Tom Faranda's Folly

Ben Carson Ad

Nice, soft touch.

Sign of times? N.E. police union endorses Trump

Surprising, to me at least. But maybe it shouldn't be a surprise.

 

Walking v. the elliptical trainer

From a fitness (and mental health standpoint) I think it's better to walk/hike outside. Preferably up and down hills.

However, if using a gym - here's a good article form the NY Time fitness section. I use the elliptical (and occasionally the concept 2 rower), because it puts less stress on my joints.

Ask Well: Walking vs. Elliptical Training

...elliptical training results in greater activation of muscles in the buttocks and thighs than walking does, and less activation of muscles in the calf. Elliptical training also places greater strain on the lower back than walking because of how the muscles fire, a consideration for people with back problems.

It also involves less weight bearing. According to a study published this month in The British Journal of Sports Medicine, walking causes 112 percent of someone’s body weight to strike the ground with every step, while only 73 percent does in elliptical training. This slighter jarring is an advantage for people with sore joints, but less so for those who hope that exercise will improve bone health.

If, however, you wish to burn calories, walking and elliptical training seem indistinguishable. In an interesting 2010 study, college students were asked to complete two 15-minute sessions of exercise, one on a treadmill, the other on an elliptical machine. In both, they were instructed to maintain a pace that felt challenging but sustainable (the equivalent of a 4 or 5 on a 10-point scale of intensity). Throughout, the researchers monitored the volunteers’ energy consumption and found that it was the same regardless of which machine they were using. Only the intensity mattered — and you control that measure.

Colbert: Funny - trial defense

Yup. He's an expert. "To Kill a Mockingbird."

 

Ex-Guantanamo prisoner now an al Queda leader in Yemen

Why did they let this guy out?

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) released a new video featuring a former Guantanamo detainee, Ibrahim Qosi, who is also known as Sheikh Khubayb al Sudani.

Islamic scholars ensure the “correctness” of the “jihadist project,” according to Qosi. And the war against America continues through “individual jihad,” which al Qaeda encourages from abroad. Here, Qosi referred to al Qaeda’s policy of encouraging attacks by individual adherents and smaller terror cells. Indeed, AQAP’s video celebrates jihadists who have acted in accordance with this call, such as the Kouachi brothers, who struck Charlie Hebdo’s offices in Paris earlier this year. The Kouachi brothers’ operation was sponsored by AQAP.

The al Qaeda veterans shown in the video emphasized the importance of following the advice of recognized jihadist ideologues. Although AQAP’s men do not mention the Islamic State by name, they clearly have Abu Bakr al Baghdadi’s group in mind. Al Qaeda has criticized the Islamic State for failing to follow the teachings of widely respected jihadist authorities, most of whom reject the legitimacy of Baghdadi’s self-declared “caliphate.”

Qosi’s appearance marks the first time he has starred in jihadist propaganda since he left Guantanamo. His personal relationship with Osama bin Laden and time in American detention make him an especially high-profile spokesman.

How President Carter's cancer has been stopped

 

Pretty good - he's 91 years old. No guarantee or course that the cancer won't be back. Immunotherapy - an excellent short explanation of his treatment.

 

Immaculate Conception

Came across this nice image. Taken off the Magnificat prayer book email.

December 8, 2015
Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception
 
Patronal Feastday of the United States of America

The Jubilee Year of Mercy has begun!
December 8, 2015 – November 20, 2016

Virgin of Mercy (c. 1429), Jean Mirailhet, 15th c., Palais Massena, Nice, France.

Tie-in between exercise and beer! It's further proof there is a God!

Yup. Explains why rugby players live a long time.  And why Pope Benedict is 89 years old.

Two careful studies - one of them involving animals -

Now two new studies suggest that exercise may well influence when and how much people drink. Drinking may even affect whether people exercise, and, the findings suggest, the interplay between exercise and alcohol could be a good thing.

