Yep, my bad

The Expanse series, book 1 deals with one main character trying to solve the disappearance a a VIP’s daughter. The series follows the POV of multiple characters, though, so it’s not a straight up mystery because different characters have different things going on with them. However, the plot points do converge. Not necessarily in the same book, but they always converge.

It’s an amazing series, though, even though it’s not a mystery throughout. It blends different genres in. Noir mystery, horror, outbreak, political thriller, etc. The characters have consistent motivations, and while you may not always agree with their choices you will understand them. Also, the series is complete and it sticks the landing. And the human technology is rooted in hard science. No artificial gravity or laser blasters. Travel to different planets takes real time. High velocity has considerable strain on human bodies. It’s extremely well thought out.

If you don’t care about gaining muscle and mainly want to lose fat then the fastest way to do that is reducing calorie intake. In other words, diet, diet, diet. And not just as a temporary thing, but as a long term endeavor. Otherwise you will gain everything you lost back.

For perspective, on average running a mile burns 100-150 calories. A plain donut has anywhere from 150-400 calories. So if you have a donut you will need to run at least a mile to cancel it out, probably more. Or you can simply eat healthy by skipping the donut and focusing on lean meats, veggies, and healthy fats. Processed foods and sugary foods are about the worst you can eat for losing fat, so avoid them outright.

I have also found that intermittent fasting helps a lot for losing fat. The longer you go without replenishing calories, the longer your body stays in ketosis, where your body burns fat for fuel instead of glucose. The hardest part is the first week or two, but your body will adjust and the hunger pangs do go away. Pick a realistic schedule and stick to it where you only eat in a certain window of time. 16:8 is great for starting off, where for 16 hours a day you don’t eat anything (water is fine), and for 8 hours you can. So for example you could avoid eating until 11am, and you would have until 7pm to have additional meals. After 7 you stop eating untill 11am the next day.

Also drink lots of water. Often time when your body feels hungry, you don’t actually need calories, you probably need water. Water also helps you feel more full so you will want to snack less. In fact, if you tend to drink sugary drinks like soda, replacing everything with water will have noticeable results pretty quickly. If you’re a coffee drinker, learn to drink it black if you don’t already. There’s virtually no calories in black coffee or tea.

Exercise is great and there are many good reasons to exercise. I highly recommend it. It will help some with losing fat, especially cardio, but not if you don’t change your diet. I would put more effort into changing (and maintaining) your diet at first if you want to lose fat.

Spells and chanting…

Tight, because they are snug

I went to a private elementary school where I was pretty picked on. One of my parents grew up poor and was an immigrant, the other grew up poor and rural, so neither really understood why I had a hard time socially in a suburban private school with mostly wealthy kids.They didn’t know how to help.

I transferred to a public middle school where I was neither popular nor unpopular. My elementary years taught me to avoid relationships so I just tried to blend in and keep things very surface level with other kids. I had no close friends but I was not being picked on.

In high school I developed a couple of closer friendships, but I would not say that I ever completely let my guard down. Like middle school, I wasn’t really picked on but I was certainly not one of the popular kids. I did let myself join athletics so I developed more self confidence, but social relationships were still superficial.

I’m now in my 40s and have been confronting myself about the fact that other than my wife and kids, I’ve not let myself have too many close relationships. I know it was self protective, but it also kept me isolated. My wife cannot and should not be the one person who meets all my needs.

I’m putting myself out there a bit more but man is it hard to make new friends at this age. Better late than never I guess.

I only remember French, Spanish, or German (this was back in the 90s). My kids have all those plus Japanese, Mandarin, and ASL to choose from

I hear this a lot, and part of me understands the sentiment. But it’s important to keep in mind that these are state level politicians, not national. Representing their districts is a part time job. Most of them have jobs like attorney, doctor, business owner employing other people, etc. To stay absent would mean not only leaving these responsibilities, but it’s also leaving their spouses and kids. On top of that the state government started imposing $500/day fines. Then they sued and froze the accounts of Beto O’Rourke’s fundraiser to help them meet their expenses (that was just overturned by a judge this afternoon).

When it became clear that other states were willing to redraw their maps to cancel out Texas’s naked power grab, it changed the calculus. They achieved the objective of drawing attention to the issue and they got other states to commit to action so that even if Texas redraws the map, it won’t matter on a national level. They’ve already paid significant personal cost. How much should they be expected to pay? Should their families/clients/patients/employees also suffer?

I don’t know that there’s a right answer. Maybe this is the sort of tough call that defines real rebellions from performative ones. I do think that it’s easy to criticize from a distance because for most of us the principles and ideas are abstract. But for them the costs are already being felt in concrete ways.

I read elsewhere that they never sold it. I read the article but it seems to contradict itself. It says Costco “stopped selling” it, but it also quotes Costco as saying “Our position at this time not to sell mifepristone, which has not changed, is based on the lack of demand from our members and other patients, who we understand generally have the drug dispensed by their medical providers,” (emphasis mine).

So either Reuters is wrong when it says they stopped selling, or Costco is lying when it says it’s position never changed

Your schedule start times depends on the courses you choose. For core classes, there are usually multiple offerings of the same course by different professors at different times of the day. So if you want to start at noon as a freshman, you probably could if you design your schedule for the semester that way.

For upper level major-specific courses, if it’s a small to medium sized program these may be offered once per semester or even once per year, so you’re much more at the mercy of the professor’s schedule.

Oh you’re thinking of the OTHER NYC

CREAM as the background music is just perfect

Here in San Antonio we have zero rail so…

No that’s a faun. A fraud is a garment worn by a priest.

It depends. Location, race, social status, and luck determine what kind of experience someone gets

Look at that, he gets cast in a major movie and suddenly he’s rethinking Trump support

Obvious lie as Trump uses tanning beds and makeup

Russophobia! /s

Relevant Key and Peele sketch

It’s a decent sized movement, so you’d have to look into what’s happening in your neck of the woods. Mine is planning a protest outside an ICE detention center this week