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.
I think Bob takes his painting seriously. If he did not, I do not think he would agree to exhibit it.He seems to be a skilled amateur whose name lends weight to his artistic efforts, same as it does with Churchill's (or George Bush's for that matter).
Seems like he paints more from photos or from his imagination that plein air, but how could he? Well, I guess he could at his place in Scotland.
Once academia lost the agreed-upon, universally held notion of what classical learning was and why it was important, a steady unraveling process removed not just the mission but the mystery—and indeed, the beauty—from the American university. How ironic that the struggling university, in its efforts to meet changing political, technological, and cultural tastes and fads, willingly forfeited the only commodity that made it irreplaceable and that it alone could do well. And how sad, since once the university broke apart the liberal arts, all the religious schools, self-help courses, and CDs couldn’t quite put them together again.
Outside the venerable halls of Columbia, the University of Chicago, and a couple of others, Hanson's ideal version of higher ed for the free citizen is not so easy to find. In fact, it never was easy to find, but was reserved for the elites or for the self-educated. Self-education is difficult, though. It's always best to have a guide who has the big picture in mind. That's why we all love CDs from The Teaching Company, now Great Courses.
Out of consideration for the delicate sensibilities of Maggie's readers, I have refrained from including a photo of advanced Toenail Fungus
These unpleasant, common, but generally not-dangerous fungal infections (except, for example, in diabetics or the immunosuppressed) are caused by several species of fungi which thrive in the moist, confined area of shoes. Those fungi are basically everywhere. You do not need to be a barefoot gym rat to pick them up, but most people probably pick them up around pools, gyms, locker rooms, and the like. If you never go anywhere, you probably won't pick these things up.
Put plainly, these are examples of your body trying to rot while still alive - but that applies to any bacterial infection too. Both are associated with the same several fungi, often with Athlete's Foot progressing to Toenail Fungus (aka Onchymycosis).
Athlete's Foot can be just a little itching, but it can get nasty sometimes. It is manageable or even curable with anti-fungal creams used diligently.
The Toenail Fungus infection is more of a problem, because topical treatments have trouble penetrating the nails to attack the infection in them and beneath them. They are not just cosmetically problematic but can be painful because of the distortion of the nails. Toenail infections are the bread and butter of Podiatric practices, partly because of their chronicity. People sometimes think they just have one or two toenails affected, but usually all of the nails have some of it.
Some people just decide to live with it and let a Podiatrist attack it when wanted, but what you want to do for treatment is to treat any Athlete's Foot and then decide to go for a topical nail treatment (sometimes effective, like Jublia Topical), Toenail removal (ouch but most effective) with oral treatment with Jublia, oral Jublia alone, or Laser treatment (of uncertain effectiveness, unfortunately). Jublia is very expensive.
I have always been interested in how psychological disorders/aberrations spread, too. Mass hysterias, fad diseases, and the like. In the 1990s it seemed as if half the hysteric women in New England believed they had chronic Lyme disease and there was no way to dissuade them. Before that, it was Chronic Fatigue. Both are now old hat and no longer in vogue.
I have been reading about the sudden upsurge of trans children. What is that about? It seems rather unusual, and disturbing.
Right now is the peak of shorebird and songbird migration down south where I am camping and tramping on a remote island for a few days, so there will be a brief break from my morning buffet of links. If all goes according to plan, our breakfasts will be biscuits and gravy, and shrimp 'n grits. Fried oysters and grilled oysters for supper, maybe with fried chicken. In the South, I break my No Breakfast rule because I can't resist that stuff.
To us Yankees, the South is a magnificent, exotic wonderland.
I'll try not to tangle with a rattler. Those sobs are everywhere so you have to watch your step on or off the trails on Little Saint Simons but there are other more interesting snakes to look at too. The clouds of mosquitoes are just something up with to put.
I am not referring to Battle Ropes, although I do like those as part of a calisthenics circuit. I am talking about heavy jump ropes.
Readers know I have become a fan of jump rope for calisthenics/cardio exercise. Unlike some of my fellow exercisers, I can not do a solid series of double-unders yet but I can do Running Man at length. During a set, I try to alternate Running Man with ordinary singles. I generally use an RX Smart Gear "Buff" 3.4 oz. rope, which is not a light speed rope.
I decided to try a 1 lb. rope last week for a few 45-second sets, aiming for 60 seconds. That is not weighted handles: it's the rope itself that weighs a pound. If you can jump rope at all, you can use this monster and it kicks your ass once you get it moving.
I did not expect it to take as much out of my entire body as it does. A man-killer. It was the first time in two years that I actually found myself sitting on a bench after a set of anything. That is shameful but, dammit, I just found myself sitting.
Give it a try sometime, for the fun of it. Like a set of burpees with jumps, you know that if you survive it you probably will not die of a heart attack, that day anyway.
"Seventy percent of success in life is showing up."
Woody Allen. Life has confirmed the truth of that observation to me countless times. As they say in the program, "Never mind how you feel. Suit up and show up."
