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Maggie's FarmWe are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for. |
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Friday, December 31. 2010Dr. John and Davell CrawfordThese two NOLA piano-men did a few duets at the festive event I went to a couple of weeks ago. Yes, including Iko Iko and Let The Good Times Roll. Good to see Dr. John - hadn't seen him perform in many years, but I always enjoyed that cranky SOB. Found this duet on Youtube:
![]() Broccoli?Last I heard, there is still a debate about whether Broccoli is good for you, or whether it is a cancer risk. At Pajamas, Can Congress Make You Buy Broccoli? I am not from the government, but I advise you to enjoy your champagne, and to have a happy and prosperous 2011 despite all the Lefty nonsense we all have to put up with. Little Gidding for New Year's EveA few lines from Eliot's magnificent No. 4 of The Four Quartets, "Little Gidding": What we call the beginning is often the end We shall not cease from exploration Orderly and non-spontaneous expressionOur family likes de Kooning, so we'll probably go to the the current show at the MOMA. Here's a brief review of Abstract Expressionist New York. I am still annoyed that we missed the Kandinsky show at the Guggenheim - lines to get in were always too long for me. Even if I don't really get Jackson Pollock, we'll get a very good lunch someplace. Bad recommendationsThere was an amusing short book a few years ago about how to write ambiguous lawsuit-proof recommendations for people in whom one had little confidence. One of my favorites lines this one: "You will be very fortunate if you can get him to work for you." This one, via Wizbang, might not be law-proof: "Works well when under constant supervision and cornered like a rat in a trap." Off topic, but I heard an amusing ambiguity on the radio news this week: "This holiday season, people spent more money than they had since 2006." New skis, new boots, same old attitude
Skiing and hunting - and drinks by the fire - are the blessings of winter. Too bad I don't play Paddle, because that's another one of those winter blessings. Headed up north right now to Killington with a gang of pals with wives and/or girlfriends, for a merry weekend. We were going to do Sugarloaf, but decided against that drive. We have a Par-tay house, and one of our gang is happily in the program so we always have a fully-sober and emotionally-mature driver. HNY to our readers. New Year's Eve links
Am Thinker: Manmade famine in America WaPo: 'Don't ask, don't tell' has been repealed. ROTC still shouldn't be on campus. What's the next excuse? Related: Elis for ROTC Princeton has ROTC. Why not Yale? Speaking only for myself, though, I'd rather be led into a firefight by a Lieut. from SMU than one from Princeton or Yale. Jonah: The moral mush of pacifism Busy With Afghanistan, the U.S. Military Has No Time to Train for Big Wars Herbert London on The Mullen War Strategy Send in the social workers! An Ivy League epiphany on charity and taxes Hmmm. Why don't they want to donate to the US Treasury? Will: China has seen the future, and it is coal Commies love cheap energy Thursday, December 30. 2010New for 2011: Foam Fighting!The promo:
Do foam or silicone breasts count as unfair advantage? Davell CrawfordAlso performing at the cool event I attended: Davell Crawford, with the Davell Crawford Singers (a 25-person NOLA gospel group). I had a nice chat with Davell afterwards. His grandpa wrote Iko Iko. This is the only bit I could find on YouTube.
Public Sector Pensions Cost 6X Social Security PayoutsCalculating the unsustainable:
Faith and ReasonAll about monotheism, Abraham, and a mental experiment creating religion amnesia: How Did God Get Started? One quote from the lengthy essay by Colin Wells:
TMS for refractory major depressionTranscranial magnetic stimulation. I am only recently hearing about this new thing. I don't know whether it sounds more like voodoo or more like light shock treatment. It is said to work for some, but I wonder how much is placebo effect. Psychiatrists are setting up centers to provide this. It is very expensive. California Dreamin'Via Bernard Goldberg's Trials and Errors:
Crazy CanucksSnow blind
At Watts, Terence Kealey: What Does Climategate Say About Science? It's a good brief history of how science works. A quote:
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Thursday morning links
A Plague of Pigs in Texas - Now numbering in the millions, these shockingly destructive and invasive wild hogs wreak havoc across the southern United States Via Hot Air, Delaying Sex Makes Better Relationships, Study Finds Hewitt: Obama's EPA and the 2012 Elections Rauh and Novy-Marx: The crisis in local government pensions in the US NYC babies complain about the snow: "I'm Angry Too": Mayor Mike on City's Snow Response Reason: Carbon Rationing By Other Means Examiner: As governments go broke, public employee unions must share the pain GREEN SCOTLAND Relies on French Nuclear Power During Deep Freeze Via Insty, Lunchbox mix-up leads to charges for Sanford teen Stossel: Please Stop "Helping" Us Via Powerline:
Examiner: A truce in culture wars as voters focus on economy Voters flee to states with less government intrusion Am Spectator on government medical care: Is It a Right or Isn't It? Michelle: Un-merry Christmas from the ACLU The ACLU was co-opted by the radical Left years ago. Sad. Global Warming Skeptic Predicts Brutal Winter, Warns “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” Wednesday, December 29. 2010Trombone ShortyAnother NOLA performer I saw over the holidays was this dude Trombone Shorty, with his band, Orleans Avenue:
How British people greet you at HeathrowSocially-engineering EngineeringA quote from the piece at The Pope Center:
Social equality and income equalityI always thought America was about some sort of social equality where all had equal rights and human dignity. Equality of wealth and income is another whole kettle of fish. A good piece by Kaus in Newsweek:
It's worth reading. One of the constants I find in Lefty writings (not in Kaus) is the assumption that wealth and income is zero-sum, like slices of a pie. That is, that there is a set total amount of income and/or wealth in the world. Whether they write that way to fool the ignorant, or really believe it, I do not know. I suspect the former. More necessary info on chimney firesFrom the Chimney Safety Institute of America. Even if you rarely use it, have it checked regularly. Birds, animals, or leaves could make an obstruction up there, leading to a fire.
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Reagan would be ROFL?The launch event for a year to commemorate the 100th anniversary of President Ronald Reagan's birth, February 6, 1911, is the first-ever float in the New Years Day Rose Bowl Parade honoring a US President. There are "replicas of 11 black-and-white photos of moments in Reagan's life, and those photos have been constructed by hand out of onion seed, poppy seed and rice....There's also a replica of the statue of Reagan now at the U.S. Capital, made of flax seeds." Awesome legal letter
A classic legal exchange
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