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.

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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
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Easy for you to say: To the elites on mass immigration
For NYC on 9/11, Sailors' Snug Harbor
Pickled Peaches
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Labor Costs in U.S.
Your "identity"
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Uses of Hot Pepper Jelly/Sauce, Chutneys, and Jams
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Psychology Experiments' Questionable Results

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Friday, April 21. 2023

Friday morning links


 An end to the reading wars? More US schools embrace phonics


"Sound it out." It's the only way 


 Are 8 billion people too many — or too few? Welcome to the population paradox of the 21st century.


 How did solar power get cheap?


 Don't Bring Your Whole Self to Work


 TGIF: That’s All, Folx! Murdoch blows a near-billion. Budweiser gets the wrong buzz. Eco-maniacs nuke green energy in Germany. Plus, all the places you TGIF!


 Over 62 percent of academic papers on psychology and 39 percent on economics are non-replicable, meaning there is no way for researchers to definitively verify or falsify results of these studies


 Where Did All the Biden Illegal Immigrants Go? Hard-Up Sanctuary Cities Like New York Are Only Part of the Answer


 Biden’s Released at Least 2,020,522 Southwest Border Migrants. And probably a lot more – plus 1.3 million known “got-aways”


 Congratulations, SpaceX. No, really.


 Tackling the Big Issues, New York Bans Schools From Having Native American Mascots


 BREAKING: Former CIA Chief Admits He Was Pressured By Biden Campaign To Orchestrate Letter Claiming Hunter Laptop Was Russian Disinfo


 The 1996 Clinton welfare-reform legislation limited how long able-bodied adults without dependents can collect food stamps without working. That provision had broad bipartisan support. But Democrats no longer even pretend to support self-reliance.


 "Why Does Brussels Hate Us?" Livid EU Farmers Hit Back At Green Agenda


Posted by Bird Dog in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 07:45 | Comments (33) | Trackbacks (0)

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Solar power: Phrase missing from the article "energy storage".
#1 Hairless Joe on 2023-04-21 09:07 (Reply)
I'm sure solar power is so cheap. Most places that adopt it see utility rates go up, not down. I will be convinced that solar energy is cheap when it shows up in cheaper utility rates.
#2 Abelard Lindsey on 2023-04-21 10:14 (Reply)
I guess the writer has the best intentions, but he does fail to make a fair comparison to the alternatives. Solar is a great option, if the cost of installing grid power is prohibitive. Plus, as the writer points out, it's completely scalable. These are great assets.

But the sun goes down every day, for about half the day. And there are cloudy days. And the cost of grid power includes the cost of the grid - whereas alternative energy is parasitical in this regard. It's rare to see articles that don't cherry pick in favor of the position, rare to see apples-to-apples comparisons - and when they are presented, it's apples-to-apples terminology when it is really a comparison of apples to orchards.

Stay tuned for the Expert.
#2.1 Aggie on 2023-04-21 12:28 (Reply)
Embracing phonics:
Yup--now that the word is out there that US Schools have been robbing 3 generations of children from the ability to read well--now oh yes--now they "support teaching phonics". Well ok, how are you gonna do that with the very poor quality of staff to home you have given lifetime job security? Today's school teachers in the K-6 grades are not smart enough to teach phonics. How is that gonna work?
#3 faculty wife on 2023-04-21 10:21 (Reply)
Re "Phonics": I don't know, could be dangerous. If they start graduating students who can read, there's no telling what they'll be able to figure out.
#3.1 Hairless Joe on 2023-04-22 11:40 (Reply)
In the name of "affordable housing" the Biden administration is going to increase the cost of buying homes for everyone who has good credit ratings. And that cost is every month for 30 years. Every month you will pay a "tax" so that those who did not pay their bills or filed for bankruptcy can get a good deal on a home loan. AND they WON'T pay that tax! Just you, you lucky bastard!
#4 OneGuy on 2023-04-21 10:28 (Reply)
Re: Tackling the Big Issues, New York Bans Schools From Having Native American Mascots

