Sunday, May 23. 2010
Photo is Le Thoronet, one of the three Romanesque Cistercian abbeys in Provence.
 When I need a dash of perspective and feel open to a new thought, I check out One Cosmos to see what Gagdad has been thinking about. He reads books that I would not get around to reading.
(I wish he would leave the politics alone - not that I disagree with his - but I find the combination grating and disconcerting.)
A sample of Gagdad's recent musings:
...it is hopeless to defer to biology as to the nature of Life as such. As I mentioned in the book, a biologist knows no more about the nature of life than a watchmaker does about the nature of time. As I have noted before, although it is obvious to me that the cosmos manifests intelligent design, I do not rely on this to inductively leap the conclusion that God therefore exists. This is like proving the existence of time by studying watches.
Or something like this, from a more recent post:
Truth must be sufferered... Why is that? Because to know a truth -- i.e., genuine objectivity -- is death to the ego. But once the ego is out of the way, it doesn't hurt at all. In fact, it kind of tickles.
Image: A Hubble photo of a star nursery
 My favorite Holy Day, 50 days following Easter.
Acts 2:1-21
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?
Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs--in our own languages we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power."
All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?" But others sneered and said, "They are filled with new wine."
But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, "Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o'clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
'In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord's great and glorious day. Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.'
Saturday, May 22. 2010
The New York Times report on President Obama’s speech today to West Point’s graduating class is headlined “President Lays Out Security Strategy Based in Diplomacy.”
That “security strategy based in diplomacy” is actually based in both self-delusion and believing that other nations and foes can be similarly deluded.
“Yes, we are clear-eyed about the shortfalls of our international system,” the president told graduating cadets. “But America has not succeeded by stepping outside the currents of international cooperation. We have succeeded by steering those currents in the direction of liberty and justice, so nations thrive by meeting their responsibilities, and face consequences when they don’t.”
Mr. Obama said the United States “will be steadfast in strengthening those old alliances that have served us so well” while also trying to “build new partnerships and shape stronger international standards and institutions.” He added: “This engagement is not an end in itself. The international order we seek is one that can resolve the challenges of our times.”
On the other hand of reality, as Belmont Club’s Richard Fernandez sums up the dysfunctional Obama foreign policy, that no one abroad wants much part of:
It’s easy to believe the dysfunction is real. Faced by the linked yet separate crises in the Middle East and in Northeast Asia the Obama administration is acting like it was shot through the central nervous system, acting in uncoordinated jerks. The alliances with Korea and Japan and the special relationships with Israel and Britain lie almost forgotten like neglected toys on the floor of a spoiled child distracted by his latest bauble. Gone are the heady prospects of Grand Bargains with the Muslim world kicked off by dramatic speeches in Cairo. Gone is the idea of a swift drawdown from Iraq; or of a comprehensive solution in the Middle East. Gone is the promise of catching Osama Bin Laden. Gone is the notion that Europe, which once hated America because of George Bush, would turn like a blossoming rose to Obama. In their place are half-finished begun threads without closure: a growing Hezbollah menace in Lebanon; a defiant Iran; a belligerent North Korea; a buffoonish but menacing Chavez; a drug war on the southern border; an Eastern Europe with the shadow of the Russian bear growing ever longer across it.
Good luck, West Pointers.
This reasonably common migratory bird of the Eastern US is usually located by his loud, piercing calls. I have spent plenty of time tracking down the call, only to say to myself "Oh yeah, of course - I forgot" when I find the guy up in some treetop.
This bird should definitely be in The Handbook of Loud Birds of Central Ohio - or of anywhere.
Info below the fold -
Continue reading "Who am I?"
Mark discusses Peggy Lee, on what would have been her 90th birthday
Little Boys of Three
Look tenderly on little boys of three,
Their softness is as fleeting as a flower.
The cheeks like petals such a little hour,
The deepest dimple theirs so transiently;
Even tomorrow softness may be hard.
The little cotton cushions on the knees
turned into bony knobs for climbing trees.
The fists so like a rose grow lean and scarred.
