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.
Sailed on that fine ship several times as a youngster out of Pier 40 in Manhattan. Nobody has ever regretted taking at least one (non-military) trans-Atlantic ship crossing (well, excepting Titanic, Lusitania, Andrea Doria, etc.) Elegant ship, no stabilizers.
When you get out of a harbor, a tiny little boat comes out to take the harbor pilot back to port. Regardless of weather or seas. Trans-Atlantic all very cool, especially when you run into nasty weather.
The HAL's ad used to be "Getting there is half the fun." In my view, way more than half.
At a daughter's request, I am re-linking Ray Dalio's Principles. He seems like a unique, humble character who understands how much we all can learn from our mistakes.
At his firm, public self-criticism is key. Second to that is unvarnished, public mutual critique. It is not for the hypersensitive or faint of heart.
Now I've always been the kind of person that doesn't like to trespass but sometimes you just find yourself over the line Oh if there's an original thought out there I could use it right now You now I feel pretty good but that ain't saying much, I could feel a whole lot better If you were just here by my side to show me how. Well I'm standing in line in the rain to see a movie starring Gregory Peck Yeh but you know it's not the one I had in mind He's got a new one out now I don't even know what it's about But I'll see him in anything so I'll stand in line...
I feel sad to be reaching the end of this book, packed as it is with the history and culture of the rowdy Jacobean England which was the context for what is considered the finest work ever written in English. My ditto on that.
The translating committee members needed to know Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. Their instructions from King James were to produce a book majestic and poetic in tone but simple enough for an illiterate plowman to comprehend. James' goal was to have one bible for one people, and he even included Separatists on the committees. (The two Bibles in English at the time were neither majestic nor poetic. Those Separatists who became the American Pilgrims used the Geneva Bible which was a dry tome.) The King James has a few notorious mistranslations (eg camel and needle), but that's niggling.
4:26 He also said, "The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground,
4:27 and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how.
4:28 The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head.
4:29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come."
4:30 He also said, "With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it?
4:31 It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth;
4:32 yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade."
4:33 With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it;
4:34 he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.
Why would anybody waste precious life time and money to go this completely phony craphole? Real life is free and far more interesting. Heck, Disney movies are pretty darn good though.
Celebrate A Dream Come True Parade Magic Kingdom. They do this twice daily.Theater, I suppose, so fine. The recorded music (sounds like modern evangelical church music) comes out of loudspeakers like North Korea. How do they find enough stoner losers to work at this place? Well, it is Florida, and stoner losers with jobs is better than without them however retarded the jobs are. Our lefty friend Carl Hiassen captured the reality of it perfectly. He did not overlook the air-conditioning units inside those suits.
Sociopathy is common, ranging from violent to simply exploitative users (More). Don't be paranoid, but always make sure of people before welcoming them into your life. Superficial charm and pseudo-intimacy are clues. If they feel your pain, watch out.
Good grief. Has any single model prediction been realized? NYC and San Francisco real estate has never been more insane, so clearly nobody is frightened by water. Al Gore's new San Fran mansion is only a couple of feet above sea level but maybe it's an investment in future valuable ocean bottom. Nobody really believes any of this. Pure fear tactics for the low-information citizens who do not read.
Living in the Northeastern US, we pray for globalistical warmening but it never comes. Nice and warm today though, with a coolish breeze.
Via Pirate, a fearless human female (a climate model) daring to approach a beach:
ABC's ’08 Prediction: NYC Under Water from Climate Change By June 2015 -
See more at:
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/scott-whitlock/2015/06/12/flashback-abcs-08-prediction-nyc-under-water-climate-change-june#sthash.rnRtVJyK.dpuf
A friend of mine who absolutely loves Obama enjoys sharing little things with friends via Facebook and email. I've put a few below the fold, though I'm still searching for the one which claims that Obama lowered unemployment, increased the stock market to record highs, and lowered gas prices to recent lows. That one was a hoot.
They are factoids which support the concept that Obama is a good, gracious, and successful president despite claims to the otherwise.
By the same token, this same person (and many others like him) continually complain about the 'state of the economy' and how 'corporations are ruining the US' and how we're still plagued with high unemployment and poverty.
I suppose they can make the claims they make because they believe if Obama had the full support of the nation and Congress, these things would finally be 'taken care of' and we'd all live in Candyland.
But it doesn't square. These folk are deluded enough to say the things they say, and make no mistake - none of the facts used are untrue, they are merely out of context and misunderstood by the dopes who use them (to be fair, I've seen plenty of similar stuff by Republicans, and the information used just as poorly). Yet if things are just so dandy, what else does Obama need to really 'fix'? That's what I don't understand. These people are incapable of leaving well enough alone. Once you've got something working, you don't keep fiddling with it. That is, if you actually assume the economy is working. I don't. It's functioning. Sort've. You can't really shut down an economy, it just shifts its activities to more profitable and easier methods. So yes, the economy continues to function despite the damage Obama has done. Measurements are just data. They don't tell you about the health of the economy. These fools have misconstrued momentary data for meaningful analysis, and completely missed out on the fact that correlation is not causation.
The 
Photo from 
The miracle
You, Andrew Marvell
Kate Upton
