gym, I did some box squats. We used risers and a weight plate for the box. Last time I did this, the improved box was just above parallel and I was using a 9 lb kettlebell. This time, the improved box was at a height below parallel and I used a 13 lb kettlebell. My form was good until the fourth set of 10 reps where I started to get a little butt wink. We cut things off at that point.

    • SP

      Woohoo! Progress is good!

      • DEG

        Thanks!

  7. Annoyed Nomad

    GlibFit update: Mrs N and I did some traveling over the last few weeks: Aug 25-Sep1 in Colorado Springs and Sep 9-16 in San Luis Obispo. Drank a lot of beer, wine and cider and ate some good food. But the good news is that I’m only one lb above my lowest weight for the year. I actually lost a lb or two on the Colorado trip, which I attribute to the serious hiking that we did. We also did some hiking in California, but not to the level we did in Colorado. My weight increased during the California trip, but have lost most of it over the last few days.

    I need to get back to lifting the weights now that I’m back home for a while.

    • SP

      I seem to recall hearing about this trip….

      • Annoyed Nomad

        I plan to work on the articles this week. Lots of photos.

      • blackjack

        I just wrote up a story about a couple of trips I took too.

      • Annoyed Nomad

        Cool. Where to?

      • blackjack

        You’ll see.

      • Annoyed Nomad

        You tease

    • DEG

      Sounds like a good trip.

      • Annoyed Nomad

        Just taking a trip was nice. I really enjoyed Colorado Springs. The smoke coming down from the fires impacted our CA trip somewhat, but it was also a nice trip.

    • C. Anacreon

      I had some business in Redding, CA this week, and since we are now empty nesters and my wife can ‘work from home’ anywhere, she came along. Redding itself has the amazing Santiago Calatrava-designed pedestrian Sundial Bridge over the Sacramento River, featuring a soaring white arch and harp-string cables, and an aquamarine glass floor you walk across which lights magical blue at night, with nice riverside walking trails and nature parks on the far side. It’s a real nice centerpiece to a city 100 miles from anywhere. But yesterday, with our work complete, we went for the true highlight of the trip, Lassen Volcanic National Park, just 40 minutes east of Redding. Really a fabulous and under-visited national park, it was fairly empty despite a beautiful sunny summer Saturday. Multiple types of volcanoes, one of which erupted just a little over 100 years ago, with huge boulders from the eruption dotting the landscape. Lots of nice hiking trails, even ones that could be done by a handicapped middle aged guy like me. Waterfalls, roaring mountain creeks, and shimmering alpine lakes reflecting the peaks, are among the incredible cliffside views along the road through the park. The road gently climbs until you reach 8500 feet, where the trailhead for the 10,600-foot volcano Mt. Lassen begins. Then, as you descend the road to the other end of the park and the road to Red Bluff, you come to steaming volcanic vents, Sulphur ponds and boling mud pits, reminiscent of Yellowstone. Definitely worth adding to your bucket list if you’re ever in far northern California.

      • Count Potato

        Sounds neat.

      • Annoyed Nomad

        Yes, it does!

  8. Aloysious

    Weight down this week. Exercise has been walking and yoga. Boy, I’m not very flexible for an old fat guy.

    As far as state governments is concerned, piss on them.

    • westernsloper

      Boy, I’m not very flexible for an old fat guy.

      I hear ya. I need to start stretching more. I am thinking of getting a rubber equine mat so I can do floor stuff without getting dead bugs on me. My cleaning lady sucks.

      • Aloysious

        ~My cleaning lady sucks

        I wish I had a cleaning lady that sucked.

      • Sean

        I think that’s a chamber maid.

      • blackjack

        Said Schwartenegger!

      • hayeksplosives

        Hey-oh!

    • DEG

      Weight down this week. Exercise has been walking and yoga.

      Good!

  9. westernsloper

    On my way home from my chili dealer this morning I witnessed a church service. It is one of those “Cowboy Churches” They had a flatbed trailer in a hay field with musicians on it and people parked backwards in the field sitting on their tailgates. I don’t think those folks are doing it because of the Vid, I think that is how they do church. They are also building a rodeo arena. Rednecks, do what rednecks do. *shrugs*

  10. westernsloper
  11. SP

    Tomorrow marks Day 50 of my 100 day plant-based experiment. I am pretty sure I will continue after the 100 days are up (sorry OMWC), with a meal off maybe once a month for holidays or other special occasions.

    My resting heart rate was down to 54 overnight last night, and my BP has remained consistently in the 94/60 range. Fasting blood glucose has been heading steadily downward, yesterday was 88.

    The health concern for which I’ve been trying this is also perhaps improving, but I could just be fooling myself.

    However, the improvements in my other metrics would point to generally becoming healthier. So, why would I pass up the opportunity to be healthier?

    • DEG

      Nice progress!

      • SP

        Thanks!

    • westernsloper

      94/60? Holy shit woman eat a cheeseburger and smoke a cigarette.

      • SP

        I think that’s what you said last time.

      • westernsloper

        It still stands.

      • But Enough About My Weird Culinary Fantasies

        ‘sloper’s wrong. Eat a couple of cheeseburgers and smoke a pack of fags. Those numbers look nerve-wracking.

      • Hyperion

        My heart rate got that low once I couldn’t function. I was dizzy as hell all of the time and my equilibrium was way off. I just felt weird period. Had to lower BP meds until I got back to around 110 over 70 and felt normal again.

