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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Wednesday, March 29. 2017

Wednesday morning links

People dress sloppy on flights so they can sleep comfortably. It's unpleasant,though. 


When children came together when I was a child it was usually to argue about the rules of games and beat the crap out of each other.


Seven Ways You’re Ruining Your Steak Dinner


CONSUMER ALERT: 'CAN YOU HEAR ME' SCAMS


An Army of Straw Men Keeps Campus Intolerance Alive


Gotta protect the students from the KKK 


Wellesley too 


These people are evil 


 ‘Free’ Camille Paglia!


 Evidence of employers paying women 20% less than men for the exact same work is as elusive as Bigfoot sightings


Computer lab for indigenous only 


 'Originalism' — another word for the rule of law


Investors not worried about the Maldives 


The Overton Window: How the Left turns the unthinkable into the uncontroversial


Money for nothing: Cuomo’s $25 billion upstate-jobs failure


 What If the Health-Care Collapse Saves Trump's Presidency?


President Trump And Making America Great Again — Swiss-Style


 Did Obamacare Create the Expectation of Universal Health Coverage? And did Obamacare solidify the belief that the federal government should provide it?


 UPDATE: President Obama’s Own Defense Deputy Admits Obama White House Spied on Candidate/President-Elect Trump…

Posted by Bird Dog in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 06:45 | Comments (33) | Trackbacks (0)

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Re: The Overton Window

What I kept hearing during the campaign was "normalizing" Trump - anybody who dared discuss Trump and his ideas as if they might possibly be seriously considered rather than shrieking hysterically about how Trump was literally Hitler and the Anti-Christ and Attila the Hun rolled into one was accused of "normalizing" Trump, of making him and his ideas something that might even be mentioned in polite company. Remember the days when there actually were things you didn't mention in polite company? Yeah, the Left normalized all manner of things that were better left glossed over as a matter of politeness and manners and minding your own business, and they always figured they held the monopoly on telling people what ideas were acceptable to discuss and which were not. Welcome to the pushback!
#1 Jerryskids on 2017-03-29 08:02 (Reply)
At the airport last week, I dressed comfortably but nicely. I did take my shoes off while on the airplane. The only uncomfortable thing was when one lady decided to break out her yoga mat and work out at the gate.
#2 Nikki Pratt on 2017-03-29 08:33 (Reply)
Did Obamacare Create the Expectation of Universal Health Coverage? And did Obamacare solidify the belief that the federal government should provide it?

Having demonstrated their lies in forming and writing and pushing Obamacare, only with the Dems. The rest of us: NO.
#3 Sam L. on 2017-03-29 08:56 (Reply)
Khakis. Polo. Blazer. Loafers.
If they're not as comfortable as a track suit, you're buying the wrong size.
#4 Another guy named Dan on 2017-03-29 09:17 (Reply)
+1. There's no reason business casual should be uncomfortable.
#4.1 Christopher B on 2017-03-29 14:16 (Reply)
Re: Dressing sloppy on flights.
I'm not even sure what leggings are. I think some people over think these things. I didn't know what yoga pants where either until my wife pointed some out to me. I can't speak for all men but I suspect that most are like me and don't think about leggings or yoga pants but instead are oblivious to most anything that looks normal or even less than attractive while very aware of anything that looks good. I just don't spend much time critiquing how other men or women dress. I am aware when someone dresses in a bizarre manner and I am most certainly aware when women dress in a very attractive manner, but I couldn't tell you what someone was wearing 5 seconds after seeing them.
#5 GoneWithTheWind on 2017-03-29 09:18 (Reply)
I wear leggings all the time (they're like tights, but thicker)--but only with a top that covers the butt. You need a serious yoga-butt to pull of leggings with a short top. That's not this chick.
#5.1 Wendy Laubach on 2017-03-29 16:39 (Reply)
I can't blame people for wearing sweats on a plane. I've flown a few times this year and I swear they made the seats smaller and closer together again. I can not longer put my computer on the traytable and open it far enough away to type. And I have a small screen laptop.

I used to chose the window seat so I can watch the landscape below. I don't anymore because they are so damn cramped.
#6 NJSoldier on 2017-03-29 09:46 (Reply)
Unless you can routinely afford to fly business or first class, there's no point in dressing up these days.

I go with casual, comfortable clothing; nothing too tight or constricting. I would never wear sweats though.

The "glamour" days of flying are long gone. Now it's just a glorified Greyhound bus - and with much less legroom.
#6.1 JJM on 2017-03-29 11:17 (Reply)
More like the way they used to ship cattle.... i e cattle cars
#6.1.1 RL on 2017-03-29 11:50 (Reply)
I am all for the 8th Amendment. I love that the government can't pull my fingernails if they think I have shoplifted.

