Friday, May 29. 2015
When I was young, the Eagle Scouts were the guys all the kids admired. The Boy Scouts Continue To Devolve Into A Garden Club
The Law says that there always are some of those. People in business analyze them carefully, as do war-planners - in advance. Even so, many or most things do not work out as planned. When it comes to politicians and policy-makers, often-enough things that appear, in retrospect, as Unintended, were covertly intended.
From Overreaction syndrome:
Today’s political process tends to steer people away from thinking carefully about the many trade-offs in deciding public policy issues. This leads to a cycle of overreaction in which policymaking focuses on minimizing error in one direction, leading to worse errors in the opposite direction.
Thursday, May 28. 2015
 The most refreshing salad, especially with grilled meat. Watermelon, Feta, and chopped mint. Lots of mint.
Recipe here. It doesn't need the olives.
Every House series in 30 seconds. "Did you try the medicine drug?"
From the article:
A psychiatrist colleague recently retired but he turned to coaching as a second career because it emphasized the relationship he had valued most in his work as a psychiatrist. As an example, he finds that coaching is particularly relevant for dieting and exercise needed to reduce obesity. A late-career psychologist switched more and more to coaching techniques. Those who have had mental health care training can add depth to coaching that others may not be able to obtain.
Why the King James Version of the Bible Remains the Best - The 400-year-old translation is denigrated because of its archaic language. That’s one of its greatest strengths.
As it happens, I am reading this excellent book now: God's Secretaries: The Making of the King James Bible.
Humblebragging doesn’t work. If you want to brag, just brag. Even better, just complain.
I plain brag because I am just not smart enough to humblebrag.
Wednesday, May 27. 2015
 I love regional Italian cuisine - all except the Neapolitan (except for their world-class desserts). We have dined on local fare in Italy from the Alps and the Veneto down to the southern tip of Sicily.
Sicilian fare is as different from Southern Italian as Southern Italian dialect is from Sicilian. Sicilian food was heavily influenced by the Greek invasion, the Moslem occupiers, then the French Norman occupiers, then by the real French, then the Spanish. Never was part of Italy until recent years and it still is not, really.
Raisins, pignolis, wild boar, sardines, risotto, couscous, eggplant of course, Pecorino, lemons, mint, and blood oranges, pomegranites... and octopus. Generally, lots of seafood and grilled meat. I love that Sicilian food but the real thing is hard to find outside that island.
You would be hard put to find this quality and variety of a Sicilian menu in a single restaurant in Sicily itself. Their Timballo looks amazing. Check out the menu just for fun. It's the real deal: Bar Eolo. 190 7th Ave.
An upcoming workshop scheduled to take place at the University of Wisconsin-Madison aims to teach campus radicals and socialists how to manipulate campus resources to advance their agenda.
What agenda? And do they call this education?
 I happen to love Borscht, but I never make it, Mrs. BD has never made it, and I've only seen it on the menu in the old Russian Tea Room. My Mom, Yankee WASP that she was, would make it to please my Dad. A refreshing cold soup.
Everybody knows how to make Harvard Beets. They are just sweet-and-sour beets, but on a bed of buttercrunch lettuce it's a salad.
Another one, to put on tasty lettuce: COLD BEET SALAD WITH GOAT CHEESE & SUNFLOWER SEEDS
And a final one today (as pictured): Roasted Beet Salad with Mint
Heading down to Georgia now for a few days on an island nature preserve to get away from civilization. Hiking, biking, swimming, birding, snake-watching, gator-dodging. I want to see a big Indigo Snake and a Pine Snake. Will see Diamondback rattlers for sure because they are always sunbathing on bike paths. No stores, no TV, no a/c, no cars, no roads, no amenities etc. which is why it is somewhat expensive - but they have some electricity. No tennis or golf, and no pool - just Atlantic Ocean and lots of it. They do have an on-site naturalist, which is good. With luck, some fine greasy Southern cooking. It's been a while since I have had good biscuits and gravy, and my soul needs some. Shrimp 'n Grits would be welcome too.
Mrs. BD just warned me that, rustic as this place is, jacket and tie for cocktail hour and dinner. Also, trousers. It's a small, historic place you get to on a little fishing boat, like Little Saint Simon Island. I appreciate the maintenance of standards, just as they do at Gwynnie's hunting lodges in the middle of nowhere. I think it never hurts to wear jacket and tie on the plane, so you don't have to pack them. Civilized, too.
Set a good example, ya know? Why dress like a teen if you aren't one? Adults must represent dignity and appropriateness - in attire if not in behavior.
Tuesday, May 26. 2015
University Administration Bloat: The Tail the Size of the Dog
When I went to boarding school, every administrator also taught (except the clerical staff). Even the head librarian taught (Russian). Every coach taught. The Headmaster taught. When I went to college, every dean taught. The college president taught.
