Maggie's FarmWe 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. |
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Monday, November 5. 2018Got a good Task Rabbit
Best thing about this kid: I said after an hour and half of shlepping that it was time for a ten-minute break. Want a coffee? Bustelo? He said "Yes, please. And may I try your piano during our break? I have never played a Steinway." Sure, I said. Self-taught, played his own sort of Keith Jarrett-like jazz. A delight, a gentle touch. Told him he had God's gift of some talent, and should stick with it. He said he played around with a cheap keyboard. Great at getting rid of household cluttered stuff. Moving fast with me as a second body. $30/hr is a bargain, and with piano, it feels free. I thought he was inspired by Jarrett, but he had never heard of Keith Jarrett. I have always loved Keith so I turned him on to Keith. Here's Keith:
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Monday morning links
Toon above via Theo Crafty Caterpillar Mimics Snake When Threatened That Rat Cellphone Study – I’m Still Not Impressed RNAi Rollercoaster Begins to Reap Therapies Washington, D.C.'s New Biblical Museum Is a Winner for Jews and Christians Sarah Lawrence Prof pens Op-Ed about lack of intellectual diversity, social justice warriors want him driven off campus 2nd Kavanaugh Accuser Admits She Lied; Referred For Criminal Prosecution; Kamala's Office Involved Jane Fonda SEEKS NEW SCRIPTWRITERS Bloomberg: Climate Change Will Cause US Cities to be Overrun by Rats Warmists and Skeptics Should Agree That This is The Real Scandal in Climate Science "The mystery of Donald Trump is what impels him to overturn the usual rules. Is it a dark sort of cunning or simple defects of character?" Both. He is a natural politician. Character flaws seem to go with that. Plus he has dragon energy (11 rallies in 5 days!) "[T]he caravan was organized through social media in Honduras, initially planned as one of many such caravans that have left Central American in recent years." Caravan splits up, rips Mexico for directing migrants toward ´route of death´ Via Insty: Williamson: It’s a tough time to be running against the economy. Adam Schiff, Maxine Waters Vow Revenge And Ramped-Up Russiagate If Dems Take House Revenge for what? Sunday, November 4. 2018You do not want to try to debate Prof. PetersonHe is smarter than most
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Enjoyable discussion of Robert Louis Stevenson's book at Great Books
Posted by The Barrister
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100 Years Later, The Madness Of Daylight Saving Time Endures
I agree that it is silly. Also, annoying.
From today's LectionaryMark 12:28-34 12:28 One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, "Which commandment is the first of all?" 12:29 Jesus answered, "The first is, 'Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; 12:30 you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.' 12:31 The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." 12:32 Then the scribe said to him, "You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that 'he is one, and besides him there is no other'; 12:33 and 'to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength,' and 'to love one's neighbor as oneself,' --this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices." 12:34 When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." After that no one dared to ask him any question. Saturday, November 3. 2018A sweet Arkansas weddingA fun talk from DineshA good talk, and a good Q&A, to listen to while straightening out your home in prep for holiday festivities. No, he does not embarass any lefties. He is never harsh, just factual.
Saturday morning links' I’ll Never Be the Same’: My Ukrainian Wife’s First Trip to the United States Wonderful BLAMING SCHOOLS FOR THE “ACHIEVEMENT GAP” IS FOOLISH AND COUNTERPRODUCTIVE Governments Will Have To “Nudge” People To Eat Less Meat Or We’re All Doomed Woman who claimed Brett Kavanaugh raped her now says she made the whole thing up A “news” story - NYT, not an opinion piece but front page “news” October Payrolls Surge By 250K, Smashing Expectations As Wage Growth Soars Trump is making Streisand fat Why Aren’t Democrats Walking Away With the Midterms? WERE OVER 10% OF MUSLIMS IN 1 BRITISH CITY IN GROOMING GANG? Saturday Verse: William Ernest Henley (1849-1902)Brave words: Invictus Out of the night that covers me, Beyond this place of wrath and tears It matters not how strait the gate, Friday, November 2. 2018The 1000-rep calisthenics class, not being a wimp sometimes, and Go-Go-Hi-Ho,
We had a sub for my Friday morning 60-minute calis/physical conditioning class this morning. The sub was a beautiful blonde Amazon with a martinet's style, an ex-Crossfitter whose classes I had flunked a year or two ago after several tries. I noticed that about a third of the Friday morning regulars were absent. I think they noticed online that this particular gal was subbing, and declined because intimidated. I was tempted to wimp out but I hate to act like a wimp. When I wimp out on things, act lazy, or make excuses for myself, I despise myself. Self-hatred sucks, so I try to avoid it as much as possible. Never entirely. As my sis always says about most things in life, ignore your feelings, "Girl Up" (or Man Up as the case may be) and "Do it." She is in the mental health field, so she knows that a lazy or fearful life is no life at all. Most of all, she has contempt