We posted about the new Steiner interview book last week, and invited a fellow Steiner fan to write a review of it: “A Long Saturday,” George Steiner and Laure Adler. 2017 U of C. Press., Reviewed by Nathan Szajnberg, MD -
Over “A Long Saturday,” George Steiner faces down Death. He does so not alone, but with a beautiful, smart French journalist who Chunnels from Paris to England. He does so like a Tai Chi master, using Death’s strength and weight against this, his dark Angel. And, Death will not be proud.
There is no settled science on dietary fat and cardiovascular disease except in the case of the familial hyperlipidemias.However, in those cases, the hyperlipidemia is generated by the liver far more than by diet. The liver is the main controller of blood lipids.
A high-fat meal, or any meal, produces a temporary surge of blood lipids just as a high-sugar or high-carb meal produces a surge in blood sugar. That is normal.
While it is established that arterial disease is related to inflammation in arterial walls, the cause of that is elusive. The known risk factors for arterial disease seem to be smoking, overweight, diabetes, familial hyperlipidemia, and sedentary life style. Almost forgot the biggest one: age. Avoid ageing at all costs because it has a 100% mortality rate.
We are far from settled science with cardiovascular diseases. In recent years, we were advised to eat margarine not butter. Now advised to eat butter and avoid margarine. Now advised to eat olive oil. It's all a shot in the dark and it could be that diet has little or nothing at all do do with it.
To be human, interacting with other humans, is to enter a world in which as Object being perceived, we emit an infinite series of unconscious cues (how we walk, how we talk, how we look, our tone of voice, our gaze, our height, our weight, what we say, what we do, how we say & do these things, etc.). These cues are then received by the Other who, in turn, as Subject, subconsciously filters & interprets them according to an infinite set of paradigmatic beliefs, stereotypes, experiences, and insights.
They say we form first impressions within approximately seven seconds.
It's not so much fashion as it is that it has finally become acceptable for straight civilian guys. Minimal-to-no head hair means no shampooing, no combing, no hat-hair issues, no bed-head issues, no bald spot issues, no "What haircut?" or "Where is my part?" issues.
Men aren't women, so why should they have to bother with good hair? Women in my world need to look well-groomed and well-cared for, with well-cut and styled hair (and good nails) but men just have to look clean and neat. The only downsides for guys are sunburn potential and looking stupid, but that's a good trade for the hassle. On a dare, this weekend I am going to get it all cut off for summer.
Ladies, if you have unstyled hair or long hair over 35 most women look homeless, deranged, like a WalMart shopper, or like a refugee from Maine. Guys, if you have long hair over 35 you look dangerously homeless or mentally-disturbed unless you look Hollywood-glamorous-cool that way or are an eccentric billionaire.
Discuss -
(Note to commenter: Melania Trump is not "most women")
So who were we if not the boomers? How would you name us? You could call us the Generation of 1968, because that was when we made our most enduring mark, when the “whole world was watching” as the chant went from the Chicago Democratic National Convention of that year. It seemingly never stopped. But a better title for us would be the Least Great Generation, because that’s what we were. Maybe the Ungrateful Generation. We may have contributed significant amounts to the lifestyle—music, films, fashion, food—but as the years rolled on and centuries turned, it became ever clearer that we were callow, even selfish, inside. All our neo-Marxist declarations, recycled through hippiedom or not, were meaningless. We were just Eliot’s “Hollow Men” in hipster attire. Worse than that, we had—consciously or unconsciously or both—worked to unwind everything our parents had built. And it had its result, although not all of us desired it—or were later surprised by what we had wrought. These days the robust American exceptionalism that defeated the Germans and the Japanese and then rebuilt those despotic societies as still-functioning democracies in a virtually unprecedented manner is a distant, almost forgotten, memory.
He goes on to discuss Moral Narcissism, which is a good topic. However, describing a generation or much less a Zeitgeist based on the kids who made it into Newsweek Magazine is highly misleading. It would be as erroneous as describing today as the Black Lives Matter, or the Antifa, generation.
The problem with government medicine is that medical care becomes a government job. How much time must modern physicians spend filling out forms? The administrative mantra today is "If it isn't documented, it didn't happen."
If my political history serves me, people in mental health found serious diagnoses for Nixon, Reagan, and Bush 2, but none for Johnson, Clinton, Obama, or Hillary. Is there a pattern here?
Instead of name-calling, I'd like to see some thoughtful policy critiques but I won't hold my breath. Trump Derangement Syndrome (DSM 5006.09) strikes again. We must be kind to the sufferers.
If you feel like putting a non-lethal curse on somebody, curse them with a case of Plantar Fasciitis. It's like an epidemic these days.
It's a common affliction of the middle-aged (like Frozen Shoulder), and usually there is never an identifiable cause although weight gain seems to be one. It can be in one foot or both. Sometimes it can be easily fixed with ice and stretching but it can be a chronic problem which eventually will disappear as mysteriously and suddenly as it appeared.
The most common symptom is feeling like somebody put thumbtacks in the heel of your shoe. The problem is not your shoe (although arch supports sometimes help it). The problem is inflamed tendons.
Besides the pain of simple walking around, Plantar pain can lead to other joint or lower back problems because of altering one's gait to minimize the foot pain.
I think Bob
I am not referring to 
Why Teaching Proper Manners to Kids