Toon above via Theo
McInnes:
It’s not just good for the individual young person to live life to the fullest. It’s good for society overall. We need you out there buying clothes and going to shows and eating in our restaurants. Nothing stimulates the economy like a twenty something trying to get laid.
Your Brain on Sports - Neuromarketing and the race to unlock the science of fandom.
A Structural Analysis of Deli Sandwiches
Are Women and Corporate Cultures a Bad Fit?
O'Reilly tells the harsh truth about race in the US
Updated NASA Data: Global Warming Not Causing Any Polar Ice Retreat
If You Thought The Coast Guard Was Supposed To, Y’know, Guard The Coast… Think Again
Lyndon Johnson was adamant. The Great Society would cure poverty.
Couple convicted of child abuse during satanic childcare hysteria still not exonerated
Baltimore:
What no one wants to say, but everyone knows is that the cops are now in their cop houses filling out paperwork and doing as little as possible. They see no reason to risk prison for a city government that would rather arrest cops than criminals.
Let’s start with this fundamental observation: It is possible to reduce income inequality in one of two ways: lower the income at the top or
raise it at the bottom.
Milbank: Hillary Clinton’s hypocrisy
Top 5 Cover-ups Orchestrated by Clinton Consigliere Cheryl Mills
An Anatomy of Surrender - Motivated by fear and multiculturalism, too many Westerners are acquiescing to creeping sharia.
Some shocking trends pop up when nations' Muslim populations get high enough.
Why our prep-school diplomats fail against Putin and ISIS
Monday, May 25. 2015
The only good summer fun this state offers is the White Mountain (ie large hill) climbing/hiking. Or the lakes, of course, where they never should have allowed power boats but, freedom. Those mountains are all good hikes with no climbing gear needed except an intrepid spirit, sneakers, and pretty good health - and do not forget to bring your legs. You might need them. Nothing wrong with trail maps either, and some snacks.
NH has 48 4000-footers, and the outdoor people from Boston, New York, CT, etc. with lake or ski places up there tackle each one. That's the main summer outdoor activity up there. Insanely vigorous people try hiking those peaks in winter. I tried that once, in college. Trust me. It is not fun but it is a good test of manhood.
OK, there are some fun trout streams too. Rumor has it that there are some wild Brookies, but I doubt it. Not much else to do there for fun and recreation in warm weather. The winter skiiing is good, though, and in the fall the woodcock and grouse hunting up around Pittsburg, NH, is quite fine. A guide is a good idea for that.
Other than that, Live Free Or Die. Thus lots of meth labs and lowlifes in the woods. Not much cultcha if you go for high cultcha.
"Our obligations to our country never cease but with our lives." —John Adams
Farewell, Marine
 The Rumford Meteor has a new look
Art Garfunkel on Paul Simon: 'I created a monster'
Inside the bizarre life of an Upper East Side housewife
Amusing re life in the Big City
Here's an amazing young woman
Emote, protest, get naked for your professor, and get credit
It's called Edumacation, and it's expensive
Teacher says she shouldn’t be fired for having sex with student
Sex Ed
"Hero Judge Rules Abstinence-Only Sex Ed Is Illegal."
Prosecutor encourages Notre Dame students to report rapes, assaults to county, not school
"I have just read in Army Times that, to my delight, the Army is making soldiers wear the prettiest red high-heels in the pursuit of gender-equality."
Life imitates Monty Python
Paglia: " I saw how feminism was completely removed from this reality. I also learned something from the men at the garage..."
Why I love 'hate speech'
Land of 1000 Microaggressions
Judgement porn and the shaming spiral
A Liberal Calls Out Intolerant Leftists Who Smother Free Speech on Campus
What Liberals Still Don’t Understand About Fox News
Janet Yellen’s Back-to-the-’50s Interest Rates
WATCH: Mitch Daniels on How to Cut Government & Improve Services
The Libertarian Moment is Everywhere Around Us (Increasing Social Tolerance Edition) - Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and liberals want to keep the world tightly sorted into
two categories that describe fewer and fewer Americans.
Walter Williams: Ills Of Blacks Due To Government, Not Racism
Steyn Pushes ‘Socialist Lunatic’ Warren 2016 Run: ‘She Comes by Her Socialism Honestly’
Hillary Slept Through Security Briefing on Benghazi Attack
March against Monsanto: World rallies in protest - Campaigners are urging those who can’t attend one of the marches around the globe, to make their own protest by buying local organic food
Good grief. Morons. I grow "organic" GMO watermelons.
UN Envoy Gets A Dose Of Reality ‘Sickened’ By Rampant ISIS Sexual Violence…
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A Brief History of the Wristwatch - 
Scientists