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.
It is a mystery as to why Planned Parenthood seems so much in favor of single teens raising children. Seems obvious to me that the "root cause" is kids having sex and not going to Planned Parenthood. One quote from MacDonald:
Even were it the case that poverty indeed causes teen pregnancy, crime, or any of the other destructive behaviors that the advocates claim are economically determined, surely it is better to tell children and teens that they have the power to determine their own fate through hard work and self-control, rather than sending the message that society expects them to fail.
The gun-control activists drew the wrong lesson from Newtown as they drew the wrong lessons from WW2 and September 11. The lesson is not that weapons are bad, the lesson is that people in the grip of evil ideas are capable of unimaginable horrors regardless of the tools at their disposal. A single man can kill a classroom full of children with a gun and a few men can kill thousands with a few box cutters. It isn’t the tool that matters. It’s the man.
One of my intrepid skiing friends took a long weekend to Alta last weekend. It's a quick and easy trip from the east coast.
This guy likes to hike and traverse off the reservation to find untracked powder and challenging spots. Attracted to signs saying "You are outside the ski area." Seems happy to hike uphill with the skis on his backpack.
There are several wonderful things about legal training, but the best is its versatility. Legal training is a useful background for almost any ambitious endeavor.
Under Obamacare, more and more doctors are becoming employees of large hospitals, where there will be more control over how they practice medicine. Hoover Institution Senior Fellow Dr. Scott Atlas fears this will cause a brain drain in medicine. "Really smart people want autonomy, and when you take that away it's naive to think you're going to get really bright people becoming doctors," says Atlas. "The best doctors could excel at any profession, so why go into medicine if they won't have the opportunity to be their best?"
The people interviewed practice the same way I, and plenty of my colleagues, practice. No insurance, and thus no back office staff and low overhead. No boss, practice exactly the way I want to as I decide with my patients.
Apparently Chagnon's field research did not support Marxist interpretations of stone-age tribal behavior, so he was attacked and smeared. Is there a Marxist interpretation for academia's tribal warfare against Chagnon?
Of course, Edward O. Wilson got some of the same treatment, but not quite as diabolical, for his work on sociobiology. There are lots of Thought Police in academia.
The Cruelty of the Hook-Up Culture - At least one Duke University staff member is acutely aware of the problems of casual sex on campus.
First World Financial Problems: Do college or retirement savings come first? How much of my huge cash stockpile should I spend while working on a startup?
Although curbing obesity is the official rationale for restricting beverage servings, the city planned to make exceptions for drinks that have more calories per ounce than soda, such as fruit juices, milk shakes and beer. The exemption for milk-based beverages meant that Starbucks customers could order, say, a Venti White Hot Chocolate with whole milk and whipped cream (640 calories) but not a venti black coffee with four teaspoons of sugar (60 calories). A 20-ounce Coca-Cola, which the city would ban outright from food service establishments, has 243 calories.
The tenured radicals turned learning into a political enterprise of propaganda for young, malleable minds. It is disgusting, deceitful, and has nothing to do with education.
It's time for us to humble ourselves with our quarterly request that people who enjoy Maggie's Farm, all around the world, send the link to our site to all of their friends, relatives, neighbors, enemies, clients, bosses - heck, send it to your entire email address list. Some of them might enjoy us.
And if you have a website, feel free to let your readers know we exist. As readers already know, our only reward for our effort is a growing readership.
We cover all sorts of topics: food, natural history, politics, hunting, conservation, art, movies, economics, books, travel - you name it.
Besides being an eclectic and relatively-meaty site, we are not mainly a political site. We tend to post whatever is on our minds. We are freedom-oriented, for sure. Why some people view freedom as "right-wing" is beyond our comprehension because we were taught that freedom from State power was Liberal.
I think people of any political persuasion - especially Communists - can benefit from our rock-ribbed, independent, skeptical, and well-armed New England Yankee view of life which always questions authority and its motives, and always trusts the good sense of the common folk of which we proudly count ourselves members.
Sad to say, we are blocked in China. Subversive? Us? The Chinese mandarins could learn things here.
