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.
Moses and anivut, from David Brooks and Rabbi Lamm: "A soft answer to a harsh calling: silence in the face of abuse; graciousness when receiving honor; dignity in response to humiliation; restraint in the presence of provocation; forbearance and quiet calm when confronted with calumny and carping criticism."
Mad Men's Creator: Don Draper Represents American Society - A conversation with Matthew Weiner about anti-heroes, why
everybody loves Joan, and the real-life drama that inspires the hit AMC
show
As they fled from Egypt, the Hebrews stared at the Red Sea in front of them and the Pharoh’s army closing on their rear. Now, that was a really fearful barrier to aliyah, the act of rising up toward Jerusalem and living one’s soul fully. That border from slavery to freedom caused many to tremble and consider surrendering.
We conduct the seder, the traditional prayers and meal by which we celebrate and remember that G-d liberated us, as a central continuation of our bond with G-d and the rediscovery of the relevance of that liberation across the generations. At the same time we can expand on that central group meaning by remembering and celebrating the other yearnings of our soul to live in freedom as an individual.
We spend most of our lives in “shoulds” that we were taught or acquired. Most of the shoulds are worthwhile and meaningful. However, many are needless limitations on exploring what lies beyond the borders to which we’ve grown accustomed. They are self-imposed chains on our souls. There is a simple way to know if you are living your soul: do you feel at peace and contentment, pretty much regardless of external stressors? If you do not, you are not living your soul.
We each have a unique soul, too often quite smothered under shoulds and only faintly known to us and lived. Passover provides a time to consider what we knew as children, what we feel when in moments of exaltation, what we yearn for, what we can accomplish, how we can be freer. This does not mean being excessive or abandoning responsibilities. It just means living truer to our own nature and to how we wish to be with others in order to have a more meaningful and richer life experience, which also attracts others to do so in their own way.
During the seder we point at the matzoh and say, “For the sake of this, G-d did so much for me when I left Egypt.” If any that we know about, Jewish or other, are less than free, we pledge ourselves to bettering their lot. That is our duty, carried over many centuries. Our duty to ourselves is no less important, as the freer each of us is to live our soul in peace and joy, the moreso we can carry that blessing to others.
A Messiah may come and bring us all peace. Meanwhile we can make a personal aliyah and rise up to bring ourselves more peace by living our soul -- freeing the better side to feel and constructively channeling the assertive side -- and from that bring more peace and freedom to others by our example and deeds.
You go to a campus where this kind of political correctness reigns, and some young person will say looks like it's going to rain. The person listening says, you're a racist. I mean it's so inappropriate. The constant implication of this that it is, I think, becoming a national mirth.
Tonight is the first night of Passover. I've been purposely withdrawn from writing over past months while weathering some storms, but I want to share with you some Passover thoughts.
The celebration of Passover is not only by Jews but by many others of different religions. Passover's message of freedom is universal.
A new song-video by the a capella group Maccabeats, done in a Les Miserables way, brings forth another important lesson from Passover. If Moses had not risen to the challenges within himself and from others, his name would have been unknown and Hebrews left in slavery to disappear from history.
There are some scientific critiques of the details of the Exodus in the Jewish Bible. The fine film Life Of Pi brings forth another important lesson, from India, but just as well from Passover. We choose how we remember our lives and travails, and that choice shapes the rest of our lives dramatically.
I think urban hiking in cities with a little history can be just as interesting as rural hiking. More interesting, really - and I am an informed amateur naturalist.
There is no such thing as suburban hiking, though. That is just walking.
Due to my route's meandering nature with crosstown zigs and zags, street crossings, and opportunities for refreshments, photo stops, and pit stops, I think it could take 6-7 hours from South Ferry (Battery Park) to Central Park then back down 5th ave to Grand Central Stn. Good walking shoes required, and rain-or-shine. This will not be a stroll. The main point is not the landmarks, but the random stuff and people and colorful life and historical architecture in between.The landmarks are just for waypoints.
