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. |
Our Recent Essays Behind the Front Page
Categories
QuicksearchLinks
Blog Administration |
Thursday, April 30. 2020Nice day for a ride"Opening up", and deathAt Politico, Admit It: You Are Willing to Let People Die to End the Shutdown. The question is how many and how soon. In the pandemic, everyone is a moral relativist. Assuming lockdowns do not prevent deaths but only slow the rate (still unknown whether that works very well, but maybe), who decides what number is acceptable? Protecting the most vulnerable (nursing homes and the like) has not worked very well thus far, with up to 50% of corona deaths occurring in such places. Those places require lots of staff.
About money, for youthful readers
Posted by Bird Dog
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
at
14:03
| Comments (5)
| Trackbacks (0)
Thursday morning linksGiant Asteroid Zooms by Earth at 19,000 MPH Eating meat may IMPROVE mental health and one in three vegetarians are depressed, study claims Climate Cultist Calls Michael Moore’s Film Dangerous, Wants It Censored These students are going to extreme lengths so everyone gets an 'A' Rutgers prof: 'F*ck each and every Trump supporter' Democrats ramp up demand for massive bailout of state and local governments Why Have Women’s Groups Gone Dead Silent On Biden Sex-Assault Accusation? Unsealed FBI Handwritten Notes, Emails Reveal Agents Plotted Perjury Trap On Flynn Explosive New Flynn Documents Show FBI Goal Was To ‘Get Him Fired’. Handwritten notes from the FBI that had been withheld from Michael Flynn and his defense team show that the FBI's goal in investigating and ambushing Flynn was 'to get him fired.' Former FBI General Counsel James Baker Has Flipped! Durham is Building Conspiracy Case on All of Those Who Lied to the Court! Christopher Steele claims Clinton lawyer fed him debunked claim about Russian collusion in 2016 Trump Says To Drink Lots Of Water, Media Reports He Told Everyone To Drown Themselves Everything You’ve Ever Wanted to Know about Coronavirus Testing Delaying Herd Immunity Is Costing Lives Sailer: Science Says Greenfield: Idiocy in the Time of the Coronavirus The Pandemic Has Become One More Issue for Americans To Fight Over Georgia reopening state is terrible, but Colorado doing the same is ignored
Biden Admits That The Trump Administration Listened To The Scientists From The Beginning… The left's 'listen to the science' mantra is growing old. Trump listened, and that's the problem. The Netherlands Joins Switzerland: Will Reopen Schools Based on Findings that Children are Not at Risk of Coronavirus and Not Carriers Wednesday, April 29. 2020Who remembers the Hong Kong Flu?
Posted by The News Junkie
in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects
at
16:21
| Comments (30)
| Trackbacks (0)
Portable medical insuranceEver since I graduated from grad school I have kept a major medical plan. Yes, it it portable. Over my lifetime, medical costs have expanded enormously, mainly because of what medical science in the the US is able to do. Miraculous things. All worth doing? I do not know, but the USA has the best medical options in the world, however expensive. Among many other problems with Obamacare (a stalking horse for government medical care) was the absence of a regular cheap major medical plan like the one I still have. Shop around. These policies still exist. Speaking personally, I am not afraid of dying if I am in bad shape, but I think life is a kick and I'd be glad to stick with it for a while, working, making a living, and having an interesting life. Two links: EMPLOYER PROVIDED HEALTH INSURANCE DELENDA EST Coronavirus: One thing that makes job loss in US so painful Making political hay out of an epidemic is shameful, but there is a point. Also this: Hillary Clinton on Coronavirus and Universal Health Care: 'This Would Be a Terrible Crisis to Waste' WTF?