Pretty soon, the only people we’ll be able to put on packing and name sports teams after will be white people.
#5 mudbug on 2023-04-21 11:25 (Reply)
Finally! Finally we get some tangible White Privilege payoff. I can see it now, the Georgia Gingers, the Florida Frecklefaces, the Houston Honkies, and the San Antonio Gringos. Where do I go to get my Privileged White Guy sports gear?
#5.1 Mike Anderson (Link) on 2023-04-21 11:30 (Reply)
At one time fairly recently, the Double-A San Antonio Missions donned jerseys embroidered with "The Flying Chanclas" and caps with a winged flip-flop.
Every hispanic fan knowingly chuckled at that and every souvenir cap.was sold-out.
#5.1.1 Zachinoff on 2023-04-21 12:14 (Reply)
That caught on all over town. You can't go anywhere in SA these days without tripping over some chanclas.
#5.1.1.1 Mike Anderson (Link) on 2023-04-21 16:32 (Reply)
For the gringos among us.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PSicdnahJ7o
#5.1.1.1.1 Zachinoff on 2023-04-21 22:11 (Reply)
mudbug: Pretty soon, the only people we’ll be able to put on packing and name sports teams after will be white people.

Or animals (e.g. Tigers), events (49ers), industries (Steelers), and sports terms (Nets). That's about it.

Oh, and natural phenomena (Thunders), supernatural phenomena (Magic), art forms (Jazz), and transports (Clippers). That's gotta be everything.

Except astronomical objects (Sun), wardrobe (Spurs), geology (Rockies), places (Texans), attributes (Patriots), and mythology (Titans).
#5.2 Zachriel on 2023-04-21 11:56 (Reply)
What part of 'people' from the comment is confusing you? I suppose Texans and Patriots count at least.
#5.2.1 Lord Heathen on 2023-04-21 12:21 (Reply)
Just another pedantic display from the Quibble-DickZ.
Aint they smart?
#5.2.1.1 Zachinoff on 2023-04-21 12:24 (Reply)
Gish Gallop
#5.2.1.1.1 B. Hammer on 2023-04-21 13:23 (Reply)
That's not a Gish Gallop, which is composed of a large number of arguments of varying relevance or quality. We provided a single argument—that team names aren't significantly constrained just because you can't use offensive ethnic caricatures—and provided multiple relevant examples to support the claim.
#5.2.1.1.1.1 Zachriel on 2023-04-21 13:28 (Reply)
Oh, now an argument over the term "Gish Gallop".
Really, kiddieZ?

Bwaha! Lolgfy!!!
#5.2.1.1.1.1.1 Zachinoff on 2023-04-21 14:06 (Reply)
Once again the bot displays a complete ignorance of sarcastic humor. Must be difficult to get that right.
#5.2.1.1.1.1.2 eeyore on 2023-04-21 17:11 (Reply)
Lord Heathen: What part of 'people' from the comment is confusing you?

Mariners, Rangers, Brewers, Dodgers, Padres, Warriors, Knicks, Wizards, Cowboys, most of which can be of any ethnicity. But team names aren't confined to people, as already noted.
#5.2.2 Zachriel on 2023-04-21 13:24 (Reply)
49ers, Steelers, etc.
#5.2.3 Zachriel on 2023-04-21 13:30 (Reply)
"Native American"
1. I always take flak for referring to them as DOFIs; descendants of first immigrants.
2. I know that officially, citizens of the DOFI nations, like the Dine', are by law citizens of the U. S. for passport purposes. May I form my own tribe? I didn't think so.
#6 LTC Ted on 2023-04-21 11:36 (Reply)
I think it is even worse:

Over some 18,000 years there were numerous small and three major immigrations of "native" Indians. Each time the new colonizing "native" Americans would kill and enslave the prior colonizing "native Americans.

"Native" Americans are full U.S. citizens. Not their own nation. But they are kept on a reservation system mostly by their leaders and a constant barrage of anti-white rhetoric while the leaders siphon off money and benefits that the government gives them in return for them voting as a block for the left. It is a terrible system not too far removed from slavery. I look forward to the day that a SCOTUS decision removes special rights and ends the reservation system.
#6.1 OneGuy on 2023-04-21 15:30 (Reply)
OneGuy: "Native" Americans are full U.S. citizens. Not their own nation.

