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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Friday, November 2. 2018The 1000-rep calisthenics class, not being a wimp sometimes, and Go-Go-Hi-Ho,
We had a sub for my Friday morning 60-minute calis/physical conditioning class this morning. The sub was a beautiful blonde Amazon with a martinet's style, an ex-Crossfitter whose classes I had flunked a year or two ago after several tries. I noticed that about a third of the Friday morning regulars were absent. I think they noticed online that this particular gal was subbing, and declined because intimidated. I was tempted to wimp out but I hate to act like a wimp. When I wimp out on things, act lazy, or make excuses for myself, I despise myself. Self-hatred sucks, so I try to avoid it as much as possible. Never entirely. As my sis always says about most things in life, ignore your feelings, "Girl Up" (or Man Up as the case may be) and "Do it." She is in the mental health field, so she knows that a lazy or fearful life is no life at all. Most of all, she has contempt for excuses so she is a good role model. She has given me shit many times. Almost drowned in a mile lake swim race on Cape Cod that she bullied me into. Sheesh. I had not swum a mile race in 30 years, maybe. A mile in a pool, sure, but not a mile race with waves. Yankee gals expect a lot of the men in their lives because they demand so much from themselves. Squats, lunges, mountain-climbers, crunches, dumbell deads, jumping jacks, dumbell snatches, supermans, curtsy lunges - all of those sorts of things. I survived. It was a cool class with an interesting structure: two exercises with 25-50 reps each, then 10 pushups, then on to a different two exercises, then ten pushups, etc. Fast-paced and varied. No rest time. Fun, if you like to move. I doubt that I completed all 1000, but I did my best within the time allowed. Yes, I am no longer age 30 either. As I have said before, one or two conditioning classes/wk have a place in a 6 or 7 day/wk fitness program. After an hour of rest and coffee, you feel amazingly well mentally and physically even if you began just after crawling out of bed with a foggy head at 5:00 am. "Go-Go-Hi-Ho" was the life motto of an elderly hunting pal of mine. Taught me that life can be rich, adventurous, and exciting at 80. Appreciated Viagra when it came out as he confided to me on a Maine hunting trip. Determined to leave no meat left on the barbecued rib of life. I will want to be like him. He was still working, too, and fully-engaged with his church, his clubs, and his charities. Illegal immigration is literally illegalBut the magic words "I want asylum" trump all else. US immigration policies are set-ups for scamming. Everybody knows that. Border official: three-quarters of migrants in the caravan are adult men 'Migrant Caravan' Members Sue Trump Over 'Shockingly Unconstitutional' Asylum Crackdown Tucker Carlson: Establishment Siding With Foreigners Over Its Own People, That Tells You Everything Friday morning linksChart of sizes of world economies via Zero Hedge The Women Of Google Are Walking Out. Guess Why I can't watch this sort of thing either Against factory-model schools Dartmouth prof: 'If we don't abolish capitalism, capitalism will abolish us' Guess what - no capitalism, no Dartmouth New York Times Editorial Calls for Replacement of Whites Racists In These Outlier Congressional Districts, Density Doesn’t Equal Democrats OPINION: JANICE ROGERS BROWN — THE ATTORNEY GENERAL AMERICA NEEDS O’Keefe Strikes Again! Gillum Campaign Admits They Have to Lie About Who They Are, ‘Florida is a F*cked Up Cracker State’ Amusing brief video: TRUMP IS FINISHED, BECAUSE THE MEDIA SAY SO! TRUMP RELEASES 'CLOSING' AD PROMISING HARD LINE BORDER STANCE, SETS OFF MEDIA FIRESTORM "The utterance of “credible fear” and other “magic words” by migrants triggers protocols of U.S. asylum law that require adjudication before a court. The years-long process of adjudication poses a further problem for authorities when it comes to detention of these migrants, particularly those who arrive as part of a family unit." How could anyone — even a not-very-bright person — imagine that granting citizenship to the children of illegal aliens is actually in our Constitution? If you are a Trump-hater, tell me what in this interview you feel is so hateable:
