Maggie's Farm

The House of God by Samuel Shem

Medical humor tends to the dark side.

Down East-style powerboat hull designs are based on the age-honored design of northern Maine ("Downeast") and Nova Scotia lobster boats.

Generally slow, steady, and maneuverable in seas.

From Downeast boat design:

Although a true Maine lobster boat or Down East yacht still retains its classic lines, things have changed, even for the most traditional builders. “We’re building a 36 now and it has a 560-horsepower diesel,” says Don Ellis. “My father would be horrified. He’d say 200 horsepower would be plenty. But the new boat has air conditioning, a generator, a custom ice maker, a big refrigerator, the list goes on and on. Everything went from a simple package to a larger package, and now that package is getting pretty complex.”

Downeast Benefits

Designs from Down East - From pulling pots to tugging on heartstrings, the classic lines of Down East boats have created a niche that has stood the test of time.

Here's a fine Umbrian meal we were served (and split between us) in the dining room at the Abbazia, all with a hearty 2006 Sagrantino:

Fava Bean and Pecorino Puree

The rest is below the fold -

Mrs. BD wants to. 

The only sandwiches I've had in France are just a way of flavoring a hunk of baguette. In France, baguettes are good.

In my experience, it's some baguette with a little butter or mayo, a slice of cheese, and a slice of ham. Not bad, assuming good baguette. 

This lady makes fancier sandwiches. 

We do not believe that fitness can extend life very much. Fitness is mainly for vitality.

Calisthenics are the best thing for maintaining fitness. If you hate weights too much (weights are for building muscle) or find all "cardio" boring, a daily hour or less of calisthenic workouts might be for you.

They entail enough cardio if you take few breaks between exercises to keep your heart rate up, and at least help maintain muscle strength.

If you take the classes at a gym (recommended) you will do circuits of around 10-12 exercises for 50 minutes depending on rests. Good stuff. If on your own in a gym, it is more feasible to do circuits as below. That's what I do on my calis days.

A sample of my routines below the fold - if you can do all of these circuits in 50 minutes, that's amazing. I can not:

"Following a re-examination of one of the psychoanalyst's key works, The Interpretation of Dreams, Mark Solms revealed mistranslations have led to people getting the wrong impression of the Austrian's views - which are often seen as controversial and outlandish."

The idea of Freud's "Pleasure Principle" was not exactly new.

The physiology of eating is pretty-well understood.

However, it does not explain individual human eating habits at all.

An annual re-post for our travel readers -

Pic is JFK in a snowstorm last week. Managed to get out after an extensive de-icing of the airplane. Got lucky - the plane had managed to arrive the night before in a sleet storm.

I always forget something, so I have a travel checklist to run through.

Obviously one does not need everything for every trip - it depends on what your plans are - but I print it out, circle what I'll need for a given trip, then check them off when they're thrown in the bag. Perhaps it seems obsessive, but it is annoying to arrive somewhere and to find that you forgot to pack any socks. On my last trip, forgot to pack a t-shirt for snorkeling, had to buy one for $25. Mrs. BD does her packing her own way, and always brings too much stuff. That's what females do.

I travel too light, she travels too heavy.

My travel checklist below the fold. Obviously you just bring what you need for a given trip.  Let me know what I have left out, and I will add items.

I see flags used wrong, or not at all, all the time on the US coast.

Call me a snob, but I think traditions matter. Etiquette matters too but I am not perfect with that.

Your 2024 Guide to Nautical Flag Etiquette

But we will have interesting posts daily.

We need to get back to Cape Cod with family, friends, oysters, and swimming with the sharks. No internets, no news, no politics, no drama.

It's a fun topic. I don't know enough about non-Western civilizations to discuss it:

I like sailboats, I like powerboats, I like the sea, and I like boat people. I used to enjoy fishing too, but got bored with it. We're on the Northeast coast.

Mrs. BD likes overnights on the boat -even 2 or 3 of them while visiting various marinas or yacht clubs. As a restless soul, it gets confining for me after one night onboard. No gym, nowhere to go really.

One of her dreams has been to do the Great Loop, but I would go nuts not to mention that I have a fine day job. The Great Loop is like the Appalachian Trail for boaters - with no exertion.

Our current boat is a 36' single diesel cruising boat with a Maine lobster boat (Downeast) hull, which means it's most efficient at around 16 mph and stable in seas. Will do 20, but the noise becomes unbearable even with our sound insulation. Even with bow and stern thrusters, tricky for us to back into a tight slip but that takes plenty of practice especially with wind and currents which there always are. Moorings - no problem. I am not comfortable with anchoring overnight, but that's my issue. Moorings are great and so are straight docks.

Yeah, our boat has a galley with stove, microwave, fridge, and shower indoor and out, and, of primary importance, a coffee-maker. Distance boating requires coffee and beer, in my view. Plus a wife or girlfriend, whichever.

One limiting factor with cruising-style boats - trawlers and similar - is speed and thus radius of adventure. You can go further at 30 knots with a quicker boat than at 16 mph, or 12 mph for noise reduction.

We used to know navigation, but have become dependent on the nav screen. If that thing went out, back to the charts and sheesh - bad. Fair weather boaters.

Two interesting developments in recent cruising boat design (I mean regarding overnight boats, not speedboats or dayboats) are the application of outboard engines, and moving the galley to the pilothouse. The former gives you speed and space, and the latter more companionship. Autopilot is very nice too, but you still need someone at the helm. Driving for hours with hands on helm can become tedious. We tend to go from waypoint to waypoint, but sometimes right out by compass headings.

Have never used the TV but I never use TV anyway.

My piggybank didn't have enough pennies for this similar Back Cove 37, and Mrs. BD wisely wanted no maintenance for brightwork. 24 Volts would be good, and I'd like to upgrade that, and we do have solar power for battery.

Roger Kimball feels art ought to be about beauty, plus some ethics.

His piece sounds like the late, great Roger Scruton, which is a compliment.

But I do not understand the differences between fine art, illustration, or decoration. In fact, with music, visual arts, or performing arts, I just dunno. Is it interesting?

Roger Scruton - Why Beauty Matters (2009) from Mirza Akdeniz on Vimeo.

30 minutes about Coleridge's poem

 Gossip as a Literary Genre, or Gossip as “L’Écriture feminine”? Francesca Peacock roots through the archives for a deeper understanding of scandal and speech in an essay from the LARB Quarterly issue no. 42, “Gossip.”

 New Research Sheds Light On Mysterious Origin Off Stonehenge's 'Altar Stone'

 Gender differences in beauty concerns start surprisingly early, study finds

 Feminism linked to increased hookup culture endorsement among women, study shows

 Excellent advice no matter it you like the man or not!

 Where Columbia’s ousted president went wrong - And how university campuses can do better this fall.

Braised short ribs are delicious, and generally have enough fat in them. Cheap too.

What cut are short ribs? 

How to cook braised short ribs.