Sunday, February 19. 2017
Greenfield on the Elites vs. the Americans:
If you live in the world of Facebook, Lyft, Netflix and Airbnb, crowding into airports shouting, "No Borders, No Nations, Stop The Deportations" makes sense. You don't live in a country. You live in one of a number of interchangeable megacities or their bedroom communities. Patriotism is a foreign concept. You have no more attachment to America than you do to Friendster or MySpace. The nation state is an outdated system of social organization that is being replaced by more efficient systems of global governance. The only reason anyone would cling to nations or borders is racism.
The demographic most opposed to President Trump is not a racial minority, but a cultural elite.
We have tried dozens of meatloaf recipes over the years, some complex and some not. We have settled on our favorite, which is also the simplest.
This ought to make 2 loaves:
3/4 lb. ground chuck
3/4 lb. ground veal
1 egg
2 tbsp. ketchup
1 large finely chopped onion
2 tbsp. brown sugar
1 or 2 tsp. ground mustard
1 cup unseasoned breadcrumbs
1 cup of milk
Enough salt and pepper
Mix thoroughly with your hands. Put in meat loaf thing - do not pack or compress it - at 350 for an hour or so, when it has a good crust. Serve with mashed taters, and salad if you must. It's a damn good supper, but even better in a sandwich with mayo afterwards.
Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18
19:1 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying:
19:2 Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them: You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.
19:9 When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest.
19:10 You shall not strip your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the alien: I am the LORD your God.
19:11 You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; and you shall not lie to one another.
19:12 And you shall not swear falsely by my name, profaning the name of your God: I am the LORD.
19:13 You shall not defraud your neighbor; you shall not steal; and you shall not keep for yourself the wages of a laborer until morning.
19:14 You shall not revile the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind; you shall fear your God: I am the LORD.
19:15 You shall not render an unjust judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great: with justice you shall judge your neighbor.
19:16 You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not profit by the blood of your neighbor: I am the LORD.
19:17 You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbor, or you will incur guilt yourself.
19:18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.
From a friend skiing at Crested Butte yesterday. I have skied Telluride, which is up the road a piece, but not Crested. More dramatic views than New England, but all ski views are wonderful.
Saturday, February 18. 2017
 It's time up here to put in orders for bare root trees, whether fruit trees or otherwise. We use Musser Forests, Stark Bros, and other websites where we can find what we want.
While November might have been the best time to plant them, the second-best time is as soon as you can get a shovel into the thawing ground.
Bare root trees establish themselves quicker than burlapped or potted plants. There are many sites and Youtubes which explain how to properly plant bare root plants. It's not a bad idea to soak the roots for a few hours before planting. When you plant them in dormancy, water them in well and then withhold any watering until green shoots appear.
In the first summer, a deep watering once or twice a week works well. After the first summer around here, no watering is needed after that. In the first Spring, it's recommended to pinch off any fruit tree blossoms that appear, so the plant can devote itself to establishing itself in its home.
I have ordered three Crabapples (edible crabapple, semi-dwarf,as in photo. Not the ornamental) to put in as soon as we get some thaw. Right now we have 12" of snow and the soil is like a rock.
Last week I linked a site that offered weight-training standards by age, sex, body type, etc. In fact, there are many sites which offer standards and goals like that. Like "A 170 lb. 40 year-old ought to be able to bench press 1.5X his body weight."
I regret any times I have linked those sorts of things because everybody's starting point is different and natural strength and body type vary enormously across people. For example, shorter guys with shorter arms can lift much better than taller guys. While I feel it is essential to have exercise goals to avoid going through the motions, the only reasonable short-term goals are to be stronger and fitter than you were a month ago.
I think it is fun to make 4-month fitness goals, but they should be based on where you are, and not somebody else's (except your trainer's, if you use one).
Look, nobody reading Maggie's (I think) is a Lifter-lifter. They are fitness lifters like me. This is reasonable: How Strong Should I Be For My Age, Size, Height, Weight & Gender?
 Photos of the week
Everything We Know So Far About the Howards End TV Show
Every vehicle in the presidential motorcade, explained
How Often Do Airplanes Hit Deer?
Cartwheeling Substitute Teacher Exposed Self To High School Choir Class
It's educational
Do as I say, not as I do - Chicago Public Schools
From California, a Progressive Cry for State’s Rights - The birthplace of the modern conservative movement is now the leader of a Trump resistance founded on federalism.
FRACKERS HAVE DONE MORE THAN THE SIERRA CLUB EVER DID
The rebellion at the EPA is far from over
Do agencies run this country?
Note to the Left: Four Years Ago, Conservatives Were Just as Depressed
Washington Post: We Aren’t Biased!
With One Tweet, Chuck Todd Reveals The Truth About the Mainstream Media
The NY Times Is Pretty Upset Over Trump’s Press Conference
Associated Press Runs #FakeNews Story About Planned Roundup Of Illegals By National Guard
A Sign That Obamacare Exchanges Are Failing
Killing ObamaCare the Cloward-Piven Way
Betsy DeVos: I'd be 'fine' if we could ditch the Education Department
Same here.Not a job for the Feds
No 'strongman,' Trump is besieged by institutions
Black Trump Supporter Blasts Sanctuary Cities: “All the Jobs Are Going to Illegals!” "When my people do a crime, they get three strikes, your people do a crime, they get amnesty"
Trump Declares CNN, NYT, CBS, ABC And NBC Are "The Enemy of The American People"
Epstein: My Biggest Post-Trump Fear: A Progressive Revival
The Anti-Trump ‘Resistance’ in Red States - “This isn’t a fad, it’s not going away, and there’s nothing coastal or elite about it.”
Has Washington Gone Crazy?
France's Le Pen faces new challenges from EU Parliament, UN
"Far right wing"? No she is not
 Sounds like a fine nickname for a beloved female. Not to mention that this bird's loud springtime call is "Peter,Peter,Peter."
These chickadee-like non-migratory birds of the eastern US are mostly invisible most of the year except around winter bird-feeders when they welcome handouts of sunflower seeds.
Tufted Titmouse
Friday, February 17. 2017
That was some high-quality reality TV, spellbinding for many. Scott Adams: There are two clues that the Huffington Post is hallucinating and I’m not. From a commenter there:
Every conservative I've personally heard from thought his press conference was excellent and long overdue. I've listened to those on the right for many years complaining that Republicans never fight back when they are slandered and lies and misrepresentations are spread about them. Now, we have someone who will fight back hard and not just lie down and take it.
Naturally, heavily biased, partisan, unethical "reporters" are outraged that they can't just get by with doing whatever they feel like no matter how dishonest and manipulative without getting called out for it. At the same time, they are getting so explicit with their Trump hatred that even non-partisan people couldn't avoid noticing it. It's very hard not to admire Trump's guts. He'll go right into the lion's den and antagonize the violent lions without hesitation. The "press's" refusal to recognize how millions of Americans actually view Trump (and them) is one of the reasons Trump won.
Donald, the anti-hero and anti-politician, is one heck of a politician. Finally, the news is fun again and Washington a circus again. Journalists whisper "This is insane." Wrong again. Journalists don't get it. Why should they be expected to? They are just bystanders in life, outside the arena.
Adjunct faculty are the serfs of the higher ed industry. Generally speaking, and excluding the "studies" hires, these are very bright people who have either lacked the genius, or the political savvy, to achieve the cushy life of academic tenure. They also tend to be people for whom, ironically, life outside the non-profit bubble seems frighteningly competitive with frighteningly-measurable results.
I once imagined the idea of an academic life, but quickly learned that I was not a genius even though I have some flair for teaching and perhaps a bit of a calling for it. I might have been a beloved and valued private secondary school teacher, but that turned out not to be my fated path. It could be a good retirement path for me, however. I could teach Civics, history, Art History, Law, Latin, and Government, and I can coach Baseball and Soccer. That won't happen, though, because life is too short for everything and retirement from my post is not on my agenda. I like being the boss of me and I do not like answering to anybody.
