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.
A birthday this week, and I am one year stronger, one year more agile, one year more energetic, one year looking fitter.
Calis are for your athleticism. The below may not sound grueling, but it is more exhausting than weight-training days if you minimize rest time. I do two hours of calis weekly, 1 calis class and 1 on my own. This was the mix I've been doing on my own recently:
Elliptical warm-up, 3 mins Band walks leg warm-up (sideways, forward, backwards, monster walk)
Each circuit below 2-3 times, overall takes me about 1 hr with 1-min breaks between rounds -
Circuit 1:
Dead ball floor slams High step-up and press heavy ball 2 min jump rope singles
Circuit 2:
Kettlebell swings Burpees 2 min jump rope running man
Circuit 3:
Kettle bell lunges Squat and overhand and underhand dumbell curls 2 min jump rope, single footed
Circuit 4:
Farmer's Walk - heavy kettles Push ups Pull-ups
And finish up with a round of heavy ball wall slams
There’s no doubt that individuals acting privately – in families, in friendships, in free markets – often say and do childish, stupid, and sometimes even destructive things. But there’s also no doubt that the forum that brings out, magnifies, and amplifies – and, unlike in private settings, actively encourages – human childishness, stupidity, and destructiveness is politics. Compared to any randomly chosen government official, the typical consumer, worker, business executive, entrepreneur, and investor is more logical than Mr. Spock, more sober than a devout Morman, more intelligent than Einstein, more wise than King Solomon, more creative than Edison, and more resolute than Helen Keller.
Government power, a vast, organized, and living body, naturally tends to grow. It feels cramped within its supervisory mission. Now, its growth is hardly possible without a succession of encroachments upon the field of individual rights. The expansion of government power means usurping some form of private activity, transgressing the boundary that I set earlier between what is and what is not its essential function.
The Nastiest Feud in Science - A Princeton geologist has endured decades of ridicule for arguing that the fifth extinction was caused not by an asteroid but by a series of colossal volcanic eruptions. But she’s reopened that debate.
While meandering around the alleys near downtown Wellfleet last week, we stumbled on this white elephant. Naturally, I was mainly attracted to its barn. The place is for sale. A 10-minute walk to the village.
It's safe to say the place could probably use some work. Roof looks great but I wonder about the age of the wiring, but from the photos it looks pretty up to date inside.
12 bedrooms, said to have been built in 1800 but I doubt that. The cool thing is that it was the home of Wellfleet's most famous son, Captain Lorenzo Dow Baker. Sea captain and entrepreneur, he's the guy who introduced the banana to the US and Europe and founded the company which became the United Fruit Company, now Chiquita Brands. Cool guy, cool life.
The mile, as the word implies, was 1000 paces of a Roman soldier (mille passus), but the concept evolved and changed and now there are all sorts of miles despite the kilometer taking over in most places. The American mile is about 1700 yards, but the origin of the yard is obscure.
A husband's job is to make reasonable money, to be as physically and intellectually capable as reasonable, to be humorous and entertaining or at least of good cheer, to keep kids on a straight path, to be a role model as a good upright Godly citizen, and to maintain himself as a desirable and useful sex toy for his wife. Anything more than that is gravy.
More important: Body surfing in the ocean with the seals and Mrs. BD. What could be better?
Mrs. BD was always a water rat - lifeguard, swimmer, Sunfish sailer, very cool water skiier - but I think teaching her to body surf in the icy Wellfleet ocean is what sealed the marital deal. OK, now she likes to use a half- wetsuit which I disdain, but whatever. Thrills and chills.
Body surfing is for low tide when the big rollers come. This pic is some of my family at high tide, basking. We all go out there in August. It's a family thing. Physical recreation dawn to dusk: run,kayak, body surf, races in the ponds, maybe go fishing or clamming. Some relatives like to read on the beach but I have no patience for that.
Midday, I don't mind a half hour in the art galleries and then a couple of beers at The Lighthouse with the lobstermen and the ageing prepsters.
People with serious, large compost piles often throw in a pile of Red Worms, but I like Nightcrawlers for my vegetable garden and flower borders. Of course, they spread into turf and shrub areas too if the soil is nice. If your turf is lousy, with clay and no food (ie no lawn clippings or shredded leaves), they will not go there to do your aeration for you.
You can buy them here, and other places. They will work hard for you, and reproduce quickly. Release them at night, preferable on recently weeded or tilled soil.
Best consumed on a Bermuda beach or the veranda of the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club after sailing down from Newport.
Bermuda is a delightful place, and a quick trip from the East Coast. My Dad was kind enough to pay for our honeymoon there, and we have been back many times since then to refresh our honeymoon whenever needed. My parents had their honeymoon there too.
We have each done our time in the Caribbean. We don't really care for it much. Decadent, uncivilized. How many hours do you want to sit on a beach like an idiot? Well, renting a bareboat for a week might be ok, visiting de islands, mon.
Specifically, female sexual arousal. Can Maggie's readers handle a brief post on this topic?
Women have a much wider range of variation in sexual responsiveness than men. Men are, just, you know, always ready for some fun. Thousands of articles have been written about female sexuality, but, simply, people are different. I have spoken to women who feel hot and who lubricate when husband or boyfriend just say "Let's get together tonight." On the other end of the spectrum, women who take forever to get warmed up in bed whether with a hot new lover or with somebody they love and are used to.
I'll leave out the relationship (or no relationship) aspect because, although that is a factor (see Marital Sex), women vary a great deal in their erotic responsiveness. Some combination of physiological and psychological.
Years ago I spoke with a 40 year-old with three kids who had felt alienated from her husband for a few years, "but the sex is still great." This lady would have her first orgasm within 20 seconds of penetration, and go on to have 6 more in a 30-60 minute sex session. She told me she had been like that with pre-marriage boyfriends too. Told me she got noisy too, which could be awkward. I think I told her she had been blessed. As I recall, she said she was capable of having an orgasm just fantasizing about a guy she saw on the street - no hands.
There's a lot of space between her and women with "arousal disorders" (a real term, but I use it sarcastically). Probably a Bell Curve in female animal nature. Men, obviously, get a kick out of women who get tingles when they see them and are multi-orgasmic. Makes the guy feel good and inclined to come back for more.
4:25 So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another.
4:26 Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,
4:27 and do not make room for the devil.
4:28 Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labor and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy.
4:29 Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear.
4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption.
4:31 Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice,
4:32 and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.
5:1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children,
5:2 and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
It's not the Manhattan I know, but it's a hilarious slice of a Manhattan neighborhood/subculture which is largely Jewish, but culturally, not seriously. I had to look up what "Birthright" was.
I like the way he walks around with his posse. "We've got more JAPS than all of Tokyo!"
Murray Hill is kind of middle class and nondescript.
Shark attack victim 
So-called 
The real cocktail of Bermuda: