Monday, October 18. 2021
Google Restore lost all of the links I had been sent over the past 2 days - plus my own.
I hope that Roger de Hauteville, semi-retired King of Sicily, will not have such problems while he will be filling in during my upcoming Sabbatical.
Sunday, October 17. 2021
From Sandel's Just Deserts at Powerline:
He (Sandel) fails to consider that substantial numbers of Americans are proud of their local way of life, have no yearning to live in Manhattan or Silicon Valley, and mostly want progressive elites to mind their own business. And for the most part he ignores the abundant evidence that the anger and the resentment of the people who live beyond urban centers and the wealthy suburbs that surround them stem from the political class’s faulty conduct: Many members of communities in red America believe that elites have recklessly opened the southern border and suspended immigration laws; promiscuously spent taxpayer dollars with little concern for the long-term effects on the nation’s fiscal health; tarnished America’s good name by bungling wars and diplomacy; converted much of the mainstream media into a propaganda arm of the Democratic Party; mobilized powerful government agencies—the IRS, the FBI, and the Department of Justice—against the conservative grassroots as well as its democratically chosen standard-bearer; and, not least, transformed the educational system—from kindergarten through graduate and professional education—into an assembly line for the reproduction of leftist ideology.
Despite the many causes for concern, including a few vague doubts that he himself raises, Sandel rejects the possibility that the primary problem with meritocracy in America is the failure of many members of our intellectual and political elites to perform their jobs well. Instead, he sets out to discredit the very idea that human beings deserve the fruits of their labor.
Mark 10:35-45
10:35 James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you."
10:36 And he said to them, "What is it you want me to do for you?"
10:37 And they said to him, "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory."
10:38 But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?"
10:39 They replied, "We are able." Then Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized;
10:40 but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared."
10:41 When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John.
10:42 So Jesus called them and said to them, "You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them.
10:43 But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant,
10:44 and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.
10:45 For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many."
Saturday, October 16. 2021
Thursday, October 14. 2021
Despite being a terrible person in some ways, White was not like Frank Gehry who always wants to make a Gehry statement. White just gave his clients whatever they wanted, and he knew how to do it. Shingle-style, neo-classical, whatever.
From our hike, Judson Memorial Church, just off Washinton Square. Mr. Rockefeller mostly paid for it, but White designed it. It's always been more service-oriented than Jesus-oriented, but it's still there.
Wednesday, October 13. 2021
Yes, that wild and crazy guy designed this arch. From our hike:
Tuesday, October 12. 2021
Monday, October 11. 2021
Mrs. BD always wants new adventures, but in many ways I hate traveling. It's the process - airplanes, airports, rental cars, luggage, etc. I am always glad I did it after getting through the guards at JFK and headed back to my own place.
Mrs. is the travel planner, and she is darn good at it. She uses Karen Brown a lot, and knows how to use miles for first class. For me, long-distance air travel is torture regardless of the class. I try Ambien and hope not to wake up.
Scott Adams wonders whether it's a female thing, at just past the 23 minute mark: Podcast
Bored with their lives, maybe? Happy wife, happy life. I think mine is a good influence on me, but I never feel bored with life.
"Live and don't learn, that's us."
- Hobbes, the Tiger
Sunday, October 10. 2021
Minetta Tavern, from our hike. It is on MacDougal St.
Psalm 90:12-17
90:12 So teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart.
90:13 Turn, O LORD! How long? Have compassion on your servants!
90:14 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
90:15 Make us glad as many days as you have afflicted us, and as many years as we have seen evil.
90:16 Let your work be manifest to your servants, and your glorious power to their children.
90:17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and prosper for us the work of our hands-- O prosper the work of our hands!
Saturday, October 9. 2021
From our urban hike. You know about that joint don't ya? It's still there. What a great old city!
Friday, October 8. 2021
From the Maggie's hike
Thursday, October 7. 2021
The Coasties suspect that an anchor might have popped a hole in a pipeline, and created a minor oil leak. Could be.
Unlike real seamen, I do not trust anchors in bigger water other than daytime lunch hooks. There are too many things that can disrupt an anchor, such as wind shifts, big waves, condition of the bottom, etc. It is not unusual for recreational boaters to dive down and check the bottom situation of their anchor. Commercial fishermen use 2 anchors, but the olde time Cape Cod fishermen would often prefer to run up on a beach than sleep on anchor on a bad night when they could not reach harbor.
For large vessels, there are now global positioning systems which will keep you precisely in place without anchor or mooring.
This colorful species of the jay family is fairly common from the East coast of the US to the eastern edge of the Rockies. In winter here I occasionally find their feathers scattered around where a Sharp-Shinned Hawk has caught one for dinner.
Apparently some migrate and some don't. It is termed "partial migration." I have seen large flocks migrating south along the Hudson River. However, there are always plenty of them around in a New England winter especially if you put bird food out.
Factoid: they mate for life, like Canada Geese. How do they know who is who, because they all look the same?
|