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.
Our ongoing occasional series from Capt. Tom on his home town -
Samuel McClellan House
Built in 1736, the McClellan House is an example of an early American large farm home. Located across from the S. Woodstock Commons and Codfish Flats (Codfish Flats was an area where farm hands lived in homes provided by wealthy farmers). Its basic structure has remained unchanged since 1736 with the exception of electricity and modern appliances. The roof is still cedar shingles and the frame is post and beam style with massive chestnut beams. The colors are original and were researched extensively by the current owner prior to painting.
Samuel McClellan was a Revolutionary War hero. McClellan raised one of the first Horse Calvary units of the war from Woodstock and the surrounding area. He purchased this home sometime after the French-Indian War - historians believe in 1763.
One point of interest: this home has several examples of Louis XV furniture built into the walls of the home - two dressers and one writing desk.
Editor's comment: I would speculate that the 1736 house is the part on the right, facing the road, and that the later addition off the rear, typical of New England, was cleverly integrated to enhance the original dwelling.
Our universe is only 14 billion years old, in human time. Is our universe just part of a larger system? One dimension of a Multiverse?
Something Wonderful at Vanderleun. Listen to the video with Caltech's Sean Carroll, which only requires intro Physics. Science fiction come to life. It does put life in perspective.
One quote from Carroll re entropy:
"Every time you put milk into your coffee and watch it mix and
realize that you can't unmix that milk from your coffee, you are
learning something profound about the Big Bang, about conditions in the
very, very early universe. This is just a giant clue that the real
universe has given to us to how the fundamental laws of physics work.
We don't yet know how to put that clue to work. We don't know the
answer to the who done it, who is the guilty party, why the universe is
like that."
We tried McDonalds' Angus Burgers on our way into the Indian Summer woods and meadows this weekend. Surprisingly tasty. Give them a try. We bagged a few birds, too.
Here's the lawn of the rustic old Fish and Game club we visited, with clubhouse and barn on the left. It was originally an 1830's roadside inn on a stagecoach route:
The look of the areas we hunted. Many of the field edges are woodland marshes:
I moved this poll back up to the top tonight to see if we can squeeze out any more reader responses -
Besides work, what are the five most frequent places you go to in a normal week?
Bank, post office, minimart, a walk outdoors, hardware store, pub, gym, deli, fish market, supermarket, visit friends, visit boyfriend or girlfriend, hairdresser, church, dock, stable, theater, liquor store, places to eat or to get food, massage parlor - where do you all go most often?
My own list is dull as dishwater reflecting my ordinary life: Post office, minimart or Dunkin Donuts, supermarket, bank, places to eat. That's about it, and then there are plenty of places I go to around once a week.
From The Atlanticarticle The Science of Success(h/t, reader):
Most of us have genes that make us as hardy as dandelions: able to take root and survive almost anywhere. A few of us, however, are more like the orchid: fragile and fickle, but capable of blooming spectacularly if given greenhouse care. So holds a provocative new theory of genetics, which asserts that the very genes that give us the most trouble as a species, causing behaviors that are self-destructive and antisocial, also underlie humankind’s phenomenal adaptability and evolutionary success. With a bad environment and poor parenting, orchid children can end up depressed, drug-addicted, or in jail—but with the right environment and good parenting, they can grow up to be society’s most creative, successful, and happy people.
It's an interesting article about the interaction of genes and the environment in primates, but I'm not sure what's so new about it: I thought it was fairly well accepted that variation in personality and behavioral tendencies, like any genetic variations in any species, enhance the adaptability of that species.
What follows is a general theory of natural climate variation supported by observation of the changing temperature of the atmosphere and the sea between 1948 and September 2009. This work suggests that strong warming after 1978 is an entirely natural phenomenon.
“Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun. The sun is much too sultry and one must avoid its ultry violet rays”. Noel Coward 1932.
Perhaps Noel Coward’s observation is particularly pertinent in the southern hemisphere where there is less ozone to absorb UVB. During the warming mode, protective ice crystals evaporate, allowing the surface to warm. Most of the warming activity post 1978 has been in the southern hemisphere in late winter and spring. This warming activity is plainly driven by shifts in atmospheric pressure affecting vortex activity. There are two climate modes:
The Warming Mode:
There is a shift of the atmosphere from the poles towards mid and low latitudes under electromagnetic forcing of ionized air.
Weakening of the polar vortexes curtails the flow of ionized nitrogen into the upper stratosphere allowing the survival of oxygen ions and increased ozone formation.
