GODDAMMO

For the unhappily divorced, keychain bullets made out of your wedding band. Reminds me of the old line: "I still miss her, but my aim's getting better."

Vermont Barbecue: Curtis'

Now I ask our Southern readers: Does this look real? It is.

Comments on Recent Postings

1. My thought about the piece on Wellies: A charming and useful post, but the problem with wellies is that you cannot eat them like leather boots when you run out of food, as Chaplin famously did in The Gold Rush: Click here: Film Listings Archive:

2. A comment on my piece about barbecue: There is a roadside barbecue pit in New England - in fact, in Putney, VT, which is excellent. Go about 1/2 mile or less west off the Putney Exit of Rte. 91, and it's on the right hand side. They run it out of old broken-down trailer homes, and the southern gent named Curtis who owns it is the real deal, with a pet pig. He's open until Oct., when he goes back to North Carolina for the winter. Definitely worth a stop, even if you think you aren't hungry.

3. Paxety had some thoughts about the piece on recorded vs. live music:

"Plus, folks get fewer and fewer places to learn to play - or to play after they've learned. Far too many school systems consider band and orchestra to be outside activities similar to sports. When I taught band many years ago, I had students whose only academic achievement was in music - it was the only thing they "got" and were successful in. Now, those kids aren't allowed to take part in what's now called extra-curricular activity.

Then there's the opportunity of performance. Even when I played professionally, I performed many times for free in local little theater productions and at churches. Now, these venues use recorded music rather than live.

I don't know where future musicians will come from. Perhaps that's why current pop music contains so little of what I would consider original music - it seems to be mostly samples, or chords that make the old rock 'n roll 3-chord turnover seem complex."

Migration Updates

from our friends at Lighthouse Point, New Haven - a south wind this week, so no migrating hawks:

10/31:  800+ Black-capped Chickadees, 1,500 Cedar Waxwings, 1,000 American Robins, 120 Eastern Bluebirds, 2,000 Red-winged Blackbirds, 350 House Finches

11/02: Migration flight from approx 7:00 AM thru 10 AM and then slowed  down... 5000+ BLACKBIRDS/ GRACKLES, 850+ CEDAR WAXWINGS, 75 COWBIRDS, 1200+ ROBINS, 45 BLUEBIRDS, 200+ BRANT

Flu pandemic hypothetical, from RRWH

Reid's foolishness: RWNH

A Swede encounters California education: Atlas

More on blogs, free speech, and the Dem's efforts to defeat political speech: Am. Princess

An interview with Alexander McCall Smith. Looks like he has moved past Mma Ramotswe - what a shame. Bookslut

The greater danger, for most of us, lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark... Lord, grant that I may always desire more than I can accomplish.

Michelangelo

Thanks, Chris

Our blog looks the same, but the guts have improved. We are not really a slick blog, but I think we will have gotten rid of those dang Texas Holdem spammers without having to resort to registration for comments, which I find to be a deterrent.

Euro-weenies

Short report at LGF. Afraid to speak out against Jihad? Pathetic, especially when rationalizing timidity as "sensitivity." How sensitive do you want to be towards people who want to kill you and turn your country into an extension of the caliphate? Do you imagine that those who have contempt for you will react warmly to your weakness? What would Winston say? How would Adolph react?

But if you don't care what they would say, hey, why not just give your country away to them, you sanctimonious Euro-weenies, and move to the US, where we try to have a little more self-respect and courage and appreciation of our heritage, and also appreciate the virtues of firearms?

And when you come, just wade across the Rio Grande via Mexico in your Le Chameau wellies. You'll get more sympathy and better benefits that way than if you try the whole silly legal paperwork visa hassle, and our immigration is tilted against Europeans anyway thanks to the bozo NJ Dem Peter Rodino years ago. And the guards won't be able to confiscate your stash of Cuban cigars. If you do stumble into some Immigration government folks with sidearms, just say "Jose Gonzales, no speaka Inglese." They will leave you alone. Or you can always try the reliable "These aren't the droids you're looking for," if The Force is with you. Which it isn't, obviously.

Clouds so swift
Rain won't lift
Gate won't close
Railing's froze
Get your mind off wintertime
You ain't goin nowhere
Whoo-eee, ride me high
Tomorrow's the day
My bride's gonna come
Oh, oh are we gonna fly
Down in the easy chair!

