"had to be pre planned"

Was the Turkish downing of the Russian SU-24 planned in  advance?

The video below discusses the downing of the Russian bomber. While the host cutting the General McInerney short was probably due to hard commercial breaks, I did find it of interest that the most damning part of the interview was cut short. McInerney was basically saying that the incident had to have been pre planned. Since we know that the Russians had provided the US with its flight plans, the Turkish F-16 may have been laying-in-wait for just such an opportunity. I have been considering this for several days and have been reluctant to conclude this was the case. 

I suggest that the words of an expert might be of interest. 

Here is how the Washington Blog described McInerney. 

McInerney served as:

• Commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (Norad) – the military agency responsible for protecting the United States and Canada from foreign jet attacks – for the Alaska region

• Commander of the Alaskan Air Command

• Commander of 11th Air Force in Alaska

• Commander of the 3rd Tactical Fighter Wing, Clark Air Base, Philippines

• Commander of the 313th Air Division, Kadena Air Base, Japan

• Commander of 3rd Air Force, Royal Air Force Station Mildenhall, England

• Vice Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force
• A command pilot with more than 4,100 flying hours, including 407 combat missions

The Turkish government must think this will help them domestically, but it seems really dumb to me.

Week 7: Balloon Ball

A famous comic actor, W.C. Fields, once commented that when the urge to exercise hit him he would lie down until the feeling went away. I sympathize, and well, I tend to agree. Exercise is of the devil. But the apostle Paul commented on exercise in I Tim 4:8

Workouts in the gymnasium are useful, but a disciplined life in God is far more so, making you fit both today and forever.

While the focus of the passage is on exercising your spiritual muscles, note that Paul thinks that exercise is useful. I guess W.C. was wrong.

But I will not be suggesting a lot of exercise. Instead I will be suggesting that you move instead. While the difference between the two is subtle, I think the difference is significant.

Look at a typical American day. Up in the morning and watching TV while drinking coffee. Walk to the garage and then drive to work. You take the elevator to your floor. You sit in front of a computer screen most of the day. There is an occasional meeting. You sit for that. You drive home, going through the drive-through for dinner, you don't even get out of the car for that! You unwrap the burger and sip your cola in front of the TV. Later you lie down for sleep. This can't be healthy.

No, exercise is not of the devil, but sitting is, especially in front of the devil's eye.

Here is this week's homework, the benefits of exercise. 



See What Balloon Ball Can Do! So this brings me to the subject for this week's action, play balloon ball.

The equipment needed is a balloon and a lot of hot air. I have plenty of both. The goal is to keep the balloon off the floor as much as possible. We tend to be somewhat competitive, so my daughter and I often keep score. Hey, I do not like losing, even if it is Candyland. If you have a helium balloon that is losing its rise, so much the better.

There are various moves like the Jay Leno: you hit the balloon with your ... chin. Do not confuse this with the Jimmy Durante--no nose is involved. The Pelè involves hitting the balloon with your head. But you must jump up into the balloon for it to be a full Pelè.  The slam dunk involves hitting the balloon hard toward your "opponent." A knee move is a lot more difficult than you might think. You have to hit the balloon hard to get any altitude. Of course you can also use your foot. Tomorrow my daughter and I will play balloon soccer as the helium will be mostly gone. You get extra points if you dance while your opponent does their moves. Thus my daughter does the "shuffle off to Buffalo" as she is a tap dancer. Above all have fun. 

You can play alone, nor do you even need to be human. 

As fun as Balloon Ball is, my point is not solely that you should play balloon ball. It is that you need to move your body. Park your car farthest away from the door. Walk up the stairs. Bring your lunch to work and walk during your lunch time. When you take Fido out to do his business, do not do the bare minimum, instead be outside longer. Fido will appreciate it.

Action plan for this week. Play balloon ball. Have fun. Move your body.

Continue with the last few weeks' actions. Write down everything you eat, do not drink diet drinks. Avoid caloric beverages. And as I said last week, limit your calories!



Music to listen to while playing Balloon Ball.

Fake and Facebook Go Together

It really does not matter whether a conservative or liberal shares one of these posters on Facebook. The percentage of them that are fake is quite high. Here is the Facebook Putin, not the real one.

"To forgive the terrorists is up to God, to send them to him is up to me.” 

Such a nice quote, it sounds so Putin, or as I put it, it sounds like the Facebook Putin. This Putin must live with the Facebook Obama, the Obama born in Kenya. No doubt the Rothchilds own the home they live in. 

This is actually Denzel Washington in the movie Man on Fire. 

I would be thankful, as is proper today and does go along with another Facebook meme, if everyone just researched these posters, or not share them at all because Facebook is often a fact-free zone. Since Facebook is crowd-sourced, it is only as good as we make it. At least cat pictures are cute.  

How Are You Controlled? Century of the Self Part I

The video I share today is part one of an interesting BBC documentary that tells of the process by which we are controlled-The Century of the Self.  I first posted this over three years ago. Since I listened to it again, I thought that reposting this was important. This may be the most important documentary ever filmed. 

