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.
I have seen a number of articles this morning about Macron's win. At least two were about how France is better than Britain and/or the US. However much satire is involved, and certainly Andy Borowitz believes himself to be a satirist, there is one problem with the concept (which Borowitz fervently believes is true) being promoted. That problem is Obama.
After all, both four and eight years ago, the US was so darn progressive and ahead of the curve. In such a short period of time, we've become mind-numbingly idiotic, to believe the press. This only happens when a non-Democrat is elected (I hesitate to say Republican because I really don't consider Trump a Republican in any traditional sense). Remember when Bush was elected, and re-elected? We were stupid then, as well.
Whether Macron is good for France or not remains to be seen, and is of little interest because it's France. They've hitched their wagon to losing causes far too many times to trust their instincts (for clarity, since Progressives have a problem with it, this statement was satire). For now, the Left is hailing his victory as the Waterloo of far-right politics. That's hard to support, since Macron is hardly a darling of the Left. Besides, even many policies which have been deemed 'far-right' could just as easily be labeled Leftist (traditionally, anti-immigration, closed-border, and protectionist views have been domains of the Left. It is only recently that they've been furiously adopted by the Right).
Photo is the famous Magnolia Bakery, where we bought organic, naturally-sweetened gluten-free incredibly-delicious cupcakes for the whole hiking crew yesterday afternoon
I was too busy getting lost, turning the wrong way, and competing with professional tour guides to take any photos. I hope someone took a few, because this year's tour was a great one. With 17 people (16 who finished, a very low attrition rate, with representatives from New Jersey, Connecticut, Vermont, New York, Massachusetts, and Illinois - again!), we covered about 9.7 miles and saw many sites and sights. I'm not sure what those slow-walking people were doing - was it Tai-Chi of some kind, or perhaps a slow-moving flash mob? We stumbled on Edna St. Vincent Millay's townhouse (which reportedly also housed Cary Grant). Someone kindly purchased Magnolia Bakery cupcakes for the entire group (and they were delicious).
Mrs. Bulldog says the highlight of the trip was a visit to the Manhattan Contrarian's secret lair. It's beautiful and the location quite wonderful. His knowledge, assistance and willingness to put up with our gang were all admirable. I have to say, I always assumed magical, secret gardens existed, but now Mrs. Bulldog wants one.
I learned quite a bit more about Clement Clarke Moore and his family. The Moore farm's name is now the name of the district, Chelsea, and the Churches they oversaw (St. Peter's) or started (St. Luke's in the Fields) were both stops. Both churches are beautiful, and St. Luke's has some lovely gardens.
Next hike is already being planned. Alien environs, otherwise known as Brooklyn. We'll start in Manhattan with a crossing of the Brooklyn Bridge, and from there we'll study hipster culture, taste local bourbon and beer, and see what life is like outside Manhattan. Looking forward to it already. If our group is half as good, or even half as large, we'll be in fine fettle.
I'd like to thank Atlas Obscura for assistance in planning our trip.
Justice Brandeis notwithstanding, progressives have never been content to “experiment” at the local level and be judged by the results. In every way they can, they seek to push all policy decisions to the national level. There, with only the meager voting power to constrain them, they can impose their one-size-fits-all, “comprehensive” policies on everyone. They even hound those individuals and companies who seek to exit the jurisdiction of the United States for freer pastures elsewhere.
We had the privilege of birding last week with ornithologist and author Scott Weidensaul. He is a fine congenial fellow who knows everything, and while he is there he gives a splendid talk on some ornithological topic every evening after supper.
This is a photo travelogue of our second visit to Little Saint Simons Island on the Georgia coast for this year's birding week there. I'll post my bird list at the bottom of this post.
