Weight Watchers Wednesday

This was my first week on the Points Plus 2012 Plan.  Once I got everything set up on the computer, it is a snap to track everything.  I did make some blunders but on the whole the system works very well.  I weighed in today and lost exactly 3 lb.  That was certainly more than I had anticipated. Weight now is 171.6.

Once a Republican, Now a Democrat

From David Brooks column in today's NYT

"First they went after the Rockefeller Republicans, but I was not a Rockefeller Republican. Then they went after the compassionate conservatives, but I was not a compassionate conservative. Then they went after the mainstream conservatives, and there was no one left to speak for me."

Afghanistan (yes again)

I just checked my previous posts on Afghanistan and found the my first post on it was March 1, 2009. So for three solid years now I have been yelling and screaming that we should Get. Out. Now.  Maybe, just maybe 3 years from now we will be out.  I suppose it depends on who wins the election in November. At least we are (mostly) out of Iraq.  I wonder who we will invade next??

Weight Watchers

I need to lose some weight so last Wednesday I joined Weight Watchers.  The program is based on food Points--every food has a Point value assigned to it.  From what I understand now, fresh fruits and vegetables are 0 points.  The more fat and calories, the higher the points.  Depending on your current height and weight you have a daily allowance of points. My daily points allowance is 26.  Exercise has a negative point value depending on the intensity and duration.  This is just like managing your checkbook -- can't go over your Daily Points.  The best part of it is the online Tools and Tracker.  I can do this. I weigh in once a week (Wednesday) and then attend a brief meeting.  The group leader, Myra, lost 81 lb in 1996 and has kept her weight off; she is very knowledgeable and interested in helping.

OK, last Wednesday I weighed 174.6 lb. (Ack!!) I will weigh in next Wednesday and post here any changes. Wish me luck!!

Kick Us Out of Afghanistan? Please!

Haven't we already spent enough money, lives, and limbs? Isn't there anything that we need to be doing right here within our own borders?


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/world/asia/afghanistan-koran-burning-protests-enter-fifth-day.html?_r=1&hp

Brunelleschi's Dome by Ross King

This is the story of the building of the dome on Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, Italy over a period of 28 years by Filippo Brunelleschi.

In August, 1418 a competition was held to determine who would design and construct the dome on the cathedral which had been under construction for over a century. The dome was considered by many to be impossible because it would span 143 feet. It is still the largest dome in the world. The winner of that competition was the goldsmith and clockmaker, Filippo Brunelleschi.

Not only did he design the dome but he had to design and build the machines that would be used in its construction, the scaffolding used by the workers, and the selection of the building materials and methods.

This would be enough of a challenge in itself but the dome was built in the midst of the turbulent life of Florence--wars, plagues, politics, and rivalries.

Ross King' book makes the period come alive and we step into that time and meet both a true Renaissance genius and a very human man.

Coming Apart by Charles Murray

Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010 by Charles Murray

I am less than enthusiastic about books which are mostly statistics and the interpretation of those statistics. Honestly, page after page of statistics, graphs, and interpretation of graphs and statistics. A summary paragraph at the end of each chapter would have provided a simpler (and quicker) way to read the book.

Coming Apart seems to have generated a lot of controversy among the talking heads but I don't see why. Surely it can't come as a surprise that the divide between the economic/educational classes has grown in the last 50 years.

I did find his list of American virtues interesting but not something I wasn't already cognizant of. And the waning of these among the lower economic class is rather apparent to everyone.