Friday, January 7. 2011
"My wife and I were happy for twenty years. Then we met."
Rodney Dangerfield
 Barack Obama - Either Doing His Best In One of The Most Difficult Times In American History, Or Hitler
Everything about Bedbugs
Maine Family Robinson: It's Time To Be Interested In Houses Again:
I dare you to go to the library and read House Beautiful from 2000. You won’t even be able to stand looking at the typefaces on the pages, never mind the pictures of the houses. It is unwise to set fads into mortar.
How can there be a right to health?
Health? No. In fact, terminal disease is our definite fate - barring horrible accident.
Via Ace's The Illusion of the "Professional" Class and the Rise of the Liberal Aristocracy:
I've long believed that a key failure of modern society is the widespread disdain for honest labor. There should be no shame in doing a "regular" job and doing it well. However, among many there is the assumption that any person who doesn't work in data or abstractions is a dullard.
Ten dumbest tech predictions
Dr. Helen: "Pretty sad when something all teen males fantasize about happening to them is considered a crime."
Via Insty:
VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: The New Sophists. “In 2009, brilliant economists in the Obama administration — Peter Orszag, Larry Summers and Christina Romer — assured us that record trillion-plus budget defects were critical to prevent stalled growth and 10 percent unemployment. For nearly two years we have experienced both, but now with an addition $3 trillion in national debt. All three have quietly either returned to academia or Wall Street. . . . The public might have better believed the deficit nostrums of former budget director Peter Orszag had he not retired after less than two years on the job to position himself for a multimillion-dollar billet at Citigroup — itself a recent recipient of some $25 billion in government bailout funds. Are we to wonder why an angry, grassroots tea party movement spread — or why it was instantly derided by our experts and technocrats as ill-informed or worse?”
AVI has a comment for some of our commenters
Rubin: What would it cost to repeal ObamaCare?
Tanner: What Republicans Can -- And Can't -- Do about ObamaCare
O'Rourke on "Gimme rights" and "Get out of here" rights
Bob Parks: The New York Times: Three-Fifths Of A Newspaper
Bookworm: Reading the Constitution in Congress
Two books I want to re-link:
Vedder's Going Broke by Degree: Why College Costs Too Much
Minogue's The Servile Mind: How Democracy Erodes the Moral Life
Art above by our friend Elissa Gore
Thursday, January 6. 2011
From RailPictures, this pic of the Nevada Northern #93 operating on the Heber Valley Railroad line for the Salt Lake Winter Olympics, near Wildwood, Utah, by G. Brubaker. (That site has over 300,000 rail photos):
Life is a long lesson in humility.
James M. Barrie
Hennessey: The ten most important American economic policy issues of 2010
Pethokoukis: ‘Cut and grow’ is really the only way forward
Why Our Best Officers Are Leaving
McArdle: Commercial Real Estate on the Mend?
Via Neptunus:
"The New York Times is just basically being a mouthpiece for political correctness,” King said, later adding: “These are very legitimate hearings.”
Miller begins:
Feminists began to embrace and promote the legacy of author Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960) in the 1970s, starting with an article by Alice Walker in Ms. magazine. This rescue effort was necessary, according to a pair of Harvard professors in the Chronicle of Higher Education, because Hurston had lapsed into obscurity “probably due to her political views.”
Reb recalls The vicious lie behind the global warming scare
Russian News Discusses Rise of Communism in New York City
Television Losing Ground to the Internet as a Main Source of News
No Pasaran:
...the percentage of the world living poverty is shrinking, and no-one sought Europe’s permission for that to take place.
Volokh: District Court Upholds Stolen Valor Act Again First Amendment Challenge
The value of Facebook: Take the money and run
Anonymous on the internet: Schniederman
Watts: Are huge northeast snow storms due to global warming?
Wednesday, January 5. 2011
From Dr. Ablow:
I now see more clearly than ever that helping people identify and embrace their own beliefs, inclinations, hopes and dreams is essentially helping them embrace God. And if I may have been timid about saying so before, I am no longer.
As we quote more than once in The 7:
You are the temple of God.
 Reader Buddy prompted me to refresh my memory of the Children's Crusades.