Thursday, November 1. 2018Thursday morning linksChocolate: Origins of delicacy pushed back in time Rewriting Tangled up in Blue Dissecting the Bloodthirsty Bliss of Death Metal Food magazine editor resigns after joking about "killing vegans, one by one". Law of Self Defense: Using Your Gun to Defend Your Car — Just Don’t More On The "Morality" Of Throwing Money At The Problem Of Homelessness Don Lemon: “The Biggest Terror Threat in This Country Is White Men, Most of Them Radicalized on the Right” If the Synagogue Shooter Were Muslim, the Media Would Be Defending Him SPLC Ties Trump to the Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting, Even Though Shooter Hated Trump... SOCIALISTS BACKING ACTUAL ANTI-SEMITIC CANDIDATE, PROTEST TRUMP OVER ANTI-SEMITISM Planned Parenthood Encourages Birth … for Illegal Aliens MSNBC’s Ali Velshi Compares Americans Concerned About Illegal Immigrants To Nazi Germany… The Democrats Have a Rich White Progressive Problem TRICK or TREAT? Democrats Promise American Horror Story if They Win in November Progressives Fed Up With Americans ‘The perfect safe surrogate,’ Pence delivers the traditional GOP message Trump won’t Jon Stewart Nails Journalists Covering Trump. CNN Proves Him Right. A Tale Of Two Acts Of Political Violence — And Proof Of Media Bias 7 of the Best Military Recruitment Videos From Around the World Europe: Upholding the Jihadist’s Veto Wednesday, October 31. 2018Evil, c. 5000 BCHow functional are the Powerlifts?The basic powerlifts are Deadlift, Overhead Press, Barbell Squat, Bench Press, Rows of all sorts - and maybe accessory things like curls and tricep push-downs. Maybe Pull-ups should be on the list but I consider pull-ups and push-ups to be technically calisthenics because they are body-weight. Of course, your body weight is plenty of weight... You rise from a chair maybe 100 times daily, but how often do you do it with 150 lbs on your back? Never. But if you do it with 100 lbs on your back now, odds are that getting out of a chair at age 85 won't be a chore. Powerlifting is not Body-Building. There are plenty of heavy accessory lifts with which to fill an hour, but the powerlifts are the core for strength conditioning. So the powerlifts are not functional so much in themselves as they are designed for total body power, and muscle and bone strength. Total body strength feeds indirectly into everything you do in life except, perhaps, endurance activities. Your fitness for mostly everything, energy level, general appearance, and posture. Men and women of all ages include powerlifts in their workout programs. Migrant WaveWe had a major migrant wave last night. Most songbirds migrate at night. This morning, flocks of cheeping and chipping White Throated Sparrows and Juncos all over the HQ. These are undocumented Canadians. Haunted houseRecently read (or re-read, I forget) Hawthorne's The House of the Seven Gables. It's a good olde Yankee ghost tale, a long short story really. Or novelette.
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Wednesday morning links
Woman who had sex with 20 ghosts is now engaged to a spirit John Taylor Gatto (1935-2018): Remembering America's Most Courageous Teacher Florida’s Panama City, Torn Apart By Hurricane Michael, Now Managed By Retired 2-Star Army General It's always good to see people making major contributions to their communities. The olde American Way. Thinking about Tintoretto Choking to death on pancakes Never wolf your food. Heimlich doesn't work for everything. Washington Post Super Excited To Ban “Assault Weapons” University Students Say Mandatory Diversity Training is Answer for Microaggressions Ahead of Halloween, universities nationwide warn against cultural appropriation Isn't Halloween itself a cultural appropriation? Princeton student gov issues checklist for 'inclusive' Halloween Insane. But what I worry about are Nanoaggressions Blame Trump du Jour: Trump’s Caravan Hysteria Led to This - The president and his supporters insisted that several thousand Honduran migrants were a looming menace—and the Pittsburgh gunman took that seriously. Donald Trump, America’s First Jewish President Trump Plans To End Birthright Citizenship For Children Of Illegal Immigrants: Axios Probably unconstitutional but not a bad idea. It is heavily abused. No, the Border is Not Secure. No, Troops Won’t Make a Difference. Why Democrats are staying silent about the migrant caravan "Organized Busing Operation" Exposed, Moving Migrants Closer To US Border Tuesday, October 30. 