Maggie's Farm

Quicksearch

Blog Administration

Open login screen

RSS Readers

Wednesday, June 15. 2011

Birth to 10 years old in 1 minute 25 sec

Posted by Bird Dog in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation at 17:23 | Comment (1) | Trackbacks (0)

In defence of the Crusaders

Four Myths about the Crusades. A quote:

The verdict seems unanimous. From presidential speeches to role-playing games, the crusades are depicted as a deplorably violent episode in which thuggish Westerners trundled off, unprovoked, to murder and pillage peace-loving, sophisticated Muslims, laying down patterns of outrageous oppression that would be repeated throughout subsequent history. In many corners of the Western world today, this view is too commonplace and apparently obvious even to be challenged.

But unanimity is not a guarantee of accuracy. What everyone “knows” about the crusades may not, in fact, be true. From the many popular notions about the crusades, let us pick four and see if they bear close examination.

Posted by The Barrister in History, Our Essays at 16:22 | Comments (19) | Trackbacks (2)

Maine attractions

A friend who summers in Maine advised me to visit the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay.

She's a gardening type, and said nobody who has visited the place has been disappointed, including kids.

Posted by Bird Dog at 13:58 | Comment (1) | Trackbacks (0)

More Umbria: Bevagna, Spello, and Assisi (with lots of good food) - not all on the same day!

Afternoon in Bevagna - a regular town sort of like Rumford, Maine. Love the way the bars put their picnic tables on the street to annoy the drivers. Neighborhood social life is on the streets, which I think is a wonderful thing.

If you are a stranger in a non-tourist town, they watch you a little to make sure you aren't up to no good. It's their town, and they feel protective.

Lots of pics below the fold -

Continue reading "More Umbria: Bevagna, Spello, and Assisi (with lots of good food) - not all on the same day!"

Posted by Bird Dog in Our Essays, Travelogues and Travel Ideas at 12:00 | Comments (11) | Trackbacks (0)

Connecticut on the road to trouble

From Malanga's The 'Anti-Christie' Agenda Driving Connecticut:

Connecticut finished 47th among states in net jobs created by existing businesses over a 15 year period, according to the National Establishment Times Series database, which tracks job dynamics from 1993 through 2008. On jobs generated by new businesses over the same time, the state ranked 46th, according to NETS. In fact, it's misleading even to use the term ‘job dynamics' in discussing Connecticut. The state has fewer private sector jobs today than it had in 1990.

Malloy and his fellow Democrats now in charge seem to believe that the state's only problem was that it just wasn't doing enough taxing and spending and borrowing.

Lovely state, insane politics. Economically, it could be another Texas if it wanted to be. From an income standpoint, it's the richest state in the US (but that mostly comes from the comfortable NYC suburb of Fairfield County). Instead, it keeps trying to kill the geese that lay the golden eggs to buy votes in its forlorn dying cities from which industry has fled.

That's a long-term death spiral, just like the one New Jersey was in.

Posted by The Barrister in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects, Our Essays at 09:17 | Comments (6) | Trackbacks (0)

Weds. morning links

Women are BORN to be moody

VDH: The Art of Appreciating America from Abroad

Electric cars not so green after all?

Rubio: ‘The World Still Needs America’

The Democrats' Ridiculous Double Standard on Weiner and Clinton

Lib Media Slams Sarah Palin for Writing Emails at an 8th Grade Level… Ignore Obama’s 7th Grade Level Speech

Pa. judge: No expulsion for kindergarten touching

Ace: Mitt Romney's Devious Debate Performance (And I Actually Mean That In A Good Way)

The men who are killing New York

Re: Bachmann Smart, Media Dumb

63% say government does too much

What's your race? Disgusting Little Boxes

Posted by Bird Dog in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 05:26 | Comments (9) | Trackbacks (0)

Tuesday, June 14. 2011

Fun with Glenn and Jonah

Posted by Bird Dog at 21:26 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Sports quotes

"I'm working as hard as I can to get my life and my cash to run out at the same time. If I can just die after lunch Tuesday, everything will be perfect." - Doug Sanders, professional golfer

"All the fat guys watch me and say to their wives 'See, there's a fat guy doing okay. Bring me another beer.'" -- Mickey Lolich, Detroit Tigers pitcher

"Last year we couldn't win at home and we were losing on the road. My failure as a coach was that I couldn't think of anyplace else to play." -- Harry Neale, professional hockey coach

"When it's third and ten, you can take the milk drinkers; I'll take the whiskey drinkers every time." -- Max McGee, Green Bay Packers receiver

