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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Monday, July 11. 2011Marine Corps BallsPrediction: There will be many of Hollywood's sexier actresses attending Marine Corps Balls next November 10, thanks to Marine Corps balls. Another reason today's Marines are the best yet, and deserve to have more strut in their stride: In Vietnam, one of the guys sent a letter to the president of Hunts Foods asking him to send a case of Hunts Snack-Packs. The Hunts president wrote back that his son served in Vietnam and he was very pleased to send a case. Immediately, we were all writing to presidents of various food companies asking for a case of our favorite. My choice was for Ring Dings. Although squished and melted when a case arrived, I had a big chocolate smile all over my face. But, none of us had the sense of one of today's Marines who sent a Youtube message to Hollywood actress Mila Kunis asking her out to the next Marine Corps Ball. She accepted the invite. I bet more Youtubes are being sent now to other sexy Hollywood actresses. Beats Ring Dings. And, melts in your mouth, not in your hand.
Posted by Bruce Kesler
in Our Essays, The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
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17:09
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"The Real Reason We Have A Budget Problem That No One Has The Guts To Talk About"
Or the upcoming Obamacare taxes. QQQ“Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.” Frederic Bastiat, via Marginal Rev's excellent The Great Fiction Polar BearsPolar Bear populations have been increasing steadily since 1950. Image from a piece at Watts. Monday morning linksScrubbing your mug shot from the net is a growing business. But at $99 per mug shot, who can afford to remove them all? I suggest government subsidies. The UN’s plan to dominate the world of energy and to redistribute wealth? “Climate change” What's their Plan B? They might need one if they still want to rule the world. VDH: The Great Madness of 2004-10 The hatred, the worship, the diagnosis Met Office supercomputer tops polluting list:
Translate that as "vital for their jobs." Chávez Is Believed to Have Colon Cancer Heather MacDonald responds to defenses of DSK's maid OK, Heather - but it is still not right to stiff your sex workers Wehner: A Jobs Report That Defies Description Reason: The Price of Big Government - Do the benefits ever outweigh the costs? Bookworm: Why poor people should pay taxes (not lots of taxes, but some) We agree that every person or family should have some skin in the game, or just be parasites View from the Left (the NYT): Their plan: raise taxes and increase government spending. However, that is always their plan for everything. Their faith never wavers. Joe Klein: Time to Ax Public Programs That Don't Yield Results His example is Head Start Unemployment Unexpectedly Up, President Hardest Hit Geithner tells NBC's "Meet the Press" that it's a very tough economy. He says that for a lot of people "it's going to feel very hard, harder than anything they've experienced in their lifetime now, for a long time to come." Apparently he has no Plan B and is plumb out of ideas. Thanks, Timmy. We understand that a government cannot control an economy, but you guys did the opposite of what Reagan did. You guys jumped on the recession as a golden opportunity to increase the size of the federal government - and for pork. Source: Dealing with Obama: “…beyond bizarre”
Sunday, July 10. 2011US Marines Training At Israeli Counterterrorism SchoolWinslow HomerWhy shutters on all of the windows in Italy?Some shutters are inside the glass, some outside. They are all used, not ornamental. The reason they are there is because, in stone, stucco, or brick construction, you have natural daytime air conditioning if you don't let too much sunlight in during mid-day. You will never see air-conditioners, because they don't need them except in modern office buildings. The low-humidity Med climate, with cool nights, is perfect for humans with stone buildings. I just stumbled on the random fact that Hartford CT, Cape Cod, Rome, and Istanbul all exist on latitude 41 N. Of course, just along that latitude is not the quickest route. Great circles and all that. Big CitiesFrom Mead's Beyond the Big City Blues:
Posted by The Barrister
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
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13:02
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Diesel OpeningOur friend Nathan sends us this slice of pop culture from his visit to San Francisco. I never heard of Diesel, but Maggie's is light on pop culture. You might say that it's not really our beat. Attended my first Diesel opening Friday. OK, my first anything opening. L., who helps Diesel, an Italian label, find possible stores and set up their design in U.S. cities, had invited me. Thursday late, she called, saying that Francis or Danieli of Diesel had called desperately saying that they needed extra props for the store: old TV sets, beat-up furniture. The theme was to be the aftermath of a tornado. We hulked a dusty tubed TV into her BMW, then over to the store on Market Street, where we were met by a cheerful helper, who opened the car door and announced, “Hi, I’m Jeremiah,” which name was also tattooed on his left neck, should a vampire be interested in the brand name of his source. But, easy to overlook Jeremiah’s name tattoo amongst the other skin art on him and others. Branson also was helping with the design. He tops two meters and his height is enhanced by a dyed black hair wave that brings to mind Hirokawa’s tsunami prints; a flip of the wave at the top gives him a lopsided look, which he straightens with a smile. As we lugged TV, he unloaded broken branches for the window display. Tornado-esque.
