WTF-Beta

khana

fitness

South Carolina Sen. Darline Graham has given opponents fresh ammunition to attack her on her biggest vulnerability: her inexperience.

She revealed a major blindspot in her understanding of a critical foreign policy issue, U.S.-Taiwan relations, during Tuesday’s debate for the Aug. 25 snap Senate primary runoff to replace her late brother Lindsey Graham. Her response spread like wildfire on social media, with critics saying it proves she is “unprepared” to take office.

Asked whether Taiwan and the South China Sea are relevant national security priorities, Graham responded: “I’m just going to be honest here … I’m not that informed on national security, so.” She added that “national security is not my thing, not my area of expertise, but I do support the military.”

It was a notable acknowledgement from a sitting senator, as tensions rise between China and Taiwan — and as the U.S. preoccupation with the Iran war calls into question how reliable a supporter it might be amid fears of a possible future invasion of Taiwan.

The gaffe exposed the exact weakness that her runoff opponent, GOP Rep. Ralph Norman, has been eager to highlight: the senator’s lack of tenure

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/08/19/darline-graham-taiwan-flub-south-carolina-senate-01042395

oats

In the heat, that is...We're not among them, but I see that several areas of the country are experiencing really high temps.

Everyone OK out there?

@ShiroKuro said:

Have you looked into any programs that offer guided exercises or PT for older adults?

I've been doing some of the exercises recommended by this physiotherapist and have found them to be quite helpful. I was starting to feel like the stairs were getting a bit tougher to manage, but as soon as I started some of the exercises I noticed a significant change in how I climbed the stairs.

https://www.youtube.com/@MindBodyHorizons

Yikes @steve-miller . These incidents are definitely a wake-up call. Glad it wasn't worse.

I was thinking about trying to get a cabinet down from the second floor by myself by sliding it down the stairs on its side.

Think I'll call a nice strapping young neighbor over to help me...or maybe two strapping young neighbors to do it for me....

See

Fareed Zakaria's weekly op-ed in WaPo

The Iran war is a master class in squandering a superpower’s credibility

Trump treats promises like bluffs. Allies are responding by building alternatives.

https://archive.is/NtyoB

@Axtremus Yes, it reminded me of the old Mad magazine comic strip Spy vs. Spy.

Harvard Management Co. disclosed a $2.2 billion stake in SpaceX, making the rocket company more than half of the endowment's entire disclosed U.S. equity portfolio as of June 30, 2026. The position, representing roughly 12.94 million shares, is the single largest holding in Harvard's $4.26 billion reported U.S. stock portfolio, according to the firm's 13F with the SEC.

https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/harvard-discloses-2-2b-spacex-135733933.html

The web’s newest weapon against AI scrapers is a font

“ShieldFont” aims to poison AI training data without making pages unreadable for people.

https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/08/new-font-turns-ordinary-webpages-into-nonsense-for-ai-scrapers/

It can be daunting to determine who’s responsible for showing ads on the websites we visit, or who’s harvesting data from the mobile apps we use every day. That information is already semi-public, but it is not easily parsed and traditionally much of it has remained walled away in the hands of large advertising platforms. Not anymore: A powerful and free new service called DecryptAds scrapes and correlates this adtech data and makes it simple to quickly learn a great deal about the entities that are tracking you.

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2026/08/whos-tracking-you-use-this-new-service-to-find-out/

@adagiom - here's the info. Shrey Vazir is a physiotherapist; I'm on his mailing list and get an email once a week. Here's the one about getting up off the floor.

---

I basically never talk about my grandma in these emails.

But she taught me one of the most important lessons about aging, mobility, and independence.

And she probably doesn't even realize it.

Most People Stop Practicing This After Age 60

My grandma is 89 years old and has severe knee arthritis (both knees).

Yet she can get up from the floor with more confidence than many people 20 or 30 years younger than her.

What's remarkable is that she doesn't have a special exercise routine or a fancy mobility program.

Her secret is much simpler.

For years, she's sat on the floor every day to pray.

That's it.

Without realizing it, she's been practicing one of the most important movement skills for healthy aging:

Getting down to the floor and getting back up again.

Now most people assume that getting off the floor becomes difficult because of age.

Or because they're "not as strong as they used to be."

But as a physiotherapist, I've found something surprising:

For many people, the problem isn't strength.

It's practice.

Think about riding a bike.

If you haven't ridden one in 20 years, the first attempt feels awkward.

Not because you've forgotten how to ride.

But because your body has forgotten the sequence.

Getting up from the floor is similar.

Your body often remembers more than you think.

It just needs a reminder.

Here's Your Challenge
Over the next week, practice getting up from the floor once per day.

Not after a fall.

Not when you desperately need to.

Practice before you need it.

If you're unsure how, here's a simple sequence I suggest (called the CRAWLS method)

C - Take a deep breath and stay calm

R - Reach arm over and roll to your side

A - Adjust one or both knees

W - Walk one leg underneath your body

L - Level yourself into a bear or a mini-plank position

S - Slowly walk your hands back and stand up, or walk your legs towards your hand

ake your time and move slowly.

Keep a sturdy chair nearby if needed.

The goal isn't speed.

The goal is confidence.

The Bigger Lesson
Many of the abilities we associate with "getting older" are actually skills we've stopped practicing.

Getting up from the floor.
Balancing on one leg.
Climbing stairs.
Walking briskly.
Carrying groceries.
The less we do them, the harder they become.

The more we practice them, the longer we keep them.

My grandma didn't preserve her mobility through some complicated program.

She simply kept using it.

And that may be the most powerful lesson of all.

Best advice I’ve heard from a PT is to practice getting up from the floor every day, without any support or assistance.

We stopped biking 10 years ago. Too many distracted drivers out there waiting to kill us. But we weren't serious cyclists, just went out a few times during nice weather.

@realplayer Glad to hear you weren't badly injured.

I read somewhere that as we age our brains shrink a bit and that there can be more movement inside the skull if the head moves or stops quickly. Good excuse to stay off of roller coasters!

Even when we're in fairly good physical shape as we get older our flexibility, strength, and reaction times all get a bit worse. I figured that out when I did a near-face plant on our front porch. Twice, about eight years apart. Just didn't quite pick my foot up enough when stepping onto the porch.

Besides doing some strength and flexibility exercises, I am much more mindful of how I move about. I try to be sure I'm aware of what might be on the floor so I don't trip over it, and I concentrate when going up/down stairs. Looking down through progressive lenses is a bit tricky when descending stairs; focus isn't ideal. And I always have one hand on a handrail if at all possible.

Very nicely done! Thanks for sharing your lovely performance with us.

@Piano-Dad Add me to the list.

And WWII was only 10 years in the rear view mirror.

A Democrat in Name Only

Rob Sand isn’t progressive or moderate. What is he trying to be?

Gift link.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2026/08/rob-sand-zach-lahn-iowa-governor/688267/?gift=L2aql4Qoi09z50oHv3jccbsXZSzXfdUjyauGFAWVfSY&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share