"I found out that it's not good to talk about my troubles. Eighty percent of the people who hear them don't care and the other twenty percent are glad you're having trouble." -- Tommy LaSorda, LA Dodgers manager

"My knees look like they lost a knife fight with a midget." -- E. J. Holub, Kansas City Chiefs linebacker regarding his 12 knee operations

"My theory is that if you buy an ice-cream cone and make it hit your mouth, you can learn to play. If you stick it on your forehead, your chances aren't as good." -- Vic Braden, tennis instructor

"Blind people come to the ballpark just to listen to him pitch." -- Reggie Jackson commenting on Tom Seaver

"When they operated, I told them to put in a Koufax fastball. They did - but it was Mrs. Koufax's." -- Tommy John NY Yankees recalling his 1974 arm surgery

"I don't know. I only played there for nine years." -- Walt Garrison, Dallas Cowboys fullback when asked if Tom Landry ever smiles

"We were tipping off our plays. Whenever we broke from the huddle, three backs were laughing and one was pale as a ghost." -- John Breen, Houston Oilers

"The film looks suspiciously like the game itself." -- Bum Phillips, New Orleans Saints after viewing a lop-sided loss to the Atlanta Falcons

"When I'm on the road, my greatest ambition is to get a standing boo." -- Al Hrabosky, major league relief pitcher

"The only difference between me and General Custer is that I have to watch the films on Sunday." -- Rick Venturi, Northwestern football coach

"I have discovered, in twenty years of moving around the ball park, that the knowledge of the game is usually in inverse proportion to the price of the seats." -- Bill Veeck, Chicago White Sox owner

"Because if it didn't work out, I didn't want to blow the whole day." -- Paul Horning, Green Bay Packers running back on why his marriage ceremony was before noon.

"I have a lifetime contract. That means I can't be fired during the third quarter if we're ahead and moving the ball." -- Lou Holtz, Arkansas football coach

"I won't know until my barber tells me on Monday." -- Knute Rockne, when asked why Notre Dame had lost a game

"I tell him 'Attaway to hit, George.'" -- Jim Frey, KC Royals manager when asked what advice he gives George Brett on hitting

"I learned a long time ago that "minor surgery" is when they do the operation on someone else, not you." -- Bill Walton, Portland Trial Blazers

"Our biggest concern this season will be diaper rash." -- George MacIntyre, Vanderbilt football coach surveying the team roster that included 26 freshmen and 25 sophomores.

Posted by Bird Dog in Our Essays, Quotidian Quotable Quote (QQQ) at 17:17 | Comments (9) | Trackbacks (0)

California Bay Leaf vs. Mediterranean Bay Leaf

The Mediterranean Bay Laurel (Laurus nobilis), known in Italy as alloro or lauro, is a common flavoring for Mediterranean meats and fish (also used to decorate the heads of victors). It's sometimes called True Bay, True Laurel, or Sweet Bay. Most Italians have one growing near their house, for cooking (and for hedges). It's used mostly fresh, sometimes slightly dried or dried, and is evergreen.

It is not related at all to the California Bay (Umbullularia californica), which is the common supermarket or farmer's market "Bay Leaf" in the US.

The flavor/fragrance profiles are quite different, as these commenters note. In my view, each is good but definitely different. To my American taste, the Med True Bay has a foreign, kerosene-like flavor which takes a little - but not much - getting used to.

Here's how Italians use Laurus nobilis. The excellent Tuscan steaks are always cooked with it, and grilled meats in general.

Posted by Bird Dog in Food and Drink, Our Essays at 12:05 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Turkey and the Frog

As I have twice before (here in June 2010 and here in September 2010), I asked my friend Gerald Robbins, the Turkish-speaking expert and a Senior Fellow at Philadelphia’s Foreign Policy Research Institute, to comment on this past weekend’s parliamentary elections in Turkey.

In brief recap of prior posts:

Turkey’s AKP political party and its leader Prime Minister Recep Erdogan have held parliamentary power since 2002. Their program has been a combination of several elements: successfully encouraging economic development in the interior which has also benefited the usual coastal economic centers, and pursuing a gradual turning from the secularist path set almost a century ago for modern Turkey by Kemal Attarturk. AKP’s Turkey turned to a more Islamist focus aligned with Ottoman-like pretensions of influence throughout the Middle East. Turkey’s former closeness with the West via NATO membership has become an empty promise, as shown in its refusal to allow Western forces to enter Iraq via its territory in 2003 and subsequent footsy with radical states in the Middle East and support for anti-Israel propaganda and actions. Facing strongly entrenched business, secular and military interests, like a frog in slowly warming water, these interests have had their power sapped (coopted in the case of many traditional business interests, whose social-democratic/statist linkages make them particularly susceptible to AKP blandishments and programs).

