Saturday, August 23. 2008
 Besides a break from daily content production (which is usually just fun to do, if a bit time-consuming), we need this vacation to re-think our purpose here at Maggie's. It was never primarily a political purpose, but we all tend to get caught up in the thing-du-jour - especially in an election year.
That was never our original intention. Many other people do that better than we do, and we do not need to be an echo chamber. We did want to represent our traditional views, but to not get caught up in the daily frenzies. But the temptation is strong because we are passionate about our beliefs about the America we love. And our original intention was never to feel any obligation for daily posts. We all have day jobs, but we - or I - got caught up in the fun of it, and we all read tons of stuff on these nets every day anyway. Futhermore, I have accepted a new job in NYC, beginning in September. Do not worry about me - I have a good 5-year contract. A big move. Can't let life stagnate, but it's not going to be like work in the countryside. I expect 14-hour days, and look forward to a fresh new challenge. Give me your best shot, Big Apple. I think I can take it, and too much comfort is not good for a young fellow. My huntin' buddy will take good care of my Springer, and put her to work more than I will be able to. She is a biddable gal, and promiscuous with her affection. I will sneak these links: The Village Idiots, notes a commenter at LGF. Yep. The physiology of perversion. This actually makes sense. The vicious cycle of Dem urban control. Duh. Via Classical: He's at least as fresh a face as Madeleine Albright.
Doctors vs. Economists. Related: Harvey Cushing photo journal. Try that, economists. Pure, delighted malice. SISU Is this video the election? Now, the new question: Are you an antisemite? The ethos of authoritarianism in the Middle East. Maybe they love it. I hate it. Excuse me, but who is supposed to be the next president? Hmmm. From Town Hall: Rob Long asks "Isn't [Biden] sort of the stupid person's idea of the smart person's candidate?" Yes, he is. But that's not fair to stupid people. Even stupid people who watched Biden embarrass himself during the Alito hearings --remember the "I hate Princeton" moment followed by the donning of the Princeton cap?-- know that Slow Joe is all tenure and no talent.
I missed this Officer Krupke moment. Did Obama just lose the election? I don't think so, but I hope he will. I will follow the rules, after that.
Diagnostic errors remain the  leading reason - or excuse - for medical malpractice lawsuits by the swarms of hungry sharks which parasitize American's fine physicians - the best physicians in the world. Kevin, MD. All the more reason for docs to be irrational - or rationally irrational - in spending your money (either yours directly, or the insurance company's money - which was your money). If you have a headache, I am going to order an MRI of your head which will cost you between $700-1100 in my area. I know darn well that you don't have a tumor, but I could be wrong 0.3% of the time. So I'll order the MRI, because you will want me to, and my law suit defensiveness will want me to. Still, I will know that it is poor medicine. Indeed, I know that your particular pattern of headache, and your exam shows it to be a Common Migraine, and not a tumor, not an aneurysm, not a stroke or subdural, etc. And I know that all sorts of guidelines have been constructed, such as these. Well, you can toss the guidelines for all I care. The Barrister's recent series on error (Part 1 - Fun with the Null Hypothesis,
Part 2 - False Positives and False Negatives,
Part 3 - Risk of Inaction and Opportunity Cost) applies beautifully to modern medicine. There is almost no end to the amount of your money we can spend to try to reduce our False Negative rates - our Type 2 errors. And they will occur, regardless. It is very unpleasant to be sued. It damages a doctor's enjoyment of his art, it absorbs huge amounts of time and energy, and it damages his relationships with all of his patients. And, finally, it has nothing to do with his competence and everything to do with the greed and litigiousness of his patient. I pay 42,000/year for malpractice insurance as a GP, and I have never been sued. I know guys who pay 160,000. You are paying those bills.
We'll recycle things from the archives, but nothing new during vacation break.
Here's my final big batch of Wellfleet architecture photos. Our prayer is that Wellfleet be never yuppified, and that it remain ramshackle, weather-beaten, weedy, and perfectly imperfect. Like Nantucket, before the Beautiful People discovered it in the 1980s as an alternative to the Hamptons.
