Maggie's FarmWe 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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Wednesday, June 5. 2024Wednesday morning linksHow to Die in Good Health - The average American celebrates just one healthy birthday after the age of sixty-five. Peter Attia argues that it doesn’t have to be this way. When the Mind’s Eye Is Blind - The idea that a mind could form pictures is, to me, science fiction. Almost All Recent Global Warming Caused by Green Air Policies – Shock Revelation From NASA Documents from the University of Oregon reveal the school’s troubling hiring policies. Ayaan Hirsi Ali: We Have Been Subverted Stuart's Wednesday Potpourri JOURNALISM DIES IN WOKENESS: Washington Post Executive Editor Stepping Down – CEO Tells Staff ‘People Are Not Reading Your Stuff’ Ukraine missile strike on Russian soil 'likely' used U.S. weapon system Tuesday, June 4. 2024Tuesday morning linksA Rainforest Tribe Got Starlink. Guess How That's Going. The ancient past: new and improved - The renovated Peabody Museum tells an updated story of the natural world. Exercise May Be More Effective Than Antidepressants In Treating Depression Depression is a symptom, not a diagnosis U.S. to Make Millions of Bird Flu Vaccine Doses this Summer. Scientists Are Testing mRNA Bird Flu Vaccines on Calves. Covenant School Shooter Told Therapist She Fantasized About Killing Her Family Is it required for therapists to report fantasies? Bizarre case of woman, 50, dismissed from ER seven times before doctors discovered she had a rare condition that made her body produce BEER… Enough with the Girl Talk The New York Times sure is pushing hard on the narrative of the middle-aged, childless, single-woman lifestyle. Why? Professor by Day. Porn Star by Night. Can He Be Both? Plus. . . ‘I was branded far-right for my pronatalism.’ Fauci has no regrets. Harvard scraps diversity statements. And much more Democrats Demand Jail Time for Trump in Fundraising Emails Dershowitz Suggests a Possible Legal Lifeline for Trump What Is Hamas Hiding in Rafah, and Why Doesn’t Biden Want the IDF to Find It " If you think that whenever something goes wrong, it is always someone else’s fault, you are declaring yourself to be incompetent and are consigning yourself to permanent failure."
Monday, June 3. 2024Medieval sex lifeThey do not mention topics like the droit du seigneur and related knightly topics, but interesting: Mugwort - an annoying weedIt took me two years to get Mugwort out of my vegetable garden. It spreads by rhizomes, and it's tough to get every inch of those. Once they are in a field, good luck. Before Hops were used to flavor beer in England, Mugwort was a common beer flavoring. Monday morning linksFive ways to talent spot late bloomers Numbers Behind The Narrative: What Climate Science Actually Says Swedes Embrace Nuclear & Join Europe’s Grand Rejection Of Wind & Solar Transition PRC Asking Residents To Pay Lots More For ‘Climate Change’ Stuff The Endocrine Society’s last chance to protect children Break the Public Education Monopoly. It’s time to free America from the teachers’ union-dominated public school model. I’m a feminist, but I’ve always preferred the company of men Frederic Bastiat, in his work "That Which Is Seen, and That Which Is Not Seen," points out that there are always seen and unseen consequences when government force impacts economic decisions. Stuart's Saturday Miscellany Democrats Throw Biggest-Ever Fundraiser For Trump Campaign They’re Voting for Trump to ‘Save Democracy.’ The nullification of Donald Trump Biden Campaign Spokesman: Donald Trump is a Threat Joe Biden Will End “Once and For All” Of Course They'll Put Trump in Jail How much will Trump's conviction harm him? "A Trump supporter who’s outraged by the verdict is not going to be moved for calm by any Democratic president or Republican president who does not back Donald Trump." A prosecution so crooked it would make Stalin blush! Reuters Claims Trump Supporters Want 'Riots And Violent Retribution' Following Trump Verdict Today's Scorecard For New York's Kangaroo Legal System Best quote, from JD Vance: This is election interference Hinderaker: Where do we go from here? Sunday, June 2. 202415 Tunes You've Heard and (maybe) Don't Know the NameFrom today's LectionaryPsalm 139:1-6, 13-18 139:1 O LORD, you have searched me and known me. 139:2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. 139:3 You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. 139:4 Even before a word is on my tongue, O LORD, you know it completely. 139:5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. 139:6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it. 139:13 For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother's womb. 139:14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well. 139:15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 139:16 Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed. 139:17 How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! 139:18 I try to count them -- they are more than the sand; I come to the end -- I am still with you. Saturday, June 1. 2024For pop music lovers
