Thursday, July 23. 2020
I understand that teachers tend to be Lefties (I do not know why - maybe because government employees?), but I think anybody can get a solid basic education in the US with good structure and good parental support. Just look at the NYC charter schools. We know that the government schools do not enjoy competition though. I like the Swedish model: A school voucher to all.
Re the protesters, I completely agree with Scott. The kids (mostly white) are playing games and having fun trying to provoke the grown-ups. It is not useful and can be dangerous. Scott wonders why these kids do not take up teaching jobs and do something real to help people.
Scott's podcast today
 I've always been interested in the mysterious concept of ignition, but fire is of course of great fascination to humans. Controlled fire, of course, is what we prefer.
Life itself is a form of controlled fire.
Despite its ubiquity in human life, chemists have still barely unlocked what’s happening amid the flames.
 We're talking about domesticated dogs, from Chihuauah to Malamutes - all genetically-modifed versions of the Wolf, designed to serve or entertain humans in some ways.
The domestic dog appears to be a neotonal wolf.
They are certainly trainable and well-adapted to interacting with humans, but not as clever as many other mammals. (I hear some reader thinking "But my dog is different. Yeah, right.").
How Stupid Are Dogs, Really?
Why do humans anthropomorphise animals? I am a dog guy, and know how easy it can be to view a dog as a pal. They sure can be great companions if well-trained, with none of the demands of human relationships.
I guess I am talking about pets, not pure working dogs. Are they pretend people?
Wednesday, July 22. 2020
It's not the cost of gyms and trainers. It's about clothing, mainly dress clothing.
I never had a flab or weight problem, but before I got into my program I had a weakness and endurance problem which kinda depressed me. Sarcopenia due to physical neglect.
After around 4 years of my almost-daily weights/calisthenics/cardio program, I have gained only about 6 lbs. Probably lost some fat that was not obvious to me so maybe 7-8 lbs. of meat. I do not have a beefy build, so there are natural limits.
Also, probably from weights, my neck size has gone up over an inch. I can't button my dress shirts. Is that bragging? Also, my sports jackets are tight in the shoulders. Trust me, I am not over-muscled by a long shot, just fit, energetic, and functional.
I have enough dress clothing (and every other sort of clothing) to last the rest of my life and more, whether it fits perfectly or not. I am done with new clothing forever. Except maybe workout stuff - they seem to wear out fast. The sneakers, mainly.
You can make arguments about the de-institutionalization of chronically mentally ill patients, but the medicines used for treatment of the various sorts of schizophrenia have highly-variable results. What we group under "schizophrenia" is not unitary and, furthermore, this rough category of psychoses is a brain-wiring issue and not a primarily chemical one.
Furthermore, many patients do not like to take medicine. You can't force them to, under ordinary conditions.
The other category of severe mental illness, Bipolar Disorder, is thankfully readily medically and psychotherapeutically managed now in people who are willing to follow a treatment program.
I do not agree with several points made in this piece, but I do not feel that jails and homeless tents are good approaches to severe mental illness.
Tuesday, July 21. 2020
Williamson: The grotesque American wedding.
Grotesque? Well, it can be a good excuse to throw a big party. Not that a big party requires any excuse, but whatever.
In these COVID times, I have not seen many big weddings happening. That is tough on florists.
My favorite quote in this Paris Review piece on Sondheim is that music can make a word explode.
It sure can.
One quote:
When I was fifteen years old I saw a movie called Hangover Square, another epiphany in my life. It was a moody, romantic, gothic thriller starring Laird Cregar, about a composer in London in 1900 who was ahead of his time. And whenever he heard a high note he went crazy and ran around murdering people. It had an absolutely brilliant score by Bernard Herrmann, centered around a one-movement piano concerto. I wanted to pay homage to him with this show, because I had realized that in order to scare people, which is what Sweeney Todd is about, the only way you can do it, considering that the horrors out on the street are so much greater than anything you can do on the stage, is to keep music going all the time. That’s the principle of suspense sequences in movies, and Bernard Herrmann was a master in that field. So Sweeney Todd not only has a lot of singing, it has a lot of underscoring. It’s infused with music to keep the audience in a state of tension, to make them forget they’re in a theater, and to prevent them from separating themselves from the action. I based a lot of the score on a specific chord that Herrmann uses in almost all his film work and spun it out from that. That and the “Dies Irae,” which is one of my favorite tunes and is full of menace.
He blames John Dewey, at least in part.
I don't know. That was a long time ago.