2018The October Queen of YankeelandThat's my Sugar Maple today, with dumpster and porta-potty. The dumpsters keep getting smaller, which is a good sign that we are getting to the end of fix-up. AVI makes a good point about headlines written in the form of a question, with a comment about autumn foliage. Recent alarmist headline I saw: "Will beer cost more due to climate effects on barley?" Tuesday morning linksWhy Are There So Many Pigeons? Plans to Build an Airport in a Louisiana Bird Refuge Canceled After Outcry Louisiana Is Restoring Its Barrier Islands to Defend Against Hurricanes and Rising Seas Beto O'Rourke Had Problematic History With Barrio Residents Of His Constituency, Report Says Phoney The Late Great State of Illinois ACCUSE A SUPREME COURT NOMINEE OF RAPE, GET $1 MILLION ROGER L. SIMON: This Jewish Boy Is Going to Buy a Gun Kanye West Designed T-Shirts Urging Black People To Bail On Democrats Dalrymple on Warren's DNA:
Jonah Goldberg hates on President Trump Trump Will Send 5000 Active Duty Troops to Border to Stop'... Mexico Should Not Consent To Do Washington’s Dirty Work Kenyan hospital markets in everything Russian Rights Group: Permission Revoked To Honor Soviet Victims At FSB HQs
Monday, October 29. 2018Special musicMonday morning linksHBO Will Now Have An Intimacy Coordinator Staffing All Sex Scenes These are the bad things about early retirement that no one talks about ‘You can’t work your way through college anymore’ — and that’s a huge problem, Yale scholar says Columbia U. report finds 'lack of diversity,' despite spending $185 million on 'faculty diversity' Dalrymple: It appears that, unbeknown to me, I was a very needy person. Bummer: Guy Living In A Jar For ‘Climate Change’ Gives Up Al Gore: Well, Sure That Climate Report Was Torqued Up To Scare Lawmakers No, CNN: Nationalism Is Not White Supremacy The Feds Want To Tackle Causes of Food Waste, Except Their Own Don Jr. Tells Young Black Conservatives They ‘Have The Most Guts Of Anyone In America’ Guess whose fault the mass shooting in Pittsburgh was Kobach: The Caravan Is a Consequence of Rewarding Illegal Immigration Bad Hombres Found In Migrant Caravan Approaching America The United Nations admitted on Sunday that they are assisting the illegal immigrants and caravans from Central America making their way to the US southern border. The UN admitted in today’s news article that they have mobilized extra staff and resources to assist the illegal immigrants in the caravans. Europe's War On Italy Is Suicidal In Europe, Free Speech Bows To Sharia Venezuela: Role Model for South Africa How Israel Is Helping the Worldwide Water Shortage Sunday, October 28. 2018Ostia Antica
My mid-day refreshment at the fine cafe halfway thru Ostia Antica a few days ago It's a must-see for history buffs. Instead of showing my many photos, I'll show you this. If near Rome, take the train. I used their good audio guide.
Reading between the lines
Right now, I am going through the Patrick O'Brian naval series. Delicious reading and you learn a bit about running a serious sailing warship. Guys never listen to anybody, but we have some amateur decorators around here who have all sorts of ideas about how to make my work space and living space brighter, less cluttered, and lighter. I am going along with it, because I know nothing. My current plan for the entire HQ in general is to get rid of stuff and lighten everything. One of my daughters is ordering a Task Rabbit for me. They are known to be miraculous helpers for moving stuff around and throwing stuff out. One just has to be brave and get rid of stuff, however sentimental. And we have had dumpsters here since July. Dumpsters' gaping maws beg to be filled with stuff.
