Saturday, November 20. 2021
Friday, November 19. 2021
 While I would prefer, right now, to post about Italian charms and Thanksgiving blessings, I am urged by our posters to mention the Rittenhouse verdict.
Really, just trolling for comments I guess.
My view is that if you threaten me with serious bodily harm, I will kill you, or try to. I have the tools at hand.
For his future, would be better if his surname were Smith. He could be a good EMT.
If driving around southern Tuscany, you might want to stop by and see the hilltop fortress the Sienese built against the threat of the Florentines.
Cool little fortress, but it was all silly then. Chess moves. The fortress was a rook. We split a nice snack up there: A pistachio crepe. Amazing. Ever had one? That is Italian. Mrs. BD, who loves to drive in Italia, had a Coke and I had a glass of Chianti.
I like to drive in Italy too, but she just loved to drive that Citroen.
 The machine I use for editing seems to have crapped out. Lost all of today's links, and I don't think I can enter/edit new stuff entered into the pipeline for other contributors.
I blame the problem on the Lunar eclipse. Saw it at 4:30 this morning, and watched it slowly resolve until I got to the gym. Very cool.
Thursday, November 18. 2021
I took plenty of photos when we drove out from Orbetello to see Villa Lante. Beautiful countryside on the way. It has been on Mrs. BD's bucket list for decades because it was the model for Renaissance formal gardens from Villa D'Este to Versailles.
The ideal of the garden was architectural with the water features which exist to today and are studied by landscape architects. Even the plantings were architectural. Bishops and Cardinals were rich in those days. I think the water features were inspired by the Arab gardens in Spain.
Wednesday, November 17. 2021
Lazio is the province of Rome. Drive north, and it is flatland agricultural until you get well into Tuscany where there are good hills for grapes or, sometimes, woodlands.
The Italians seem to have protected agricutural lands from sprawl. Also, they made industrial zones. Surely fascistic, but it makes for pleasant landscapes. Beside that, it seems to be that Italians are gregarious people who love to hang out in their towns and villages.
These are newly-plowed wheat fields. Some fields this size are planted with alfalfa to be plowed under for spring planting. Excellent roads, as I have mentioned. Fun driving. No speed limits, really.
A reader mentioned the great Jacques Barzun. Years ago I had a friend who took a semester from Stanford only to take Barzun's famous cultural history and philosophy course at Columbia. It wasn't a course you could "take." You had to be approved for it and had to commit to it. Sometimes he would interview students to make sure they were up to it.
It was 3 books to read/week, and you had to stand and deliver in class. High standards for an undergrad (and grad) class. Barzun also never gave an A. He told the kids that nobody could digest all of this to his expectations. It was an academic humanities boot camp.
My pal, who had far more IQs than me, went on to a brilliant academic career and has always praised Prof. Barzun for it.
For an intro to Barzun, you can try A Jacques Barzun Reader: Selections from His Works
Re my post about semaglutide and weight loss, I was not entirely up-to-date. As of this summer, it IS now FDA-approved for weight loss in non-diabetics.
It is termed "a game-changer" for overweight problems.
Tuesday, November 16. 2021
Driving through northern Lazio. Almost looks like Kansas or Nebraska.
VDH: The slurs and smears levelled by the elites are all the more toxic because they have always known these sins firsthand as their own.
As I understand it, projection (attribution of one's own evil or malevolence to others) is a so-called primitive defense mechanism. People hate to own their own evil because it feels bad. In politics, though, it seems to be a calculated offensive maneuver.
Monday, November 15. 2021
San Gimignano is a summertime tourist trap, but not much in October. We stopped by en route to Siena mainly to look at the remarkable 14th C frescoes in their little Duomo.
Why does this hilltop village have so many towers? No earthquakes. Lots of towns, like Siena, knocked their towers down for safety.
I had some speck (cinghiale speck, in fact) for lunch with a beer. Italian speck is not German speck. It is some sort of norceria. It came with those cheese-stuffed crackers which were amazing but I have no idea what they were.
"Diet and exercise" are typical suggestions for the sedentary or over-eaters. However, strict nutritional plans rarely work for overweight people in the long run, and exercise has minimal effect on fat loss (but is essential for general fitness). Nutritional self-control is difficult for most people. Most, not all. 70% of Americans are overweight by some measure.
Metformin is a typical medicine for overweight, pre-diabetes, etc. In my experience, it is not very effective and has many side effects.
In my view, semaglutide might be the current gold standard. It's a tiny weekly injection, done easily at home. Like everything, it has some side effects but not much. It can be labeled as Wegovy or as Ozempic. You have to qualify as meaningfully overweight to get a prescription. It definitely reduces appetite, but has other beneficial physiological effects especially on the insulin system. Can it permanently re-jigger your food compulsions after months of use? It is not clear.
Semaglutide is on-label for Type 2 diabetes, or pre-diabetes, and off-label for weight loss alone.
If you have overweight issues, discuss it with your doctor as an option. It could save your joints, your heart, maybe your life (for a while). I would try it, if eating were one of my hobbies.
Sunday, November 14. 2021
Scott on the trial, at about the 1:09 mark.
I still feel that the kid was foolish to be there downtown in his home town with a rifle, but I can't remember being 17 years old. I can imagine it, though. I did lots of things at that age but we never had violent riots.
A good supper in a cool cafe (Etruria) in Volterra. As usual, we showed up as the first customers at 7 but the place filled up at 8. It was chilly so we sat inside. No big COVID deal in Italy.
Our Primo: Gnocchi with a pumpkin and sausage sauce. Far tastier than the photo looks. I had a glass or two of Brunello:
Secondo: Roast Cinghiale with a dolceforte sauce (vinegar + chocolate) on a bed of fried polenta, with a cotorno of canellini beans in some tasty broth because they had no spinach that night. Spinach sauteed in oil and garlic is one of my favorites with a secondi, but the beans were just fine.
Go for a nighttime stroll after and get lost as usual. But this can be found. Go for the pistachio:
Andrew Sullivan gets it: When All The Media Narratives Collapse. In case after case, the US MSM just keeps getting it wrong:
We all get things wrong. What makes this more worrying is simply that all these false narratives just happen to favor the interests of the left and the Democratic party. And corrections, when they occur, take up a fraction of the space of the original falsehoods. These are not randos tweeting false rumors. They are the established press.
And at some point, you wonder: what narrative are they pushing now that is also bullshit?
Is it deliberate political lying, or do they want to believe their own BS?
Hebrews 10:11-14, (15-18), 19-25
10:11 And every priest stands day after day at his service, offering again and again the same sacrifices that can never take away sins.
10:12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, "he sat down at the right hand of God,"
10:13 and since then has been waiting "until his enemies would be made a footstool for his feet."
10:14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.
10:15 And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying,
10:16 "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds,"
10:17 he also adds, "I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more."
10:18 Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.
10:19 Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus,
10:20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh),
10:21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
10:22 let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
10:23 Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful.
10:24 And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds,
10:25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Saturday, November 13. 2021
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