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Friday, March 17. 2017

Spring Cleaning: Junk is Junk

The stuff is too much with us. You only need one of everything you need and, sometimes, less than one. Except for money, less is more.

Every two years, we do a deep Spring Cleaning. Step one is getting rid of things. Step 2 is deep cleaning with cleaning helpers and fresh painting afterwards, as needed. Some years it takes a dumpster, some years our yard guys with a truck, and some years it's just throwing trash bags full of clothing into the back of the Suburban to go to Good Will, Salvation Army or, if really good stuff, Thrift Shop.

We do have a "storage room" in the cottage. Four antique and beautiful andirons. A "brown", once thought elegant, dining room table. Spare brown dining chairs. Extra bookshelves. Spare beds and bedframes, etc. Why? Waiting for what? Death and the Final Dumpster, the Dumpster of Doom? Or the Garage Sale of Death?

One of our projects this year is to convert a college kid's room into a lovely guest room. This means the kid's books into boxes to the attic, the kid's childhood desk and furniture to charity, a new Queen bed, and painting/redecorating.

Projects:

- Any book in the house never to be re-read by us or wanted by kids: Recycling or donated

- Any old surplus furniture not tagged by kids (esp old "brown" furniture): Dumpster if yard guys don't want it Can't give that stuff away.

- Carpets: We have enough antigue oriental carpets to furnish a palace. Mostly in a closet with mothballs. Some won't fit in there. Entirely out of fashion and unwanted but we love them and they once had value. We will not buy another house just to use carpets and paintings. Maybe consign them? Probably not worth the trouble.

- Closets of clothing: If not used in one year, it's gone. If ugly, gone. How many sweaters do you need? It is a liberating experience.

- Boxes of old photos and photo albums: Dumpster if nobody in the family wants them. Seems like a shame, but past is past.

- Knick-knacks, goo-gaws, and misc. decorative items and things kids made in grammar school out of clay - dumpster. It's not immortal art. Getting rid of stuff is painful, but the good, cleansing pain like having a wart removed.

- Excess kitchen and serving items: Unload on your kids, donate, or dumpster.

Posted by Dr. Joy Bliss in Psychology, and Dr. Bliss, The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation at 14:16 | Comments (8) | Trackbacks (0)

The Teflon Don

Amusing from Schlicter: The Teflon Don Grinds Down #TheResistance

Posted by The News Junkie in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 13:43 | Comments (2) | Trackbacks (0)

Prof. Jordan Peterson's book list

"Trigger warning: These are the most terrifying books I have encountered."

Posted by Bird Dog in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation at 12:50 | Comments (2) | Trackbacks (0)

Friday morning links

Here's What Happens to Your Brain When You Give Up Sugar for Lent

How About Freedom for Dinner? The regulatory state determines too much of what and how we eat.

Student op-ed: Yes, milk is racist

Want to Raise Successful Boys? Science Says Do This (but Their Schools Probably Won't)

Universities teach students and employees to yell ‘Ouch!’ when they are offended

Female Marines outraged that others watched their sex videos

How an ESPN Announcer's Career Was Destroyed by a False Accusation of Racism

U.S. airlines flee Castro's island hellhole

GLOBAL WARMING WILL SHRINK YOUR HORSE

Americans are quitting jobs at the fastest pace in 16 years

College: Like Day Care, Only Worse And More Expensive

People Are Not Paying Back Student Loans

New York Assemblyman Unveils Bill To Suppress Non-Government-Approved Free Speech

Google to Now Begin Flagging Content as "Upsetting-Offensive"

McArdle: Republicans Keep Repeating the Same Tax Mistake

Winners and losers in Trump's budget blueprint

Chelsea wrote another book

About loving "Hamilton"

Mexican Migrants Eye Canada as Trump Cracks Down on Immigration

" Even fake news needs content, which is where fake science comes in..."

Fake weather news?

Trump Says He Found Out He Was Being ‘Wiretapped’ After Reading New York Times Article

Was he suckered by fake news?

CBO’s Alternate Facts about Obamacare

The National Endowment for the Arts Is Bad for Art and Should Be Defunded

Trump Begins to Slash Government Leviathan

Good luck...

