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.
On ageing, from 1997. It is gloomy, sad, but Bob is still on his Endless Tour today. "Steel" has two syllables if you didn't know about Dylanesque lyrical phrasing. Without an operatic voice, you have to handle genius phrasing.
Songs like this make me hope that, when the end times come, some of our culture will be preserved somehow. Likely not.
Psychiatrist, author, and talking head extraordinaire Charles Krauthammer, M.D., dead at 68 of cancer. Selections from The wisdom of Charles Krauthammer.
An athlete who was paralyzed since medical school in a diving accident, Charles led one heck of a vital, productive, wonderful, full life. I always thought he'd be back... God bless him and his family.
From what I have heard, the "secrets" from his kids were no secrets in the world. The man had vast talents and either vast appetites or few inhibitions. Probably the latter.
For whatever reasons, there are people who refuse to move weights in the gym and who refuse the tedium of cardio exercise (which, in my view, should never be tedious with the right amount of sprinting intervals).
Everybody benefits from heavy weights, but moving weight is hard - not fun at all.
For those people who refuse weights I recommend 5-6 one-hour calisthenics classes weekly. These classes have all sorts of labels, and some are more challenging than others. However, for general fitness, they are good and highly stressful. The stress is necessary. While we prefer the Maggie's formula of 2 days weights, 2 days calis, and 2 days cardio, for those who will not do that, the cali classes are a good alternative. More variety, group enthusiasm, jolly people, stupid "music", all that. My group is a jolly but very focused and determined team. Everybody does his/her best and, for some of us, it's not impressive.
These classes are not for building strength. They are for building energy, building cardio, building endurance, building agility, and putting all of your muscles to work. Since they tend to be free with gym membership, lots of people do them daily, before work. The classes I do are 50/50 sex -wise, and 50/50 over/under 45 years old. Yes, there are pretty gals to look at but you can't because you are just trying to keep up. Are sweaty gals sexy? Totally.
You can tell the newbies from the veterans. 45-60 minutes is exhausting. I was once a newbie. The people who struggle through it for the first few months at 5-6 days/week and stick with it show remarkable fitness gains. Most newcomers do not stick with it because it seems like too much at first. It can be, at first.
It really might be all anybody needs if muscle- and bone-building are not your goals. I happen to love-hate my weights days and my cardio routines but I get a kick out of the challenge of classes and look forward to them. Cali classes do enough HIIT cardio for anybody's cardio needs, really.
Best part? When the hour is done. Everybody applauds the trainer and then you can collapse on the floor in your puddle of sweat.
The rural scenery and the suppers (Tuscany = minimal pasta) should be excellent. Daily distances do not seem challenging (8-9 miles/day) but I don't know how hilly or uneven the route is.
We all know that overeating causes more deaths than drugs do. If it’s in principle OK for the government to say you must not consume drugs because they’ll do you harm, why isn’t it all right to say you must not eat too much because you’ll do harm? Why isn’t it all right to say you must not try to go in for skydiving because you’re likely to die? Why isn’t it all right to say, “Oh, skiing, that’s no good, that’s a very dangerous sport, you’ll hurt yourself”? Where do you draw the line?
Strategy of the Left: Keep everybody else constantly on the defensive. And Trump is Hitler, of course. As Tucker says, nobody seems to care about the American kids whose parents are in jail.
Curating is the new pretentious term for picking and choosing things you like or want. I was recently at a restaurant which offered a "Curated selection of organic teas."
Well, highly-selective colleges now "curate" their admissions. Of course, they always have done so. 80 years ago they wanted to be preppy, WASPy clubs. Not now.
I very much doubt that Harvard, for example, is biased against Asians. Selective schools are not purely meritocratic, if grades and SATs are the only measures of merit. They are not, of course. They do want a mix of interesting and talented people who they think can contribute to, and thrive in, their environment, and who will be future successful ornaments to their alma mater They make a bet that you will be special. Plus necessary legacies and donors. And quarterbacks. And bassoonists.
In my view, as long as past performance and IQ (eg SAT) meet some standard, let them "curate" their Freshman classes at will. Elite schools could fill their classes many times over with kids with perfect grades and perfect SATs, but that would make no sense at all.
From our pal in Maine, a pic from Height of Land in the Rangeley Lake area on a Father's Day trip. A wonderful area, especially for hiking, hunting, and fishing. Not all of Maine is seacoast.
Has the Justice Dept and the FBI been a rogue system? Dem advisor Penn says they have been a state unto themselves. It is true that they hold frightening power, but when they go political, can't be fired, and refuse to respond to congress, what is that?
“We hear of the conversion of water into wine at the marriage in Cana, as of a miracle. But this conversion is, through the goodness of God, made every day before our eyes. Behold the rain which descends from heaven upon our vineyards, and which incorporates itself with the grapes to be changed into wine; a constant proof that God loves us, and loves to see us happy!”
Nobody wants to separate children from parents, but nobody should get to jump the immigration line just because they show up on the beach with a kid in tow.
Unless the laws are changed, I'd just ship every border-crosser back to Mexico with a little lunch money. Clearly the issue is deterrence. Suggestions?
The Pope 
For whatever reasons, there are people who refuse to move weights in the gym and who refuse the tedium of cardio exercise (which, in my view, should never be tedious with the right amount of sprinting intervals).
Curating is the new pretentious term for picking and choosing things you like or want. I was recently at a restaurant which offered a "Curated selection of organic teas." 
Where the 'No Ending a Sentence With a Preposition' 
It's a good quote and a true one, but Ben Franklin didn't say “Beer is proof God loves us and wants us to be happy.”