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.
A Compound Set refers to two resistance exercises using overlapping muscle groups. For example, bench press sets alternating with dumbell flies - that is mostly two chest exercises. Another: dumbell bench alternating with tricep push-downs. The overlap there is two tricep stresses. People do Compound Sets once in a while to kick the heck out of a certain muscle or two - and for variety to keep the body off balance a bit.
A Superset, on the other hand, refers to alternating two resistance exercises involving opposing muscle groups. That is something we commonly do in weight training. Push-pull. For example, dumbell bench alternating with pullups or pull downs. Another: Curls alternating with tricep push-downs. There is a balanced logic to this.
(Compound Exercises are resistance exercises which apply the largest number of muscle grouds possible for strength-building. The Big Lifts. These are the classic multi-muscle group exercises: Bench Press, Rows, Pull ups, Dips, Deads, Overhead Press, and Squats).
Thirteen years in the making, the American Psychological Association (APA) released the newly drafted “Guidelines for Psychological Practice for Boys and Men.” Backed by 40 years of science, the APA claims, the guidelines boldly pronounce that “traditional masculinity” is the cause and consequence of men’s mental health concerns. Masculine stoicism, the APA tells us, prevents men from seeking treatment when in need, while beliefs rooted in “masculine ideology” perpetuate men’s worst behaviors—including sexual harassment and rape. Masculine ideology, itself a byproduct of the “patriarchy,” benefits men and simultaneously victimizes them, the guidelines explain. Thus, the APA committee advises therapists that men need to become allies to feminism. “Change men,” an author of the report stated, “and we can change the world.”
Twelve Psychologists respond to the APA "guidelines" and the thinking behind them.
A 2018 Center for American Progress (CAP) Action Fund memo sheds light on this. The memo, co-authored by former Hillary Clinton communications director, Jennifer Palmieri, argues that the Democratic Party needs to protect illegal immigrants brought here at a young age as a result of President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program because they are “a critical component of the Democratic Party’s future electoral success.”
CNN attempting to keep their 92% negative coverage intact. They are talking to ignorant liberals who didn't watch the speech. CNN actually called it a low energy, devisive , poorly given speech. ( what were they watching ?) There was nothing negative about it - unless you hate America and hate success. 76% positive poll says Trump won over 25% of Democrats. The other 24% will hate anything he does, even though they benefit - simply because they can't stand that Hillary lost.
To my absolute amazement, Donald J. Trump gave one helluva State of the Union speech, punching my conservative buttons while putting the Democrats in checkmate by cleverly appropriating every one of their major issues as his own. It was amazing to watch those Democrats initially sitting on their impolite rear ends, refusing to applaud even major positive accomplishments for their constituencies, like historically low black and Hispanic unemployment. By the time his speech was completed, Trump had large numbers of those same Democrats standing and applauding – even when he pronounced firmly that this nation will never become a socialist country, earning standing applause from even Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, much to the chagrin of Bernie Sanders and Occasional Cortex.
Shouldn’t Democrats as well as Republicans rejoice that unemployment is at a generational low and that Black and Hispanic unemployment is at an historic low? Shouldn’t Democrats as well as Republicans rejoice that economic growth, well north of three percent, is at a level declared impossible under the anemic leadership of Barack Obama? Shouldn’t Democrats as well as Republicans rejoice that manufacturing is flooding back to the US? Shouldn’t Democrats as well as Republicans rejoice at the president’s attack on the regulatory state, the monstrous regime of Title IX fanatics, and other efforts to transform ‘the land of the free and the home of the brave’ into a safe-space for chest-less pajama boys? Shouldn’t Democrats as well as Republicans rejoice that wages are rising, that inflation is stable, that the stock market is booming? Shouldn’t Democrats as well as Republicans rejoice that 2018 marked the first time in 46 years that that cost of prescription drugs dropped? Shouldn’t Democrats as well as Republicans rejoice that the president is endeavoring to rationalize our immigration policy and enforce our immigration laws? Shouldn’t Democrats as well as Republicans rejoice that the president has made historic inroads in negotiations with pariah states like North Korea and adversarial states like China? Shouldn’t Democrats as well as Republicans rejoice in his rebuilding and modernizing the US military?
The answer to all these questions is ‘Yes, they should.’ But will they?
The Democrat women at the State of the Union speech sitting on their hands, with sourpusses, bring even more attention to their immaturity and rigid hatred of the success of America and of this administration. Thank you for wearing your uniforms, so more Americans can see the evidence of their refusal to be part of a constructive future, instead seeking to castigate and harm those who actually build America.
But, they finally do stand to cheer themselves. Sexists? Yes. Men don't stand to cheer themselves. All Americans should cheer those who keep us safe and labor at the most taxing and dangerous jobs.
Here, in the United States, we are alarmed by new calls to adopt socialism in our country. Tonight, we renew our resolve that America will NEVER be a socialist country
America was founded on liberty and independence — not government coercion, domination and control.
We are BORN FREE, and we will STAY FREE.
Take that to market, new Congresswomen, and the Democrats who encourage or tolerate them and their anti-Semitism.
The conclusion:
"This is the time to rekindle the bonds of love and loyalty and memory that link us together as citizens, as neighbors, as patriots.
This is our future –our fate — and our choice to make.
I am asking you to CHOOSE GREATNESS.
No matter the trials we face, no matter the challenges to come, we must go forward together.
We must keep America FIRST in our hearts.
We must keep Freedom alive in our souls.
And we must always keep FAITH in America’s Destiny –that One Nation, Under God, must be the HOPE and the PROMISE and the LIGHT and the GLORY among all the nations of the world! "
CBS NEWS POLL: 76 percent of viewers approved of what they heard in Pres. Trump's #SOTU speech; 72 percent said they approved of Pres. Trump's ideas for immigration.
