wwooooo

Yesssssssss!!!!

Maybe I'm dating myself, but when I was a little younger you had to go to a library to do research. Google does make research/ homework easier, and quicker. I'm not sure if it's making us dumber, but it is making us more impatient!

3-2-1 ! REST............day 25 on The 100 Day Burpee Challenge ! No prob

Less resourceful maybe, but if I can do Google and soave some time when in a crunch....
Also I heard that due to the memory storage of cpu's humans are tending to remember less pertinenet info...

Life has its ups and dowws. I wanted to share a development in my life that started as a training accident in February, with my 'Rest Day' peeps:

http://www.thechaoscompound.com/THE_CHAOTICS/Entries/2008/9/8_to_read_PDF,_click_photo_files/shoulder_1.pdf

wfs

I couldn't even make it all the way through the article. I got everything I wanted from it by skimming it. Not sure this means I'm stupid. I think that we are overwhelmed with information and we have adapted accordingly by creating coping strategies. The access to large amounts of information allows us to be generalists and have at least a basic understanding of many more things than was previously possible. It would be impossible to understand everything at the level the author appears to be suggesting would be preferable.

BOOO isolations tomorrow

I really F'ed myself.. and not in the fun way.

175 pull-ups is WAY too many! 6 hours after and I'm already SO sore. It's starting to hurt to extend my arms all the way. My back and abs are starting to feel it too.

A really nice, helpful person told me to fill up a freezing cold bath and then put lots of ice in it and then put myself in there too!

It took me 15 minutes to get in! It was SOO cold. My baby brother barged in at one point and stuck his hand in... he pulled it right out and said "burrr! That bath is too cold!". Yeah, Duh, EthanBoo!

I'm CrossFitting my fingers that I can move tomorrow.. It's not looking good. :/ One more lesson learned the hard way.

Lookin' good girls.

"When men stop believing in God, they don't believe in nothing. They believe in anything." - Lord Chesterfield.

The writer of this article doubtless spends more time on the web then in the Word.

Just my two cents...

#6 Joey-
Thank you for sharing your painful story. I'm sorry that happened to your shoulder! I wish you the best of luck in your recovery phase and much success in your upcoming move.

Best Regards,
Kate

Joey,

Although only meeting you once up in Vermont I can tell that you're a strong and tough individual. I couldn't even tell that you were coping with injury. Anyway, I hope a full and speedy recovery for you. Oh yeah, I cracked up at the before and after pics for the nerve "blocker"

AllisonNYC,

Make sure to get plenty of liquids and keep a watchful eye out for Rhabdo.

Re: article

Stupid? No. More varied? Probably. It seems that the author Googled quite a few of his own paragraphs. Who would have known the model of Nietzsches'typewriter from memory?
I think that the way we process information is changing. Since information is literally at our fingertips almost every second of ecery day then intelligence has changed. It is no longer the person who can remember with detail but rather the one who can locate that data the quickest and most efficiently.
Why remember when you can Google?

3k in 12:24

that article was too long haha

Ironically, I read deeply into the article and, at least from my personal viewpoint, I think he's overreacting. While he's correct in some points, like the easy access of information taking place of tedious research, I think the Internet is conducive to learning.

Anecdote:
I learned more from wikipedia.org in a day about internal and external ballistics than I did in sniper school, where we spent over two weeks of classroom and practical instruction on the same subjects. I'm not discounting my instruction at all, but I would've had zero motivation to supplement my teaching if the information wasn't readily available.

And I don't think people have forgotten HOW to read books, like the author suggests, but we (as a society) have lost the desire. Me, I love reading.

Quod erat demonstrandum.

If it weren't for the internet and the advent of Google, I wouldn't have the knowledge I have today. I am a high school drop-out with absolutely no college schooling. After spending years online and getting involved with computers, I managed to gain the knowledge required to become a software engineer.

On top of this I have increased my vocabulary, learned about and became involved in politics, learned math, learned about exercising and diet, how to fix my car and I also picked up a wife on Match.com!

I feel I have become way smarter due to Google and have bettered my life. If it weren't for Google and the internet, I would still be tinting car windows for a living and making 1/3 of what I make today.

Has Google made us not want to read books as much? Sure. You can't argue that... but I feel the reason for that is simply due to the fact that we don't need to trust authors for our information anymore. We can look it up for ourselves and make our own decisions. As for leisure reading, I don't feel this has degraded at all. As a matter of fact, I picked up leisure reading the more I started reading online and began to buy books to read for fun to get away from the computer every now and then. I can put these books away in a few hours.

What's nice though is that for most cases, we don't have to wade through tons of unimportant material anymore just to find what we were looking for. Google allows us to be efficient and learn *more* stuff quicker than ever before. While before I may have to wade through a 500 page text before I got the information I needed, now I can find reference material online and learn what I needed in an hour or less. From there, I move on to the next thing I need to learn.

All of this has increased my intelligence. So in my opinion, no... Google and the internet makes people smarter.

I think having/using Google lessens our brains knowledge retention ability, we have stopped forcing ourselves to remember things we've learned, and started resorting to the quick find.

On the other hand the amount of information that is now available to us through google is so vast that one would hope that we are also gaining knowledge/information in much greater doses than in the past.

But are we retaining that new influx of knowledge/information.....?
-T

I think it's wierd that me and #16 posted the same basic thoughts at the SAME TIME.

Mind, Body, Soul

Check out these commercials from the Grain Refiners of America. I guess we were wrong about high fructose corn syrup...

http://www.rosstraining.com/blog/

Woot! Great article. Always love Atlantic Monthly! Two thoughts....

First, I believe that although "creeping dilettantism" is indeed a potential danger of the growing ubiquity of the internet, I have also found that it can aid deep thinking in a very important way--namely, I've often found it to be a great "incubator" when I'm chewing on a particularly tough problem. The unconscious and conscious brainstorming process that is an indispensable part of solving any hard problem is aided in a unique and dramatic way by the rich and incredibly varied pools of knowledge on the web. We've all had the experience of aimlessly clicking on link after link, until we suddenly realize that we've stumbled upon the answer to our problem. This doesn't mean that there's no deep thought involved. It's been my experience that there is generally some deep creativity along the lines of "If I tweak this method/recipe/plan/theory in this way, I get that, and that in turn allows me to try this, which should solve my problem." And it's the ready availability of anything that might catch my subconscious attention that is so useful, and such an aid to deep thinking.

Second, I believe that although the internet can sometimes aid deep thought, the demise of environmentally-required deep thinking is real. Finding the best business plan, child-rearing strategy, or even daily workout used to be an opportunity for hard thinking. Now it tends to be an exercise in research. Although it means that we have invaluable resources at our disposal, often due to the tireless efforts of kind-hearted experts (thanks Coach, Lauren et al!), and although these resources make us much better off than we would be floundering along on our own, we lose many opportunities for hard thinking along the way.

This is a challenge that needs to be met in the same way as the demise of environmentally-required exercise. Meditation, real math (not arithmetic or algebra), science, literature, philosophy, music, art... in the coming years we will need to stress mental exercise as much as we now stress physical exercise. So, what's Crossfit for the brain?

Chris

Re: article

Discounting Nicholas Carr's fear of the future is premature.

The internet started to be used by the public in the early 90s, until that point it was mostly for universities and businesses. Once a generation matures that grew old with the internet and thinks the verb "google" always existed, we may witness a more drastic change in learning behavior.

Just like the introduction of television ads and the TV remote changed the attention spans of children who grew up watching TV, the internet will change us too.

Nicole,
You have blossomed into a wonderful speaker!
Hugs,
E

Umm...

Without Google, I wouldn't have found CrossFit. The tools don't make us stupid. How (and/or whether or not) we choose to use them does.

Personally, the increased accessibility of information allows me to optimize the types of information I store in my brain. Having rarely-used knowledge/info available at my fingertips allows me to spend my mental energy on things that are more appropriately stored in my head.

Everything I know about nutrition, I learned on the Internet (Zone, Paleo, etc.)

Maybe there is no problem. I stand by the notion that if the book doesn't hold my attention it is the authors fault, not mine. Think about it. Most of what we read comes from the New York Times best sellers list or by word of mouth. Just because a book is popular doesn't by any stretch of the imagination mean it is well written. I can't tell you guys how many books I get 30 pages into and put it down forever. Then, every once in a while I start something that I can't put down. I think the real problem is that nowadays any yahoo can write his life story down using word processors and get it published. Then with the right marketing campaign it finds its way onto our bookshelves taking up space and making us feel guilty that we can't finish a story that really isn't worth reading. Bottom line is, so what if we don't finish a book. I say keep trying until you find something great. You have to dig to find gold.

Best thing about today is that I got given a Concept II rower for free. The worst is that I had to use it for FGB.

