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.
The only people I've heard of who do the Loop all at once are recently-retired people who are working on their bucket lists. Like hiking the Appalachian Trail (anotherr common bucket list item), many people do it in stages.
You have to keep a weather eye out on the Great Lakes.
“When a religious scheme is shattered…it is not merely the vices that are let loose. The vices are, indeed, let loose, and they wander and do damage. But the virtues are let loose also; and the virtues wander more wildly, and the virtues do more terrible damage. The modern world is full of the old Christian virtues gone mad. The virtues have gone mad because they have been isolated from each other and are wandering alone. Thus some scientists care for truth; and their truth is pitiless. Thus some humanitarians only care for pity; and their pity (I am sorry to say) is often untruthful.”
Don’t wear a mask; you must wear a mask. Buy a pulse oximeter. Stock up on Tylenol, vitamin D, Pepcid. Whisper so you don’t spit. Stand six feet from others—no, 10. Wear gloves. Wear two masks! Open the windows. Close the schools. The dizzying madness of COVID, and the reliance on gurulike experts, has been eerily familiar...
This is the new Utopia, full of fear and despair. Instead of fads and pretend matters, can this generation look to things that are eternal - service, kindness and loving your neighbor? We've taken many of these things out of the public square. I hope people will begin to miss them.
“When Republicans are in control, they pass a little bit of crazy legislation,” she argued. “When Democrats are in control, they pass a little bit of crazy legislation. And the job of the Senate is to cool that passion.”
Physicians are trained to be skeptical. I am, sometimes to a fault.
There is a basket of vague medical complaints which include things sometimes diagnosed as Epstein-Barr, Long Covid, Chronic Lyme Disease, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and so forth.
I don't know what to think about these things. They used to be known as Neurasthenia.
I think that is part of why so many people get satisfaction, if not pleasure, from spending 5 or 6 hours per week maintaining or building physical fitness.
Fitness goals are simple and measurable. Furthermore, the relative mindlessness of it is a relief from the stresses that other life goals give us. For me, workout sessions lift me out of my mind into a pure animal zone of bodily effort. It is my form of meditation (if meditation implies emptying one's mind). Playing sports does something like that, as does sex. Regardless of age, don't underestimate the importance of sex.
I do not mean to say that sports are mindless, but once you get used to a sport, much of it is reflex. That is training: Down the line or cross-court.
Recreation: Hiking, sports, swimming, and general functioning/vitality are rewards for fitness.
The lady who did the stand-up we linked yesterday got me thinking about male grooming.
Once men reach middle age, grooming becomes more necessary. Aberrant hair growth is not neat. It's unpleasantly distracting. My barber takes care of those things routinely. He was kidding this morning about the guys who like to keep their giant wings of grey eyebrows. I suggested that it might look distinguished, like a member of The House of Lords. It's not for me.
He didn't know what The House of Lords was, but that's OK. He grew up in Sicily, and, sadly, hates both Sicily and Italy. Likes the USA.
As I have noted in the past, abortion is surely a complex political topic. The Dobbs decision returns it to the states of the US and I feel ok with that. It's a big country with many views of morality, ethics, religion, etc.
The reason I reference the US Constitution's Amendments lX and X is because, in some ways, I agree with Justice Blackmun that there is a "penumbra of privacy." Freedom of the individual is not limited to the Constitution, quite the opposite in fact. The purpose of the Constitution was to give governments only limited and necessary power. On the other hand, is abortion a kind of murder? I do not know, but it's hard for me to view it as medical care. It is medical, yes. Can it be an individual conscience issue?
Media Lying About Climate And Hurricanes.
What is the Great Loop? 
TODAY IN CRAZY -