Maggie's Farm

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.

Our Recent Essays Behind the Front Page

Much Sorry with Delays
Birth, Death and All That Stuff in Between
How to Honor Labor Day, Every Day
My Yom Kippur Miracle (Repost from 2010)
Good intro to fly casting
Peach update, with pie
NYC update
Easy for you to say: To the elites on mass immigration
For NYC on 9/11, Sailors' Snug Harbor
Pickled Peaches
Water Shoes
Labor Costs in U.S.
Your "identity"
Good news about The Great Courses
Uses of Hot Pepper Jelly/Sauce, Chutneys, and Jams
A Saturday Drive to Litchfield County, CT
How to Pick a Kayak
Civilized: Fruit forks and knives
Loads of kayaking on Cape Cod
Psychology Experiments' Questionable Results

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Saturday, December 28. 2013

Saturday morning links

Time to Stock Up on Incandescent Bulbs Before They Go Out Permanently


Our moral and intellectual superiors don't like us to have choices - except abortion


This Is Not Your Grandma's Humane Society


Just shoot the does and eat them. Delicious and tender. Around here, there is no limit on does.


Your VodkaPundit Christmas Season Movie Guide


Goldberg:  Democracy in the Tobacconist’s


The 5 symptoms of laziness


Common Knee Surgery Does Very Little for Some, Study Suggests


How Y’all, Youse and You Guys Talk - What does the way you speak say about where you’re from? Answer all the questions below to see your personal dialect map.


2013: The year of the United States’ biggest oil boom, ever


Icebreaker sent to rescue ship trapped near Antarctica can't penetrate ice


The reporters were there to witness global warming. It's called "The Gore Effect."


Family structure and income inequality


Single parenthood accounts for most of it. It's a poor life plan, unless wealthy. Some people never plan their lives at all. That's not being an adult. However, people always change paths, and that works too.


Canadian Experts: Pedophilia Is A Sexual Orientation


Of course it is. And theft is a Material Orientation


The US now watches the majority of its online porn on mobile phones


So that's what they are all doing?


Are You an iPhone Zombie?


Suddenly, knock-out game is a hate crime


The Marines Corps quietly puts off the requirement that female Marines perform 3 pullups.


Daily Beast Preemptively Calls Sexism on Clinton Attacks in 2016


New York Soon to Trail Florida in Population


Pajama Boy:  “We have no morals, and we will attack you.”

Posted by Bird Dog in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 06:32 | Comments (18) | Trackback (1)

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Not going to miss this year.

Got my cancellation notice from my insurance company yesterday. I've joined the club. I agree with the wise saying, I wouldn't want to join any club that would have me.

First it was the new, cute little caps for the Marines (male and female) to wear, and correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't 3 pull-ups the lowered standard itself? The minimum had been ten, right? Friend told me that the administration was taking hand grenades away from the troops since not all (females) soldiers can throw them far enough to avoid being killed or injured by the blast effects. He was joking. He was joking wasn't he?

Property taxes up, town trash fees doubled (but curbside pickup reduced), and don't even ask what Comcast did to me.

It's been a bad year, next year is going to be worse.

Happy New Year.
#1 John the River (Link) on 2013-12-28 09:47 (Reply)
A note on the lightbulbs:

1: there are some places where you should use either an incandescent: -- older installations of dimmer switches, photocell, motion detector. The characteristics of the power sent from the switch to the bulb on these devices is hazardous in combination with the electronics in the ballast of the typical CFL.

2: There will still be incandescents similar enough to what you were using -- the ban is largely on the reflector downlights and the familiar "A19" common light bulb, but most other shapes are still good, as are "A19" bug-lights, rough-service bulbs, and tinted bulbs

3: There are now pretty normal-looking bulbs that use an encapsulated halogen lamp within the outer bulb. One brand is GE "reveal". These still burn a filament, and are equivalent to the old bulbs exept:
- more expensive (of course)
- longer lasting (really!)
- more efficient enough to beat the ban (that means a 60W equiv will be labelled as 50-some watts -- same light output as 60W old bulb but less heat output.
- very slightly "whiter" light -- but not cold looking like many eco bulbs.
#2 Douglas2 on 2013-12-28 10:36 (Reply)
Where's the problem? I just bought a case of four dozen 75 watt and another of 100 watt incandescents on eBay and they were shipped from US sources.

The banners are just as effective as those running the do-not-call system.
#2.1 Claritas on 2013-12-28 10:43 (Reply)
Contrary to the linked article, the ban is not on the "use" of the bulbs, but on their manufacture and importation.

