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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Saturday, November 10. 2018Poverty food: RibollitaMany if not most classic recipes had their origins in humble peasant food. Ribollita is a classic Tuscan peasant stew made of leftovers mostly. No meat, beans instead. Thickened with stale bread. It has plenty of kale to which I am ideologically opposed, but whatever. I've made it a few times, and it is blandly good. Filling for sure. I tried it twice in Tuscany a couple of weeks ago. In Italy, lunch is typically the big meal and supper is soup or something light, but tourists like something light at lunch so I made a small study of local ribollitas. Tasted like mine. The NYT has an upscale version. That's not necessary. Paradise turns into Hell
Some video from the Camp Fire in Paradise. It's the second time smoke and horror have driven him from his home, if you recall his writings from Brooklyn Heights about 9-11. He was done with The Hive after that horror. I wonder what it's like to lose your home, your neighborhood, your town, and everything you own. I'm sure he will let us know because he likes to write. Our best wishes to Gerard. Saturday morning linksCoffee Is Awesome for Your Health, Says Longest-Running Study Ever What the Beatles Sounded Like Unedited - Fifty years after its debut, The White Album has been reissued to include demos and sessions, giving listeners a wider lens through which to examine the seminal work from the band. Vanderleun: I am outta here You can't say "Long time no see" anymore Major Math Error Puts Widely-Cited Global Warming Study On Ice Hold the Rush to Get Rid of Paper Textbooks DARTMOUTH NIGHTMARE - It’s worse than you might think. College offers space to 'process' 'stressful' midterm election results China Infiltrates American Campuses Tucker Carlson On Antifa: ‘They Were Threatening My Family To Get Me To Stop Talking’ Jerry Nadler’s Loose Lips Reveal Democrat Strategy To Damage The Trump Administration CITIZENSHIP AND CHOICE - How our current immigration system is a political scam. Breaking=> Brenda Snipes Misses Deadline—Won´t Turn Over Ballots!–GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz Is Filing Contempt of Court Against Snipes Florida, again: A warning about mail-in and early voting Florida: Counters caught filling out blank ballots Hezbollah has more firepower than ‘95 percent of world’s conventional militaries,’ warns report Friday, November 9. 2018Bob's Biathlon: An American Life
Sometimes it was a Triathlon with biking, but most often just a Biathlon, 7-10 mile run race and a one mile swim race across and back Long Pond in Wellfleet. Last time I did that I almost drowned trying to keep up with my brother, who is a Master Swimmer, a world competitor. We have Bookish-Athletes in my family. And Good Olde Cape Cod. Bob loved it. Heaven for him. We always angled our morning runs through the ancient graveyards... Continue reading "Bob's Biathlon: An American Life"
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Friday morning links
Above via Scott Adams' website Vanderleun's town is on fire Our best wishes to him 12 Tips for Hunting Geese - An all-star lineup of professionals share their secrets to goose-hunting success Age-Change in the Netherlands I am all for age change UCLA Shamefully Condones Students for Justice in Palestine ‘The View’ Accuse Young Female WH Intern Of Committing ‘Battery’ Against Jim Acosta Even the BBC calls out Acosta It's all theater Thugs threaten Tucker Carlson's wife and kids VDH responds to an angry reader JEFF SESSIONS, CONSERVATIVE HERO Election Update: Democrats Stealing Arizona, In Process of Manufacturing Votes to Steal both Governor and Senate Seats in Florida FL Governor Rick Scott Orders State Police Seize ALL BROWARD AND PALM BEACH BALLOTS GOP Congressman: 'Angers Me to My Core' for Trump to 'Piss on' Defeated Republicans Angers me too. Trump misses many chances to STFU Democrats Aren't Losing Faith in Our Constitutional System. They Just Don't Like It A birthday challenge for the Marine Corps Thursday, November 8. 2018Thursday morning linksEndorsing Dead People Is a Shrewd Political Strategy It's Time for Congress to Acknowledge the Collapse of Pot Prohibition University drops hiring requirement in order to increase faculty diversity The old bumpersticker: When all else fails, lower your standards Jeff Sessions and IRRECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES Jeff Sessions is not a bad guy. It's just that he is not nor was he prepared to be an executive. He stumbled out of the gate and did not have the balance to recover. Progressives: White Women Need Accountability And ‘A Lot Of Learning’ After Failing To Vote Uniformly For Left-Wing Candidates Leftist Mob Shows Up At Tucker Carlson´s Home: ´You Are Not Safe´ The Shameful Election Coverage by Fox News Ted Cruz Won, But The Blood Is In The Water In Texas, And Democrats Smell It In the Senate, Democratic Fears Have Come to Pass Trump Jabs Republicans Who Lost: 'Mia Love Gave Me No Love' Admit it - Trump can be a terrible dick. I always liked Mia The election was determined by the perception of character, and very little appeared to be about policy or agenda. Incoming Democrat Chairman: Dems Will Go ‘All-In’ On Russia, Impeach Kavanaugh For ‘Perjury’ Has Bloomberg Begun the Battle for 2020? Yes Wednesday, November 7. 2018Wednesday morning linksThe elections: pretty much as predicted and what I expected. No Blue Wave. But, Trump Makes History By Adding Seats to GOP Senate Majority in His First Midterm Election
THE KEY TO A LONG LIFE HAS LITTLE TO DO WITH ‘GOOD GENES’ The story behind Me and Bobby McGee Note that Bobby was a gal Why won’t liberals admit their homeless policies don’t work? Millennial Men Failing To Find Jobs Amid Hottest Market In Decades New Jersey Flirts With Requiring Dog Groomers to Obtain a License D.C. Bureaucrats Are Trying to Make Parents Get a License to Let Children Play Together Girl Scouts in lawsuit claim Boy Scouts will ‘marginalize’ them by rebranding Long Island City To Offer Amazon Huge Tax Incentives Is that fair to regular people? TEXAS ELECTION WORKERS: WE'VE GOT A LOT OF ILLEGAL ALIENS VOTING Xinjiang: China's Muslim camp spending 'revealed' SHIN BET HEAD: ISRAEL THWARTED 480 PALESTINIAN TERROR ATTACKS IN PAST YEAR
Tuesday, November 6. 2018Tuesday morning linksImage via Pirate The “Red Zone” In France Is So Dangerous that 100 Years After WWI It Is Still A No-Go Area College softball players to undergo diversity training for ‘insensitive’ Halloween costumes What if we all stop apologizing? The Emperor’s Woke Clothes - How did an elite, repressive minority policing speech and culture through political correctness come to browbeat the American democratic majority? A Racial Shakedown in Portland Google Goes Hard Left It is for political protection. Cuz Big Corporations are evil, right? Amazon Said To Pick Long Island City As Second Headquarters LIC, a once-industrial area of the western tip of Queens, is no longer cheap. I've been there. Some excellent bistros and high-rise luxury apartments. 20 years ago, that was unimaginable. If this happens, all those Amazonians will not be able to afford NYC. They will need to commute from Long Island. False Rape Allegations Against Brett Kavanaugh Prove That Due Process Matters Vote GOP to end war on your men Beto O'Rourke Breaks Leftist Hearts, Announces He Won't Run For President In 2020 Dilbert on Trump Adams' concept of the "talent stack" is a good one. It helps me understand many things. What is my Talent Stack, and how does it effect my life? (Being a basically positive guy, he never talks about anybody's Weakness Stack which is also a major factor in life.) I also like his distinction between people who order their lives by "systems" and those who use "goals." He thinks systems work better. I had never thought of that. I think he might be correct. It does apply to fitness programs. When voting, remember Trump is Hitler H’WOOD’S CLOSING ARGUMENT: WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE! We Already Know Who Lost The Midterms. We All Did. How Far Have the Democrats Moved to the Left? Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez get lots of attention, but the most significant shift is among voters, not candidates. Pro Wrestling Explains Why Trump Wins Every Battle With The Media He's the PT Barnum of politics Trump won because college-educated Americans are out of touch "Why is (almost) nobody talking about Trump-Russia collusion? I'm ok either way, I just would like to know..." Hey Michigan: John James is a star There are currently at least four caravans marching to the US southern border with Mexico. Louis Farrakhan Visits Iran, calls for ‘Death to America’ and ‘Death to Israel’ Got firewood? Stack this.Pic is from Sippican in Maine, who used to heat his home with firewood. Now I believe he burns coal scavenged from the coal trucks as they leave Maine's coal mines.