Word got around that I was looking for a Concept II. A mate who is also the Director of Rowing at a private school here on the Gold Coast upgraded his yesterday, so lucky me gets a 2yo rower for nothing. Thanks Hawkeye. I owe you one.

I would agree with quite a bit of what has already been said on here. As for my own thoughts on the matter, I think you guys found the hyperlink to them on that evil site "Google". Now you're trying to pass them off as your own original ideas. OK, maybe not... :-)

Brandon

Hey guys, i just watched "Bag o' Grace" with Kelly Starrett and the sand bag he was using looked amazing, does anyone know how that bag was constructed? it looks like nylon or something. i read the article on sand bag training in the journal which suggested three heavy duty plastic bags inside a military duffel bag
here are some potential products i found:
http://www.hechinger.com/web/catalog/product_detail.aspx?pid=176750#

http://www.armynavyshop.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=rc3495&Category_Code=military-duffle-bags&Product_Count=4

http://www.soldiercity.com/olive-drab-heavyweight-duffle-bag/p/8981

if anyone has some experience making their own sandbag i would appreciate some advice! thanks

p.s. you know your a crossfit disciple when you start having dreams about sandbags!

In case anyone else would like to post some books they really enjoyed and couldn't put down. I like to read just about anything but haven't found anything that really caught my interest lately. This is a list of books I picked up and couldn't put down.

1) Touching the Void by Joe Simpson (a survival story of a mountaineer, this description doesn't do this book justice, highly recommended).
2) American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
3) Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches by Marvin Harris (I had to read this for an anthropology class)
4) Language Shock: Understanding the Culture of Conversation by Michael Agar (from same Anthro class, I really liked that class)
5) The Alphabet of Manliness by Maddox (lower brow reading but hilarious)
6) Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden (anything my Bowden is good)
7) The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes (not for the faint of heart, really long but explains nuclear physics to the lay person).
8) A Spy for All Seasons by Duane Clarridge (autobiography of a US spy from the cold war)
9) The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

the new hairstyle looks good on nicole!

BTW can't wait to meet Nicole at the Octber Sydney Cert. bring it on

I think the author, you know, down near the bottom of the article, perhaps hoping that none of the ubiquitous skimmers would see it, makes the best counter argument:

"So, yes, you should be skeptical of my skepticism. Perhaps those who dismiss critics of the Internet as Luddites or nostalgists will be proved correct, and from our hyperactive, data-stoked minds will spring a golden age of intellectual discovery and universal wisdom."

I'm voting golden age of intellectual discovery and universal wisdom on this one. The fact that I can now reasearch quickly and effectively is most certainly not making me stupid. It's just different.

I read an article a few years ago while editing medical journals about this subject. The author was concerned about the effect Powerpoint would have on our cognitive processes. The concern was that getting all of our information in bulleted lists would diminish the ability to glean data from prose.

This week I sent a report about a grad school internship into the program director. Since I am creating a position, there isn't a job description. I wrote a paragraph about my duties and responsibilities. The program director, a Ph.D. student wrote back that it was "too confusing." I simply broke the paragraph into a bulleted list, and she responded that it sounded perfect for the program.

It's not only Google that affects how we think and perceive the world around us.

sheesh!! what a long article! ;D

I know this is a little off topic from google. But I want Nicole's baby. Love Crossfit!!! Going to be teaching about 60 Novice rowers all about it this season!

I read something once, I think on Slate, about how the internet is changing the nature of intelligence. Each advance in technology changes how we remember things. Language allowed us to formalize concepts and communicate better, expanding intelligence. Writing allows that to become permanent, in essence passing intelligence to the next generation. Books allow that intelligence to be portable, and more easily accessible. The internet does that also.

Basically, our intelligence and our minds expand beyond our brains, go into books, and now extend to the internet. A person now can get the answers to more questions quickly than a person 20 years ago(internet). A person 20 years ago could get the answers more quickly than one could 400 years ago(books). A person 400 years ago could get the answers more quickly than 4,000 years ago(writing). And so on.

The internet is expanding our base of intelligence beyond our physical forms. The question should be, what happens if the internet/google etc is destroyed? There are many books on that subject, most interestingly 'Dies the Fire' by SM Stirling, and 'Over-Logging' by Trey Parker and Matt Stone.

Is deep thinking natural? I believe our minds and memories function as a network, and the internets (aka the Internet) actually mirror this. When we surf, we are actually thinking more naturally. Of course, "natural" is not necessarily the same as "good." Laziness can be natural.

Is deep thinking beneficial or desireable? I believe so. I believe it's worth the time and effort and practice it takes. I also believe that reading stimulates thought and that a ready supply of food for thought keeps the fire of thinking stoked.

With an abundance of anything, people tend to become more selective. We become more picky and tend to raise our standards. Hopefully, this means higher standards of quality, rather than, say, amusement value. Higher quality food for thought will hopefully lead to higher quality thought. If you want to think deeply, read quality material. Unfortunately, the quality of a one particular work may be uneven. You may need to skim to get the cream.

Yes, some thinking can be done for us. That is the benefit of the written word- the transmission of ideas from others across time and distance so that we don't have to reinvent the wheel. But once we reach the end of available ideas, we can then use our mental energy to synthesize new ones (i.e. "piggybacking"). The mental effort is not made unnecessary, merely redirected to take you further and higher than the giants on whose shoulders you stand.

The author mentions how writing tools affect thought. I've found that thinking tends to happen when you write. One author commented that you don't know what you're thinking until you write it down. E.B. White described it as gunning down the bird of thought before it escapes. To this end, e-mails, message boards, and blogs have made this easy. Even if the quality isn't fit to print, perhaps it will provide the food for thought for someone else who will produce something that is. This post is a case in point.

In summary, I believe Google/ the internets have the potential to make our thinking deeper by supplying easier and better food for thought as well as an outlet for thought if we are willing to take the time and effort to think.

Is it the donuts fault that one eats to many donuts?

Alas, I did not finish the article as it got monotonous and lost meaning. Touche.

Irony can be so ironic.

P.S. Best wishes w/ the rehab Joey.

Hi AllisonNYC

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sportacademy/hi/sa/treatment_room/features/newsid_3097000/3097114.stm

We swear by them. Painful but good for you.

GC

I don't know how that guy was expecting his article to get read completely when we, pathetic internet readers can only skim. Either way, I only made it a quarter of the way through. I think he's right about how the internet is changing how we read, but I think it's for the better. We are learning how to quickly skim over information and get what we need out of it without having to digest the rest of the bullshit that the author feels like he or she needs to throw in. Hell, in high school my English teacher taught us how to skim. It's a time saver and it definitely saves one from inadvertently resorting to plagiarism. I don't think this concept is new, though. The mind gets bored and therefore we keep moving onto the next article, or the next concept. That is why we have a million different channels to choose from now adays isn't it? Heaven forbid we only have one channel and have to watch the same program day in and day out. Even back in the day when reading was at it's best, so the author says, people would even jump from book to book. We've just sped up the process. I find nothing wrong with that.

I am training for our for our police dept ironman comp which entails bench press reps 100 lbs as many as you can do w/o stopping, pull-ups 49 being max points, sit-ups-as many as you can do in 3 minutes, a pistol shoot from 50 yards and a 5 mile run.I am struggling with the bench reps, lactic acid build up is killing me, any suggestions on a supplement or an idea on how to train, I seem to be getting weaker as the competition nears

#39, freddy

You're not going to get the strength endurance you need in the BP by training 100 lbs for reps. Before you can get strength endurance, you need to have strength. Think of it this way: it will be easier to lift 100 lbs if your max is 300 lbs than if it is 150.

Also, if you're training harder but still regressing, you're not taking enough time to recover or your diet may not be on point.
But before you do any of the below, take a couple days off training and eat a lot.

Training suggestion for improving the bench for your test. Two bench workouts/week to replace your current bench training:

#1
Bench press 5-5-5-5-5 reps, as defined in the CrossFit FAQ

#2
Modified Lynne:
-Bench press with 60% of the heaviest weight used in the most recent workout #1
-Pull ups

Five rounds for max reps, rest as long as necessary as it's not for time.

Allow at least 2 days between the first and second workouts (say #1 Monday, #2 Friday), and be sure to include light overhead work (on Wednesday, say) for injury prevention (overhead press 3-3-3 reps).

