John Adams really lived up to my expectations. I don’t have HBO at my house, but was able to catch a couple of the episodes in a hotel room a few months back while traveling for business. It was interesting to see John Adams, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson interact on screen, so I couldn’t wait to sit down and watch the entire series from beginning to end.

I don’t know just how historically accurate the series is, but I would guess that it’s pretty close. We know from our history books that there was a great debate in the Continental Congress about independence from Great Britain. We know who became the President’s and why. We know that during the Washington and Adams administrations, we were very seriously teetering on wars against England and France. But the spectacular way in which they told these stories was nothing less than fascinating.

My wife actually sat down and watched the series with me, which is something I thought she would fight me on. But she was also fascinated by the series and has grown a great respect for Abagail Adams as the woman behind the man. As have I.

If you are at all interested in actually seeing the founding of the greatest country in the history of this beautiful world, I highly recommend watching John Adams. It takes some time as the series is 7 episodes long and each episode is at least an hour a piece, but it is so worth it. It’s so fascinating and very entertaining.

If you are an avid history buff, you might feel let down. Obviously they have to cover a lot of time in the series as you see the ascent of John Adams and eventually his death, so a lot is left out as the years pass. But more than any other Revolutionary film I’ve seen, it does the absolute best at telling the story of our nations birth.

This pretty much stopped me in my tracks. I stared for several seconds in absolute awe that they would have such a flavor of ice cream in their case. My wife asked the employee working if they had Republican ice cream too. He laughed and said no. Whirl of Change. You have got to be kidding me.

I didn’t want to disappoint the little one so she got some ice cream anyway, but I will NEVER give this company my money ever again. If they want to be partisan, by all means, more power to them. They can express their freedom of speech any way they like. But so can I, and I refuse to spend my money at any Baskin Robbins as long as they sell ice cream with names such as this.

If they want to get caught up in the election season and offer ice creams that might reflect both sides of the aisle, then that’s cool. That get’s everyone involved. But the fact that they are alienating half of the country is unfathomable to me and I hope they go bankrupt.

Keep partisan companies like this in mind the next time you decide to spend your money somewhere.

Followup: Thanks to Shawn who points out that Baskin Robbins actually did make two flavors of ice cream reflecting both sides of the aisle, however, as I stated in the comments section, this store did not have both flavors of ice cream and we were laughed at when we asked where their republican ice cream was. Also, I wanted to welcome all of the Conservative Grape Vine visitors!

An ‘exercise pill’ that makes the body fit without moving a muscle has been hailed by scientists following stunning test results.

The drug fools the muscles into thinking they have exercised long and hard, rapidly burning fat and boosting fitness.

The couch potato’s dream, it gives the benefits of exercise without leaving the sofa.

Billed as ‘exercise in a pill’, it could combat ills from obesity to muscle-wasting diseases.

Even the frailty of old age could be eased by the drug’s muscle-building powers, the US scientists believe.

Ronald Evans, one of the researchers and a world-leading biologist, said: ”We have exercise in a pill.’.

Professor Evans, of the Salk Institute in California, showed that the drug, which is known as AICAR, boosts fat burning and stamina in inactive mice.

‘Couch-potato’ animals that took AICAR for four weeks burned more calories and had less fat than untreated mice.

And when tested on a treadmill, they could run almost 50 per cent longer than untreated mice.

Effectively, the creatures had become fit without moving a muscle, a feat that Professor Evans said left him ‘blown away’.

‘It is tricking the muscle into “believing” it’s been exercised daily,’ he said.

‘It’s basically the couch-potato experiment and it proves you can have a pharmacological equivalent to exercise.’

A second drug, GW1516, produced even better results – but only in conjunction with regular exercise, the journal Cell reports.

After a month of taking that drug and exercising, mice could run 70 percent further than other mice that had worked out on the treadmill but didn’t get the drug.

‘The dramatic effect of the drug was stunning,’ said the professor.

It is thought the drugs reprogramme the muscles, boosting the number of fat-burning fibres and allowing them to contract repeatedly without tiring.

The study builds on work from four years ago, in which the Californian researchers genetically-engineered ‘marathon mice’ that were able to run twice as far as normal without tiring.

Now, it seems it is possible to create drugs with a similar effect.

The researchers say their work offers hope for the obese, as well as for those with muscle-wasting diseases and people who can’t exercise because of a medical condition like joint pain or heart failure.

Even the frailty of old age could be eased by the drugs’ effect on the muscles.

The drugs’ obvious interest to athletes has led to the development of tests that will detect them in samples of blood or urine.

Importantly, given the obesity crisis, the pills could offer the benefits of exercise to people who can’t find time to fit the gym into their hectic working day.

‘Almost no one gets the recommended 40 minutes to an hour per day of exercise,’ said Professor Evans.

‘For this group of people, if there was a may to mimic exercise, it would make the quality of the exercise that they do more efficient.

‘This might be enough to move people out of the “danger zone” toward a lower risk, healthier set point.

‘By intervening early, you may forestall the emergence of more serious problems.’

But fellow researcher Dr Vihang Narkar cautioned a pill would not be a panacea, saying a healthy diet and exercise are ‘cardinal’ to good health.

AICAR, the version that worked without exercise, is already in advanced human testing to see if it can prevent a complication of heart bypass surgery.

The second drug was being tested as a cholesterol-lowering pill.  However, trials were halted over concerns about safety.

British experts welcomed the breakthrough but cautioned the path from the lab to the pharmacy shelf is not always straight forward.

Professor Stephen Bloom, of Imperial College London, said: ‘This was a discovery waiting to be made and it has taken one of the premier institutes in the world and one of the best minds in science to have done it.

‘Even if these particular agents turn out to have side-effects, the proof of principle is still there and we can look forward to someone making something which is safe and effective.’

Dr Colin Waine, of the National Obesity Forum, said: ‘Obesity has reached epidemic proportions and we constantly need to be looking for innovative ways of treating the condition.

‘This research is important, interesting and could ultimately lead to new drug treatments.

‘But anybody with a weight problem shouldn’t be lulled into thinking there is a quick-fix around the corner.

‘At the moment, the mainstay has to be healthy eating and increased physical activity.

My wife is always telling me that I need to work out. Well honey, no need! As soon as this stuff hits the market, I’ll be all over it. Gotta love modern medicine, man!

That’s all. Move along.

My friends, I’m sorry for the abhorrent lack of blogging my friends (sorry, John McCain is rubbing off on me). I have no excuse other than the fact that I’m just plain busy as all get out at work, and the wifey bought me an xBox 360 for Fathers Day so evening blogging is OUT! I will leave you with a few words of encouragement, for those of you out there who desire Change and Hope. Or Chope.

Barack Obama is a total douche bag. Seriously, he’s a double dose of douche. Like, feminine products marvel at his doucheyness. If you vote for him, that makes you as douchey as him.

You’re welcome. I haven’t copywrited that, so post it whever you’d like. Maybe on your blog, or your Myspace, or wherever! Sad thing is, you can pretty much replace “Barack Obama” with “John McCain” and the statement would be almost as applicable. Ugh!

Oh, and I don’t know what’s up with the coffee picture as it has no relation to the content of the post. I just really like coffee.