Photo is one of the Maggie's fact-checkers on siesta break in the hayloft. Greenies would also surely appreciateour home mini-nuke power plant in the basement of the farm.Bought it at Home Depot, fresh yellowcake fuel from Libya, via FedEx. Our enslaved field mice run the thing and it is protected by fierce Woodchucks armed with Pop Tart firearms.
“Do you think if you raised people so that you make a school counselor to available to them in cased they’ve been traumatized by someone who was nibbled a Pop Tart into the shape of a gun — do you think if they’re ever called upon to get out those ships and the storm the beaches of Normandy, do you think they’re going to be up to that? ‘Oh no look, the Germans, they’re all holding Pop Tarts! AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!’ No society can survive this level of stupidity. These small things are not small. They tell you a lot about the institutionalized stupidity of our institutions.”
Pop tarts worry me because you never know what they might be loaded with. Strawberry jam is dangerous.
In the public education world, it's considered a promotion to get out of daily teaching.
When I went to prep (boarding) school, all of the administrators taught at least one course, including the Headmaster and the coaches. My Headmaster taught Calc. - and, being an Episcopalian priest, also conducted the daily chapel service where he taught the word of God. Preaching to adolescents works, but it takes about 20 years to sink in.
A good guy. Eagle Scout, US Army vet. He had pet otters that followed him around campus. He was also the Varsity Hockey coach, had been Captain of the Harvard team in his youth. We had serious hockey. He checked me quite hard one time in a student vs. faculty game. Three outdoor rinks, and one under a roof. Each faculty person also had to coach a sport, but we had tons of intramural sports. A daily sport was required of all. Morning classes, afternoon athletics, then chapel, dinner, and study hall. A Spartan life-style, with no chicks around for distraction other than the deliciously-appealing and refined faculty wives with whom we all fell in love.
Mrs. BD and I went down to NYC yesterday to see The Pearl Theater Company's production of Part 1. Matinee, sold out house.
Their new digs are way over on the west end of 42nd St. We admire their efforts to run an acting company with its own theater, given the competition with hundreds of Off-Broadway and Off-Off Broadway theaters in NYC, very few with their own acting companies. (Along with the Classic Stage Company, we support them with modest donations.)
I am amazed by the number of fancy apartment towers that have emerged in that once-seedy area - "Hell's Kitchen" district, more or less. Used to be all street hookers and drug dealers, and now it's parents with kids in strollers with their dogs, even in the evening:
Over an early northern Italian dinner at the tiny, cozy Gallo Nero, Mrs. BD and I discussed whether the play - chock full of eternal quotes (eg "If all the year were playing holidays, To sport would be as tedious as to work" - is a coming of age play, or a comedy featuring Falstaff with some sword-fights and wars for tension.
My theory is that Shakespeare was an entertainer, a screenwriter, who would do anything to sell tickets. Throw in some sword fights, family conflicts, a king and some nobles, some thieves, a jester, a tavern wench, some human emotions, and see what happens. Just happened to be a genius writer/thinker too. When he made enough money (and he made plenty), he just retired from theater.
Despite the obnoxious Nanny Bloomberg, NYC sure seems to be thriving, clean, cheerful, safe, and busy. Just a wonder to me, always. So many good-looking people, too. If I were a little rich, I'd buy a brownstone there somewhere, rent out the top 2 floors, and keep the garden floor and the first floor as a pied a terre. That would be fun. We country and suburban folk need an escape once in a while, an escape to where the action is. Gee whiz, I really do love banging around Manhattan and I am fortunate to have a Mrs. who drags me in at least monthly, or more, to do interesting, stimulating things to prevent mental/cultural/spiritual decay.
Around here, we have seen many older people retire by buying a 6-month + 1 day place in a low tax state (FL, NH, SC, etc) and a place in the city. I like to remain rooted in my community, but I think that sounds cool.
By the way, Mrs. BD strongly recommends the series In Search of Shakespeare on Netflix. Enjoyable.
How to win 
The Obamacare Revolt: 
It's time for us to humble ourselves with our quarterly request that people who enjoy Maggie's Farm, all around the world, send the link to our site to all of their friends, relatives, neighbors, enemies, clients, bosses - heck, send it to your entire email address list. Some of them might enjoy us.
