We 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.
A friend asks, "Isn’t is surpassingly strange that no reporter, anywhere, has managed to track down a single survivor of the Benghazi attack for an interview?"
Probably a combination of they being kept under wraps by the State Dept., and there are not many reporters who are investigating Benghazigate.
LIVING WILL FORM I, __________, being of sound mind and body, do not wish to be kept aliveindefinitely by artificial means. Under no circumstances should my fate beput in the hands of pinhead partisan politicians who couldn't pass ninth-gradebiology if their lives depended on it, or lawyers/ doctors/ hospitals interested in simply running up the bills.
If after a reasonable amount of time passes, and I fail to ask for: (Checkappropriate items): a Martini___, a Margarita___,a Scotch and soda___,a Bloody Mary___, a beer___, a Gin and Tonic___, a Glassof Chardonnay___, a Steak___, Lobster or crab legs___, the TVremote control___, a bowl of ice cream___, the sports page___,Sex___, or Chocolate___, it should be presumed that I won't ever getany better. When such a determination is reached, I hereby instruct myappointed person and attending physicians to pull the plug, reel in thetubes, and call it a day. At this point, it is time to call the New OrleansJazz Funeral Band to come and do their thing at my funeral, and ask all ofmy friends to raise their glasses to toast the good times we have had, and others weshould have had.
Signature:_______________________Date:_________
P.S.: I hear that in Ireland there is a Nursing Home with a Pub. The patientsare happier, and they have a lot more visitors. Some of them don't even need embalming when their time comes. If anyone knows the name of this happy place, PLEASE pass it on.
Amendment #1: Should I become incapacitated as described above, DO NOT PULL THE PLUG untilafter I have voted against Barack Obama by absentee ballot in the November 2012 election.
Amendment #2: If the plug has been pulled in violation of #1 above, transport my body to Chicago so I can still vote against Barack Obama.
After the stress of jetting around the US to keep her personal gravy train rolling, where will Michelle Obama go on vacation soon after the November 6 election, when it will still be on the taxpayers' credit cards? For a clue, here's some snapshots from her photo book of her previous vacations.
Bonus question: If she and Barack have to pay themselves for their vacations, where will that be to?
Astronauts on a mission to Mars could lose nearly half their muscle strength during the long trip, giving them the physiques of senior citizens by the time they arrived, according to a new study. Prolonged exposure to weightlessness could cause astronauts to lose more than 40 percent of their muscle strength even with regular exercise, researchers said. On a long voyage, a healthy 30- to 50-year-old astronaut could end up with the strength of an 80-year-old.
A 10-month trip to Mars would cause such extreme muscle deterioration that astronauts would find it difficult to perform even routine tasks, let alone move around the Martian surface in spacesuits, according to the study, which was led by Robert Fitts of Marquette University.
And yet I found that Mars wasn't an entirely happy subject in Houston—especially among people who believe that humans, not only robots, should be exploring there.
The point is, we've had half a century to work on this problem, and apart from slapping a few treadmills around, not only have they not gained any ground, but the problems are only getting worse. As durations in space last longer and longer, more and more problems arise. Blindness occurring later in life is the latest small snag.
Then there was the day I broke so many hearts by reporting that mermaids don't exist. Rarely have I been so cruel.
Now here's the latest little dream to be shattered like glass:
A study by Western Australia's Murdoch University concluded that DNA cannot survive more than 6.8 million years - a finding that effectively rules out the tantalising prospect of replicating dinosaurs. Most dinosaurs died out about 65 million years ago.
"We've been permanently plagued by this Jurassic Park myth that's been kicking around since the early nineties," lead researcher Mike Bunce told the Sydney Morning Herald.
Yeah, well, welcome to the Hollywood Curse. Probably 50 million people believe the global warming horrors they saw in The Day After Tomorrow are real. Another 50 mil probably think the government can watch your every step via spy satellite as in Enemy Of The State. Another 50 mil probably believe President Kennedy wasn't assassinated by a lone gunman thanks to Oliver Stone's JFK. The list goes on and on.
But still, no horrific velociraptors eviscerating us with their 6-inch talons in the noonday sun, spilling our entrails onto the ground as they enjoy a tasty little snack?
It's sad, sometimes, when life doesn't imitate art.
