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 see no reason for Americans to give a darn about Ukrainian politics. Putin may be a lowlife, but he is simply pursuing his national interests as he sees them, and that is fine with me. Trade wars are juvenile. It seems as if at least half of Ukrainians want to be affiliated with Russia. Who cares?
9-1-1 Dispatcher’s Insane Instructions To Woman Whose House Was Being Robbed: “Put Down The Gun”
What they’re teaching
in California is not history, but rather homosexual folklore, replete
with cartoonish villains, blameless victims, and courageous heroes
Why do we find more moral gratification in having good intentions than in producing good outcomes? Why do we accept mere symbols of being good—the Facebook photo with the orphan, the public diplomatic démarche, the battleship steaming toward the Oppressor—as evidence of good outcomes, or even as good outcomes in themselves?
It's called "moral narcissism" but some would term it "moral imperialism" or "cultural imperialism." Kipling had the last word on that topic.
Scotland has passed and is beginning to implement a law which assigns every child in Scotland from birth to age eighteen a “named person,” selected by the government, whose job it is to “promote, support, or safeguard the wellbeing” of the child. Parents will not have a choice about whether or not to accept the assignment of an outside government busybody to their children. Some proponents of the law claim that “Families are not required to accept advice” from the named person.
Pardon me if I consider that to be patently disingenuous...
When I read this, I wish he were back in the government. A quote:
If you look at the entire radar screen of things developing both domestically and internationally, we are plunging deep into a perfect storm of policy failure. The American Imperium is collapsing. There is blowback everywhere. The wreckage of prior policy mistakes from our interventionist foreign policy is coming home to roost. The Ukraine is one area at ground zero for that.
But second, monetary central planning is now reaching a dead-end. It is inflating the third financial bubble of the century and the Fed is now clueless as to how it will manage to unwind the massive balance sheet expansion it has been undertaking.
And third, the fiscal doomsday machine continues to crank on. Washington is ignoring the fact that we are six years into a business cycle expansion and we are still running massive deficits and there is no cushion for the next upset that comes to the economy.
Handling money is almost, or more, complicated than handling love and sex. People want both so much that it often scrambles their brains and incites irrational or self-destructive behavior (see our morning links today).
Money is difficult to obtain, all too easy to get rid of. Romance and sex are easy to obtain, difficult to get rid of. Having some money put aside means security and power over a crazy world, and love and sex mean, well, whatever they mean to you.
I once lived beyond my means, and made all sorts of rationalizations for it (eg turning wants into needs, like shoes, luxurious impulses, and "therapeutic shopping"). I learned from that, and some discipline from a financial spouse helped. I was smart about love, but dumb about money even though, before I married, I worked for every penny.
Assigned to bring a large platter of cold red meat to an outdoor supper party last weekend.
Decided to bring a platter of almost-carpaccio - thick Costco New York Strip grilled very rare - just a few minutes per side to sear it, cooled off, then sliced thin with my amazing meat knife. Although we love carpaccio, not everybody does so I sometimes fake it by sizzling the surface for about 3 minutes per side.
Decorate at time of serving with salt and pepper, some shaved Parmesan, and a splash of truffle oil and serve the platter on a bed of arugula or dandelion. Nice treat.
Photo shows one way it can be done. Yes, lemon can be ok with rare meat. Italians do like that. I'd say either truffle oil or lemon - not both.
I don’t remember what the “Occupy” movement was about. I remember being really mad about stuff, and others being mad at the same thing, I just can’t remember what it was. I went to a few rallies, yelled at things with a megaphone, became a Marxist for a few weeks, and I threw a brick through the windshield of a PT Cruiser, but for the life of me I can’t remember why. It just made so much sense at the time. Something about numbers, there were definitely numbers involved. I might be off here, but I believe 1% of the population currently owns 99% of the nation’s wealth, and 99% of the population only owns like 12% of the nation’s wealth. Which is much too low. Or too high. I don’t know. Anyways, the semantics aren’t important – I’m mad, and I want things to change, immediately. And my straw fell into the juice box, and now I’m thirsty.
Thank God for the government, saving our children from demonic cupcakes
Beyond ‘Beyond Stagnation’- Dissent’s symposium shows the limits of the Left’s thinking about our economic problems:
“Beyond stagnation” is indeed where we, Right and Left alike, want to be. Conservatives can try to educate the Left and those who are attracted by its policies and rhetoric, and we can try to defeat them in the political sphere, which is of course necessary — but it is not sufficient. As a matter of political reality, we are at some point simply going to have to understand why a not-unsubstantial part of the electorate finds the Left’s policies attractive; as I have argued at some length, the conventional, popular conservative explanation — that the Left appeals to the lazy, the juvenile, and the unambitious — is at the very least incomplete, if not flatly wrong. Conservatives’ more thorough rooting in the dismal facts of supply and demand, scarcity, and tradeoffs may give us an intellectual head start, which would be much more exciting if this were a race. But it isn’t a race at all — it is a journey that all of us are going to have to take together.