Little Saint Simons is not for everybody. It's a barrier island nature preserve, Southern Maritime Forest habitat and vast salt and brackish marshes. It's rustic and therefore not inexpensive, and you have to entertain yourself unless you partake of the planned outings (ie kayaking through the marshes, birding, fishing trips. Booze and family-style meals included. You can take a bike, kayak or motor skiff out anytime you want, or fish and swim on the ocean beach. The self-serve bar is open 24 hrs/day. There are 3 excellent naturalists available all the time for hikes. The bugs weren't too bad this year but I did donate my share of A+ blood to the cause of mosquito conservation.
Two innovations have been adding a/c to the cabins, and revamping the unheated pool with a gator-proof fence. It used to be a downer to find a 6' gator in the pool. An unwelcome innovation (for me) is the "healthy eating" trend instead of the traditional Southern fare that I love. I like to stay at least 6' away from kale, cilantro, organic produce, and veggie wraps or I break out in a bad case of annoyance.
Cool things about this very special place with photos, below...
Donald J. Trump won the U.S. Presidency despite perpetuating sexism, white supremacy, xenophobia, nationalism, nativism, and imperialism," the course description reads.
What does that course cost the beleaguered parents? Parents who likely voted for Trump.
Surely, though, those must have been the reasons I voted for the guy. On the other hand, maybe I voted for him to be a sledgehammer.
Highly effective. It never fails for weight loss, except for the bosses who always seem to be fat.
Humans will work hard for themselves, their families, and their friends. Somewhat less for their tribe. Further out, not so much. It's human nature. Warfare is in a different category entirely.
None of us, no voter or official or institution, has yet to fully assimilate the fact that Donald Trump is president, that this unpopular and unpredictable man holds what has become the primary office of our constitutional system. He certainly doesn't make our jobs any easier: It is hard to read or watch his recent interviews without holding one's head in one's hands. And yet there he is. His daily presence is an accusation, a rebuke, an admonishment, a reminder that the country we thought we lived in might not have actually existed. The shocks of deindustrialization and the financial crisis, of unchecked immigration, multiculturalism, and the transgender revolution, of digital and social media, of inconclusive decades-long wars, of rampant heroin addiction seem to have made large parts of the country unrecognizable to those of us living in coastal cities and their affluent suburbs. Is our country really this divided, our politics this polarized, and our culture this degraded? Was 2016 not a fluke but a warning? What of?
No one wants to answer that last question; no one knows the answer.
Continetti is trying to make too much out of it. Not enough people liked or trusted Hillary. Biden could have won and he is loony too.
...and other topics, but I found the part about his course most interesting. It's easy to see why he is such a popular teacher, but the course does not seem particularly academic. It's more of an inspirational sort of program about how to grow up, face life with strength, and things like that.
Peterson has an interesting and unusual life history for an academic. Myths appeal to him. I think he is a capital C Christian.
It's easy for me to see how it could be helpful to young people. He is a natural teacher or preacher. He is smart as a whip and a fearsome debater.
If you were a visitor from a distant solar system come to our nation or even a time traveler from our own nineteenth century, I submit you would be perplexed. This Trump person (being?) doesn't seem to be all that different from many leaders who have come before him. I mean, what has he done exactly? Enforced some immigration laws that were enacted by the Congress over several administrations? Tried to fix a mediocre healthcare plan with another plan that may or may not be as mediocre? Called for a tax reduction similar to those enacted by previous Republican and Democratic administrations? Cut back on some regulations that became overly burdensome? Called for a temporary halt to immigration from a half-dozen countries his predecessor had already cited as dangerous hotbeds of terrorism? Shot off a few dozen cruise missiles at the airfield of a dictator who was gassing his own people, but didn't harm a single person in the process?
Every person has his (or her) own ideas - and goals - about fitness. Here's another question for our readers: Let's say you're an over-40 or over-50 or over-60 year old guy or gal who has put in the time and discipline for two years to get back in good shape after the child-rearing years of self-neglect and over-working to save for tuitions, etc., etc.