      • Hyperion

        Sorry, not heart rate, BP. My resting heart rate is about 65 when I’m doing OK.

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      I envy you (grumble).

      I hear that even carnivores can lower their cholesterol if they lay off meat and dairy 24-72 a day or three earlier before the blood draw. Esp. important if they are stuck with Ancel Keys doctors.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        (pls excuse typo; a plain dearth of cholesterol)

    • blackjack

      Psychosomatic improvement is still, improvement.

    • Count Potato

      “plant-based experiment”

      I don’t know if this means SP went vegan or started a grow house. Could be both.

      • SP

        I’m trying not to say vegan because that conjures up all sorts of images in people’s minds. But, yes, 100% plant-based way of eating. 50 days in (tomorrow) and I have not strayed at all. (It seems unfair to declare something successful or not if I haven’t really given it a total try.)

        And yes, I do have a hydroponic grow operation. I eat a LOT of large salads and it’s insane what salad greens cost here. So I have four 24″x17″ trays of lettuces and arugula going at all times, 1 gallon pails of many herbs, and cherry tomatoes in a 5 gallon bucket. I am super excited to receive my dwarf micro tomato seeds this week and start those. They’re tiny enough to also be grown in 1 gallon pails, most being 8 inches tall at maturity.

      • Count Potato

        Wow, those are very determinant tomatoes.

      • Hyperion

        Just say plant based. That somehow avoids the hippy designation.

      • SP

        Exactly this.

    • Cancelled

      Those are good numbers. Stay strong! I am still keeping on with my program, gettingthrough each day as it comes, today was tough less because of striaght diet related stress and more because of frustration with the way the world is going and burgeoning desire to get away for a few days, but I managed to channel that into a long workout (all cardio just to annoy the weights uber alles crowd)

      • SP

        That’s fantastic!

        I really have found a new determination in all the BS of this year. I can’t control anything at all going on “out there,” but I can certainly work on wrestling back control of my health as much as possible.

  12. Rhywun

    Best to ignore the rest of it.

    Just the rest?

    😉

  13. Sean

    Despite going out for dinner last night, I came in under weight this morning.

    I celebrated with a warm keto brownie, topped with keto ice cream and a shot of whipped cream.

    Congrats to the Glibs dropping lbs and getting fit!

    • SP

      Good work!

    • Chafed

      I can’t believe you doxxed Suthenboy.

  14. Drake

    I’m getting stronger – deadlifted 310 yesterday and really felt it last night. My girly hands can only hang on for 2 reps. Next time I get to put 3 big plates on each side and look cool.

    An old Achilles injury has come back to bother me so I have no been squatting much.

    • IRBE

      My experience is old injuries never fully heal after a certain age (35) and we are given subtle reminders of said injuries for the rest of our lives. Maybe it is psychosomatic or wisdom.

    • DEG

      Good progress for deadlifts!

  15. IRBE

    HI Chafed, Greetings from NOCal. It’s a bit smokey today but there were a couple of clear and beautiful days this week with a hint of fall in the air.

    G-fit summary for week is a bit depressing. I didn’t do promised (to self) fast. The week got away from me..too much work to find the right time to execute a fast. Other issue is I am starting to get worried about my dog. She seems to be struggling with the smoke, heat and her failing liver. Oh well, we “keep on keeping on” but might have to dial back the miles for her sake. Hopefully cooler weather will be more tolerable for her.

    More depressing news came in the mail in the form of Health Insurance. A whopping 22% premium increase to the company for the Tin level coverage I provide to my employees. I got on the phone with my broker to ask WTF..is this Covid related. He said “Nope, the insurance companies have not really calculated that into these quotes (BS!, but OK); that will probably be included in the quote for ’22.” I am trying to imagine what the increase will be next year… 30 or 40%. I think this semi-socialist experiment in health care is going to chunder in the next 24 months. I don’t know if I can afford to cover the additional randoms that must be not able to pay…it is getting to be “a big number!”

    Have a great week and skip a meal or 3.

    • Drake

      I doubt treatment for covid was more than a blip for them given the reduction in other treatments and visits. On the other hand, I bet all the constant testing they are pushing is costing insurers a lot.

      I think Obamacare was designed to put us in an untenable position.

      • Ted S.

        Yeah; the volume of claims coming in is decreasing.

        I also agree with your second paragraph.

      • IRBE

        I think there are a lot of fixed costs in health care and taking 5 or 6 months off from doing profitable procedures is putting price pressures on all treatments and that is rolling into increased insurance costs or anticipated future outlays. As with other areas, Covid has accelerated instability of social systems.

    • DEG

      Sorry about the depressing week for glibfit. I hope next week is better for you.

      • DEG

        And the depressing health insurance news. Fuck Obamacare.

      • IRBE

        Thanks DEG. There is always tomorrow and the next week to plan out and report. Take care yourself.

  16. Drake

    While heading over to a park for a hike this morning, I had to wait while a fox hint crossed the street. At least 20 riders (several high school age) in full costume and a pack of 15 or so foxhounds. The sight made me happy. My dog wanted to join in.

    • Ted S.

      I hate those foxhinters.

      • Drake

        I do despise my phone’s spell check but don’t feel like sitting in front of the computer on the weekend.

      • Ted S.

        I’m listening to a football game, and can’t do that on the phone or tablet.

  17. Trigger Hippie

    I think it may be time to kill myself. I have nothing to live for. Maybe, maybe not, If I haven’t commented by November, assume me dead. Goodbye, all.