His full moon cheeks will narrow to a line,
the silken hair becomes a brush of bristle,
As Mother's little flower turns to thistle,
And there will linger not one little sign
To prove the cuddly cupid that was he.
Look tenderly on little boys of three.
Monty Blandford
Rough farm work this weekend, but I'd rather be digging quahogs for supper here in the mud flats. It beats an Easter egg hunt easily.
Friday, May 21. 2010
Stift Melk, along the edge of the Danube, is one of the world's most famous abbeys. Founded in 1069, it remains a Benedictine center. The current early 1700 baroque buildings do not charm me, but it's an impressive structure - and it's on my August trip.
 Something valuable for your garden: a dwarf Buddleia called "Blue Chip." This new Buddleia (Butterfly Bush) is only 2' high, max, and thus can function like a perennial flower in a border while drawing butterflies from miles around. Plus they claim it blooms all summer, unlike my full-sized Buddleias. I have a spot for a few of these guys.
Wayside is the only place I know that has them. Loony Greenies should avoid them: they are genetically-engineered. Like Labrador Retrievers, corn on the cob - and cotton.
Hummingbirds like them too.
This just in...
and not unexpectedly.
If you're personally concerned about this — and you should be — then please...
Continue reading "The rising tide"
 Sony has been pulling all of the Bob YouTubes they can find, but I found an interesting (outtake?) of Tell Ol' Bill (with different lyrics) which I can link but cannot embed.
Great song and great tune.
The guy makes the case that they have become centers of mediocrity, but I think the better question is whether they serve any purpose any more, or produce any better officers than the 80% that come via ROTC.
Vaguely related: How to Make Brownies, Pentagon-Style
Did Jane Jacobs and her disciples take a moment in time and try to freeze it?
It's a worthy debate: Gentrification and Its Discontents - Manhattan never was what we think it was.
Thursday, May 20. 2010
But does anybody care? Cathy Young at Weekly Standard: Very Little Hope and Very Little Change
What's y'all's opinion on Draw The Prophet Day (which is today)?
And what do you think about my construction of the plural possessive "y'all's"? Correct, or a problem for the Grammar Nazi? Should it be y'alls'? In the South, I have even heard it said as "y'allses," as in "Where did you park y'allses car?"
(Grammar Nazi link h/t Tiger)
The view from my hotel room this morning -
Saletan at Slate: Why should anyone give Richard Blumenthal a break? A quote:
Blumenthal has never given anyone a break. He has made a career out of holding others to the strictest standards of truth—and mercilessly prosecuting them when they fall short.
Also, a good one: USA Today: Political waves: Great pretenders drown in their lies
Also, Blumenthal Defense: I Didn't Lie All The Time
 Chinese Snap to Attention for Bra-Removing Contest
Blumenthal reminded me of Spitzer too. The press seems disinclined to give him a pass, but that will probably pass in a day or two.
Related and amusing: "I Did Not Serve In That Country, Vietnam"
Ace gives Kinsley hell. Rightly so.
Government by Professors? Or Death by Professor.
Immigrant crossings into Arizona on the rise
Related: Why does Mexico want people to leave? And how come they don't let people move to Mexico?
Reason: From Banning Books to Banning Blogs - How the DISCLOSE Act will restrict free speech
Dick Morris: One more vote for the Senate
Spain's "Green jobs" lose 2 jbs for each one created
Wednesday, May 19. 2010
I have a small, humble art gallery online. In it, I have a "Fun With Nature" category, full of pictures of animals acting silly and all the rest.
Among the pictures is this one, with my caption:
Idiocy knows no bounds
Yep, just another dumb animal doing something completely incomprehensible to humans.
All of which shows how much I know.
H/T: Theo
Sorman at City Journal.
California is going to be left without anybody to pay the bills.
Freedom gets in the way of Progress. We need enlightened dictators, Plato's Philosopher-Kings.
Perfectly fine with me as long as I get to be the Philosopher-King and not you. I am an elite and would make a fine, plump Mandarin - except that I don't like to hold power. Plus I don't believe in the notion of Progress either (except in the most trivial sense), but that's another topic.
Harsanyi discusses in Enlightened tyrants - Is freedom getting in the way of "progress"?
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