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.
I'd like to pitch for a podcast I am now addicted to. For what it's worth, I am not a podcast person. The Revolutions podcast, link attached, is excellent and worth your time if you like history. It was recommended by a good friend who thought I'd enjoy the current episodes on Communism. Instead, I went to the beginning (which I highly recommend doing) and started from scratch. It's worth it.
I'm now in season 3, the French Revolution, and enjoying every minute of it. To say the least, if you don't see parallels between today and the French Revolution, you probably may not know as much about the French Revolution as you think. I know I didn't see them, and I thought I understood it. I did not. For what it's worth, the narrator is not pointing them out, I just think they are very, very noticeable.
At any rate, I recommended to my brother, who then sent me a note telling me that he hated me with the heat of a thousand suns because he has found himself hopelessly addicted to listening. The stories are both entertaining and informative, and very funny in some of the most appropriate places.
The narrator also did a history of Rome, which I'll turn to once I'm finished. And he does tours, which I hope to take part in (maybe we should invite him to our Urban Hike, though right now he's living in Paris).
The Eastern and Central US has the Rough Green Snake (New Jersey and south) and the Smooth Green Snake, in the Northeast. These skinny bug-eaters are often referred to as "Grass Snakes," although both like to climb in vegetation.
They are so well-camouflaged that they are rarely seen, and they tend to freeze when disturbed. I think I once saw a Rough in a bush in southern CT, but I can't swear it was a Rough because it moved too quickly for me to grab it to check it's ID.
I love seeing snakes in New England. We don't have enough of them except for the regular Garter Snakes that always startle you when they are curled up in a Zucchini plant and the gigantic Black Snakes on stone walls and in the sand on Cape Cod. Did I ever mention the time my Mom killed a Milk Snake with a hoe (mistaking it for a Copperhead) while we batch of kids were playing in the grass? A mythical moment.
In Movie One, President Trump is absolutely, definitely a racist, and any honest person can see it in the way he talks, the people who support him, and his policy proposals. For the viewers of this movie, Trump’s alleged racism is a fact, not an opinion. Therefore, logically, all Trump supporters must be racists because they support a racist president. This view of reality is promoted by CNN, MSNBC, the New York Times, Washington Post, ABC, NBC, NPR, and essentially all of the left-leaning press.
In Movie Two, President Trump promised the country he would not be politically correct if elected, and sure enough, he is not. He goes hard at all critics, with uncautious language, and that makes it easy for his political foes to cherry pick the times he criticizes women and people of color, framing those instances as some sort of pattern. Viewers of Movie Two are confused about whether the viewers of Movie One are lying, stupid, brainwashed, or mentally ill.
Those two realities are starkly different. How can any of us tell which is the true one?
I have been switching my phrasing from "strength" to "sturdiness" lately because I think it's a better way of thinking about muscle fitness under the broader umbrella of General Fitness - what we call Fitness For Life.
For example, I'd like to deadlift 300 lbs, but it's not overly important to me. Doing 5 reps of 175-200 will be enough to indicate that I am not frail, not fragile.
The problem I'm sure our fitness readers have with strength training (resistance training, or sturdiness training) is time. If we aim for 6-7 hours weekly for fitness, with 2 of those HIIT and endurance cardio and 2 of them calisthenics, how can we fit in all of the strength building or strength maintenance?
Maybe by condensing resistance things and mixing them up. For example, there are several basic back exercises. Three of them are fundamental (ie, must be done at least once weekly): deadlifts (a total body exertion - The King of Exercises), rows, and pullups/chinups or pull-downs.
Each of those can take 15-20 minutes of your time with 6 sets, with 90-120 sec. rest between sets. So you can schedule, say, deads once weekly, pullups/chinups/pull-downs once weekly, and some type of row once or twice weekly (eg inverted row, seated row, dumbell bent-over row). Mix them up week to week). And because those make good arm demands too, there is less need for pure arm exercises.
Other than the deads, the key to back exertions is to clench your scapulae. Squeeze them. Make the back do them bulk of the work, not your arms. With chinups and pullups, you thrust your elbows down to power the movement.
I guess we remain an eclectic boutique website - but a fairly strong one in that humble category. Not mass market, so we can't get rich from it. We are grateful for donated web services (thanks, buddy - you are a prince) and for the pittance ($250,000/year from our friends at Dunkin Donuts. Just kidding about the latter.)
We are happy hobbyists.
In the past 12 months, 4,000,000 page views, 2,000,000 sessions, 385,000 users, 376,000 new users, bounce rate 54% (excellent), and around 5000 regular daily users. Thousands more of regular but non-daily readers who come to just catch up every few days.
Since readership is our only reward, whatever y'all can do to help us expand it is highly appreciated even though we do not get paid for it. Stupid, right?