Monday, November 5. 2018Got a good Task Rabbit
Best thing about this kid: I said after an hour and half of shlepping that it was time for a ten-minute break. Want a coffee? Bustelo? He said "Yes, please. And may I try your piano during our break? I have never played a Steinway." Sure, I said. Self-taught, played his own sort of Keith Jarrett-like jazz. A delight, a gentle touch. Told him he had God's gift of some talent, and should stick with it. He said he played around with a cheap keyboard. Great at getting rid of household cluttered stuff. Moving fast with me as a second body. $30/hr is a bargain, and with piano, it feels free. I thought he was inspired by Jarrett, but he had never heard of Keith Jarrett. I have always loved Keith so I turned him on to Keith. Here's Keith:
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Monday morning links
Toon above via Theo Crafty Caterpillar Mimics Snake When Threatened That Rat Cellphone Study – I’m Still Not Impressed RNAi Rollercoaster Begins to Reap Therapies Washington, D.C.'s New Biblical Museum Is a Winner for Jews and Christians Sarah Lawrence Prof pens Op-Ed about lack of intellectual diversity, social justice warriors want him driven off campus 2nd Kavanaugh Accuser Admits She Lied; Referred For Criminal Prosecution; Kamala's Office Involved Jane Fonda SEEKS NEW SCRIPTWRITERS Bloomberg: Climate Change Will Cause US Cities to be Overrun by Rats Warmists and Skeptics Should Agree That This is The Real Scandal in Climate Science "The mystery of Donald Trump is what impels him to overturn the usual rules. Is it a dark sort of cunning or simple defects of character?" Both. He is a natural politician. Character flaws seem to go with that. Plus he has dragon energy (11 rallies in 5 days!) "[T]he caravan was organized through social media in Honduras, initially planned as one of many such caravans that have left Central American in recent years." Caravan splits up, rips Mexico for directing migrants toward ´route of death´ Via Insty: Williamson: It’s a tough time to be running against the economy. Adam Schiff, Maxine Waters Vow Revenge And Ramped-Up Russiagate If Dems Take House Revenge for what? Sunday, November 4. 2018From today's LectionaryMark 12:28-34 12:28 One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, "Which commandment is the first of all?" 12:29 Jesus answered, "The first is, 'Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; 12:30 you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.' 12:31 The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." 12:32 Then the scribe said to him, "You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that 'he is one, and besides him there is no other'; 12:33 and 'to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength,' and 'to love one's neighbor as oneself,' --this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices." 12:34 When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." After that no one dared to ask him any question. Saturday, November 3. 2018Saturday morning links' I’ll Never Be the Same’: My Ukrainian Wife’s First Trip to the United States Wonderful BLAMING SCHOOLS FOR THE “ACHIEVEMENT GAP” IS FOOLISH AND COUNTERPRODUCTIVE Governments Will Have To “Nudge” People To Eat Less Meat Or We’re All Doomed Woman who claimed Brett Kavanaugh raped her now says she made the whole thing up A “news” story - NYT, not an opinion piece but front page “news” October Payrolls Surge By 250K, Smashing Expectations As Wage Growth Soars Trump is making Streisand fat Why Aren’t Democrats Walking Away With the Midterms? WERE OVER 10% OF MUSLIMS IN 1 BRITISH CITY IN GROOMING GANG? Saturday Verse: William Ernest Henley (1849-1902)Brave words: Invictus Out of the night that covers me, Beyond this place of wrath and tears It matters not how strait the gate, 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
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