How many of us have the discipline to continue with our gym routine even during an international conference across continents?
US President Barack Obama was secretly filmed while working out at a hotel gym in Poland about 18 hours ago during a break in his visit. [see video below, released by CNN and other news organizations, source unknown, freeze-frame (photo) of the video here by dailymail.co.uk]
[Some netizens poked fun at the video… maybe because… they expected something spectacular of the President of a superpower working out at the gym – especially when you’re following Michelle Obama — a fun supergirl personified when demonstrating circuit training and pushups … And after you’ve just delivered a speech taking a swipe at Putin — who always looks like Mr. Universe in state-released shirtless photographs. To be fair, he could have used public funds to rent an entire gym for privacy like what a corrupt public official would do, or fly in a personal staff with a fitness trainer like what a pork barrel king/queen would do.
He was also polite, he did not throw any weight around, pun hopefully working out — he did not ask that the hotel gym be cleared before he stepped in, he looked unassuming looking for barbells, like any ordinary, struggling gym-goer, without asking for assistance from anyone – he was surrounded by the Secret Service but they did not wait on him like alalays (possé) … ] here’s the vid:
The second video below is by dailymail.co. uk, they musically scored it:
[ At least he’s diligent, many people (like myself!) sleep off a break in a conference especially with jet lag, and even without jet lag! —
he keeps up with his routine in a cramped hotel gym, and never runs out of breath] .
Okay, let’s critique it sensibly: If my ole fitness instructor at the University Hotel gym would see this, he would say:
“you’re not breathing, sir, in some of the lunges, bicep curls, and other dumbbell exercises…” Of course, everybody breathes, but when your physical trainer says you’re not breathing, it means you’re not taking in enough air and not expelling enough breath. (expel or exhale when exerting, when pulling or pushing, exhale hard, but take in enough air before that). My ole fitness instructor would also say “Slowly, slowly, don’t rush it up…”. Slow is more difficult however, but that’s what would make the workout “spectacular” — breathe deep, slow; pull slow, bring down slow, put slow again… not easy!
The Barack Obama workout video threatens to outviral any coverage of the anniversary of the Normandy landing this Friday unless handled in the next 24 hours …. sigh.
(This is my health post. Even with his hectic schedule, he manages to sneak in a few minutes with the iron bars. What do you do during your break?)
Official Gazette director did his job by publishing the EDCA; OG copy not signed, here
The official copy of the Ph-US EDCA in the Official Gazette is not signed
mlq3 , our dear Manolo (Usec Manolo Quezon III) did his job: his functions as Official Gazette (OG) director is to publish all official enactments; and he did just that, competently. we should thank him. i’m guessing that after not being given a signed copy, he used his acumen and was able to get a copy of the agreement – here it is, it’s not signed (normally, the official copies of official enactments published officially are signed, and every page, initialled). I rendered the OG pdf file into jpeg format to be uploadable, here it is, so you can see, ten pages, “Ph-US Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement” (still in quotation marks as far as this blog post is concerned, since those terms are really euphemisms and do not embrace the content — recall the use of the euphemism “enhanced interrogation techniques”, investigated by US Congress committees on the treatment of detainees in the Guantanamo prisons; “enhanced interrogation techniques” being officially known as torture in the Geneva Conventions and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.)
What is the status of an unsigned copy being published by the Official Gazette? This is the official copy, the Official Gazette being, by law, the recognized repository of official enactments — any alterations, omitted provisions, hidden provisions, in other copies are intercalations. (intercalations! punishable under the Revised Penal Code! — nakakainis na ang mga nagtago/ nagtatago ng kopya nito. Normally, you could issue the Defense Department thru the Defense Secretary, and the Foreign Affairs Department, the Executive Secretary, and the Palace a demand letter asking that a copy be furnished you within 24 hours otherwise you will avail of remedies under the law, etc. … )
Anyway. here they are. thank you, Manolo, for performing your duty: Here are the unsigned pages constituting the official copy:
