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.
As I’ve predicted in the past, the first time a major employer winds up standing in front of a judge in an orange jumpsuit and being handed a ten year sentence, the hiring of illegal aliens will plummet overnight. And when the word gets around that there are no jobs to be had, many of those thinking of jumping the border will have second thoughts and probably stay home. You don’t need the same massive level of enforcement resources if far fewer people are coming in.
The New York Times a few days ago ran a column called "I Believe Juanita". I believed Juanita, too - way back when, eighteen-and-a-half years ago, when it counted and when the Times was covering the story only as an illustration of "shadowy, subterranean" media "mechanics"...
If you listen to the stories of some young starlet or aspiring reporter and force Kevin Spacey or Charlie Rose out of their industries, maybe you’ll help the next young woman trying to make it in either business. But who is going to help the bank teller, the nurse or the real estate agent who is putting up with invasive groping because they can’t afford to lose their jobs? If they come forward and nobody believes them, reports on it or publicly holds the perpetrator to account, they’re going to wind up out of work and the next woman who applies to be their replacement will be in the same position.
We're cooking two smaller ones this Thanksgiving, one on the barbie cooked/smoked on wood, and one in the oven. To make them tasty, we recommend injecting the heck out of them.
I tend to use a warmed-up mix of honey, beer or white wine, a splash of hot sauce, and butter. Almost anything makes turkey taste better. When it comes down to it, though, good stuffing is what it's about. The turkeys are just an excuse for the other things.
Seen on our hunting outing Saturday. Outdoor fireplaces were common in the past, and are now coming back into fashion like firepits, which are really just campfires.
Reason I want to build an outdoor fireplace is because Spring and Fall are the best times to hang out outdoors, and humans need a fire to hang out around.
In light of the frequency of human and grizzly bear encounters, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game is advising hikers, hunters, and fishermen to take extra precautions and keep alert for bears while in the field. They advise that outdoorsmen wear noisy little bells on their clothing so as not to startle bears.
They also advise outdoorsmen to carry pepper spray with them in case of an encounter with a bear. It is also a good idea to watch out for fresh signs of bear activity. Outdoorsmen should recognize the difference between black bear and grizzly bear dung. Black bear dung is smaller and contains lots of berries and squirrel fur.
Grizzly bear dung has little bells in it and smells like pepper.
90:1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.
90:2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
90:3 You turn us back to dust, and say, "Turn back, you mortals."
90:4 For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past, or like a watch in the night.
90:5 You sweep them away; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning;
90:6 in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers.
90:7 For we are consumed by your anger; by your wrath we are overwhelmed.
90:8 You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your countenance.
90:9 For all our days pass away under your wrath; our years come to an end like a sigh.
90:10 The days of our life are seventy years, or perhaps eighty, if we are strong; even then their span is only toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.
90:11 Who considers the power of your anger? Your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you.
90:12 So teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart.
Seen on the way to our hunt yesterday. I get a kick out of the way country folk keep their old broken stuff on display.
Re snapshots, I am beginning to leave any cameras behind most of the time when I go places. That iCamera (happens to have a phone as part of it so some people call it an iPhone) is good enuf for me.
My buddies with whom we did the big pig roast party last summer did a Turkey Fry party last weekend. Deep-fried seventeen 12-13-lb. turkeys (had to fit them in the frying cylinders - we had a 2-cylinder fryer set-up). Had around 100 guests, and they each had to bring an hors d'oevres or a dessert, and some wine or beer. Lots of cornbread and stuff.
I decided that small turkeys are better and easier to manage. I usually cook 2 big ones for TG, but I think I'll go for 3 small ones this year. They cook faster, are maybe more tender, and you can gnaw on the legs like chicken legs.
It was outdoors of course, about 25 degrees F, with torches, firepits, and outdoor fireplace blazing. Gals in their parkas. What are we? Yankee gentry rednecks? Well, we just like informal fun I guess.
That's a good party. The turkeys? Cajun rub, and all thoroughly and I mean thoroughly injected with Cajun spices to the point that Mrs. BD had trouble with it but, as I said, first turkeys I ever ate that did not taste like cardboard or smoke (I cook mine on barby with wood - smokey turkey).
This week we will review turkey injections and rubs (necessary for a good meal). Due to various circumstances, the Maggie's HQ will have a small group this year I think, about 13-15 people instead of 25. We'll invite some friends to fill it out. Always need hands to clean up...
The slightest glance at political, entertainment, and business headlines demonstrates that the bourgeois virtues of restraint, frugality, reticence, self-control, self-discipline, and fidelity are not only absent in our public life. They are denigrated. Nor is this a mere political phenomenon. The liberation of the sovereign self transcends race and creed, religion and party. It has bloated our waistlines along with our national deficits, tossed families into a spin cycle of disorientation and breakdown, and endangered and addled children. And though a great many families of schooling and wealth have been able to insulate themselves from the gale-force winds of instant gratification and narcissistic self-expression, those in the middle- and lower-ends of our society do not have the luxuries of loving two-parent families, good schools, safe neighborhoods, well-paying jobs, and welcoming churches.
