Monday, February 14. 2011
Sunday, February 13. 2011
Official statistics indicate little inflation, and the Federal Reserve is eagerly trying to create more. However, the official rate of inflation is heavily weighted by items we already own that have fallen in price, like houses, and discretionary purchases, like furniture, appliances, electronics, autos and things you find at the going-out-of-business sales. But, the prices are rising -- often rapidly -- of most things you actually need to buy, food, gas, medicine and health care, education. That doesn't leave much dinero in most people's budgets to go out and buy a house, furnish it, replace the car, turn up the sounds. Except for the sounds of moaning at assurances and excuses by the Obama administration and its enablers.
To support the ancient history course we are doing with the Teaching Company, we had to go to the City to see some Assyrian stuff close-up.
Interestingly, there were Christian groups going through the ancient rooms with guides making all the relevant references to the Old Testament. Wonderful to overhear them. Ur of the Chaldees. Abraham. Captivity in Babylon.
These pics are actually Neo-Assyrian carvings from the acropolis at Nimrud, palace of Ashurnasipal ll, 880 BC. Note that one of the guardian gods or genies has hooved feet, the other lion's paws. They also have 5 legs, so that from the side they are walking, but from the front, standing firm. Cool.
Readers know my personal Museum Rule: Just go to see one group of things, and leave before becoming a victim of Museum Brain. An hour and 20 minutes is my limit.
More pics below the fold -
Continue reading "Neo-Assyrian, and lunch"
Diligent students of Maggie's Farm have had the chance, over the years, to become familiar with many of the common birds of North America - or at least of the Eastern US. The common winter sparrows around my parts (not including Junco, which is a sparrow):
In winter at my feeder, I mainly see Song Sparrow
and White Throated Sparrow:
In some winters, we get a surge of Fox Sparrows, but not this year. This year, though, I have seen more Tree Sparrows than ever (that's the American Tree Sparrow, not the Eurasian):
The Chipping Sparrow is common here in the summer, but migrates south. I rarely see a Field Sparrow anymore these days. No idea why. Never see White Crowned Sparrow at my feeder either.
This is the common urban pest, once called the English Sparrow (they were a nasty import from Old Blighty):
Matthew 5:21-37
5:21 "You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, 'You shall not murder'; and 'whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.'
5:22 But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, 'You fool,' you will be liable to the hell of fire.
5:23 So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you,
5:24 leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.
5:25 Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison.
5:26 Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.
5:27 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.'
5:28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
5:29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
5:30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell.
5:31 "It was also said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.'
5:32 But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
5:33 "Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, 'You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.'
5:34 But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God,
5:35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.
5:36 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.
5:37 Let your word be 'Yes, Yes' or 'No, No'; anything more than this comes from the evil one.
Saturday, February 12. 2011
A large flock in a Vermont field, taken by Vermont Woodchuck (now of American Moxie)
 You need to understand the meaning of the Gettysburg Address: Vanderleun
The Vanity of his Passion
O you, who hear in scattered verse the sound
Of all those sighs with which my heart I fed,
When I, by youthful error was misled,
Unlike my present self in passion drowned;
Who hears the woes, the pleadings that abound
Throughout my song, by hopes and vain griefs bred;
If ever true love its influence over you shed,
Oh ! let your pity be with pardon crowned.
But now full well I see how to the crowd
For a long time I proved a public jest:
Even by myself my folly is confessed:
And of my vanity, what's left is shame,
Repentance, and a knowledge deep impressed,
That worldly pleasure is a passing dream.
Sonnet written by Francesco Petrarca for Laura, of course. Who else? This devout Renaissance poet drew inspiration from Dante, but maybe never escaped his shadow.
Said he, in his Letter to Posterity (everybody should write a ltter to posterity):
"In my youth I was blessed with an agile, active body, though not particularly strong; and while I cannot boast of being very handsome, I was good-looking enough in my younger days. I had a clear complexion, between light and dark, lively eyes, and for many years sharp vision, which, however, unexpectedly deserted me when I passed my sixtieth birthday, and forced me, reluctantly, to resort to the use of glasses. Although I had always been perfectly healthy, old age assailed me with its usual array of discomforts."