My friend at the Mellow Jihadi is the first I've seen to suggest that the former Navy SEALs who went against orders and so bravely risked and lost all, taking down so many of the enemy, deserve to receive the Presidential Medal Of Freedom (being out of military service, the Congressional Medal Of Honor doesn't apply). Surely, as well, they should receive stars in the CIA's lobby.
My only question is whether it will be President Obama who makes the award, the hypocrisy of he doing so wouldn't faze him, or President Romney, who will in the citation reveal much that is now hidden by the Obama administration and its media lackeys.
The new China looks too much like the old one : thugocracy -- Corruption in China Isn’t Just a Local Story : “the annual 2011 Hurun report on the wealthiest Chinese reveals that the top seventy members of the National People’s Congress are worth a combined total of $89.8 billion; in contrast, the net worth of the top 660 U.S. officials is only $7.5 billion.”
Another sign that Minnesota is in play? Bill Clinton will be an active surrogate this week, campaigning in Iowa, Ohio, Virginia, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Colorado, and — you guessed it — Minnesota. The state has ten electoral votes, which would be a helpful boost for Mitt Romney, who has no easy path (although there are ways) to the White House without winning Ohio’s 18 electoral votes.
Gee whiz, it's getting breezy and blustery in Yankeeland today. Expecting to lose power to our servers any minute. If I lived near the shore, I'd throw out an anchor. But on to more interesting topics than the weather -
My pic in an oil shop in Spello, last summer. They have little paper cups for tasting. People design their own blends:
My lad quipped yesterday, as I was dressing the salad I had brought for Dad's birthday, "America needs to free itself from dependence on imported olive oil."
I was using a super-special oil I had smuggled home from Umbria along some of my precious but tiny supply of 25 year-old Balsamic that friends gave us as a dinner gift.
- As with wine in the past, California olive oil is now competing with Europe's finest.
- The fresher it is, the tastier and more fragrant. We use a lot of it here.
- To really taste it, dip a piece of bread in it - or just sip it to taste it as housewives and chefs do in Italy in the oil shops.
- For salads and for dressing cooked vegetables (eg asparagus, spinach, cauliflower, carrots, raw tomatoes, etc, with or without garlic), use the best you can get. For cooking, I don't think it matters too much but gourmets would dispute that.
- Costco's house brand oil (Kirkland) is much better than any supermarket brand for an everyday oil. It comes from their Tuscan orchards. Naturally, Dean & DeLuca has good oils. Cold-pressed extra virgin.
- High-end Italian oils are often blends of olive varieties from neighboring orchards. Reminds me that I have a friend who owns an olive orchard in Greece on a hill overlooking the Aegean, and each year he ships home 100 small casks of his own orchard's first pressing to give friends as Christmas presents. Nice.
- Do not dress a salad until immediately before it is to be offered. Also, never serve a salad with a meal. Only before. There are many good reasons for that.
- Do you prefer red wine vinegar to Balsamic? The store stuff is terrible. Make your own. When you drink a bottle of decent red wine, leave an inch or two in the bottle if you have the moral fortitude to do so, stick the cork back on top lightly or leave it off, and put it in the pantry. In a couple of weeks, it's good wine vinegar. The better the vino, the better the flavor. It's possible to go overboard with this.
- As I posted a while ago, Balsamic Vinegar is not really vinegar. Here's my post on that topic.
Here's how we make and dress a simple Italian-style, home-style salad: Buttercrunch or Boston Lettuce, thinly sliced bell peppers - all 4 colors, red onion quartered then sliced thin, 1" tomato chunks. Then I drizzle a little balsamic over it - not too much - and toss gently. Then I drizzle the oil over it, season with salt and pepper, and toss gently again. Always the vinegar before the oil.
For fancy dinners, plain frizze or mache with balsamic and oil.
Storm stuff: Yesterday, we all gave my Dad a good birthday party, had good fun tossing a football around, took a long autumn walk with my sibs, spouses, kids and the dogs, and then packed Mom and Dad off to one of my sisters' houses over in northern Connecticut so they will have some help when the power inevitably does down. I am parking my car up the road in a spot with no trees to fall on it, and so I don't get blocked in by big fallen trees. Got gas and oil for the chain saw, though. I love harvesting free firewood. Also, tipped over everything outdoors that could be damaged by wind. Daughter and Yorkie got out of NYC because her building on the Hudson River was evacuated. Last but not least, switched my office phone to link over to my iPhone. Hope it's not a big dud.
