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.
Good grief. Has any single model prediction been realized? NYC and San Francisco real estate has never been more insane, so clearly nobody is frightened by water. Al Gore's new San Fran mansion is only a couple of feet above sea level but maybe it's an investment in future valuable ocean bottom. Nobody really believes any of this. Pure fear tactics for the low-information citizens who do not read.
Living in the Northeastern US, we pray for globalistical warmening but it never comes. Nice and warm today though, with a coolish breeze.
Via Pirate, a fearless human female (a climate model) daring to approach a beach:
ABC's ’08 Prediction: NYC Under Water from Climate Change By June 2015 -
See more at:
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/scott-whitlock/2015/06/12/flashback-abcs-08-prediction-nyc-under-water-climate-change-june#sthash.rnRtVJyK.dpuf
A friend of mine who absolutely loves Obama enjoys sharing little things with friends via Facebook and email. I've put a few below the fold, though I'm still searching for the one which claims that Obama lowered unemployment, increased the stock market to record highs, and lowered gas prices to recent lows. That one was a hoot.
They are factoids which support the concept that Obama is a good, gracious, and successful president despite claims to the otherwise.
By the same token, this same person (and many others like him) continually complain about the 'state of the economy' and how 'corporations are ruining the US' and how we're still plagued with high unemployment and poverty.
I suppose they can make the claims they make because they believe if Obama had the full support of the nation and Congress, these things would finally be 'taken care of' and we'd all live in Candyland.
But it doesn't square. These folk are deluded enough to say the things they say, and make no mistake - none of the facts used are untrue, they are merely out of context and misunderstood by the dopes who use them (to be fair, I've seen plenty of similar stuff by Republicans, and the information used just as poorly). Yet if things are just so dandy, what else does Obama need to really 'fix'? That's what I don't understand. These people are incapable of leaving well enough alone. Once you've got something working, you don't keep fiddling with it. That is, if you actually assume the economy is working. I don't. It's functioning. Sort've. You can't really shut down an economy, it just shifts its activities to more profitable and easier methods. So yes, the economy continues to function despite the damage Obama has done. Measurements are just data. They don't tell you about the health of the economy. These fools have misconstrued momentary data for meaningful analysis, and completely missed out on the fact that correlation is not causation.
Commenter there: What the Times hopes is that the smarter people amongst the Left base realize that people like Rubio and Walker appeal to the public partly because they aren't elitist douche-bags. Being "born in a log cabin" has a long history of being an effective back story in America and Rubio and Walker both have plenty of that in its modern incarnation.
The Average Joe’s Proviso - Surprising numbers of white working-class voters will support the Democratic agenda—if Democrats promise to reform the government that would carry it out.
Democrats might want to re-think a counter-productive strategy of highlighting Rubio for being so middle-class, still residing in his childhood neighborhood near his mother in a 2,700-square foot home with four children and buying himself a boat for family outings.
Many American voters might just identify more with that lifestyle over a woman who admits not having driven a car in almost 20 years, you know, because of all the chauffeurs.
Based on a request in the comments from my Cinque Terre post, I thought I'd put something together on Lake Trasimeno.
My visit to the lake was very short, but deliberate. I had a full day of history in Rome at the Forum, Colosseum, Circus Maximus, and Catacombs. My family is not fond of 'history' or 'battle' vacations, so I decided the best way to handle this was to pack it into the drive from Florence to Rome. On that drive, we first stopped at Siena, and spent several hours walking the beautiful streets of this city. Siena was too short, and worthy of a separate post altogether. But for me, the visit meant we were only an hour from Lake Trasimeno, which was 15 minutes out of our way on the final ride to Rome.
As a result, it was easy convincing everyone that dad could have one more slice of history pie.
Along the way, I told the story of Hannibal and the battle, and why it was so significant. First, it was the largest ambush in history, and remains so. Second, it was one of the first examples of a military turning movement. Finally, it was a decisive victory for the Carthaginians, wiping out two entire Roman legions by a factor of at least six Romans to one Carthaginian. However, some estimates put this ratio at 11 to 1.
"Pain is the feeling of weakness leaving your body."
I am not so sure about that.
My trainer told me that it would take about three months of 6-7 day/week work to get me past the initial "wake-up" Phase 1 of Middle-Age Boot Camp - Getting Fit For Life With a Touch of Grey.
I do not know what Phase 2 is but I can fit into my 20 year-old Brooks tux.
He agrees with my view that physical training is to fully enjoy and participate in life, and not for its own sake. He also understands that physical training is partly mental training in discipline and maximum effort. I need the external discipline.
I am about 2 months in. I am sore and tired every day. My lower back is hating me, crippling me, and my multiple right shoulder injury (body surfing after hurricane on Martha's Vineyard + skiing tree injury + past bad-technique weight-lifting) is a constant dull ache. It's all good but I dread picking up anything from the floor. I do Mon, Weds, and Fri with him, and the other days mostly aerobics and crunches per his instructions. Move vigorously every day and walking doesn't count. He increases my weights each week and takes pleasure in my progress. Or pretends to.