Intermixing of ozone into the upper troposphere raises temperature in the ice cloud zone. Ice crystals evaporate. More solar radiation reaches the surface which warms.
In the southern hemisphere 200hpa temperature rises much more than in the northern hemisphere exhibiting strong equinoctial maxima. Peak anomalies in stratospheric temperature occur in September-October rather than March.
A southern spring deficit in ice cloud density promotes warming across all southern latitudes which promotes the El Nino pattern of sea surface temperature at the equator.
The Cooling Mode
Surface atmospheric pressure increases at the poles as the electromagnetic force in the ionosphere/thermosphere relaxes. This happens at solar minimum as the quantum of ionizing radiation falls to its lowest levels. It also tends to happen at solar maximum as the suns magnetic polarity reverses and magnetic fields emanating from the sun tend to be self cancelling. The manifestation in the Pacific Ocean is La Nina cooling.
Strengthening of the polar vortexes introduces ionized nitrogen into the stratosphere reducing the population of oxygen ions and ozone. A loss of ozone in the ice cloud zone reduces temperature enhancing the formation of reflective ice crystals. Less solar radiation reaches the surface which cools.
A generally low ozone level in the stratosphere results in high amplitude change in stratospheric temperature during the ENSO cycle. This is expressed in high amplitude variation in 20hpa temperature at the equator. At the surface the swing from El Nino warming to La Nina cooling is more violent and extreme.
Change is more extreme in the southern hemisphere where the polar vortex is generally cooler especially at the highest altitudes. In the cool mode stratospheric temperature exhibits a March maximum probably in line with enhancement of orbital rather than geomagnetic influences on stratospheric temperature. The earth is closest to the sun in January.
A cooler stratosphere and upper troposphere in southern spring promotes ice cloud formation reducing the flux of solar radiation to the surface establishing a La Nina dominant regime in the Pacific Ocean.
The pattern of change from the cool to the warm mode and back again is well expressed in figure 22 showing the pattern of change of the (Darwin ?Tahiti) Southern Oscillation Index when compartmentalized according to solar cycle time intervals. A fall in this index represents warming. A dramatic fall in the index occurred about 1978. With the end of solar cycle 23 the globe is emerging from the strongest period of warming in the period of the instrumental record. The Southern Oscillation Index, based on barometric pressure, is not affected by the distortions present in the temperature record.
The smoking gun for natural climate variation is an increase in the temperature of the southern stratosphere and troposphere increasing with latitude all the way to the southern pole with a marked variation in southern hemisphere temperature in winter/spring between cool and warm episodes. This determines the strength of El Nino warming events across the tropics.
The smoking gun for greenhouse effects should be a generalized warming at all latitudes without any marked seasonal bias. If there were to be a seasonal bias it should be present as an increase in temperature above the norm when outgoing long wave radiation is maximal in the summer season. There should be no great difference between the hemispheres. That is far from what is actually observed. The evidence suggests that natural variation rather than anthropogenic influences drives climate change.
"We're not going to solve the economic problems until we get rid of people like Chris Dodd. As long as Dodd is in there writing regulation, the economy is never going to recover, and more and more people are going to lose their jobs"
Whither government in America, ask the people? How much should we allow it to do for us without losing something essential that makes us who we are? Are we really all that different of a people from everyone else on the planet? Is there an identifiable “American character” that sets us apart?
Our ancestors certainly thought so. Alexis de Tocqueville agreed. Indeed, it may be out of fashion to talk about the basis of our Constitution, but if we ever forget the idea that all power flows from the consent of the governed and not the other way around, we are doomed to suffer a significant loss of personal freedom simply because government can do pretty much whatever it chooses to do unless the people withhold their consent. There hasn’t been a lot of that these last 40 years and government’s ravenous appetite to do what all governments, once created, and regardless of who is in charge, seek to do - control - has gotten out of hand.
This despite the best of intentions of government’s major cheerleaders, and their belief that society can be perfected with the application of the principles of social science; seek out root causes of society’s problems and address them.
13:1 As he came out of the temple,
one of his disciples said to him, "Look, Teacher, what large stones and what
large buildings!"
13:2 Then Jesus asked him, "Do you see these great
buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown
down."
13:3 When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the
temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately,
13:4 "Tell
us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about
to be accomplished?"
13:5 Then Jesus began to say to them, "Beware that
no one leads you astray.
13:6 Many will come in my name and say, 'I am
he!' and they will lead many astray.
13:7 When you hear of wars and
rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to
come.
13:8 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against
kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines.
This is but the beginning of the birthpangs.