Past epidemiological studies have shown that people who exercise tend numerically also to be people who drink, and vice versa. In a typical study from 2001, for example, researchers found that men and women who qualified as moderate drinkers, meaning they downed about a drink a day, were twice as likely to exercise regularly as teetotalers.

But most of these previous studies had limitations.

******

So to better untangle the relationship between drinking and sweating, researchers at Pennsylvania State University, in the most scientifically ambitious of the new studies, turned to a representative group of 150 adult men and women age 18 to 75 who already were enrolled in an ongoing, long-term health study at the university.

They asked these volunteers to visit the lab and fill out extensive questionnaires about their lifestyles, and then provided each of them with a simple smartphone app that could be used to record a day’s drinking and exercise activities. The app would automatically send each day’s report to the scientists.

****

When the researchers collated and compared the data from their volunteers, they found, for the first time, an unequivocal correlation between exercising on any given day and subsequently drinking, especially if someone exercised more than usual. As the scientists write in their study, which was published recently in Health Psychology, “people drank more than usual on the same days that they engaged in more physical activity than usual.”

This relationship held true throughout all seasons of the year and whether someone was a man or a woman, a collegian or a retiree. Age and gender did not affect the results.

Thankfully, the data did not show that exercise incited or exacerbated problem drinking. ...

Hit the link for the rest of the story, including the animal study.

 

Wife of California terror shooting victim speaks out

Her husband has been in the headlines - a Messianic Jew, also known as the Jews for Jesus movement.They recognize Jesus as the Messiah and are generally very Evangelical. I know a few; very good people.

 

Rugby: Dubai - Women's 7's day two

The World 7's series first tournament of the year for the women. 

 

Rugby: Jonah Lomu Memorial - farewell Hakas

Lomu, the iconic New Zealand rugby player, who died at age 40 after 15 year battle with kidney ailment. The Haka is not unusual at funerals and memorial services in New Zealand; here is one from the New Zealand military for three of their comrades killed in Afghanistan. 

 Hit the youtube symbol in the lower right for a bigger view.

 

A Faranda christening

My nephew Paul and his wife Laura had their son Ethan baptized yesterday. Big gathering of friends and family - a few pictures below. 

That's Uncle Tony half in the picture on the left. The seeming 13 year old doing the baptism is actually a 27 year old Deacon who will be ordained in May (along with 14 others). This was his first baptism.

Six hot blooded young blades. Ethan with father, grandpa, uncle, grand-uncles. ... A 64 year age spread.

At the party - a couple of shots of Jim with grandson who is trying to figure out what's going on

Uncle Phil and Ethan - but Ethan more interested in Uncle Tom taking the picture

A Three Stooges shot - which I pulled off Phil's facebook. Jim didn't get the blue striped shirt memo.

 

 

 

 

Tea Party: Thumbs up on solar energy

Good article from the Guardian (UK), which of course expresses the usual bias-based-on-ignorance that engulfs the opponents of Tea Party people.

Debbie Dooley is a firebrand Republican and an outspoken founding member of the Tea Party. But in a fast-intensifying battle over the future of solar power in Florida, she is not on the side you might expect.

Along with a diverse grassroots citizens’ coalition including environmentalists and other left-leaning activists, Dooley is taking on Big Energy and its big-spending conservative backers in an intriguing fight that puts her toe-to-toe with her onetime political allies.

She is at the spearhead of a campaign to place an initiative before Florida voters next year that would give consumers the freedom to choose to buy their solar energy from smaller private companies and bypass the mega-bucks utilities.

“It’s Florida’s solar eclipse,” says Dooley, who points to statistics she claims are proof that the Sunshine State is trailing the nation in utilising its most plentiful natural resource.

College Football Playoffs set

The top four teams -

 

Stepinac HS on "Good Morning America" Monday, December 7th

Be there or be square!

Motivation: The Navy SEAL "40% rule"

Here's the guy telling the story The100mileman . He is married to Sara Blakely, Founder of SPANX which earned her the title of world's youngest woman billionaire.