Alternately, if you're doing the WOD, you can replace the first workout in the cycle with workouts #1 and #2 as in:

bench workout #1
WOD
WOD
rest
bench workout #2
WOD
WOD
rest
repeat

AllsonNYC I have done & seen it done "cold barrel" after football, rugby, lacase,M.M.A. ect...I have no science but it can be googled :> could be for
slowing inside bleeding. But what I know increases
circulation and healing is back and forth HOT! & COLD! min to min> I have been doing that to my newly reduced foot from a crushing injury. Have not done it for the whole body

The industral age that I work is hard, unless you are the TASKMASTER. My BOX of knowleadg is short but wide. { H is school W is experince} My family has had computer for a few years. Me and my loving wife are the only ones "serfing". Because I know "serfing" is dangerous to young minds, unexperinced, or unschooled . I do not have to spell well to GOOGLE"porn" Come on there are better education resorses to use.

{Troubled marriages don't just happen, they are made. In virtually every case, the seed of the eventual irreconcilable difference is planted well before the vows are exchanged. In Her Hand in Marriage, Douglas Wilson points to the modern dating system as the mother of most broken marriages. Wilson unearths the nearly forgotten pattern of biblical courtship and outlines how it should be applied in our society today.}

But google used wisely has made my BOX bigger than a coffen and more like a P.O.D. A small P.O.D. because that took almost a hour of my life to type . The Dragonfly software looks helpful mostdefintly my spelling and typing comuncation would go down further. I thaaake and fill my overall comuncation would increase. some what like the Nicholas Carr's "Is Google Making Us S

-Touching the Void- Joe Simpson
-Gates of Fire -Stephen Pressfield
-Without Remorse- Tom Clancy
-Life Of Pi - Yann Martel
-Ultramarathon Man - Dean Karnazes
etc, etc, etc.
.......google it. :)

Here's my thoughts on the article...

Carr states that he now struggles with deep reading, and that the internet "is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation."

I agree that he seems to be losing the ability to concentrate and contemplate. The internet is simply a reflection of society, and the use of it a reflection of the self.

The first point is obvious when you consider the source of internet content - it is published by billions of people across the globe, posting thoughts and ideas that come nearly directly out of their (our) heads. Therefore I believe that Carr has made a logical error by concluding that shallow, wide internet content is dooming deep thought. In fact, the internet is exposing us to existing thought patterns from billions of people! Therefore we can see that the vast majority of our thoughts are shallow and wide. Intuitively we all know this to be true - what percentage of our daily, weekly, or monthly time is spent contemplating philosophical questions of our existence, or the finer points of public policy, even for people who make it their life's work?

The second point, that the use of the internet is a reflection of one's self, can be understood by considering the content that a person consumes from every source. A person interested in fitness may choose to visit crossfit.com, or subscribe to Men's Health, or pick up a book, or join a gym, or any of a million other ways of getting information about fitness. People who aren't interested in fitness, won't. Additionally, the level to which a person searches and learns about a subject such as fitness is dictated by that person's interest level - an Olympian will be far more interested, and research more completely, and think more deeply about fitness than a amateur athlete who works out to look good. I believe this to be completely independent of the tools used by the person to obtain the information, and this is one of the weakest areas of Carr's article - the only link that he provides between tool & thought patterns is a simple quote from Nietzsche. In fact we all also intuitively know these statements to be true - thinking deeply about a subject is hard, and left to our own devices, we will do so only about subjects in which we are interested (sometimes not even then). Furthermore we will seek out information about our chosen subjects by whatever means necessary - formal schooling, books, magazines, internet, organizations and communities, etc.

Finally, I'd like to point out an area of his article that is, in my mind, pure trash: his critique of Sergei Brin's statement about the availability of more information resulting in us "be[ing] better off." At an individual level, possessing more knowledge, and having easy access to more knowledge, can almost always be turned to that person's advantage. On a societal level, the same is true, that's why we have public libraries, public schools, and the CIA. Carr's depressing description of Google's mechanics and goals demonstrates a complete lack of understanding (and deep thought about) the context of a search engine - a person searching for a precise answer. In some cases the answer will enable deep contemplation and thought of the topic at hand, the very result that Carr believes is under seige from Google!

OK... so I read some more comments... and apparently some one is keeping track of Nicole's hairstyles. I scratched my head and just kept reading... then stopped... then chuckled. Yeah... it really is kinda funny. :-)

All in good fun,
B

So go read a book. I just read 3.

Avitevet (#43) you hit the nail on the head.

The fact I don't have to drive to a library anymore for quick bites of information doesn't mean I'm not going, it means I'm going when I want to read something much more enjoyable and rewarding.

My book library is getting so big its starting to piss my wife off because we need to remodel a room for the books - that's a good thing.

halfway through the article my eyes glazed over, smoke fumed out of my ears, then I fell over and convulsed, foam oozing from my mouth. After writhing on the floor a moment I used my last remaining strength to crawl on the floor towards my computer. I reached my hand to the keyboard and hit enter on my google toolbar regoogling whatever random crap I was looking at most recently. As the search results about how to make homemade corn chips came up on the screen, I was cured from the sickness put apon me by attempting to comprend this article by Nicholas Carr. At several pages in length it was too much for my degraded post-google, wikipedia conditioned brain. Thank god its a restday its going take a alot of googling to recover from this experience.

Allison,

I know what you mean and how you feel. It was only 3 weeks ago that we did the below workout. It took me 4 days to fully recover from it. Totals were 150 pullups and 150 ring dips, or in my case, 450 ast bar dips since no rings at the time. (There was no way I was going to attempt, much less complete, 450 bar dips at my own body weight!)
The ice bath will be good for you in the long run, it just sucks initially. I have had to do that for some of my long runs in the past when I was training hard for marathons. I did recover a lot quicker than I thought I would. The advil I was taking also helped my recovery process. Hope you recover quickly, you know coach will have pullups on the schedule pretty soon...

Friday 080815
For time:
50 Pull-ups/50 Ring Dips/40 Pull-ups/40 Ring Dips/30 Pull-ups/30 Ring Dips/20 Pull-ups/20 Ring Dips/10 Pull-ups/10 Ring Dips

I am concerned about Nicole, in today's picture.

She is giving someone a very nasty stare!!

Perhaps someone is stealing her packed lunch from her kit bag and she is unable to stop this abominable theft because she has to pose for this picture??

Or maybe she just has an itch!!??

Like anything else in life a degree of moderation and variation will aid in diminishing the evil effects of most specialization and overindulgence. I mean only this: read a book every once in a while.
I did a MS online, partially while deployed, and having google and other search resources made it possible.

Good Books:
Black Rednecks and White Liberals - Thomas Sowell
extremely loud and incredibly close - jonathan safran foer

Read through #11 (need to go to work) and went right to the bottom to shout out to Kate (jknl)-->looong time...great to see you. Hope all is well. Don't be a stranger.

i totally only skimmed the first two paragraphs of that article. i think he's right on-point.

Re: Article

Two thoughts:

1) With a greater quanitity of information incoming, the task is not how can one get more information from a single source (as it used to be) but more how can one efficiently determine the usefulness of a given data source, and pull the necessary information from a source as quickly as possible. If we deep dove on every data source we'd never get anything done. We're learning to adapt to the environment in which we live. Thats not to say we shouldn't cultivate the lesser needed skills for some situations, but we are learning to be effective in our environment, and that's not becoming stupid. We just need a new definition of effectiveness.

2) I believe that google is actually making us more knowledgeable. Previously if you had a minor desire to know something obscure, getting that knowledge required that you left your home, went to the library, looked up the information in possibly several books, then went home. It was too cumbersome and all too often, we just dont want to know THAT badly. Now we can learn these things with a keystroke, so we do take the time to learn them.

From the stand point of sensationalism, the article is great. From the standpoint of useful argument, I think not so much.

I think I will have some squat therapy.

When are the CF's in the Boston area going to have certifications ----I'm waiting, waiting ....

Google , makes life easier and saves time -- we still need to be smart enough to understand what we are researching.

I have been teaching for three years now, and I use google as a resource to find ideas for lesson plans all the time. However, I always check to make sure that the source of the lesson plan is from a good source. Students will use google to answer the simplest question instead of using reasoning skills. I consistantly get "just google it" or look it up on Wikipedia. Young students don't understand how to research ideas using hard sources anymore. The internet is great but sometimes filtering out all the crap is more time consuming that just going to a library and reading journals and texts.

It is true we may be less resourceful because of Google but also think about how much more things we actually research. How many times has a question come up that no one knows the answer to and someone screams..."Google It!" Now I truly know how many straws would have to stack end to end to get to the moon, straight and bendy.

well that will teach me to post without viewing first. I swear I am not as dumb as that sounded.

Sunday- ran 8 sets of intervals of 3 min hard/ 3 min easy

Monday-

“Linda”
150 # DL
95 # Clean (usually use 85#)
85# BP (crazy I know…I can comfortable clean more than BP)
Time= 33:23

Erin

#19

I understand grain farmers trying to save their industry and gain a buck. but, watching those commercials try to defend High Fructose Corn Syrup makes me think of a big tobacco company trying to make a commercial speaking about the use of tobacco being completely harmless when used in moderation... and that its all natural.. blah blah..