    • Sean

      Dude?

    • Nephilium

      If you need someone to talk to man, reach out.

      • salted earth

        + 1
        sodium at proton mail dot com

    • Count Potato

      What’s wrong?

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      RUOK? Where are you right now? What’s going on?

    • Mojeaux

      d00d, do youneed a little in-person heart-to-hearting? I’ll bring BBQ.

    • westernsloper

      Yo, TH, nothing is that bad. Serious, you would be missed, don’t even go there.

    • blackjack

      Everybody here will do whatever we can for you. Assuming that’s what you’re asking for.

    • Tulip

      Please don’t do that. Reach out, we’ll help.

    • salted earth

      National Suicide Prevention Hotline 1-800-273-8255

    • salted earth

      National Suicide Prevention Hotline 1-800-273-8255

    • Derpetologist

      In many ways, this world is nothing but a pile of shit, but it can also be very beautiful.

      I invite you to read Man’s Search for Meaning by Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl.

      ***
      Frankl concludes that the meaning of life is found in every moment of living; life never ceases to have meaning, even in suffering and death. In a group therapy session during a mass fast inflicted on the camp’s inmates trying to protect an anonymous fellow inmate from fatal retribution by authorities, Frankl offered the thought that for everyone in a dire condition there is someone looking down, a friend, family member, or even God, who would expect not to be disappointed. Frankl concludes from his experience that a prisoner’s psychological reactions are not solely the result of the conditions of his life, but also from the freedom of choice he always has even in severe suffering.
      ***

      Face your hardships with courage and determination. You can’t give light without burning.

      Hope this helps. Be at peace, good and faithful friend.

      • blackjack

        That’s one of the things that struck me from reading the Russian dissidents. The way they kept their humanity despite the severe repression. They only were controlled in body, not in spirit and mind.

    • DEG

      Please don’t do anything drastic. If you need help, we can help.

    • Aloysious

      Please reach out. You are greatly appreciated.

    • Cancelled

      Don’t kill yourself if you have nothing that inspires you to live. Find something that inspires you to live. If you need someone to talk to TPTB have my email address, it is my former handle at gmail.

    • hayeksplosives

      This is what friends are for. Humans have evolved to be social creatures living in at least some sort of community; sometimes you give, sometimes it’s an even trade, and sometimes others give to you.

      When I was working many hours a week (on top of my full time job) to volunteer at my tiny church (helping with tech stuff, content, heading the church council, etc), my sister in law gave some sage advice:

      She referred to the fact that Jesus and the Church (as in all Christian churches) are referred to in scripture as the vine and its many branches. She then said we can’t just give, give, give all the time without tending to our spiritual health. “Sometimes you have to just hang on the vine for a while.”

      So whether you are Christian or not, make sure to take some time to just hang on the vine for a while.

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      Whatever is upsetting you, surely someone here understands. Dysthymic Jewish lawyer seems to be the local median occupation, let alone the odd sprinkling of marital / familial / physical woes.

      • Chafed

        Jey! I resemble that remark.

      • Chafed

        Jey = Hey

      • Cancelled

        He said Jewish not Hispanic!

      • Plinker762

        Jey = ((Hey))?

    • Gender Traitor

      I can’t add anything that someone hasn’t already said more eloquently, so I’ll just resort to what I usually do – offer you a song.

      Ride on the backs of the angels tonight and every night. Please.

    • Derpetologist

      You’ve spoken about being a boxer. Don’t go down without a fight.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEpMQldbPJM

      ***
      Those who live are those who fight.

      -Victor Hugo
      ***

      ***
      It is the fight alone that pleases us, not the victory.

      -Blaise Pascal
      ***

      ***
      Nothing good ever comes from worrying or sitting there feeling sorry for yourself… Keep positive and keep pushing on and things will turn good.

      -Conor McGregor
      ***

  18. Derpetologist

    odds and ends

    some relevant etymology for Rosh Hashanah

    Rosh means head, ha is the, shanah is year. So all together, head of the year. In Arabic, the same phrase is ra’s as-sinah, which means the same thing and is the way Arabs say New Year’s Eve/Day.

    Ra’s al-Ghul is a villain in Batman. His name means the head of the demon/monster. The English word ghoul comes from Arabic. Ra’s is pronounced rah-ISS, not raysh as in the movie.

    If you’re wondering why sometimes the Arabic article al (the) has a letter besides l, the l changes to match the first letter of the next word in many cases. This makes the word easier to say. For example, Aladdin is spelled ‘ala al-din, but the l becomes a d to match the next word.

    I lifted the atlas stone yesterday, just a few inches though. I brought a tape measure to find its circumference and weight, and in the process I noticed its weight was written on it: 145#. One key is to grab the rough side so it doesn’t slide out of your grasp.

    Since I missed the horoscope post, some star etymology

    Astro is star in Greek, which gives us astronaut (star sailor), asterisk (starlike, probably from the Greek-French word asterisque), disaster (bad star/luck, though the prefix is usually dys as in dyslexia), and catastrophe (cata – complete, astro – star/luck, trophe – turn). So all together catastrophe is a complete turn of the stars or a complete change of luck.

    Trophe gives us the word tropic. The tropics are the most extreme latitudes at which the sun can be directly overhead. It turns away to one side or another at higher latitudes.