Now, for Robbins latest:

Continue reading "Turkey and the Frog"

Posted by Bruce Kesler in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects, Our Essays at 12:00 | Comments (0) | Trackback (1)

Tuesday morning links

The Latest Government Solution to a Non-Problem

Sex & the Single-Sex Dorm

Renewable Energy Sprawl

It makes a mess of miles of natural environments

SARAH PALIN’S Trig Letter.

Palin’s emails: The world’s biggest story!

Bill Gross: US Is in Even Worse Shape Financially Than Greece

UK business poised to flee green carbon tax

In the midst of terrible economic times, let’s raise energy prices dramatically and lay people off …

Re the FBI: Writs of Assistance Are Back

Not funny: Obama Jokes at Jobs Council

MOYAR: Why we must persist in Afghanistan

Posted by Bird Dog in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 06:20 | Comments (5) | Trackbacks (0)

Monday, June 13. 2011

Fun with American history

Animated Atlas: Growth of a Nation

Posted by Bird Dog at 17:52 | Comments (3) | Trackbacks (0)

Joy of Mathematics

The Joy of Mathematics is on sale at The Teaching Company. It's "designed for you."

Math is fun, endlessly challenging, relentlessly logical, brain-exercising, and intriguing. Two years of Calc and Stats should be required for a Thinking Permit.

Posted by The Barrister in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation at 13:48 | Comments (2) | Trackbacks (0)

Fallacy del Giorno: False assumptions

Honest discussions or debates have one purpose: to illuminate a subject with facts and theories which relate facts to eachother, and perhaps to persuade. Dishonest debates or arguments are really just fights with words, and of interest only to litigators and politicians.

Fallacious arguments of the false assumption type are used in both: in the former by accident or out of ignorance, and in the latter as a tactical trick (eg "If the glove don't fit, you must acquit.").

When questions are posed in that manner, they are known as loaded questions. They are "loaded" with an effort to seek your acquiescence to an unspoken assumption. (The classic is "When did you stop beating your wife?") The correct response to questions with hidden assumptions is to point that out, and to challenge the hidden assumption. Otherwise, you will fall into a trap.

When engaging on an issue, always examine the other guy's assumptions first, because a topic can go nowhere with fallacious assumptions, and there can be no constructive discussion if you do not accept the other guy's premise. In that case, you must address the premise first, backing up before you can move forward.

Here are some simple examples of fallacious assumptions. Usually, in arguments, the assumptions are unstated, "assumed." It's better to state them first just as one lists one's "givens" in geometry proofs. Sometimes, just addressing the assumptions clears everything up.

John at Powerline: You Can Prove Anything If You Make the Right Assumptions. Certainly true, if one is engaging in dishonest or tendentious debate.

(I am aware that I am not discussing the huge and important topic of unconscious assumptions, but that is more about psychology than logical debate.)

Posted by The Barrister in Fallacies and Logic, Our Essays at 13:31 | Comment (1) | Trackbacks (0)

Identify this bird

A not-uncommon bird East of the Rockies. I had them around the garden this weekend as I was doing manual labor.

No need to continue trying to answer this - I already commented that she is a female Baltimore Oriole.

Posted by Bird Dog at 12:38 | Comments (14) | Trackbacks (0)

Progressivism: From Great White Hope to Great White Whale

Mead's usual clarity: When Government Jumps the Shark.

Mead is one of the few Liberals I read who is willing to say that the Progressive project has done enough - maybe too much.

Posted by Bird Dog at 09:07 | Comments (4) | Trackbacks (0)

Monday morning links

As Promised, Obama Is Destroying Coal Industry

Dude, Where’s My Freedom? The government tightens the noose on guns, health, travel, and more.

Where’s the warming?

Scrutinize the president, not Palin

Steyn: Obama’s Road to Nowhere - This is Main Street, Obamaville: All bumps, no road.

Fanning Imaginary Flames: A Look Back At The Great Church Fire Propaganda Campaign:

Fifteen summers ago, America's news media informed us that black churches throughout the South were being torched by white racists. The purported wave of arsons dominated the airwaves and generated thousands of newspaper articles. Pundits, politicians and preachers decried the terrorism and the hate it represented.

In fact, it never happened.