The first step in leaving Babylon the Great is learning about how we are being controlled. Only then can you avoid manipulation. I know that asking you to watch a 4 hour documentary is a lot to ask. But it is important. I will post one part each Tuesday until all have been posted. 

Here is part I.

Week 6: Calories Don't Count And Other Myths

I have gradually been making suggestions about health so we can all gradually build good habits. They say it takes about six weeks to build a new habit, and this is our sixth week. I want to emphasize the word "gradually." To paraphrase a Facebook friend, "I have been in the fitness industry for 30 years, and I have never seen anyone lose weight rapidly and keep it off." From my personal experience I have to agree. 

Hopefully by this time you have been to the doctor for a checkup and have discussed your individual health situation. If not, do so. Many people go too long between physicals. Writing down what you eat is an important step towards better health. Remember that fat people use diet drinks. Caloric drinks fool the body. Do not use either. Since today we be talking about calories, sorry, taking some basic vitamins is a good idea, as amount of vitamins in food is determined to some degree by how much you eat, and you need to eat less. 

You need to eat less because calories do count. I wish this was false. However, there are some interesting facts in this. If you eat a low carb diet with higher protein, your body will convert the protein to carbohydrate. This is inefficient. I have read estimates that this inefficiency is up to 500 calories a day. In addition, for many people the lower carbohydrate content in food may lead to less hunger, which leads to less eating. These points may be what is behind the "calories do not count" meme.  

So am I going to suggest you eat low carb? Yes and no. I am going to suggest you try various styles of eating and see what works for you. One of the major critiques I will make as I evaluate the various diet gurus out there is the false idea that one size fits all. There is no such thing as an average person. You have to make adjustments based on the various factors that make you you—employment, body type, genetics, allergies, and so on. For example, an overweight furniture mover will need more calories than an overweight truck driver. So adjust anything you read to fit your situation. 

So, how many calories should you eat? Well, I think you could predict what I was going to say—it depends. A better question is what should I weigh? That depends too. Here is one suggestion:

Get that tape measure out and start measuring that gut. Then you start working out and you start eating properly till that gut gets down close to where it was when you were in your 20's. Then you'll find out what your weight should be.  -Jack LaLanne 

This is not bad advice. However, I already weigh less than what I weighed at that time and I still need to lose more. The US is getting fatter and fatter, younger and younger.  

While there is a lot of criticism about the "old tried and true" Metropolitan Insurance tables, there really are no better alternatives. The image to the right is the first one done in 1959. For some reason the more modern charts suggest a larger weight. Here are those charts. Since rapid weight loss is not desirable, I suggest you add a few pounds to the ideal weight from the linked 1999 chart as you begin, to avoid this. If you have over 100 pounds to lose, add even more. 

Let's use the results to determine what we should be eating. I will use myself as an example. As a 5' 11" heavy framed man (well, I am) I should weigh no more than 185 lbs. Oops. But in any event I want to add a few pounds to this to avoid rapid weight loss, so let's say 195 lbs. (This is actually the procedure I used two years ago to determine my calorie levels, I almost weigh this weight right now.) There are many places to estimate your calorie level for a particular weight. Here is one.  I took the weight for the Metropolitan table, added a few pounds, and filled out the values for my age and so on. The result was that I should eat 2070 calories a day. I chose my calorie goal at 2000 calories. 

Our goal is not to lose weight. Our goal is to eat a healthy diet with the proper portions of food. By setting your calories close to what you should be eating, you will train yourself to eat the proper amount. Most of us who are overweight will lose weight at this level. If you don't lose much weight, don't worry. The purpose is not to lose weight, but to eat right. You will gradually tweak your eating over the next year anyway. We have lots of time, this is not a race. You do not want to reset your metabolism.  

FitnessPal will suggest you eat a low fat diet. That might be best for you, but it might not. I suggest at this point you eat what you are used to eating, just less of it. I am not including donuts, potato chips, and other junk food. Do not eat these. For me the macronutrients ratios I chose were 25% protein, 25% carbohydrates and 50% fat. If you have been writing down in FitnessPal what you eat, you already know what percentages you are eating. Keep it the same for now. We will experiment with different ratios later. One middle-of-the-road suggestion might be 20% protein, 35% fat, and 45% carbohydrates. You can adjust your FtnessPal recommendations to whatever level you want at their website. 

You cannot count calories unless you know what you eat. If you have not been writing down what you eat, do so. For at least one week do not try to restrict calories. If you already have been writing down what you eat, then start reducing your calories now. If you want to go back over anything I have said, click on the right under the category Plan What You Eat. 

As The Sphinx said in Mystery Men, "If you doubt your power, you give power to your doubts." You can do it. 

Action Plan Week 6: Count your calories. 

Scales are pretty smart. Here is the one I use. What you measure is what you improve. Measure your weight and record your food. 

Here is a list of scales at Amazon. Consider getting one that gives you your body fat percentage. 

Amazon Scale List