I really don’t want to think about the disaster our higher levels of government have become..nor that many find this, not only acceptable, but desirable.
I did lift weights this morning though:
pull ups: one broken set of 15, then 3-2, 5, singles, etc. enough to get to 55 reps
bench: 10 x 132, 4 x 4 with 165 (pauses)
trap squats: 10 x 132, 10 x 154, 10 x 165
shoulder: 10, 10, 8 with 88 (seated)
rows: 3 sets of 10 x 60 single arm
outdoor: pushups with 1 minute rests: 20, 20, 10, 10
Well, my borked hamstring didn’t bother me and neither did my piriformis, but that might be due to my very slow pace.
I didn’t start until 8:30 am or so and I decided to take a different route than usual.
I decided to not go up Broadway due to the excess traffic (part of Sheridan closed..again) but go up partway, cut through Peoria High campus and then go up North to McClure which I took to Knoxville. A lot of broken sidewalk walking.
Then the rest was similar to normal.
Somewhere around mile 7 things clicked and my HR got to a normal range for a workout. Not sure; but it felt better after that.
I passed by an outdoor church service near the Carver Community Center; outdoor chairs, social distancing, masks..I almost teared up. These people were looking out for each other. After the debacle with the moron in chief and the absolutely negligent behavior of our higher ups…
And I finished..not the best walk but I got it in. Photo: from upper Glenn Oak Park.
I need to make time to call friends; if I am struggling a bit…I can’t imagine what it is like for them.
My job and workouts keep me sane; so grateful for those.
deficit: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 5 x 224 regular: 2 x 259; didn’t try a 3’rd rep as I felt a tug in my right hamstring (high)
high handles: 10 x 224: completely painless and very easy. Felt like paper. The a walk: did a convoluted course and averaged just under 15 min per mile for the final 3 miles of 5.27 miles; total pace average was 15:07.
Covid topics:
I decided to say something. I know that my university went “online only” for 2 weeks due to a spike in COVID cases and one of the main culprits was small, non-socially distanced gatherings.
So, I decided to make a post. It is kind of spitting in the wind, as there are so many “I haven’t used math since high school” posts out there (often made by people who don’t understand that you can pay on a loan and end up paying much more that the original loan.
So, here is what I posted on Facebook. Sure, most of my ire is at the truly elite POTUS, Senators, former governors, university presidents, college faculty, judges, etc. who seem to think that the laws of nature don’t apply to them.
Ok, given the events with Trump and so many political leaders getting COVID so close together, I’ll give a TL;DR about some of this. My field is mathematics, NOT infectious diseases so if I err, I do not mind correction from a credentialed person.
In fact, I encourage it.
1. Whether you get infected with COVID or not depends on many factors and is probabilistic; we can say “highly likely” or “not likely” but never “certainly”.
Your likelihood of getting infected depends on your level of exposure; that is, the dose of the virus in a short amount of time. A few individual viruses are unlikely to infect you.
The dose you get depends on several things: how close you are to the infected person, how long, and what protective gear you have.
A mask basically mitigates the tiny droplets that transports the virus. It is most effective when worn by the infected person, as the virus density is highest on what comes out of their noses and mouths.
The mask is less effective, but still far more protective than nothing, on the non-infected person.
Masks might not stop all of the virus from entering, but it does lower the dose by quite a bit thereby lowering the risk of infection.
Yes, the mesh of the mask is larger than the size of the virus; what it does, though, is stop many of the water droplets that carry the virus. It is transportation interdiction.
The strength of the dose of virus depends on the quality of the air circulation and how close you are to someone who is infected. (inverse square law, plus the droplets carrying the virus tend to drop.
That is why social distancing is important.
2. Yes, you can be totally irresponsible and probably get away with it; the probability of infection at any single incident is low. But repetition matters and eventually your luck may well run out. It is a bit like rolling a 360 sided dice; your chances of getting a single given number is low on any one roll, but if you roll it enough times, it will probably appear once..though you can’t say when.
3. The virus doesn’t care about your cause, your emotional needs, if it is “just family”, that you prayed to your deity for protection, etc. It is all governed by ice cold laws of probability.
4. Yes, the survival rate for most classes of individuals is high. But there are two other factors: 1. Something like 10 percent of verified cases end up in the hospital and even those not hospitalized end up with ill effects for weeks to months afterward. 2. Even worse, the virus can spread through you and infect someone who might be more prone to dying from it. That is exponential growth in action.
Well, that’s a lie: I am lifting at home and that is due to COVID..though I do have some bully exercise equipment
pull ups: broken into groups of 10 reps: sets of 5, 3, 2, and singles (quality)
bench press: (pauses), 10 x 132, 4 sets of 4 x 165 (all with pauses) shoulder press: 10 x 88, 8 x 88, 8 x 88, 10 x 70 rows: 3 sets of 10 x 60 single arm
Last night’s “debate” was an unmitigated disaster. No..Biden didn’t come across as fire and brimstone, but he was decent. But Trump…well, he probably appealed to, well, 40 percent of the voters. He did nothing to help himself.
This is a reasonable take:
At any rate, after watching this, and knowing that so many Americans will not only vote for Trump but positively adore him, I think we can clearly divide the country into two groups. There are those who will vote for Trump, and now I see nearly all of them as deplorables. I didn’t like Hillary Clinton using that word four years ago, but that was before we’d seen Trump’s performance as President. If you want him for another four years, then I think you’re either delusional or in love with tyrants (or both), and lack all political judgment.
The other group is, of course, those who will vote for Biden. Biden is clearly not the best the Democratic Party can offer, and he does seem a bit dotty. However, he won’t surround himself with sycophants and liars, and he may have a Democratic House and Senate to work with. If you’re a rational human being who doesn’t want this country destroyed, you have no choice but to vote for Biden.
It is bothersome that such a large percentage of Americans find Trump’s behavior not only tolerable but desirable.
I know that anyone who interviewed for one of our jobs behaved the way Trump did, they’d be shown the door very quickly. And ..perhaps that is part of the appeal?
Maybe some feel so burdened by life that they want the freedom to tell everyone to f***off without fear of consequence? Must be horrible position to be in.
Workout notes: somewhat subdued:
pull ups: sets of 2, 3, 4, 5 until I got to 50; decent quality.
bench press: 10 x 132, 7 x 154, 7 x 154 (all with pauses..that seems to work better even if it means lighter weight)
shoulder presses: 10 x 83, 10 x 83, 10 x 88 (manned up on the final set) seated
rows 3 sets of 10 x 60 single arm.
Trap bar dead lifts (deficit) 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 204 (all kind of easy..focused on form)
2:30 plank and then headstand.
Life of an old goat 