Disproportionate Response

Always.

Practice.

- Simo Häyhä on how he was able to shoot over 750 Soviets during Finland’s Winter War

Reflecting

A bit of throat clearing: war is almost never a good idea.  Looking back on its history, there seems to be so many unintended consequences that it can be hard to find the intended ones in the consequences pile.  Similar thought on individual violence: almost always better to avoid when at all possible.  Even if you’re right and you’re skilled, lots of things can happen and most of them are terrible.  The other guy can get in a lucky shot, has a friend you didn’t know about, or a hidden weapon that escalates things beyond your expectations.  Or none of those things but you get an ugly legal charge that is expensive to deal with even if you’re eventually vindicated.  In short, only fight in anger if you need to.

That being said – both wholesale and retail – violence is swift and savage.  It should be.  Avoid it or, barring that, pursue it so that others will choose to avoid it next time.  There is an idea that doesn’t comport with what fights are actually like that one should somehow contain it and use violence as a choreographed form of communication somewhat like a dance.  This underrates how important winning is and how hard it is to be fast and lethal.  When describing the Mozambique Drill, I was once asked why not shoot the weapon out of an assailant’s hand.  I assured the questioner that is just for the movies.

Countries (well, um, mostly just one country) get the same advice from distant lands far from the front lines: why not just tit-for-tat match the scale and technology of an attack (they don’t tend to linger on matching the barbarism)?  Journalists, especially British and American, have this idea that one really ought to give a proportionate response to violence. Perhaps that’s more sporting.  This idea is a curious and unevenly applied standard.  If something doesn’t require violence, then it should get none.  If it does, then it should get all that you can bring until the threat is stopped.  Always.  In a sense I’m a net pacifist or am trying to end with as little force and cruelty as possible.  If you can avoid a fight, avoid it.  If it is unavoidable, make it impossible for the assailants to attack again. The unyielding and singular focus on stopping the threat is an important, difficult, and full-time job until it is complete.

Training

Today was my first weightlifting day using blood flow restriction (BFR) bands.  I attached them above my biceps at a pressure of approximately half what would be required to completely cut off all blood flow.  Not quite pins and needles but limbs felt heavy and warmer than usual lifting.  I reduced weight somewhat.  After my muscles felt more pumped and joints felt less taxed.  I also notice that using the erg machines later in the day felt fresher.  Definitely going to continue incorporating this into my workouts. 

Unsurprising results from a new Stanford study shows that strength training is better than cardio for losing fat and managing blood sugar.  If you love cardio, do cardio.  But I see a lot of people who look miserable jogging alone on the asphalt or stomping along on the treadmill or going around and around on the elliptical or stationary bike.  They would probably come closer to hitting their goals doing shoulder presses and leg presses and could do so in far less time at the gym each week. 

Fueling

Eating the basics:

Been enjoying drinking hot chocolate as the evenings get darker and cooler.  I mix one Fairlife chocolate with some Fairlife milk and add a scoop of CocoaVia cocoa powder and heat it until practically boiling.  Tastes great / super healthy.

Lots of mischief can be hidden within “may be associated with” but I recently read this study showing an association between midlife caffeine from tea and coffee with less late life frailty.  I can think of lots of crosstabs that would invalidate causality, but I like caffeine so priors confirmed!

Supplementing

Adding a NAD+ supplement to my stack to help slow aging.  Results TBD.  Been quite happy with glycine which seems to help my sleep quality. 

Measuring

I just joined Amazon’s One Medical clinic network and had an excellent first experience.  It seamlessly integrates with my health insurance.  Everything is app-based.  I wandered in at 3 PM, signed up, and had a physical at 3:30, got a flu shot, and complete lab work which sufficed for my telehealth provider (that is getting far stricter about scripts post-Covid).  I’m awash in so much health and fitness data that there might be value in an aggregator such as Realize Me.  If anyone has signed up, please comment with your opinions – positive or negative – below.

Recovering

Anaconda knee braces are the best jiu jitsu specific knee braces on the market.  They stay in place, keep things safe(r), and pad the knee for takedowns.  I’m in a knee recovery phase; these help. 

Plunge tanks are getting faddish… and expensive.  For a small fraction of the price, you can make do with a galvanized cattle tub (h/t DT).   

Closing

I got a lot of follow up questions from rifle and sidearm buyers on optics.  For rifles I like a holographic sight with a quick disconnect magnifier.  This essentially gives you two rifles – a CQB rifle and a mid-range rifle.  For a sidearm, I like their mini dot reticle sight.  Good optics are expensive, often more expensive than the firearms themselves and these two are relatively affordable.  The technology is getting amazing in terms of night vision and thermal imaging, but I’ve recently been focused on first purchase suggestions for beginners.