Friday, February 11. 2011
An interesting perspective on internet marketing from our respectable oriental rug consultant/expert friend at Rug Rag, who is clearly frustrated by the Google system in which, as I understand it, one can buy one's position on searches. Commerce is a tough game:
Sniper sites show up in the top 10 search results for "Oriental Rugs." A 100% commission-based single page facade website literally has every site link directing traffic straight to an affiliate Canada-based dealer which cannot sell most of their Persian rugs to the States unless they happen to be warehoused in NY.
Another is a hole-in-the-wall shows in top ten for "Oriental Rugs." So many unbelievably great rug companies in the States with fantastic websites and merchandise, and a black hat SEO site represents the top 10 searches for the term. They have over 20,000 pages from what we can see most are dedicated for each town and city in every state covering the US, in some cases, misleading to have a location selection in every one.
Picture of a spider-hole rug store below, courtesy Google maps. Front had the name on it, so that pic is from the side. Ranks 6-8 for "Oriental rugs" in Google. Problem is, there need to be more quality sites ranking for these keywords.
We want to keep the junk Persian rugs off peoples' floors, but we don't rank high enough to be seen before people make purchase decisions.
Capital collection, distribution, and creation is a global industry now, and it doesn't really require buildings in New York anymore. Bad for New York City in the long run, but it's great for the world. Capital is the world's most important commodity and even the most powerful governments must now bow at the altar of free market capital.
Wall Street is now a global, virtual, electronic street which is now, in many ways, run by computers. Decline and Fall, at NYM.
I wasted time, and now doth time waste me.
WS, Richard II
 I wasn't able to join Mrs. BD and friends to hear the great Yale and NYU Prof Harold Bloom talk about Shakespeare Monday night at the Classic Stage Company (a theater company she loves and supports) just off Union Square.
She reported a few random things Bloom said, paraphrased:
"Lear is Shakespeare's greatest work. I don't know how a human could have written it."
"I am not a Shakespeare scholar. I give no credence to any Shakespeare scholar."
"Shakespeare used a 22,000 word vocabulary in his writing. No other writer has ever come close to that. And he probably invented 1000 words, many of them now part of ordinary English."
"He wrote Othello, Macbeth, and Lear within 14 months. How could that be done?"
"He may have died of Syphilis."
Mrs. and Co. had supper at the Blue Water Grill. With the Union Square Cafe, The Gotham Bar and Grill, the Blue Water Grill, and Toqueville (which my daughter loves), Union Square has come a long way since I sort-of lived on University Place. Back then, the cops would stop by to pull dead guys out of the bushes in the morning. ODs, mostly.
Now it has a dog park and an open air bar with live music, and I guess most of the old addicts and drunks are dead.
Over the transom:
The Washington Post
"The Arctic ocean is warming up, icebergs are growing scarcer and in some places the seals are finding the water too hot, according to a report to the Commerce Department yesterday from Consulafft, at Bergen, Norway. Reports from fishermen, seal hunters and explorers all point to a radical change in climate conditions and hitherto unheard-of temperatures in the Arctic zone. Exploration expeditions report that scarcely any ice has been met as far north as 81 degrees 29 minutes. Soundings to a depth of 3,100 meters showed the gulf stream still very warm. Great masses of ice have been replaced by moraines of earth and stones, the report continued, while at many points well known glaciers have entirely disappeared.
"Very few seals and no white fish are found in the eastern Arctic, while vast shoals of herring and smelt which have never before ventured so far north, are being encountered in the old seal fishing grounds. Within a few years it is predicted that due to the ice melt the sea will rise and make most coastal cities uninhabitable."
I apologize, I neglected to mention that this report was from November 2, 1922. As reported by the AP and published in The Washington Post……… 88 years ago!
Thursday, February 10. 2011
Mead has a blog for his college course:
At Bard College I’m teaching a modified version of the Yale Grand Strategy curriculum developed by John Gaddis, Charles Hill and Paul Kennedy to a group of undergraduates this semester and the students have been generous enough to agree to share this experience with the online world.
Looks like good fun. He begins with Sun Tzu.
Ah, those wacky third-world countries!
Romanian Witches May Face Prison If Predictions Don't Come True
"There's more bad news in the cards for Romania's beleaguered witches."
Family Set For Exorcism
"A South African family who are plagued by mysterious fires will be celebrating this Friday with an exorcism."
Malaysia To Ban Heavy Metal Music In Order To Quell Rise In Satanism
"Malaysia is considering banning heavy metal music to crack down on an allegedly satanic youth organisation."
Yep, if it weren't for the goofy stuff coming out of those third-world countries, we wouldn't have anything to laugh about at all.
And look, here we go again!
Headless Ghost Forces Theme Park to Move Ride
Pretty amazing, eh? A huge theme park has to relocate a ride because of a... ghost?
Bosses at a theme park were forced to move a new ride after workers reported seeing what appeared to be a headless monk.
A paranormal detection agency called in by park bosses to carry out tests found that an ancient burial ground or settlement could have been disturbed.
Paranormal expert Jim Arnold, who carried out tests at the site, said that "results were picked up immediately, with orbs, ghostly images in photography and Ouija reaction results being strongest around the site where they were proposing to build Storm Surge. The results were so strong we felt the only explanation could be that an ancient burial ground or settlement was being disturbed, prompting the extra paranormal activity."
Wouldn't you just love to know what an Ouija reaction result is? The person holding the board hiccuped and the pointer moved?
And I like the term "extra" paranormal activity — as referred to the normal amount of paranormal activity found at construction sites.
Oh, and the name of this backwater third-world country caving to medieval superstition?
Well, just click on the link and find out for yourself.
I'd hate to spoil the fun.
A seasonal re-post -
Interesting bird, the Snow Goose. For  one thing, it comes in a blue
and white form, and all sorts of intermediate forms, so was long thought to be two species. For another, its population has boomed in recent years such that it is destroying its tundra nesting areas, and so the wildlife managers are essentially begging people to shoot them. They were scarce in the 1970s.
There is almost no real limit on these birds, and it is now legal to use electronic calls to try to bring them into your field decoy spread during the spring Snow Goose season in the midwest. However, as it turns out, hunting makes no dent in their numbers.
When a flock of 100 or 1000 of them descend over your blind into your field decoys on a frigid dawn, it's one hell of an adrenaline rush and one hell of a shooting experience. A literal "blast," and you cannot reload your auto fast enough to keep up with the action of these determined birds who can, at times, seem quite undeterred by the sound of shotgun fire. They go down very easily, compared to Canadas which can sometimes coast or flap for a quarter mile with a fatal wound, which gives a retriever - or a fellow - a good work out.
We say "They go down like a prom dress."
Our Brit cousins would love this shooting - they have, alas, nothing comparable for fun. Neither prom dresses nor Snow Geese. Our good pal Mr. Free Market would have the time of his life.
When 5000 of them decide to chose the seemingly identical barley field adjacent to the one you happen to be in for brainless goose reasons, it is a deeply frustrating experience and there is not a damn thing you can do about it.
A northern Canadian nester, this medium-sized honker is highly migratory across the US, especially in the Central Flyway. It is not unusual, these days, to see them flying over Vermont ski slopes in winter, or on Long Island potato fields.
The causes of the potentially self-destructive population boom are unclear, but may have to do with changes in the agricultural lands on which they winter. I wish I had a decent digital image of the size of the flocks of these birds, capable of truly blocking out the sun, but my best shots are from my pre-digital era, a few years ago. Beautiful, and awe-inspiring but, according to the biologists, a big problem too. They could be wrong; it might just be a natural boom and bust cycle like the housing market.
Being game birds, a word is always in order on cooking, since you must eat what you kill. These geese do not hold a candle to the delectable Canada Goose. The tough breast is best stewed, or crock-potted, and can be quite fine in a cassoulet. But anything is good in a cassoulet on a cold snowy, blowy winter evening, with crunchy garlic toast and a few bottles of Cote Roti and a mountain of powerful stinky French cheeses on the side.
More about Snow Goose at CLO, whence the photo, here.
Our old post on Cassoulet is lost for the moment. Good hearty peasant food, best made with game sausage and game meat of any sort. We once made one with venison sausage, wild boar, and Snow Goose breast.
 Dylan to share Grammy stage with Mumford, Avett Brothers
Does an academic dare come out of the (political) closet?
They shouldn't hide their real identities. But if they are all weenies, they could always play the victim card and scream "McCarthyism."
Am Thinker: Why Can't My Health Insurance Be Like My Car Insurance?
The Weather Isn't Getting Weirder - The latest research belies the idea that storms are getting more extreme.
It's just getting reported more hysterically. Weather sells soap.
Homeowners face 'new normal' in housing bust
If you bought before the bubble, you're doing just fine. Nationally, housing prices are now pretty much back to the historic trend line - thanks to a full inventory.
Malanga: Rhode Island: A Fiscal Mess Few Care About
Between chronic Dem control, unions, the Mob, and corruption, rational Rhode Island governance seems like a lost cause
Four Reasons Why Big Government Is Bad Government (h/t Linkiest)
Wednesday, February 9. 2011
Just when I thought it couldn’t get more inane, Brooklyn College is exposed for gross negligence in its hiring and supervision of a self-professed pro-Palestinian activist – a grad student himself -- to teach the Politics of the Middle East to other grad students.
As a reporter cites, Kristofer Petersen “makes no secret of his aggressively pro-Palestinian, anti-Zionist views.” The report, titled “Drawing Lessons From The Brooklyn College Uproar,” by quoting those directly involved in the hire, makes it evident from the horses' mouths that this hire is a horse’s ass, irresponsible, ignorant and unprofessional.
Although Petersen says of several dozen demonstrators who turned out to support him “he was disappointed that some of his defenders turned their speeches into diatribes against Israel,” Petersen nonetheless addressed them rather than leave. A Commenter to the report lists the virulent hate groups Petersen attracts.
Petersen says he modeled his heavily slanted syllabus on that of a professor of Mideast studies at CUNY’s Graduate Center, who recommended Petersen for the position. That professor, however, told the reporter, “the Israeli-Palestinian portion of his former student’s syllabus is different from his own and that Petersen-Overton includes some scholars he would never use in his own class.” He cites Edward Said, “not a Mideast scholar…much more political advocacy than scholarship”; Noam Chomsky, “a linguist, not an expert on the Mideast”; Ilan Pappe “sees himself as an advocate” not an objective historian. That professor says, “many of them should be balanced with others”. But they aren’t. This professor advised Petersen to keep his own views to himself, “but [the reporter sums up] this former student takes the opposite approach.” The recommending professor knew better but didn't act upon it.
Although the PoliSci professor who hired Petersen argued that he should be rehired after he was terminated, that professor says the “Israeli-Palestinian conflict [is] a subject with which Ungar isn’t familiar.” So, where was his competence to hire Petersen?
Another senior professor at the college says “academic freedom for adjuncts should begin once they distribute their syllabus – but not beforehand. ‘The department has influence, if not control, over the structure of the course, including readings and the topics to be covered.’ “ Instead, the PoliSci department abdicated its responsibility.
The report ends with this choice double-talk by Petersen of his slanted course: “Asked whether he sees himself as a scholar or an activist, the professor said he regards himself ‘as a scholar in my scholarly work and as an activist in my activist work. The answer would be both.' ”
Petersen, also, has a Brooklyn Bridge to sell. This gross negligence at Brooklyn College is a disgrace. If there’s a lesson to be learned, Brooklyn College must exercise proper vetting and supervision in its classrooms. Anything less would be another Brooklyn Bridge for sale on campus. Academic negligence, and slant, cannot be hidden behind or excused by chanting academic freedom.
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