Hatch's has been there since before I was a little kid, with the same sign with a Striper eating a lobster. If you ask them to keep some Toro (Bluefin tuna belly), they will have it for you the next day, if not sooner. It's the best food in the world (flash-grilled over charcoal, not as sushi).
This grand old boathouse on the harbor is a great place to rent for the summer, but it's booked years in advance, and it ain't cheap. Yes, that is�low tide. There is water against the pilings at high tide:
�Lots more photos below the fold on continuation page -
Continue reading "Our final batch of Wellfleet photos"
Friday, August 22. 2008
That piece we posted on semi-colons this week reminded me of this one from 2 years ago: It seems like a fine thing to have a debate raging which has nothing to do with politics. Where do you stand on the pressing semicolon issue? Some love 'em, some hate 'em, and, difficult as it may be to believe, some people are actually indifferent to the subject. I happen to enjoy colons, semicolons, ellipses, dashes, parentheses, and any other things on the keyboard, but I sometimes wonder whether some of that is pure laziness, or lack of time for editing. From a piece by Butterworth in Financial Times: Big deal or not, there is really only one use of the semicolon that is “more or less mandated”, says Ben Yagoda, professor of English at the University of Delaware and author of About Town, a monumental account of The New Yorker magazine (whose history is marked by fractious debates over the placement of commas). And that is to separate series elements containing commas (for example, “The cities represented were Albany, New York; Wilmington, Delaware; and Selma, Alabama). The other principal uses, says Yagoda, are discretionary: “That is I might, with total grammatical correctness and without changing my meaning in the slightest, choose any one of the following: 1. ‘The book under review is utter hogwash; and that is why it is worth examining.’ 2. ‘The book under review is utter hogwash, and that is why it is worth examining.’ 3. ‘The book under review is utter hogwash; that is why it is worth examining.’ 4. ‘The book under review is utter hogwash. That is why it is worth examining.’” Deciding which of the four to choose is strictly a matter of sound and rhythm, says Yagoda - that is to say, personal style. “Writers who like (consciously or unconsciously) to stop and pause, and/or who are under the influence of Hemingway, choose 4. Those who like balanced rhythms might choose 3. Those aiming for a ‘transparent’ style might choose 2. And those who are a little bit enamoured with the sound of their own voice might choose 1.”
Read entire.
2008 coolest in 5 years. Too cold for my tomatoes, up here. They do not like these cold nights. Gonna get colder, too. Hey, Al Gore - mail me a new down comforter and a heater for my garden. Chavez' bridge to the 19th Century. What happens to the earth's cognitive surplus? Well, a lot of it goes into these internets, doesn't it? Kingsfield v. Bainbridge How hard is TIME pumping Obama? Seven covers! He is a media-created sensation. I guess he sells soap. Jennifer Horn for New Hampshire Evil racist videos at Classical Values "We reject the pernicious belief, commonly held at our most highly esteemed institutions, that fighting our nation's battles is someone else's job." The Corner Jim Cramer on natural gas and wind power De Toqueville on the nanny state. A subquote: It would be like the authority of a parent if, like that authority, its object was to prepare men for manhood; but it seeks, on the contrary, to keep them in perpetual childhood: it is well content that the people should rejoice, provided they think of nothing but rejoicing.
After 40 years, the Left still doesn't get the eclipse of socialism. Socialism is tricky. To enforce it and to maintain it, not only do you need some guns but you need to make sure you do not punish achievers and risk-takers to the point that they quit, or climb over the wall and leave for more hospitable shores. Of course, your Wise Leaders always get all they can get - power, babes, money, cars, houses - because they deserve it for their selfless service to the ignorant masses. And, if ignorant, ignorant because of the government schools. Too many good recent posts by AVI to link separately. Gun control: Why, it's almost enough to make someone think that gun control doesn't actually reduce violence, or do anything to instill morality in the heart of someone intent on murdering their fellow man.