Via Flopping:

“It turns out that one of the women Congressman Anthony Weiner was communicating with was a porn star. When asked how it was possible to get involved with someone in such a sleazy business, the porn star said, ‘I don’t know.’” – Conan O’Brien

Superb Chris Muir toon below the fold (totally SFW)

Continue reading "Monday morning links"

Posted by Bird Dog in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 06:28 | Comments (11) | Trackbacks (0)

Watching me

I always seem to have close bird or animal encounters on Pentecost, and I like to think it's The Holy Spirit visiting me in a form I can recognize. This fellow had a young Cottontail rabbit in his talons, and he is not going to let me take it away from him.

Somebody should phone PETA or the ASPCA.

Posted by Bird Dog at 05:27 | Comments (6) | Trackbacks (0)

Sunday, June 12. 2011

I loved this guy's music

Posted by Bird Dog in Music at 16:49 | Comments (3) | Trackbacks (0)

Fly fishing with wounded warriors

With wounded warriors in quiet waters. A lovely essay.

Posted by The Barrister in Hunting, Fishing, Dogs, Guns, etc. at 14:27 | Comment (1) | Trackbacks (0)

Is love a virus?

How bad romance can mess up your life. He advises:

First, begin with the idea that love is dangerous and some people are more vulnerable than others. We’ve called love a virus before, and sadly, your emotional immune system is impaired.

Posted by Dr. Joy Bliss in Psychology, and Dr. Bliss at 14:21 | Comment (1) | Trackbacks (0)

Political quote of the day, but from 2006

“The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the US Government can not pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies. Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that ‘the buck stops here.' Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.”

Senator Barack H. Obama, March 2006

Posted by Gwynnie in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 13:52 | Comments (5) | Trackbacks (0)

Interview with David Mamet

Hugh Hewitt interviews David Mamet.

Mamet is late to the party, but better late than never. I don't think he thought much about politics before.

Posted by The Barrister in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 13:41 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

More Umbria: Onward to Bevagna (with a stop for a fine lunch in Montefalco)

We wanted our trip to be as much off the beaten path as feasible, and to try to soak up Italy instead of tourist Italy (which I term Disney Italy - been there, done that). After using our delightful tenuta outside Todi as our base for a few days, we headed up over the hills and through the vineyards towards Bevagna in the Valle Umbra because Mrs. BD knew, during her planning, that I wanted some time based in a little old, non-touristy town to walk around in.

On the way there, we stopped by the hilltop walled village Montefalco, where we did the most shopping on our entire trip: She could not resist the famous tessuto artistico - the textiles of Umbria - tablecloths and linens - and I could not resist their heavy Umbrian olive oils and wines. Sagrantino di Montefalco, in particular:

Montefalco is know almost exclusively for its obscure and powerful wine, know as Sagrantino. Sagrantino is a dark bruiting red wine made from the indigenous Sangratino grape that is grown only around Montefalco. For centuries it was produced as a passito, a fortified dessert wine, but today Sagrantino reaches its pinnacle as a earthy and dry table wine.

Well, also known for its Umbrian textiles. She bought a yellow tablecloth with some pattern in it or whatever, taking well over 1/2 hour to do so while I explored around. (It is against my religion to enter clothing stores, shoe stores, or textile shops).

This is a pic of a pic on the wall in one of Montefalco's many vino and olio shops.

Lots of pics below the fold -

Continue reading "More Umbria: Onward to Bevagna (with a stop for a fine lunch in Montefalco)"

Posted by Bird Dog in Food and Drink, Our Essays, Travelogues and Travel Ideas at 12:22 | Comments (7) | Trackbacks (0)

Sunday morning links

The 50 Best Books for Urban History Buffs. h/t, Old Urbanist

Nylon Riots

Sayet: Why Jews Support the Democratic Party

More Marriage Advice from the Media

"Amoralising"? Good neologism

N.H. lives up to its billing

I completely agree with NYM re the candidates

Via Dr. Merc, Worldwide ages of consent

Cocksure Weiner MOCKED Larry Craig Sex Scandal

Teachers’ unions will never willingly give up their power, says Terry Moe.

Krauthammer: 'Keep it Ideological'

Y’Know What I See? I See Dead Donkeys.

"The liberals are taking a HUGE gamble that a majority of Americans will throw in their lot with the party of immorality."

Advice from Dr. Sanity:

For all those online addicts; twitter freaks and cyberpaths out there -- GET A REAL LIFE !

It's so much more fun.

Kamikaze government in the UK

O'Reilly: Obama sees rich as his to plunder

Actress defends Weiner, says 'everyone lies about sex'

When the 2-year hate of Palin starts losing Left-feminists …

This is not a witch-hunt