Caring
for Ebola Patients Deeply Scary For Health Care Workers - See more at:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/08/02/caring-for-ebola-patients-deeply-scary.html#sthash.DfwkQFJ1.dpuf
"Self-esteem", "amoure propre", is a strange concept, self-respect is very hard-earned, and self-hatred, whether deserved or neurotic, is a big challenge.
It's summer squash season around here, a two -to-three- month squash explosion during which little zucchinis turn into 1 1/2-foot Zucchis seemingly overnight.
Besides cold soups, it's fun to stuff those big zucchis. Google Stuffed Zucchini to find tons of recipes. Best ones I've had use seafood stuffings with clams and shrimp.
Scoop out the pulp, fill with stuffing, wrap in foil and bake until done. Brown the top at the end.
A "zucchini" (singular, zucchino) is an immature Zucca (gourd).
14:13 Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns.
14:14 When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick.
14:15 When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves."
14:16 Jesus said to them, "They need not go away; you give them something to eat."
14:17 They replied, "We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish."
14:18 And he said, "Bring them here to me."
14:19 Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.
14:20 And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full.
14:21 And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
Some might term this simple guide cynical. Others might not. For the guys' use, there is a crazy/hot matrix, for the gals' use a cute/money matrix. Simplified indeed, but a good starting point anyway.
Yes, it's a comedy sketch, but young males need to know that women are always seeking guys, and young women need to know that guys are always seeking gals. Human nature. There is no need for anyone to be shy or non-judgemental.
The last thing in the world that Hamas wants is peace - except for long enough to re-load and to repair their attack tunnels. Netanyahu to US: Don't second guess me on Hamas. This is not America's fight, so I would just leave it alone.
Golda Meir's famous quote: "We will have peace when Palestinians love their children more than they want to kill Jews."
Does anyone wonder why no other Arab states will accept Pali immigrants or refugees? They don't trust them and don't want any of them - not one. I'm sure many of them are fine people, but their reputation is terrible as a group. During all these years, Pali governments could have built a mirror Israel next door but instead of working for their population, they just want to kill Jews. They have had their chance to be civilized, prosperous, and happy.
The findings suggest, in fact, that relatively wet periods like the 20th century have been the exception rather than the rule in California for at least the last 3,500 years, and that mega-droughts are likely to recur.
We only have fragments of Archilochus' lyric poetry (ie accompanied by a lyre), which have been found over the years on shreds of papyrus. Here are a few of those fragments:
- My one great talent lies in making those who wrong me suffer horribly.
- I am the servant of Ares, Lord of Battle, and I know the lovely gift of the Muses.
- Some Thracian is delighted with the shield, which beside a bush I left unwillingly, an excellent and perfect armament. Myself I saved! Why should that shield be important to me? The hell with it! I'll get another, just as good.
- Not many bowstrings will be stretched nor slingshot flying thick, when Ares makes his killing field on the plain. Then it will be the grievous work of the sword. They are the Lords of this kind of battle - The spear-famed Lords of Euboea.
- I long for a fight with you, just as a thirsty man longs for drink.
- The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.
- There is no country fair and desirable or lovely, like that around the banks of the Siris.
- I have no interest in the business of Gyges and all his gold, nor has such envy ever grasped me, nor do I feel envious of the works of the gods, nor have I love for high rulership, for all these things are very far from my eyes.
Archilochus, the first great Greek poet we know after Homer and Hesiod, is thought to have been a soldier, maybe a mercenary, possibly of the nobility - and the inventor if iambic verse. He was a master of meter, and seems to have been a cranky and vengeful SOB who never got over not being permitted to marry the gal he wanted. His vengeance drove her family to suicide. He died in battle, as he no doubt would have wanted to do. Not the type to die in a bed.
The 
I'm sorry but I forget where I found that new
Handling money is almost, or more, complicated than handling love and sex. People want both so much that it often scrambles their brains and incites irrational or self-destructive behavior (see our morning links today).
Assigned to bring a large platter of cold red meat to an outdoor supper party last weekend. 
Expert Gerry Tosh Offers A Wonderfully 
A Kate Bush 
It's summer squash season around here, a two -to-three- month squash explosion during which little zucchinis turn into 1 1/2-foot Zucchis seemingly overnight.