A Harvard writing instructor discusses 'The Great Shame of Our Profession'
Thursday, February 16. 2017
Scott Pruitt's Game-Changing Call for Debate on Climate Science
In my view, climate science and weather science are interesting but not very important. If the tropospheric temps go up a degree or two per century, who cares? It's just a political hobby horse. If anybody thinks a "carbon tax" could change the earth's climate they are insane. It would enrich government, however.
Whatever causes climate variations in the present and caused drastic variations through the history of the planet, nothing can be done about it and, furthermore, who can define an ideal climate for the planet anyway? Nobody. All anybody can say for sure is that warmer is better than colder.
I see it as a sign of health that she hates the dumb job. Modern women do not want to be public ornaments to their husbands' lives or, in this case, political accessories. I think the Donald is ok with that.
Donald's new job has not enhanced her life. It has damaged her life. Where did this "first lady" idea come from, anyway? Is it like a sort of queen or something? I am glad Melania has no interest in being a celeb. She doesn't need it, and she seems shy anyway. She should live the way she wants, as best she can with the current restraints. Maybe she can trample this "first lady" thing just as Bill Clinton would have done had Hillary won.
Strength + Calisthenics + Cardio = A balanced diet of exercise for all ages
We need strength training (weight training) to prevent muscle atrophy, to build muscle and bone, to maintain our best functionality, and so we can do Calisthenics and play sports with force. Also, to look good. Looking good does matter in life.
We need Calisthenics (which includes sports) to make full use of all of our muscles, to maintain athleticism, endurance, sexuality, general vigor, and mental happiness
We need some high-intensity Cardio to build or maintain endurance and heart strength
- A person can be very strong but have terrible cardio endurance and terrible agility; runners can have great aerobic cardio endurance but be weak in bone and muscle and unable to handle an hour of intense calis because they have mistakenly aerobically-trained exclusively. The aerobic cardio fitness fad of recent decades was/is greatly overrated. It was over-sold and it damaged a lot of joints. Anyway, the three components are interdependent and overlap to varying degrees: lunges are strength + calis, jump rope and jumping jacks are calis+ cardio, all weight training provides brief but intense cardio stress, etc.
- As a footnote, but not a trivial one, I usually add proper nutrition because a demanding fitness program requires it. The 5-hr/wk program we espouse for general Fitness For Life (approx 2 hrs of weights, approx 1 hr of Calis, and approx 1 hr of cardio (2 half-hr sessions of cardio intervals) demands more protein and maybe more carbs than the ordinary sedentary person needs to survive. If your fitness requires weight gain for bone and muscle development, obviously more protein, fats, and carbs. If your fitness requires fat loss, obviously less carbs. Hard exercise can never eliminate excess fat but it can inspire nutritional sanity.
Wednesday, February 15. 2017
Strength standards for men and women, by age and body weight.
Good goals for me would be just to get from the Novice to the Int. level for my age. That should be more than sufficient for general fitness but 10 pull-ups is pie in the sky for me now so maybe fully Novice is good enough. I had no idea of how weak I had become when I began my exercise program, because I was fully-functional and never challenged.
Anyway, I will never be a serious lifter. Just a middle-aged general fitness lifter. Glad I got ahead of the downward curve. Well, not ahead of it but at least before it became hopeless. I did nail 2 reps of my personal record deadlift this morning, and feel proud about that. (Hey, make sure you poop well before lifting or you could have a little problem.)
I made trainer feel good about himself, too. Loves to see his clients persist and succeed. Onward and upward.
To me, the term refers to perseverance against daunting obstacle, daunting resistance, laziness, self-indulgence, or compelling temptation. Finishing what you start. It used to be called "character strength."
Studying late at night for a Chem exam, resisting a donut, keeping climbing when your legs say "No," doing one more bench rep when your arms say "I can't", saying "Hi" to a pretty girl who is too good for you, giving your exasperating guitar practice one more half hour, bucking up for one more damn intimidating job interview, getting through a pile of paperwork. A doctor once told me that the toughest person he knew was a agoraphobic and social phobic who by sheer willpower forced herself to leave her house and re-enter society despite her terror.
Everybody wants to fight against his own limitations, fears, flaws, and weaknesses, and nobody wants to feel mentally or physically weak.