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From today's Lectionary: Reborn through trialJob 42:1-6, 10-17 42:1 Then Job answered the LORD: 42:2 "I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. 42:3 'Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?' Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. 42:4 'Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you declare to me.' 42:5 I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; 42:6 therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes." 42:10 And the LORD restored the fortunes of Job when he had prayed for his friends; and the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before. 42:11 Then there came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and they ate bread with him in his house; they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him; and each of them gave him a piece of money and a gold ring. 42:12 The LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand donkeys. 42:13 He also had seven sons and three daughters. 42:14 He named the first Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch. 42:15 In all the land there were no women so beautiful as Job's daughters; and their father gave them an inheritance along with their brothers. 42:16 After this Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children, and his children's children, four generations. 42:17 And Job died, old and full of days. Old New Yorker toonSaturday, October 27. 2018Saturday morning linksThe truth behind Costco's $5 rotisserie chicken I never leave Costco without one There is a medical site called Quackwatch Michiganders want global warming. European Court: Calling Mohammed A Pedophile Not Covered By Free Speech "Pedophile," like "rapist" and "liar,"are Western concepts. We must all struggle to become more multiculturally-tolerant. The Administrative State Is a Threat to the Constitutional Order The UN Wants to be Our World Government By 2030 Kimball on socialism: The Eternal Return of a Malevolent Charade This is The Resistance's Real Failure (Assuming They Want to Make Progress on Their Issues, and Not Just Score Political Points) NBC News Hid Information that Would Have Cleared Kavanaugh of Avenatti Rape Allegations Lying by omission ALLEGED FAKE BOMBER IS FILLIPINO EX-CON WHO CLAIMED TO BE SEMINOLE Papadopoulos May Recall Guilty Plea: 'I Was Framed' Democrat Leaders Announce Brief Moratorium On Calling For Political Violence Trump Weighs Travel-Ban-Style Order to Bar Migrants: Source Mexican Police Stop Buses and Trucks – Force Them to Take Caravan Immigrants North to US Border Caravan Members Reject Mexican Offer Of Benefits, Residency Friday, October 26. 2018Friday morning links' Thefood supplement that ruined my liver' And it was not alcohol Drug Our Drinking Water with Lithium? Are transgenders just gay? Facebook Finally Censors Baby Photos Finally! Other peoples' baby pictures are boring. APODACA: Free Speech On Campus Is A No-Brainer, But My School Missed The Memo University of Maryland puts ‘multicultural advocates’ in dorms CHELSEA CLINTON IS SAVING THE PLANET WITH SHORTER SHOWERS, PRIVATE JETS Backfire Economics: Double-digit increases in US steel prices to the highest in the world are crippling US manufacturers Google Employees Second Largest Donors to Beto O’Rourke Campaign He is like Trudeau Megyn Kelly’s Blackface Comments Are Just The Tip Of The Racism Iceberg Such a rasist, terrible country that half the world wants to live here NY Times Tries Some Assassination Chic With Feature On Trump New York Times condemns Trump for ‘toxic environment’ right after publishing a fantasy of assassinating him Trump: Mainstream-Media Reporting Is Making People Crazy, You Know Steyn: Bombs A-Weighed WHAT WILL TRUMP DO ABOUT THE CARAVAN? The "caravans" are chess moves Why Are Young Eastern Europeans So Right-Wing? Thursday, October 25. 2018Hiking and weight lossCan you lose weight by hiking? Not walking - hiking. Sure can, and I am proof. 10 days of hiking - urban and rural, mostly hills and many of them steep because it was Tuscany - for 6 hours/day left me with a 7 lb. weight loss. That's with my usual modest but tasty meals in Italy, never hungry at all. Some daily beers or wine: good food requires it. This loss was entirely unintentional. I was shocked when I got on my scale at home (cuz my pants were falling down). Not good or healthy, really. Also perturbed because that too-fast (1 lb/wk is normal for weight-losers, and I do not want that) loss clearly reduced my deadlifting power this morning. We have asserted here that you can't lose weight with exercise alone, but that refers to, say, a reasonable and realistic one hour/day biking, swimming, lifting, walking, and the like. I did a little lazy research. Jogging at 5 mph burns around 550 calories/hour, about the same as energetic hill hiking. Comfortable walking is around 250, speed walking around 300. That ain't enough burn to make measurable difference. One donut or bagel has 300 calories, a slice of pizza around 350-400. But if you multiply that hourly hill-hiking number by 6, you are getting to real daily numbers and getting into real fat-burning. It's said that 6 hr/day hill-hikers on The Long Trail (Appalachian trail) need about 5000 calories/day to prevent weight loss over days or weeks of hiking. It is true that all calories are not physiologically equal, but