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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Sunday, September 12. 2021From today's LectionaryMark 8:27-38 8:27 Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" 8:28 And they answered him, "John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets." 8:29 He asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered him, "You are the Messiah." 8:30 And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him. 8:31 Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 8:32 He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 8:33 But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things." 8:34 He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 8:35 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. 8:36 For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? 8:37 Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? 8:38 Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels." Last Rose of summerAs weather gets cooler, I think today will be the last day of the year we have Rose for sunset boat drinks. I do not know how to put accents on letters, but I mean the wine. We've done a fair bit of day touring and have learned all we can about our engine and other systems. Still practicing docking but, as I always say, boats are not designed to be near land. Next year we will take on longer overnight trips although I will never do nighttime or fog.
Saturday, September 11. 2021Guy knows how to do thingsI admire this man's skills. I admire all skills. I have to pay real money for people who can do these things and feel defective in not knowing how. This guy has one eye, plays cello and banjo, so he has talents beyond talking.
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Saturday morning links
Vanderleun: What I Saw: Notes Made on September 11, 2001 from Brooklyn Heights Taliban to Inaugurate Al Qaeda Government on 9/11 Taliban Bans Women From Playing Sports… The Case for Merit, Character, and Capacity I'm 17. And I'm Immunized from Woke Politics. Calling all Barbz: Twitter rallies behind Harvard students told to remove Nicki Minaj flag from dorm window Google et al. Take Hypocrisy On Racism To Yet A Whole New Level Virginia Education Dept. Blasted for 9/11 Sensitivity Training Video for Teachers. “The Virginia Department of Education is woke-washing the 9/11 attacks.” Joe Biden’s Plan for Forced Vaccinations for American Workers Does Not Include Illegal Aliens Did Ron Klain Just Blow Up Biden's Vaccine Mandate with a Retweet? Incredible: Kumala Makes the Case for "My Body, My Choice" The Very Same Day That Biden Imposes Medical Tyranny On the Country Washington Post Legal Analysis Exhibits Confusion about How Law Works Friday, September 10. 2021Bug of the Week: Crickets chirpingThe chorus of crickets chirping on these late summer evenings is one of the finest things in life, and last night they were loud. That evening bug-song has followed me through most of my life, and fills me with joy. Field Crickets are found across the US. In New England, we have the Black Field Cricket (photo) who is at his prime in early October until the first hard frost. They are mainly nocturnal insects and eat almost anything. Taxonomically, crickets (along with grasshoppers, locusts, katydids) are in Order Orthoptera of Class Insecta. The males rub their forewings together producing the chirp or trill, of which the frequency is temperature-related. The function of the trill is, of course, to attract females desirous of fertilization - or to fight. Only males chirp. Around here, we still have the Katydids singing at night along with the rapidly-growing Field Crickets. Open the windows. Or open the doors: two Field Crickets are occupying the Maggie's HQ right now, and I need to leave them some crumbs from my Subway sandwich to keep them happy. StatuesFrom a friend who is a graduate of that illustrious university
Men and collegeMen abandon higher education in droves, trail female student enrollment by record levels Maybe they do not wish to enroll in Intro to Trans Studies
Friday morning linksHusband’s Perfect Communication Causes Fight Shameless scaremongering from The New York Times on COVID and kids DISMANTLING THE ENVIRONMENTAL THEORY FOR COVID’S ORIGINS Charges Upgraded Against Minnesota Officer Who Accidentally Fired Gun Instead of Taser, Killing Daunte Wright. First Degree Manslaughter added by Attorney General Keith Ellison on top of previous Second Degree Manslaughter. America's Failing Schools. If our children are our future, we’re fucked. Professor Peter Boghossian Resigns From ‘Social Justice Factory’ Portland State University. Students at Portland State are not being taught to think. Rather, they are being trained to mimic the moral certainty of ideologues.” More educational insanity National Archives and Records Association puts "harmful content" label on Constitution, founding documents Wokeness is a puritanical cult. Asterix and Tintin comics have been set on fire in Canada for failing a woke purity test. Beyond Parody: Biden State Department Voices Concerns Over All-Male Taliban Government… BoJo Blasts Churchill Charity For Scrubbing Former PM From Website Xi Jinping's Great Leap Backward should worry us Thursday, September 9. 2021Cancel culture
She could be canceled for that article, don't you think? It is a form of terrorism, and none of it is "for the better." You can scare people into not saying what they think, but you can't scare them out of free-thinking unless you start with the little kids. Oh, wait... What makes a terrorist?