The article was interesting. The internet allows us the ability to research wide-ranging views on issues unlike ever before. I don't think Google makes us stupid, but it and the internet turns us into information generalists with the capacity to become more knowledgeable in specific areas if we want.

The only downfall we'll face as a society won't be truly recognized until 500 years from now when/if there's no way to access the archives of information presented today. Books typically last forever and they don't "crash". Also, most of our correspondence now goes the way of email, text messages, and the like. It will be quite difficult for future historians to reconstruct our society without original sources of information to review. Imagine what little we would know of the inner thoughts of Lincoln if he had only sent text messages to Grant instead of letters!

Aside from that, Google-type internet searches provide us the capacity to increase our information to the point of overload. Never equate lots of information with knowledge. Knowledge is the ability to apply information to gain greater insight, judgment, and wisdom. So, in one respect I agree with the author that we're not reading much anymore, but only browsing to gain tidbits of information. Depending upon what information you seek, that might be sufficient. But to become a knowledgeable in one area, you'd have to do more.

So what does all this mean to me? Google = increased thought capacity across broad time and internet domains!

I don't think Google or the internet is making us stupid per say, however I do think it is making it easier for many stupid or uninformed people to falsely believe they know what they are talking about because they "googled it" and found an article to substantiate their claim. (sorry for the run-on sentence) I think for the educated person, the internet is a wonderful tool, but for the people mentioned above, I think it is becoming more dangerous. Too many idiots out there go on-line, find a particular article, believe it to be true, and pass that off as fact, with little to no follow up research to actually check and make sure the source author and article itself is valid. Many just assume that if it's on-line it must be true (same thing with TV). (great example is all the crap you can find on-line about working out and fitness-much of it is crap, but its everywhere and many people buy into it).

Very few people actually research anything anymore. If it's not on TV or a few clicks away on the internet, then they will make no effort to educated themselves.

If you want to scare yourself, just walk into a bar or your next time at the gym ask someone what policies they like or dislike about the person they are voting for in the next presidential election. It will scare you that so many uninformed people vote...but I digress

Every Tuesday, our regional daily newspaper, "The Miami Herald" features a local gym and their signature workout regime.

Today they featured CrossFit Threshold, located in Miami, FL. Link below:

http://www.miamiherald.com/living/health/sweat-equity/story/677377.html

Now we need a Crossfit in Aventura, FL

Congratulations Threshold on the great review!

Basically for quick bits of information, names, some lists, etc. -you can google. Often the best in depth coverage of a subject is in a book though. Different uses for different needs. -C

I find it ironic that the author writes about how it is difficult for him to stay focused in long articles and prose and then goes on to write a long, in-depth article covering the topic.

I believe it's all personal. Those who love leading will still love reading, but now we have this wonderful tool that we can either use to expand our knowledge, if we so choose, or use as a crutch. Either way there's no going back.

I must say, I am glad to find that I am not the only one. I have a BA in English Literature and I used to read all the time, but now, picking up a book is almost foreign. The problem is, I simply don't feel like picking one up. I've always been a bit AADD, but lately because I work online all day, I feel the Internet is contributing because it's very instant gratification oriented, which is the base of being AADD.

Then throw in the popularity of Google's search engine, and that there is the possibility of controlling the results (as is the case in China), it makes you wonder who is directing the information circuit for your search results.

Reminds me of the only really useful piece of info I got from sociology - Emile Durkheim's conclusion that change is the real stressor - that is, suicide rates peak whenever, for example, economic trends reverse, whether that is an upward trend (things good for a while) and turning down, or a downward trend (things bad and getting worse) getting better. All change stresses humans. This change - mountains of information readily available with a significant reduction in effort required to get to it, organize it, relate it to itself - is also stressful, and this article is one long expression of that stress.

I also think of the concept of centralization - that is, were we in a situation where those in govt could dictate what happens to us (Cuba, Iran, N Korea, for example) is there any doubt that someone in the STATE would decide this internet thing is too risky for the COMMON MAN and would prevent us from using Google style learning, to protect us from ourselves?

On the one hand, I'm glad someone's worrying about this stuff, and purportedly examining what is happening. On the other hand, I choose not to. Frankly, I doubt there's anything that could be done, beyond the individual level, to change what is happening in this issue, not matter what the impact may be.

To a degree, I trust in function. That is to say, if not being a 'googler' is somehow better for the brain, that should become apparent because those who excel will not 'google.' I predict that some percentage of performers will excel via propensity to gather info via google - some percentage will excel via other less 'new' methods of info gathering. In that life experiment, our anxiety over the change in how info is gathered/utilized and what is may be doing to us will be dissolved.

I ditto Bingo's shout out to JKNL - welcome back, great to 'see' you!

Paul

I'm trying to get on schedule with WOD, but I couldn't work out yesterday and I can today. What should I do today???

Nicole and Jolie in the same picture, plus it's a rest day.

thanks coach. I still think Jolie needs her own named WoD though... perhaps the one where she schooled Sevan. I love that video.

Damn Nicole is hot.

So many comments about Google v. Libraries.. How's this:
2 years ago the county I live in failed to pass a bond and now we have NO libraries. That's right... NONE! Talk about getting dumber.
We home school our 3 kids, if not for Google, or more specifically the things we can find with it our kids wouldn't have half the opportunities they have now.

I remember a few high school teachers predicting the ultimate demise of human intelligence when pocket calculaters were popularized. There will always be push-back to any new method of information handling. It may mostly be ignored.

#66: Rest today and stick with the next three days.

A miracle happened. My arms feel better! I was so, so nervous that I wasn't going to be able to move at all when I woke up. My back is pretty sore but it's no where near as bad as I expected it would be.. Thank Coach.

Still, I'm hoping for squats or lunges tomorrow...

Run from yesterday was only 2.6k. If I can get out before it starts raining I'm going to run again today.
I'm getting some help cleaning up my POSE technique next week. I think about my form every step I take but I still know I need lots of tweaking. Looking forward to it.

#39 freddy

Chris H gave you some most excellent training advice. good luck.

#40 Chris H

very very good advice to freddy.

#28 dan

i'm with you on that. liking the straight hair nicole.

3k 15:35

So is it just me or is there irony in the fact that I stopped reading "Is Google Making Us Stupid?"

In all seriousness though, I believe that people are blaming Google for their own inability to focus. While the tools we now have make it easier for people to skim and lose out on the "deep reading" experience, I feel that it is mostly a cop-out by those who never would have gotten the "deep reading" experience anyway.

Basically, like the obesity epidemic, like the massive debt piling up in America, I believe the problem cited here comes down to one simple fact; people lack self-discipline, and are too quick to blame others for their own faults. If you are obese, do not complain about McDonalds, go out and exercise and eat right. If you are in massive debt, stop spending on frivolous items (as so many with credit problems do). If you cannot sit down and focus and read a book, take a moment to stop, think, mentally pause, and retry it until you can sit and read. That's all there is to it.

I feel like you all will be able to appreciate that better than the average person (after all, what is CrossFit about if not will power and self discipline).

Interesting article but is merely just a picture of the current change in our world of information. It points out many changes that have already occurred, the initial resistance to those changes, and then ultimately the improvement those changes made. Change is adaptation and adaptation is necessary for survival.

The internet has expanded our ability to access media and information. It is our job to be able to sift through the crap and find what's useful to us. To sit and read through a single entire book has a purpose and can be useful. To sit and read through every page on the internet in it's entirety is insanity. Google and the likes are allowing us to manage this monstrosity of information and keep us from getting stupid. It helps us find the "real wisdom".

Joey, we can't wait for you to get to Prescott and start building the Crossfit biz. Looks and sounds like all went well yesterday. Let us know if we can help with anything. Go easy on pain killers

Interesting article, though I am more fearful of the mind numbing effect of television.

People do forget that there's alot of "near" information on the net.

I teach freshman composition at Purdue University, and I run into the "Google issue" pretty regularly.

Students do research primarily on the internet - frankly, it's a waste of time to do otherwise. Is this "bad" or "stupid"?

Well, yes and no.

It's bad in the sense that the amount of work they have to do to find and process sources has been cut down to about 1/10th what it used to be, and that gap hasn't been addressed, in many ways, by education. So students are given a paper for which they need 3 sources, and it's so trivial that they don't really learn anything.

It's good in the sense that, now, those who recognize just how powerful the internet is as a learning tool and who are willing to teach it can get work from their students that rivals what professionals can create. They can have their students process a dozen sources a day without strain. Plus, since the research is easy, it's possible now more than ever before to waltz right past the time-consuming teaching of things like library research and focus on what really matters - critical thinking.

