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.
Nothing scandalizes a leftist like the truth. Point out that women and men are different, that black Americans commit a disproportionate amount of violent crime, that most terrorist acts are committed by Muslims, and the Left leaps to its collective feet in openmouthed shock, like Margaret Dumont after a Groucho Marx wisecrack. This is racism! This is sexism! This is some sort of phobia! I’m shocked, shocked to find facts being spoken in polite company!
I get the idea of that, but don't most of us wish to be admired, valued, appreciated, loved, or at least wanted? Isolation and loneliness are the saddest things to see. Heart-breaking.
As an ex-nerdy science and sports gal who did not sit at the Cool Kids' Table, I am happy to be a relatively sought-after and popular figure in adulthood. People enjoy my company! Yay!
In the American Northeast, winter hiking is not very popular. Winter walking, and cross-country skiing are popular, but 6 hour hikes are not. It's not so much the cold as it is because snow and ice do not make good footing for slopes, especially steep ones.
Still, I had a friend who hiked/climbed Mt. Washington in January because it was the most macho thing to do that he could think of. Kudos to him, because I do not think I could do that. Wish I could. (He had also enjoyed clearing tunnels and caves of Viet Cong back in the day, so he is a different sort of person.)
Thanks to a reader for forwarding the link to this brilliant 1995 article from the Wisconsin Law Review by John Hasnas.
It's not just about "how to think like a lawyer." It's about how political law is, and about how much doublethink is required to understand American law. He makes the case that good laws must be squishy. He offers excellent examples too.
Specifically, I intend to establish three points: 1) there is no such thing as a government of law and not people, 2) the belief that there is serves to maintain public support for society's power structure, and 3) the establishment of a truly free society requires the abandonment of the myth of the rule of law...
In my view, physical fitness is mainly for full-life functionality, energy, and fun - not to prevent death. Delaying death is fine, of course, if the life before death arrives is full, productive, and physically, mentally, and spiritually engaging.
In civilized cultures, generally your odds are almost 50/50 heart disease or cancer unless you are one of those who just dies from decrepitude, feebleness, and general body rot. What's your preference? Mine is to go via a quick cardiac arrythmia or a stroke while doing something fun, and too far from any medical help that might force me to survive with a nasty disability which would damage my dignity and make me a burden on others.
Everybody in western cultures has some degree of arterial disease after age 40 or 50 whether it is diagnosable or not. It's part of ageing, especially in an affluent society with plenty of good antibiotics available to make sure you don't die of pneumonia.
If you care, this study suggests that stressful aerobic cardio exercise 5 days/week is beneficial for cardiac health. That means keeping your heart rate at around 65-70% of your max for an hour. That is neither easy not comfortable because it means to stay intensely aerobic, ie huffing and puffing and sweating - but at a rate to be able to keep it up. In fact, it's a bitch to do. That's why few do it.
More efficient to do anaerobic HIIT in my opinion. They didn't study that.
In a recent article for American Thinker, “Why I Quit Teaching,” I listed three reasons that prompted me to abandon the teaching profession: unscrupulous administrators, degenerate teachers, and incompetent students. Of these, the latter was the most determinant...
I am looking for some good pithy quotes related to the topic of how a world ruled by logic and pure reason would be a terrible nightmare of a world for humanity.
Photo is from a buddy who took a newbie skiing in CT on the weekend. Cold winter sports are great fun. Skiing is almost equal to sex, but it's (skiing) more of a hassle. Outdoor skating and pick-up hockey is a blast. Paddle is also, if you don't have a bum shoulder like I do. Our local paddle courts have been packed every night for the past week. Best thing about 5 degree (F) outdoor sports? Beers later. Winter is for outdoor fun.
It’s a zero-sum struggle for attention that rewards the most immoderate voices – and, without question, Donald Trump is a master of the game. His unbridled language mobilizes his anti-elite followers, even as his policies appeal to more conventional Republicans and conservatives.
Chefs and Servers Reveal the 15
In my view, physical fitness is mainly for full-life functionality, energy, and fun - not to prevent death. Delaying death is fine, of course, if the life before death arrives is full, productive, and physically, mentally, and spiritually engaging.