Even some of the big consumer retailers expect their back stock of incandescent bulbs to last until mid-summer 2014 or longer.

Also, many businesses are taking advantage of utility-company rebates and incentives to switch to high-efficiency lighting, so there will be many small stockpiles of their "own use" lamp stock hitting the secondary market of job-lot discounters and flea-markets.

The point of the Heritage article is a political one -- limiting choice is bad for consumers.

Mine is different -- It used to be a fairly brainless task to buy a replacement light bulb -- the wattage was a sure proxy for the light output, and an A19 incandescent lamp would work reliably and safely in just about any fixture that it would fit into. Now a typical supermarket has few if any incandescent lamps, and these are disappearing. So the consumer who is not a light-bulb geek is faced with choices and decisions, some of which have negative economic consequences (i.e.: the $16 light fails in under 1000 hours, where is the economy in that?) and some of which have safety consequences (i.e.: fire).

In spite of what Snopes and UL say, there are combinations of CFL and Dimmer which have unacceptable risk, and a simple news search will reveal countless real house fires that have resulted. The dimmers in question are just about all of them that preceded the mass-market promotion of CFL bulbs.

The misplaced "either" in my comment above was meant to point to the long-term solution -- bring in the electrician and replace all of those dimmer, motion, and dusk-to-dawn switches with new ones that can handle LED and dimmable CFL lamps.
#2.1.1 Douglas2 on 2013-12-28 11:37 (Reply)
Some GE "Reveal" bulbs are halogen but not all of them are. GE's basic 60 watt A19 replacement is: "GE energy-efficient soft white 43 watt A19" with the GE product code of 63003.

It produces a very nice light and fits in all regular 60 W sockets. I use them everywhere in the houses, and my wife does not complain.

BUT, it gets very hot. I would not use one in an enclosed fixture. Of course, cfls will cook themselves in enclosed fixtures as well. For that purpose, I have stockpiled ten dozen incandescents.
#2.2 Walter Sobchak on 2013-12-28 16:17 (Reply)
Re: Lightbulbs

These incandescents meet the new requirements.

http://www.newcandescent.com/store/customer/
#3 Bodie on 2013-12-28 10:39 (Reply)
"newcandescent" meet the requirements by falling under the "rough service" exemption. They have a thicker filament that runs at a lower temperature, therefore have yellower light that gives fewer lumens-per-watt than what we are used to from standard bulbs.

In my reading of their website it seems that they intimate that they have improved over the standard "rough service" lamps, but I can't really see any way that they are functionally different from the major-brand "rough service" light bulbs that I can get at my local hardware store for similar cost.

BTW part of the law is reporting of the sales volume of exempted bulbs, with the view that if there is evidence that there is widespread substituting of an exempted lamp for normal use, it will be banned as well. The agricultural users of Rough Service lamps will likely be unhappy if this marketing is really effective
#3.1 Douglas2 on 2013-12-29 22:38 (Reply)
Torn meniscus - had one in 2001, after my very first (and only, to this date) session of yoga.
I'd like to do yoga again. I hesitate, because my first teacher pushed me too hard and as I got up to leave, I turned the corner and collapsed in a heap. I got up, but could tell there was a problem.

Sure enough, had a torn meniscus, missed 2 weeks of work getting it diagnosed then getting the torn portion removed.

It didn't feel right for about a year. Since then, I've steadily improved to the point that I am playing tennis regularly without pain.

I do wear a knee brace when I ski or play tennis - purely preventive. I've played tennis without a brace and not suffered. I won't ski without one.

My knees have always been 'bad' - ever since I played soccer in high school and suffered a series of injuries. None were enough to limit my playing, but let's just say my knees move very easily from side to side if I'm inclined to show people. I've been forced to keep my leg muscles very well toned in order to compensate.