Been watched already over 300,000 times since it was posted on November 27th.

 

Rugby: Dubai 7's final day & championship

Good tournament for the USA - made the semifinal and may have lost that one on a dubious call...

Rugby: First tournament of the World Seven's Championship

Day one in Dubai as USA gets first ever win v. New Zealand.

SciAm: "Nuclear Power Must Make a Comeback for Climate's Sake"

From Scientific America as they reprint an article from Climatewire.

"Nuclear, especially next-generation nuclear, has tremendous potential to be part of the solution to climate change," Hansen said during a panel discussion yesterday. "The dangers of fossil fuels are staring us in the face. So for us to say we won't use all the tools [such as nuclear energy] to solve the problem is crazy."

He was joined by Tom Wigley, a climate scientist at the University of Adelaide; Ken Caldeira, a climate scientist at the Carnegie Institution for Science; and Kerry Emanuel, a professor of atmospheric science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Their stance clashes with those of environmental groups such as Greenpeace that advocate against nuclear energy.

Last night's crazy football game

Detroit ahead with one last play for Green Bay.

Was this a penalty?

https://youtu.be/kmBgptnhP9E

Then this ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0vVqStvh_8

Kimmel: Trump health report

Haha. "Perfect."

 

Attacking people for praying in San Bernardino crisis/under stress

UPDATE: This AM's WSJ: Peggy Noonan writes that Republican presidential candidates offering prayers for the shooting victims of San Bernardino “managed to enrage the progressive left.” This included bloggers, reporters and also Sen. Chris Murphy (D., Conn.), who sent out “the most manipulative message of recent political history.” Ms. Noonan quotes Mr. Murphy: “Your ‘thoughts’ should be about steps to take to stop this carnage. Your ‘prayers’ should be for forgiveness if you do nothing—again.” Ms. Noonan suspects “part of the problem is that a number of the progressive finger-pointers do not really know what a prayer is.”

How pathetic is this?

From NRO:
Yesterday, the Left Launched a War on Prayer — Here’s Why

And from The Atlantic, not exactly a part of "the great right wing conspiracy".

Prayer Shaming After a Mass Shooting in San Bernardino. Following the murder of at least 14 people in California, American liberals have questioned calls for prayer.

Rand Paul makes a nice statement about this -

 

Delusional: Senator Boxer: "Sensible gun control laws work, we've proven it in California"

Nice timing Barbara. FULL DISCLOSURE: I wouldn't even know how to shoot a gun.

 

Upstate NY sheriff says licensed handgun owners should carry them

FULL DISCLOSURE: I don't own a gun, don't know how to shoot one.

From my friend Joe -

Ulster County, NY which includes Woodstock and Kingston.

“In light of recent events that have occurred in the United States and around the world I want to encourage citizens of Ulster County who are licensed to carry a firearm to please do so,” wrote Sheriff Paul J. Van Blarcum in a Facebook post. “I urge you to responsibly take advantage of your legal right to carry a firearm. To ensure the safety of yourself and others, make sure you are comfortable and proficient with your weapon, and knowledgeable of the laws in New York State with regards to carrying a weapon and when it is legal to use it.”

“I also want to remind all Police/Peace Officers both active duty and retired to please carry a weapon whenever you leave your house. We are the thin blue line that is entrusted in keeping this country safe, and we must be prepared to act at any given moment,” Van Blarcum wrote.

Van Blarcum told CBS2’s Sonia Rincon that the post was not intended to spark debate.

“All I was doing as reminding people that here in Ulster County, if you are a licensed hand gun owner, and you feel comfortable carrying that handgun, you’re proficient with that handgun, and you’re responsible with that handgun, then I encourage you to carry that handgun,” he said.

