Maggie's FarmWe 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. |
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Wednesday, February 6. 2019Wednesday linksCool video: Extreme upland hunting Proof that upland hunting is done with legs, not firearms Earth’s Magnetic North Pole keeps moving about and it could be a problem I blame climate change Feds Spend $228,636 to Find Out Why Obese Lesbians Binge Eat San Francisco Facial Recognition Ban Proposed - It's a good idea that libertarians should applaud. Keep fraudulent science out of our courtrooms Massive new diversity initiative at San Diego State combats faculty microaggressions, bias Things must be bad there Mexican Government Provided 50 Buses to Transport Recent Honduran Migrant Caravan to Texas Border Funny how MeToo isn't piling on a Dem The party of illegal immigration:
Trump, like Apple, has smashed the status quo Ann Althouse: That was damn near perfect. So upbeat, full of optimism. The singing of “Happy Birthday” was a unique moment. Beautiful. And she dislikes Trump, I believe Both CBS and CNN Polls: 76 Percent of Viewers Approve President Trump’s State of the Union Speech; CBS: 72 Percent Approve His Immigration Ideas Greenfield: A HEROIC AMERICAN STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS - President Trump divides those who believe in America from those who don’t. SOTU: Trump calls on Congress to put drug and human traffickers out of business at the border. Kamala Harris shakes her head ‘no’ CNN attempting to keep their 92% negative coverage intact. They are talking to ignorant liberals who didn't watch the speech. CNN actually called it a low energy, devisive , poorly given speech. ( what were they watching ?) There was nothing negative about it - unless you hate America and hate success. 76% positive poll says Trump won over 25% of Democrats. The other 24% will hate anything he does, even though they benefit - simply because they can't stand that Hillary lost. Stacey Abrams SOTU Response Was Bizarre (And It's Based on Lies) In Venezuela’s Slums, Police Murder Anti-Maduro Protesters In The Streets Marco Rubio: The Truth About B.D.S. and the Lies About My Bill. The goal of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement is to eliminate any Jewish state between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. The Palestinians: Who Really Cares?
One more post on The Speech
And from Kimball:
Tuesday, February 5. 2019Tuesday morning linksColorado man fights off, kills mountain lion during trail run, suffers serious injuries Juvenile lions are as stupid as runners in lion country Anti-Catholicism Lives Loudly in Democrats Rampant political correctness has pretty much overridden quaint notions of academic freedom in America’s educational institutions. Cuomo announces income tax revenues have dropped by $2.3B Drive the rich away. Brilliant. Cheerleading Infanticide Might Just Be The Tipping Point For Democrats Democrats’ Inexorable Abortion Logic Has Finally Caught Up With Them - From unrestricted late-term abortions to infanticide, Democrats are now facing the consequences of a position that never had a limiting principle. What Progressive positions have limiting principles? The road to Utopia is long. Peterson: It’s ideology vs. science in psychology’s war on boys and men. The coup of the American Psychological Association undertaken by the ideologues is now complete:
The Left Has Decided Wealth Is Just Evil How Far Left Will the Democrats Lurch in 2020? Williamson: Big Biz is the future of the US Massive Migrant Caravan Expected to Reach Texas Border Monday or Tuesday The GOP Foreign Policy Resistance Against Trump. Rank-and-file Republicans have been loyal to the president’s agenda. But on foreign policy, party leaders are working to undermine the commander-in-chief’s isolationist tendencies. He's not isolationist. Related, How Trump Is Changing The Democrats Whatever it is, they're against it. If Trump wants peace, they want war Trump’s Convoluted Foreign Policy Statements To CBS Venezuela’s Path from 4th to 82nd Wealthiest Nation From a devoted Lefty: The Bolivarian God That Failed The Rich Kids of Venezuela - including Socialist revolution leader Hugo Chavez’s daughter - flaunt their wealth with fist-fulls of cash and lavish holidays while the nation starves Monday, February 4. 