The Monkey Chased the Weasel

[shanmonster]

A pleasant side effect of my early-morning running is that I often get to hang out with critters. Today, as I rested on one of the walking bridges, I noticed the swans, their cygnets, and a whole whack of ducks swimming in an excited fashion close to the island. Curious, I walked over to see what they were doing. They were swimming about, jostling one another for something. I looked around, but didn't see anyone feeding them. But they were eating something. I looked in the water, and didn't notice anything in particular. Then I looked up.

All of us were beneath a mulberry tree. The branches were laden with ripe berries. Is this what they were eating?

I picked one and tossed it into the water, and it was immediately gobbled up. So I grabbed ahold of a big branch and started shaking it, knocking scores of berries into the water. The result was a feeding frenzy of shark-like proportions. The swans, always aggressive, dominated the scene. The meek ducks kept their distance, devouring whatever berries floated their way. Even the cygnets were lunging at the ducks from time to time, necks extended and snakelike.

I hung around with the birds for quite a while, picking berries and tossing them to the birds. Most of them I fed to the cygnets, but I'd throw an occasional handful to the ducks so they would get some, too. If I threw too much to the ducks, the swans would just ram the hapless birds, so I rationed it out.

And then I finished my run. My shinsplints are going away, I'm glad to say. I've started doing calf raises off a step, and that seems to have helped. However, a perennial problem has emerged. Any time I do exercises which work the calves, whether it's calf raises or toe pushes on a leg press, my calves get filled with knots. And then they get charley horses at random. It's not that my calves aren't strong. I am able to do calf raises while piggybacking a 200-lb man. But they always fill full of lumps and knots. So, do I suffer through the shinsplints or do I suffer through the charley horses? It's six of one and half a dozen of the other, I think.

And yes, I drink lots of water, get plenty of potassium (I like bananas in my smoothies), and stretch my leg muscles regularly. I just have an apparently unavoidable propensity for cramping there. Argh.

Link time.

Autism symptoms reversed in lab: "Symptoms of mental retardation and autism have been reversed for the first time in laboratory mice." I can't have been the only person to immediately think of Flowers for Algernon.

Kiss Book: When a strategically-altered sketch book is taken to a comics convention, wacky hijinks ensue (thanks, warren_ellis).

Rare "Smiling" Bird Photographed for First Time: "The rare recurve-billed bushbird, recently rediscovered by scientists in Colombia after a 40-year absence, sports a curving beak that gives the illusion of an enigmatic smile."

Welcome to Fatworld! Experience Refreshing Moral Discomfort!: "Players navigate a consumer paradise (A), rule their own empire of restaurants and convenience stores (B), and enjoy food allergies, diabetes, heart disease, and death (C)."

German Scientists Develop New Approach to Treating AIDS: Cross your fingers. "German scientists have succeeded in snipping the virus that causes AIDS out of human cells, leaving them healthy again. The procedure is a breakthrough in bio-technology and fuels hope of a cure for AIDS."

Asch's Conformity Experiment: "A classical social psychology experiment carried out by S. Asch. The power of conformity."

Comments

[veritate.livejournal.com]

And yes, I drink lots of water, get plenty of potassium (I like bananas in my smoothies), and stretch my leg muscles regularly. I just have an apparently unavoidable propensity for cramping there. Argh.

I'm sorry to hear you're having such difficulty. I, too, have suffered through cramping in the legs, mostly in my feet and calves.

When enough was enough, I mentioned it to my chiropractor one day, and he referred me to a podiatrist. Correcting my fallen arches has made a huge difference in my quality of life.

I'm not saying you have fallen arches or anything, but perhaps there is something about your bone alignment that is causing your muscles to cramp? It sounds like you're doing everything else right, so maybe it's something other than water intake and strength/stretching...

[threemilechild.livejournal.com]

My mom has awful cramps due to back problems, and was prescribed quinine, which worked better than heavy-duty muscle relaxers and vodka. It does have side effects for many people, especially in larger doses, but perhaps it would be something to look into at very small doses. (She halved her dose and only takes it every few days, at night, which found a good balance.)

[abraxasrutrem.livejournal.com]

When I was in High School my older sister dated a semi-pro cross country runner. He and I used to run together and I often got shinsplints.
He said I got them for several reasons;
1) I ran too flat footed (impact was literally shearing the muscles apart).
2) My calves were too much stronger than my shins (being very short, I walked on my toes a lot to see things)

He showed me an exaggerated, heel-toe rolling stride that forced the toes to point upward on the forward-swing step and extended the Achilles Tendon (with toes still pointed skyward) on the down-step. It looked silly (more like you're peddling a bike instead of running) and after one mile I was in agony from the hips down but after a few days of that and toe-lifts (3 pound ankle-weights on toes) I could see a difference in the muscle of my shins and, while I was still running, I never had that problem again.

[draconia-99.livejournal.com]

The conformity test is disturbing precisely because it confirms what I have been thinking for long. Most people are just a herd, dammit. So all the dystopias might come true sooner than we thought, now that this fact about ourselves has been revealed to politicians. Or wat, they've known this, and abused it, for long ...

wildlife

[(Anonymous)]

When I lived in Boulder, Colorado, I bought a Motobecane bicycle almost new at a garage sale for a ridiculously low price, and began biking almost every night. Next to the Llama farm, a skunk was trying to raise a batch of kits. I love mustelids, having raised ferrets and a pet badger, and my best friend had a skunk when I was younger. Needless to say, I was out there almost every night just before sunset. At first she was skittish, but got used to me (I think the cannisters full of Meow Mix I left for them occasionally helped), and by the time the snow fell the kits were grown and gone. She didn't lose a single kit, I'm happy to say.

Always go garage sailing in a better neighborhood than the one you live in.

--bdw