Good fun reading him in small doses,like Boswell's writings
Raoul Wallenberg — remembering a hero on his 107th birthday. To save tens of thousands of Jews, Swedish diplomat bribed, cajoled, persuaded and even threatened German and Hungarian officials; what happened to him remains unclear
Charlie Martin is a better writer, but I have said all of this in the past. Quote:
It would take far more than one article to explain how we got here, but at least one of the root causes is the Prussian model of education we adopted early in the 20th century. And no, I'm not using the ad Hitlerum fallacy here — our model of education is literally Prussian, coming from educational reforms instituted in Prussia and eventually throughout the Austro-Hungarian Empire long before Hitler. The goal was to teach the masses, who were assumed not to be capable of a more advanced education, to become literate and tractable workers in the increasingly industrialized German-speaking state.
The model is essentially industrial, suited for the times: students are raw materials that progress through a series of work stations ("grades") allocated by age cohort, with their progress and eventual quality judged at each stage. Individual capabilities and interests were largely ignored, and the results were mainly measured by how much of the raw materials passed through the whole factory with at least a marginally acceptable final delivery.
And yes, of course, this is a mildly hyperbolic overstatement, but only mildly. The educational system disoriented not toward successfully teaching individual student, but to pushing a mass of students through as a group...
When I lived on the East Coast, I was in the Caribbean several times a year. With others, we would usually charter a small "yacht", the cost divided equating with a big-boat cruise but we'd be able to get into small inlets of clear waters and into smaller ports than the big cruise lines. It was heaven, a heaven I'd so missed since living on the West Coast where air travel times to the islands would be an exhausting day each way of multiple stops and raising small sons who wanted to escape to the big boat kids clubs.
My prayer was answered in July, along the Dalmatian Coast of Croatia with the easier to get to, less crowded, pristine waters, on a reconditioned yacht of 18 cabins. And, the cost was a fraction of what the big cruise boats are charging.
Plus the food aboard was terrific, only topped by reasonable cost gourmet meals and extraordinary treats ashore at the ports we stopped in at. Seafood based meals are the best and fresh. Later at Zagreb and Ljubljana (Slovenia) and Budapest, the gourmet meals and excellent beers continued. (Tip: Avoid tourist restaurants with photos in front, or offering hamburgers or pizza. Though it may be good, do some research and walk off main strips for outstanding gourmet local cuisines.)
A special mention about the next photo. If you are a devout fan of poppy seed (mundt) cakes as I am, a very occasional, very special treat due to their high price, look at this hero sized mundt cake (Zagreb) for just $4!
The small islands each had their special attractions. And, Split (with Diocletians Palace) and Dubrovnik (with its walled city, sometimes a filmshoot site for Game Of Thrones) were special. All in all, quite a wonderful time.
Then, we went on to a lesser well known jewel, Zagreb. Consider it a smaller Budapest, plus acres upon acres of parks, full of entertainments. At this cathedral under reconstruction, in front on display is a portion of how by the Communists allowed the cathedral to deteriorate to crumbling stone, so those younger would not forget.
Then on to Ljubjlana, another Balkan jewel of a city, and Slovenia's gorgeous Lake Bled.
Then, on to Budapest. I'd last been there 15-years ago, when despite its great "bones" and seemingly endless streets of classic beautiful buildings, it was still a "grey" city, smooted and recovering from decades of Communist neglect. Now, its buildings shine, its streets are attractive, the food scene is salivatingly good. The Castle district on the Buda side is well worth the half day visit. (I'll discuss the Jewish quarter in another post.)
Back to food. This famous old bakery on Castle hill offers so many incredibly delicious cakes that we had doubles. Also, fortunately, this tavern is still there at the base of Castle Hill. I'd fallen in love with it fifteen years ago. On offer are a wide variety of over fifty fresh Belgian beers that aren't obtainable on this side of the Atlantic. Its food menu is, of course, a match.
Freedom Square honors Ronald Reagan.
Just walking miles from the tourist center, this was the type of attractive pocket parks and houses we found.
I blame the evil in the human soul. Wrong moment to say it when we feel terrible for the victims and families, but mass shootings in the US have been declining for decades.
1:2 Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
1:12 I, the Teacher, when king over Israel in Jerusalem,
1:13 applied my mind to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven; it is an unhappy business that God has given to human beings to be busy with.
1:14 I saw all the deeds that are done under the sun; and see, all is vanity and a chasing after wind.
2:18 I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to those who come after me
2:19 --and who knows whether they will be wise or foolish? Yet they will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity.
2:20 So I turned and gave my heart up to despair concerning all the toil of my labors under the sun,
2:21 because sometimes one who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave all to be enjoyed by another who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil.
2:22 What do mortals get from all the toil and strain with which they toil under the sun?
2:23 For all their days are full of pain, and their work is a vexation; even at night their minds do not rest. This also is vanity.
Foot-long 
When and why did "medical care" become "health care"? It has been a puzzlement to me. When I first heard the term, I thought "What?!?"
