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.
Always show up. Cocktail parties, neighborhood parties, church, weddings, funerals, club events, professional meetings, interviews, volunteering, community activities and events.
Even if these things are not your cup of tea - which, for many guys, they are not - at least one good thing comes out of each attendance. I guarantee it. This is not a mercenary attitude. It's an attitude of connection and respect. Except for funerals, I always go somewhat grudgingly because I am naturally taciturn without much to say but I am never sorry that I did "suit up and show up," and at least tried to be engaging and humorous.
I bring this up because I have had several highly serendipitous encounters in the past couple of weeks which have been good fun for me and will be helpful to my kids' lives.
My life, and the lives of our kids, would be quite different if they, and I, did not apply the Woody Allen theory: "70% of success is showing up." My second great job came from a random show-up, and our dearest friends today came from random meets in friendly surroundings.
Come to think of it, meeting the future Mrs. BD was highly random and would never have occurred under normal circumstances. That was good, because otherwise the mate might have been a more socially-predictable and ultimately boring one. One must make space to let serendipity happen.
...but along the way, decided to try singing lessons too.
Besides hitting his notes (his "Cs" which my ear has trouble appreciating), I especially enjoy his ability to switch from attack mode - hitting the lyrics with terrible, biting force - to the soft and lyrical. Larger than life. Heard him once at the Met with Sutherland, forget in what role, when young. My parents always liked to bring me along.
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, a Clinton supporter, praised the police... “At some point Donald Trump needs to take responsibility for the irresponsible behavior of his campaign”....
Incredible. Liccardo isn't some small-town naif. This is San Jose, and Liccardo is a graduate of Harvard Law School and Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
The violence appears to mostly come from immigrants with Mexican flags, and Bernie people. Trump supporters themselves never bother anybody.
The dynamic in America has always been that the Progressives yank the window toward some fringe issue. The normals would grudgingly go along, kicking and screaming, so that the Overton Window gradually shifted in the direction of the loonies. All of a sudden, the normals appear to have simply let go of it. Set loose of that tether, the American Left is rocketing off into madness. There’s really no other way to describe the trannies in the bathroom business. It’s madness.
The Democrats are now the anti-white party and the anti-male party. In a country that is 70% white and 50% male, that’s going to be a losing hand in the long run. Having a shriveled hag as your candidate makes the task impossible.
Pic below of the High Line last Sunday. I was one of the people who thought the whole idea was stupid. The entire length of the old elevated railroad is now open, from the distant view of the Statue of Liberty in the meatpacking district up to the Javits Center.
A few more pics below the fold -
3.1
Million New Immigrants Arrived Over the Past 2 Years - See more at:
https://www.conservativereview.com/commentary/2016/06/new-analysis-over-3-million-new-immigrants-arrived-over-the-past-2-years#sthash.1Rw9Fb8Z.dpuf
Trump is the Great Disruptor. He is doing the Repub Party a great favor by going to where the votes are - the ordinary people of America like me. The wealthy will always be mostly Dems, as will (for no good reasons) the minorities and the effete snobs. But there are lots of other people in America, and they have felt voiceless in DC.
Winning an election is still very much about connecting personally with key voters and you can only do that if you present a clear personality or brand to the voters in the first place. If you're the person who sees Trump's personality/brand and have decided you hate everything about it, I have news for you: You're not the target audience. But you're still proof that Trump's messaging is at least very clear and that's often more than half the battle in business and politics.
...when “respectable” people won’t talk about things that a lot of voters care about, the less-respectable will eventually rise to meet the need. That’s what Trump’s doing. And a lot of people are cheering him on not so much because they’re fans of Trump personally as because they’re happy to see someone finally stand up to the PC bullies.
The piece has this photo of the wonderful Clintons last week, having a good time pretending to be a couple. I think he's rather be on orgy island, or anywhere else, but he owes her:
... virtually all financial market activity has taken place under the watchful eye of federal regulators since at least the 1930s. True deregulation would establish a market where no government agency regulates the types of products and services people are allowed to produce and purchase. This type of financial market does not currently exist in the U.S., and it certainly did not exist prior to the 2008 crisis. Financial regulators have increasingly micromanaged financial firms’ activities despite the fact that this approach has repeatedly failed to prevent financial market instability.
Thanks for identifying that tree yesterday. It indeed does turn out to be an Ashe Magnolia, a wild magnolia seen mostly in southern woodlands but which can be found as far north as Ohio. They seem quite happy in NYC.
Talk to a cop that works the ghetto and he’ll be the most cynical guy you will meet. The reason is he spends his days working cases that have no rational explanation. Ray-Ray pops Darius one night not because of a business beef. No, Ray-Ray did not like the way Darius looked at him at a cookout so he walked up on him and started blasting. Sometimes, there’s simply no reason at all. Ray-Ray just decided to kill Darius “cause he got to go.”
We consider curls, whether dumbbell or bar, to serve an aesthetic purpose more than functional muscle development. Biceps and brachialis are not highly-functional muscles but, unless over-developed, sturdy ones look good to females. That's why they are Curls for Girls. (Of course, toned arms on women likewise look good to men.)
Vanity of vanities...
The opposing muscle, Triceps, is a much more functional one so if you strengthen triceps you have to balance it with some biceps development.
Following orders, I did a very tough sequence of barbell curls this morning: A sequence of one to ten curls with 7-second rest between. (ie, 1 curl, 7 second rest; 2 curls, 7 second rest, up to 10). Then, after a one minute rest, backwards down from 10 to 1.
After that, picking up a coffee cup is a challenge.
Distance running, like any extended-time cardio (eg swimming, elliptical, rowing, bike, etc), procures no health or fitness benefits. Worse, distance running damages the body, often permanently.
If you must use running for the cardio component of a fitness program, two to four quarter-mile or even half-mile sprints per week is plenty. Treadmill sprints are kinder on the joints than a road. The comparable anaerobic sprint approach applies to any cardio exercises. For cardio, it is the spurts of max. intensity that matter, not time wasted.
(I am reminded to add that, for those over 75 or 80, aerobic cardio is great and much better than sitting.)
I’ve said for years that transsexuals are delusional amputation fetishists, and way too many are manipulative narcissistic bullies and liars, and often prone to violence.
That if they really do commit suicide in epidemic numbers, that’s because, well, they’re clearly insane.
Voters in Austin rejected a measure that would overturn onerous regulations that Uber and Lyft said would force them out of the city. You can imagine what happened next.
It turns out that married women are twice as happy as single women. This is a biological fact of life. The females of our species are wired to seek out a high status male, with whom they build a life-long bond. From the point of view of nature, this guarantees the greatest chance of reproductive success. Since it is vastly easier for a young adult female to land a suitable mate than it is for a middle-aged female, getting married early makes the most sense. Sure, the man could be a dud, but there are no guarantees in life.
Steyn may not live to see the conclusion: 
Pic from around W 14th St. last weekend, with the wonderful Chelsea Market, housed in an old Nabisco factory, in back 