    Apostrophe is from apo (away) and trophe. It referred to a Greek accent mark turned upside down. Apocalypse is a combo of apo and calypso (cover). So altogether it means to take the cover away, to reveal, as in the Book of Revelations.

    Oh yeah one more – lactose and galaxy both come from the Greek word for milk. So saying the Milky Way Galaxy is like saying the Milky Way Milky.

    I’m hungry. Salmon time!

  19. Nephilium

    Hit first little goal weight yesterday, I’ll be setting a new one on Monday. As it stands, the trend line is still pointing downward again, which is the real goal.

    • SP

      That’s excellent, Neph! Trends are what matter over time, and to get trends one likes, it “only” requires consistency. Which is where I usually fail.

  20. Suthenboy

    “Tell me again how closing houses of worship is not a violation of the First Amendment. ”

    How is mandating businesses close, locking people in their houses, demanding that they ‘social distance’, demanding that they wear diapers on their face, get tested or mandating vaccines, etc. in any way legal or within the power granted to governing officials?

    All of it is illegal.

    • Drake

      A governor can now, without approval of the state legislatures, name him/herself dictator because some people caught a cold.

      We’re pretty far gone.

      • Sean

        With policies crafted by clueless, unelected bureaucrats.

      • Gustave Lytton

        And citizens punished with the full force of law for breaking those policies that no legislature ever explicitly enacted.

      • hayeksplosives

        Hebrews 10:24-25, Covid19 edition:

        24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, except in the case that a virus with a 99% survival rate is going around.

  21. Derpetologist

    I almost forgot to share these fun facts:

    ***
    As the largest animal in the world, the blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) also has the most fat. In a 1968 study involving 49 different species of mammal from across the US and Brazil, researchers deduced that the blue whale had the highest percentage of body fat – more than 35%.
    ***

    Well, it’s nice to know I have a lower body fat % than a whale. By *several* points, I might add.

    Ever wondered how penguins leap out of the water? It turns out they store air between their feathers and skin on the surface. when they dive, the air gets compressed, and when they swim up, the air creates a thin layer around them which great reduces their drag.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snAvGxz7D04

  22. Sean

    Watching Hot Ones the game show. I’d be asking for seconds.

    Though it seems barbaric to not get a wet wipe for their hands.

  23. SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

    I have a pretty good idea of the population mix that attends High Holy Days services. There is a good chance our board of directors would either limit attendance or even require we go all virtual to protect the vulnerable among us. I might grumble at this and argue the SCIENCE! of doing so but it would be our choice. Letting the government take this from us feels wrong down to my bones.

    I was video lead at my church in VA until February this year, and we had plans in place to be able to record and eventually stream services via YouTube. Why? Because of the elderly and infirmed and because of the “what if” factor. Turns out the “what if” happened 4 weeks after my resignation, and they were able to pick up my systems diagrams, buy the components and have streaming services within a couple weeks.

    I think its an important part of modern religious services to give those homebound people a sense of belonging to the community. They tend to fade into the background, and we have the technology to make them feel like they’re sitting in the pew next to their friends and neighbors.

    • Drake

      Sure – but it’s nothing like actually showing up and worshipping as a congregation.

      • blackjack

        Sure – but it’s nothing like actually

        showing up and worshipping being free.

      • blackjack

        That didn’t work out with the whole strikethrough, oh well.

      • DWB

        Finally got to go back today after 3 months — we REALLY missed in person

      • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

        We got caught in all of this BS when we moved. Choosing a church virtually is impossible.

        I’m not saying that streaming is a good alternative to in person. Only that it’s a good supplement to in person.

      • hayeksplosives

        We’re in the same boat. We’ve gone to 3 churches since moving here, and we were about to check out another few when Covid struck.

        Watching an online service can help eliminate a candidate church, but we can’t really choose one until we have a chance to interact and observe and make sure the people are genuine.

  24. Gustave Lytton

    What really pissed me off is there’s a freedom of religion clause in the state constitution that has similar verbiage to the state speech clause. That speech, or really free expression, clause was ruled by the state Supreme Court to be nearly literal in prohibition and vast in allowable speech right down to nude dancing as a protected expression. Yet the same deference is not given to the religious clause even with similar verbiage.

    • Count Potato

      So they just have to put a pole behind the altar.

      • westernsloper

        Stripper church? Would attend!

      • Cancelled

        Depends. If you had a congregation of Mormons or one of the more fundamentalist denominations all 18-25 I’m in, but in my experience once they have married conservative religious folk tend to spread a bit. Remember, where any other group celebrates and unwinds with a drink, they celebrate and unwind, and mourn, socialize, and basically everything with cookies.

      • Mojeaux

        d00d.

        You forgot the funeral potatoes and the lime sherbet punch.

      • Cancelled

        and the omnipresent rice krispie treats.

    • Suthenboy

      I am going to shame people until the end of time over this horse shit.

  25. Gustave Lytton

    Fire danger had been reduced to moderate so was able to clean off the roof and part of the grass today. Trimmed the edges and will mow in a bit. Between corona, the smoke, and my own laziness, noticing the less than glibfitness. Wish I could take a couple weeks off and just work in the yard.

    Smoke was back this morning but cleared off midday. I can see blue skies and wisps of real clouds above.

    Encouraging heat map: https://i.redd.it/kx9jokrbs4o51.jpg

    Dinner tonight is shrimp egg foo young.
    https://youtu.be/ik1SkGcGLM4

    • Gustave Lytton

      Crap. Leaves still falling. Doesn’t even look like I cleaned them up earlier.