Who knew?
Shit and alligators. Nice place, Florida. Caveat emptor, and quit whining and taking my money. Hollywood conservatives to rally for McCain Obama will lose "because he is a flake." Right. He cannot resist the spineless moral equivalencies, which are nothing but rationalizations for timid passivity. Are schools "social service centers"? Why not try to teach the kids math first before trying to do something more difficult? Gotta love these sorts of virtuous idiots. Pay off your conscience with $11, paid for with parents' tuitions. It's a con game. Stealth technology: The Prius is killing off all the blind people. Memo to Toyota: It would be more fun to drive if you gave it a computer-generated Harley sound-effect.
 Learn all about them, here.
 Hallmark does gay marriage
George Will on tough schools Jules is back on the job Is growing up in England as terrible as UNICEF says it is? A quote from Dalrymple's piece: Consider one British parent, Fiona MacKeown, who in November 2007 went on a six-month vacation to Goa, India, with her boyfriend and eight of her nine children by five different fathers, none of whom ever contributed financially for long to the children’s upkeep. (The child left behind—her eldest, at 19—was a drug addict.) She received $50,000 in welfare benefits a year, and doubtless decided—quite rationally, under the circumstances—that the money would go further, and that life would thus be more agreeable, in Goa than in her native Devon. Reaching Goa, MacKeown soon decided to travel with seven of her children to Kerala, leaving behind one of them, 15-year-old Scarlett Keeling, to live with a tour guide ten years her elder, whom the mother had known for only a short time. Scarlett reportedly claimed to have had sex with this man only because she needed a roof over her head. According to a witness, she was constantly on drugs; and one night, she went to a bar where she drank a lot and took several different illicit drugs, including LSD, cocaine, and pot. She was seen leaving the bar late, almost certainly intoxicated.
They're paying attention now. Noonan. One quote: An attractive, intelligent man, interesting, but—he's hard to categorize. Is he Gen. Obama? No, no military background. Brilliant Businessman Obama? No, he never worked in business. Famous Name Obama? No, it's a new name, an unusual one. Longtime Southern Governor Obama? No. He's a community organizer (what's that?), then a lawyer (boo), then a state legislator (so what, so's my cousin), then U.S. senator (less than four years!). There is no pre-existing category for him.
Obama has no position on the federal role in education? I have an opinion: it has no role whatsoever. Note to John McCain: The correct answer is "My wife owns lots of real estate, some for investment purposes. I keep out of it." Rank hypocrisy from George Soros What's up with Joe Lieberman?
Thursday, August 21. 2008
 There are some things you can get away with saying in the grand $6 million radical chic apartments of Manhattan's Upper West Side, or in professorial homes in Chicago and Cambridge - or anywhere in San Francisco.
However, in the real America, you can't say idiocy like this. The guy is so out to lunch about America that he is indeed his worst enemy. Has he ever met any regular folks like me? We don't want to be like China. Re yet another kerfuffle today, from McCain's campaign: Does a guy who made more than $4 million last year, just got back from vacation on a private beach in Hawaii and bought his own million-dollar mansion with the help of a convicted felon really want to get into a debate about houses? Does a guy who worries about the price of arugula and thinks regular people “cling” to guns and religion in the face of economic hardship really want to have a debate about who’s in touch with regular Americans? “The reality is that Barack Obama’s plans to raise taxes and opposition to producing more energy here at home as gas prices skyrocket show he’s completely out of touch with the concerns of average Americans.” Wham. Bam. Do you really want to get in an air battle with a fighter pilot? I know that the Lefty government types want me to cling to government - run by them. Most of them are medium moron shmoozers who can't hold a real job and never did anything productive with their lives. Why in the world would I cling to them? My gun can help feed me - along with my job. And my God can feed me in other ways. I do not want anybody else's money, for anything. I just want the government to leave me the heck alone to make my own way, for better or worse. That's my notion of human dignity. Have you seen dignity? Ignore continuation below - it's a glitch.