The problem with home-made pizza is that an oven does not have the hot surface or heat of a wood-fired or commercial pizza oven. That's why we usually pre-cook the crust before cooking again with the toppings. 500 degrees or close is oven pizza temperature. Also, pre-heat the darn oven.
Pizza dough is easy to make, or to buy fresh pizza dough balls at your market. My preference is a thin, cracker-like crust with burn marks on the bottom.
Our current favorite topping is rather effete, but don't knock it if you haven't tried it: Olive oil, Goat cheese, arugula or dandelion, sliced fresh figs, and sprinkled with pignoli and then with some ground pepper. Best to wilt the bed of arugula in some oil for a minute first.
Last August, after I’d published an article in the Times entitled Obsession with gender identity goes too far, in which I expressed doubts about the current ideology of transgenderism, I was immediately labelled ‘transphobic’. However, as I had explained, in order to fear or hate something, I’d first have to have some idea of what it is I’m fearing or hating; and my problem with claims to transgender identity is that I find myself unable to understand their content. After all, what does it mean to be a ‘man’ or a ‘woman’, now that feminists have rightly taught us to jettison sexist stereotypes? Before I am able to be phobic, I first need to get past being baffled.
We cannot allow ideology and political correctness to prevail over science. The Boys and Men document is propagandistic to a degree that is almost incomprehensible.
The Rich Kids of Venezuela - including Socialist revolution leader Hugo Chavez’s daughter - flaunt their wealth with fist-fulls of cash and lavish holidays while the nation starves
The "woke" Superbowl, starred virtue signaling liberal self-congratulations, and a cussing halftime rapper repeatedly blinked out, aside from boring ball, should have instead aired this ad CBS refused:
I wish someone could explain the moral difference between going to a NICU unit and injecting poison into a premature baby that is causing the mother emotional stress & injecting poison into another baby – same age; same reason– that's in the womb?
It's a docu-drama by Mike Cernovich about fake news. Scott Adams suggests that you have no distractions during the final 15 minutes (he appears in the film - as does Prof. Peterson who Scott says "totally re-programmed my brain about religion."
With two criminal parents, no surprise he made the wrong turn. Still, a great talent. I'd like to own one of his Picassos.
He's now an excellent forgery-detector because he knows the artists, and knows forgery, from the inside-out. A highly-talented and charming sociopath.
One of the world's most notorious art forgers, Guy Ribes is profiled in this documentary. For over three decades, Ribes has scored major deals selling works by Picasso, Matisse, and other legends, with a twist: Ribes himself painted the facsimile works himself. Fake heirs, ruthless dealers, and more - it's all here in the life of Guy Ribes, a Genuine Forger.
13:1 If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
13:2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
13:3 If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
13:4 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant
13:5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;
13:6 it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.
13:7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
13:8 Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end.
13:9 For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part;
13:10 but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end.
13:11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways.
13:12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.
13:13 And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
Not a big-time Debussy fan, but Mrs. BD is so I gave her tix for Pelleas at the Met for Christmas, with a light supper at a little trattoria on Columbus on Thurs. night - Il Violino. Cozy. Excellent home-made fluffy gnocchi.
But not only was Pelleas unbearably tedious but was also 4 hours including intermissions. We got out at 11:30 and home God knows when. It beats me why this is considered a great, innovative piece. It's one endless tone poem, and the plot - and the libretto - are so dull that I can't find words for it. "The sun is going down." "Yes, see it going down over the sea." Perhaps we two are too unsophisticated?
So as we walked down the red-carpeted stairs at The Met, I mentioned to Mrs. BD that we needed something like Carmen as an antidote. And, voila, WQXR had Carmen live from the Met today! Call me philistine if you must, but you can hum Carmen lines all day. Got a lot of paperwork and cleaning up done to Carmen while Mrs. packed for a girl garden tour trip. I will await her southland garden photos.
On Friday, one of my opera afficionado pals told me that he and his wife walked out of Pelleas a week or so ago, but didn't tell me so as not to bias my impression. And that guy and his wife are musicians.
This is a spliced Youtube, which begins with the semi-humorous political and winds towards the infinite. "Tragedy is the precondition of being. Being is the interplay between the finite and the infinite."
The man sure can talk powerfully. He's a preacher of sorts.
Their 60% polyester semi-dress pants are comfortably stretchy, hold a good pleat, do not wrinkle, and are as comfortable as sweat pants. So are $200 wool trousers obsolete? For me, yes, mostly.
Since I wear sport jacket and tie to work - not a suit - these are perfect for me. They are not really "casual" trousers, but can double as that too. Did I mention that they look good, and are cheap as dirt?
They have a slim fit for the youthful hipsters, and a less-slim but also trim-looking line so you don't look like an old fogey but not like you live in Brooklyn.
The wartime memoir of Siegfried Knappe. Exciting read by a good guy and excellent soldier who was on the wrong side. BTW, most German soldiers were not members of the NAZI Party. After the war, he and his wife had a good life in Iowa.
From Amazon:
Based on Knappe’s wartime diaries, filled with 16 pages of photos he smuggled into the West at war’s end, Soldat delivers a rare opportunity for the reader to understand how a ruthless psychopath motivated an entire generation of ordinary Germans...
A Compound Set refers to two resistance exercises using overlapping muscle groups. For example, bench press sets alternating with dumbell flies - that is mostly two chest exercises. Another: dumbell bench alternating with tricep push-downs. The overlap there is two tricep stresses. People do Compound Sets once in a while to kick the heck out of a certain muscle or two - and for variety to keep the body off balance a bit.
Cool video: 
Like Apple Pie and a bit easier. Much easier than a Tarte Tatin.