Trump's Brutally Honest Budget Puts GOP Lawmakers On The Spot

Disagreeing With Democrats Is Now Considered Un-American

Posted by Bird Dog in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 05:41 | Comments (24) | Trackback (1)

Thursday, March 16. 2017

Liberal pundit admits that the aim of liberal social policy since FDR has not been to lift people up but to buy their votes

Duh. It's Tammany Hall writ large. It's a shame in a place like America but, at one point or another, almost anybody can be a Gimme Voter. Dems have persuaded people, over the years, that there is nothing shameful or undignified about getting stuff for free.

Posted by The News Junkie in Politics at 17:29 | Comments (4) | Trackbacks (0)

Bureaucratic Failure: A Best Essay

This was from 2015: Bureaucratic Failure in the Federal Government:

Federal failure is a critical issue because the government controls so many aspects of our lives. Federal spending represents more than one-fifth of the nation's economic output, and federal regulations infiltrate many state, local, and private activities. When the government fails, it can create widespread harm. This essay examines structural features of the executive branch that are generating frequent failures in federal policies.

Posted by The News Junkie in Best Essays of the Year, Politics at 14:43 | Comments (2) | Trackbacks (0)

Birds at the HQ yesterday

Red Tailed Hawk
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Mourning Dove
Purple Grackle
Cowbird
Redwing Blackbird
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
WB Nuthatch
Chickadee
Robin
Blue Jay
House Finch
Cardinal
Fox Sparrow
SC Junco
Song Sparrow
Tufted Titmouse
WT Sparrow
Goldfinch

What are you seeing around your place?

Posted by Bird Dog in Natural History and Conservation at 12:32 | Comments (9) | Trackbacks (0)

Thursday morning links

What about square photos?

Children Prefer Reading Books on Paper, Not Screens

“ATTENTION PARENTS: Kids Under 12 Cannot Walk or Ride to School on Their Own”

Cooling to absolute zero mathematically outlawed after a century

Solar Road Update -- The Stupid Continues

Woodpile:

From time to time I'm called simple minded. I take it as a compliment and thank my accuser for noticing. Few things are as complicated as they're made out to be. Examples: before ObamaCare there was no ObamaCare. Duh. It made things worse. Repeal it and make things better instantly.

Nullify and denounce every federal, state and municipal gun control act, law and regulation ever passed, including the commerce clause stuff. The Constitution prohibits government from interfering, in any way, with our right to keep and bear arms. So stop doing it.

And illegal aliens. They have to go. It's the law. Don't like it? Change the law. Until then it's the will of the people, duly enacted. Either enforce it or stop saying 'representative democracy' and 'rule of law'. => Insert "it's not that simple" and pictures of baby seals here <=.

And why is it a routine winter snowstorm can cross the whole country unremarked until it reaches the east coast, then it becomes a blizzard emergency with a name and 'round-the-clock national breaking news?

When a Man’s Unemployed, His Wife Bears the Emotional Costs

Why stores are going out of business

How Common Core Damages Students’ College Readiness

Bias Response Teams Chill Free Speech and Miseducate Students

UChicago student leaders slam their president for his commitment to free speech

Why are climate-change models so flawed? Because climate science is so incomplete

Number of sanctuary cities nears 500

ANOTHER AMERICAN CITY DESTROYED BY THE DEMOCRATS - The tragic story of Minneapolis.

CBO: You Can't "Lose" Medicaid You Don't Have

Medicaid Is Free. So Why Does It Require a Mandate?

Obama Used British Agents For Trump Wire Tap Surveillance

No One Will Build Police Station in Islamic Colony of Rinkeby, Sweden

Conservative vs. Liberal Logic: A Comparison

AMERICAN THINKER: TOP TEN REASONS I AM NO LONGER A LEFTIST

TILLERSON REFUSES TO LEAVE ISRAEL-BASHING UN "HUMAN RIGHTS" COUNCIL. BUYS INTO "REFORM" OF THE UNREFORMABLE'

Trump to Sign Executive Order Removing "Climate Change" As Factor Government Agencies Regulate

Trump Launches Downsizing Effort

MIT profs call Trump 'significant step' toward 'fascism'

What the heck? Seems like the opposite to me.

Trump Orders Massive UN Budget Cuts

Posted by Bird Dog in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 04:50 | Comments (27) | Trackbacks (0)

Wednesday, March 15. 2017

Dating advice for guys

Posted by The News Junkie at 17:45 | Comments (17) | Trackbacks (0)

JLCO with Wynton Marsalis ft. Jon Batiste

Posted by Bird Dog at 16:03 | Comments (2) | Trackbacks (0)

Redneck food

Most would agree that a Pepsi (Or RC or Dr Pepper) and a Moon Pie is the ultimate redneck breakfast, but another classic is Grits with Coca-Cola Hot Dog Red-Eye Gravy. Red-eye gravy needs Coke and Coffee.

To go upscale, use Country Ham on the side and skip the hot dogs. Here's another classic: Hot Dog Gravy & Biscuits. Everybody loves biscuits and gravy, but spare me the hot dogs.

Posted by The News Junkie in Food and Drink at 14:17 | Comments (13) | Trackbacks (0)

Quackery goes mainstream

Medicine with a side of mysticism: Top hospitals promote unproven therapies

Medicine has a long history of unproven and dubious treatments, but it is discouraging to see it approached deliberately. A quote: “[Hospital executives] talk of patients as customers. Customers have demands. Your job is to sell them what they want.”"

No it's not. It's to give them your best opinion on what is best for them, with maybe some choices or maybe not.

Posted by Dr. Joy Bliss at 14:08 | Comments (15) | Trackbacks (0)

Wednesday morning links

WEATHER SERVICE DECIDED LAST MINUTE NOT TO CUT SNOW FORECAST

Snow and cold caused by ~~winter~~ global warming

The Stupidest Statue - The perverse response to Wall Street's 'Fearless Girl.'

The Left's push to redefine male and female may be more dangerous than you think

Professor Calls Curing Deafness In Children ‘CULTURAL GENOCIDE’

Michelle Obama's School Lunch Reign of Terror Is Nearly Over

Sowell: The Real Lessons of Middlebury College

Silencing of speakers far more common at colleges for the very privileged

Crashing "Post-Obama Era" Gun Sales Lead To Remington Mass Layoffs

Planned Parenthood Official Won’t Tell Tucker Feelings about Aborting Baby with Detectable Heartbeat

CNN’S CUOMO: Just Because Michael Brown Dealt Drugs Doesn’t Make Him A ‘DRUG DEALER’

INTIMIDATED FACULTY FIND A NEW WAY TO CAPITULATE

Ten ways to reject your white privilege

How US Crop Dumping Keeps Haiti Poor and Dependent

Using Insurance for Ordinary Health Care is Dumb

Freedom’s fallen entirely out of the health-care debate

Oops! MSNBC Reveals Trump Paid 25% Tax Rate – Socialist Bernie Sanders Paid 13% Tax Rate

Federal Job Training Fails Again

Trump Issues Executive Order to Review and Reorganize Federal Government, Eliminating "Unecessary" Agencies, Offices, and Programs

Preet Bharara proved Trump right

GERMAN OFFICIAL WANTS $53M FINES FOR SOCIAL MEDIA HATE POSTS

Iran sets up underground rocket factories in Lebanon

Russia Appears to Deploy Forces in Egypt, Eyes on Libya Role - Sources

Iran and Israel’s Struggle in Syria

Obama White House Blocked Needed U.S. Arms Sale to Taiwan - Trump set to sell more arms

As overseas ambitions expand, China plans 400 per cent increase to marine corps numbers, sources say

Posted by Bird Dog in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 03:59 | Comments (42) | Trackbacks (0)

Tuesday, March 14. 2017

Cigarettes And Whiskey And Wild Women

A great old tune from the fake cowboy

Posted by Bird Dog in Music at 16:25 | Comments (3) | Trackbacks (0)

HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL LITERACY TESTS

HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL LITERACY TESTS FOR TEACHERS ARE RACIST

All examinations discriminate among people. That's their purpose. The purpose of bar exams is to discriminate on knowledge and skills. Medical licensure examinations discriminate on knowledge and skills. And let's discuss commercial pilot's licenses.

When you look for something that tests discriminate on, you can find it. IQ, study habits, educational background, character traits, family background, race, age, height, etc. You can find whatever stats you look for, but all the tests are looking for is to see who can do the thing, and who can not do it. That is discrimination of the able from the unable. It's the individual that matters.

For Christ's sake, if you can't understand simple written English, how can you be paid teach it? You might almost imagine that teaching was just a government job.

Posted by The Barrister in Education at 15:55 | Comments (5) | Trackbacks (0)

Why doctors work long hours

The article in The Atlantic gets it wrong.

Young doctors are not "exploited". Young doctors do not complain about 80-hour work weeks, because it's a high privilege to work long and hard taking care of people in trouble.