Better than Saturday morning linksFriday, May 31. 2024Two booksThe Best Minds: A Story of Friendship, Madness, and the Tragedy of Good Intentions by Jonathan Rosen The Laws of Medicine: Field Notes from an Uncertain Science by Siddhartha Muhkerjee
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Just a Country BoyFriday morning linksMissing Texas woman's body is found inside the jaws of an alligator who was still eating her The Problem with Utopias - The history of utopian fiction proves that we can’t even imagine a better world. “I am wildly emotional. {Climate} is the existential crisis of our time. To hear that asking for high ambition is climate hysteria makes me wildly emotional..." Australian State Creates 'Secretary of Men's Behavior Change' Elementary Schools Ban Tag, Football, and Fun During Recess - "It really feels as though maybe we've lost touch with what's developmentally appropriate," says one Montgomery County mom. Department of Labor panned for posting advice for how 'menstruators' can 'thrive at work' UCLA med school DEI leader accused of major plagiarism refuses to address allegations Boston On The Brink As Millennial Mayor Pushes Decriminalization Memo to companies, sports teams, colleges: Shut up about politics! Hinderaker: Guilty Jonathan Turley Has a Lot to Say About the Trump Verdict Biden Foreign Policy Has Destabilized the Entire Globe An Authentically Jewish Defense of Israel Our website seems to be repairedKudos to the geniuses. The spam-catcher for comments might be a bit aggressive for a while, though. Thursday, May 30. 2024Let's go to the beach
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What's your political orientation?The test will plot you. Some of the questions are difficult to answer. It works for different languages too.
Raccoon TacosYou might be surprised by your local hunting laws, so stay out of trouble. Still, I doubt you would go to jail for shooting a raccoon. Everybody knows that possums are tasty, but what about raccoon? No shortage of those critters.
Thursday morning linksYour favorite brand no longer cares about being woke Dennis Quaid: Trump May be an A**Hole But He's My A**hole Kevin O'Leary: Trump Trial Has Done "A Lot Of Damage To The American Brand" Jewish Christophobia - Fear of Christians keeps many Jews on the left Trump’s Bronx Rally May Show the Future of the GOP - The Republicans aren’t a multiracial, working-class party yet—but the gains have been undeniable. Saving America's Face Young voters overwhelmingly believe that almost all politicians are corrupt and that the country will end up worse off than when they were born Saudi Textbooks Remove Palestine From Most Maps, Amid Push To Normalize With Israel Hamas Has Stolen $500 Million From Gaza Aid Since October 7 Gaza Pier Operations Suspended Indefinitely After It Breaks Apart By Heavy Seas Map Reveals Vast US Farmland Owned by Chinese Government So How Are Things Going In China? Wednesday, May 29. 2024Why So Few People Live On The West Coast Of IrelandWednesday morning links
May 1924: George Mallory’s tragic quest to conquer Everest - 'Will they succeed? They will if they can conquer nature.' AI-generated moral advice seen as superior to human answers, study finds Green college degrees and phony climate calamities " It was 2012 when I first realized that our current group of four star military leaders are largely inept at best and incompetent at worst. " Princeton Professor Gets SMACKED DOWN by Facts After Claiming Homeschooling Is 'Educational Neglect' Bard College Capitulates to Anti-Israel Protesters to End Campus Encampment Former Claremont McKenna Dean Investigated for Racism After Accusing Student of Plagiarism Surprise: The more elite the school, the more likely the pro-Hamas encampment Will DEI By Any Other Name Smell as Sweet? The New American Anti-Semitism The Nonprofit Brand - Not as good as you think Washington Post Publisher: 'We Are In a Hole, and We Have Been for Some Time' NBC News Reporter Stunned by Support for Trump From Black and Latino Voters at Bronx Rally Dems in full-blown ‘freakout’ over Biden Black Americans show robust support for maintaining or increasing police presence and funding Judge Says New York City Jury Doesn’t Need to Agree on Predicate Crime to Convict Trump of Guilt Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman Announces Support for Trump Joe Biden’s $320 Million Floating Gaza Pier Just Broke Off and Is Now Sinking Where are illegals coming from? China Cracks Down Tuesday, May 28. 