Completely unrelated to the Google discussion, I have a Crossfit question. My back keeps going out, despite my sincere efforts to take care of it. Typically, it goes out during power cleans or squats. My technique on both is, as far as I or any trainer I've talked to, solid.

I use a weight belt only on challenging weights, and I regularly do the CFWU to hit back extensions and develop those muscles. Nevertheless, about once every couple of months I slip my L2 and get to suffer for two days while it returns to normal. What's going on?

#71 AllisonNYC- Wait, in your log @9am you say you're sore quote..."My Gosh.I AM SORE. NOW my arms are sore but my LATS are Killin." But in the previous post @7am you claim a miracle? You got to keep your story straight. Like the story at the playground started out in the dark and then you got sunburned?

AllisonNYC - I'm a HUGE fan of the ice bath (really seems to do wonders for preventing inflammation), but I generally do them for my legs...*much* easier that way, since I can wrap my upper body in a sweatshirt and hold on to a hot cup of coffee while sitting waist deep in ice bath beautiful pain :)

That's quite the promo video for the Level 2 cert. Hoping one comes up to the East.

Hey all...I am planning a WOD for 9/11 and thought I might share the idea in case anyone else is thinking of one or has already thought of one and would like to share their glass of Kool Aid.

Anyway, the exercises have yet to be determined but the WOD will go like this:
4 rounds (4 planes)
9 and 11 reps of two exercises followed by a 2001 meter run or row. The group I will be doing this with will be starting at 0846, the time the first plane struck the towers.

Thought I would throw it out there.

Have a great day!!
Casey Jones
CrossFit By Overload
CrossFit951

"JT" for me today on the yacht anchored in the harbor this morning. Our boating neighbors sitting on the back decks had the binoculars out watching the antics. Even had a kayaker give me the thumbs up after stopping to stare.

9:11 - workout done on the flying bridge using the back of swiveling Captain's chair as my "wall" for HSPUs, Lifeline's Jungle Gym hanging over the dinghy deck for ring dips and regular chest/thighs to deck pushups.

It's a trip doing ring dips on a boat rocking with the swells and constantly turning at the end of an anchor....a beautiful and constantly changing 360 degree view of the harbor but it is a little disorienting.

Re: Google

Welcome to a glimpse of the "gamer generation" Get with the times or get left behind.

'Nuff said...

Someone said something about liking Nicole with straight hair better. Hair style for me matters very little. Hot women are hot women are hot women. My thoughts are hair on the head, good. Hair on the chest/back, bad. Otherwise the hair can be red, green, straight, curly, long, short, or even used as a papoose to carry a small child. Stop Evan, it is time for a reality check, woman don't change their hair style to please men, they change it to please themselves. Thats cool with me too.

#79 dime,
lrn2chronology.

re: article
Interesting read. As others have noted, I appreciate the irony in Carr's use of a long article to complain about something he claims shortens our collective attention span for learning and research. Bring on my AI driven search engine and my direct neural interface.

M/24/5'10"/155

CFWU (PUs and dips on rings) x 1 plus extra set of ring dips, due to time constraints.

Was getting all set up for Linda, but I guess making up FGB yesterday aggrivated my lower back from a bad pull on Thursday's 3-rep max dls. Disheartening, since I was excited to finally do Linda again (and set a new PR)

Instead, did 100 burpees for time. Time estimated on wall clock.

6:00

I cut my time in half, for a very pleasing PR. At this point, I'd have to attribute that to the paleo-zone I started last week, since I'm certainly not fresh after doing both FGB and 3k run yesterday. Excited for what comes tomorrow!

Incidentally, does anybody have any suggestions as to a watch/stopwatch good for CF? Thanks in advance!

Take care!

Dear CrossFit,

Thank you for the rest day.

Sincerely,

My Hamstrings

I don't see how any guy can take an ice bath. Once the water level reaches the wedding tackle, I'm jumping out.....and fast.

No grapes-to-raisins for me ~

#79 What a D!ck

I AM sore. Never said I wasn't sore at all. When I said a miracle happened I meant I expected I wouldn't be able to even move my arms in the morning.

They feel better than they did last night but they are still sore.

I CAN'T believe I'm on here defending my level of soreness! hhaha

Thank goodness for you. What ever would have happened if I looked back at my log and then the posts and couldn't figure out EXACTLY how sore I was from my own writing?? Would have been a nightmare.

But you need a fact checker for your fact checking. Show me where I said I got a sunburn at night.

This is so strange... Seems you're even more obsessed with me than I am with myself.

Concerns about Google are not much different from previous concerns about calculators.

People are now quite capable of incorrectly multiplying two two-digit numbers on a calculator and accepting a five-digit result as the answer, because that's what the calculators says.

Technology doesn't make people dumb; it just lulls dumb people into believing that they are not.

Similarly, cheap and abundant food doesn't make people fat.

#87
Timex Expedition. Pretty inexpensive. Timer is excellent for tabatas. Only downside, I go through a battery every 4-6 months.

#90 Allison/ #79 Dime

Its not his fault he couldn't keep the story straight, its google's. I'm sure the oversight was due to a light skim of your post. His thinking that you were contradicting yourself was just like the time I skimmed The Great Gatsby and thought; Some magician layed an Egg and put it under a green light.

3k 11:37

Crossfitters,

As we look at the premise of the article, we should keep the Crossfit world view and anlyze on performance standards. Google = Black Box of Brain = result. The declining standard test scores and "dumming" down of the public and private schools is an interesting result that may or may not be tracked back to Google. If we were to have someone tell us that we could get a great work out from a hydro assisted weight machine, we would laugh at this idiotic thought. Why would our brain get better if we let Google do our heavy lifting mentally.

Just some thoughts,

Bill Cattley

this article is pretty ridiculous. im 23 years old and have grown up all my life with the internet, while going to school and reading books. guess what... i read a pretty lengthy novel not too long ago and i was FINE. hes saying the internet makes us stupid? how does that even make sense. it certainly changes our gathering of information. thats about it though. how does me searching something online and reading it make me more stupid than someone sitting in a library, looking up a book, and reading it? i would also argue, without possibility of being wrong, that there are several more multiples of books online than in any library.

the only possible thing this article could try to point out is that there can be search baises on the internet if someone is given control over them. that the information given is not complete, or even wrong. the same can be said about books however.

this article is pretty ridiculous. im 23 years old and have grown up all my life with the internet, while going to school and reading books. guess what... i read a pretty lengthy novel not too long ago and i was FINE. hes saying the internet makes us stupid? how does that even make sense. it certainly changes our gathering of information. thats about it though. how does me searching something online and reading it make me more stupid than someone sitting in a library, looking up a book, and reading it? i would also argue, without possibility of being wrong, that there are several more multiples of books online than in any library.

the only possible thing this article could try to point out is that there can be search baises on the internet if someone is given control over them. that the information given is not complete, or even wrong. the same can be said about books however.

This week I had my high school football team do some crossfit inspired workouts. Saturday they did 8 rounds of 10 wall ball shots (12 or 23 pound med ball) and 100m run. Monday they did 8 rounds of 15 deadlifts (135lbs, 115lbs or 95lbs), 100yd run, 15 push ups and 15 bicycle crunches. They were totally spent at the end of each workout and I figured they would hate me. I was wrong. Knowing that they have another workout on Friday (3 rounds of 20 push press, 20 reps goblet squat, 100m run) a group of 10 or 12 came to me today asking if I would workout with them again on Wednesday. Does anyone have any ideas for Wednesday? I was thinking about doing the WOD from Wednesday 080827. I would switch handstand push ups and pull ups and probably start at 10.

#95, Bill, writes,

"If we were to have someone tell us that we could get a great work out from a hydro assisted weight machine, we would laugh at this idiotic thought. Why would our brain get better if we let Google do our intellectual "heavy lifting."

The question is not whether Google makes our brains "get better." The question is whether Google makes our brains get worse. I think it does not.

Driving a car does not make us get healthier; nor does not make us get less healthy. If Google is your only form of intellectual "heavy lifting," you will get dumber (assuming you previously did any intellectual lifting at all). But for those who otherwise rigorously exercise their minds and bodies, neither driving nor Googling is harmful.

87 Hari (my goal, is always to write 65 words for every one of yours, I may have fallen short this time).

I agree with: "Technology doesn't make people dumb; it just lulls dumb people into believing that they are not."

However, I think what the article suggested (in some places) was that technology changes what we understand as the attributes of "dumbness" or "smartness"; it values and fosters skills and attitudes that are different from the ones fostered by Gutenberg print culture (renaissance  enlightment).