Only the weak would complain. They need the clinical experience as fast as they can get it. Furthermore, they need to learn how to function under stress and without adequate sleep. Physical and mental endurance need to be learned. When a multi-car crash results in 10 victims in your ER at 3 am and you're on duty, there is no choice but to rise to the occasion. That takes practice, and it is why older doctors are wiser. They have put in the hours. They can find their second wind because they have done it many times.

Nobody in America wants a doctor who would say "I've worked my 8 hours" or "I'm too tired." Maybe they are thinking of socialized medicine or unionized medicine, because those authors seem to feel that working long and hard is something terrible instead of something wonderful. Some people are not aware than some surgical procedures can take over 10 hours to complete, and, just then, an emergency comes into the OR.

Posted by Dr. Joy Bliss in Medical at 13:28 | Comments (13) | Trackbacks (0)

Tuesday morning links

Snowy day, blizzard hype, nice dump. Essential services like Dunkin Donuts are open. My gym was open too so I got my morning cardio in.

Can combining commerce and conservation keep American bison in the wild?

Drinking Your Own Pee Is the Latest Health Craze

Penis size

6 Lessons on Raising Boys to Become Men

Is Google a Good Place to Get Medical Advice?

Growing potatoes on Mars could be key to colonizing the Red Planet

Creative ways to use a tenement fire escape

Just give teacher whatever BS she wants and you'll get the A

Students today know the game

Big Companies Offload Pension Plans

Camille Paglia on Transgenderism and the Late Stages of Culture

GLOBAL WARMING IN ONE EASY LESSON

Global warming: Fake news becomes no news

Science as a Supernatural authority

Good Riddance To Preet Bharara

ACLU LAUNCHES NATIONWIDE TRAINING ON PROTEST, RESISTANCE

Why?

The NYT is OK with political violence

Lawyers Push to Establish Personhood Rights for Monkeys

Harvard Releases Guide to “Fake News” Sites — List Includes Essentially Every Major Conservative Site

Senator Praises Obama Fuel Economy Standards for Forcing Automakers to Innovate

Why Corporate Leaders Became Progressive Activists

Unlike Obama, Trump is hanging out with congress

Anyone Look Up the Definition of ‘Tyranny’ Lately?

Cory Booker: Republicans Cannot Just Force GOP Healthcare Bill Down Our Throats

At the EPA, It's the End of an Era - Until he resigned, Mustafa Ali was the EPA’s most senior official on environmental and climate justice.

British Foreign Aid Scandal: “Hundreds of Millions” Wasted on Useless Renewable Projects

Turkey Says "Migrant Deal Has Ended", May Unleash Millions Of Refugees

The Dirty Little Secret of Palestinian Journalism - with Agence France-Presse Collusion

Posted by Bird Dog in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 05:00 | Comments (49) | Trackbacks (0)

Monday, March 13. 2017

Stock up on canned goods

Expecting a blizzard in the Northeast - a Nor'easter in fact. Good fun. I would not be surprised to lose power, and we still have not bothered with a generator. I'll pre-post some items in the pipeline just in case the breeze knocks out the power.

If our homemade server goes down, then that's just more proof of climate change. Speaking of global warming (which I am in favor of - warm is nice. I don't know why nobody talks about the advantages of a little warming) Meyer is excellently rational here: So Skeptical Science Is "Correcting" Me

So is this: Scott Pruitt Is Absolutely Right About Carbon Dioxide

Giving names to snow seems silly to me because snow is routine in winter, but this one is called Stella

Posted by Bird Dog at 16:34 | Comments (9) | Trackbacks (0)

People that vote, #1

Posted by The News Junkie in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 16:30 | Comments (10) | Trackbacks (0)

What tuition pays for

UCF spending millions on 'lazy river,' mini golf for athletes

Kindergarten?

Posted by The Barrister in Education at 13:56 | Comments (3) | Trackbacks (0)

Deeper Squats: Stress is good

Exercisers generally want their barbell squats (or even their air squats and goblet squats) to get the butt as close to the floor as possible (ass to the grass). That is, lower than parallel (the photo shows a great example - that little gal is stronger than I am or will ever be but, in a half-hearted defense, shorter people have an easier time with squats because the range of motion is shorter. Same goes for bench press with smaller people - shorter levers).

Everybody needs squats unless there is a medical problem.