Continue reading "Diesel Opening" The Flight of Apollo 11: Raw & Uncut Edition
"NASA CENSORS BLOGGER - WHY??" screams the New York Post. No, along with their global warming hoax, I'm sure NASA will want to keep this baby free from any controversy and safely under wraps. We won't be bothered as long as we toe the party line and at least pretend it happened. With that said, this clip is a refreshing breath of air from the usual frenzied documentary-style show, where the scene changes every 2.1 seconds and you rarely get a chance to just sit there and contemplate the damn thing. If you're really old and were alive back in the 80's, you might remember those airplane shows where each 1-hour episode would be on a specific plane. It'd be on some ancient WW II bomber and there'd be endless minutes of it just... flying... along. No machine guns a'blazing, no enemy fighters on the attack, no 500-pounders being dropped, no narrator blathering away; just the big plane lumbering along and the drone of the engines. Using the same camera angle. For minutes upon end. You had to be a real lover of flying to watch those shows — but for those of us who were, it was terrific. This reminds me of that.
Posted by Dr. Mercury
in History, Our Essays, The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
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10:00
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BabylandIt's been Babyland here this Spring at ye olde New England homestead. Lots of nests, lots of baby birds fledging right now. Within 15 yards of our cabin, this year we have successfully harbored nests or homes of: 2 pairs of Robins What's the secret? No cats and plenty of dense shrubberies, gardens, and evergreens. A big brush pile and some weed patches too. When the leaves fall, I will find other nests I didn't realize were there. Usually, a Song Sparrow, Goldfinch, or a nifty little Warbler nest. I did not have the chance to do a breeding list for the entire Farm this year. It's easily done: You go out at 5 AM in early June and cover all of your land, listening for territorial songs while keeping your eyes open. At night, the owls. Next year... Pic: The House Wren family is raising their babies in there. Every once in a while, one peeks out.
Posted by Bird Dog
in Gardens, Plants, etc., Natural History and Conservation, Our Essays
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09:07
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Sunday morning linksJeter Homers for 3,000th Hit, First Yank to Do it New Internet Top-Level Domains Coming It's about time Sowell said it in 1975 McArdle: Hoover Was No Budget-Cutter Disgusting. Memphis Reporter Mocks Mitt Romney’s Mormonism Mitt would be better off as a Muslim Priuses: Battle Formation! The Implacable Left Reads Obama the Riot Act Media Matters and Dem Groups Form Organization to Track GOP Candidates with Army of Videographers Dirty tricks, basically. My theory is that Conservatives are all too busy doing or creating real jobs to do this sort of thing. The GOP's Demographic Problem Media Bias 101: How liberal lies seep into our pop culture and become “fact” (UPDATED) The New York Times: Lying For The DFL
From today's Lectionary: "First sell me your birthright."Genesis 25:19-34
We often use this story as a metaphor for what Americans have been doing with their birthright of individual liberty, but I know that's not what the story is about. Saturday, July 9. 2011Kiss My Royal ..."When Women Confuse Being Asked Out With Being Raped At Knifepoint In An Elevator"More on Skepchick and Dawkins. I'm with Dawkins on this one. Guys have to be bold enough to hit on girls that charm them. Bars are the worst places to do that, but there is no best place. Elevators? Well, I dunno, but the location is not the point. If guys wait for gals to do it, they might wait forever, and the human species ends. If a gal doesn't want to be approached, she can wear a wedding ring, or a button that says "F-off." Or a facial expression that says the same thing. Don't try to look Lesbian - some guys will view that as a challenge unless you are butch and fat. Read the piece. The comments are fun.
Posted by Bird Dog
in Our Essays, The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
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15:28
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Tinker, TailorWe love Fawlty Towers, and can quote most lines from them, and Brideshead Revisited was darn good, but the best series ever made for TV was from John LeCarre's book Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Six hours of dark, haunting intrigue, with the best casting imaginable. Alec Guiness is understatedly great, of course, but the others are equally remarkable. The character development is the best part of the series: the spy stuff provides the dramatic tension. Even in the post cold-war era, one hell of a story. Perfect TV. See it.