Posted by The Barrister
in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects
at
13:25
| Comments (13)
| Trackbacks (0)
Wednesday morning linksImage: The 2020 Trikini Stone Says Special Counsel Recommended ‘no jail time’ If He Turned On Trump. He Refused To Lie. Conrad Black: The Changes to Come - In a few months, everything will be largely back to what it was within the United States. The big changes will be geopolitical. Lockdown claims a big scalp: Mayo Clinic furloughs or cuts pay of 30,000 employees due to shutdown Lockdown Will Last Indefinitely in New Jersey U.S. budget deficit will expand to almost $4 trillion this year, CBO says Saying Lockdowns Must Last Until Mass Testing Or A Vaccine Is Absurd Dr. Birx Under Attack by Liberals for Criticizing Media and Praising Trump’s Intellect If Coronavirus Threat’s So Great, Why’s U.S. Overall Death Rate Down? What Is The True Level Of Mortality Caused By The Covid-19 Virus? How to play with charts and graphs How to play with news photos A Fifth To Half Of All Coronavirus Deaths Have Been In Nursing Homes US Intel Officials Believe 45,500 Corpses Were Incinerated In One Fortnight In Wuhan The Chinese Coronavirus Is This Generation’s Tiananmen Test. We are suffering a catastrophe of the Chinese Communist Party’s making. It must be held accountable, made to pay for the destruction it has caused, putting every lever of American power on the table to ensure it. Is Xi laughing? Egypt building steel wall along border with Gaza Strip No love for the Palis Tuesday, April 28. 2020Another QQQ, from VoltaireVia a commenter at Schneiderman:
QQQVia Prof Boudreaux:
For mature adults
Scientists who express different views on Covid-19 should be heard, not demonizedDebate and discussion is good. Related, US and European cases may have peaked a month ago. Poll: Most Americans Want Coronavirus Vaccine Before Venues Reopen Really? That could take a year or more. Possibly never. Of course, everybody wants a vaccine today, but no vaccine has ever been made for any viruses in the corona family despite many efforts.
Posted by The News Junkie
in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects
at
14:29
| Comments (11)
| Trackback (1)
Tuesday morning linksPREHISTORIC SAHARA FILLED WITH FEROCIOUS PREDATORS WAS 'MOST DANGEROUS PLACE IN THE HISTORY OF PLANET EARTH,' SCIENTISTS SAY In ‘Mrs. America,’ Hollywood Once Again Fails To Understand Conservative Women Study: Historic Drop in U.S. Reading and Math scores Since Common Core ‘Debacle’ New York Progressives Officially Determine That All Wealth Comes From The Tooth Fair Tyson Foods warns of meat shortages: 'The food supply is breaking' HEATHER MAC DONALD: The paranoid style in COVID-19 America. It’s beginning to look as if California is deliberately trying to tank the economy Narrative Managers Argue China-Like Internet Censorship Is Needed Medical, Economic, Social, Military: The State of Play Monday, April 27. 2020Virus, common sense vs. mass hysteriaWhere my opinions are leaning towards. CORONAVIRUS REALITY CHECK:
Maybe not more fatal, but more infectious. It is unavoidable. Like death and taxes.
Posted by The News Junkie
in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects
at
16:27
| Comments (28)
| Trackbacks (0)
Nature vs. NurtureIn the Nature–Nurture War, Nature Wins. Environmental influences are important, too, but they are largely unsystematic, unstable and idiosyncratic.