Why is it the wrong question? Because it makes it sound as if terrorism were some sort of pathology rather than a form of war for those without large armies and weapons. Fusion power
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Apocalypse
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Our server had a mild case of COVIDAustralia Is Now Confiscating Booze Delivered To People Forced Into Lockdown Whatever happened to "follow the science"? Trump caused COVID, but Biden has not cured it Few of Our COVID-19 Policies Make Any Sense What’s The Chance Of Getting A Breakthrough COVID Infection? Wednesday, September 8. 2021There are many factors
Personality traits, parental support, cultural ideals, cognitive issues, etc etc all play roles in how people do academically. And, of course, males do not do as well except at the top end. At Quillette, Remedial Education for All. It's about "dumbing down." Trades are not for low IQ. They are good for people who do not like regular school. Too many sex/gender identification labelsThe Truth about Autogynephilia After having spoken with many people, over decades, about their lives and sometimes their wildest sexual fantasies, I still find the gender identity issue sort of strange. I suppose I have heard it all, but have never seen a patient who was worried about their gender expression. I have seen plenty of gay men who were afraid to come out of the closet though. That was usually prompted by wives who wondered about their husbands' lack of sex drive. Wild fantasies are normal, at least in people lacking in the usual sorts of repression of taboos. Perhaps the political climate is making way for the overcoming of sex and gender taboos. QQQEighty percent of success is showing up. Woody Allen Plenty of readers might not approve of Woody Allen, but that quote certainly applies to my life trajectory. You meet people, some of them think you are neither stupid nor an ahole, and good things tend to happen. Wednesday morning linksAn 'Internet apocalypse' could ride to Earth with the next solar storm, new research warns WSJ: Get Ready for the Blackouts. Mismanagement and the push for renewables are degrading the reliability of the U.S. electrical grid. Rutgers bars unvaccinated students from attending virtual classes How to Prepare for COVID (and How Not To) Taibbi on the invermectin craziness Too lazy to work, too callous to care: COVID’s lesson on teachers unions I doubt that is true of most teachers In the next few years, two women will earn a college degree for every man CNN: American Racism Will Never Disappear; It Will Become ‘White Supremacy With A Tan’ Federal government using social-media giants to censor Americans Steven Pinker defends "fake but accurate" Mexico Says US Must Pay Up To Stem Illegal Immigration At US Border Europe Now Hates Joe Biden Months After Calling Him “A Return To Adulthood” For America.. Tuesday, September 7. 2021SchoolMonday morning linksTwo utterly fascinating facts about COVID Addicted to Videogames The Looking Glass World Of "Climate Injustice" -- Part II NY Times Blames Global Warming For Hurricane Ida…Like clockwork. What happens when you get canceled (and why) Illinoisans Paid Almost as Much on Unemployment as at Work It’s now obvious that Biden doesn’t even want to stop the ever-growing border surge Five reasons Biden's approval ratings have taken a pounding VDH: Biden and the Left-wing Standard of Attacking Presidents China's Marxist "Profound Revolution" Is Here Monday, September 6. 2021For Labor DayHow to Honor Labor Day, Every DayI repost this about every four years. I think, a good reminder. Below is a repost of a column I wrote at another venue for Labor Day 2006 and posted again here in 2011 and 2014 and 2018: What remains of Labor Day? Some speeches about the hard work of our parents or grandparents, and some newspaper articles about current difficulties getting established or obtaining benefits for today’s workers. Conservatives are distinguished by particular respect for the hallowed history from which current and future advantages spring, without which we would be rootless and at the whim of passing fancies or incitements. Supposedly, the virtues and rewards of hard work are among these cherished principles. The Left trumpets redistributive schemes from the affluent or hard working to the poor or lazy, most of which have relatively little benefit to the poor but create newly enriched bureaucrats and union leaders. Conservatives’ answer is usually more along the lines of how to preserve and protect the fruits of the labor by those in the middle and upper rungs of the economic ladder. Sebastian Mallaby steps on the Left and Right’s toes today in the Washington Post. Mallaby points out the futility of most of the Left’s prescriptions, to the “point the left begins to seethe.” He then focuses on reducing tax incentives that mostly accrue to the middle and upper classes, to free up a quarter of them for $180-billion that could be used for increased earned income credits and reduced regressive payroll taxes. The problem with Mallaby’s