Obama’s strategy, says Heileman, is built around the idea that he can win with a coalition of the “demographically ascendent,” African Americans, Hispanics, women, and young people. To a degree, the bad economy has pushed Obama toward this approach. The obvious hope is that economic weakness can be countered by appeals to socially liberal women and young people on cultural issues. But don’t underestimate the extent to which this strategy is a deliberate decision that could have gone otherwise, as the behind-the-scenes opposition of some Democrats indicates. Obama is clearly willing to abandon centrist voters and place his own likeability at risk for the sake of creating a socially and economically liberal Democratic coalition that would allow him to govern securely from the left.
and
...if you’re feeling disappointed, insulted, or left out by Obama’s campaign of trivialities and low blows, it’s fair to say the effect was intentional — or at least that Obama was willing to risk offending you for the sake of something he wanted much more.
The president is going for broke. He wants to govern from the left and ignore the center. His top strategists promised a campaign that would permit this, and that’s the campaign Obama has delivered. Noticed that Obama has actually doubled down on this strategy when he still might have tried a last-minute pivot to the middle. That’s how badly Obama wants to abandon the center and take this country to the left.
We tend to lose power and all other utilities with storms. If this is like the past, it could take days to restore utilities. I just heard on the radio that utility bucket truck convoys are already heading east from Iowa. Thanks, Iowa.
This storm is huge - only Cat 1 but possibly the largest storm, in area affected, ever seen in the North Atlantic. I'd get out of low-lying coastal areas about now, from the south coast of Cape Cod through Jersey due to the predicted storm surges. I'd get out of river flood plains too. This storm will plow well inland after it goes feet dry.
We recently posted a report of the closing of the last brownstone quarry in the US. Manhattan and Brooklyn have tons of old brownstone buildings, commonly entire blocks of them. Some people like the look and some do not, but it is not a very durable building stone.
I stumbled on this brownstone for sale on the Upper West Side (87th St, just off the Park). If I were a rich guy, I'd enjoy owning a place like this with the top floor used as living quarters for the help. Like most buildings from the era (1850-1910), each brownstone has a garden out back. Looks great from theoutside, but if you look at the video you'll hate what they did inside when converting it to apartments.
For every 100 industrial workers in December 2010, there were 73 “workers” receiving disability payments. Between January 2010 and December 2011, the U.S. economy created 1.73 million nonfarm jobs — but almost half as many (790,000) workers became disability recipients. This trend is not a Great Recession phenomenon: In the 15 years ending in December 2011, the United States added 8.8 million nonfarm private sector jobs — and 4.1 million workers on disability rolls.
10:46 They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside.
10:47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"
10:48 Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"
10:49 Jesus stood still and said, "Call him here." And they called the blind man, saying to him, "Take heart; get up, he is calling you."
10:50 So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus.
10:51 Then Jesus said to him, "What do you want me to do for you?" The blind man said to him, "My teacher, let me see again."
10:52 Jesus said to him, "Go; your faith has made you well." Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.
I read in Mayflower about how the Pilgrims were astonished by the woodland autumn blaze of color. Europe doesn't have this. The storm will probably remove this year's magnificent display prematurely.
He also mentioned that America has 30 million Mayflower descendants. Not an exclusive club.
Wherever I go I hope there's rum! Think we'll just stay put and stand in awe of God and nature's power.
Jimmy's relentless good cheer is a blessing. It's a gift to the world, and I'd like all Maggie's Farmers to try to spread such good cheer and positivity to everybody in their lives. I try to do that all day long despite my innate Yankee reserve and crankiness.
Volcano, but same idea. However, I don't mind landing in no New York City. Love it despite being a country boy. Our gal Marianne did too.
This is for people using Internet Explorer on a 64-bit Windows 7 system. Everyone else, please skip to the next post. If you're not sure if you have a 32- or 64-bit system, right-click on 'Computer' and open Properties.
Internet Explorer remains an excellent browser, and, according to the tests I've made with online speed test sites, it outperforms Firefox, Chrome and Opera. I tried it again last night with SpeedTest, MegaPath and BandwidthPlace. As we say in the broadband biz, your mileage may vary.
IE's one big problem is that it opens links, like on the Desktop or in email, to a half-screen-size window. AutoSizer solves this annoying little problem by expanding Internet Explorer windows to full-screen size. It can do this with any program, and can also open small programs, like Calculator, in the center of the screen.
The problem is that it doesn't work on 64-bit Windows 7 systems. For those of you in this dire predicament, I have solved this mighty poser.