 Sunday Sermonette: 10 Safety Tips For Going Back To Church
Catholic churches across U.S. suffer week of vandalism and arson
AVI explains that free market capitalism is a force, not a system
The Science Is Very Clear: Schools Should Reopen This Fall
Joe Biden Fights Science: ‘Just Plain Dangerous’ for Children to Return to School
Florida's Broward County Orders Residents To Enforce Mandatory Mask Rules At Home
Drop tests for blacks, say college coaches
Glenn Loury interviewed on Race And Equality
Re the Smithsonian thing:
When all is said and done, in 2020, the Smithsonian’s caretakers chose to tell our children that values like hard work and rationality are part of the “white” inheritance—and don’t come naturally to those raised in other cultures. If this demeaning caricature was offered up by drawling good ol’ boys defending Jim Crow in some grainy newsreel footage, we’d spot it for the unapologetic racism that it is. The question of the hour, though, is what we call it when educators offer it up in the name of “anti-racism.”
Trump Was Right: Biden First Said He'd Defund Police
Voters See Media A Lot More Eager To Help Biden Than Trump
Mandated Diversity Training
Portland Rioters Burn American Flag, Break Down Fencing At Federal Courthouse As Officers Respond En Masse
Homeland Security plans to deploy 150 agents in Chicago this week, with scope of duty unknown
18 Chicago Cops Injured in Riot and Activists Scream 'Police Brutality'
We immigrants know the America-bashers are ridiculously wrong
UN Secretary General Calls For A “New Model For Global Governance” To Stop ‘Climate Change’
Mission creep? I thought they try to stop wars and genocide. Without much success.
Monday, July 20. 2020
What is a bad smell?
In Canada’s Version of Portland, Cancel Culture Comes for ‘Steve-O-Reno’s’
Left-Wingers Are Hysterical About Federal Agents Policing Protests in Portland
Border chief fires back at Portland mayor, defends 'absolutely necessary' policing tactics
Portland Rioters Smash Through Door of Portland Police Association, Light it on Fire
Portland’s Mayor Is Still On The Side Of The Rioters
Black Woman Defaces Black Lives Matter Mural Outside Trump Tower: "Re-Fund The Police!"
America Held Hostage - This is how the Left campaigns to remove President Trump.
Prof. Glen Loury: ‘You Can Live With Disparities, Or You Can Live In Totalitarianism’
"The white man’s path is a rut for the rest of us" — writes a privileged white woman...
This ‘anti-racism education’ sure looks awfully … racist
Trader Jose Is Now Racist
San Francisco’s experiment housing the homeless in hotels during pandemic working out as expected
Hong Kong Outbreak "Out Of Control" As City Suffers Record Jump In New COVID-19 Cases
The pandemic could actually strengthen the U.S. food system. The shock to U.S. food chains from the coronavirus has been a boon to small- and mid-sized farms and distributors. Could it be the start of a new way to get food?
Paul Krugman Rejects American Elections, Again
The Chinese Holocaust: Modern China Looks Like WWII Germany, Horrifying Video Shows BAD Things Are Ongoing
With 30 Submarines, Japan Could Shape The Pacific’s Undersea Defenses
Sunday, July 19. 2020
Not a retirement type of person, but Mrs. BD wants a new boat (I thought I had had enuf boats in my life to worry about already, but I love boats. Love farms too, but I like hiking and working the most. Yeah, I likes me a bit of hunting too.
She likes the custom Hunts. She likes the trawlers too.
This wonderful adventurous couple downsized their trawler to make it trailer-able, and go all around the country - and especially Canada - exploring and having fun times. Trawler Trailer Life. Carpe Diem.
Yes, their home base is Florida, but they seem to not spend much time there.
If forced to retire, what would you do for fun and excitement while awaiting the Grim Reaper?
Psalm 139:1-12, 23-24
139:1 O LORD, you have searched me and known me.
139:2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away.
139:3 You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.
139:4 Even before a word is on my tongue, O LORD, you know it completely.
139:5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.
139:6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it.
139:7 Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?
139:8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
139:9 If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
139:10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast.
139:11 If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night,"
139:12 even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you.
139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts.
139:24 See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Saturday, July 18. 2020
The media are openly rooting for a surge in coronavirus cases, cheering for violence and racial division in our streets, praying for a slow economic recovery, and demanding that children stay home from school, because they are hoping it will hurt Trump at the polls. The veils have come off for the mainstream media. On November 3, the veils will also come off for the American voters.
Mueller and Weissmann Op-Eds Greatly at Odds With Their Report and Evidence
Why China Picked Amnesty International's Ex-Chief as U.N. Free Speech Monitor
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