While of no historical importance, there is a cautionary tale in the story.
The story begins:
One day in May 1212 there appeared at Saint-Denis, where King Philip of France was holding his court, a shepherd-boy of about twelve years old called Stephen, from the small town of Cloyes in the Orléannais. He brought with him a letter for the King, which, he said, had been given to him by Christ in person, who had appeared to him as he was tending his sheep and who had bidden him go and preach the Crusade. King Philip was not impressed by the child and told him to go home. But Stephen, whose enthusiasm had been fired by his mysterious visitor, saw himself now as an inspired leader who would succeed where his elders had failed. For the past fifteen years preachers had been going round the country-side urging a Crusade against the Moslems of the East or of Spain or against the heretics of Languedoc. It was easy for an hysterical boy to be infected with the idea that he too could be a preacher and could emulate Peter the Hermit, whose prowess had during the past century reached a legendary grandeur. Undismayed by the King's indifference, he began to preach at the very entrance to the abbey of Saint-Denis and to announce that he would lead a band of children to the rescue of Christendom. The seas would dry up before them, and they would pass, like Moses through the Red Sea, safe to the Holy Land.
My girlfriend always laughs during sex - no matter what she's reading.
Steve Jobs
Was going through photos, and liked this one from the lad's Woodstock, VT wedding in Aug. 09.
This is the Simon Pearce factory (and restaurant) in Quechee, where we had the jolly rehearsal dinner. That's the party on the porches. If you wanted to walk around, you could go downstairs and watch the glass-blowing.
Tuesday, January 4. 2011
At Smithsonian. Always wondered how they filled that space with water for the mock sea battles.
This January, the BD family is devoting itself to enjoyable DVD series from Santa. That Ken Burns Jazz series is one (the old photos, film footage, and the music are well-worth it).
And, as part of our planned summer trip, we are alternating the Jazz with Great Ancient Civilizations of Asia Minor and the History of Ancient Egypt.
The Teaching Company has some good sales on right now. You can really pick any random course and find it interesting and life-expanding. Plus, unlike college, you get the best teachers, collected from all over the world. Home schoolers should use these courses. Lots of libraries have them now. Each one comes with a study guide.
We love these courses. Some are fine on audio, but some require the DVDs.
The trip (cruise, that is) for which we are preparing is below (we are only doing the Rome to Athens leg of the voyage, due to time and $ constraints). I have been eager to get back to Turkey.
Do I need a better camera?
A reader sent in this pic of dying, discarded Christmas trees. Mine is still standing proud, outdoors, in its stand in the snow. I hate to let them go.
 Image from Don't Touch My (Area of government intervention Here) Junk
As frustration grows, airports consider ditching TSA
Earthquakes and climate change: Stupidity of the day
Intelligence is for stupid people
Insty noted this Harry Stein Book: I Can't Believe I'm Sitting Next to a Republican: A Survival Guide for Conservatives Marooned Among the Angry, Smug, and Terminally Self-Righteous [Paperback]
Synthstuff reports from the small biz arena
The Alexandria Church Bombing: The Plot Thickens
Iconoclast: Don't blame the West - The 'root causes' of Islamist terrorism do not lie in poverty or western imperialism
In The Arena:
D-Day is coming for Republicans. They can't keep this charade of being the party of fiscal discipline much longer without showing America their plan for cutting the deficit. The won an election without doing it but they can't govern without doing it. They have been big talkers up to this point but no specifics. America awaits how they plan on cutting spending and taxes at the same time and making a dent in the deficit. Maybe it is not their D-Day but their Waterloo.
Reason on Obamacare: The law will penalize doctors to pay patients and penalize patients to pay doctors. A quote:
... the administration is defining Medicare fraud down to include “unnecessary” and “ineffective” care. And to root this out, it plans to make expanded use of private mercenaries—officially called Recovery Audit Contracts—who will be authorized to go to doctors’ offices and rummage through patients’ records, matching them with billing claims to uncover illicit charges. What’s more, Obamacare increases the fine for billing errors from $11,000 per item to $50,000 without the government even having to prove intent to defraud.
This is utter insanity. And it has been caused by the transformation of health care into a government-controlled industry where the natural, self-regulating forces of the market have been badly subverted.
