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.
... most of the elite media—overwhelmingly left liberal—have largely neglected to cover the left's crusade against free speech. Operating out of newsrooms, as Powers observes, in which "there is nobody to push back on their biases," reporters seem unable to detect anything amiss on campuses, in the media, and in the political arena where, after all, the draconian regulation of speech is intended to serve avowedly left-wing causes.
...
From feminism to the media to the professoriate to the West Wing, the illiberal left has been empowered to curtail freedom of speech by the transformation of liberal education—whose classic purpose was to emancipate the mind and promote toleration—into a means for reproducing progressive dogma and inculcating intolerance of alternative points of view. Because Kirsten Powers is right—our colleges and universities have become ground zero in the fight for freedom of speech—the restoration of free speech depends on the restoration of liberal education.
These little guys are found across the US and southern Canada, mostly in deciduous woodlands.We have a pair nesting somewhere nearby, but you never see their nests, which are high and in small holes.
They pretty much always walk headfirst down a tree.
“[A]t present there is absolutely no solid evidence that strength training—or any other exercise or dietary program—will substantially prolong our life spans. But the preponderance of the scientific evidence, flawed as it is, strongly indicates that we can change the trajectory of decline. We can recover functional years that would otherwise have been lost.”
Exactly right. Fitness for life and postponing decline. That's my goal. A generation or two ago, most American middle-aged people were overweight, weak slugs unless they did manual labor. The cultural change has been dramatic: people avoid heavy-lifting jobs, then pay for the privilege of lifting, pushing, and pulling weights for an hour.
Surber's American stories are inspirational and great fun. Sometimes I wonder whether, in retrospect, that war against Parliament really needed to be fought. Feel same way about the US Civil War/War Between the States. Maybe I am an outlier, though.
Paraprosdokians (Winston Churchill loved them) are figures of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected; frequently humorous.
1. Where there's a will, I want to be in it.
2. The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But it's still on my list.
We posted about Armenia this week. Armenia is a mountainous nation. It is said that Noah's ark grounded on a mountaintop there. The Caucasus mountains.
It's the area whence Caucasian carpets. Of all of the varieties of "oriental carpets" (ie Middle Eastern,) it's the Caucasians which most intrigue us at the BD homestead. The antiques, hand-loomed with vegetable dyes are the only ones really worth having, and they come so costly that people often hang them on walls. Folk art.
They were only made in small sizes, always smaller than 5'X8'. As with any type of valuable antique "oriental" carpet, you can only find them in the US and Europe. Not in the Middle East. Today, like 100 years ago, they were made in the villages for export.
Photo is a cool antique Kazak carpet in perfect shape. Would you want to step on that with your work boots?I'd guess you could own that small one for between $6-10,000.We can't afford this stuff but it's fun to look at.
I have a few more modern imitationsfor high-traffic places and you can tell the difference instantly.
Mother's Day breakfast. Make a good mess in the kitchen! Don't wake up Dad either.
Even if you are not Jewish, Challah bread makes the best French toast with bacon: Challah French toast with perfect bacon. A couple of stiff Screwdrivers too would probably be appreciated.
Who knows, she might even decide she likes you brats. Real Maple syrup with it, on the side.
He made two errors: I like to hear what my wife has to say about things because she is darn smart (if emotional) - and he omitted one mokita: Lesbian domestic violence reaches crisis levels. Other than that, he goes easy on the Jihadists but he hits most of the non-PC points.
Record 93,194,000 Americans Not In Labor Force... Record 56,167,000 Women Not Working... APRIL UNEMPLOYMENT: 5.4%... +223,000... Most gains go to immigrants... 100% of job gains among women...
Read it, and Chomsky’s technique becomes obvious, a three-step bit of linguistic legerdemain that begins by emptying words of their meaning, continues by assigning them some random and temporarily advantageous value, and ends with accusing anyone who questions the new meaning as a depraved monster oblivious to the misfortunes of others.
It may be a phony Capitalist commercial day invented by Hallmark to sell their stupid cards, but we Americans are generally forced to observe it now. That's ok, but every day should be Mother's Day (and Father's Day too). It's #6 in God's Ten Suggestions.
We'll have 3 mothers here for lunch, along with misc. other family. I'm cooking of course, but maybe a daughter or two will lend a hand. Darn well had better do, with 10 or so of us here.
My simple rustic American menu:
Grill: A few fat one-and-a-half-inch thick Costco ribeyes - or maybe butterflied lamb
Creamed spinach and/or grilled vegetables with olive oil. (I usually grill onions, sweet peppers, yellow and green squash, mushrooms, maybe some asparagus or eggplant, and toss in a bowl with oil, basil, parsley, and salt and pepper.)
Mashed taters
Sliced tomatoes/vinaigrette
Beer/wine/lemon Perrier/Lemonade
A Trifle for dessert, with Bird's Pudding (but no sherry, rum, or Riesling to flavor the Pound Cake - makes it better but we have some careful teetotalers and kids). Somehow, I have two large English glass trifle bowls. (For a very large crowd, a punch bowl works well but it takes a lot of stuff to fill a punch bowl and it doesn't really fit in the fridge, so for over 15 people best to use individual stemmed glasses)
Strawberry, Blueberry, Kiwi, Raspberry, Banana is my plan. A good few hours in the fridge is good for a trifle.
In half a century, astonishingly, we’ve come full circle and achieved the exact inverse of what the Free Speech Movement claimed it intended. What began as lawless civil disobedience now exploits campus regulations to rescind from others the same rights these erstwhile campus radicals once demanded for themselves. In other words: the oppressed have become the oppressors. Talk about Freudian reaction formation!
A major omission, however, is the topic of lawsuits. No physician wants to be asked on the stand something like this: "Doctor, you have testified that in your opinion Mrs. Jones had the symptoms of ordinary migraine headache and did not need an MRI. We have an expert witness who says he always orders an MRI for headaches...."
This topic gives me a headache. The fact is that rigid "best practices" combined with lawsuit avoidance diminish physicians' use of their judgement, flexibility, experience, and more.
A weighty matter:
These little guys are found across the US and southern Canada, mostly in deciduous woodlands.We have a pair nesting somewhere nearby, but you never see their nests, which are high and in small holes.
Chevy - not Ford - has finally made the truck I have wanted for over 10 years but now hardly need anymore. I'll consider it anyway.
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It may be a phony Capitalist commercial day invented by Hallmark to sell their stupid cards, but we Americans are generally forced to observe it now. That's ok, but every day should be Mother's Day (and Father's Day too). It's #6 in God's Ten Suggestions.
Should You Travel to Cuba?