BUT...if we ever chose to ignore it, I would argue that we start with phone scammers. Anyone who tries to get rich by scamming innocent, especially the old and young, deserves a very special seat in Hell.

My father recently passed away and since he was about 80 and his mind was slipping, I lived in fear he might fall prey to some kind of phone scam like this.
#7 Dangerous Dean on 2017-03-29 10:06 (Reply)
That special level of hell reserved for child molesters and people who talk at the theatre
#7.1 Another guy named Dan on 2017-03-29 11:41 (Reply)
re 7 ways you are ruining your steak

Read for entertainment purposes only. It is all opinion and most of his are wrong.
#8 feeblemind on 2017-03-29 11:13 (Reply)
Amen, Sir Feeblemind. Why do so many people want to tell everyone else, "You're doing it wrong"? Never in the field of human existence have so many told so many others so little.
#8.1 SgtBob (Link) on 2017-03-29 11:22 (Reply)
I happen to think most of his opinions are correct!

Please elaborate on those with which you disagree.
#8.2 Old Codger on 2017-03-29 11:44 (Reply)
I only disagree with rare, and saucy. If you like it rare, eat it rare. Sometimes a good sauce, makes a good steak, superb. You know what the say about opinions...
#8.2.1 B. Hammer on 2017-03-29 12:20 (Reply)
I don't care how anybody else cooks his steak. Why should anyone else care how I cook mine? But, you might say, the writer is only trying to help you do things better, to have a more enjoyable dining experience. And, we all need help from those more knowledgeable.

Uh, no.
#8.2.2 SgtBob (Link) on 2017-03-29 12:21 (Reply)
Pittsburgh'ed, 2 minutes each side in a scorching skillet. Instead of sauce: butter, mushrooms, onion, and a clove of garlic, sizzled along with the steaks.
#8.2.3 Mike Anderson (Link) on 2017-03-29 12:36 (Reply)
"Money for nothing: Cuomo’s $25 billion upstate-jobs failure"

I heard something on NPR this morning about Governor Cuomo grousing that a shortfall in Federal monies could result in a big cut to the state education budget.

All I could think was: New York State, which includes New York City and has a population of 20 million, needs Federal cash to run its education system?

Something's not right there.
#9 JJM on 2017-03-29 11:28 (Reply)
Yes, a little clue as to why we are $20 trillion in debt. Americans have bought the myth that if the money is coming from Washington, somebody else is paying for it. Of course, everyone in every state believes that, and that is how the federal government stays in power. But it has to do so by printing money and running up debt.

If these costs are put directly back on the states and people consuming the services, you are going to have a lot of people saying "hell no, I'm not willing to pay for that."
#9.1 Jim on 2017-03-29 16:45 (Reply)
If women were really paid 20% less than men any smart businessman would fire all the males and hire females.
#10 Ray on 2017-03-29 11:56 (Reply)
That's my view. I would never have tolerated being paid less than the men I worked alongside. I competed with them on an even footing and expected to be paid the same. My firm wanted to keep me and knew what it would take.

Best I can tell, the wage disparity is really a disparity in the jobs women typically pursue. I do think that as long as women do more child-rearing than men it's not likely they'll pursue or keep the same high-paying jobs men pursue and keep. You can make an argument for unfairness in how we split up child-rearing duties, but again as far as I can tell the current split has at least as much to do with what most women prefer as it does with any kind of systemic unfairness.
#10.1 Wendy Laubach on 2017-03-29 16:30 (Reply)
Exactly, Wendy. It has more to do with life choices that women make, and which fewer men make, such as taking time off to be with their young children. I got way off track career wise during the time I spent having children, but looking back I don't regret it.
#10.1.1 LP on 2017-03-29 20:53 (Reply)
I fly often for business. Perhaps because most of my fellow travelers are too, I don't regularly see poorly or inappropriately dressed passengers.

As for those phone scammers I recommend you do what I do: ignore phone calls from numbers and names you do not know or recognize. I know some of you find this impossible, but it works.
#11 steve walsh on 2017-03-29 12:28 (Reply)
"As for those phone scammers I recommend you do what I do: ignore phone calls from numbers and names you do not know or recognize. I know some of you find this impossible, but it works."

Yes.

At home, I don't answer the phone. I let the answering machine do that job with the simple message:

"I can't come to the phone right now but leave your name, phone number and a message after the tone and I'll get back to you."

My message doesn't say who I am. Friends and associates will recognize my voice anyway; it doesn't matter whether others do - they can always leave a message.
#11.1 JJM on 2017-03-29 13:18 (Reply)
Call me stupid, but I don't see how a phone scammer can "scam" me. I have read that they try to get you to say "yes" but how does that scam me? I suppose there are people who have provided some kind of credit card perhaps or maybe bitcoins, hell I don't know. But my phone is a cheap $17 flip phone and I buy 60 minutes every three months. So how can they scam me? seriously! I simply don't know. Do they ask me to buy anything because I just hang up on those calls? Anyone???
#11.1.1 OneGuy on 2017-03-29 17:51 (Reply)
As I understand it, they ask if you can hear them to get you to say "yes", which they will then rerecord your "yes" to them asking you to buy something from them, and then bill you for whatever it is.
#11.1.1.1 Sam L. on 2017-03-29 18:38 (Reply)
I did understand that but it would seem that 9 people out of 10 wouldn't know if I said "yes" or someone else said "yes" so there must be more to it. And either way it would be a felony fraud just as if they had forged my signature. So the act of billing me provides me and law enforcement with their information. It would seem to me, who has no experience in credit fraud, that the goal is that after you commit the act no one has a clue who did it. By billing me it would seem to break the first law of credit fraud.

I also guess in theory that they could call you or 911 or a two year old and use their "yes" to bill anyone. Again because who would know it was me or whomever was supposed to be saying "yes"?

Don't get me wrong I guess it works but it seems to have some fatal flaws.
#11.1.1.1.1 OneGuy on 2017-03-29 19:25 (Reply)
My wife and I never answer the phone any longer. If it is someone we know they will leave a message and we can call them back.

We on average get at least 3 scam calls an evening, and we assume there are more during the day. They never leave a message, which demonstrates they are scams.

The opposite are the pre-recorded robots that Obamacare now requires to contact you to evaluate whether you liked the medical appointment you went to (and which you waited 4-6 months for, thanks to Obamacare). They will call over and over again and leave messages saying they are sorry they missed you but will call back again so you can take your Obamacare survey on the quality of your medical appointment. We ignore those too, they stop after 3 or 4 weeks.

We really need a one sentence bill just repealing the Obamacare monstrosity.
#12 Jim on 2017-03-29 13:58 (Reply)
I can't say enough good about call blockers-- the one I got comes pre-programmed with the worst 5,000 scam numbers already blocked, which cuts out about 75% of the problem as soon as you plug it in. There's a big red push button for the remaining 25%... most of the remainders will be zapped within a week or two.

"Hello?"
(pause) "Can you hear me OK?" / "This isn't a sales call!" / etc.
ZAP! (ooh, that felt good)

I got one, and my parents and all of my sisters begged me to get one for them too as soon as they saw it in action. Now we can have our dinners in peace again. Essential kit, for those of us in deep purple states, believe me.
#12.1 Janet on 2017-03-29 14:39 (Reply)
I almost never answer a call from an unknown number. If it's not important enough for somone to leave a message identifying himself, it's not important enough for me to return. Or, if I mistakenly pick up and hear that tell-tale quiet delay or background clacking call-center noise, I hang up instantly. If I've made a mistake and hung up on a real call, I figure I'll get a call back.

On the very rare occasions when I answer mistakenly and actually hear the beginning of a pitch, I say, "You've made a mistake calling this number," and hang up. That drives my husband nuts. For years he used to answer and try to hand the phone to me. I urged him to tell the callers I had died, but he has the notion that it's not OK to lie to strangers on the phone. I consider my statement about the caller having made a mistake, at least, to be the strict truth.
#12.1.1 Wendy Laubach on 2017-03-29 16:37 (Reply)
RE: Computer lab for indigenous only:

Can you imagine if they did this in Europe.
#13 forest on 2017-03-29 17:40 (Reply)
CONSUMER ALERT: 'CAN YOU HEAR ME' SCAMS

The scam begins when a consumer answers a call and the person at the end of the line asks, “Can you hear me?” The caller then records the consumer's "Yes" response and thus obtains a voice signature.

This signature can later be used by the scammers to pretend to be the consumer and authorize fraudulent charges via telephone. If you receive this type of call, immediately hang up. If you have already responded to this type of call, review all of your statements such as those from your bank, credit card lender, or telephone company for unauthorized charges. If you notice unauthorized charges on these and other types of statements, you have likely been a victim of “cramming,” the practice of placing unauthorized charges on a telecommunication subscriber's home or mobile telephone bill. - City of Palo Alto [HT: Dog @ Maggies]

Posted at http://americandigest.org/
#14 Sam L. on 2017-03-29 20:34 (Reply)

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