Continue reading "You can say some things...some places"
One of our top ten most often-searched posts over the past couple of years is this one: a Do-it-Yourself Test for Sociopathy. Related: A con man's story
 Fall is coming. Today's B&G recipe.
Remember: Lots of gravy greases and smooths the insides of your arteries, and helps your brain think better too.
 "American culture's overemphasis on happiness misses an essential part of a full life." Chronicle. A quote:
A recent poll conducted by the Pew Research Center shows that almost 85 percent of Americans believe that they are very happy or at least pretty happy. The psychological world is now abuzz with a new field, positive psychology, devoted to finding ways to enhance happiness through pleasure, engagement, and meaning. Psychologists practicing this brand of therapy are leaders in a novel science, the science of happiness. Mainstream publishers are learning from the self-help industry and printing thousands of books on how to be happy. Doctors offer a wide array of drugs that might eradicate depression forever. It seems truly an age of almost perfect contentment, a brave new world of persistent good fortune, joy without trouble, felicity with no penalty.
Smileyface is an abomination. Up here in Yankeeland, a smiling face means that you are probably a car salesman. Keep your inner emotions to yourself.
A sight for sore eyes, from Chequesset Neck in Wellfleet, looking across to Great Island: 
Forever young? Does American pop culture deny mortality? Gates wonders, with reference to Diana West's book.
Do Liberals prefer their blacks needy and dependent, with themselves in the role of benefactor? One Lib confesses: I have White Fright. A comment on Saddleback at Evang. Outpost: I fully expected Obama to dominate the evening. This was the sort of event that Obama and his brand (for he has been marketed as a brand) have been molded for. His easy-going demeanor and impressive rhetorical skills are ideally suited to this format, often leaving the less polished but more authentic McCain at something of a disadvantage. I was wrong. Obama's distinct failure to answer most of Warren's questions looked shoddy and unprofessional when compared to McCain's short and direct answers. While Obama gave long, rambling responses and even admitted his inability to answer the abortion question, McCain's every answer seemed to challenge Warren, as if he were thinking, 'That was hard? Is that the best you've got?' Obama is polished (though much less so at this event), but McCain is Real. The generation raised on myspace and youtube may be largely unable to make this distinction, but time will show them that Obama's digital flair cannot compare to McCain's real-life experience and convictions.
Obama wants more "programs" for "activists". Good grief. Is this 1960? How about more programs for young entrepreneurs, who will produce instead of consuming? One more time: Can we please see those records? Well, the truth will out. Obama's favorables show steady decline since winter. Is Obama running for Social Worker in Chief?
Watts says that the Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States report contains more advocacy than science: Skeptics win one. One quote from his piece: This report’s contents and the “cart before the horse” way it was produced is the biggest official “crock” perpetrated on the American public I’ve ever been privy to. On a personal note, there are days when I struggle to keep doing this, at times I think I’ll just shut down the blog, turn off the surfacestations website, and return to a normal and hassle free life. Days like this keep me going.
Wednesday, August 20. 2008
 Paying for grades in NYC. At least it isn't tax $.
Berkeley grad: "Am I diverse enough yet?" In the UK, "Sorry, old chap..." Blue Crab Obama as the new Jimmy Carter. Dick Morris. But McCain "doesn't know what he's up against," threatens Obama. Maybe he'll be tougher with McCain than he would be with the Russians or the Jihadists. Related: The odd choices in Obama's career. Related: Obama's top marginal tax rates. Related: McCain will win by 9 points. Big Lizards. Related: Annenberg-gate The White Mtns not for sissies. Neoneo A speck of light in a dumb world: Vaclav Klaus Bomb-dropping robot. Cool. Asian Long-Horned Beetle makes it to New England. That is bad news. It kills Sugar Maples. Space without the Russkis? Related: Appeasement vs. dialog Hollywood: The media made me sleep with everybody. Related: Hollywood Commies as victims. You don't have to finish your peas anymore: Obesity comes to China (h/t, And Rightly So) Soros' secret Dem slush fund. Study: Networks gave Obama the nomination. Another good argument for the old smoke-filled rooms. One quote: “At every step of his national political career, network reporters showered the Illinois Senator with glowing media coverage, building him up as a political celebrity and exhibiting little interest in investigating his past associations or exploring the controversies that could have threatened his campaign.”