The idea of settlements for congressional misconduct being paid secretly with taxpayer money in a republic is absurd. On what planet does a government that makes even a pretense of accountability allow the miscreants in its ranks to engage in malfeasance and stick the public with the bill without even admitting their misdeeds?
“I come from the poor people and I’ve been here working my whole stinking career for people who don’t have a chance, and I really resent anybody saying that I’m just doing this for the rich. Give me a break. I think you guys overplay that all the time and it gets old, and frankly, you ought to quit it,” said Hatch, clearly agitated.
Let’s be clear: all claims that a person’s tribe or indigenous nationality can be determined from their genomes are scientifically inaccurate. First, this is because there simply are no currently known genetic markers that allow us to identify individual tribes or nations; although we see geographically patterned genetic variation throughout the Americas in ancient and contemporary populations which allows us to differentiate them (as done in this study), genetic lineages are not tribal or nation-specific.
Entirely rebuilt. Perfect example of something I want but don't need. Golly, I know everything about that tough old machine. It will run forever. The Cub is identical, basically, to the larger version that I grew up with. Just shrunk.
A balanced fitness program at any age has to include Strength (resistance, mainly the powerlifts for time-efficiency), Calisthenics, and Cardio. (As I have said, 5 1/2-6 hrs/week is all it takes to get into fighting shape - 2 hrs of mostly heavy wts, 2 hrs of calis, and 1 1/2-2 hrs of cardio.)
Cardio training is for general energy and endurance - but it is also to help you survive your first heart attack and to fend off senility. Weight training and Calisthenics do not require any age adjustments, but cardio training generally does because your Maximum Heart Rate (MHR) tends to decline with age (or in my case, is actually suppressed by my BP pills).
You can actually spend $250 on a jump rope. That's not necessary. Those are for the jump rope experts, the show-offs, pro jump teachers, and advanced jumpers who can do triple-unders.
As we have posted in the past, jumping is an excellent almost zero-impact (you land on your toes with soft knees) cardio stressor (roughly equivalent to sprinting depending on your turn speed), and there are countless step variations to work on to keep it fun (one-footed, spread-leg, running man, split jumps, skipping, etc etc). Varying the speed and extending the duration also keep it interesting. If you can do a minute or two of double unders, I tip my hat to ya.
Jumping is not just for guys, but it's mostly guys who do it to train their athleticism. Watching a skilled jumper vary his steps and speeds seemingly effortlessly (it's not), as if almost weightless, is a thing of beauty. I use jumping as an HIIT component of my Cardio or Calisthenics days. I only go for a few minutes per set, but good jumpers go for 10, 20, or 30 minutes. I just do not have that kind of endurance....yet.
We recommend the Rx Smart Gear ropes. You have to get the right length for your height, and you have to pick a cable weight.The lightest ones are not for amateurs, and the heaviest ones are a bitch but a heck of a one-minute cardio workout. If a beginner, go for a beginner rope.
“The sizeable portion of the Vietnam age group who declined to support the counter-culture agenda, and especially the men and women who opted to serve in the military during the Vietnam War, are quite different from their peers who for decades have claimed to speak for them. In fact, they are much like the World War II generation itself. For them Woodstock was a sideshow, college protesters were spoiled brats who would have benefited from having to work a few jobs in order to pay their tuition, and Vietnam represented not an intellectual exercise in draft avoidance or protest marches but a battlefield that was brutal as those their fathers faced in World War II."
Cuttyhunk seems remote, but it is only ten minutes by air from New Bedford. I don't know how well Amazon Prime works there. Cell service? Don't count on it. Around 40 people live on Cuttyhunk year-round.
Prof. Peterson seems in pretty good shape for a late-50s academic. Here's his daily routine: 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, and a 10km run EVERY SINGLE DAY!
That is a hell of a lot better than a lazy and sedentary schlub, but it's not a program we would recommend. It's not varied enough, for one thing. Repetition builds efficiency, and thus reduces effectiveness. Anyway, the Prof has high vitality and productivity so it works for him.
Years ago, I ran 10k every morning in the dark. A complete waste of time even though I enjoyed the supposedly "healthy" ritual. Since I know Peterson's IQ is at least 20 points above mine, I would not presume to give him fitness advice though.
Here's his advice to younger people, which is basically something like "Do anything, do not feel "above" any sort of work, grab any opportunity, be humble. Life is very difficult so you need to be in it as much as you can."
(Anita) Hill was believed by the people who wanted to keep Clarence Thomas off the Supreme Court and not by those who wanted him on. Paula Jones was disbelieved by those who wanted to keep Bill Clinton in the White House, but believed by those who wanted him out.
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Why We Love Farmers Markets - 
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Bird hunting today with what I am told will be maybe the best dog we've ever used. Pheasants for Thanksgiving?
A balanced fitness program at any age has to include Strength (resistance, mainly the powerlifts for time-efficiency), Calisthenics, and Cardio. (As I have said, 5 1/2-6 hrs/week is all it takes to get into fighting shape - 2 hrs of mostly heavy wts, 2 hrs of calis, and 1 1/2-2 hrs of cardio.)
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Nachos