George Will: Sarah Palin Cannot Be Elected President
If she tries to run, she will damage her brand. She's a fine spokesperson, for now. She should run for some other office if she wants to be a pol. I think she's better as a voice in the wilderness.
Salcedo: The Spaghetti Strategy: Advice to Republicans - A strategy to advance freedom by keeping President Obama and his radical appointees on the defensive
Gateway: Russia to Lay Off 200,000 Federal Employees, Cuba to Lay Off 1,000,000 Federal Employees, Obama Hires 25,000 More Federal Employees
Europe starts confiscating private pension funds
Monday, January 3. 2011
 Had a chance this weekend to watch the first CD in this nice Christmas gift. It's an absorbing Ken Burns series (2001), although it can be criticized on several levels.
I like it. I learned that Jazz was first called "Jass music," maybe after the Jasmine perfume the whores wore in the whorehouses in with this music was typically played.
It's about time we re-posted this flooded-woods multi-story duck blind:
 It's Back To Work Monday. Back To Grim Reality, and Back To The Gym At 5:30 AM. If you are just back to Maggie's, and have a moment, please scroll down and catch up on our posts from the past week.
We saw The King's Speech last night. Good stuff. Logue basically functioned as the King's psychotherapist. A fine friendship. It's a shame that the King died so young. His docs advised him to smoke, "for his nerves." Lung cancer.
Mobile phone radiation linked to people jumping to conclusions
NYT: Public Workers Facing Outrage as Budget Crises Grow
FrontPage’s Person of the Year: The Tea Party
She was the single mother who claimed her town was poisoned by its water supply... but was Erin Brockovich wrong?
David Warren: Is history bunk?
VDH: I, I, Me, Me, My, My — for Pacifism!
The Olive Tree Initiative: A Fig Leaf for Anti-Semitism?
Disposing of a new light bulb in Maine — this is not a joke
Spot the political haters
Just Another Radical Obama Appointee
Cathy Davidson, nominated for the National Council on the Humanities, is another in a long line of highly questionable Obama appointees.
Barone: Personal Well-Being Overshadows Income Inequality
...there's little evidence that most Americans begrudge the exceedingly high earnings of the likes of Steve Jobs, Steven Spielberg or J.K. Rowling. We believe they have earned their success and don't see how taking money away from them will make the rest of us better off.
Free markets are great for the creative, ambitious, and energetic. Who would want to de-incentivize those folks? We regular people are in their debt for what they add to life.
Sunday, January 2. 2011
Malanga at City Journal: Pessimism-Proof
One of Alvin Ailey's masterpieces, Revelations - Section 1: Pilgrim of Sorrow.
A redneck was stopped by a game warden in Central Mississippi recently with two ice chests full of fish. He was leaving a cove well-known for its bass.
The game warden asked the man, 'Do you have a license to catch those fish?'
'Naw, sir', replied the redneck. 'I ain't got none of them there licenses. You must understand, these here are my pet fish.'
'Pet fish?'
'Yeah. Every night, I take these here fish down to the lake and let 'em swim 'round for awhile. Then, when I whistle, they jump right back into these here ice chests and I take 'em home.'
'That's a bunch of hooey! Fish can't do that.'
The redneck looked at the warden for a moment and then said, 'It's the truth Mr. Government Man. I'll show ya. It really works.'
'O. K.', said the warden. 'I've got to see this!'
The redneck poured the fish into the lake and stood and waited. After several minutes, the warden says, 'Well?'
'Well, what?' says the redneck.
The warden says, 'When are you going to call them back?'
'Call who back?'
'The FISH,' replied the warden!
'What fish?' replied the redneck.
 iPhone pic of the light show at Saks Fifth Avenue in NYC yesterday, emailed by a friend.
To keep things fair and to level the playing field, there should be a law that all photos in the US must be taken with iPhones. Not fair for some to have better equipment.
The end of Kodachrome (with the song)
Coffee-spew warning - and strong language warning, but it's all in a good cause.
Sheesh. Sounds just like my 7th Grade English teacher.
The Englishman's 7 steps to health in 2011
The most important book of 2010?