    • westernsloper

      We got the smoke back the end of last week. Not near as bad as before. I just took a tri-tip (on sale!!!!) off the smoker and did a big batch of fried rice with zuchini, onions, peas and about 2 lbs of charcoal grilled ground beef. Fried rice is for lunches next week. The rice to meat and vege ratio almost makes it keto. Dinner is smoked trip tip sandwich. Toasted ciabatta bread, green chilis, and muenster with a spicy mayo sauce. Not keto but it is Sunday and I wanted a tri-tip sandwich.

    • C. Anacreon

      Yum. Egg foo young is one of my favorite dishes, and actually hard to find in the Bay Area because it isn’t “real” Chinese. Fuck ’em, the brown sauce rules. I’ve asked for it for my birthday dinner multiple times.

      • Count Potato

        Neither is ginger beef, chop suey, chow mein, or fortune cookies.

      • Cancelled

        Real chinese food is a handful of rice, one pig whisker, and whatever vegetation you can find that isn’t immediately toxic. American chinese food is what you get when people who innovated ways to make the few scraps no one had stolen from them taste good come to a country with supermarkets.

      • Count Potato

        I’m pretty sure they had food prior to communism.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        +a few dozen light bulbs

  26. Mojeaux

    So. My church.

    [rant on]

    Every April and October, we have church-wide virtual service for an entire weekend. 8 hours of services. All televised/streamed. Ithas been this way since TV was a household phenomenon. Everything about my church is high tech, always on the cutting edge and encouraging social media use.

    So what did they do when COVID came along?

    NOTHING. NOT ONE FUCKING THING.

    But it gets worse.

    When our stake (diocese) put things into place to livestream services, the word came down from on high: No. You may not do this.

    Why? ?‍♀️

    It’s almost as if our leadership wants to keep us separated from each other.

    [/rant off]

    I do not believe our dear leader has honorable intentions for our way of life.

    • Ted S.

      Sorry, but your co-religionists seem to be increasingly in love with Big State.

      As I said last night, look at how Utah went nuts over Evan McMuffin.

      • Mojeaux

        There’s a burgeoning population of proggies that are taking over. Our leadership’s actions unwittingly facilitate that turning-away.

      • Plinker762

        I think that applies just about everywhere.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Ugh, even the Mormons? What a shame.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Are they pro abortion now? I’m indifferent to it myself but I would think that’d be at the forefront of a practicing Mormon’s mind. Oh,and don’t take anything Politico says to heart as they’re as biased as they come.

      • Mojeaux

        Progs might be overrepresented in my friend group. They’ll deal with the politics in my books to get the theology + Mormons having sex part, whereas the conservatives can’t tolerate the language and sex to get to the theology and politics.

        So I really only see what the proggies sat and proggies, being proggies, somehow can justify abortion regardless of theology.

        Honestly, I’m not sure what’s going on there. Abortion’s settled law and they act like women are never going to get OB/GYN care ever in the rest of their lives if abortion’s overturned NEVER MIND that it’s not on any table whatsoever.

        Sometimes I just think they’re privileged naïve sheltered middle-class white women who don’t precisely know what all Planned Parenthood’s really about.

      • Tulip

        The part I hate is how so many people seem to think abortion must be THE most important issue to me because I’m a woman.

      • Mojeaux

        I don’t recall anyone ever asking me about abortion. I think it’s morphed into a shibboleth.

      • Rhywun

        This is what I don’t get.

        Trump is in no way any “worse” – by any measure I would expect that crowd or similar to use – than almost any Democrat or Republican who has ever run for or served in that role.

        The only way I can rationalize what’s going on with Trump’s polling is that people are being swayed by the overwhelming media bias against him.

        Because any so-called conservative voting for Biden makes no goddamn sense whatsoever. I can see why hacks like Flake and Mitt advocate it, but average, non-politician voters?? It’s crazy-pants.

      • Mojeaux

        I don’t get it either but the TDS is strong.

  27. Mojeaux

    SP you are kicking ass and taking names. Excellent!

    • SP

      Thanks, Mojeaux!

  28. Ozymandias

    Today was Day 9 of my 1/2/3 variation (pullups/pushups/squats) that I posted about last week. I missed one day (should be day 10), but rather than freak out or play catch up, I just picked up the next day. I already did my 9/18/27 and later tonight I’ll do another 4/8/12. When I squatted today it was easy and comfortable; I’m starting to feel that ‘groove’ where squats are balanced, deep, and even springy coming out of the bottom.
    Wife and I have been going to our old gym and it’s been great. Got in a run, two days at the gym, and a hockey game. I also volunteered to start coaching and to my surprise, they’ve invited me to come in tomorrow to figure something out. I figure if I can coach a couple of classes it will get me back in the gym and I know I’ll grab a workout or two more while I’m there. The soreness is gone from those workouts and thank god I wasn’t an idiot and went very, very light with weights and just worked on movement patterns. I was shocked at how heavy 125 lb felt to snatch. That used to be a warmup weight. Ah, well.
    Best of all is that working out tends to drive my diet/eating habits, so I’m down about 4-5 lb and eating slightly better. That’s the hardest part for me, but the harder I work physically, the more my body tends to want good stuff for fuel and reject garbage. Hopefully I can keep that trend going in the right direction.
    Stay frosty, my friends!