arguments is that they are another, albeit better, form of redistribution, and government has repeatedly proven its penchant for wasting such billions on other than targeted needs. More necessary is the unbridling of energies and rewards for labor. That requires investment which creates demand for labor, and skills-oriented education that creates competitive wage earners to fill those new openings. As Mallaby correctly argues, many of the poorest workers are in service trades not impacted by international competition. Such positions that were once beginning rungs on the ladder now face a gap of steps up due to lack of skills. Instead of redistributing tax incentives, more needed is redistributing our already huge tax outlays on education from schemes that create administrative and union positions, and posh campuses, toward greater vocational and skills education. That honors labor, by providing the tools for all to benefit from labor.
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Humbly we enter Rosh Hashanah
The evening of September 6, 2021 will launch the 5782th Jewish New Year. The Hebrew word Rosh (ראש) means first/head/beginning and Hashanah (השנה) means the year. The root of the Hebrew word Shanah is both “repeat” and “change.” Rosh Hashanah constitutes an annual reminder of the need to enhance one’s behavior through a systematic study of moral values, learning from experience and avoiding past errors. Rosh Hashanah ushers-in the Ten Days of Repentance, which are concluded on Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement). Humility. Rosh Hashanah is celebrated on the 6th day of Creation, when the first human-being, Adam, was created. Adam is the Hebrew word for a human-being (אדמ). Adam was created with humility before G-d. Adam strayed, the original sin, that we work to overcome with our learning the strength and humility to do what's right, regardless the temptation . I think it’s very important that we think about what humility means and how we embody it as we walk into the High Holidays. We are encouraged to enter humbly into the holidays as we stand before God and ourselves. But what does that mean? It’s about dropping everything and anything that has to do with ego - pride, embarrassment, shame, jealousy, comparing myself to others and so much more. Humility is about standing in truth and that truth includes your strengths as well. It includes all of you. None of it is bad or good. But that truth reveals the parts of ourselves that may be getting in our own way. And we’re only able to see those things once we can humbly walk through them. And once we see them, well, that’s when the growth begins. No one is watching your journey through the holidays. It is yours to have and experience. And it is between you, God (if God is a part of the equation for you), and yourself. Make the most of it. Let’s walk humbly together into these coming days, vulnerable, open, and honest. (I humbly borrowed most of the above from several wise ones.) Railroad gaugesReader sent us this info: The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge used? Well, because that's the way they built them in England, and English engineers designed the first US railroads. Why did the English build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the wagon tramways, and that's the gauge they used. So, why did 'they' use that gauge then? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they had used for building wagons, which used that same wheel spacing. Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break more often on some of the old, long distance roads in England . You see, that's the spacing of the wheel ruts. So who built those old rutted roads? Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (including England ) for their legions. Those roads have been used ever since. And what about the ruts in the roads? Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match or run the risk of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome , they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. Therefore the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot. Bureaucracies live forever. So the next time you are handed a specification/procedure/process and wonder 'What horse's ass came up with this?', you may be exactly right. Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses. (Two horses' asses.) Now, the twist to the story: When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah . The engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains, and the SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses' behinds. So, a major Space Shuttle design feature, of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system, was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's ass. And you thought being a horse's ass wasn't important? Ancient horse's asses control almost everything...... Sunday, September 5. 2021Scott Adams explains
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Boat Life: Installing solar
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