Mrs. Clinton's "44 boys is too many" ad

You decide - Described by her campaign as:

"In this heartwarming video, see what a few little girl supporters wanted to tell Hillary Clinton. Their inspiring words remind us there is still much to do to break the highest hardest glass ceiling for every girl out there. "

 

What the Pope carries in his pocket

Speaking while in Uganda. No flashlight, keys or pocketknife.

 

Kimmel: Message from the Thanksgiving turkeys (who survived)

One funny minute.

BBC: Catholic Africa in 60 seconds

Short video.

Dashcam video: Pollice car v. deer

Luckily, no losers on this little meeting.

Big Jesuit feastday today; St. Edmund Campion

Martyred on December 1st, 1581. Hung, drawn and quartered, as well as having his "privy parts" cut off. Nasty ...

Here's some stuff about him.

Ignatianspirituality.com - Edmund Campion

Edmund Campion could have been the brightest star in Elizabethan England. He impressed Elizabeth with his welcoming oration when she visited Oxford University in 1569. Under her promised patronage his path to power and prestige was assured. Campion first thought to follow that path, being ordained originally as an Anglican deacon. But his heart was rooted in the Catholic faith. In 1571 Campion traveled to Douai, France, to study in the Catholic seminary. Several years later he walked to Rome, where he was accepted by the Jesuits. The next years Campion taught in Vienna and Prague.

Campion could have stayed safely in Prague, but he heard the call to minister to Catholics in England. He could only do this traveling in disguise, celebrating the sacraments in secret, and avoiding the many spies who sought him out. But Campion did not keep his mission a secret. He wrote and circulated the Challenge to the Privy Council to debate him on all issues between Protestants and Catholics. His mission began in 1580 but soon ended with his arrest in 1581.

After his arrest, Campion was convicted of treason, suffered the dislocation of his bones on the rack, and still held his own in debates against his persecutors. Showing her esteem for his person, Elizabeth I met him, trying to draw him back into the Church of England. Campion remained steadfast in his Catholic faith. Finally, Campion was hanged, drawn, and quartered on December 1, 1581

Here is a link to what was called by his enemies "Campion's Brag", but which he called his "Challenge to the Privy Council".

Enemies of Edmund Campion (1540-1581) disparagingly referred to his apologia as "Campion's Brag," the title by which his "Challenge to the Privy Council" is most commonly known today. It is perhaps the earliest defense of the faith to appear in English during the Reformation.

And lastly, off wikipedia - the trial and his end.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Campion#Imprisonment.2C_torture_and_disputations

Imprisoned for four days in the Tower of London in a tiny cell called "Little-ease",^[15] Campion was then taken out and questioned by three Privy Councillors—Lord Chancellor Sir Thomas Bromley, Vice-Chamberlain of the Royal Household Sir Christopher Hatton and Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester—on matters including whether he acknowledged Queen Elizabeth to be the true Queen of England. He replied that he did, and was offered his freedom, wealth and honours, including a possibility of the Archbishopric of Canterbury,^{[2]:pp.32–33[16]} which he could not accept in good conscience.^[17]

Campion was imprisoned in the Tower more than four months and tortured on the rack two^[2]:p.33 or three times.^[18] False reports of a retraction and of a confession by Campion were circulated.^[19] He had four public disputations with his Anglican adversaries, on 1, 18, 23 and 27 September 1581, at which they attempted to address the challenges of Campion's Brag and Decem Rationes. Although still suffering from the effects of his torture, and allowed neither time nor books for preparation, he reportedly conducted himself so easily and readily that "even the spectators in the court looked for an acquittal".^[2]:p.33

He was arraigned and indicted on 14 November 1581^[20] with several others at Westminster on a charge of having conspired, in Rome and Reims, to raise a sedition in the realm and dethrone the Queen.^[14]

The trial was held on 20 November 1581. After hearing the pleadings for three hours, the jury deliberated an hour before delivering its verdict:^[21] Campion and his fellow defendants were found guilty of treason. He answered the verdict: "In condemning us, you condemn all your own ancestors, all our ancient bishops and kings, all that was once the glory of England — the island of saints, and the most devoted child of the See of Peter."