Preliminary route plan:
- South Ferry, Battery Park, with view of Statue of Liberty (easy to get to via IRT or whatever) - NYSE - Trinity Church - St. Paul's Chapel - maybe WTC - maybe South St Seaport - City Hall - Chinatown/maybe a quick noodle soup stop in Chinatown/Little Italy - Soho/Cast Iron District - Bleeker St/ Washington Square - McSorley's (of course, for refreshment - I'm buying) - Union Square - Gramercy Park - East Village/2nd ave for a while or West Village - can't do both but both are scenic - Then west across to Flatiron District, Empire St Bldg, and NY Pub Library - Times Square - Carnegie Hall (How do you get to Carnegie Hall?) - Columbus Circle - then thru Central Park to 5th - 5th Ave back to Grand Central Stn (via St. Patrick's and Rock. Center)
Does this sound like fun, and a good work-out? Is it overly-ambitious?
If it's too much, there's always the subway or a taxi - but we are subway people.
A lively city full of wonders, packed with attractive, high-energy young people and all sorts of other interesting humanity. Not a great work-out, because it's all pretty much flat but it's hours of walking through a variety of neighborhoods. I am open to suggestions. I'm sure my son, wife, daughters, sisters and brothers-in-law will be game for this event. Sipp & Co. might be, too, and Bulldog. And our Men's Bible study group.
Photo: I like that house on top of that building on 3rd Ave and 13th St. Rus in urba.
Why don't they simply raise lamb in fields of mint, saving us the trouble?
Well, the answer is probably because making your own mint sauce is fun, easy, and quick. That artificially-colored sweet mint jelly from the supermarket is to real mint sauce as canned cranberry jelly from the supermarket is to fresh homemade cranberry sauce.
Since everyone's garden mint is probably growing like crazy right now (but not up here, yet - is mint an herb or a weed?), here's the right way to make mint sauce for lamb. Make it when the mint is new, and it will last at least all summer.
Then you pick up that excellent butterflied lamb at Costco, marinate it overnight in a garbage bag (the best marination tool ever made) with olive oil, crushed garlic cloves, white wine, lemon juice, pepper, thyme and rosemary - then throw it on the charcoal, cook it on hot coals - blood-rare in the middle but almost burned on the surface, sliced thin, and have a feast fit for kings.
Got any leftovers? Not likely, but good for the best sandwiches in the world. White bread, salt, pepper, and mayo.
I like grilled lamb best with oven-roasted potatoes, and I will eat regular mashed potatoes or garlic mashed potatoes with anything. Salad first maybe, but no nasty vegetables to detract from the lamb. Perhaps olive-oil-and-garlic marinated grilled vegetables with the lamb if you are one of those people who think eating vegetables enhances life.
By the way, serving white wine with lamb is a crime. Why do people in America ever do it? Lamb is neither an oyster nor a lobster, and it demands a high-octane, heavy bodied beverage.
Photo: Sheep grazing on summer mountain pastures in 1912 near Casper, Wyoming.
50 acres on its own peninsula. Looks like a lot of lovely manicured gardens, but I'd prefer it with plain meadows with horses. Otherwise, of course I would have made an offer.
Sorry, I can't download the pics, and sorry again - it just sold. It's almost enough to make you hate and envy the wealthy. Almost, but we all need those folks.
21:1 When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples,
21:2 saying to them, "Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me.
21:3 If anyone says anything to you, just say this, 'The Lord needs them.' And he will send them immediately."
21:4 This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying,
21:5 "Tell the daughter of Zion, Look, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey."
21:6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them;
21:7 they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them.
21:8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
21:9 The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!"
21:10 When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, "Who is this?"
21:11 The crowds were saying, "This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee."
There are plenty of them on the market these days, and most people have their favorites. I still have my first Peterson. It's hard-bound. The pages are falling out, but I won't throw it away.
The newer guides are, in many ways, more useful than the original Peterson guides which did often did not include immature, molting, hybridized, or non-breeding plumages. Those things can often confuse the experts - but the experts rely on more than appearance. Experts rely on the gestalt of the bird - habitat, sound, flight pattern, posture, behavior, etc.
I am an amateur, not an expert. Mrs. BD remembers that, when I was first dating her and showing her birds, I told her that bird species behavior is like individual human behavior: they tend to do the same sort of thing all the time so if you see a behavior or habitat once, it's safe to assume that they do that all the time.