Good grief. Never thought I'd see the day that an American Pres would put on a Mao jacket. It sends a peculiar message. I would wear a tutu before I'd put on one of those - except maybe for Halloween.
(Re the bows, there was a time when gentlemen's bowing to eachother in America was a sign of respect, but it was replaced more than 100 years ago by the more dignified handshake. A bow is basically a symbol of submission.)
If somebody wants to run against the O, it would not be hard to put together a disturbing photo montage of a person who seems to respect any nation more highly than his own.
Hey, Obama has just nationalized nothing more and nothing less than General
Motors. Comrade Obama! Fidel, careful or we are going to end up to his
right,” - Venezuelan “president” Hugo
Chavez
We have asked our friend Capt. Tom Francis to share some photos and info about his home town of Woodstock, CT. (Maybe in April we'll invite him to write about trout fishing in New England, as he is a fresh and salt-water fishing guide.)
Here's his first offering -
Roseland Cottage.
Built by Henry Chandler Bowen in 1846 - a local resident who made his fortune in New York City - Roseland Cottage, also known as "The Pink House", is located in Woodstock, CT. Designed by Andrew Jackson Dowling whose design concepts stressed the practical as well as the aesthetic. It's exterior design is called Gothic Revival. I wouldn't know Gothic Revival from Greasy Gravy, but that's what I've been told.
Roseland Cottage also has original Lincrusta wall coverings produced by Fredrick Walton of Walton Linoleum fame. The Lincrusta process produces embossed coverings made from linseed oil and wood flour on linen.
Bowen was an ardent abolitionist, Congregationalist, and Republican. He often entertained many of the heavy hitters of the day including Presidents - most notably President U.S. Grant who was enchanted by the in-home bowling alley. Bowen was known for his philanthropy and he had a huge impact on Woodstock and local towns. More on Bowen later in the series.
A friend of mine was on the set for that 1973 movie, Pat Garret and Billy the Kid. He asked somebody who the weird, silent guy on the set was with his head covered with a sweatshirt hood or a hat, always sitting under a tree with a guitar. He was told "Oh, that's Bob Dylan." My friend, a Dylan fan, decided to leave the guy alone because he did not exactly appear to welcome interaction.
The first live performance of "Billy," March 2009. I like the age in this old voice:
We at Maggie's would very much enjoy having more commenters, but we know that it takes time to do so and most people (including me) just like to read what other people post on their sites without taking the time to participate.
On the other hand, we have been struggling over the past week with off-topic, hostile, intrusive, overly-personal and basically uncivilized comments which have forced me to delete a couple of nice posts because of the obnoxious and immature comment threads. I do not have time to monitor these things. We have Rules for Commenters, but a good rule of thumb is not to say anything you would not say at a nice dinner party.
(We do not mind the occasional off-topic comment if its purpose is to inform us or our readers of something.)
Final warning:
We are a sort-of upscale eclectic site with a Centrist, traditionalist, normal-American orientation, and not a Centrist version of Daily Kos. We welcome civil and informed disagreement and correction. We aren't a political site and are not classified as one, even though we do take our American civic duties and interests seriously.
Be civil, mannerly, respectful, funny, thoughtful, appreciative, or informative. Otherwise, take out your personal issues elsewhere.
Update: Thanks for all of the supportive comments. Good to hear from y'all.
As for the actual content of the House healthcare bill, horrors! Where to begin? That there are serious deficiencies and injustices in the U.S. healthcare system has been obvious for decades. To bring the poor and vulnerable into the fold has been a high ideal and an urgent goal for most Democrats. But this rigid, intrusive and grotesquely expensive bill is a nightmare. Holy Hygeia, why can't my fellow Democrats see that the creation of another huge, inefficient federal bureaucracy would slow and disrupt the delivery of basic healthcare and subject us all to a labyrinthine mass of incompetent, unaccountable petty dictators? Massively expanding the number of healthcare consumers without making due provision for the production of more healthcare providers means that we're hurtling toward a staggering logjam of de facto rationing. Steel yourself for the deafening screams from the careerist professional class of limousine liberals when they get stranded for hours in the jammed, jostling anterooms of doctors' offices. They'll probably try to hire Caribbean nannies as ringers to do the waiting for them.
Our universe is only 14 billion years old, in human time. Is our universe just part of a larger system? One dimension of a Multiverse?
Erl Happ, via 
We at Maggie's would very much enjoy having more commenters, but we know that it takes time to do so and most people (including me) just like to read what other people post on their sites without taking the time to participate.
