Maggie's FarmWe 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. |
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Tuesday, July 19. 2011From the author of "1491"Mann has now written 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created I thought 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus was excellent. What is a global ideal temperature?A good question, at Chaos Manor:
Holocene might be pleasant enough, but I don't even get the idea of a planetary average because, with so many climates on earth, and so many human-influenced microclimates, I would think an average would lack meaning.
Posted by Bird Dog
in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects, Our Essays
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14:15
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Media bias? It's worse than you think.Prof. Tim Groseclose tells the interesting story of his research on bias in American media, via Powerline. One quote:
The truth hurts: the MSM is agitprop for the Left, and has been for a long time. The Prof's tale, however, has a happy ending.
Posted by The Barrister
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12:22
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Tuesday morning linksThe Snapping Turtle Soup recipe does call for 1/2 c. of chicken fart What to Do if Sand Gets in Your iPad or Kindle. San Francisco is a beautiful city, but I don’t know if I could live in such a heartless, Republican, capitalistic place. Barone: What the Debt Limit Battle Is All About James O’Keefe’s Latest Undercover Investigation: Medicaid Fraud New urbanism isn’t going to save the economy now or ever Where's the outrage? Murdoch: The NYT piles on Chrysler: Obama’s UAW Beneficiaries Hard at Work Greenfield: Is Obama Our Gorbachev? Sowell: Too much of a good thing Capt. Tom likes this boatWhat's not to like? She is ready for a summer trans-Atlantic sail to Ireland on your vacation, or, better yet, a cruise to the Med via the Canary Islands, with a quick stop at Bermuda and the Windwards en route. (You can hire people to sail her back home to the US while you and your sweetie-pie First Mate - or second - wander around Portugal, Spain, and Morocco.) That's the compact but efficient Najad 380:
Posted by Bird Dog
in Our Essays, The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
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05:02
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Monday, July 18. 2011Thanks, readerIt's been a long time since I have heard this one. It takes me back...so innocent. ""Kathy, I'm lost,' I said, though I know she was sleeping. I'm empty and aching and I don't know why..." Poverty in AmericaAt Tatler (my bolds):
Read it and weep, you all in Euroland. Mind you, the majority of American "poor" are mother-only households, too. Maybe our War on Poverty did work, after all, despite the minor detail that it enabled all of the single-parent families with unsupervised kids and alley-cat boyfriends. That's the Law of Unintended Consequences, or the Law of Incentives. Anyway, time to end that War. 40 years of antibiotics ought to suffice for the material comforts and conveniences. Of course, there is more to life than that, the things money cannot buy and that no government can deliver. And, believe me, those HDTVs will get you get nowhere in life unless lazy and distracted is your goal. Image is Norman Rockwell's vision of one of FDR's Four Freedoms, Freedom From Fear. In my view, the only Freedom From Fear would be a lobotomy, and the only Freedom from Want is death. EncyclopediasThose heavy volumes have become as obsolete as buggy whips. I brought my 10+ year-old set of the Brittannica over to the book exchange, and they told me they were "household waste." That set was expensive. When I was a student, I always looked up every topic in the Brittannica before looking at a textbook, to get the overview. I am lost without a broad overview. Wikipedia just doesn't do it, no matter how handy it is for our website. You can subscribe to Britannica online.
Posted by Bird Dog
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12:42
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Monday morning linksCulture of cheating breeding in schools across U.S.- Poor test scores risk teachers’ jobs Teachers say they had no choice but to cheat. I do recall that feeling. Now, Australia too: Gardener ordered to remove plants or face fines At least in America we can plant what we want... Islamic teacher: Bring back slave girls (h/t, Ross) Hmmmmm. Never mind. Feds pay for study of gay men’s penis sizes Sheesh. Relaxed, or, um, never mind. Lightbulbs: How many lawmakers does it take to…:
The Global De Facto Gold Standard U.S. Supreme Court again rejects most decisions by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals WSJ: Get Ready for a 70% Marginal Tax Rate Democratic Bastion Goldman Sachs Predicts Continuing Poor Economic Performance 1,471: Another day, another round of Obamacare waivers Waivers should be available to everybody Pajamas: Have we lost the sense of the mystery of life? I have not. A snackWhere is PETA? A Great Blue Heron having a snack of a baby Common Snapping Turtle (not my pic) Sunday, July 17. 2011America's fling with the Welfare State: Welfare For All (just don't term it "welfare")What is a "good" and what is a "right"? At Weekly Standard, A Fling with the Welfare State - From the best of intentions to bankruptcy and recriminations. It begins:
Read the whole thing. America has become addicted to the Welfare State same as in Euroland. But if everybody is addicted to freebies, who is going to pay for it all? My favorite examples of Welfare, guaranteed to offend almost everybody who hates to think of it this way: Government student loans With freebies - welfare - for all, you might almost think that America was a nation of incompetent leeches rather than a nation of proud, independent citizens who are capable of taking care of themselves and their own problems (unlike the Euroweenies with their serf-like approach to life). I am in one of these programs (VA - but I do not use it. Also, I paid off my mortgage already, foolishly, but think I will take a home equity line so I can get some tax deductions for these Obama years). Interestingly but not surprisingly, most of such progams increase the cost of the "good" itself via market distortion. What are your favorite welfare programs? And what do you want the government to do for you with your own, and your neighbor's, money which it is not doing yet?
