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.
If you have been on ships at sea, you know how interesting it is to watch pilots embark or disembark sometimes miles from land, in all weather. The pilot takes over a ship, more or less, when approaching land.
Pilot boats are the toughest small vessels, with master handlers. Sometimes pilots have doors to enter a ship. but often ladders as in this photo. In bad seas, they jump.
Their strands of small black and red berries ripen in September. A Wild Cherry tree in September will be full of birds until the tree is stripped. That happened here this week.
Unless you are a Captain-level seaman, I advise avoiding rough waters. Lobstermen and fishermen know how to do it safely, but most recreational boaters do not. It is a skill, or an art. It takes years to get the feel. Besides that, I read that fishermen have the highest fatality rates.
The sea wants to kill you. I believe I have better feel in sail than in power.
Unlike the Spring songbird migration, which comes in giant waves, Fall migration is scattered and gradual. I've seen a few fall warblers in recent days (difficult to identify because they are so drab), and our Catbirds have departed.
As in Spring, small birds (Passerines and the like) migrate at night.
For birders, the cool thing in Fall are the hawk, eagle, and, to some extent, owl migrations. They are daytime migrants. Our breeding Ospreys left last week, headed mostly for the Caribbean.
Actually, not sure about how owls move south but they do not do extensive migrations.
The two most important features of the long-running culture war in the United States are that the left has won every fight and the right has never learned from failure. In all of its manifestations over the years, the American right has never figured out why they lose every engagement with the left. Instead, they have internalized failure, making it a key feature of how they engage with the world.
The reason that the right never wins is they insist that facts and reason are the solution to the conflict...
Sounds more like sociocultural fashion than anything data-based. Maybe that's the idea. Many elite institutions began as religious ones and, without the religion, other things need to fill the existential vacuum.
9:30 They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it;
9:31 for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, "The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again."
9:32 But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.
9:33 Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, "What were you arguing about on the way?"
9:34 But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest.
9:35 He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all."
9:36 Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them,
9:37 "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me."
For all you hardy souls, a gentle reminder. Dylan, Stanford White, Peter Cooper, Hamilton, McSorley (whoever he was), it's all going to happen next week on Saturday. 10 am in front of the southern entrance to the High Line on Gansevoort St. 6.6 miles, give or take. Figure 3.5 to 4 hours, lots to see and do. No masks required, though if you want to eat in a restaurant you'll need your vaccine card (thanks to the ever-caring nanny state of Warren Wilhelm, Jr.
It's rain or shine. I'm expecting the best shining to be on the smiling, shining faces of our attendees. Looking forward to seeing you all!!
We simply cannot teach our citizens, current and future, that their country is no good and expect to have a country for very long. No country can survive on a diet of endless self-loathing. We need to teach our citizens to love and cherish their country. And we need to stop wallowing in our sins of racism. We are talking ourselves into ruin. As far as I can tell, all this talk about racism has brought us nothing but hardship for blacks, division, and race hustlers. Let's instead talk about what we Americans have in common, and let's start judging Americans by the content of their character...
I'll agree with that, but as a huge multicultural nation I am not always sure as if Americans feel that they have a lot in common. Even in 1776, the population was deeply divided.
The magic glue that can and should bind all Americans together is the US Constitution. It applies to everybody. It happens to be Constitution Day today.
The 
New Zealand Police Arrest Three Citizens 
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