When I consider mental toughness I think of warriors facing a wall of spears or machine guns, but in our (or my) pampered and decadent American life we often have to go out of our way to seek out character tests and character challenges. We can easily avoid most of them if we wish to, but our life is diminished by it.
I think shame, self-disgust, and self-disappointment are some of the unpleasant consequences of confronting some of our weaknesses and limitations. It is failure, and we know it.
My genius trainer and I were discussing the topic a while ago. I told him that part of his added value to me was lending his mental strength to me. When my arms say "No," and he says "Two more - you can do it" - I do it. Alone, I "couldn't." That's my mental weakness. So we can gain strength from relationship. That's part of why marriage is so valuable. Friends, too.
He said that group exercise training works well not so much because of the competition but because of the combined spirit of effort, the esprit de corps. Of course, that group effect is an essential part of military training too. He says the reason most people fail in fitness programs is for lack of spirit and determination, not muscle.
I suppose good habits of toughness and perseverance can be nurtured from within from practice and from without with support and cheerleading. My mental toughness is not good enough to make me happy with myself, and probably never will be.
Here's a Grit Quiz. Not sure if such personality traits are measurable really, or whether they are even traits. Sometimes I have plenty of grit, sometimes very little.
Related: The Personality Secret to Successful Weight Loss
What's your view on the subject?
 Florida wants to register canoes and kayaks
Insane government
Writing music for TV
Finding love on the subway
How many times have we all seen someone in a public space towards whom we intuited an instant attraction and compatibility? And did nothing?
Kate Shaidle's tolerable marriage
That is honest
Marriage and Money
More honesty
Univ. of Chicago goes kinky: Sex Week filled with flogging, petplay, rope bondage
Sounds like good clean wholesome fun, but what it has to do with higher ed escapes me
The Cohabitation Lie
Playing house is not marriage
It’s Time To Topple The Patriarchy With Revolutionary Love Or Something
Slavery and rape aren’t wrong when Muslims do it.
It's their culture
Boudreaux schools a Luddite
Superbowl ads are a reflection of the smug, arrogant pricks who made them.
DeVos: Everything They Said about Her Is False
Re Yale: Rename everything
Politics offers a terrible spiritual danger
VDH: The Deplorables Shout Back
Some object that Trumpism is pure nihilism and a vandal act rather than a constructive recalibration. Perhaps. But red-state America shouted back that if those who demanded open borders never themselves lived the consequences of open borders, then there would be no open borders. If those who proposed absolute free transfers of capital and jobs always expected others to lose money and jobs as the cost of the bargain, then there would be no such unlimited free flows. If the media were continually to stereotype and condescend to others, then they themselves would be stereotyped and talked down to.
For a brief moment in 2016, rural America shouted that the last shall be first, and first shall be last. Before we write off this retort that led to Trump as a mindless paroxysm, remember that it was not those in Toledo, Billings, Montgomery, or Red Bluff who piled up $20 trillion in collective debt, nearly destroyed the health care system, set the Middle East afire, turned the campus into Animal Farm, or transformed Hollywood into 1984-style widescreen indoctrination.
The Democratic Party Goes into Therapy
Trump Cabinet Science-Denial or Scientific Skepticism?
JUST AS PREDICTED: The Political Assassination of Michael Flynn
It's a war. Yes, The Empire Strikes Back
America's spies anonymously took down Michael Flynn. That is deeply worrying.
The Target on Steve Bannon's Back
Polls: Majority Thinks Trump is a "Strong and Decisive Leader" Who "Keeps His Promises;" Public Supports Ending Sanctuary Cities and Deporting Criminals -- Including Hispanics
Democrats Are Losing Their War With Trump
Now the left is going nuts again over Trump’s nonexistent storm troopers
Harsanyi: Why The Resistance Is The Best Thing That’s Happened To Donald Trump
"But no Muslim religious leader has yet stressed the crucial gap between divine purposes and dry legalism as powerfully as Jesus did."
Illegals: A stunning display of dishonesty from the left
Tuesday, February 14. 2017
"It is easy to forget that the memoirs of a little girl who watched Native Americans on horseback and saw herds of buffalo on the plains happened within living memory of my elders when I was born."
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The Ultimate Pursuit 