I've lost 8 lbs while gaining some strength and muscle mass and a bit more endurance on exertion. He expects his people to follow his spartan training dietary regime, min. carbs except blueberries/strawberries or a half apple, 3 or 4 small proteins during the day, vegs as desired. I still have a slight inner tube which may be a permanent part of my anatomy. Do I enjoy this discipline and exertion? Not really. Like everybody, I like to do "whatever I feel like." However, I like challenges and tend to rise to them. That's how I have achieved my modest goals in life thus far so it has always worked for me.
He pushes me to the breaking point. I know it's for my own good and that doing "what I feel like" rarely has good results in life. Squats? How many kinds are there? Sheesh. I hate them all. Pain.
Difficult aerobic endurance on days "off" is a tough challenge for me. 10 min elliptical, ten min bike, ten min rowing machine (no rest time, all with resistance), then around it again. Then you are supposed to be able to walk. No, I still cannot do ten min on the elliptical rapidly, at the 6 setting. I am in terrible condition I guess - but I can walk all day long without steep hills. Hiking uphill for a couple of hours fatigues me and I do not want to accept that.
My darn siblings hike up the White Mtns. almost every weekend, swim miles, and run half-marathons. But they are nuts...or maybe not. None of them even contemplate retirement and neither do I.
I greatly enjoy the Marine Corp boot camp posts as we did yesterday, or any other of the US military boot camp Youtubes. "Customs and courtesies"? For sure. Some people do not seem to learn these at home.
I do understand that it is a form of rapid, rigorous education and job training but it is also man- (or woman-) building. I could have needed that, but my Dad was my DI in life. Tough SOB and never satisfied. Tough love all the way. That creates a love-hate thing, quite normal and good. Have to be tough and demanding to make a boy a man and a girl a woman. Even if they hate it, it's a life-long inner support system.
Should our high schools and higher ed instill more demands and discipline instead of more comforts and leisure pools? I think so. American ed could learn a lot from the USMC. American education pampers the kids with sensitivity and comforts, leaving them unready for tough demands of the real world and with little knowledge of the customs and courtesies of adulthood.
Is it too triggering? Few college profs have the satisfaction that those DIs have.
Hiking into a deep valley on a Pacific Crest Trail Spur, you unexpectedly encounter a stone Victorian built by the old Mark Hopkins family (Central Pacific RR) at the end of a rough dirt track 10 miles from asphalt. Those American entrepreneurs had an amazingly bold sense of adventure!
If
you aren’t terrified yet, wait until they start applying these lunatic
principles to surgeons and airline pilots. - See more at:
http://moonbattery.com/?p=59338#sthash.xsRYZDnX.dpuf
Being of limited means while I have two young men attending university, my vacations tend to be rather short or local. Four days to Florida or Bermuda, maybe bring the wife along on a business trip if it's somewhere nice such as Palm Springs, or perhaps just a staycation. Our last big vacation was Ireland in 2007, with the boys, for two weeks. During the intervening period, the wife and I both read City of Falling Angels by John Berendt, a true story of his stay in Venice shortly after the fire which destroyed La Fenice, the opera house. He detailed the story of Venice, how the city operates, and all the good and bad which goes along with it. We determined Venice was to be our next big vacation, or at least part of it. 2015 was the year when our frequent flier and hotel points had reached a point we could do this rather inexpensively, so we took advantage.
We are a week returned from two weeks in Italy, during which we visited Rome, took an overnight train to Venice, rented a car and drove to Verona, then Rappallo, stopped in the Cinque Terre, stayed at a Tuscan resort in Barga, spent a day in Lucca, spent an hour in Pisa (which is all you really need, in my opinion) and then finished up with three days in Florence. On our final drive down to Rome, we spent 3 hours in Siena, then took a 30 minute side trip to Lake Trasimeno (being a history buff, I had to see the battlefield where Hannibal decisively defeated the Romans, losing only 1 man to every 10 of the Romans).
When I returned to the office, the first question most people had was "Which city was your favorite?" Florence and Venice, obviously, were amazing. But I'd opt for the Cinque Terre.
While not technically a city, it was far and away the most beautiful and wonderful place we saw.
Re the Monty Python "Call me Loretta" posted below, I want to change my body too. I want to be 3" taller, I want 25 lbs. of truly disgusting daddy-fat gone, I want perfect teeth, I want 3" in length and 1" in girth added to my pepperoni, I want to be able to bench 200 lbs. And I want to be 20 years younger and handsomer too with a powerful chin and a bigger nose. (Secret fantasy: I really want to be black and to be an NBA star, but I do not want to over-ask.)
So is that too much to ask for? Am I mentally-disordered? Is it Body Integrity Disorder? Do I need government to fix me? Or is the only thing that is ok now for guys to desire is to be castrated into eunuchs?
What do you readers want to make yourself feel just right?
Kate Upton
Colonial Williamsburg
Las Vegas Strip Club Posts Ads Seeking High School Graduates: ‘Pay Your Way Through College’
Image via 
Re the Monty Python "Call me Loretta" posted below, I want to change my body too. I want to be 3" taller, I want 25 lbs. of truly disgusting daddy-fat gone, I want perfect teeth, I want 3" in length and 1" in girth added to my pepperoni, I want to be able to bench 200 lbs. And I want to be 20 years younger and handsomer too with a powerful chin and a bigger nose. (Secret fantasy: I really want to be black and to be an NBA star, but I do not want to over-ask.)