Bob Dylan, from You Ain't Goin' Nowhere on The Basement Tapes

More on The Religion of Peace, rioting, etc.

Denmark too. Missed that. LGF

That's Funny - You Don't Look Anti-Semitic

From the Foreward of Steve Cohen's 1984 book:

"Steve Cohen's little pale-blue book on left wing antisemitism caused a rumpus in the colleges when it first came out. Helped by the arresting title, which still raises a smile, That's Funny You Don't Look Anti-Semitic appeared in the coffee bars, Labour Clubs and Jewish Societies during the Miners Strike of 1984-85. Back then there were lots of Jewish lefties and the campus battles between Jewish students and the operational antisemites were starting to hot up again."

The book can now be read online, here.

Moslem riots in France continue to their sixth day: CBS.
How do we prevent ourselves from being guilty of schadenfreude with those arrogant and self-righteous French? And how does their pride and self-satisfaction in their culture coexist with an utter unwillingness to defend it?

Bird Flu, From Mr. Free Market:

Air Pollution and Second-hand Smoke

From Norm:

Every year, according to a paper published by the British Medical Journal, some 54 bar staff in the UK die as a result of their exposure to other people's cigarette smoke. And every year, according to the EU, some 39,000 deaths in this country are caused or hastened by air pollution, most of which comes from vehicles.

Read entire.

Cover-ups, when there is no "underlying" crime

We did a piece on this a week ago: this better piece from neo-neocon:

"Rothstein says to avoid this kind of trap, special prosecutors should use their prosecutorial discretion not to file coverup charges when there is no evidence related to the alleged underlying crime."

Read entire.

From Atlas, a piece on The David Project:

"Jewish students on American college campuses are facing an onslaught of anti-Israel campaigns and propaganda. 

We at The David Project have documented this in the now famous documentary film taking place at Columbia University, where students were harassed and intimidated in and outside of class by anti-Israel faculty. Clearly, Jewish college students need to be prepared for what they may face on their campuses.

columbiaunbecoming.com (WATCH THE VIDEO!)"

A wide-ranging interview with Harold Bloom

The great Bloom discusses himself, aging, literature, wisdom, and, of course, Shakespeare:

"He (Hamlet) is simply not the nicest guy in the world. He is as much a villain as he is a hero. He transcends these categories as he transcends any category. He knows too well, he understands too well, he has thought his way to the end of thought. As I read Shakespeare, even though he is humane, he has thought his way into the abyss, into nothingness. Even though Hamlet moves us because there are intimations of transcendence, nevertheless they are of... And I think Shakespeare knows it. I think it's the darkest literary work I have ever read and its implications are shattering."

Read entire interview.

Our second installment of Nathan's diary: Click the Aliyah Diary category on upper left to learn what this is about. (Got to remind him to translate all of these Hebrew words into English, in parentheses, for us goyim.)