2024Tuesday morning linksDesign vs Fine Art: Sitting on the art The branch of the Nile that ran past the Pyramids The Debate Over Lab-Grown Meat - Are concerns about cultured meat justified? How Finding a “Third Place” Can Boost Your Well-Being Physically-healthy Dutch woman Zoraya ter Beek dies by euthanasia aged 29 because she did not want to live with depression Angry Young Women Bird flu is now widespread in wild birds around the globe, and it has been causing outbreaks in U.S. poultry and dairy cows, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Michigan Confirms First Human Case of High-Risk Bird Flu, Marking Second U.S. Case This Year Screwworms once killed millions of dollars’ worth of cattle a year in the southern U.S. Their range extended from Florida to California, and they infected any living, warm-blooded animal: not only cattle but deer, squirrels, pets, and even the occasional human. Trust The "Science"...That Just Retracted 11,000 "Peer Reviewed" Papers Anthony Fauci's Superior at the NIH Admits That the "Six Foot Rule" of Social Distancing Was Never Based on Any Science At All Nellie Bowles Thoroughly Humiliates the New York Times Biden To Ruin Thousands Of Miles Of Land For Green Energy Scheme Some employers are reluctant to hire college grads who attended pro-Palestinian protests, survey finds
‘Supportive housing’ is no cure-all for mentally ill homeless Gavin Newsom Touts California Plan to Combat Homelessness As a ‘National Model’ California’s Looming Crime Catastrophe - Recent legislation makes it easier for felons to claim racial bias—potentially putting them back on the streets in large numbers. The Nation: It’s Not Too Late for Democrats to Win Back Rural Voters National Park Construction Crew Told to Stop Flying American Flag Columbia has more full-time employees than undergrads, including an Earth Observatory DEI director New York City's Ongoing "Affordable Housing" Follies The Massive Immigration Wave Hits America's Schools And Shelters Joe Biden spends his Memorial Day weekend celebrating George Floyd Harrison Butker, supervillain Petition demands Kansas City Chiefs fire kicker Harrison Butker for ‘discriminatory’ grad speech 'So Much For Democracy'? Blinken Justifies Ukraine Canceling Elections Nation Building’s Last Stand in Gaza. Germany: No driving on the weekends? The End of Ireland's Great Consensus Sunday, May 26. 2024It's Steamer Season
It's the time of year when you send your kids or grandkids on the coast of New England out to the salt marshes and mudflats to dig Steamers at low tide. They are the most delicious seafood in the world. AKA Soft-Shelled Clams. Digging for Steamers takes a bit of skill and gentle use of the right tool (a clam rake or, better yet, a clam fork), because you don't want to crack their fragile shells. And you have to know where to look, because they cluster. The fun part is getting covered with black marsh mud without having to pay for a spa. You steam up a giant pot of them, just long enough for them to open and cook a bit, but not so long that they get tough or fall apart. You want to steam them, so don't use too much water in the pot. It's acceptable to throw a slice of onion in the water. Then you pour everybody a mug of the broth from the pot and a heaping pile of clams. That broth is the essence of the sea and the marshes. And you give everybody a bowl of melted butter. I prefer them without the butter so you get the pure clammy flavor. You pull them out of the shell using their long necks as a handle, and I toss the necks to the gulls. These in the photo below are not Steamers. These are Littleneck Clams, which should never, ever be cooked for any reason - which they have been in the photo. It's a disgrace. Cooking them turns them into clam-flavored chewing gum. They should only be slurped down fresh and alive:
These are Steamers. These precious critters are only eaten steamed, and I am convinced that God made them for that purpose:
Why Mrs. Bird Dog is our boat CaptainI've been a boater all of my life and have some basic feel for seas and boat-handling. She has not been unless you consider things like Sailfishes and Sunfishes (which are great fun). With our previous (smaller) boat, I was always Captain for her comfort. My view is that she needs to handle things if I crap out in some way. Makes sense, doesn't it? So she is Captain, and I First Mate. She handles everything, and she does not take joy in my advice. I feel boating can be dangerous, but she feels it is fun. Yup, fun until it isn't because sh-t happens. I put safety first with boats. It is true that, over the past few years, she probably handles this boat better than I can much of the time. I wish I had taught my kids boat-handling better, but it didn't happen. It's an art and a science.
From today's Lectionary: Send meIsaiah 6:1-8 6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. 6:2 Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 6:3 And one called to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory." 6:4 The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. 6:5 And I said: "Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!" 6:6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 6:7 The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: "Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out." 6:8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I; send me!"
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