The Body Kind-of Beautiful, at least Symmetrical

I have quite a few reasons for trying to stay fit. I’d like to stay alive long enough and be healthy long enough to see, be a good candidate for and participate in the advent of transhumanity / posthumanity. Of course, just being around is no guarantee that I’ll be able to start getting parts replace willy nilly as they wear out. This is, after all, America, so the issue of money is always there. But I digress.

So yes, since I have no idea how quickly these bio-engineering advances will become widely available and accessible, I try to keep myself what I consider reasonably fit.

Then there is the area of bodily aesthetics. Somehow, I escaped the aesthetic tyranny of Michelangelo’s “David” as the zenith of the male human form. I never wanted to look like that. Instead, somewhere along the line, I imagined that as I got older, it would be nice to strive (asymptotically) towards the Farnese Hercules as a goal. No, the beard is probably not going to happen. It is just not in my genes, for the moment I have to admit.

I was never really that organized in this pursuit, though. Probably the closest I ever got was when I was playing rugby for months straight before Bingham 2012. Performance, not aesthetics drove my exercise program.

I’ve come across a way of adding this aesthetic component in a way that appeals to my geeky little mind. I wasn’t aware that there were methods of taking your existing measurements and generating measurements for an “ideal” (yes, I know, I know) proportionality. But there are. I’ll focus on an ancient one and one much more recent. For both, I’ll fill in my current measurements over the next day or so.

Male “Grecian Ideal” Method

Through much analysis and determining of what constituted ideal physical measurements – the basis of any balanced physique – a “Grecian Ideal” calculator was formulated for self-assessment based on wrist size, to determine the individual body part circumference goals one should aspire to in order to develop the perfect physique. Eugene Sandow in his prime was close to the Grecian Ideal.

I entered an average of the circumferences of my wrists, 6.75″, and got the following:

	Measured	Suggested	Personal Variance
Wrist:	6.750”
Chest:	41.000″	44″	-3.000″
Waist:	34.500″	31″	+3.500″
Hip:	37.500″	37″	+0.500″
Bicep:	11.875″	16″	-4.125″
Forearm:	10.875″	13″	-2.125″
Thigh:	22.375″	23″	– 0.625″
Calves:	13.875″	15″	-1.125″
Neck:	15.000″	16″	-1.000″

Steve Reeves’ (yes, that Steve Reeves) Method

Then there’s the method invented by Steve Reeves. Why Mr. Reeves? Duh – because he’s Steve Reeves. At the time (1940s-1950s) his body represented what a bodybuilding physique should look like – flawless and beautiful. His measurements (18.5-inch arms, calves and neck) were regarded as a benchmark for symmetry and proportion, and his philosophy was to keep the body balanced through the adherence to a couple of methods: Maintaining a specified weight for your height to prevent distorting your natural body symmetry and striving for specific bone to muscle ratios.

Steve Reeves Ultra-Symmetrical Physique Ratios
Arm size = 252% of Wrist size
Calf size = 192% of Ankle size
Neck Size = 79% of Head size
Chest Size = 148% of Pelvis size
Waist size = 86% of Pelvis size
Thigh size = 175% of Knee size

Measured		Suggested		Variance
Height:	5’8.5″	Weight:	#177.5
Wrist:	6.75”	Arms:	17”	-5.125″
Ankle:	8.5”	Calves:	16”	-2.125″
Head:	22”	Neck:	17”	-2.000″
Pelvis:	36.5”	Chest:	54”	-10.000″
Pelvis:	36.5”	Waist:	31”	+3.500″
Knee:	15”	Thighs:	26”	-3.625″

Over the next couple of days I’ll enter my existing measurements and compute the variances, so I have an idea of how far I have to go. OK, it seems a little excessive. Perhaps even a bit like that movie Looker.

We’ll see how this works. I’m giving it a year, perhaps 18 months.

Boston Ironsides Spring 2015 Match Schedule

Boston Ironsides Spring 2015 Match Schedule

As I find out more info, and as the season progresses, I’ll fill in the chart.

