This T-Nation article, The Third-World Squat, is the second time I've seen this particular stretch touted. First time was at the end of Mark Sisson's beach sprints video (more sensitively referred to as the Indigenous People Stretch). The Crossfit boards also picked up on these articles. Anyway, it's definitely one of the perfect stretches. Hits a lot of different muscle groups, proficiency will help with form/flexibility issues you might run into squatting or deadlifting, and you don't need a lot of room. I like to get out of my office chair every once in awhile, squat for a bit, then hit the camel pose (watch your back on this one, esp. doing it cold). To me this combination seems like the quickest and most efficient way to stretch out a lot of the stuff that shortens up when you spend too much time sitting.

Oh, one tip I don't think anybody has mentioned regarding the squat: if you can't get low while keeping your heels down you can roll up a towel and put it under your heels. That'll make it easier to get lower. After a few days, as you get comfortable, unroll the towel a bit. Repeat until you don't need the towel any more.

• Compared with a bunch of carrots, a package of Twinkies, to take one iconic processed foodlike substance as an example, is a highly complicated, high-tech piece of manufacture, involving no fewer than 39 ingredients, many themselves elaborately manufactured, as well as the packaging and a hefty marketing budget. So how can the supermarket possibly sell a pair of these synthetic cream-filled pseudocakes for less than a bunch of roots? Michael Pollan delves into the answer and implications (sorry, this one's a couple weeks old).
• I'm a computer guy, and let's face it, most of us spend too much time at our desks. Hence, this T-Nation article: (De)-Constructing Computer Guy.
• Dusty Rhodes linked to this Mark Sisson piece, Is There Any Safe Meat?, and that started me exploring Mark's site. Lots of interesting stuff on there. For example, I had previously posted some soy links, so was interested to read Sisson's take: 10 Things to Know about Tofu. I also really appreciated this nugget from his recent wine & chocolate post: Like chocolate and coffee, wine is one of those "marginally nutritious" issues that is endlessly debatable and ultimately not a huge factor in health, in the sense that there is probably some benefit to be gained from reasonable consumption thanks to the antioxidants, but don't expect any miracles. It's important to put these sensational stories in perspective...

Sorry, bit of a link backlog:

• I'm kinda late with this one, but another big holiday is right around the corner. De Vany on holiday binging:

  And, in case you say "I will binge just this one day," note that the high insulin spike from a meal full of stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, and other starches and simple carbs will amount to a massive assault on your insulin sensitivity. The footprint of that meal will be there for a long time. You will be curiously vulnerable to carb temptations for some time after because your sensitivity is diminished and your circulating insulin will remain elevated.

• Two via Straight to the Bar (who I'm poaching from with regularity these days): Joachim Bartoll's weblog (I read the fish oil post first, and immediately decided it was worth adding to my aggregator) and this BBC story on desk jockey posture. Maybe my programming slouch isn't such a bad thing!