Lord Chief Justice Wray read the sentence: "You must go to the place from whence you came, there to remain until ye shall be drawn through the open city of London upon hurdles to the place of execution, and there be hanged and let down alive, and your privy parts cut off, and your entrails taken out and burnt in your sight; then your heads to be cut off and your bodies divided into four parts, to be disposed of at Her Majesty’s pleasure. And God have mercy on your souls. ."^[22]

On hearing the death sentence, Campion and the other condemned men broke into the words of the Te Deum. After spending his last days in prayer he was dragged with two fellow priests, Fathers Ralph Sherwin and Alexander Briant, to Tyburn where the three were hanged, drawn and quartered on 1 December 1581. Campion was 41 years of age.

 

 

Edmund Campion could have been the brightest star in Elizabethan England. He impressed Elizabeth with his welcoming oration when she visited Oxford University in 1569. Under her promised patronage his path to power and prestige was assured. Campion first thought to follow that path, being ordained originally as an Anglican deacon. But his heart was rooted in the Catholic faith. In 1571 Campion traveled to Douai, France, to study in the Catholic seminary. Several years later he walked to Rome, where he was accepted by the Jesuits. The next years Campion taught in Vienna and Prague.

Campion could have stayed safely in Prague, but he heard the call to minister to Catholics in England. He could only do this traveling in disguise, celebrating the sacraments in secret, and avoiding the many spies who sought him out. But Campion did not keep his mission a secret. He wrote and circulated the Challenge to the Privy Council to debate him on all issues between Protestants and Catholics. His mission began in 1580 but soon ended with his arrest in 1581.

After his arrest, Campion was convicted of treason, suffered the dislocation of his bones on the rack, and still held his own in debates against his persecutors. Showing her esteem for his person, Elizabeth I met him, trying to draw him back into the Church of England. Campion remained steadfast in his Catholic faith. Finally, Campion was hanged, drawn, and quartered on December 1, 1581.

- See more at: http://www.ignatianspirituality.com/ignatian-voices/16th-and-17th-century-ignatian-voices/st-edmund-campion-sj#sthash.kxfRryWP.dpuf

Edmund Campion could have been the brightest star in Elizabethan England. He impressed Elizabeth with his welcoming oration when she visited Oxford University in 1569. Under her promised patronage his path to power and prestige was assured. Campion first thought to follow that path, being ordained originally as an Anglican deacon. But his heart was rooted in the Catholic faith. In 1571 Campion traveled to Douai, France, to study in the Catholic seminary. Several years later he walked to Rome, where he was accepted by the Jesuits. The next years Campion taught in Vienna and Prague.

Campion could have stayed safely in Prague, but he heard the call to minister to Catholics in England. He could only do this traveling in disguise, celebrating the sacraments in secret, and avoiding the many spies who sought him out. But Campion did not keep his mission a secret. He wrote and circulated the Challenge to the Privy Council to debate him on all issues between Protestants and Catholics. His mission began in 1580 but soon ended with his arrest in 1581.

After his arrest, Campion was convicted of treason, suffered the dislocation of his bones on the rack, and still held his own in debates against his persecutors. Showing her esteem for his person, Elizabeth I met him, trying to draw him back into the Church of England. Campion remained steadfast in his Catholic faith. Finally, Campion was hanged, drawn, and quartered on December 1, 1581.

- See more at: http://www.ignatianspirituality.com/ignatian-voices/16th-and-17th-century-ignatian-voices/st-edmund-campion-sj#sthash.kxfRryWP.dpuf

Edmund Campion could have been the brightest star in Elizabethan England. He impressed Elizabeth with his welcoming oration when she visited Oxford University in 1569. Under her promised patronage his path to power and prestige was assured. Campion first thought to follow that path, being ordained originally as an Anglican deacon. But his heart was rooted in the Catholic faith. In 1571 Campion traveled to Douai, France, to study in the Catholic seminary. Several years later he walked to Rome, where he was accepted by the Jesuits. The next years Campion taught in Vienna and Prague.

