Maggie's Farm

    "It may be perpetual motion, but it will take forever to test it."
                                

A site for perpetual motion machines and other things that don't work. (Toon from the site). h/t Neatorama

We enjoy seeing our local Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds buzzing around, and we plant things that they like.

Wayside lists 56 varieties for them. Butterflies tend to like similar plants.

Gardens without hummingbirds and butterflies feel sterile.

Photo: An Agastache (Hyssop).

Simon at Classical Values asks whether the demonstrations/"direct action" planned for the Denver (and Minneapolis) conventions might be a Rovian plot.

This Clinton site says that the umbrella group Recreate 68 is hoping to provoke violence. Oh, man, that is so 60s. They used to say that the tactic was to provoke the cops to "expose the covert brutality of the Capitalist system."

What a bunch of grandiose immature jerks: they self-satirize without realizing it. Plus they do not know that '68 was a terrible year. They should get a life.

Scott at Powerline has a good grip on the penis stories. Honestly, I would not eat a Reindeer's Johnson if you paid me, but maybe I am homophobic or something.

Or maybe I just feel bad for all those poor Reindeer who are now running around the tundra without their equipment.

Speaking of the Noble Male Member, I was entertained by some hot Purple Grackle (aka Common Grackle) romance on my lawn this morning. The male does quite a display for the lady: he hunches up his shoulders, splays his wings, and raises a dramatic iridescent ruff of feathers on his neck as he struts before her: he tries to make like a Bird of Paradise. Then he hops on top of her for about 4 seconds. He did that twice in five minutes.

Afterwards, she did a shake to compose her feathers and her excited feminine heart, no doubt - and he walked off cheerfully, with a bit of a swagger, looking for bugs in the grass.

I think it was consensual, but she did seem a little put out by it all. Women are sometimes like that.

We have somehow failed to pay enough attention to blogger/columnist Mike Adams who writes at Town Hall. We will correct that oversight forthwith.

I read his bio. He sounds like a Maggie's Farm sort of guy, so we are putting him on our blogroll.

We are also adding Real Clear Markets  which is a good resource with the same handy format as Real Clear Politics.

With Spring warbler season upon us, it seemed timely to note that Nikon has finally come up with a binocular that can compete with the Germans.

Here's the 7X42. There is also an 8X32.

Image: A few Spring Warblers, by Peterson

"The more I learn of physics, the more I am drawn to metaphysics."

Albert Einstein

From story at Dino:

There is a clear and detailed look at oil prices at The Library of E and L

The Cornell Farm, 1848. It is believed that Hicks was schooled in sign-painting: his primitivism was no affectation. He was also a Quaker minister. This pictures the Cornell farm's (Bucks Country, PA) prize animals.

From the Peoples' Cube:

Now that the idea of social awareness and class struggle has reached American pulpits, it was only a matter of time before progressive historical revisionism left its academic confines and flooded the nation's churches, raising consciousness of the worshiping masses and prompting them to re-evaluate archaic concepts of "faith," "freedom," and "morality." Armed with the winning theory of class struggle, more and more oppressed churchgoers are finding the courage to speak out against violations of human rights in the ancient world, and indeed against the entire litany of "traditional" "conceptions" based on the "Bible" and its "teachings."

In this sense, the conference of religious leaders and scholars from around the world, titled "From Security to Homelessness: Moses and the Renegade Exodus of the Hebrews" was the first major event of its kind, focusing on Moses' fraudulent activities and the resulting major humanitarian disaster called the Exodus.

Convened at the Cathedral of the Victim Trinity in Chicago just before the Easter and Passover holidays, the confab manifested itself as a global showcase of progressive religious studies.

Read the whole thing. (Image from the piece.)

Mark Twain

The comments on this Mormon fundy polygamy piece are pretty good.

So what's the issue? Polygamy? Or the under-age marriages? Or the arranged marriages (which are not illegal at all)?

Moslems quietly practice polygamy in the US without being hassled. Single teen-age pregnancy is of epidemic proportions in the US, so why is teen pregnancy within marriage worse?

I am confused, not about the moral issues, but about the legal issues. 

Coming soon to your town.

This could be some competition for Dunkin Donuts. I like the red bandana idea.

As quoted from a piece at SDA:

Wind power is a toy anywhere; it isn't dependable, and it's even more diffuse than solar. Both of them are boondoggles designed to separate you from your tax money and give power to the bureaucrats who "manage" the projects. People who tell you otherwise are lying, and the only thing the numbers they give you establish is that liars can figure.

When you disarm the people, you commence to offend them and show that you distrust them either through cowardice or lack of confidence, and both of these opinions generate hatred.

Niccolo Machiavelli 

The Pope's Mass, at Yankee Stadium, via the miracle of TV. Wonderful.

For us Protestants, it is always a wonder and a privilege to experience a formal RC Mass, and Benedict's homily about obedience was simple, and just right. Benedict is an evangelist.

I am ashamed that we were so distracted by April fishing that we missed Patriot's Day yesterday.

Rick Moran covers Paul Revere, and Jules covered several first-person accounts of that first skirmish of the war.

Wish I could say that my Yankee ancestors were among the rebels, but they probably were not. Best we can tell, approx. 1/3 of the colonies' population sympathised with the rebels, 1/3 were on the fence, and 1/3 were hard-core Tories. I am not aware of any Revolutionary War veteran ancestors. The Farm itself in Massachusetts, if you recall from earlier posts, was a land grant to my family from King George, and we remain thankful for that - but not ambivalent about our revolution because of its elevation of the idea of individual freedom from the power of The State.

(Thanks, Buddy)