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.
1:17 Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
1:18 In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures.
1:19 You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger;
1:20 for your anger does not produce God's righteousness.
1:21 Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls.
1:22 But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.
1:23 For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror;
1:24 for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like.
1:25 But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act--they will be blessed in their doing.
1:26 If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless.
1:27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
As I toil towards my goal of unloading 2000 books from the Maggie's HQ, it's tough not to flip through each one in case you might change your mind. My books are part of me, it seems. That is stupid.
Take Emerson. I open a random page. No, dammit. I can not understand the guy and I never could figger out what he was getting at. Not blaming him because as far as I can tell he is a deep thinker and his essays remain widely appreciated. "It's me, not you."
My Dad loved him, but I have lower IQ than my Dad. I blame my mother's side: rich practical business people.
Just three of them jump to mind, but there must be many more examples where changing geography left cities built on sea-going commerce sitting on silted rivers, and further from the ocean.
I am thinking of Florence, Seville, and Pisa. Oh - Pompeii was a seaport too, which is partly why it was so full of whorehouses. Whorehouses and temples and fast food joints - that was Pompeii. Here's The lost harbour of Pisa revealed
Classic visit to Pisa (which is actually a charming antique town like San Gimignano or Siena): Grab a slice of pizza, take a selfie in front of the bell tower, then get back on the air-conditioned bus.
Other examples of cities which were once important seaports?
Politics today is a lot less about ideology and a lot more about the disconnect between the people who make our laws and the people that live underneath them. If you want to understand 2010, 2014, 2016, and I believe, future elections, you have to understand that there’s an enormous gap between what public policy elites – people in government, the media, and academia – are focused on, and what everyday people care about. And they’re not lined up.
So I think there’s a sense across the American political spectrum that the people in office spend all their time fighting for things that don’t matter in the real world. And the things that matter in the real world aren’t getting enough attention. And so, they want to send people that are going to blow it up, that are basically gonna force change in the status quo, and the more the established figures in politics attack you, the stronger it makes you in the eyes of people that want to see something different.
Weiner Laptop Scandal, the Mueller Witchhunt, the Clinton Foundation and China Hacking Hillary’s Emails All Have One Thing in Common
"Steele was likely working for Putin-linked Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska at the exact same time he was telling Hillary and the press that Trump’s alleged ties to Russia were treason. "
The end game is to crush what they see as a peasant’s revolt. Mueller’s function is to provide a legal pretext for removing the President from office. The role of the media is to misrepresent everything he does in order to trick independent voters into giving the Democrats a majority in the House. This will prevent Trump from continuing to act on his 2016 mandate.
The Democrats will impeach the President if they gain a majority in the House, regardless of their chances of securing a conviction in the Senate. Impeachment will effectively shut down his Presidency either way. Fighting it would involve so much White House time that virtually nothing else would get done. And this is an important Democratic goal.
Nice Wellfleet house, short stroll to town on a sand/gravel road. Some core of this house is mid-1800s, but much done since then. Magnificent tree. I usually know these things, but not sure what species. I did not wish to intrude.
A pal of mine (and MF reader) who knows everything and is interested in everything - I am lucky to have a few pals like that - sends a 1988 research piece from The US Air War College about camouflage and deception in warfare.
Is giving up on fitness a sign of giving up on a vigorous life? I don't know. Could be.
Last year we had a 100 push-up/day challenge which many readers found illuminating and even inspiring.
Readers know we love calisthenics as a way of bringing together your gains from other exercises into physical activities that require some strength, plenty of endurance, athleticism, and a good share of cardio fitness.
Jumping is one darn good calisthenic. Done right, jump rope is close to zero impact. Jacks are slightly more impact, but minimal. All toes. Harmless to joints.
This morning I watched a bit of a fitness class which I was glad I didn't take today. The warm-up was 5 minutes jump rope - free-style. After a 10-second rest, 20 push-ups. 10-second rest, then 3 minutes of jacks. Sheesh. Then one more time around. All ages and all genders in there including a 75 year-old lawyer I sort-of know.
That was the warm-up. I've taken that class (it's outdoors mostly) plenty of times, but I've never seen the boss push the crowd so hard in a warm-up. About 1/3 of the folks needed little breaks to complete these things.
So here's the fitness challenge:
In one month, can you get to 5 minutes of jump rope or 3 minutes of jacks? Continuous.