for excuses so she is a good role model. She has given me shit many times. Almost drowned in a mile lake swim race on Cape Cod that she bullied me into. Sheesh. I had not swum a mile race in 30 years, maybe. A mile in a pool, sure, but not a mile race with waves. Yankee gals expect a lot of the men in their lives because they demand so much from themselves. Squats, lunges, mountain-climbers, crunches, dumbell deads, jumping jacks, dumbell snatches, supermans, curtsy lunges - all of those sorts of things. I survived. It was a cool class with an interesting structure: two exercises with 25-50 reps each, then 10 pushups, then on to a different two exercises, then ten pushups, etc. Fast-paced and varied. No rest time. Fun, if you like to move. I doubt that I completed all 1000, but I did my best within the time allowed. Yes, I am no longer age 30 either. As I have said before, one or two conditioning classes/wk have a place in a 6 or 7 day/wk fitness program. After an hour of rest and coffee, you feel amazingly well mentally and physically even if you began just after crawling out of bed with a foggy head at 5:00 am. "Go-Go-Hi-Ho" was the life motto of an elderly hunting pal of mine. Taught me that life can be rich, adventurous, and exciting at 80. Appreciated Viagra when it came out as he confided to me on a Maine hunting trip. Determined to leave no meat left on the barbecued rib of life. I will want to be like him. He was still working, too, and fully-engaged with his church, his clubs, and his charities. Illegal immigration is literally illegalBut the magic words "I want asylum" trump all else. US immigration policies are set-ups for scamming. Everybody knows that. Border official: three-quarters of migrants in the caravan are adult men 'Migrant Caravan' Members Sue Trump Over 'Shockingly Unconstitutional' Asylum Crackdown Tucker Carlson: Establishment Siding With Foreigners Over Its Own People, That Tells You Everything Friday morning linksChart of sizes of world economies via Zero Hedge The Women Of Google Are Walking Out. Guess Why I can't watch this sort of thing either Against factory-model schools Dartmouth prof: 'If we don't abolish capitalism, capitalism will abolish us' Guess what - no capitalism, no Dartmouth New York Times Editorial Calls for Replacement of Whites Racists In These Outlier Congressional Districts, Density Doesn’t Equal Democrats OPINION: JANICE ROGERS BROWN — THE ATTORNEY GENERAL AMERICA NEEDS O’Keefe Strikes Again! Gillum Campaign Admits They Have to Lie About Who They Are, ‘Florida is a F*cked Up Cracker State’ Amusing brief video: TRUMP IS FINISHED, BECAUSE THE MEDIA SAY SO! TRUMP RELEASES 'CLOSING' AD PROMISING HARD LINE BORDER STANCE, SETS OFF MEDIA FIRESTORM "The utterance of “credible fear” and other “magic words” by migrants triggers protocols of U.S. asylum law that require adjudication before a court. The years-long process of adjudication poses a further problem for authorities when it comes to detention of these migrants, particularly those who arrive as part of a family unit." How could anyone — even a not-very-bright person — imagine that granting citizenship to the children of illegal aliens is actually in our Constitution? If you are a Trump-hater, tell me what in this interview you feel is so hateable:
Thursday, November 1. 2018A Remarkably Hard College CourseEducation is like exercise. You can do it the hard way or the easy way, but the results are not the same. A Remarkably Hard College Course Proves Remarkably Popular Getting up from the floorIn the fitness post yesterday, we mentioned getting up from a chair. Indeed, for a variety of reasons (arthritis, poor posture, overweight, lack of strength or mobility) this can become difficult for some. Another common, basic maneuver which can become difficult without fitness is getting up from the floor without assistance. If you need to sit on the floor to do a task, or to read a book to a grandkid, you do not want to get up like a cripple. Trouble getting up off the floor or a chair? Here’s how to improve The best:
Tucker on birthright citizenshipThursday morning linksChocolate: Origins of delicacy pushed back in time Rewriting Tangled up in Blue Dissecting the Bloodthirsty Bliss of Death Metal Food magazine editor resigns after joking about "killing vegans, one by one". Law of Self Defense: Using Your Gun to Defend Your Car — Just Don’t More On The "Morality" Of Throwing Money At The Problem Of Homelessness Don Lemon: “The Biggest Terror Threat in This Country Is White Men, Most of Them Radicalized on the Right” If the Synagogue Shooter Were Muslim, the Media Would Be Defending Him SPLC Ties Trump to the Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting, Even Though Shooter Hated Trump... SOCIALISTS BACKING ACTUAL ANTI-SEMITIC CANDIDATE, PROTEST TRUMP OVER ANTI-SEMITISM Planned Parenthood Encourages Birth … for Illegal Aliens MSNBC’s Ali Velshi Compares Americans Concerned About Illegal Immigrants To Nazi Germany… The Democrats Have a Rich White Progressive Problem TRICK or TREAT? Democrats Promise American Horror Story if They Win in November Progressives Fed Up With Americans ‘The perfect safe surrogate,’ Pence delivers the traditional GOP message Trump won’t Jon Stewart Nails Journalists Covering Trump. CNN Proves Him Right. A Tale Of Two Acts Of Political Violence — And Proof Of Media Bias 7 of the Best Military Recruitment Videos From Around the World Europe: Upholding the Jihadist’s Veto
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