Oct 14, 2005: Yom Kippur and Ariel

        A seven year old's comment touches me and makes Yom kippur, although
I must wait until break-fast at her house to have the day fulfilled.
        How to picture Yom Kippur in Ra'anana?  the streets are empty of moving cars, instead filled with joyful children on bikes, rollerblading, playing. Some adults too are on wheels.  I split my time between Kinor David and Shivtei Israel, sneaking off for a nap at 1 and missing the reading of Job (which I read by myself).  Kinor David is nonstop praying from 730 am to a bit after 600 pm.  At Kinor, they have put my Hebrew name on the white plastic chair I am to occupy: Naftali Sheinberg, in Hebrew. I do believe that for generations, my predecessors had prayed to see their names written like this in  a  land like this.  But, a  bit too much religion for me at least in one day.  A bit more comfortable at Shivtei, despite the choir; Danny Beller the rabbi has an insouciant sense of humor, and I can slip out without being discovered.  I recall being in a choir at age ten with Michael Osband's father; given a short solo, I warbled
the tears into it, singing to the women's section. Later, at break, Osband's pere dumps on me for stealing the show. I wasn't naive about this; I knew that I would sing into the hearts of the women.  Perhaps like Amichai, I found the mehitza more enticing than foreboding.
        I also thought about the Torah and one haftorah readings for these holidays: Rosh Hashanah starts with the birth of Isaac, and next reading is about Abraham's' near murder of his only son.  The word's are short, powerful, Hebraic nomad language. I picture Sergio Leone, who did the Eastwood Spaghetti westerns, doing the laconic portrayal of these pre-cowboy laconic guys in desolate Beer-sheva.  God: "Lech lecha", the same words he commands Abraham some 30 years earlier to leave his father's house, journey 1,000 or so "klicks" from fertile Crescent to desolate Beer-sheva basin, God now uses to command Abraham to kill his only son with Sarah (as he once told him to send his only, only soon, Ishmael into the wilderness with his mother).  And Abraham's response:  the obedient, "Hineni,"  a Steppin Fetchit kind
of, "Here I is, Boss."   Then the reading on Yom Kippur:  after God kills Aaron's two sons for the sin of ..... getting too close to God, He goes about business, telling Moses to tell Aaron how he needs to go into the mitbe'ach, the holy sanctuary, only after special cleansing of body and soul and the sacrifice of two rams (I think, rams); one to be butchered near the alter, the other sent into Azalzel, the wilderness which I believe shares a zipcode with where Ishmael was sent. Or at least the same ecosystem.  Also, to sprinkle a dab of blood on the horns of the altar (Aaron shouldn't forget whom these two rams are a substitute for). I gather that some of the atmosphere of the mitbe'ach was a charnel house and the Cohanim, well, shochetim.

Miramichi Inn

A group of Maggie's Farm friends recently returned from a week at the above, with nothing but praise for the lodging and the sporting opportunities, despite having had lousy weather. It's a definite re-do for next October. They donated a spot for the conservation charity we support (Ducks Unlimited) too. Merci bien, Andre.  Miramichi Inn.

Bird Hunting

Kevins has a fine catalog which focuses on high-quality Southern bird hunting gear. Also, never underestimate LL Bean's hunting gear - it's how the company got started. And to save money, it's a good idea to check Sierra Trading Post for your gear needs, first. You will make some impulse buys there, and keep the economy rolling. They have some good deals on Aigle wellies right now.

Got to ask The Barrister to do a piece on wellies...he is the Wellie Maven.

Tamiflu

Despite its possibly uncertain effectiveness, people are stocking up on anti-influenza medicine, as Maggie's Farm advises. So Roche is restricting the supply. Americans are smart: they view it like buying insurance. We will continue to follow the story of the avian flu closely.

Making Music vs. Listening to Recordings

It's about time that someone wrote a book about the effects of recorded music on music, and the way we listen to music, who makes the music, and the way music is performed. Robert Philip has done it: Performing Music in the Age of Recording. From a NYROB review by Rosen:

"Before 1900 in Europe and America, it was at home that music was most often experienced, by family members who played some instrument or sang, and by, willingly or unwillingly, the rest of the family and friends. (In Western society among the lower middle class and upward, most music was made by women, who were generally expected to learn to cook, sew, and play the piano. The majority of professional musicians may have been male, like the majority of professional cooks, but most of the cooking and piano play-ing was the lot of women. Music, like breakfast and dinner, was part of life at home.) More exceptionally, music could be heard in some public places—concert hall, opera house, or church. The public realm was essentially a complement to the private. It set standards and added glamour.

By the twenty-first century, all this has changed. Both private and public music are being displaced by recordings. Few people make music themselves at home anymore. Because of more cramped living space, it is now inconvenient to house a piano, a once indispensable piece of furniture for any household with even modest pretensions to culture and the instrument that for more than a century was the mainstay of classical music. Outside the big cities, live public music is disappearing as well. Most of the smaller towns that used to have a classical concert series have lost that, and if they are too insignificant to sponsor a popular rock group event, their public music must be confined to clubs. Even live symphony and opera broadcasts have been largely eliminated. At home today we play records. Classical and pop radio stations play records. And often ballet companies and theatrical productions play records in place of hiring musicians.

Robert Philip's Performing Music in the Age of Recording is a brilliant analysis of how this has affected performance style. It is also incidentally, for much of the time, the best account I know of how musical life in general has changed since the introduction of vinyl and long-playing records in the 1950s, which made it possible for records to invade everyone's home."

Read entire review here.

Whiskey - I like it, I always did, and that is the reason I never use it.

Gen. Robert E. Lee