Native Americans are U.S. citizens, but many tribes also have self-rule on their reservations, as granted by the U.S. Constitution and by law. Tribes have many of the same powers and limitations as state governments. Tribes can make and enforce laws and enact taxes. They can also determine membership in the tribe. They can't wage war, engage in foreign relations, or issue their own currency.
#6.1.1 Zachriel on 2023-04-21 15:55 (Reply)
Yes we have self rule in the city where I live too as I'm sure you do in Russia. But most of the rest of what both the Indians and we poor white folks believe about their independence from the constitution is pure BS, they are American citizens, period. But all of that aside it is time to end the reservation system it is being abused.
#6.1.1.1 OneGuy on 2023-04-21 16:34 (Reply)
OneGuy: Yes we have self rule in the city where I live too

Cities are chartered by the state and are responsible for state taxes, and state criminal and civil law. Indian nations are not responsible to the state within their reservation.
#6.1.1.1.1 Zachriel on 2023-04-21 21:43 (Reply)
I would modify your acronym slightly to "DOFKIs", i.e., descendants of first known immigrants.
#6.2 Hairless Joe on 2023-04-22 17:57 (Reply)
The University States of America

QUOTE:
There was a time when conservatives told themselves that safe spaces, trigger warnings and speech bans would stay on campus. “Just wait until those kids get out into the real world and discover that they can’t get jobs studying critical race theory,” they would snicker.

Not only can they get jobs, but their job in government and corporate DEI is purging you.

There’s no real world anymore. We live in a giant totalitarian campus in the University States of America whose administrators are government officials and corporate leaders in which elections matter much less than catering to the whims of a young and wealthy post-student workforce.

. . . .Unfortunately we all live on a campus now. Even if you’re on a farm with only dirt roads for miles in every direction your life is being governed by rules created in a campus government. The trends on campuses will soon show up in your regulations, federal and local, in the culture and in your schools. Its totalitarian grip is weaker in some places than others, but it is never absent.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/the-university-states-of-america/
#7 feeblemind on 2023-04-21 13:40 (Reply)
US Sends 200 Troops to Train Taiwanese Soldiers

The US government has sent around 200 soldiers to Taiwan to provide military training amid increasing tensions with China, according to a report by Taiwan News.

https://www.thedefensepost.com/2023/04/18/us-troops-taiwanese-soldiers/
#8 feeblemind on 2023-04-21 14:00 (Reply)
FAUX News? Long March fellow travelers who called the Stig Beal first for their Derp State quisling traitor RAT POS comrades.
Too bad so sad for the warpigs that the war isn't a hot item among the cannon fodder deplorable kulaks and the anti-war movement is what is missing from the civil rights era never happened and it's 1964 forever LARP.
Since reading is a construct of the white male patriarchy and books are usually printed on white pages, we can just use emojis or grunts.
The University States of Chiquitastan be like all smart and our external enemies have no Magic Soil.
#9 High Speed Rail on 2023-04-21 14:21 (Reply)
Re: too many or too few

This is not new. Several decades ago, some writer in Time Magazine, of all places (I wish I could recall the name), predicted that the earth's population would reach 9 billion and then start to decline. It seems that writer wasn't too far off. Vox's article harps on climate change (as usual) and predicts that the only real population growth will occur in Asia and Africa. That may be true for now, but the major causes of population decline in the developed nations come down to increased standards of living, longer life, and yes, increased rights for women. When this happens in Asia and Africa, their populations will start to decline also. So I sort of lean toward the "too few" scenario, although I don't really believe in "too few". Technology, if uninterrupted, will take care of that.

The article doesn't address the possibility that by the 22nd or 23d centuries human beings might begin to move into space en masse. But there's no way to know if that will actually happen, so it's okay.
#10 RebeccaH on 2023-04-21 14:34 (Reply)
World and country population and the ethnicity of those larger populations will at some point drive WW and it will result in the largest humanitarian disaster imaginable. A nuclear war will probably result in 2 billion human deaths in a short time with possibly billions more from slower related cause. Some portion of the drive to war will be because of excessive population and the desire for what smaller populations have created for themselves. This is inevitable and it won't be pretty. Worse there are people, groups, country's planning for it right now; they actually want it.
#10.1 Anon on 2023-04-21 21:19 (Reply)
8 billion ... too many or too few. The neo Malthusians could never get it right as they are statists. Julian Simon understood human nature and development and got it right. Ehrlich, like Al Gore, never could grasp an adaptable human nature.

https://www.commentary.org/noah-rothman/the-malthusian-myth-that-refuses-to-die/

from June 20,2018
#11 indyjonesouthere on 2023-04-21 16:52 (Reply)
Re "Why Does Brussels Hate Us": This is nothing new, by the way. They've been sending us their sprouts for years.
#12 Hairless Joe on 2023-04-22 18:00 (Reply)

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