I am working on lowering by using gradually-lower box squats and lightening the weights. It is always too easy for me to find my sticking point after a few reps and then I lighten the weight.

Why bother going below parallel? Because it's another tough challenge to take on, and because it stresses all of the muscles involved in squatting even further. Stresses willpower too and we all need to strengthen that. That article doesn't even cover all of the accessory muscles involved in balance and core stability. Total body stress including your heart which pounds like it is at the edge but what doesn't kill ya makes you stronger, I hope...and you could do worse than croak on the gym floor.

I am thinking that I ought to do lighter-weight deep squats once a week, and my usual almost-parallel squats once a week. I have weak quads even after 2 years of this, relatively-speaking. I know we have a few powerful squatters at Maggie's, though.

Keep those knees out!

Posted by Bird Dog in Physical Fitness at 13:43 | Comments (5) | Trackbacks (0)

Monday morning links

400 years of Don Quixote

Will Pope Francis Allow Married Men to Become Priests?.

Which Is Better: Wild-Caught or Farmed Fish?

Food fetishism is a First World issue

Ozymandias discovery?

Despite Trump uncertainty, pot industry forges ahead

Terminating Down's babies

Soon there will be none

NYT thinks SNL is news

Who’s Up For Another “Schoolkids Won’t Know What Snow Looks Like” Prognostication?

Not this week

G-20 Poised To Signal Retreat From Paris Climate Deal Pledge

Science without intersectional feminism is white supremacy

Got that?

Moonbat: Can You Make A King Kong Movie Without Perpetuating Racial Undertones?

New York to scrap literacy test for teachers. Guess why.

Sheesh

The tyranny of political correctness

You can lose your job if you state your opinion. Like the Soviet Union, people know when to speak freely and when to speak bullshit

Your DNA and medical info aren’t the business of your employer or the government

California Democrats’ Never-Ending War on the Poor

A MIDDLEBURY UPDATE

No assault charges yet?

Students Denounced As Racist For Wearing US Flag Colors

It’s OK To Be Racist So Long As You Think Someone Else Was First

Is Trump Making Americans Free to Speak Truth Again?

A warning to Democrats about fake news in the Trump era — from a Republican

Actually, Repealing Obamacare Wouldn't Kill Anyone

Sessions’s Firing of 46 Obama-Appointed U.S. Attorneys Isn’t Scandalous

It's only a scandal when Repubs do it. Bharara had to go. Now he will play the victim card for his career

MEMO TO JEFF SESSIONS: IT’S TIME TO CLEAN HOUSE

'Los Angeles Times' Puzzled at Lack of Trump Hatred

They crave more hate

Germany rebuffs Trump's call for a big jump in military spending

They want the US to do the heavy lifting for them. Trump wants a better deal.

Europe's Lesson Teaches Us: Don't Go Green

Posted by Bird Dog in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 06:48 | Comments (25) | Trackbacks (0)

Sunday, March 12. 2017

In Maine, put Mom on drums

Posted by Bird Dog at 15:29 | Comments (4) | Trackbacks (0)

The Tuckerman Cult - New Hampshire

Not really a cult, but it's on most skiiers' bucket list to ski Tuckerman's Ravline. No lifts - except your legs. It's a serious workout. The snow up there on Mt. Washington can be great deep powder in early April.

There is no such thing as reliably nice weather on Mt. Washington, but most New Englanders have vowed to climb it in summer if not winter. Hiking to the top of Mt. W in winter is an ultra-macho and dangerous adventure, but hiking up the ravine is do-able with skis on your back. Hike Mt. Washington Via the Tuckerman Ravine Trail

A friend skied it last week with his 7 year-old son. He ended up carrying the kid's backpack and his skis up. Just one torturous hike up and one wild and hairy run down. Pick your ski route down carefully. It's rugged, lots of rocks. Hiking up Mt. Washington in summer is a good outing, much easier but still a leg challenge.

Posted by Bird Dog in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation at 13:40 | Comments (8) | Trackbacks (0)

Memory athletes

" On Old Olympus’ Towering Top A Fin, A German, Viewed A Hop." That's how medical students memorize the cranial nerves.

Some lucky people just have velcro memories, photographic memory. A sticky brain is an admirable talent. On the other hand, ordinary brains can be trained for feats of memory: Hack your brain to remember almost anything

Posted by Dr. Joy Bliss in Psychology, and Dr. Bliss at 13:10 | Comments (4) | Trackbacks (0)

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