You've done your weights, cardio, and calis religiously. Worked hard at fitness 6 days/wk, suffered, strained, sweated, and endured aches and pains especially when you didn't feel like doing anything but reading a book. You tried to eat enough protein to rebuild muscle. You found time to do it all even when you felt you had no time or energy.
Now you are trim and light on your feet, the belly is gone, you have muscles you haven't had since you were 21 or maybe never had, you look pretty acceptable nude (even if not an underwear model), you have a military posture, your sex drive is up, you can pound out 30 minutes of intervals on the elliptical or sprints on the track, you can jump and lift stuff and you don't get fatigued at the end of the day. You have settled into a routine of eating right and sleeping right, and your body and mind now have gotten into the habit of demanding some effortful physical work every day to feel fully alive. In other words, your animal self likes what you have achieved because you have done justice to one of God's gifts to you.
You are a happy middle-aged Spartan, ready for whatever life brings. While you can always improve regardless of age, you feel sort-of ready to lay off the aggressive daily boot camp effort and aim for smaller gradual improvement but primarily for maintenance of your fitness because, after all, apoptosis is the enemy.I just call it entropy.
For example, I do not feel a desire to run any 10K races anymore (but I could), or deadlift twice my weight (but I would like to and I am getting there), but I think I am reluctantly concluding that we can't ramp it down much because, with each year of age, we are swimming upstream against a stronger current. Regardless of what we do to keep body and mind youthfully vigorous, sooner or later the current will win and sweep us out to the cosmic sea.
The last few months, since the shocking (to some) result of the election, traditional news media has been blaring about 'fake news'. I'm really not sure what fake news is. CBS News says each morning, in their intro and promotions, that they are 'real news' (though I've seen quite a bit that I'd call fake on their network). I've had people try and explain what it is to me, and there are examples of stuff that is clearly fake, but applying a definition to what it is? Unavailable. You pretty much know it when you see it, like porn.
So who gets to make the decision about what is truly 'fake news'? I know it when I see it, and every individual should have that right to decide. As I tell my friends, I apply Occam's Razor to everything I see and read. If it doesn't look or smell right, then it's probably fake and more digging needs to be done. Few people take the time or effort, anymore. So our government wants to do it for us. The politicians, at least, want to promote the concept that someone should be doing it for us. So guess what? They are. It's my view that Google's announcement last week to use algorithms to flesh out 'fake news' is going to be their Waterloo. Algorithms can't tell people what to read, what to believe, and can't discern truth from falsehood. All algorithms can do is push an agenda from those controlling the algorithm. So we'll be spoon fed pablum as real news seekers are cast aside as non-traditional sources or 'extremist' or having some other epithet applied to lower their score on the algorithm.
We may not have a Ministry of Truth, but lots of countries are trying to. If progress and opportunity slow and die in the coming years, the 'fake news' reaction will be why. After all, one clear case of how this is a problem is Man-Made ManBearPig Global Warming/Climate Change. Any site posting legitimate data and information which rebuts the Global Warming/Climate Change agenda will undoubtedly be labelled 'fake news'. From this point forward, any other opinion deemed 'incorrect' will fail the test and we can see where this algorithm will deprive people of good information.
Photo is the famous Magnolia Bakery, where we bought 
Photo from 
Every person has his (or her) own ideas - and goals - about fitness. Here's another question for our readers: Let's say you're an over-40 or over-50 or over-60 year old guy or gal who has put in the time and discipline for two years to get back in good shape after the child-rearing years of self-neglect and over-working to save for tuitions, etc., etc.
Why Sled Dogs Never Get Tired 
The last few months, since the shocking (to some) result of the election, traditional news media has been blaring about 'fake news'. I'm really not sure what fake news is. CBS News says each morning, in their intro and promotions, that they are 'real news' (though I've seen quite a bit that I'd call fake on their network). I've had people try and explain what it is to me, and there are examples of stuff that is clearly fake, but applying a definition to what it is? Unavailable. You pretty much know it when you see it, like porn.