If you are in good condition, this is not difficult but for most of us civilians it is highly challenging. I noticed a guy the other day who did 20 minutes of jump rope, mixing up all the variations to avoid boredom, seemingly effortlessly. Wonderful. My jump rope routines are only 1 minute each. I do variations. I want to up my duration and call it calis or cardio, whatever.
How to approach that goal if it is beyond you (and me)? Do the thing 10X/day for as long as you can. Remember, calis require no rest days. Gradually reduce the number of times/day while increasing the duration of each event. Stick with singles on the rope unless you can do variations. Singles are the least stressful. Same with jumping jacks: if you can mix in star jumps, go for it.
Want to see some impressive jumping? This guy is fit.
I admire and envy people like Nordlinger with the ear and talent just to be able to discern the sound of one conductor from another. Their experience of ambitious music must so be different from mine, much as I am a music-lover. To me, it is all wonderful.
I am with Janssen who loves Schubert. That's one guy who wrote music I feel I can get my head around. Also Mendelssohn I guess.
Trump's name is all over New York City. Other cities too. Always knew what he wanted to do, always made it happen whether it was buildings or cute models. The NYC tabloids took to referring to him as "The Donald" for good reason. Larger than life, glitzy big shot, tough guy too, and a bully. But capable of being big-hearted, warm, and charming. Tony Soprano with big hair.
To build big buildings and developments in NYC you need to learn how to be part Jewish (the money guys and lawyers in real estate) and part Sicilian mobster (the unions). Then you have to learn to bully and manipulate the devious and corrupt politicians. It's complex, and few can do it. And Trump was a WASP, which could have been a serious handicap.
Like mob guys, Trump talks tough and takes what he wants, but he has some sense of honor (the mob kind, the ruthless somewhat sociopathic kind which is also common in politicians). Loyalty and respect are all. Precision with truth not such a big deal, which does fit in well with politics.
Trump, I believe, holds career politicians and their mobster cousins in contempt. Elected to rock the boat and shake things up. I wanted that. Career pols are timid, follow the herd, and worry about their pensions.
In certain respects, today’s demands for the imposition of universal standards of speech and belief are a reversion to a pre-Westphalian view of the world. Like universalists of the old school—whether Christian, Muslim or Marxist—the new liberal universalists tend to reject the constitutional, religious and cultural diversity of independent nations. As they see it, the way of life they propose—the downplaying of national distinctions, the unrestricted movement of peoples and goods, the elevation of individual judgment over tradition in all areas of life—will provide what everyone needs. Not surprisingly, the correlate of this rejection of diversity among nations is often a disdain for diversity of viewpoints at home, in one’s own country.
For general conditioning/fitness, we recommend that 1/3 of your exercise time be spent on pure cardio conditioning. That entails two 20-30 minute sessions of HIIT and a one-hour "long slow" session (eg jogging). What formats? Best to mix them up: Rowing, running, swimming, elliptical. Reason to mix them up is because repetition increases efficiency so reduces effectiveness.
That's enough pure cardio for anybody who is not in training for races. Remember, with our plan, you also have about 2 hrs of calisthenics/week which are good cardiac stressors too.
To summarize the Maggie's Conditioning Program:
1. 2 hrs of power lifting and accessory weight training (for power, muscle, and bone strength) 2. 2 hrs of cardio conditioning (heart mainly) 3. 2 hrs of calisthenics (for athleticism, agility, flexibility, balance, endurance, "toning", and cardio too)
Robert Mueller’s original mandate was also narrow. He was appointed to find evidence of “any links and/or coordination” between the Russian government and individuals associated with the Trump campaign. Fifteen months and more than $16 million later, it is impossible to know when and how the probe will conclude. However, the conviction of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and the guilty plea of former Trump attorney Michael Cohen on grounds entirely unrelated to Russia mirror how Starr’s investigation also morphed into altogether new areas.
Via one of my daughters who is in love in New York City. Actually, both of my daughters are in love and in New York City. That's pretty cool. I'm afraid that one is headed for LA, though.
I've been in love in New York City too. Long ago. No money, no nothing. It was great. Great moment: sledding in a blizzard late night in Riverside Park on cardboard boxes. Many other fun things like that.
PETA Hopes To Build Memorial
This post is a bit repetitive, but worth repeating as people begin to plan their post-Labor Day life routines.