Man of the Match (I still love “Bitch of the Pitch” more) links will be updated as the Ironsides website is updated.

Kickoff times in parentheses are unofficial and based on previous matches / tournaments.

DATE	IRONSIDES VS…	PITCH	KICKOFF TIME	SCORE	MAN OF THE MATCH
April 11	Rutland	HOME: Moakley Field	1:00pm	0-19	Jeff Merritt
April 18	Monadnock	HOME: Moakley Field	1:00pm	0-47	Wiremu Kiwi’au Diaz
April 25-26	AWAY: Colonial Cup, Edgely Field, Fairmont Park,  Philadelphia  PA vs. Pitch Kickoff Score Man of the Match Pool Charlotte Royals Pitch B 09:30  0-41 Atlanta Bucks Pitch B 10:30  0-17 Consolation DC Scandals  Pitch A  14:10  72-0
May 2-3	AWAY: NERFU Cup, Fort Adams State Park, Newport RI vs. Pitch Kickoff Score Man of the Match Pool Springfield Rifles  3  10:00  0-82 Black River Mens  —  15:15  0-32 Tournament n/a n/a
May 9	BYE	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
May 16	Cape Cod	AWAY: Camp Good News	13:00
May 23	TBD	AWAY:	TBD

It’s 2015! What are you going to do about it?

I’ve never been one for New Year’s resolutions. For me, they’ve always been too pregnant with the possibility of falling short of far too high self imposed standards.

“Why yes, of course I can totally positively transform my life in 12 months or less!”

Nope. Doesn’t work for me.

What does work for me is to occasionally, gently, remind myself that when I try things that I haven’t tried before, especially because I’ve been kind of afraid of to do so, or because I’ve been convinced that I wouldn’t be good at it, or thought it would take too much time, or any one of many other reasons, it usually turns pretty well.

It doesn’t have to be a big thing. It can be a small thing. Funny to recollect the number of times the small things have had larger repercussions. Like a tiny force applied to a long lever.

Randall Munroe has it right – https://xkcd.com/264/ – and those (in particular one person whose opinions I value in almost every other aspect) who poo poo the meme-set tarballed into “Follow Your Bliss” have it wrong. At least as far as my life goes.

Yay following your bliss! Boo martyrdom!

What about 2015? I don’t know. At this point it looks like a year for harvesting the fruit planted by decisions made over the past year or so. Perhaps that’s what every year is all about.

It does help me to keep in mind exactly what I find engaging, fulfilling, joyful, stimulating, etc. Hedonic engineering. Sir Ken Robinson (without calling it that) has a thing or two to say on that score:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDhhIghXxfo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TAqSBMZDY8
http://www.aspenideas.org/session/sir-ken-robinson-element
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJAL21IE9fY

Hey, who was that dorky looking kid riding a hover-board and wearing an iridescent baseball cap?

Hmmm…

Rick and Morty: Harmon & Roiland’s Many Worlds Interpretation

Rick Sanchez

Mortimer Smith

What the hell is Rick and Morty?

Thank you for asking. In short, it’s an animated series showing on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim block of animation that is thoroughly not for children, telling the story of super-scientist Rick Sanchez who takes his grandson Mortimer Smith on adventures in spacetime and across dimensions. Of course, this description while accurate, is totally, thoroughly and absolutely inadequate.

Imagine Dr. Emmet Brown from Back to the Future. Now imagine him insatiably inquisitive, perpetually drunk (though not an alcoholic, I’m sure he has a pill for that somewhere) and unrepentedly tactless, cynical, even nihilistic, but not a bad guy. After all, he loves his daughter and his grandchildren. That’s Rick Sanchez. As for Morty, imagine Marty McFly, but younger (14), dorkier, dimmer, shorter, more timid, far more insecure, and as sex-obsessed as real 14 year old boys are. That’s Morty.

Rick can travel through spacetime and across dimensions. He takes his grandson Morty along. Science-fictional hijinks ensue.

