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 object of the university is to develop character — to make men. It misses its aim if it produced learned pedants, or simple artisans, or cunning sophists, or pretentious practitioners. Its purport is not so much to impart knowledge to the pupils, as whet the appetite, exhibit methods, develop powers, strengthen judgment, and invigorate the intellectual and moral forces. It should prepare for the service of society a class of students who will be wise, thoughtful, progressive guides in whatever department of work or thought they may be engaged."
Johns Hopkins University President Daniel Coit Gilman, in 1876 (h/t, Askblog)
Kettlebells add good variety to cardio and/or calisthenics workouts. There are plenty of ways to use them, but they seem most often used for swings. Swings are a total body exercise.
With lighter weights, swings are more cardio. Go with heavier weights for total body toughening. 30-60 seconds per set is good.
Gary Sinise travels and performs constantly to raise $30-million a year through the Charity Navigator top-rated Gary Sinise Foundation for disabled veterans.
Your credit score is sort of like a grade in practical life-management. The way life is, one never knows when a little or a lot of credit might come in handy.
A few other tips: Not a great idea to entirely pay off a mortgage. Regular mortgage payments are important, even if you maintain a small balance. Also, never entirely pay off a credit card. Keep a balance, however small, or some wierd algo might decide to cancel your card for no good reason (it happens even to prosperous people when an algo gets tired of you and a zero balance is its chance), and that's a ding. Regular, on-time payments are the best thing for your credit. It's because lenders are in the business of lending, and like borrowers. Never, ever, cancel a credit card. So, for your credit score, use all of your credit cards and never pay them off entirely. But, yes, you can get rid of student loans.
Another detail: Too many checks of your credit harms your credit score. However, you can check your own once in a while, for free online.
Your results may vary. We probably have readers with experience with all of this.
Everybody knows we do not use that term anymore in public. It's been a kerfuffle this past week.
Interestingly, "Mental Retardation" was introduced as a euphemism for uglier terms, as it seemed to imply slower, but not unable. The currect correct term is "intellectual disability".
However, in casual conversation, people still say "I'm retarded" after foolish actions.
It may come as news to the #MeToo generation, but women have sexual power over men. It's so potent that in some societies (Muslims et al.), it is brutally reined in. This sexual power has to be acknowledged and respected, and it is precisely what civilization arose to hold in check. We're not talking about some playful, casual one-off, but rather the volcanic energies surging deep within the human psyche. As with all powerful natural forces, it can engender great beauty in addition to great savagery.
People who analyze and write about higher education generally fall into two camps. One camp consists of those who believe that our system is “the envy of the world” and just needs more public support to do its great work of improving our citizens and strengthening our economy. (For a sense of what that camp is about, read professor Steven Brint’s book Two Cheers for Higher Education, which I reviewed here.)
The other camp consists of people who conclude that our higher education system draws in far too many students, poorly educates most of them, and costs too much. Unlike the first, which has, so far as I am aware, no conservatives or libertarians, in this camp you find people from all over the political spectrum. Former Harvard president Derek Bok, a liberal, has written Our Underperforming Colleges. And arguably the best-known among the critics is professor Richard Vedder, a thorough-going free market advocate.
As a teacher of undergraduates, Ms. Paglia despairs at how “bad it is for young people, filled with fears, to be raised in this kind of a climate where personal responsibility isn’t spoken of.” Since her own youth, she says, college students have devolved from rebels into skittish supplicants, petitioning people in authority to protect them from real life. Young adults are encouraged to look for “substitute parent figures on campus, which is what my generation rebelled against in college. We threw that whole ‘in loco parentis’ thing out.”
All of the candidates’ plans would gut the US economy and lead to soaring energy prices, which would impoverish all of us. In return, their plans would have no measurable effect on the world’s climate. Zero. Nada. Zip.
Cortez’s Svengali-like former chief of staff, Saikat Chakrabarti, took an expansive position when discussing the Green New Deal. “Do you guys think of it as a climate thing?” he asked. “Because we really think of it as a how-do-you-change-the-entire-economy thing.”
In a lifetime spent outdoors, I never knew that Yallowjackets stung. I just thought they bit. They only bothered me when getting in the way of my hamburger.
The yellowjacket is one of the most menacing insects known to man. These brightly colored wasps possess a fiery sting and bite seemingly out of proportion to their size. Yellowjackets are not 'bees', and they're definitely not friendly. So what makes them so dangerous?
1. They're aggressive. Yellowjackets are more aggressive than other stinging insects such as wasps, hornets, mud daubers or bees.
2. They can sting AND bite. Since yellowjackets don’t lose their stinger, they can sting numerous times, and will do so unprovoked. In fact, they usually bite your flesh to get a better grip as they jab their stinger into your skin.
3. They're defensive. Yellowjackets vigorously defend their nests. They will assign a "guard" to stand watch at the nest opening and alert the colony to a threat. Swarm attacks can occur when someone accidentally steps in, hits, or even comes too close to a nest. Attacks of hundreds of yellowjackets from underground nests can also be triggered by ground vibrations – thus, mowing lawns can be hazardous during the late summer season when colonies are large.
4. They sting you for no reason. Even if you're minding your own business and nowhere near a nest, yellowjackets don't care -- they'll sting you anyway!
5. They're scavengers. Yellowjackets are a common pest at picnics and other outdoor activities. They scavenge for meat and sweet liquids, which brings them into frequent contact with humans with ample opportunity to sting. (See #4.)
6. Their sting packs a punch. For people who are allergic, one yellowjacket sting can be deadly. But even if you don't have an allergic reaction, the sting is plenty painful. "Imagine WC Fields extinguishing a cigar on your tongue..." is how entomologist Justin Schmidt, creator of the "Schmidt Sting Pain Index", described a yellowjacket sting!
Democrats Blame Global Warming on Meat, Air Travel, and Business at CNN's "Climate Crisis" Town Hall, and Then CNN Airs Ads F the Decline of the Episcopal Church?
Mrs. BD and her pal had the best burger in their lives in Mississippi in a road trip to Houston last winter, in some redneck dive place with fancy burgers.(nb: Redneck is not a disparagment on Maggie's).
General rule of thumb: Always avoid disgusting chain places. The hole in the walls have the best stuff because they have to compete.
One of my cool daughters emailed me about the best burger she has ever had (visiting a college pal in Nashville): cream cheese, jalapeno jelly, and grilled jalapenos. I feel hungry now despite a filling lobster salad for lunch with a glass of chardonnay. Life is pleasant in the USA.
Yes, I make a mean jalapeno jelly from my garden each year. Good with cheese. My kids steal the jars from the pantry.
Image via 
What I Saw: 
Mother Teresa's 
In a lifetime spent outdoors, I never knew that Yallowjackets stung. I just thought they bit. They only bothered me when getting in the way of my hamburger.
Photo from a friend in Denver 