Equinox edition: War, exercise and schools

20260322

Equinox edition: War, exercise and schools

The War

I read the 34 page summary of the Threat Assessment prepared by the intelligence agencies. It is a weak document. Its treatment of Iran seems to be simplistic. Its treatment of the Russia-Ukraine war is flat wrong. It says that Russia is winning. This has been Trump’s line for four years. It has been obviously untrue for two years and is becoming egregiously wrong this year. Ukraine is having success after success on three spheres: the battlefield, pounding Russia’s logistics and crippling the Russian economy.

The best development in the information space over the past five years has been the is the evolution of independent media. They are centered around Substack and Rumble. Alex Berenson has a far better and more balanced take on the war in Iran than Trump. Douglas Murray and Robert Malone have good takes on the need for the war. Even the antiwar takes by Brett Weinstein and Tucker Carlson are better informed than the threat assessment. Though I no longer subscribe – TLDR – I respect Glenn Greenwald, Matt Tiabbi (Racket News), Catherine Austin Fitts, Celia Farber and Naomi Wolf and pay attention when other sources link to them.

Posts such as mine about the Threat Assessment should serve as a note of caution to our government and the traditional media. You simply cannot get away with lying so much. There are too many truth-tellers out there who are beholden to nobody except their own conscience and their audiences. So, stop. We know better than to listen. We are cynical, and our cynicism is ever more justified.

My own opinion remains that this war that Trump started with Iran is one that needed to be fought. But I do wish that he was being honest about it. His equivocation on things like the girls’ school massacre and Straits of Hormuz is going to hurt the war effort and come back to bite him.

Exercise

It has been the coldest and the snowiest winter that I can recall in Kyiv. January and February were brutal, compounded by the fact that we were often without electricity on account of the Russian campaign to destroy our infrastructure. On top of that, the whole family had illness after illness. After two colds in October and November, I had a third, a cough, though not a terribly serious one, that lasted for most of January and February. It’s finally over.

Such setbacks are a danger for a guy my age. When I stop doing something., there is a not insignificant question as to whether I will manage to start again.

I started regular exercise in 1968 after reading Aerobics, which fundamentally changed America’s view of exercise. Dr. Kenneth Cooper, who in his mid-90s is still working, said that the body needs aerobic exercise. Heavy breathing for a period of 20 minutes or more, getting one’s heart rate up significantly.

The American Heart Association says the maximum heart rate should be 220 minus one’s age; for me, 135 to140 beats per minute. During vigorous physical activity, my target heart rate should be about 70-85% of maximum - between 95 and 115.

It was 140 twenty years ago, since which time it became impossible to measure on account of my arrhythmia. Since I have changed exercise bikes and resistance levels, all I can do now is guess. My regime has become somewhat less strenuous. I still work out between 30 and 40 minutes. The puddle of sweat remains about the same.

When I have to stop for a week or more, which have to do three or four times a year on account of on colds and one thing and another, I start back slowly. Five minutes one day, 10 minutes the next and on back up to my objective of 40. This round I am back up to 30. I build up RPM at the same time. Starting at 55, I am back up to 60. There is a significant question as to whether I will ever regain the 67 I had last year. On the other hand, at the age of 83 anything I can do is far better than nothing. I have to be happy with it.

While exercise is good in itself, it keeps me in shape for other activities. I walk several miles a day taking Marianna to and from kindergarten. We walk to either the bus or the electric train, and then another half a mile to kindergarten. Yesterday at the end of a two-mile wilderness trail I scrambled about 300 feet down a 45° slope to the bank of the Dnipro River. With my hands out sidewise holding the dirt for support, I made it.

I shop by bicycle when the weather is good – the criteria for which have become stricter over the years. Last year I brought Marianna five miles to kindergarten on the child seat. I’m undecided as to whether we will try again this spring. She is bigger and I’m older. Over the summer I am sure we will do bicycle outings. Marianna is getting the hang of balancing a two-wheeler.

School

We are dealing with the question of school next year. Mariann’s September birthday would make her one of the oldest in her class if she spent another year in kindergarten. I favor letting her enter now and being among the youngest.

As you readers know, Zoriana went from second grade last year in the small, local Sunflower school to another year of second grade in the Sofia Waldorf school. She did not like it. She moved back within a month to the third grade at Sunflower. She complains that the math is difficult. I think it is more a question of application than ability. Girls complain. She just needs to do it.

This week I am investigating an alternative for Marianna. Eddie is impressed with the Basis school against which he competes in national-level math and physics battles. With the new bridge across the Dnipro, it is only a twenty-minute ride from the bus stop four blocks from our house.

I see two issues in selecting a school for my daughters. The first issue is the obvious: academics. Every child needs to learn reading, writing and arithmetic. In our kids’ case, in both Ukrainian and English – which all schools teach. Since Basis is a private school favored by Kyiv’s elite, academics are pretty much guaranteed.

The big issue is social. I want my daughters to be in a milieu where they will meet young men of the proper education and social class to be good husbands. The Basis school would seem to be a good choice. Private schools do not get stupid kids or those whose parents do not value education. The boys they will meet at Basis would be the kind that we would hope that she would grow up to marry.

A second benefit of enrolling her in basis would be that every private school has a sibling policy. If she is enrolled in the first grade, their first intake, we would be in a good position to enroll Zoriana there next year after she finishes fourth grade at Sunflower. We would have the benefit of having both girls in the same school, and not having to worry about choosing another as they get older.

Graduating from a good private school, they would be on track to enter the best universities in Ukraine. Though there are pros and cons for marrying early in life, my observation is that the best men are taken early. The girls should situate themselves where the alternatives will be optimal.

That’s the news from Lake WeBeGone, where though sunshine has melted most of the snow, we still have frost every morning. The kids will be on spring break next week. Hope I have time to write.

Graham