    • westernsloper

      I forgot about your 1/2/3 challenge until the middle of last week. The squats/pushups are no problem but the pull ups from a dead hang kick my ass. It pisses me off. I could rip them off just what seems a few short years ago. Now not so much. I will keep trying until I am ripping them again.

      • Ozymandias

        Attaway, Sloper! Use a box, jump up, and do negatives. Maybe a 3-5 count on the way down.
        These are low numbers so low risk of tearing up too much muscle tissue, but overdosing on negatives is what will get you the rhabdo.
        (Negatives really help develop strength, but they can be overdone, especially on exercises where the negative is baked into the movement – like GHD situps).

        If you can do 3-5 strict pullups, then do those and then ‘kip’ the rest. (It’s fine; you’ll still get stronger). Or do the rest of the set as negatives.

    • DEG

      Good!

  29. Suthenboy

    For amusement: Wife and I were just talking, I said she needs to get out more and talk to other people. I am nearly the only person she talks to and she has heard all of my stories a hundred times. Some are good stories so we tried to figure out who has the best stories.

    Hers – At the hospital where we both worked a patient liked butter so much she would eat it like it was ice cream. On one occasion she stole a 1/4 lb stick of butter from the cafeteria and hid it in her vagina. She was caught because when she got back to the unit the butter had melted and run out of her vagina. When the theft came up at treatment team meeting my wife stopped the psychologist and asked “Wait, which part is the problem? The snatching the butter or the butter in the snatch?”
    Half of the staff nearly pissed themselves.

    Mine – I used to transport patients all over Louisiana. I would often have to wait hours and transport them back to the. hospital. I would spend that time waiting in a cafe or park or mall. On one occasion I was in Shreveport sitting in the parking lot of a small, nice park in my car. It had a walking path. There were a fair number of people there with dogs and children.
    I would kill time by listening to the radio, napping, reading or…shining my shoes. I carried polish, brush buffing rag etc in my kit. I began shining my shoes with a towel in my lap and holding my shoe down in on it.
    After a bit I noticed people looking at me funny and mumbling to each other. Then I suddenly realized….oh shit.
    I raised the shoe up and placed it on top of the steering wheel and kept buffing…everyone relaxed and went on their way. Some of them began laughing.
    When I told that story to my wife she wrote it down and mailed it to a radio show….Bob and Tom? Anyway they included it in their comedy routine.

    • Suthenboy

      “….snatching the butter or buttering the snatch…” I missed the punch line. This is why I cant tell jokes.

      • blackjack

        Whatever butters your…bread.

      • TARDis

        That reminds me of the video where the guy at the hair salon is cleaning his glasses under the cape, and the hairdresser thinks he’s spanking it. I couldn’t find the video to link.

    • westernsloper

      The old shining the shoe line. ?

  30. DEG

    More Lee Metfords and Lee Enfields.

    I caught Gun Jesus making mistakes. There were no conversions from earlier patterns to Lee-Metford Mk II. The reason is the switch of the magazine from a single stack to a double stack. He also forgot to mention the change in how the dust cover attached to the bolt.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Unlike actual Jesus, Gun Jesus ain’t perfect.

    • Hyperion

      Oh goodie, that means there’s going to be lots more homes on the market. I should check Zillow again.

    • Hyperion

      Is this the same guy who said 100 million died from guns in 2019?

  31. Trials and Trippelations

    On the plus side, I redownloaded my Pelaton app (it was offloaded automatically due to disuse) for the first time last week. I have done 3 rides so far.

    As for religious services and the seemingly unmotivated pushback. OTOH, there are certainly religious leaders that have trouble divorcing themselves from their politics and in this case the statist policies. Here in NC, while a judge ruled that church services could not be limited way back in May or April the ELCA (which I came to think of the DNCLA way before Rona) stated in person services would not be held, and that the ELCA along with the mainline Episcopalian and Presbyterian synods would all decide together when to have in person services. Just this week, due to updates from Emperor Cooper on our “phase” the synod approved 25 person services inside or 50 outside. Nothing like telling people Jesus Christ’s body and blood is given for you… if you can sign up in time.

    But there is a practical reason that many churches have not said a peep, liability. For churches’ that have liability insurance they were told to abide by governmental authority regarding practices for service. While that may be true. I would think if their heart was in it to have full services 100s of churches should be able to complain together to get their liability guidelines rewritten.

  32. Tulip

    OT, I’m really tired of hearing about raising awareness. I think when someone says “I’m raising awareness”, what they really mean is I’m doing something completely unrelated to issue I purport to care about, and that will do absolutely nothing to solve that issue. Because, really, it’s all about me.

    I want to smack people that claim to be raising awareness.

    • Mojeaux

      Amen.

    • Nephilium

      So you want to raise awareness of the problem of raising awareness?

      • Tulip

        Heh. No. I’m not raising awareness, I’m just bitching.

    • DEG

      #metoo

    • mikey

      I figured there must be some good Raising Awareness humor so I searched for “Raising Awareness” images. No luck. In fact the earnestness oozed off the screnn and got all over my keyboard. Tried “Rasising Awarreness memes” and there still wasn’t much. Just this.
      https://memeshappen.com/meme/5075/raise-awareness-5075

    • westernsloper

      So you are raising awareness about the raising awareness issue?

      • Nephilium

        /Nelson laugh

      • westernsloper

        FFS, refresh. Fuck off Neph.

