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.
" America is the only country ever founded on an idea. The only country that is not founded on race or even common history. It’s founded on an idea and the idea is liberty. That is probably the rarest phenomena in the political history of the world; this has never happened before. And not only has it happened, but it’s worked. We are the most flourishing, the most powerful, most influential country on Earth with this system, invented by the greatest political geniuses probably in human history."
I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out . . . For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
That's what I call these cool (low 60s), windy, and drizzly days in New England. They lift the soul. This is a pic of one of Wellfleet's ocean beaches - part of The Great Beach.
Thoreau hiked the glorious length of the Great Beach (Chatham to Provincetown), and wrote about it in Cape Cod. It's a Bird Dog family place, a place to love. No gardening needed- nature does it perfectly.
Yes, suicide does correlate precisely with US spending on science. Fun topic, fun book. But you can get the gist of it just by looking at the site: Spurious Correlations.
The word "myth" seems to have two meanings in English: first, ancient and enduring tales containing deep meanings about human nature and existence itself, and, second, common but mistaken out-dated beliefs. For examples, "myths about nutrition" vs "so-and-so is mythic in depth, scale and scope." Moby Dick is mythic.
Freud's one-time colleague in depth psychology had many interests but among them was a study of myths and the representations of archetypes embedded in them. In a way, Jung viewed myths as related to humanity as dreams are related to an individual. I suppose that seems obvious now.
For better or worse, Europe is no longer a world player. In visible decline, becoming a (nice, except for the immigrants) museum. Heck, we love southern France, the Cotswolds, and most of Italy.
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.
‘Climate Change’ Made Lobsters Awesome, 
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).