Sunday, October 27. 2019
Jeremiah 14:7-10, 19-22
14:7 Although our iniquities testify against us, act, O LORD, for your name's sake; our apostasies indeed are many, and we have sinned against you.
14:8 O hope of Israel, its savior in time of trouble, why should you be like a stranger in the land, like a traveler turning aside for the night?
14:9 Why should you be like someone confused, like a mighty warrior who cannot give help? Yet you, O LORD, are in the midst of us, and we are called by your name; do not forsake us!
14:10 Thus says the LORD concerning this people: Truly they have loved to wander, they have not restrained their feet; therefore the LORD does not accept them, now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins.
14:19 Have you completely rejected Judah? Does your heart loathe Zion? Why have you struck us down so that there is no healing for us? We look for peace, but find no good; for a time of healing, but there is terror instead.
14:20 We acknowledge our wickedness, O LORD, the iniquity of our ancestors, for we have sinned against you.
14:21 Do not spurn us, for your name's sake; do not dishonor your glorious throne; remember and do not break your covenant with us.
14:22 Can any idols of the nations bring rain? Or can the heavens give showers? Is it not you, O LORD our God? We set our hope on you, for it is you who do all this.
From a pal and reader skiing in Loveland, Colorado yesterday on a bluebird day. His comment: "Life is worth living."
Saturday, October 26. 2019
Blake was one of a kind. He completed his formal education at age 10 and became an engraver. However, later he attended the Royal Academy of Art for a while. Contemporaries thought he was mad. He had a wonderful life.
Via American Digest and Dinocrat, ‘To Particularize is the Alone Distinction of Merit’: Blake’s Visionary Imagination
Image is Blake's Ghost of a Flea
Nice townhouses between Mad Ave and 5th in the 60s
Thursday, October 24. 2019
I have several full-size Audubon prints from the last "elephant" folio. Now you can get his pictures online. At Am. Digest, The Plates of Birds of America, Audubon’s Masterpiece Are Now Yours.
Audubon had a great time in the USA. A hero of mine. He was a fine diarist too. He also became a heck of a shot. What many do not know is that one reason his bird images are often in awkward positions is that he generally painted them from specimens he had shot.
As an aside, Roger Tory Peterson's prints are excellent too. Audubon was, of course, an inspiration to him. No dead birds.
Wednesday, October 23. 2019
I know that few of our fitness buff readers follow the Maggie's excellent fitness protocol, but that's fine. Whatever makes ya miserable and stressed while doing, but glad you did afterwards.
(Readers know, ad nauseum, that we recommend 2 days of heavy weights, 2 days of pure cardio, 2 days of calisthenics, and a day of some recreational sports or hiking, etc. We feel road-running is hell on joints.)
Gotta move, every day, with effort. Alternative is decay. Just our opinion, though.
My "cardio"- dedicated days (about 2-2 1/2 hrs/wk) include random mixtures of HIIT and "long, slow" recovery. To avoid boredom, I mix it up a lot with elliptical, treadmill runs, jump rope, rower sprints, stair machine, etc. The episodic intensity is what makes it all time-effective. I do not swim because pools gross me out.
( For an unnecessary reminder, Cardio means stressing the heck out of heart muscle, enough to force it to strengthen, to grow new blood vessels, and thus to increase vigor and to help survive the first heart attack. Also for general endurance.)
Anyway, I'm interested in knowing what readers do for the pure cardio component of their fitness efforts.
Tuesday, October 22. 2019
Scientists 'may have crossed ethical line' in growing human brains
Biological Male Dominates at Women’s Masters Track Cycling World Championships – Wins Gold Medal
Why not let everybody compete together? Then you can get the best of every human flavor. Like marathons.
The Kenyan ghost writers doing 'lazy' Western students' work
Gov. Cuomo signs bill outlawing elephant performances
How about banning politician performances?
The “Supermarket Sweep” - Addiction and decriminalization fuel a West Coast shoplifting boom.
Unexpected?
The Clintons Coined The Phrase ‘Safe, Legal And Rare,’ But Abortion Activists Say This Is Stigmatizing
The American Melting Pot Isn’t Quite So Melty Anymore
Rand Paul: Rising Support for Socialism Among American Youth Is ‘Mind-Boggling’
Not really. Transitioning to independence is difficult for many.
An Opponent of Due Process for the Supreme Court?
The Supreme Court Is Poised to Strike Down a Major Obama-Era Agency
Good
Supreme Court will take on 'fourth branch' of bureaucracies
All Nine House Intelligence Committee Republicans: Adam Schiff is Playing Games and Withholding Evidence
Hillary Now Blaming The DNC For Her Loss To Trump…
JUDICIAL WATCH: NEW BENGHAZI DOCUMENTS CONFIRM CLINTON EMAIL COVER-UP
Beto O’Rourke: ‘This Country… Is Still Racist At Its Foundation, At Its Core’ - Still auditioning for that MSNBC gig.
USA Today's Print Edition May Be Another Casualty of Dying Media - The buried lede is that the media is struggling to survive. And so it's going to war.
The New York Times Gets Neoclassicals, Austrians, And Schumpter Wrong...All In One Article
Like Him or Not, Trump is Uniquely Suited for Such a Time as This
Trump's Labeling of 'Fake News' Was an Understatement
CNN ANALYST JEFFREY TOOBIN SAYS HE REGRETS TALKING ABOUT CLINTON EMAILS
He didn't get the memo
Larry C. Johnson: FBI-DOJ Likely to Throw the CIA and Clapper Under the Bus
Barr Approved Expanded Scope Of Durham Probe — To Include Clapper And Brennan
It took too long to find Barr
About the Turks and the Kurds
Elizabeth Warren threatens Israel with aid cutoff but slammed Trump for cutting off aid to Palestinians
An ignorant question: Why does Israel need US aid, and why does US aid the Palis?
Monday, October 21. 2019
Photo: Lobby floral displays this week at the Met Museum. Some rich lady endowed their flowers, years ago and they are always worth atthention.
New York’s glorious Frick Collection does not deserve its planned mutilation.
Most U.S. Dairy Cows Are Descended From Just 2 Bulls. That's Not Good
The Rothschild's Downton Abbey
This is where the FAA does its tests to determine minimum dimensions for plane seats
Public university tells professors not to grade based on merit
Investigated for Not Having Sex With a Tranny
Who Needs Women’s Sports Anyway?
Hundreds Of Fans Protest NBA/China At Nets-Raptors Game In Brooklyn
Ex-NFL star Jack Brewer: Why Trump policies are secretly loved by most liberals (even if they won’t admit it)
Trump's Labeling of 'Fake News' Was an Understatement
CIA Analysts Lawyer Up As Brennan, Clapper Ensnared In Expanding Russiagate Probe
Mifsud’s Phones Obtained by Durham Have UK Sim Cards Tying Them to the UK — AND BACK TO JOHN BRENNAN
Hunter Biden got $83G per month for Ukraine 'ceremonial' gig: report
Beto O'Rourke Announces Support for Menstrual Equity Act on National Period Day
AOC: We Must Have The Government Control Things, So We Can Be More Free
Warren’s Plan To Tax What She Can’t Ban
"I Stand Against Everything She Represents" - Gabbard Hammers Tired, Sick, Fragile Hillary
Catfights are sort of fun
Crenshaw discusses border issues
How the Sinaloa Cartel Bested the Mexican Army
Socialist Tyranny, Genocidal Muslim Tyranny, Slave State and Libya Win UN Human Rights Council Seats
Trump is Right: Ending the Endless Wars Starts in Syria - The neocon consensus has brought nothing but disaster. If the president wants to chart another course, we should support him.
What Trump Actually Gets Right About Syria
China’s Maritime Strategic Challenge
Sunday, October 20. 2019
Pic from of MAGA Caffeteria from my urban hike around Ostia outside Rome.
"Ostia" is the mouth, the area of the old Roman port. About 25 minutes from the airport, 20 by ambulance.
No foreigners visit Ostia. It's a Roman middle-class and working-class suburb south of Rome on one of the commuter trains. Its 3 miles of beach on the Med (The Lido) attract less-wealthy Romans in summer for beach getaways. It has a half-mile of spartan hotels, one of which I stayed in (Hotel Bellavista) for 5 days while Mrs. BD was in Ospidale Grassi about a 30-minute walk from my hotel. No fluffy towels.
This was an accidental visit by this accidental tourist. (Mrs. BD fainted on the plane to Rome - face plant - and fractured some facial bones. Dangerous to her eye, and she looked by post-car crash.) While stuck inside of Mobile with the Memphis blues, I did spend one day hiking Ostia and getting lost and hiking the beach with my trousers rolled up like T S Eliot, took the train to Rome to urban hike one day, took train to Ostia Antica (do not miss that visit when near Rome) and had a wonderful day there until it closed.
So before I post some photos of Ostia Antica later (a truly magnificent ruin of a Roman port city, just 3 train stops from Ostia, an hour from Rome) I thought I'd post some fun observations about some aspects of the real, non-tourist Italy. Remember, Rome is sort-of on the edge of northern and southern Italy, and a blend of both cultures but more southern than northern. I've been to Rome several times. Once is enuf in my view. Fun stuff below the fold (BTW, Mrs. BD is just fine now)
Continue reading "Reposted from one year ago because I wanted to relive it, sort-of: Notes from an accidental tourist, with MAGA. What is Ostia, and what is Real Italy like?"
Psalm 121
121:1 I lift up my eyes to the hills-- from where will my help come?
121:2 My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
121:3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber.
121:4 He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
121:5 The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade at your right hand.
121:6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.
121:7 The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.
121:8 The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and forevermore.
Packed with walkers, runners, bikers, lovers, families, dogs, and tourists. A happy, vibrant place, gives me delight.
That's 5th Ave. in the 70s, Central Park on the left.
Saturday, October 19. 2019
Happy Halloween! Annual ‘Offensive’ Costume Bans Begin, Starting With Michigan State University
‘Pass the iPad’: ‘American Families’ Data Explored
NYT: Why Don’t Rich People Just Stop Working?
What an idiot. Guy's never heard of the work ethic. Link via Althouse
‘Start Your Day With Maximum Gay:’ Kellogg’s Launches LGBT Cereal
Men’s Magazine GQ Introduces New Insane Issue Undermining Masculinity
And Now, A Musical Tribute To Cancel Culture
New California Law Targeting Uber and Lyft Will Destroy Freelance Writing Industry
Why short selling is so important
WSJ: Electricity Doesn’t Light Up the Soul - Secular humanism was full of promise. Now it’s having an existential crisis.
As Confucius Institutes shutter, Chinese spies in the US hold steady
Watch: Kat Timpf Responds to NYT Piece ‘Free Speech Is Killing Us’
Government Help Will Never Be Enough - Transforming the lives of struggling people requires personal commitment and willingness to change one’s perspective—not more “free stuff.”
Hysterical reaction to AG Barr's landmark speech at Notre Dame
Wait, What… DOJ Has Possession of Joseph Mifsud Cell Phones (Blackberries)?…
The Greatness of Donald Trump - You can judge him by the real “deplorables” — with enemies like his, the greatness flows naturally.
Not necessary to like his personality
Maneuvering To Force The U.S. To Accept Immigrants Who Will Become Public Charges
About a mile of new wall built each day along Mexico border, Pentagon says
Who knew?
Mike Rowe Gives Devastating Summary Of Democratic Candidates’ Economic Agenda
Impeachment Becomes A Psychodrama Of the Press
WaPo Admits State Department Official Raised Alarms In 2015 Over Hunter Biden's Ukraine Business, But Was Ignored
John Durham Now Has Two Blackberries Used by Russian (???) Agent Joseph Misfud, Who Incepted The Idea of Asking About Hillary's Emails Into George Papadopolous
Unhinged Retired Admiral and Clinton Loyalist Calls for Coup of President Trump: Remove Trump from Office ‘The Sooner the Better’
Not a good look for a military guy
The U.S. is the No. 1 most generous country in the world for the last decade
Don’t Romanticize the Kurds
Just because we helped them in a tribal war, do we have to love them forever? Sheesh, we only had 25 troops there.
Congress Just Begging for Another Quagmire War
So much for Trump being a threat to world peace
Move the summit, Mr. President
Wrong. It's Trump's house - home field advantage. Plus all the guests will want to play the famous Doral golf course
When you sit in the blind awaiting the flight Of the white-breasted northern sprig, While they circle high and think to light, And they look so close and big, You whisper your pard, as you both crouch low, Now! Don't wait too long! You shoot too far and off they go; Whatever you do is wrong!
Then you curse yourself for a fool greenhorn, Your pride has had a blow; Sullen you sit and smoke and mourn, When in comes a bunch, fair low! You watch them circle round and round, Just let them work along! When off they swing, southward bound; Whatever you do is wrong!
And so, through life, a poor wretch tries To do what he thinks is right, To place his funds so that when he dies His family'll be sitting tight; To raise the young with the best in mind, And sometimes it works like a song, But often he finds like the man in the blind, Whatever you do is wrong!
Still, I think that the God who sits in His sky, And watches each man in his blind, When it comes time for the hunter to die, Surely, He'll keep in mind That each tried to do what it seemed he ought, And He'll put us where we belong; For He'll understand the fellow that thought Whatever he did was wrong!
Friday, October 18. 2019
"[M]y duty as a songwriter is not to try to save the world, but rather to save the soul of the world. This requires me to live my life on the other side of truth, beyond conviction and within uncertainty, where things make less sense, absurdity is a virtue and art rages and burns; where dogma is anathema, discourse is essential, doubt is an energy, magical thinking is not a crime and where possibility and potentiality rule."
- Songwriter Nick Cave. Full context at Althouse
Thursday, October 17. 2019
Tautog is a popular fish for recreational fishers - not really a sporty fish but a dining fish. It's no surprise that they are tasty because they live on molluscs and crustaceans. These guys (they are a Wrasse) live mainly from Cape Cod to Chesapeake Bay.
There's a limited keeping season for them: April, and then mid-Oct to mid November.
They are bottom-feeders, partial to rocky bottoms, underwater structure. Green crabs and clams are the best bait.
From a piece on Blackfish - Throw the big ones back:
Tautog (Tautoga onitis), also known as blackfish, have a lifestyle that promotes a long life: they eat crabs and shellfish, sleep all winter, and in the summer they rest every night and have sex every day.
Not a bad life. In youth, I would catch a few off the wreck outside Wellfleet Harbor. The one in the photo is huge, probably should be tossed back to breed but you can tell from that gal's face that she wants to eat it.
Wednesday, October 16. 2019
I am certain I was the oldest guy in our morning Athletic Conditioning class early this morning. Somebody has to be eldest but I am not elderly. Anyway, we did it in the parking lot, 36 guys and gals of all ages and all levels of fitness. At this point, I keep up with most of the gals but not all the guys, many of whom can sprint past me, especially the high school kids. That sucks for me but I have determination.
The thing is that everybody sort-of bonds in these classes in their efforts, like boot camp. Everybody makes it fun and cheers on each other, even the laggards.
I had two thoughts about today's exercise party. First, calisthenic-type exercise is much more fun in groups. Everybody works harder, not competitively but inspirationally. Second, avoiding groups and social isolation truly do make people insane in a way by providing no societal reality testing. Or maybe people isolate to protect their personal insanity from outside reality checks. You have to learn where you stand, and how you connect. That thought was from one of Peterson's sentences, but I saw that even something like an exercise class is a social and socially-correcting event.
This morning's exercise routines below the fold -
Continue reading "Life in America, and Exercise Encouragement for our readers, re-posted from a past Saturday"
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