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.
Our pal Assistant Village Idiot sounded inverse-snobbery about this fine lunch, but I still love it. I grew up with this thing, yes, at the Club. It was always turkey, not chicken. Always served with a little cup of extra mayo, and with kitchen-made chips and not french fries. My club still makes their own chips - heavenly.
At home, we had five basic sandwiches: Baloney with mustard and lettuce, the excellent BLT, Fluffernutter, BB&J, and Tuna Salad. That was Mom's sandwich repertoire.
12:49 "I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!
12:50 I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed!
12:51 Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!
12:52 From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three;
12:53 they will be divided: father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."
12:54 He also said to the crowds, "When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, 'It is going to rain'; and so it happens.
12:55 And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, 'There will be scorching heat'; and it happens.
12:56 You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?
Heading to Cape Cod (Wellfleet) soon for family reunion week and my birthday party (25 of us, plus with some of our high-energy outdoorsy pals joining us). We do indeed take over the village when we are out there.
Roger de Hauteville, that illustrious Norman King of Sicily, will provide the morning entertainment here. Bless his Viking heart.
Our plans are dawn runs, morning calisthenics or Yoga, kayaking, hiking, body surfing, jumping in the pond loop, and some baseball and tennis. And lots of seafood and beer. Sitting on beaches is not our thing, but we have a big porch overlooking the harbor. No TV, no wifi. Good Boston classical music radio though. Best thing of all - getting salty and sunny and perfumed by the piney woods - and no bugs.
Plus we have an outdoor shower. I will not tolerate an indoor shower on Cape Cod. Just feels good to shower in the sunshine.
Speaking of seafood, maybe my favorite Cape Cod seafood is steamed Steamers. Drinking the broth might be the best part. As much as I love mussels, or a raw bar with Wellfleet oysters, I can never tire of Steamers. They are fun to harvest too, if you don't mind lots of mud.
One of the most fun places to eat or to buy food in NYC: Eataly, in the Flatiron District (5th and 23rd). In warm weather, the Beer Garden on the roof is good fun. You can stay all day and munch on charcuterie and cheese.
In the southern USA, "tea" means Sweet Tea. People usually make a couple of quarts at a time. Delicious.
I have been a fan of Sun Tea since I first had it in Montana. It's usually made a gallon jar at a time. Keep the top on or ants will come, and keep in direct sunlight for 5-6 hours.
I never anticipated spending so much of my clinical time in bathrooms. But drug overdose is the leading cause of death among the homeless individuals I take care of at a health center in Boston—and without homes or access to supervised consumption sites, people who are homeless frequently inject drugs behind the closed doors of public bathrooms, including ours...
Some time ago, I noted the irreconcilable difference between the Left and the rest of America: the majority of our fellow citizens believe America is an inherently good nation that continues its pursuit of a more perfect union; the Left believes America is an inherently evil nation that must be transformed fundamentally into an oppressive socialist state—at best.
For the Left to win this existential argument, it must distort and revile America’s history to destroy the truth of American Exceptionalism. If the past is evil, the present has no choice but to reject America’s history and its defenders; and to embrace the dishonest leftist ideology and the agenda of those who loathe America.
Always a treat to listen to very high IQ people talk. This is a Wow of a conversation. It's not about Creationism, but about Darwin's likely errors (he didn't have the info we have now). The discussion about the emergence of new proteins is especially interesting.
It's a tough but interesting career. I've learned all about it from a Chef friend (now an Executive Chef).
First, you attend, if you can, one of the top US (or French) culinary trade schools - Johnson & Wales, The New England Culinary Inst. (in NH), the CIA (Hyde Park, NY), the Cornell Hotel School, or the Culinary Academy of Las Vegas. Cordon Bleu in Paris if you can swing that.
When you graduate, having learned all the culinary basics, plus the economics, costing, buying, staffing, etc. you get to get a job as a lowly line cook. You are not a Chef - you are just a cook and not even an accomplished line cook yet.
Then the apprenticeship begins. A few successful years as a line cook (mastering all stations) and you could become a Sous-Chef. And then a fully-fledged Chef of the kitchen. That's a big deal, because you have to be a master of everything: Pastry, sauces, soups, meats, produce, salads - and presentation skills. You know the Chef from his or her Toque.
Some ambitious Chefs seek to become Executive Chefs. More money. They get to make the menus, manage and hire staff, do the buying, train staff, and run the business profitably. A high-hassle, high-complexity job. So-called "front of the house" and "back of the house."
My Chef friend gets so tired of fancy healthy food that he just likes a Big Mac, fries, and a couple of beers to escape it all.
The Grey Fox is not a rare canid inhabiting much of the US and Central America. People know the Red Fox (imported from Europe for Virginia fox hunters before the Revolution) and the Coyote (which has invaded the Eastern US with the extirpation of the wolf), but few people know or ever see the crepuscular/nocturnal Grey Fox, a native canid.
I suspect that sometimes Grey Fox is mistaken for Coyote.
A cool fact about Grey Fox is their tree-climbing ability.
‘Gender stereotypes’: Judge rules Harvard sanctions on single-sex clubs may violate Title IX
“Affirmative Consent” as a Legal Standard? An effort to bring campus procedures rigged against defendants into criminal law has stalled—but advocates will try again.
There really was a collusion plot. It really did target our election system. It absolutely sought to usurp our capacity for self-determination. It was just not the collusion you’ve been told about for nearly three years. It was not “Donald Trump’s collusion with Russia.”
I love cheeseburgers on the grill. Cheddar. Or even that American artificial cheese-like-substance. Lots of ketchup too, for the vegetable component. Health, etc.
I also love blue cheese on a burger - lots of it. Or bacon. Or blue cheese and bacon.
If you ever bothered to read the back of a John Kerry-Heinz ketchup bottle, they offer an alternative burger condiment. It is delicious, worth trying once:
1 cup mayonnaise 1 cup ketchup 1/4 cup sweet relish 1 tbsp cider vinegar 2 tsp sugar 1 tbsp chopped garlic 1 tsp hot pepper flakes (I added that)
Let sauce marinate in fridge for a while.
So to our Survey: What do you like on your grilled burgers?
I have no doubt that screenwriters are already hard at work, working out a plot outline.
The story has everything a tabloid story needs. Only problem, to crank out a halfway-credible story, they will need to discover where the money came from. That's still the mystery, from what I have read.
What actor would you pick to play Epstein? And who to play Ghislaine?
Our pal Assistant Village Idiot 
Heading to Cape Cod (Wellfleet) soon for family reunion week and my birthday party (25 of us, plus with some of our high-energy outdoorsy pals joining us). We do indeed take over the village when we are out there.
It's a tough but interesting career. I've learned all about it from a Chef friend (now an Executive Chef).
The
First Time Nudist? 
I love cheeseburgers on the grill. Cheddar. Or even that American artificial cheese-like-substance. Lots of ketchup too, for the vegetable component. Health, etc.