Posted by Bird Dog
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
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14:27
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Why we grow NasturtiumsWe grow them in pots. Pretty colors, but the main point is for salads. The smaller leaves (the largest leaves are a bit tough) add a spicy, peppery flavor to a salato misto. We also like to throw Nasturtium flowers on top of a salad (after tossing it). The flowers look good and taste good. Here's a link about Nasturtiums as food. Doc's Computin' Tips: Thunderbird update
What makes this program so great is that it handles multiple identities, yet treats them completely separately when it comes to ISP configurations, passwords and the 'From' identity when replying to people. Plus, it nicely lists the identities along the left sidebar, each one followed by its own 'Inbox', 'Sent', etc, folder. Not bad for a free program. My page on it is here. As far as the wayward add-ons go, I use one to organize the sidebar and another to minimize the program to the SysTray, both of which turned belly-up with the latest update and both of which I found working replacements for. They're on the page above. For the rest, you'll either have to do a Google search, looking for "thunderbird add-on" and a concise description of what you want it to do, or tweak the version number of your current add-on as described on the above forum page.
Posted by Dr. Mercury
in Dr. Mercury's Computer Corner, Our Essays
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11:45
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Saturday morning linksThe Big Apple Celebrates the King James Bible The Applause at Mass has to Stop Housing Finance: For Once, Please Leave It Alone Ladies And Gentlemen, We Have A Totally New Scariest Jobs Chart Ever [Fill In Blank] Industry Furious At Obama Obama's Plan for $10 Gas Krauthammer: We have an unserious President Bernie Goldberg: Any criticism of Herman Cain is racist Via the NRA:
Pic is Theo's artwork Saturday Verse: William Wordsworth (1770-1850)From: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood What though the radiance which was once so bright Read entire below the fold. Continue reading "Saturday Verse: William Wordsworth (1770-1850)" My mistake, but on purposeThis is one of our Pee Wee Oakleaf Hydrangeas. It shows what happens when you prune them: almost no blooms. Even though it is a dwarf version Oakleaf, it outgrew its space and I had to shape it aggressively this winter. Next year, it will be fine if I leave it alone. Friday, July 8. 2011Nightmare In Connecticut: Plunder politics at workFrom Ace: When Government Liberals Are Set Free - Nightmare In Connecticut. (Thanks, reader.) It's a vicious cycle. The more you drive enterprise away, the more you need to soak the remaining people and the remaining businesses who have any money, and thus the more you drive business away or out of business. Plunder only works to a point, and then you end up with Detroit or Greece. CT even just placed a stiff tax on non-profit hospitals, if you can believe that. It is bad, and getting worse. One might easily imagine that they are trying to drive all of us to Florida. Personally, I do not care for Florida very much, and snow doesn't bother me at all. Weather is what you make of it and I make the best of it. It's getting to the point that my state is only a good deal for the very rich (who can afford to avoid taxes or who don't care what they are) and the very poor. Oh yes, I almost forgot - and for government unions. The urban, unemployed poor, the government unions, and the limo Liberals in West Hartford, Litchfield County, and Fairfield County, own my state, at the moment. It hardly seems like rugged Yankeeland here, politically, anymore. It's Gimme-land. The people with the olde codes have died or are no longer breeding. And to think that our Conservative governor candidate lost by only 6000 votes found, several days after the election, in bags in a Bridgeport warehouse or post office or something. Maybe it was legit. I don't know, but anything in Bridgeport is dubious these days.
Posted by The Barrister
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16:36
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Doctors as civil servantsBy Dr. Joel Levine: When the Doctor Goes Home: The Coming Indifference of American Medicine.
Read it all, because this is what is coming to your town soon with Obamacare. Some of you have already seen it. Mass-market medicine, by the rule-book, "delivered" by anonymous "providers" to the masses. I plan to stick with the old ways for as long as I can.
Posted by Dr. Joy Bliss
in Medical, Our Essays, Politics, Psychology, and Dr. Bliss
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14:09
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A book about college that people should readFrom George Leef: A Book President Obama Should Read - “Professor X” underscores the folly of luring hordes of weak students into college. A quote:
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