2019Monday morning linksThe Day the Music Died: 60 years since that fateful plane crash, Buddy Holly’s rock’n’roll legacy lives on Vanderleun's Mom turns 104 Death-Cap Mushrooms Are Spreading Across North America - “There’s nothing in the taste that tells you what you are eating is about to kill you.” Today, we generate around 55 million tons of discarded electronics every year. Shapiro: Hijacking Holocaust Remembrance Day Washington D.C. Now Has an ‘Inspector’ to Enforce the Ban on Plastic Straws Why FDR Didn’t Support Eleanor Roosevelt’s Anti-Lynching Campaign - President Franklin D. Roosevelt feared losing Southern support for his New Deal legislation. Progressive Hampshire College Reduces Fall 2019 Incoming Freshman Class, Continued Viability in Doubt Professor Suspended, Again, For Asking Students To Be Respectful In Class Protest And Counter-Protests Held Over Pennsylvania Library’s ‘Drag Queen Storytime’ Who is getting rich off you? The insidious big data economy. Where is your data now? Follow the money. Is the news biz old and busted? Time For Humility For The Davos Elite Walter Williams: Demonizing White Men How to Destroy the Bill of Rights: Start with the 9th and 10th Amendments ‘Trump Anxiety Disorder’: A psychologist explains how the president is making America sick Jussie Smollett Story Enters Twilight Zone Ralph Northam And The New Puritans The most shocking part of the racist yearbook photo is what critics leave out Flashback: Northam Campaign Ad Shows Racists in a Pickup Truck with Confederate Flags Running Over Screaming Minority Children This Is CNN: Network Thought Dem VA Governor Embroiled In Racist Yearbook Fiasco Was A Republican Gowdy Roasts Rep. Adam Schiff After His Trump Jr. Conspiracy Theory Goes Down in Flames Trump Delivers For Workers … After Years Of Empty Obama Promises Venezuelan general urges military to disavow Maduro as opposition stages rallies Sunday, February 3. 2019From today's Lectionary: The greatest of these is love1 Corinthians 13:1-13 13:1 If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 13:2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 13:3 If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. 13:4 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 13:5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 13:6 it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 13:7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 13:8 Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. 13:9 For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; 13:10 but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. 13:11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. 13:12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. 13:13 And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love. Saturday, February 2. 2019Life in America: Two operas
Not a big-time Debussy fan, but Mrs. BD is so I gave her tix for Pelleas at the Met for Christmas, with a light supper at a little trattoria on Columbus on Thurs. night - Il Violino. Cozy. Excellent home-made fluffy gnocchi. But not only was Pelleas unbearably tedious but was also 4 hours including intermissions. We got out at 11:30 and home God knows when. It beats me why this is considered a great, innovative piece. It's one endless tone poem, and the plot - and the libretto - are so dull that I can't find words for it. "The sun is going down." "Yes, see it going down over the sea." Perhaps we two are too unsophisticated? So as we walked down the red-carpeted stairs at The Met, I mentioned to Mrs. BD that we needed something like Carmen as an antidote. And, voila, WQXR had Carmen live from the Met today! Call me philistine if you must, but you can hum Carmen lines all day. Got a lot of paperwork and cleaning up done to Carmen while Mrs. packed for a girl garden tour trip. I will await her southland garden photos. On Friday, one of my opera afficionado pals told me that he and his wife walked out of Pelleas a week or so ago, but didn't tell me so as not to bias my impression. And that guy and his wife are musicians.
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Saturday morning linksAndrew Sullivan: The Nature of Sex Young people are turning to classical music to escape ‘noise of modern life’ - Backers of new radio station say research shows a growing audience for the classics among under-35s Update on Tesla The haunting outlines of old New York buildings The January Climate Follies Does faith make you happier? New research explores links between religion and well-being I never thought faith was mainly about happiness, might be wrong Have Catholics Become Expendable to Democrats? Largest Christian University In U.S. Blocks Shapiro From Speaking Why is this kid so threatening? Why politicians hate homeschool What Will It Take To Make You Understand And Accept That They Hate You? Is It Time To Address Birth Tourism? Travel Agents Charged in Massive Crackdown of Chinese Birth Tourism Scheme CHINESE BIRTH TOURISTS HAD BABIES AT US TAXPAYER EXPENSE WHILE SHOPPING FOR LOUIS VUITTON Fired FBI Director Comey Lied to Congress – Hid Trump Investigation from US Lawmakers FOR 9 MONTHS! Inside DOJ and FBI: Anatomy of a bloodless coup? Party of no: Once opposed, Democrats now back wars just to thwart Trump Massive Migrant Caravan Expected to Reach Texas Border Monday or Tuesday Hickenlooper: Trump Has Divided America More Than It’s Been ‘In the Last 100 Years’ No. Trump exposes the divisions. Howard Schultz Lobs Patriotic Microaggressions After Savage Attack By Liz Warren Xinjiang: Ex-Blackwater chief's security firm linked to China training centre If the Army Stands With Maduro, What Is Plan B? Friday, February 1. 2019Tarte Normande
Like Apple Pie and a bit easier. Much easier than a Tarte Tatin. Tarte Normande.
Friday morning linksMemories from a student of Richard Feynman Casablanca at 75: fascinating facts about one of the most famous films of all time Altria: Juul E-Cigarette Sales Quintupled to $1B in 2018 LARGEST FENTANYL DRUG BUST IN HISTORY MADE AS TRUCK TRIED CROSSING THE SOUTHERN BORDER Measles Outbreak Spreads To New States Thanks To Anti-Vaccination Campaigns Title lX: Just How Easy Should It Be to Destroy a Young Man’s Life? Bill de Blasio and the Return of Disorder. Public spaces are the lifeblood of New York City, but they’re under assault. Dalio's Fear Of The Next Downturn Is Likely Understated If San Francisco is so great, why is everyone I love leaving? Video: Chris Matthews Wonders to Bill Nye If Climate Change Is to Blame for Illegal Immigration… Surprise: NY Times Links Current Freezing Conditions To ‘Climate Change’ ‘Government will save us from winter!’ Elizabeth Warren ANDREW CUOMO: ‘WE DID NOT HAVE HURRICANES IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK.’ YES, THEY DID One of the things about Big Business that provokes skepticism and hostility is just plain bigness, the sometimes incomprehensible scale of modern multinational enterprises. Who Benefits From Immigration? Not you! Asylum crisis in Maine: Dems shift taxpayer money from needy citizens to pay for needs of migrants Former Obama Officials Hyperventilate Over Schultz’s Presidential Run: ‘He’ll Ruin The World’ Howard Schultz is just too sane for today’s Democrats If Democrats Hadn’t Embraced Crazy, Howard Schultz Wouldn’t Be A Threat To Them Wake up! And do it againThursday, January 31. 2019A Do-it-Yourself diamond ringMan turns 2 hex nuts into a diamond ring. That is true love. It's beyond lust.
Thursday morning linksFour Siberian tiger cubs seen on video playing in Russia's hilltops Notes on a Curious People: The Maya and Their Doings -20 degrees F in Madison: I went for a walk, and I survived. I wasn't even particularly cold. Let's back off on the weather drama, okay? Cold is invigorating. It's chilly here, really beautiful out and perfect for a vigorous walk A CURE FOR CANCER? ISRAELI SCIENTISTS SAY THEY THINK THEY FOUND ONE - “We believe we will offer in a year's time a complete cure for cancer." A bold claim. Let's wait and see Oversized meals have been shown to be a factor in obesity Stop the presses! Did Virginia’s Governor Just Endorse Infanticide? Evil and insane Please tell me this wasn't paid for with taxpayers' money. It was. Insane. Professor Angry That University Is Letting Shapiro Speak: He 'Espouses Hate Speech, And Is Linked To Numerous Hate Groups' Evil professor Professor Blasts Sorority For Offering Coloring Books To Incoming Freshmen: They're 'Wussifying' Students Sane professor
Rupert Gather: Sovereignty in an Age of Globalization The Credible Press: An Autopsy From a J-school grad “The Democrat Politician Protection Act” Pennsylvania admits to 11,000 noncitizens registered to vote Assimilation is now a third rail of correctness Whoa Nellie, More Leaked Transcripts–Nellie Ohr Researched Trump Kids While Working for Fusion GPS… Toward a Less Dangerous Judicial Branch - How the Trump administration is reshaping the federal courts Trump has opportunity to flip the 9th Circuit, so why isn’t he? Guardian: What has happened in Venezuela is a coup. Trump’s denial is dangerous No, it's a rebellion Italy sees migrant numbers plummet after nationalist policies take hold Iran’s president said on Wednesday the country was facing its toughest economic situation in 40 years, and the United States, not the government, was to blame. Wednesday, January 30. 2019Get your mind off wintertime, you ain't goin nowhereDylan's pal Roger McGuinn loved covering Dylan tunes with the Byrds.
My fairly modest "cardio" plan to prepare for spring hill hikingFitter or younger people than I am have far more ambitious programs, but we all do what we can. Not including my two calisthenics days (which are, say 60% HIIT or regular cardio), I fit in two pure cardio days partly as recovery days from my weight-lifting days. Those two days are constructed (all workouts have to be planned) for heart strength and hill-hiking endurance and speed. Something like this: - 10-min elliptical warm-up I'm sure some readers can handle a more intense program, but I think mixing it up like this at whatever intensity one can handle is far more effective than monotonous trudging along for 60-70 minutes - that's a waste of time unless in cardiac rehab. Ya gotta push it to improve.
Wednesday morning links
‘Willy Wonka’ star Julie Dawn Cole reveals what it was really like working with Gene Wilder, being Veruca Salt Wilder was a sweet, humble guy Superman: America's Jewish superhero Makes sense The de-cluttering movement is overwhelming thrift shops Virginia Bill Would Legalize Abortion Up to Birth Why not after, too? Super Incredible Cold Weather In Chicago Is Sign Of ‘Climate Change’ Or Something Why it's called "hot cold wet dry" Another University Is Trying To Block Shapiro From Speaking. Here's Their Strategy. University of Michigan and Pitzer College are just the tip of the iceberg. University leaders across the country must loudly condemn faculty who would implement an academic boycott of Israel that deprives students of educational opportunities and academic rights in the name of personal politics. How Social Justice Becomes Law: Title IX Can the Republic Survive the Mainstream Media? Harris: Do You Like Your Health Insurance? You Can’t Keep It The Democrats Have A Serious Radicalism Problem, And Kamala Harris Just Proved It Democrats take aim at Starbucks to 'school' Howie Schultz TOP SAUDI OFFICIAL: BARACK OBAMA LIED, SET MIDDLE EAST BACK 20 YEARS Tuesday, January 29. 2019Best Osso Bucco I've ever had"Osso bucco" means marrow bone. I worked late last night, so Mrs. BD and her Dad brought me a take-out Osso Bucco from one of our favorite Italian trattorias where they had had dinner. I've made it several times, and have eaten it out for dinner several times too. This was the best. Done right, the veal shank meat falls off the bone and can be cut with a fork. The jus has to be thick, flavor-packed, with no darn tomato in it. Porcinis - ok. They added a handful of small apple cubes towards the end of the long cook which added a bit of sweetness to the jus - perfect touch. It was on a very small bed of papparedelle - my favorite. Just enough to grab some jus. Since it's a northern Italian specialty, it's sometimes served on a bed of polenta or rice. Or just plain. That's real Italian cuisine. My advice: Have a great one in an excellent restaurant, and then try to copy it at home. No tomato. An Italian solution to illegal immigrationHe's with Vito. Not PC. Tuesday morning linksOral Vit D: Seems not very useful People do need some sunshine, tho Vanderleun on Disposable Friends: It’s Official: Traditional Masculinity Is Sick, Sick, Sick "If I am unlucky enough to get Alzheimer's, and lucky enough to have my wife take care of me, feed me, clothe me, and clean me, I'm going to go ahead right now and..." MIT continues progress toward practical fusion energy Don't hold your breath Vox Decides To Fat Shame To Push ‘Climate Change’ Not even architecture is immune from ire of Social Justice Warriors In Birmingham, England, Muslim Moms Protesting a School's Pro-Homosexuality Indoctrination Muddling their victim hierarchies A City That Opened Its Doors To Asylum Seekers Has Come To Regret It Migrant Caravan Swells to 12,000 at Mexico’s Southern Border Check Out The New Benefits Available To Illegal Aliens In New York "Why Trump Won," former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper explores the trends that led to the unexpected outcome of the 2016 presidential election. Texas finds 95,000 non-citizen registrations and 58,000 illegal votes. Imagine California... Greenfield: How the Wall Became America's Dividing Line HAITI 2.0-> Clintons Travel to Puerto Rico to ‘Assist’ with Hurricane Recovery Efforts – Accuse Trump of Blocking Funds Message: We care Footage of Shirtless Bernie Sanders in the USSR Drunkenly Singing with Communists in 1988 Surfaces CNN On The Crisis In Venezuela Europe's no-defense policy Contrarian's report from Cambodia US Envoy: 'Agreement in Principle' on Afghan Peace Talks Good. Trump will get the US out of pointless hostilities Monday, January 28. 2019Party musich/t, Sipp
Monday morning linksIsraeli Holocaust Survivor Remembers Auschwitz On Birthday Beyond the Stigma: Chronic pain is the other side of the opioid epidemic The Rise of Pseudomedicine for Dementia and Brain Health Records from controversial twin study sealed at Yale until 2065 Did THE “CAMPUS FREE SPEECH CRISIS” END LAST YEAR? U.S. Department of Education to investigate U. Michigan for anti-male discrimination When Is a Climate Model 'Useful'? Border Patrol struggles with flood of sick migrants Covington Bishop Says He Was 'Bullied' Into Condemning Teens Bill Maher Smears Nick Sandmann, Cracks Kiddie Sex Joke: “F*cking Kid. What a Little Prick… Do Not Get What Priests See in These Kids” Laid-Off BuzzFeed "Workers:" Can We Bring In "Therapy Puppies" to Help Us Cope With Being Fired Wonderful: Iowahawk's tweet put to music The Left Are Annoying Puritans How did Arizona elect this person? Alan Dershowitz Slams 'Typical Mueller Indictment,' Says Crimes 'Generated by the Investigation' Willie Brown admits it: Kamala Harris slept her way to the top Sheesh. But is "slept" the right word? EU FREEDOM: The Path to a Populist Victory in Europe Europe 'coming apart before our eyes', say 30 top intellectuals. Group of historians and writers publish manifesto warning against rise of populism Also, Highbrows Vs. Deplorables Juan Guaidó Isn’t “Far Right” And The U.S. Should Stay Out Of Venezuela AMNESTY INT’L REJECTS MOTION TO COMBAT RECORD-HIGH ANTI-SEMITISM IN UK NATO head: Trump's tough talk has added $100B to alliance, helped deter Russia Sunday, January 27. 2019Dancing to RachmaninoffHawk du Jour: Red-Shouldered
I did a double-take when I passed one of these guys perched on a tree beside the highway. In winter, hawks along a highway are generally always Red-Tails, so this smaller guy's rusty chest in the sunlight surprised me. Red-Shoulders tend to be birds of the lowlands, but in migration times you can see anything anywhere. From today's LectionaryI've tended to think of this passage as a sort of description of a congregation, but on re-reading it, I see it is more than that. Photo is the Lyme, CT Congregational Church 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a 12:12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 12:13 For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--Jews or Greeks, slaves or free--and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. 12:14 Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. 12:15 If the foot would say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. 12:16 And if the ear would say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. 12:17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 12:18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 12:19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 12:20 As it is, there are many members, yet one body. 12:21 The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." 12:22 On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 12:23 and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; 12:24 whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, 12:25 that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. 12:26 If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it. 12:27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. 12:28 And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues. 12:29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 12:30 Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? 12:31 But strive for the greater gifts. Saturday, January 26. 2019Cool travel ideaTake a ride on the California Zephyr: Chicago Omaha Denver Salt Lake City Oakland (San Francisco) Have any readers done this? Sure seems like a cool idea for native or foreign visitors, to see the real USA. Long list of stops along the way. Truckee, etc.
Hiking boots on saleAsolo and Merrill hiking boots on sale at Sierra Trading. Almost half-price. Good products. Gotta pick the right weight. You don't need mountaineering boots for day hikes. The Asolos are good for 40-50 years of moderate (weekend) use - and can be re-soled. (I like my medium-weight Meindls for any purpose I might encounter, but for no specific reason except that mine are well-broken in and will last my lifetime or more. They feel kinda heavy, though, being mostly leather.) A goal in life could be to wear out a pair of good quality hiking/hunting boots before death or disability.
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