I don’t think the move from Encyclopedia Britannica to Google is as significant for humankind’s Weltanschauung as the move from Homer to Plato. Google fosters a literacy that is somewhat different than print literacy, but it is literacy nonetheless. The psychological process of reading is the same in each. And though Googling may make us lazy, it also provides wonderful opportunities for old-fashioned, ponderous, slow thinking, by, for instance, putting enormous libraries at our finger tips (pixeltips?). Whether we are inclined to consult an online library or a fitness website, or both , is something for each of us to determine, just as it is for the user of the calculator to determine whether he or she will understand the operations, or rely magic incantations conjured by pressing certain keys in preordained sequences.

I think there is something to the concern about becoming “pancake people” – our identities stretched out too thinly over unintelligible combinations of readily available “information,” impoverishing our minds, our sense of self, our understanding of the way things hang together. But the alternative the author provides, the “educated and articulate personality” sounds a little elitist to me, a little too self-serving for an author I imagine to be shivering in his one-of-a-kind triple-stitched gingham anorak.

I think we could all do with a lot more Socrates (think of Lincoln-Douglass debates as an anecdote to the Kerry-Bush skull*#4%ery), a little more Voltaire, and a lot of conversation about how to use the internet as a tool of enlightenment and democracy.

M/48/152

Crossfit Strength Experiment Week 6

CFWU x 3 (- dips)
Buy-in: 12-9-6 Back Squat 125#, one min. rest
WOD 3 rounds for time:
3 Shoulder Press 95#
6 Push Press 95#
9 Push Jerk 95#
12 Box Jump 32" (biggest in gym)

14:30 (lots of staring at the bar)

Cash-out: V-sit 1:30

Awfully heavy for this lightweight.

Will read through Rest Day after work.

I was watching Sleepers today and noticed that Nicole looks just like Minnie Driver

what is the 100 day burpee challenge? Is there an article I can read on it?

Helpful tip of the day:

While at the office, make sure your Google safe search filter is on...HELLO!

Chris McG #103

Check out this link http://www.crossfitsantacruz.com/crossfit_santa_cruz/burpee-challenge-details.html

The smartest people I know still regularly read books in addition to reading online.

The dumbest people I know who believe they are actually smart rarely use the internet for anything other than finding sports scores, movie times, addresses, other quick facts, etc.

Most people, of course, fall somewhere in between.

"Active" rest day........came up with my own wod
5 rounds for time

15 med ball cleans 20lbs
15 push ups chin,chest,thighs to the floor
15 pull ups

12:29 as rx'd....what a doozy

#87

We have this thing at the weightroom at work it mounts on the wall. I think its called "the gym boss" its got a loud timer and big digital letters. you can program the work/rest intervals. Its got a really loud beep too kind of gives you a pavlovian respone after a while. loud beap=push weight. Its pretty loud and annoying so I make it a point to take it to the globo for FGB.

Cheers for that link M@, I'm going to do that challenge. I did 100 burpees in just under 10 minutes a few weeks ago so I'll compare that at the end of the challenge.

Is it pretty common for gyms around the country to claim to be a Crossfit affiliate when they, in fact, are not? In Reno, NV, we appear to have one such gym: http://www.xfitreno.com/

On their site banner, they claim to be "A Certified Crossfit Affiliate in Reno". But the main site only lists http://www.trainlikeitmatters.com/
as a Reno affiliate.

Smells a little fishy to me. I mean, I don't have a problem with other gyms emulating what Crossfit does. But claiming to be a licensed affiliate sure seems to be... well, illegal.

Besides, their workouts are kind of odd. They do things like "Foam Pit Long Jump". They basically run and jump into a foam pit. I'm not sure how this is a useful workout. They just seem to throw together movements they see Crossfit doing in a truly random manner. And then they throw in some crazy crap they make up.

Is anybody else seeing stuff like this around the country? I'm guessing that it is very difficult for Coach and crew to go around fighting legal battles with every fake "affiliate" in the country. But this one seems to be kind of a slam-dunk.

The only reason i am still reading this after the "is it mcdonalds fault you eat ir everyday type arguments is books people are listing, i have read most of the ones posted so far...(lots of free time in iraq) but wanted to list a couple myself...

-"sharpening the warriors edge" by Bruce siddle
-"On combat" by dave grossman
-"On Killing: the cost of learning to kill in war and society" by dave grossman.

Since the political discussion on last Rest Day was so much, ahem, fun, I was wondering what it would be like If Obama ran Crossfit:
1. The top 10% performers would have to give up some of their time/weight/points to all other posters.
2. No scaling, WOD goals will be set low enough to be inclusionary.
3. No weights above 95 pounds would be lifted; heavy weight by its nature is exclusionary.
4. All pull-ups, including jumping pull-ups, assisted pull-ups, Gravitron pull-ups, pull-ups from a 4-foot box, would simply be described as pull-ups. If you define it as a pull up, then we will all honor your pull up.
5. Except strict pull-ups would be banned; only old white guys do strict pull-ups.
6. Coach would have to take three months worth of sensitivity training to learn to be respectful of the stupid.
7. Only lawyers could be Crossfit instructors; it's just the best training for any endeavor, from exercise instruction to running a country.
8. Workout videos would include athletes having a cigarette after the workout, just like O-man.
9. In addition to videos about how to defeat bad guys in the real world, there would be included videos where the Crossfit trainee attempts to talk his way out of a beating.
10. There would be more hot women doing workouts (this issue seems to have bipartisan appeal).

24m/155/66"

Unfortunatly I owed a Linda:

DL 230
BP 155
Clean 115

30:36. My first Linda, It sucked.

#111 Blades

Good list -- I laughed when reading it. Where does Biden fit into it?

this may have been mentioned already, but...

isn't it strange that a lot of people on here today are trashing the use of the internet and google, while they are online reading about Crossfit, which is almost entirely based on people reading and learning about it from the internet?

maybe that doesn't make any sense--I have been at work for a while today and I did run the 3k this morning so my head may not be 100% put together...

#111 blades

Your ninth item is more practical than you think. The older I get, the more I find myself talking my way out of trouble than I do fighting my way out.

It may be that I deal with older people and they don't want to duke it out either because they too realize fighting gets them hurt, but I like to think it's because my social skills have improved.

Maybe someday my social skills will be good enough that I'll avoid talking my way into trouble all together. But I wouldn't bet on it.

OMG...i am choking from post #111....props to you! that is some funny sh!t. esp. since i am sitting in Baghdad right now. Enough (and interesting...not dismissing)has been said about google...my concern is the fact that I heard, read, (dang it...attention to detail) is that some elderly lady mentioned something about WRITING...HAND WRITTEN letters once....and i recall in my early days of the navy in Japan, i would get hand written letters from my mom, they were the greatest...and now, we as Americans are so rushed for time seldom do we even get the real deal across the net....one of the best things about crossfit, is the cool down(aka PASS OUT/COLLAPSE) at the end, where people talk/gossip/congratulate/and actually converse....i miss those times.

#111 Blades

"5. Except strict pull-ups would be banned; only old white guys do strict pull-ups."

That was pretty good :-)

RE: the CF Level II video.
I was there for it: the Level II at OneWorld in CA. It is amazing the amount of humble CF can pack into 2 days. I am so impressed at CF's commitment to excellence and their unwavering standards. Thanks to Nicole, Freddy C., Adrian, and Dave for their fantastic coaching. And congratulations to those of you who made the cut; I know I'm bringing back a whole new level of training to my affiliate. It was such a pleasure to meet and work beside all of you; keep up the great work and if you're ever in SC hit me up for a WOD. Much love,
Cris M

22/M/150lbs/5'6"

Back from a little vacation and didn't want to rest. Made up my own little WOD

5 Rounds for time of:

10 Pullups
25 KB Swings (25lbs)
5 Manmakers (50lbs)
10 Dips
25 Pushpress (35lbs)

Time- 31:41

Not to bad but the Manmakers def slowed me down. Never had done them before.

USMC OCC-Class199

Re-did the 3k run, because I didn't like my time. Is POSE slowing anyone else down?

3k: 12:07

What it would be like if Palin ran CrossFit
1. We would build a huge, expensive facility full of CF equipment, able to accommodate thousands of athletes. This facility would be located in Antarctica.
2. The upcoming Athletes For a Cure FGB 3 fundraiser would be canceled. Because only suckers work for their community.
3. CrossFit would no longer be based on empirical, provable data, but on divine inspiration.
4. Coach would be referred to as "The Dude" or "Your Dudeness".
5. The CF Mascot would no longer be a dog, rather it would be a Moose.
6. All CrossFitters with an IQ above 110 would be excommunicated. Coach would be retained as a figurehead.
7. All fees associated with CrossFit would go up 500% and the excess profits would go to teaching Moose to play hockey.
8. Crossfitters would no longer have the choice of scaling the workouts. Everyone would be forced to do them RX even in cases where this might pose a danger of injury or death.
9. An 11th physical skill would be added: posing.
10. CrossFit would be run by slick, unqualified, right-wing religious zealots in designer glasses.