The Yearly “Future of Worldcon” Kerfuffle

Prompted by “How the growing generation gap is changing the face of fandom” By Gavia Baker-Whitelaw and a Facebook post by David Gerrold.

If I am recollecting correctly, this is at least the fifth year in a row where the just completed Worldcon has prompted a “Why can’t Worldcon be more like Fill-In-The-Blank Con?” discussion. The blank is usually filled with SDCC or Dragon*Con or Pax or another very large convention featuring media / anime / gaming.

Some focus on attendance numbers. Others, like this, or this focus on the aging of fandom. Still others, like Gavia Baker-Whitelaw’s (linked above) focus on cultural / sub-cultural conflicts and issues.

If I may be so bold, I think an answer is condensing out of the stormy aether. I think that some fan run conventions are discovering a way forward. Earlier in this thread, Arisia was mentioned. I’m guessing that before too long, the Arisia model will be applied to a Boston / New England Worldcon and we’ll see how scalable it is. Arisia, Inc. does a remarkable job of balancing an increasingly large array of sub-cultural interests. It would perhaps be wise for the convention committees for Worldcons 2015 and 2016 to contact the officers of Arisia Inc. for their input. I’m serious.

Are there changes that should be avoided, or at least hotly debated?

I believe that Worldcon would be wise to avoid becoming like those other conventions because they already exist. They have their own cultures, their own attendance goals, their own traditions, their own purposes, their own audiences. Worldcon has, or tries to maintain, a specific place in worldwide science fiction fandom. What place is that? In my opinion, over the past 70+ years, Worldcon has created a place for itself as the annual SF convention with the deepest roots into SF’s deep time. Once again in my opinion, more than anything else, the Worldcon-ness of Worldcon arises from its history, its legacy, its memory. Ah, and not just its own, but the history, legacy and memory of science fiction as a particular type of cultural expression. For example, Does any other convention with a worldwide draw have worldcon’s historical perspective? Perhaps even more importantly, does any other convention want that perspective?

So yes, Worldcons have to adapt to the shifting SF landscape. Arguably, they do. Arguably, not fast enough for some. Arguably, not in the manner desired by others. Still, they do change. It is clear though, at least to me, that the changes desired by Worldcon’s most passionate critics will not take place as quickly as desired until those same people apply their fiery passion to bidding for, winning and running a Worldcon themselves. Once again, I think taking a good hard look at adopting the Arisia model for fan run conventions in part or whole would go a long way towards accelerating the evolution of Worldcon without it losing its essential Worldcon-ness. Part of that model is openness. An insular Worldcon cannot survive. See the content about Arisia above.

In my opinion, probably because I’m old (in the eyes of some in this thread) and foolish (in the eyes of others, or the same) I believe that making Worldcon into a genre sales exhibition like SDCC, or into a commercial mega convention like Dragon*Con, would leave us, at least those convention going fans who still think of convention fandom as “us”, unmoored and without a keel. Adrift and directionless.

I would definitely suggest getting to know Worldcon as an institution like the Olympics or the Oscars or Cannes or the Boston Marathon. Why? To understand what is and what isn’t essential for a Worldcon to be a Worldcon. No, what’s essential for a Worldcon to feel like a Worldcon.

I continue to find Convention fandom fascinating. From my p.o.v. US convention fandom is becoming increasingly contentious. Is it perhaps becoming balkanized? I don’t know if the same thing is happening in fandom in other countries. I do suspect that the sub-cultural power struggles in US convention fandom are not easily mapped onto fandoms in other countries. The fact that I don’t know this points to what I feel is one of the major failings of Worldcon. Namely that Worldcon is not nearly as global as its name implies. It’s not a blatant fiction like US baseball’s “World Series”, but it is far too English speaking and North American / Western European centric for its own good and my personal tastes.

BTW – I’m specifying convention fandom because I also suspect that the overwhelming majority of people who consume those cultural products identified as science fiction have never and will never attend a convention. As convention fandom’s internal struggles become increasingly more public, will they be even less apt to attend? I don’t know.