Tides are not all that easy to understand. For example, can you explain why there are no tides at the equator? It's complicated because the earth revolves and rotates, the moon revolves on an angle to the equator, and then there's the sun too. Lots of moving parts. Plus local factors.
My need to refresh my understanding arises because hurricane Sandy, who will likely be visiting the northeast somewhere between Chesapeake Bay and Boston at the end of this weekend, is coming during a full moon - the Hunter's Moon as the redskin Injuns termed it.
(The latest tracking guesses show it mostly missing New England and turning inland somewhere between Delmarva and Jersey. Meteorologists love this sort of unusual weather event. I heard one on the radio saying that he had always wondered why conditions were so rare for a storm to make a left turn due to a low cold front sucking in a storm. The Weather Nerd is following things, and posted this pic showing the Clash of Titans - the polar cold front and Sandy:)
Full Moons indicate that the moon and the sun are on the same side of the earth, illuminating the moon, and New Moons when they are pulling from opposite sides. Thus both of these phases exaggerate the tidal effect by combining lunar with solar gravity. They're called Spring Tides.
In Maggie's Farm's part of the world, high tide and low tide vary from 6-10' in each tide change, and increase around 20% during Spring Tides. Thus a storm surge during a Spring Tide is likely to cause more damage and flooding to structures (ie, structures which are built where they don't belong in the first place - on coastal beaches, waterfronts, flood plains, and on old marshes covered with a thin layer of fill back before the laws were changed).
Storm surges in New England, whether from Nor'easters or the occasional hurricane, can be 5-10 feet above high tide. A very large or slow-moving storm can effect more than one tide cycle.
Re storm prep, I fetched a fresh bottle of Dalwhinnie, some smokes, charcoal for cooking, good veggies to grill, and I topped off my gas can for the chain saw so I don't get trapped here by fallen trees and limbs. Firewood? Check. My ancient, second-hand diesel generator seems to be on the blink, but we can cope. Sometimes it will start if I kick it in the kidneys while pushing the button.
Meanwhile, I eagerly await the first lunatic to blame the storm on global warmingclimate change HotColdWetDry, as the Pirate terms it.
Barack Obama may win or lose the election in ten days, but, in either case, he will emerge much diminished by the sort of disgusting, mendacious, fear-mongering, low-life campaign he has run. A new low for the Presidency.
Watching the final debate, the more I considered Barack Obama's deplorably non-presidential affect and attitude; his reliance on corny, crudely-made zingers; and his almost pathological string of lies and distortions, the more it struck me that, at some level, he knows this is over. His speeches since then show an edge that belies the old “No Drama Obama” who was going to heal the bitter partisan divisions of the past.
The aura of a losing campaign is unique...
and
Romney is drawing astounding crowds at event after event – Denver's Red Rocks event was at standing-room only and over 25,000 people were turned away. This story is repeated almost daily: Romney is drawing the kind of crowds Barack Obama pulled in 2008. The momentum isn'ta bluff or a headfake; Republicans are lit up in the same way they were in 2010. It's happening in Florida, Ohio, Colorado, Nevada and all the battleground states.
Obama is largely reduced to trawling college campuses for political jailbait, stroking the shreds of his coalition in the increasingly desperate hope of getting at least a few salvageable video clips out of each day. Big Bird, binders, and bayonets don't comprise a sweeping vision of a second Obama term and it shows. Vice-President Malaprop wanders Ohio diners, touching people's food and getting biker chicks to sit in his lap. It's a campaign in trouble, and they know it.
Over the last four years, Obama’s faithful could and did blame third parties — the banks, the rich, Bush, Congress, Israel, the tea party, the Olympic committee, etc. — for nearly all of the president’s failures. They were fighting for themselves as much as they were fighting for Obama. But many gave up the fight on October 3.
One myth I handily destroyed in an article a while back was the possibility of space travel. And I don't mean this garbage:
Crew of tall ship HMS Bounty 
New Yorkers and New York lovers 
This is for people using Internet Explorer on a 64-bit Windows 7 system. Everyone else, please skip to the next post. If you're not sure if you have a 32- or 64-bit system, right-click on 'Computer' and open Properties.
Tides are not all that easy to understand. For example, can you explain why there are no tides at the equator? It's complicated because the earth revolves and rotates, the moon revolves on an angle to the equator, and then there's the sun too. Lots of moving parts. Plus local factors.
