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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Thursday, April 16. 2015

Thursday morning links

"I am a born-free, American woman – wife, mother and citizen – and I’m telling MY government that you have forgotten your place."


That's a damn good line. Love it.


The Math Question That Went Viral - One word problem from a Singaporean school exam briefly became the talk of the Internet last weekend.


In the Shadow of a Celebrity Dad


Study Suggests Sexist Hiring Doesn’t Explain Dearth of Women in Science


Today’s Personality Tests Raise the Bar for Job Seekers - More companies use assessments to hire, with fewer willing to take a chance on anyone who doesn’t measure up


Are Harvard, Yale, and Stanford really public universities?


Rethinking Presumed Knowledge of the Law in the Regulatory Age


Sex, Dementia and a Husband on Trial at Age 78


Audit: ‘Broad and Pervasive Mismanagement’ of USDA Farmers Program


How many patients did Cigna, BCBS (Anthem), Aetna, United Healthcare, or Cigna diagnose or treat last month?  Last year?


Another liberal decries “social justice warriors” of today


WOMEN IN GROUND COMBAT UNITS: WHERE’S THE DATA?


Coast Guard Commandant Says U.S. Falling Far Behind Russia in Arctic


First version of F-35s will not outdo A-10 in battlefield capabilities


Chinese ASAT Test Was ‘Successful:’ Lt. Gen. Raymond



Posted by Bird Dog in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 05:30 | Comments (9) | Trackbacks (0)

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"I am a born-free, American woman – wife, mother and citizen – and I’m telling MY government that you have forgotten your place."

It's not that they have "forgotten.".


" The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to selfishness; From selfishness to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage.”
Alexander Fraser Tytler
#1 fjord on 2015-04-16 07:08 (Reply)
John Glubb estimated the average span of a civilization @ 250 years.

http://people.uncw.edu/kozloffm/glubb.pdf

Similar to Tytler he marks the sequence as:

The Age of Pioneers (outburst)
The Age of Conquests
The Age of Commerce
The Age of Affluence
The Age of Intellect
The Age of Decadence.

(e) Decadence is marked by:
Defensiveness
Pessimism
Materialism
Frivolity
An influx of foreigners
The Welfare State
A weakening of religion.

(f) Decadence is due to:
Too long a period of wealth and power
Selfishness
Love of money
The loss of a sense of duty.

The link above is to a PDF 26 pages long. It makes for an interesting read.

Oh, and the US will be 250 years old in 2026. :)

Cheers
#1.1 Russtovich on 2015-04-16 12:29 (Reply)
thanks

I usually just simplify things and say, "we're in the fourth turning".

Crisis[edit]
According to the authors, the Fourth Turning is a Crisis. This is an era in which institutional life is destroyed and rebuilt in response to a perceived threat to the nation’s survival. Civic authority revives, cultural expression redirects towards community purpose, and people begin to locate themselves as members of a larger group.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strauss%E2%80%93Howe_generational_theory
#1.1.1 fjord on 2015-04-16 12:43 (Reply)
QUOTE:
Rome was a greater military power than we ever were, but when free bread and circuses became more important to the people than hard work and patriotism, Rome was invaded and looted by the tougher Vandals.


there may be more simplistic idiotic explanations of why the western Roman empire collapsed, but I can't think of any off hand.

if the conservative movement is carried by platitudes like this, we're doomed.
#1.2 The Poetry of Violence on 2015-04-16 12:36 (Reply)
"there may be more simplistic idiotic explanations of why the western Roman empire collapsed, but I can't think of any off hand."

Oh dear, yes.

From those first huts on the Tiber to the final Ottoman siege of Constantinople, Rome lasted nearly 22 centuries in one manifestation or another.

As for those "tougher Vandals", in the Sixth Century the (East) Romans came back with a vengeance and wiped their kingdom in North Africa off the map.

Let me know when any modern political entity does as well.
#1.2.1 JJM on 2015-04-16 14:54 (Reply)
Good Post Fjord!

Will somebody please post the answer to the Singapore Math Test? Thank you! ;-)
#2 faculty wife on 2015-04-16 10:04 (Reply)
Amazingly, the NYT has the answer: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/15/science/answer-to-the-singapore-math-problem-cheryl-birthday.html?_r=0
#2.1 mudbug on 2015-04-16 12:24 (Reply)
Another liberal decries “social justice warriors” of today: And does NOT identify himself, in protection from the ravening mob.
#3 Sam L. on 2015-04-16 14:07 (Reply)
Re presumed knowledge of the law.
There are so many laws today it is impossible to know them, There are over 4000 federal felonies.
http://volokh.com/posts/1248668478.shtml
#4 Ray on 2015-04-16 15:10 (Reply)

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