Does any of this make sense? Is it too scatterbrained? Please let me know. Thanks!

Electric Motorcycles

As I’ve become more and more interested in green technologies, I’ve already decided that I’d like for my next vehicle to be electric.

For getting up and down from winter time mountain adventures, I see a Tesla Model X – http://www.teslamotors.com/modelx – or something similar in my future. But what about daily commuting? I could still use the Model X, but it takes up a good amount of space on the highway and even as an electric, it takes more energy to move than a smaller vehicle with the same rolling resistance and coefficient of drag.

Happily for me, there is a growing number of producers of electric motorcycles.

• Brammo Empulse – http://www.brammo.com/empulse/ Brammo Motorcycles is dead.  Well, not quite dead.  It looks like Brammo sold its motorcycle business to Polaris / Victory – http://www.autoblog.com/2015/02/06/brammo-empulse-could-become-victory-charger/ – we’ll see where this goes.
  • It went here!
  • Victory Motorcycles – http://www.victorymotorcycles.com/en-us/electric/empulse-tt-titanium-silver-havasu-red
• Zero S – http://www.zeromotorcycles.com/zero-s/
• Lit Motors – http://litmotors.com/
• MonoTracer – http://peraves.wordpress.com/2012/03/16/all-electric-monotracer-mte-150-brochure/
• Bultaco – http://www.bultaco.es/en/motos
• Motoczysz – http://motoczysz.com/
• Mission R – https://www.mission-motorcycles.com/ – seems to be dead.
• Harley-Davidson LiveWire – http://projectlivewire.harley-davidson.com

By the time I’m ready to purchase, there should be even more. Given how electric bikes sound, perhaps I’d need an appropriate helmet – http://www.airgraffix.com/collections/star-wars-themed-helmets/products/x-wing-fighter – Rebel Alliance anyone?  Then again, I could consider a Skully – https://www.skully.com/– augmented reality helmet.  Well, I would, except that Skully imploded earlier this year – http://www.digitaltrends.com/outdoors/skully-ar-shuts-down/.

Added 2014/12/22:

• Lightning Motorcycles – http://lightningmotorcycle.com/
• Energetica Motorcycles – http://www.energicasuperbike.com/
• Saietta Motorcycles (was Agility Motors) – http://saiettamotorcycles.com/ 

Still more:

• Austin Electric Powersports – http://www.atx8080.com/

Added 2014/05/13:

• Victory Motorcycles – http://www.victorymotorcycles.com/en-us/electric/empulse-tt-titanium-silver-havasu-red
• Alta Motors – http://www.altamotors.co/machine/redshift-sm/
• Johammer – http://www.johammer.com/en/
• Lito Sora – http://soraelectricsuperbike.com/

Added 2016/10/25:

• Zvexx – http://zvexx.com/

Second Tattoo

Tattoo Two Design – 1st iteration

Elsewhere in this weblog I’ve written about how much I admired, and continue to admire, R. Buckminster Fuller. Though radically different from each other, I hold him and Robert Anton Wilson in equally high regard.

I’ve long said that I’d eventually get a tattoo inspired by Fuller, just as I got a tattoo inspired by Wilson. I’ve been thinking about this for a few years. In my ruminations I decided that there were a couple of design elements that needed to be included. One necessary element, a depiction or reference to geodesics. I thought about domes, tensegrity towers, Dymaxion cars, Buckminsterfullerines…

I’ve finally settled on an Icosahedron, framed with one of my favorite Bucky quotes, from his book, “I Seem To Be A Verb.”

The quote? “I am not a thing, a noun. I seem to be a verb, an evolutionary process, an integral function of the universe.”

I like it. When will I get it? Sometime next year probably.

Update: 2016/05/15

Tattoo Two Design – Updated

After seeing someone else with a platonic solid tattoo, I’ve decided to remove the shading from the icosahedron, leaving just the edges and vertices.

It should be much easier to tattoo and it should be much more legible.

I’m still not sure about the font and the spacing between the icosahedron and the text.