you can come up with rough numbers: the average sedentary adult female needs around 2500 calories daily, male 3000, to maintain weight. Those numbers are average and perhaps high for trim fit people. (Sedentary - a modern sin - is often defined as daily exercise equal to or less than a 3 mile walk daily at a 3-4 mph pace. Just above that is "Lightly Active", etc. My one hour daily sched of weights, cardio, and calisthenics gets me just into the "Moderately Active" category by most measures because of the high levels of intensity with HIIT, calisthenics classes, and heavy weights. Intensity can try to compensate for duration. I'd put our hiking guide last year in the Hebrides in the "Highly-Active" category. Craig MacDonald was not only Highly-Active and highly-fit, but highly humorous and sarcastic in the Scots way. Always happy to tease you for a half hour if you bought him a dram or two of Highland Park at the end of the day. That is his beverage.) Readers know that one of the rewards of my fairly-demanding work-out regimen is to be able to do things like hill-hike all day without fatigue, until I grow old. What's my point? I dunno. Maybe that fat loss is dietary, except when it isn't. Just facts to consider. Thursday morning linksNot an inviting name for a park He won Powerball’s $314 million jackpot. It ruined his life. Global preferences for who to save in self-driving car crashes revealed "I am a failed and broken feminist. More pointedly, I am sexist. There are times when I fear for the 'loss' of my own 'entitlement' as a male..." He should worry less. Sounds like a eunuch. Megyn Kelly Makes Tearful On-Air Apology for Blackface Comments Experts Say Vast Deserts, Absence Of Life, May Indicate Mars Was Once Run By Conservatives Climate Change: Hysteria And Reality Dalrymple: In Search of Moral Authority - On Elizabeth Warren’s DNA Papadopoulos Told FBI Informant in 2016 There Was No Russian Collusion in Trump Campaign USA Today: 10 reasons you should vote for Democrats and against Trump in midterm elections. ASAP. Congress playing for keeps with federal judiciary Trump Cites 2005 Obama And Clinton 1995 Remarks To Support Immigration Policy President Trump caught dropping the “N” word CONFIRMED: Pipe Bomb and Powder Sent to CNN Were Har mless – It Was a HOAX BOMB Some questions about the caravan “Elaborately Planned” Caravan Brings Human Traffickers & Violent Gangbangers to Guatemala Migrant Caravan has People ‘From All Over the World’ Migrant Caravan Crosses Southern Mexico Unimpeded As Local Groups Offer Food, Support ID that carTucked away in the giant barn at Mohonk. Not many readers who recall seeing these on the road. Even better is their large collection of horse-drawn buggies. So cool.
Wednesday, October 24. 2018Winter plumageNon-breeding plumage can be confusing with birds, most especially with warblers. If you can ID fall and winter warblers, I'd term you an expert birder. Learn the Fall and Winter Colors of These Common Bird Species - After breeding season ends, some birds adopt a new, unique look. Here's how to remember them. Pic is a male Mallard in eclipse plumage Wednesday morning linksIs there a better story in the history of skiing? How Roman Historians Explained the Fall of Rome - They lived in ancient Rome and knew its traditions and shortcomings first-hand. She Let Her Kids Wait in the Car During an Errand Because…THAT IS A PERFECTLY NORMAL THING TO DO! Brown University flaunts 'Unlearning Toxic Masculinity' guide Megyn Kelly Says ‘Blackface’ Okay On Halloween So Long As You Dress Up As A Character. Internet Explodes. IT’S THE TIME OF YEAR TO REMEMBER YOU’RE LOSER IF YOU GET OFFENDED BY HALLOWEEN COSTUMES Focusing On Plastics Is A “Dangerous Distraction From Climate Change” Or Something Harvard’s gatekeeper reveals SAT cutoff scores based on race More Entrepreneurship Would Help Progressive Causes, But Progressives Do Not Understand It At All San Francisco to Allow Illegal Aliens to Vote Trump Rips Puerto Rico's Misuse of Hurricane Relief Funds A mystery: Americans are happier over declining government regulations PIERS MORGAN: The media hates him, Hollywood hates him but every hysterical piece of abuse they throw at him just makes Trump stronger and now the Democrats are heading for a midterms disaster VDH: Wolves in Wolves’ Clothing The Spectrum of Black Contrarianism Donald Trump may be remembered as the most honest president in modern American history. Don’t get me wrong, Trump lies all the time... Meet the man behind the migrant caravan headed to US A New Migrant Caravan Forms; Former Trump Campaign Adviser Calls "Political Gift" Before Midterms Another U.K. Rape-Gang Case Hey, it's multicultural Britain. Girls and ladies, relax and enjoy cultural diversity. An Epidemic of Knifings in Once-Great Britain Two Authorities, One Way, Zero Dissent - Arbitrary Arrest and Torture Under the Palestinian Authority and Hamas China's hidden camps - What's happened to the vanished Uighurs of Xinjiang? Say a prayer for Vietnam’s forgotten Montagnards - Communist regime's repression of the ethnic minority that supported the US during the Vietnam War has been largely invisible but is starting to come to light Walkin' shoes
This footwear selfie in Rome last week. What do you like for long urban hiking with cobblestones, slippery places, dirt roads, etc?
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