    • Rhywun

      What I hear is “I’m holier than thou”. It’s a way to lord it over your friends and neighbors without sounding like an asshole.

      • Suthenboy

        Reply with “Oh yeah? You are raising awareness? Me too. I want to raise your awareness that you sound exactly like an asshole.”

      • hayeksplosives

        Perfectly personified by Michele O holding up a handlettered “#bringbackourgirls” sign.

        If you’re going to take the time to dress and stage a photo shoot of a hashtag, you spent a ton of time making it about you. Maybe there was a better use of time and money…

    • creech

      I dunno. Maybe we could have used more folks raising awareness of police brutality and misconduct toward white people. The shit won’t end until all citizens are up in arms about no-knock raids, SWAT tactics, and excess “respect muh authoritah.”

  33. The Late P Brooks

    I want to smack people that claim to be raising awareness.

    I’m raising awareness of the futility of man’s existence.

    • Tulip

      You’re kinkier than I thought. I like it.

    • Suthenboy

      Every time I see her speak I expect a yard long tongue to dart out and snatch a fly out of the air.

      • Count Potato

        Gilmored?

  34. hayeksplosives

    Glib fit: down another pound. Slow going, but I’m feeling and looking better.

    My last alcoholic drink was Feb 26. That’s been the number one thing that has changed in my diet. I also have to keep sodium under 1500mg daily. Not difficult when I cook for myself.

    Exercise is still limited by joint pain, but that is getting better with weight loss.

    ———-

    Houses of worship: streaming is better than nothing but there is a world of difference between streaming and meeting with other people.

    I too am surprised there’s not more pushback by churches. Maybe the churches comply for the same reason I wear a mask to work: have to do it to keep my job.

  35. Caput Lupinum

    Tell me again how closing houses of worship is not a violation of the First Amendment. doG I hate my governor. What’s worse, I’m getting bit angry with my congregation. Why are we taking this? Why are we not suing the governor in state and/or federal court?

    The local rabbis came to the solution of holding services at local houses instead of the synagogue; split it up between several families to keep head count down, but enough to maintain a minyan, and make it much harder for the state to stop them. They seem openly and proudly defiant, unlike the local Christian churches.

    • hayeksplosives

      Perhaps because (((they))) are much more aware of the dangers of giving power to the state, and (((they))) are more used to being defiant when surrounded by hostile neighbors.

      Most American-born Christians have never faced persecution, aside from being teased or having their beliefs lampooned or misrepresented on TV.

      Hoping it doesn’t take a Holocaust for the Christians to realize that the state sees their religious allegiance as a threat.

      • Chafed

        That’s an interesting observation HS. I agree with you. Most Christians don’t understand the state is hostile to them.

    • Chafed

      I like the way those rabbis think.

      • Caput Lupinum

        Dead thread now, but one of the rabbis said (paraphrased from memory) “My father didn’t stop observing the shabbat when ordered to by Hitler, I’m not going to stop because I was ordered by Wolfe.”

      • Chafed

        That’s the attitude that enabled us to survive.

  36. The Late P Brooks

    Interesting graphs
    TW: NBC News

    Deaths by state, at the bottom; only six states over 100 per 100,000 people.

    NY 174/ 100k
    NJ 180/ 100k
    MA 134/ 100k
    LA 114/ 100k
    CT 125/ 100k
    RI 102/ 100k

    What does that mean? Fuck if I know, but it doesn’t mean we need a one size fits all diktat from Washington.

    • Suthenboy

      All I have heard about this so far are outright lies and people pulling nonsense out of their asses.
      None of those numbers can be believed. This became a certainty the instant federal aid was offered on the basis of numbers of deaths.

    • Count Potato

      Those are the states hit early.

    • Hyperion

      So, that’s how we got to 200 million deaths?

  37. Derpetologist

    Feats of Strength, some with metal poles

    I squatted 215 today, a new best. Also a new best for clean and jerk (115). And some other exercises. Lots of soreness, but the good kind.

    ***
    The good news is that normal muscle soreness is a sign that you’re getting stronger, and is nothing to be alarmed about. During exercise, you stress your muscles and the fibers begin to break down. As the fibers repair themselves, they become larger and stronger than they were before.
    ***

    ***
    The best way to relieve muscle soreness is to perform some gentle exercises, like walking or light stretching. It may seem counter intuitive, but the more you move, the faster the discomfort will go away! A heating pad or warm bath may also help to ease the discomfort temporarily, but ice is a better treatment in the long-run because it actually helps to decrease the swelling and inflammation in your muscles.
    ***

    https://www.kidney.org/content/understanding-muscle-soreness-%E2%80%93-how-much-too-much

    Goals can be helpful, although I’ve had more success thinking in terms of what I’m going to do vs what I’m going to achieve. Tonight I will walk and do pull-ups.

    Pants are a bit looser and 15 days booze free.

    • Suthenboy

      Heavy doses of vitamin C for 3 weeks prior to physical stress will eliminate soreness altogether. I know this works because I used to do it prior to hunting season every year.
      Now I am wondering if this is a good thing or not.

      • Derpetologist

        The series of tubes says

        ***
        Post-exercise vitamin C does not aid recovery from delayed-onset muscle soreness. Hopes that vitamin C supplementation after heavy exercise could aid recovery have been dashed by a recent British study, which found no beneficial effect on delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS).
        ***

        The best way to prevent soreness is to prevent tearing, and the best way to do that is to become stronger.

