Speaking of food reward... this. I can't tell if recipes like this are real or a joke.

Mark Rippetoe on squatting mechanics and, even better, the advantages of a lower bar position during the back squat. I have always been a high bar back squatter, but I have unbelievably tight hips and have always had massive trouble with range of motion and, as of the last time I made a concerted effort to train the back squat, cramps. I've been training the front squat for about half a year now and doing supplemental work to round out the lift, but this article makes me want to revisit the back squat, even if I still lead with the front squat, to see if a lower bar position helps.

But it will manage to offend the entire world with its rule that women must wear skirts in order to play it. If we are going down this road, why not require all male athletes to play shirtless and require the entire NFL to play in just their underwear and pads?

I've long contended that cooking with high amounts of fat and sugar is cheating. It's too easy to make something taste good, whether it be a brownie or a sauce, if you load it with fat and sugar. Well, I was right. Check out the posts below on food reward. The addition of excess fat and sugar provides an incredibly high food reward. The food tastes great, has desirable texture, and contains a macronutrient ratio that optimizes the eater's psychological enjoyment.

Here is the food reward series as it currently stands: Part 1; Part 2; Part 3.

Food reward is something that I am finding increasingly interesting lately and I fully intend to write a post about my understanding of the issue (if only because writing these things out help me cement my understanding). Until then, this episode of the Healthy Skeptic podcast is worth listening to as an introduction to food reward. Interestingly, studies have shown that a diet restrictive in either fat or carbs lowers food reward, at least in the short-term, and produces a drop in weight. That is to say, low carb and low fat diets that do not count total calories and do not prescribe the sources of those macronutrients produce similar aesthetic changes. A diet that seeks to limit food reward (any diet that emphasizes whole foods and veggies, really) seems to be the most effective. It is much much more complicated than that, but as a man whose first diet was Atkins (age 20), I am a little surprised. I've always had trouble with carb intake, but even with Atkins, my weight dropped and then leveled off (also, Atkins is not a sustainable lifestyle). My greatest dietary successes have always been a result of (1) intense exercise at least 4 times a week and (2) high protein diets. Protein, mind you, has (a) the lowest food reward value of any macronutrient and (b) the highest thermal effect of food (I've read about 25%). Food for thought.

Kobe Bryant doesn't get his way during a game and calls a ref a "faggot." He gets fined 100K and I question his moral character even more than I did before. Joakim Noah receives extensive verbal abuse throughout an entire basketball game from some asshole sitting behind him, snaps, and calls the guy an expletive "faggot" and immediately apologizes to the media, is fined 50K and calls the fine "fair." I walk away feeling assured of Noah's character. Why the discrepancy? Well, for one, I think Bryant is scummy and rape trials taint someone's image in my mind. Second, I think Noah was pissed and sought out the most offensive words he could find, whereas Bryant nonchalantly yelled that at a referee (who, by the way, was just doing his job). Noah's multi-cultural, bi-racial, and international background (including homes in NYC and Paris) lead me to believe that he is more cultured and understanding than that. Further, and this is not an exaggeration, every single article I've read that has discussed his character has been positive, including this one regarding the homophobic slur which includes, amongst other things, the only gay exec in the NBA saying that he felt sorry for Noah for the whole incident. So, in summation, Kobe wasn't fined enough, Noah was fined sufficiently, and they more or less said the same thing.

Step 1: Don't Eat Toxins. This is sort of standard stuff for anyone who has done some reading on health and nutrition, but the section on industrial seed oils is impressive. According to the above post, nearly 20% of the average American's calories come from soybean oil! Holy shit. I knew it was a problem, but that number floors me. This chart from the USDA (and linked to from the above source) shows an equally disturbing picture. Sometimes I think food was never meant to be, and should not be, convenient.

Between this and Big Boi's "Shine Blockas," do I really need any other music this summer?

In Studio Sessions: Big K.R.I.T. "R4 Theme Song" from 3 Little Digs on Vimeo.

This is of no interest to anyone but myself, but I find it fascinating. We started doing Pay-Per-Click ads recently and emphasized keywords that we didn't rank especially well for, including a few hyper-competitive terms for which we didn't even rank in the top ten (first page). Our ads worked and traffic is doing well. Interestingly, current traffic does not equal average old traffic + average Pay-Per-Click traffic. Instead, there appears to have been significant cannibalism of organic traffic by the paid ads. Obviously I don't have a large sample size (ads have only been running for a few weeks), but I can't help but wonder whether (1) our organic traffic is just hitting a natural slump or (2) we are finding out end users earlier in the research stage and that there may be a progression of search queries that ultimately lead users to our site. Perhaps our ads are finding users earlier on, in broader search queries. For support, I offer the Google Adwords bid per keyword, which shows that the broader terms ("divorce firm" for example) cost more than the more specific terms ("divorce firm near X location" - provided that location isn't just Chicago generally). I am just speculating here, but a good part of SEO is understanding the user's wants and decisions and not just increasing online visibility.