Bird of the Week: CowbirdAll members of the blackbird family have been passing through over the past month. In the Northeastern US, that mostly means Redwings, Purple Grackles, Cowbirds. Cowbirds are famous for their foster parenting habit. Bad parents. They like to hang out in pastures, where the animals stir up bugs to eat. About the Cowbird. Monday morning linksHow Does a Harvard Professor Think It’s ‘Authoritarian’ to Allow Parents to Teach Their Kids? George Will’s “conservatism” 129 Media Mistakes in the Trump Era: The Definitive List Mexico all but empties official migrant centers in bid to contain coronavirus WSJ: The Bearer of Good Coronavirus News - Stanford scientist John Ioannidis finds himself under attack for questioning the prevailing wisdom about lockdowns. Lockdown is Destroying Food Supply Chain Science says: It’s time to start easing the lockdowns VDH: About Those Press Conferences “This Is a Rigged System!” – 22 Million Americans Laid Off Due to Government Lockdown Orders — But Government Employees Keep Getting Paid! Media Malpractice Week at Legal Insurrection Kling: What I have come to believe Sullivan: We Can’t Go on Like This Much Longer WHY JOE BIDEN’S AMERICA LOVES A LOCKDOWN A CNN journalist pens a fascinating insight into the left’s dystopian worldview Sheesh. Needs an antidepressant NBC’s Chuck Todd Touts A ‘Good Thing About This Economic Crisis’: ‘Clean Air’ And ‘Good Views’ Not even a bad joke The coronavirus won’t defeat the city that never sleeps De Blasio Appoints Wife Head Of Coronavirus Racial Inequality Task Force, Despite Prior Questions Brilliant! He never quits finding her high-paid gummint jobs Mapping the Mortality Maze: How Deadly Is COVID-19? Recent studies on fatality rates and infection rates provide enough information to decide when and how to reopen America. Another blow dealt to public faith in scientific models Models are not facts Pompeo blasts 'wildly soft' Obama-Biden coddling of Beijing: 'Allowed China to walk all over us' A Tale of Two Scandals - Who was more credibly accused, Joe Biden or Brett Kavanaugh? It’s complicated A Federal Bailout Won’t Fix States’ Finances Is China Going To "Win" In The Corona-Crisis? Sunday, April 26. 2020Sunday evening BobBy popular request. Lyrics and tune are both cool. They run through my head. The vid is not so great. "I wonder where in the world Alicia Keys might be..."
Stay home!Be scared! Follow the rules!
California docs, on lockdownsDebate is good. New facts are useful too. As I understand it, though, lockdowns are not so much designed to prevent death as they were to slow the rate of serious infection - to extend the epidemic at a less intense rate.
Posted by The News Junkie
in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects
at
13:54
| Comments (10)
| Trackbacks (0)
Soft-quarantine closet cleaningWe have a rather soft-quarantine going on here. Soft quarantine meaning pushing the limits of what is allowed. Not by choice, but because there are few places to go outdoors other than road hikes with friends, Costco, market, drug store. An hour of morning calisthenics in the living room before breakfast, of course, with adult music, is a good way to begin a day. Rainy day with the goal of emptying two closets. So much crap that will never be used, and that Good Will would never want. (They are fussy about your old stuff - nobody wants it.) I have a prosperous friend who added a 35X35' laundry room on the second floor when his four kids were young, above a new kitchen addition. Two washers, two driers, linen/blanket shelves on all the walls, and dedicated rolling racks all around: one for ski gear, one for hunting gear, one for bad-weather gear, etc. etc. I praised him for this, but was green with envy. Mrs. B and I are cleaning out two closets today. It feels good. Much of it is good stuff, but nobody would want it. The garbage man will need a $20 tip on Tues to get rid of it all. "When in doubt, throw it out." The Collier Brothers never learned that. I have learned, over time, that most of our stuff is dumpster fodder. What to do? Surfing in the intertube is a complete waste of life, like counting flowers on the wall. Reading Maggie's doesn't count.
Will this be a year without trout-fishing? Where can you go, really, right now? At least I think I will do some practice fly casting on the lawn. Why not? I can always use practice with that game. Rain and wind just make it more interesting. From today's Lectionary: Born anew1 Peter 1:17-23 1:17 If you invoke as Father the one who judges all people impartially according to their deeds, live in reverent fear during the time of your exile. 1:18 You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, 1:19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish. 1:20 He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake. 1:21 Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God. 1:22 Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart. 1:23 You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God. Saturday, April 25. 2020Rising sea levels, with the UK as an exampleFrom 16,000 years ago to present. Yes, you could have walked from Paris to London if they had existed then. It's post-glaciation sea rise. A Maggie's Scientific Virus Poll, with Two Questions
1. Do you miss getting to your gym? (I do - I miss all of my happy routines including beers with pals after work) 2. Do you think you have been infected already? (I do, in Feb. - thought it was just a strange flu that lasted a week and left me weak for a few days after. Awaiting easy availability of the antibody test. Pretty sure Mrs. BD too. Hope we both are through it.)
Calm and rational
(Page 1 of 6, totaling 131 entries)
» next page
|