My wife I attended the level 1 cert this past weekend at OneWorld. We have been doing CrossFit for about a year and a half. We train in our home garage gym. We have never been to an affiliate gym before this weekend. My God what a difference a coach/trainer makes. It was incredible! We learned so much!!! We are so motivated now to train and eat right. The instructors were ALL awesome! I do not have the words to desribe what a great experience it was for us. I wish I would have done it long ago.
Thank you to each and every one of the instructors that were there!
To all you CrossFitters reading this that have not been to a certification seminar yet.......GO!!!!!! GO ASAP! You will never be the same.
Sincerely, Greg Roberts

Just doing some catching up, did FGB tonight. I thought Linda was the the toughest of the Crossfit family and i'm still sore from that but now i remember FGB is totally evil. The constantly running clock just makes you keep going when you really don't want to. Google certainly doesn't make you stupid but FGB fries your brain for a while afterwards...

#121:
Right on! Let's hope she has to go back to Alaska as soon as this election is over and continue her "good work" there!

Outside of school, I read about 3 books between the age of 15-22, although I spent countless hours reading online.

I've found that since I've started to read a non-fiction book every week, almost every single opinion/belief/viewpoint I've ever held has changed.

Maximus: Touché!

Chris, #115. Actually, I agree. I'm a lover not a fighter.

Day behind, did the 3K run. Time to rest up for the OPT Challenge on Saturday!

#111, #121:

You guys KILLED me! Well done.

Coach for President, then?

lol allison is one crazy bitch...

Nicole - you're awesome!

Maximus - you're an idiot!

Blades - you're an even bigger idiot for agreeing w/ Maximus! Go hug a tree!

Comment #109 - Posted by: Reno_Ty at September 9, 2008 11:12 AM

RE: False Crossfitters In Reno

That website has been called out by Crossfit Reno in the comments section:

http://www.xfitreno.com/2008/09/06/todays-workout-9408/#comments

Here is the challenge:
http://www.trainlikeitmatters.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=148&Itemid=46

Good on CrossFit Reno!!

Boo Maximus! Boo, hiss!

But then, what else should we expect from the San Francisco Bay Area? Much love though brother, it was pretty clever...for a lefty ;-)

Deadlift
225 x 5
325 x 5
345 x 5
305 x 15

15-12-9
135# Overhead Squats
30-24-18
Pull ups

7:56

Maximus:

Nice CHANGE on the Palin running Crossfit list. HOPE you enjoy voting for future November loser Obama Bin Biden.

WE WILL NOT BE SILENCED
As Americans, we expect certain liberties and rights that were granted us by our forefathers, who wrote documents like the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. WE THE PEOPLE expect that these fundamental rights will always be protected.

However, in the current Democratic Presidential Primary, this was not the case. The DNC made a grave error by depriving American voters of their choice of Hillary Clinton as Democratic nominee. Senator Clinton, by all accounts, except caucuses, won the Primary Election and, therefore, should be the 2008 Democratic Nominee.

That didn't happen, due largely to illegitimate and illegal acts. We have interviews of many accounts from caucus states recounting threats, intimidation, lies, stolen documents, falsified documents, busing in voters in exchange for paying for "dinners, I-pods",etc.

There are at least 2000 complaints, in Texas alone, of irregularities directed towards the Obama Campaign, that have lead to a very fractured and broken Democratic Party.

It is disturbing not just how this happened, but THAT it happened in our country.

This documentary is about the disenfranchising of American citizens by the Democratic Party and the Obama Campaign. We the People have made this film. Democrats have sent in their stories from all parts of America.

We believe Obama's Chicago Machine of dirty politics encouraged and created an army to steal caucus packets, falsify documents, change results, allow unregistered people to vote, scare and intimidate Hillary supporters, stalk them, threaten them, lock them out of their polling places, silence their voices and stop their right to vote, which is, of course, all documented in WE WILL NOT BE SILENCED.

After the last three days I need a rest.

I THOUGHT politics werent allowed on these boards... didnt i read that some where?or am i just crazy?

what does palin and obama have to do with torturing yourself doing linda and the rest of the girls..

#131 el ingeniero

I'm just kind of surprised that they are getting away with the blatant lie that they are a licensed affiliate. It pisses me off. This business has been built by very hard-working folks. And these opportunists are riding the crossfit wave for free. I can guarantee that if the guys from http://www.xfitreno.com actually show up to this challenge (which I'm quite sure they won't), they'll get their asses handed to them.

Either way, it will be a cool event and I plan to be part of it one way or the other. I offered to video the event and edit it since I used to own a sports video business. If they don't want/need me to, then I'll just sign up and compete for fun.

Will someone explain the burpee challenge? Add one for each consecutive day, and see how many days you can go....?

Brett #138

Look up my post #105. you perform 1 burpee on the first day, two on the second, three on the third and so on and so forth until you get to 100 burpees on the 100th day of the challenge. The burpees can be broken up into sets and performed at any time of the day. Just look up the rules in the link in post #105

Rest Day yesterday: 54 holes of golf. Felt Linda and FGB on each swing... 3k today.

Question: When does the US Treasury and Fed decide not to intervene and allow one of the large financial corporations to falter?

To date, the intervention appears unprecedented with Bear Stern, Fannie and Freddie, some regional banks, and the opening of the discount window to investment bankers. Now it appears that Lehman Brothers is in trouble....

Is there a limit to the intervention? And if not, who is allowed to fail?

29/f/113

finally caught up on wod's.

FBG: 293 (ugh)
subbed burpees for row, no erg.
#55 on SDHP and PP

pre: wux1
post: 5k: 26:05

prob should have done a hard core 3k but was so wiped after FGB decided to do a nice easy paced 5k.

Did CFE today as rxd 5kms tempo in 27:30 at 90%. Felt good.

Ottawa, Canada

#111

You rock!!!!

#136 - They aren't allowed on the FORUMS. The comments are fair game.

Seriously I have no respect for anyone who would vote for Obama. You flipping socialists. He wants change alright - he wants to change our country into a flaming pile of crap.

I just saw a ridiculous commercial that was trying to say the High Fructose Corn Syrup was GOOD for you. They even have a website. www.sweetsurprise.com Blah Blah Blah! Their argument is that it has as many calories as sugar and honey, and it's all natural made from corn with no preservatives. :)

#145 - mblarkin

WOW! That website is awful! I especially like this quote:

"Sweeteners play an important role in a healthy, balanced diet."

YUCK! Thanks for sharing this site; I am going to make a point to discuss it with my clients tomorrow!

I just saw a ridiculous commercial that was trying to say the High Fructose Corn Syrup was GOOD for you. They even have a website. www.sweetsurprise.com Blah Blah Blah! Their argument is that it has as many calories as sugar and honey, and it's all natural made from corn with no preservatives. :)

Ha ha! I'm getting one of my co-workers hooked on the CF Crack!

Did a subbed version of FGB, again today. Replaced wall-ball with 40-lb db swings, PP with HPC, row with burpees. Trashed my last score of 216 (low because of technical difficulties with my improvised medicine ball) with a 286 today. I feel much less shame, now.

My buddy came in at 149, which I consider good for his second CF-style workout.

subbed 4 km 80# ruck march

m/21/143/5'10"

Workout tonight to make up for not being able to do fight gone bad

cfwu x 3

3 rounds (15, 12, 9) for time of:
kb snatch 45lb
pull up

time - 13:18

Kate - welcome back, dear. We all missed you at our table (with credit to Bingo).

Joey - Geez, man. That was awful. Is there anything I can do to help out with anything? Drop me an email.

The article was interesting - at least thought-provoking. Does "surfing" change the way we think? Probably. But is it bad? I doubt it. I tend to agree with whoever said that as we stumble upon something truly interesting, we will go to any and all sources for the "deeper" knowledge we desire. But the net (and Google) have arguably created more time for us to do that with the ease and efficiency they provide us for getting information. Truly.

I find, however, I simply try to do more in less time.

The lists, both from blades and Maximus were pretty funny. Nice job, guys. Thanks for the chuckle. Did anyone catch the great Dan Silver riposte on last rest day? Damn that guy is funny. Seriously, check out his site and you'll blow a stitch laughing.

said it b4 will say it again. I'd rather hire one employee who can use their resources to find information then 10 idiots who can commit old information to memory forever.

comment 152 - "high fructose corn syrup... It's like mother's milk... if you mother is a 600 pound diabetic cow!" people are crazy... that cr@p is in everything! I try to stay away fom it as much as possible look for sucralose based products they have no effect on blood sugar... that being said I don't know what else they do effect... oh well, something's gotta kill you! :)

Took a rest day yesterday, due to a 15 mile mountian bike ride today--1:09:09--about a minute slower than my PR

Did 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

35lb ketel bell swings
65lb thrusters
burpee pullups
Freaking exhausting!!!
17:18
f/27/128

re: #126

I like this one "8. Crossfitters would no longer have the choice of scaling the workouts. Everyone would be forced to do them RX even in cases where this might pose a danger of injury or death". Oh yeah, and that moose would be a friggin awesome hockey player.