      • Derpetologist

        oopsy – you said before exercise

        ***
        Ingesting ascorbic acid, or vitamin C, before a single bout of exercise “increases antioxidant power in [blood] and appears to mitigate the exercise-induced increase in superoxide dismutase activity,” ​wrote researchers from Chiang Mai University in Thailand.
        ***

      • Suthenboy

        The first time I tried it I had stumbled across an article in a hunting magazine describing it. I thought, what the hell, it cant hurt to try.

        I did it for two months prior to riding a horse all night hunting hogs….it worked like magic.

        (It could be coincidence that I also had been cutting and splitting firewood…maybe I was already in shape….but that had not happened in previous years. It could also be that I was much younger, stronger and in better shape than I am now. I don’t know if it would work for me now.)

      • Suthenboy

        I was lazy and not clear. You must take the VC prior to the exercise for about three weeks. You don’t engage in exercise until you have been dosing for the three weeks. It does not aid in recovery, it prevents it from occurring in the first place. Once you have done the exercise it is too late.
        The doses are 3 or 4X the recommended dose every day so you have to spend a few days putting up with diarrhea but your body will adjust and that will go away.

  38. Gender Traitor

    Exercise has gone by the wayside for me the last few days. Got my swim in Tuesday evening, but since then have gotten lazy and have been concentrating on taking care of New Kitteh (currently quarantined from Incumbent Kitteh for a mild infection) and lavishing attention on Incumbent Kitteh so he doesn’t feel left out. Skipped Thursday’s swim so I could get home and help Tom T put medicine in New Kitteh’s (Grady’s) eyes before Tom T went off to his weekly Open Mic.

    I’m grateful for this weekly nudge. I’ll get back on the treadmill this evening to try to get back into my routine. And no, I haven’t forgotten about the admonitions to start using some weights. I’ll try holding my 3-lb hand weights while I walk tonight.

    • Ozymandias

      GT – (and anyone else carrying more than a few extra Ell-Bees)

      Don’t worry so much about adding in weight work right now. No insult intended to anyone, but if you’re well above weight, you’re already doing weight work everyday. For example, there’s a gal in my gym who has lost something like 150lb (and she’s still well above 200), but people are always amazed at her strength. I’m like, “Listen, she’s been walking around with an extra couple of hundred pounds for a lot of years now. Fuck yeah, she’s strong. She just took off 150 lb that she already knows she’s capable of carrying. Of course she can squat more than you skinny chicks.”

      The human body is a wonder. Just keep moving daily. Do some stretching, too. Practice getting up and down and squatting down to a chair and back up.
      The squat, the deadlift, and the press are all fundamental to independent living, so learning to do those properly, even if you’re just using a piece of PVC pipe to help with movement patterns, is a wonderful way to get yourself to a level of fitness that will then allow you to do more advanced stuff.

      • Mojeaux

        When she has had that weight off for a while, if she doesn’t start weight training soon, she will lose that muscle. Trust me, it’s brutal to find out you can no longer squat what you USED to weigh.

  39. Derpetologist

    Woke Women Prayer Candle Set – Parody Art

    Not sure if parody. From the reviews:

    ***
    These are brilliant! I gave them to a friend and she loved them so much she set them up immediately and begin honoring all these wonderful women.
    ***

    Hail Nancy, full of grease, the pork is with thee…

    • Tulip

      I like the comment calling Michelle Obama ‘Maxine Waters’.

      • CPRM

        It’s obviously Kamala, since apparently she is only black woman Dem, or they wouldn’t have chosen her.

      • Suthenboy

        The little thumbnails advertising other candles has one labeled as Mmichelle Obama but the image looks like Ocasio-Cortez.

        I smell a rat.

  40. CPRM

    Met several glibs today at Fourscore’s honey harvest, now relaxing in the motorhome on Fourscore’s lawn property compound. And finally this wifi hotspot is working good and I’ve got a 4G connection, I’m going to be catching up on The Boys tonight and head out in the morning for my next stop. I think we counted 12 glibs and added a new one.

    • Tulip

      Where are you going next?

      • CPRM

        A campground near La Crosse, it’s in the Driftless Area, I haven’t spent much time around there.

  41. The Late P Brooks

    Theatrics

    Spirit Airlines reiterated its policy for wearing only masks approved by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after video posted Friday of a guest refusing to wear anything other than his own neck gaiter, which does not meet CDC standards.

    The video, recorded by the passenger in question and shared to social media last week, shows a flight attendant asking a man wearing an American flag-themed neck gaiter if he was wearing a mask underneath, given that the gaiter on its own does not comply with Spirit or the CDC mask guidelines.

    “Our flight attendants asked the Guest in this video to double up his gaiter,” the airline said in a statement shared to social media Friday. “When he refused, they offered him an alternative face covering, and he refused that option too.”

    “What’s wrong with my mask?” the passenger asked, before repeatedly telling the flight attendant to “show me those rules.”

    “I don’t have to wear the mask that you gave me,” he added. “I’m wearing the mask that I have. … I’ve been on 20 flights with this same exact mask.”

    The flight attendant reiterated that the gaiter did not meet safety standards and said the airline would “have the authorities waiting for you when we land.”

    You’re not a Guest if you are paying for a service.

    Random rules, randomly enforced. That’s how you do it.

    • Rhywun

      Sigh. It’s their airline; their rules.

      • grrizzly

        Libertarians can be as sheepishly obedient as the rest of them.