From Junk Science: I must ask a very serious and urgent question of our media. Why do you continue to talk glibly about current climate ‘warming’ when it is now widely acknowledged that there has been no ‘global warming’ for the last ten years, a cooling trend that many think may continue for at least another ten years? How can you talk of the climate ‘warming’ when, on the key measures, it isn’t?
Social justice or compassionate conservatism? Olasky Moslem barbarism in Pakistan. We must learn to understand different cultures...and not make judgements. Right? Clinton backers meet with McCain people in NY Lost 700 lbs. Not skinny, yet.
Cal Thomas, via LaShawn: “Obama and others on the evangelical left see government, not individuals or the church, as the instrument by which the commands of Jesus are implemented. In such a doctrinal interpretation, government serves as a kind of “lesser God,” intruding on believers and their commission to do good works, as a means of sharing the gospel message, and concentrating not on the message, but on the implementation of the work itself, which only helps in this life, not the next.”
Right. These people want a theocracy? Americans are the most generous people on earth.
 In the aftermath of the Edwards scandal, I was considering writing a bit about male sexuality, about how it is part of male biology to desire to spread their seed far and wide, into every pretty thing they see. To win, to possess, and to enjoy.
That drive is just one more thing that makes life difficult for men: these temptations are extremely difficult to resist. Much stronger issue for guys than for gals - but the desire is not absent in gals either. But that is not exactly new information. Nor is it new information that couples make attachment committments to each other for rational as well as emotional reasons, or that humans have religion-guided consciences that elevate them a little bit above monkeys. Having realized I had nothing new to add to the subject, I'll just post this quote from Ben Stein: I am sorry that John Edwards had an affair with a campaign worker. But I am not surprised. Men like to have affairs. Men like to have sex with new women. That's just how men are and always have been.
I am not surprised that a major Presidential candidate and former V.P. nominee of a major party had an affair. Politicians are men and they have all of the yearnings and drives that other men have. They do not check their flaws and essential elements at the Capitol cloakroom.
Editor: Since we are exposing today the earth-shattering fact that men are powerfully attracted to charming and seductive females, I thought that Theo image might help drive the point home.
A tough ship: The USS New York: 
You can thank Isabella Stewart Gardner. She knew what she liked. The Tragedy of Lucretia (1501): 
McCain up by 5. Watch the $ begin to flow now. Am I my brother's keeper? Obama's brother. WTH? Lefty campaign follies. Sheesh, what immature idiots. "No you can't." Things you can't say about Obama. h/t, Vanderleun Punitive liberalism. Roger Kimball
"Real men, goes the unwritten rule of American punctuation, don't use semi-colons." That makes me feel insecure because I like to use semi-colons. Story at the Globe.
 The education of John McCain. David Brooks
Workplace discrimination against men. Dr. Helen Obama is not a radical, says Dick Morris. Compared to whom? No nudging, please. Cafe Hayek. I agree. Who are they to know what's best for me? The looney tunes target Denver The Europeanization of the Democratic Party Jesus wants us to soak the rich. Good grief. What the NYT views as a "complex attack" ATMs in Baghdad. Sounds like peace to me.
Tuesday, August 19. 2008
 We visited the Sandwich Heritage Museum on Sunday. It's a great place to do nothing. There's no fun there. We had fun, but that's a different matter. We were not subjected to the trials of fun. We brought some along with us and had it.
From Sipp who, I strongly suspect, is like me in not being a Disney World sort of processed-fun person. Or a processed cheese person - except maybe on burgers. We should do a post on processed and packaged fun sometime.
|