Campion could have stayed safely in Prague, but he heard the call to minister to Catholics in England. He could only do this traveling in disguise, celebrating the sacraments in secret, and avoiding the many spies who sought him out. But Campion did not keep his mission a secret. He wrote and circulated the Challenge to the Privy Council to debate him on all issues between Protestants and Catholics. His mission began in 1580 but soon ended with his arrest in 1581.

After his arrest, Campion was convicted of treason, suffered the dislocation of his bones on the rack, and still held his own in debates against his persecutors. Showing her esteem for his person, Elizabeth I met him, trying to draw him back into the Church of England. Campion remained steadfast in his Catholic faith. Finally, Campion was hanged, drawn, and quartered on December 1, 1581.

- See more at: http://www.ignatianspirituality.com/ignatian-voices/16th-and-17th-century-ignatian-voices/st-edmund-campion-sj#sthash.kxfRryWP.dpuf

Rugby: Annual 7-a-sides on Randall's Island

Nice - covered in the NY Times.

Many years ago - over 40 in fact - playing for Essex (along with famous luminaries like Krenn, Crowley, Regan, Corrigan, Kenefick, et al) we won the club side division. There were only two divisions at that time, club and college. It was a big end-of-season tournament then, but now it's huge - international really.  And Randall's Island has been cleaned up - vastly better fields and facilities.

An Island Paradise for Rugby, Honking and Skyline Views Included

The New York Rugby Club has hosted its annual event on the Saturday after Thanksgiving since 1959. This year, 139 teams from across the United States, Canada, Mexico and Fiji descended on the southern tip of Randalls Island in one of the country’s largest amateur rugby tournaments.

Beneath the relentless drone of traffic on the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge, the speed of the game was evident. Unlike the traditional 15-a-side rugby union, with two 40-minute halves, sevens is seven-on-seven, played over two seven-minute halves. Men’s and women’s teams register to compete in high school, collegiate, social, club and premier divisions.

 

Colbert on what's happening to his favorite sport - curling

Tweeking the equipment!

NY Times: The Chicago police shooting cover-up

UPDATE: Rahm Emanuel fired the Police Chief today; he should resign himself.

The one year wait for the $5 million settlement with the family of the 17 year old, and the delay of the video and the indictment - the writer claims timely release would have cost Rahm Emanuel the election.

THERE’S been a cover-up in Chicago. The city’s leaders have now brought charges against a police officer, Jason Van Dyke, for the first-degree murder of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. But for more than a year, Chicago officials delayed the criminal process, and might well have postponed prosecution indefinitely, had it not been for a state court forcing their hand.

The video of a police shooting like this in Chicago could have buried Mr. Emanuel’s chances for re-election. And it would likely have ended the career of the police superintendent, Garry F. McCarthy.

And so the wheels of justice virtually ground to a halt. Mayor Emanuel refused to make the dash-cam video public, going to court to prevent its release. The city argued that releasing the video would taint the investigation of the case, but even the attorney general of Illinois urged the city to make it available.

Then the city waited until April 15 — one week after Mr. Emanuel was re-elected — to get final approval of a pre-emptive $5 million settlement with Mr. McDonald’s family, a settlement that had been substantially agreed upon weeks earlier. Still, the city’s lawyers made sure to include a clause that kept the dash-cam video confidential.

Around the time the freelance journalist Brandon Smith filed suit for release of the dash-cam video, on Aug. 5, 2015, the Chicago Police Department told him that it had already received, and rejected, 14 other Freedom of Information Act requests for the evidence. The city spent thousands of dollars in legal expenses to keep the video under wraps. And it would probably have continued to do so, had Judge Franklin Valderrama of the Cook County Circuit Court not ordered its release.

Chicago, a  disgrace. Anything to stay in power. More if you hit the link.