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.
Readers know that I love stinky cheese. Sure, blue cheeses can be stinky but I'm talking about non-blues. For example, Stilton is delicious especially with some Port, but not stinky in my view.
The stinkiest cheese I've ever had was in southern France 18 months ago. At the end of a remarkable meal the Cheese Master came by with his cheese cart. Mrs. BD pointed out to him that I like stinky. He gave me a few small chunks of this and that, then a gooey spoonful of one. He gave me a look like "I dare you."
It smelled like a mix of aged road kill and aged wet dirty socks, a real adventure for the palate. It might have been Epoisses (Napoleon was a huge fan of Epoisses, which was once considered "The King of Cheeses") but I'm not sure. Seemed like that cheese guy was impressed with me because I got a kick out of it.
Scott Adams compared mail-in voting to mail-in drug testing.
That's not a great comparison, but I get his point. Ballot-harvesting has been a big deal in recent years. Nursing homes, subsidized housing, street people, etc.
Boiled meat with onions is of course an ancient food. Now we know how to make it better, especially by adding more interesting flavorings along with the onions. Another thing we know about cooking tough meat (chuck, round, brisket) is that a low simmer is better than boiling.
I like to cook it in our slow-cooker, on low. Yes, it takes hours total but you get plenty of intermission time to get other things done.
My French chef friend learned how to make it in Paris. Yeah. Not all French food is complicated.
Much more difficult to be a legal immigrant. I sure hope these law-breakers are nice people, with means of support, who can enhance our lives. I do need a new electrician
Flocks of Purple Grackles (along with other blackbirds like Cowbirds, Redwings) always pass through on their way north around St. Valentine's Day.
It is still winter but they are rugged. They seem to like marshes at this time of year along with the other species of blackbirds, probably due to snow cover everywhere else.
If you connect in the middle of the podcast, go to the beginning. Yes, even the USA government wants to control media - or does. Does media control our reality? Of course.
Ask Ethan: Why does nature always follow a Bell curve? Almost everything we can observe and measure follows what's known as a normal distribution, or a Bell curve. There's a profound reason why.
While The Road to Serfdom was not an academic text, it was an attempt to state clearly, and with great certainty, that Britain’s leadership class—in its love for planning—was steering the nation in the same direction as Nazi Germany or fascist Italy. To be sure, Hayek argues, Britain in no way resembled or was close to approaching the homicidal mania of Nazi Germany. Yet an intellectual process favoring socialism and planning had been manifest in Britain since he arrived as an émigré in 1931. Once principles are accepted as norms for policy, then their logic begins to run very quickly in official state operations. He who says A must say B...