Posted by The Barrister
in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects, Our Essays, Politics
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14:23
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ManhattanhengeRead this book: The Devil's In The CowsSippican has published his first book, and it's about time. He calls it "flash fiction." As many of our readers know, the guy knows how to repair a chair and to spin a yarn. You can buy it here, or at Amazon. I did. Better yet, buy a few copies and use them for Christmas. Here's his post about the book, with his promo video and a sample of his prose, or poetry, or whatever you call it.
Posted by Bird Dog
in Our Essays, The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
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12:07
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Re-posted Turtle of the Week: The Eastern Box TurtleIt's the time of year when the Box Turtles have emerged from hibernation and begin to roam, like singles on the East Side of Manhattan, looking for food, drink, and one-night stands. There are several versions of this charming turtle - the Florida, the Eastern, the Ornate, Western, and the Gulf. Within each type, the coloration is highly variable. The above male Eastern happens to be highly colored. The Eastern is under a good deal of pressure, especially in the Northeast, where development, "progress," dopey humans, pet collectors, dogs, and lawn-mowers impinge on its ancient habitat, or just plain kill them. In much of their range, especially in the Northeast, they are either endangered or "of special concern." Land-dwelling, but not true tortoises, Boxies like to have water nearby, enjoy shady woodlands, and can swim a little bit if they have to but never live in water. They can live over 60 years in an area smaller than a football field, and they learn their way around it very well. Since they rarely encounter one-another, the females are able to store live sperm for up to 6-10 years, it is thought, using it as needed. Very feminist and modern. Still, they tend to live in "colonies," more or less. If you see one on the road, please stop and help it across so it doesn't get squashed. I have been known to barely avoid multi-car pile-ups to help a Boxie across the road. If your dog gets one, punish the dog harshly so that it will never want to bother a turtle again, and let the thing go free. They are wonderful and lovely critters, and endangered in New England. Very few of their young survive to adulthood, so a wild adult is a rare and precious thing that has survived many obstacles, but it was not designed to cope with roads and cars. Don't take them home - they are wild animals and not pets, and where they are is where they belong, unless you are working on a population transplant project. If you are lucky enough to have Box Turtles living near you, learn more about them, also here.
Posted by Bird Dog
in Natural History and Conservation, Our Essays
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11:07
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Sunday morning linksHow to move a Snapping turtle off the road There's always the option of throwing it in the back of your truck, giving it a stick, chopping its head off and making a soup out of it. They are known to be quite tasty. That's what Chinese people do when they find a big Snapper on a road. FYI, any Snapper on a road is probably a female headed for her egg-laying site. Now the UN and the NGOs are arguing against biofuel subsidies Chinese Ghost Cities And Towns Why Hasn’t The Earth Warmed In Nearly 15 Years? Are Jews Permitted to Doubt The New York Times? How Vermont drives business away Vermont hates profitable businesses but loves taxes Warren: Consumer bureau ‘in reality is much better than the dream ever was’ Good grief. However, Obama to Eliminate Warren as Consumer Head Top 10 Most Egregious Government Regulations Nearly half of college grades are A's, study finds That must be because Americans are so darn smart. I took an Econ course in college where the Marxist prof gave everybody an A, and said he would do so on the first day. It was a popular course... Also via American Digest, Origins of the Race Hustle Via Insty, 13 Painting Secrets the Pros Won’t Tell You
From today's Lectionary: "Test me and know my thoughts."Psalm 139:1-12, 23-24 139:1 O LORD, you have searched me and known me. Saturday, July 16. 2011Gimme!At Weekly Standard re debt, etc. Spend Spend, Elect Elect, Tax Tax - The White House debt strategy:
Did he? I am not sure. Nobody can win this game, but everybody I know who is not a government worker thinks the economy is a disaster. My shop is cutting staff, both professional and clerical. Not only is biz down, but our CT taxes are up. Also, we figure, assuming Obamacare stays, we'll need to let go three or four professionals, and 4-5 clericals, to cover those expenses without running into the red. We have been here, mind you, for 110 years and have an excellent reputation. We have never cut staff since the 1930s other than normal firings of incompetents and slackers. Our people know this. Fear is a powerful motivator for effort, but it will not be enough.