Hours before dawn we were woken by the quake. My house was on a cliff. The thing could take Bookloads off shelves, break bottles in a row. Then the long pause and then the bigger shake. It seemed the best thing to be up and go.
And far too large for my feet to step by. I hoped that various buildings were brought low. The heart of standing is you cannot fly.
It seemed quite safe till she got up and dressed. The guarded tourist makes the guide the test. Then I said The Garden? Laughing she said No. Taxi for her and for me healthy rest. It seemed the best thing to be up and go.
The language problem but you have to try. Some solid ground for lying could she show? The heart of standing is you cannot fly.
None of these deaths were her point at all. The thing was that being woken he would bawl And finding her not in earshot he would know. I tried saying Half an Hour to pay this call. It seemed the best thing to be up and go.
I slept, and blank as that I would yet lie. Till you have seen what a threat holds below, The heart of standing is you cannot fly.
Tell me again about Europe and her pains, Who's tortured by the drought, who by the rains. Glut me with floods where only the swine can row Who cuts his throat and let him count his gains. It seemed the best thing to be up and go.
A bedshift flight to a Far Eastern sky. Only the same war on a stronger toe. The heart of standing is you cannot fly.
Tell me more quickly what I lost by this, Or tell me with less drama what they miss Who call no die for a god for a throw, Who says after two aliens had one kiss It seemed the best thing to be up and go.
But as to risings, I can tell you why. It is on contradiction that they grow. It seemed the best thing to be up and go. Up was the heartening and the strong reply. The heart of standing is we cannot fly.
The poem is partly about WW2, I think. An "aubade" is a lyric poem about lovers separating at dawn. Sir William Empson, a poet and great literary critic, wrote the fascinating and masterful 7 Types of Ambiguity (when he was 21), which I recommend to anyone who enjoys language and writing.
Here's a review of a new bio of the passionately religion-hating Empson, and here's a 1949 Time Magazine comment on the publication of his Collected Poems.
Do you have any idea how many medical procedures and medicines which are commonly used today are backed up by dubious science or unproven evidence, or with which placebo effect is dominant? And look at this: your at-home TMS machine!
And what about nutritional supplements, vitamins, and minerals? The benefits there are minimal to none, most of the time, yet the airwaves are full of sales pitches.
And on internet ads, "Take this miracle pill and..."
What about the organic food and Whole Foods scam on naive and ignorant people? And what about politicians and stockbrokers?
Ineffective things are sold every day, demonstrating the power of wishful-thinking, or magical-thinking, in humans. Hucksterism is an old American, if not worldwide, tradition. Caveat Emptor.
The spira mirabilis is a lovely thing, and the equation describing it is simple. He discusses the geometry of four interesting shapes.
I would never claim, however, that math can "expose" an aesthetic. "Expose" is the wrong word, because the aesthetic is immediately apparent, but it's the math that is not.
Coase’s Tortoise- Federal bureaucracy gets in the way of complex ongoing relationships that serve civil society. Most people have heard of Coase's famous theorem, but don't really know it. A quote:
Normal human beings with adult temperaments understand that life is a complex, messy, imperfect business, and that sometimes we have to make accommodation for one another. It is for this reason that modern American English contains the phrase “Don’t make a federal case out of it.” I do not know Mr. Bundy, but, assuming that he is a decent sort, I think it is very likely the case that this story would have gone very differently if one of his neighbors had approached him one afternoon and said, “Say, Cliven, I’m worried that your cattle might step on my tortoises, which are very dear to me. What could we do about that?” Practically every suburbanite with a yard and neighbors with dogs has experienced a comparable situation, as has every urbanite with boisterous neighbors or neighbors who seem to become hard of hearing when their favorite television shows are on. (Ahem.) Our first instinct is not, as a rule, to make a federal case out of it.
If the Desert Tortoise (a fine critter, for sure, and one the Indians liked to cook for supper) survived the buffalo, why not the cattle?
Image via O
A new disease? 
It's in the planning stages, no date set.
Matthew 21:1-11
There are plenty of them on the market these days, and most people have their favorites. I still have my first Peterson. It's hard-bound. The pages are falling out, but I won't throw it away.
Aubade (1937)
Four families of equations expose the hidden