No time to read all the comments, but I did read the article. All the way through.

I'll have to ponder it a bit, but one concept I see popping into my head is one I will term "pseudoconviviality".

I value solitude. I always have. I'm not a misanthrope, though, quite the contrary. It's just that too much hustle and bustle is, for me, like wind that is stirring the waves inside of me, so that I can't see what's at the bottom.

Quite often on the internet it seems to me we interact with others, but on the level of anonymous and trite relationships. There is little information in the interchanges, in the sense of even the potential of deep committment and loyalty.

People, in this sense, become objects to be used, just as "information" is a commodity to be used, then discarded. There is perennial motion, but this external motion keeps us from seeing that, inside, we are decaying into something less than full humans.

John Searle, in critiqueing what will one day presumably be a machine that passes the "Turing Test" (Turing, btw, was a very interesting man; he was a WW2 code breaker who committed suicide in the early 50's when his homosexuality got his security clearance revoked), discussed what he called the Chinese Room.

Actually, I need to roll. I'll get back to it. The foregoing was stream of consciousness. Hopefully it makes some sense.

I felt like reading that article about Google making me stupid (or something like that), but alas it was too damned long, and my shortened attention span took me back to watching Crossfit videos. I'm sure I'll get around to finishing the article someday. For now at least can someone please summarize it for me?

Goodness. So little added since last night.

Chinese Room: you have tiles with Chinese ideograms on one side, and instructions on the other. Each instruction tells you where to place the tile. Some say "top corner, left". Some "middle, middle". Etc. You could place twenty of these, and in the process form a coherent sentence. But you would never know it.

This is what computers do, and why "artificial intelligence" will never equal life.

And what is the difference? Deep structure. All computing, currently, is--in my understanding--in the final analysis linear. There are plans to simulate the parallel--instantaneous?--processing capacity of the brain through "neural networks", but my own feeling--what might be, could be, my own deep perception of this, processed in a timeless, nonlinear space--is that biological entities interact with the universe in ways which will never be duplicated by machines.

Returning and relating to today's topic, I would like to tell a brief story that got me to thinking about this. I don't go to computer stores often, but had to yesterday, and found these new glasses that you can plug into your ipod to watch private movies. Now, you can watch movies now on your ipod. What could this be for? Possibly, movies you don't want your neighbor watching with you on the plane?

This in turn led to the thought: "who couldn't not watch those sorts of movies (I'm assuming nudie or torture p0rn) for some span of time?

What do these movies, this media, this relentless bombardment of trivial new things, provide? Distraction is too simple. Distraction from what?

In my view, it is distraction from the unfulfilling nature of the life filled with such distractions.

For my own purposes, a basic heuristic is that of Quality versus Quantity. Quality I define as characterized by a deep, latent structure that is irreducible because never fully manifest. Quantity is what you can count and measure.

Now, we are implicitly taught in school that only that which is measurable--scientific--is real. If you can't count it, then it isn't real. Hedonism, of course, is an immediate and obvious extrapolation from this, since it only cares about what is tangible.

The argument being made in today's article, implicitly, is that young people lack the deep structures within which to integrate and contextual new information. All information is flat, in that it does not sound a chord deep within a pregnant water (poetry is dead, n'est ce pas?).

Rather, it is summoned forth to meet a challenge, much like a sorting machine in a factory moves a widget from one basket to another. And with seemingly as little thought.

I look at the "arguments" people make, and all they do is move a sentence or thought from Point A to Point B, but never stop to analyze it.

Where is this "War for Oil"? I have yet to see someone conjure it, but this is the daily reality for millions. Why? It showed up one day in their little worlds, ready to cut and paste, and in a flat world all facts are equal.

Moreover, there is a homology between the use of information without structure, and the use of people without traditional social bonds of committment and loyalty. Sex is something concrete, so it is desirable. Since things are desirable, then as many types of this thing as you can get, the better. This means people, this means behaviors.

But love, for example, is an irreducible, qualitative phenomena. I would view it as an emergent property of basic virtues. It cannot be found directly, but it can be lost directly, through quantitative preoccupation.

And such preoccupation breeds loneliness and hopelessness, just as "fact leveling" leads to moral idiocy and intellectual incompetence.

The roots of all of this are deep. I don't have time to fully discuss my thinking on this, but I will say that I have provisionally distinguished, as an antipode to Science, the concept of Myth.

By Myth I mean an irreducible, qualitative structure. Goodness, on this account, is a myth, but not in the sense of not being true, but in the sense of being beyond true or false. Of being beyond the scientific method, and offering a much needed complement to it.

That's enough for now. Hopefully that makes some sense.

This in turn led to the thought: "who couldn't not watch those sorts of movies for some span of time?

What do these movies, this media, this relentless bombardment of trivial new things, provide? Distraction is too simple. Distraction from what?

In my view, it is distraction from the unfulfilling nature of the life filled with such distractions.

For my own purposes, a basic heuristic is that of Quality versus Quantity. Quality I define as characterized by a deep, latent structure that is irreducible because never fully manifest. Quantity is what you can count and measure.

Now, we are implicitly taught in school that only that which is measurable--scientific--is real. If you can't count it, then it isn't real. Hedonism, of course, is an immediate and obvious extrapolation from this, since it only cares about what is tangible.

The argument being made in today's article, implicitly, is that young people lack the deep structures within which to integrate and contextual new information. All information is flat, in that it does not sound a chord deep within a pregnant water (poetry is dead, n'est ce pas?).

Rather, it is summoned forth to meet a challenge, much like a sorting machine in a factory moves a widget from one basket to another. And with seemingly as little thought.

I look at the "arguments" people make, and all they do is move a sentence or thought from Point A to Point B, but never stop to analyze it.

Where is this "War for Oil"? I have yet to see someone conjure it, but this is the daily reality for millions. Why? It showed up one day in their little worlds, ready to cut and paste, and in a flat world all facts are equal.

Moreover, there is a homology between the use of information without structure, and the use of people without traditional social bonds of committment and loyalty. Sex is something concrete, so it is desirable. Since things are desirable, then as many types of this thing as you can get, the better. This means people, this means behaviors.

But love, for example, is an irreducible, qualitative phenomena. I would view it as an emergent property of basic virtues. It cannot be found directly, but it can be lost directly, through quantitative preoccupation.

And such preoccupation breeds loneliness and hopelessness, just as "fact leveling" leads to moral idiocy and intellectual incompetence.

The roots of all of this are deep. I don't have time to fully discuss my thinking on this, but I will say that I have provisionally distinguished, as an antipode to Science, the concept of Myth.

By Myth I mean an irreducible, qualitative structure. Goodness, on this account, is a myth, but not in the sense of not being true, but in the sense of being beyond true or false. Of being beyond the scientific method, and offering a much needed complement to it.

That's enough for now. Hopefully that makes some sense.

Rather, it is summoned forth to meet a challenge, much like a sorting machine in a factory moves a widget from one basket to another. And with seemingly as little thought.

I look at the "arguments" people make, and all they do is move a sentence or thought from Point A to Point B, but never stop to analyze it.

Where is this "War for Oil"? I have yet to see someone conjure it, but this is the daily reality for millions. Why? It showed up one day in their little worlds, ready to cut and paste, and in a flat world all facts are equal.

Moreover, there is a homology between the use of information without structure, and the use of people without traditional social bonds of committment and loyalty. Sects is something concrete, so it is desirable. Since things are desirable, then as many types of this thing as you can get, the better. This means people, this means behaviors.

But love, for example, is an irreducible, qualitative phenomena. I would view it as an emergent property of basic virtues. It cannot be found directly, but it can be lost directly, through quantitative preoccupation.

And such preoccupation breeds loneliness and hopelessness, just as "fact leveling" leads to moral idiocy and intellectual incompetence.

The roots of all of this are deep. I don't have time to fully discuss my thinking on this, but I will say that I have provisionally distinguished, as an antipode to Science, the concept of Myth.

By Myth I mean an irreducible, qualitative structure. Goodness, on this account, is a myth, but not in the sense of not being true, but in the sense of being beyond true or false. Of being beyond the scientific method, and offering a much needed complement to it.

That's enough for now. Hopefully that makes some sense.