Mead takes on the Trinity: Yule Blog 2010: Meaning in Three Dimensions
God is beyond our petty distinctions, boxes, and categories.
Black Bears: This guy is insane
Reckless denial of what "wild" means.
Q&O: The usual "self-absorbed baby-boomers" article
King Coal: The Future Looks A Lot Like The Past
At No Left Turns:
...the American people are in the midst of a serious struggle to figure out what it is that they stand for--what it means to be an American. Obama, Pelosi and Reed have performed the extremely useful service of clarification. We may not fully know what we are, but it is pretty safe to say that after 2010, we certainly know what we are not.
Two Americas: the Americans who want to be given free stuff, and the Americans who do things and make things. The latter just barely out-vote the former - which is to our credit.
How Libs Explain Bush Book Success: It’s Because “He Was So Hated”
Must be why Sarah's books sell so well too - and O'Reilly's.
Via Ross:
By examining ice core samples for the past 10,500 years we learn that approximately 9,100 of the past 10,500 years were warmer than 2010... Thus, regardless of which year ( 1934, 1998, or 2010) turns out to be the warmest of the past century, that year will rank number 9,099 in the long-term list.
Related at Powerline: Relatively Speaking, It's Still Cold
Ron Paul: 'Moral hazard' to keep the scope of big government programs
Via NYM:
Where do I apply? I want to return wampum for Manhattan.
Last Psychiatrist: Taboos Are The Ways Christians Try To Control Us
Timing matters. Burst bubble, and return to normal trendline. Via theo:
97% of climatologists think what?
Radosh: The Second Time is Farce: Frances Fox Piven Calls for a new Cloward-Piven Strategy for Today
From a comment at B&R on Sadie Hawkins online dating:
Here’s my profile: 30 years old; tall 6’3″ male with Doctorate in Finance; recently inherited a substantial sum from my uncle; I’m a loving and caring man who has three shelter dogs and spent his weekends caring for his sick uncle; picked in High School as most likely to succeed in a campaign run exclusively by female students; I’m extremely fit and have continued in sports after winning acclaim at college; I desire an intelligent, progressive minded female; who’s unconcerned with money and seeks to make this world a better place using my base of substantial assets.
Pajamas: The Environmental Protection Agency’s End-Run Around Democracy
Medical care by bureaucrat
For our own good
Insty: More on the higher education bubble
From the drippy Archbishop of Canterbury:
"Whether you're a Christian or belong to another religion or whether you have nothing you'd want to call religion at all, some kind of big picture matters."
Pic reminds me of how thrilled the lad and I were to stand in front of Breughel's large painting in Vienna in August. One of the high points of 2010.
I Like The Christian Life (from Sweetheart of the Rodeo - a wonderful record):
Saturday, January 1. 2011
I meant to re-post this in December. Is it too late?
 Red-neck Yankees wear lined overshirts (like the one in the photo, from Moose Creek) much of the year. Few things are more comfortable, and you don't care what happens to them. They keep you cozy at 50 degrees and at 20 degrees - and lower if you are working hard and moving around.
These things are made for outdoor work. You often need to buy them one size up for layering underneath, depending on your personal size range. They look better and feel softer with some dirt and grease on them, and a small tear or two.
If you want to go a bit upscale from that sort of thing, these are always acceptable (even though they are from LL Bean). They are also made with quilted linings like this for colder weather.
Variants on the theme of overshirts and "shirt-jacs" is this Woolrich wool classic:
Filson's Wool Cape Coat:
A zippered, Windstopper-lined LL Bean Maine Guide wool jacket:
Carhartt's basic canvas, flannel-lined work shirt:
Lined flannel from Woolrich:
Lastly, Caribou Creek quilt-lined, at Cabelas:
Disclosure: Four dump trucks of wool and cotton overshirts were dumped in our Maggie's Farm driveway, blocking all tractor traffic and causing all sorts of problems with the hogs, in exchange for the above post. Please, everybody - Stop giving us free stuff and money! We don't want it! We have enough money and stuff, and it costs money, time, and effort to get rid of excess stuff. Ever try to take a Filson wool cape shirt off a dirty ole 800 lb. hawg who wants to put on airs? Dang.
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