The first ten on today’s playlist:

The shit-for-brains Ian Welsh take on weightlifting is that it doesn’t really help with anything and that it’s some form of showing off.

The reality is that getting stronger makes every area of your life better, even minor ones that you might not even consciously think about. For instance I was carrying a plate downstairs earlier and I bumped it on the edge of the bannister accidentally. Five years ago, when I was weak as a kitten, I 100% know I would’ve dropped it. Would’ve been gone.

But now that my grip strength is ridiculous I was able to hold onto it so it didn’t escape my grasp and shatter into a thousand bits. It’s minor I know, but these things add up.

A lot of the “weightlifting is bad and doesn’t even do anything” on the left in general comes from Tall Poppy Syndrome and the belief that it’s somehow cheating to improve yourself.

Fuck all that noise. And my still-whole plate agrees.

Not a real survey of course, but correct in spirit:

Such a great frantic manic live performance.

This is excellent. It’s like if you combined The Cure, Kate Bush, Tori Amos and Sisters of Mercy all together — and got something awesome.