Posted by The Barrister
in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects, Our Essays, Politics
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15:22
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Another amusing Steyn rantFrom Mark Steyn: No bargaining with Barack Obluffer:
Silent Cal on progressPresident Coolidge, quoted at American Thinker's The Coolidge Model:
Floods: Government incentives, and predictable (but unanticipated) consequencesBig surprise: Federal flood insurance encourages people to live in flood zones! Who could have anticipated that? Taxpayers bribe people to live in flood zones. Brilliant! For total stupidity, NOLA is not even a flood zone - it is permanently below sea level, and always has been. Why am I, who made the reasonable decision to live above sea level, responsible for the life choices of people who want to live underwater? And, of course, flood zones and flood plains are basically "wetlands." One might think these places should be protected from development for environmental and flood control reasons. A farm? OK, if you understand that it will periodically get flooded while being delivered a good supply of fresh, healthy silt for your next crop. I know about flood zones. Part of our property is in one. We keep it in horse pasture, and our pool is down there. House and barns are above. People in 1786 weren't stupid, and they did not expect the government, ie their neighbors, to protect them from nature. Furthermore, if you believe Al Gore that the water is rising, perhaps we should be bribing people to move further from water...but nobody believes Al Gore anymore.
Posted by The Barrister
in Fallacies and Logic, Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects, Our Essays, Politics
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13:38
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Highway 405: The honorarium No, it's a lot worse than that. It's not Armageddon, folks, it's Carmageddon!
Yes, you read that right, everyone. 53 hours! When people suffer so terrible a fate, you can bet that Maggie's Farm will be right there with comfort, aid, and moral support for those most devastated by their grievous loss. And we note for the record this isn't the first time Highway 405 has been shut down. 405 was where OJ Simpson's infamous 'slow speed chase' took place, and I'm sure we all remember when that jetliner landed on it a few years ago, narrowly avoiding what could have been a horrific disaster. It's a miracle anyone survived.
Posted by Dr. Mercury
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
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10:00
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Saturday morning linksAVI critiques Strunk and White Cuba Update: THE CUBAN GRAPEVINE Aljazeera: How the Arab world lost southern Sudan Charen: Who's Irresponsible? Sports vs. Social Justice - Does Derek Jeter really deserve to earn millions of dollars? Obamanomics: Economy Grinds to a Halt, Consumer Sentiment Lowest Since March 2009 The Word of God, Satisfaction, and Staycations: What You May Have Missed in the Polls Krauthammer: Call Obama’s bluff Hawkins: Obama Admits There’s No Social Security Trust Fund McConnell proposal would force major review of entitlements Graph from Am Thinker's Barack and Joe: Taxation Saturday Verse: Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941)Seashore On the seashore of endless worlds children meet. Solution to the wild Sus scrofa issueFeral pigs and wild boar are difficult to differentiate. The US now has both (but had neither, historically) - and they interbreed. Both are considered invasive pests, but I have to point out that the Italians know how to cook them. Cinghiale. They make good salumi out of them too. (Salami is a subcategory of salumi.) If wild pig and boar were legal to market in the US as they are in Europe, our pest issue with them would be solved. More wolves would help, also. A reader sent me these pics: Friday, July 15. 2011Star light, star bright
Of all the astronomical discoveries over the years, which was the most profound? Which discovery, upon further examination, opened more new doors to philosophy, deep thought and science than any other? Certainly the discovery that the Earth wasn't at the center of the solar system would be most people's pick, since it only relegated a couple thousand years of religious belief to the dust bin of history. But when you think about it, that particular discovery didn't really alter our view of the cosmos; it was more just a matter of a small physical realignment in the immediate neighborhood. It certainly had religious repercussions, and certainly made calculating planetary orbits easier, but not much else. Switch the Sun and the Earth around and we still have no further idea what all those little twinkling lights up there are. But in 1863, an Italian astronomer named Angelo Secchi invented the heliospectrograph, which breaks a star's light into its spectral bands. He eventually charted the light from almost 4,000 stars. At one point, he turned it on the Sun and compared its chart to the others. And what a stunning moment. Our Sun is a star. To me, if there was one fulcrum point upon which our entire understanding of the cosmos turned, that was it. Our Sun is a star. I'm currently halfway through a terrific series on our solar system called Wonders of the Solar System. It's a 3-disc set; I got mine from Netflix. The following video is from the episode 'Empire of the Sun'. That's the only segue from above; the actual clip is specifically about the Earth. Very specifically, as you'll see. Apart from the usual breathtaking photography and computer graphics, what makes it particularly enjoyable is the host, Dr. Brian Cox. Like the great science hosts of yore (Carl Sagan, James Burke, et al), Cox doesn't get bogged down in technical talk and he uses easy-to-understand examples of the physics he's describing. He also carries across that unabashed 'wonderment and awe' that Sagan used to wear on his sleeve. Nothin' wrong with that. On the other hand, I'm no slouch with this cosmos stuff, m'self. Until I see otherwise, I believe my Life On Other Worlds: By The Numbers is the definitive work arguing against there being intelligent life on other worlds. Which is why the following clip interested me. It's yet another link in the chain of events that are extremely unlikely to happen to the average planet. Does the average planet have... a spinning molten iron core?
The full 1-hour episode is here.
Posted by Dr. Mercury
in Education, Our Essays, The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
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20:00
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