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.
We had a not-charming drive through Paterson, NJ on Saturday while trying to map out plans for my father-in-law's funeral events.
I told my brother I would not drive through that city (pop 157,000) again without a firearm and/or a police escort. This once entirely safe and prosperous east coast city (like Bridgeport, Hartford, or Waterbury CT) has become a frightening and dangerous place. Filthy too. Garbage on streets, emply storefronts, stumbling addicts, and worse.
OK, I am a privileged white guy with a nice car with out of state plates. It is interesting how quickly these medium-sized cities met their downfalls. I'm not sure I can even blame politicians for it. Economics. Mrs. BD said it's like a 3rd world place and I said it was worse than Haiti. 4th world. Tons of Moslem immigrants, but they are not the problem although I noticed the storefront Moslem places collecting goods for the Palestinians. OK - I get tribalism. Normal. I did not dare take a photo, but I was driving anyway - to Totowa.
There are large parts of New Jersey that are comfortable, even lovely suburban and rural areas, but sheesh. Montclair is very pleasant, and only minutes from NYC by train.
Poet and physician William Carlos Williams wrote his masterpiece Paterson, of which Book 1 is the most worth checking out. It is termed "imagist" writing, but what writing is not?
Of course it did. However, I am a fan of the idea of adults letting their kids hear "classical" music from the earliest. I think it gets the brain used to processing complex music.
Nothing wrong having with folk music either. I think of Pop music, Jazz, Blues as subcategories of folk music.
Best thing? Give kids a chance to learn to sing or play some instruments. Odds are they, like me, have no talent but it's a good thing anyway.
2:2 in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient.
2:3 All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else.
2:4 But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us
2:5 even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved--
2:6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
2:7 so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God--
2:9 not the result of works, so that no one may boast.
2:10 For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.
Now, Ivy League colleges like Cornell and the University of Pennsylvania have decided to stop publishing the Dean’s List – a recognition of those students who worked hard to achieve academic excellence – to reduce “stress and competition.”
20:2 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery;
20:3 you shall have no other gods before me.
20:4 You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
20:5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me,
20:6 but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.
20:7 You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.
20:8 Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.
20:9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work.
20:10 But the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall not do any work--you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns.
20:11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.
20:12 Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
20:13 You shall not murder.
20:14 You shall not commit adultery.
20:15 You shall not steal.
20:16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
20:17 You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
We like our inboard Yanmar diesel, but outboards have become the thing these days. Multiple outboards, in fact. Three or four 200 hp outboards cost a lot more than a diesel engine.
I kinda like the diesel rumble, like a commercial fishing boat, but it is loud. Unlike a commercial boat, we are improving the engine sound insulation on ours right now.
More Evidence That COVID School Closures Wrecked Student Performance. California's poorly served public school students need more than a few more dollars diverted to tutoring programs. They need an escape hatch.
I’m a lean dog, a keen dog, a wild dog, and lone; I’m a rough dog, a tough dog, hunting on my own; I’m a bad dog, a mad dog, teasing silly sheep; I love to sit and bay the moon, to keep fat souls from sleep.
I’ll never be a lap dog, licking dirty feet, A sleek dog, a meek dog, cringing for my meat, Not for me the fireside, the well-filled plate, But shut door, and sharp stone, and cuff and kick, and hate.
Not for me the other dogs, running by my side, Some have run a short while, but none of them would bide. O mine is still the lone trail, the hard trail, the best, Wide wind, and wild stars, and hunger of the quest!”
Scott Adams claims that there is no reality accessible to humans. It's all narrative.
OK, it is hyperbole but I am sympathetic to his point, being a pathological skeptic. Scott also likes to imagine that we live in a simulation, which is an interesting narrative.
How to Cook Salmon So It Always Comes Out Perfectly - 
North Face's 
Polar bears and coral reefs 
Police Warn Women