But the meniscus surgery was easy and worked for me. 10 years later, my wife had the same surgery, had the same bad year afterward, but is fine now.
#4 Bulldog on 2013-12-28 11:05 (Reply)
Once again the OBama thugs and their lapdogs the "agents of change" have used a strong American institution to channel the funds to unmarried women. Of course it's all right to ignore function"defense", because that was too complicated to study in the leadership training classes. Of course it's all right to lie about intention--"everybody does it" (administrative deceipt). Of course, we call integrating women into the millitary at the highest pay rank available for those without a formal education that is to say "COMBAT". If you put all those little change agents in the "COMBAT" zone ( back at base behind the desk) then they get those nice big checks too TOO and that (hands on hips) is only fair!
#5 faculty wife on 2013-12-28 11:26 (Reply)
It is sad that so many people still seem to think, or ever did think, that females in any meaningful percentage, could ever qualify to graduate from boot camp. I mean really qualify. Partly, this is so because qualifications are beside the point. Since physical fitness is beside the point, fussing about three pull ups more or less is a waste of space. No friends, women in the military has always been about 'empowerment' and 'fairness' and being 'entitled'. Women needed special legal privileges to gain entry into the 'unfairly' male dominated military. So, qualifications were 'modified'. Effective performance in support of winning battles is a criteria that gets in the way of more important policies. So, a female military force is essentially just another affirmative action welfare plan. It should be mentioned, because it is mostly ignored, that a large percentage of young males do not graduate boot camp. They quit or fail to qualify. That was true during my tenure in the military at any rate. More would be reclassified or discharged during advanced training. More yet would be discharged within the first few years of service. Training is constant and the standards are more demanding as time and rank increase. The military isn't supposed to be easy and only the best can make the grade. The men who do are only a very small percentage of those available in the population at large. So, this matter isn't really a male vs. female issue either. It's more of a politically motivated fantasy game. The fact that females don't belong on that playing field is not a knock against them. It's really the same thing as saying females should not compete against males on the tennis court, baseball diamond or football field. Which is the same thing as saying an old man should not try to tackle an NFL running back. Which is the same thing as saying men should not aspire to be pretty. The important distinction being that warfare is an activity with no time outs, privacy or triple A service to help change those tires. Those big, heavy tires. Silly rabbits, physical and mental differences matter sometimes, and they matter in ways that super stupid political delusions cannot change.
#6 W. C. Taqiyya on 2013-12-28 11:47 (Reply)
The military is now also putting political correctness officers into units to make sure people can't say what you just did.
#6.1 Jim on 2013-12-28 14:07 (Reply)
If you use lightbulbs for winter heating, you need a lot more lights now.
#7 rhhardin (Link) on 2013-12-28 12:17 (Reply)
"The Gore Effect."

Especially when mixed with reporters, that has so many meanings.


Re incandescents - I say we make an election issue just to watch the politicians tap dance in the broken glass.
#8 JKB on 2013-12-28 12:20 (Reply)
Pajama Boy: “We have no morals, and we will attack you.”


Zacherial revealed.
#9 JKB on 2013-12-28 12:24 (Reply)
Heh. When I read the piece, it was the first thing that came to my mind, along with him being a homophobic, massive inferiority complex, and a severe case of elitism.

He'd never spout that crud in a biker bar\Sturgis, any sports bar, or even any local bar with Vets - he'd be a beneficiary of the splendid care that ACA will now produce....
#9.1 fred zeppelin on 2013-12-28 20:24 (Reply)
"Some people never plan their lives at all. That's not being an adult. However, people always change paths, and that works too."

I planned my life, and then it caught up with me. Best laid plans of men and mice...

Planning is nice, but plans can go seriously awry, especially plans that rely on things like sanity in government and an economy that's not up and down like a yoyo every few years.
#10 J.T. Wenting on 2013-12-28 13:56 (Reply)
Dems will always claim questions about Hillary! are sexist. Keep asking them to prove it, not assert it.

What's that faint sound I hear? Why, it's laughter! From the Russkis, the Chinese, and the jihadists! Incidentally, what are the physical requirements for women in the IDF?
#11 Sam L. on 2013-12-28 15:24 (Reply)
So these geniuses have us using bulbs that are toxic to their precious environment, (and look at the amount of paper and "goo" that will be sent along with the spent but still full of mercury (unless you broke it, in that case the mercury is in your home just waiting to be spread around into your kids' bodies by the vacuum cleaner aerolicizing (sp?) it) cfl's to the landfill.

But my real beef is that women in China are being mercury poisoned (not a lot of OSHA-ish oversight over there!) so the left can institute there lame-assed idea.

Howzabout this? Did this long ago-saves a lot:
Never could figure out why folks block or dim at least 1/4 of the light by putting frosted glass over it, or shades on lamps. Counterproductive innit? A few visits to thrift stores to get clear glass covers, especially ones with crystal cuts that further elongate the light, and retrofitted lamps to hold a glass cover instead of darkening dust-magnet shades, and voila! Energy saved! Fewer lights need to be on, looks nice n shiny, and no mercury!

If the fools were to ban anything, it should have been frosted glass and lampshades. But there's nada dinero to make on sensible, toxin-free solutions, now is there??
#12 Theranter on 2013-12-28 19:46 (Reply)

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