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. |
Our Recent Essays Behind the Front Page
Categories
QuicksearchLinks
Blog Administration |
Sunday, February 18. 2018Aging parents: "Can't we talk about something more pleasant?"The great cartoonist Roz Chast put her campy irony aside to produce a heartfelt and mostly hilarious cartoon book about the aging and decline of her parents. OK, lots of gallows humor. If you have or have had declining parents, it's required reading and you will recognize everything except Brooklyn (unless you grew up in Brooklyn - the 7th largest city in the USA if it were still its own city). Also for non-New Yorkers, her illustrated Going Into Town - A Love Letter to New York is an excellent and humorous guide.
Posted by Bird Dog
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
at
15:38
| Comments (4)
| Trackbacks (0)
Why shorter people are often stronger, or seem stronger, or look strongerOur strength potential has a lot to do with genetic physical architecture. However, this is a statistical phenomenon, not a law. Two reasons why shorter people can be "stronger": - More compact muscle mass. A smaller person might have the same genetic muscle base as a 6'2" person. - The laws of levers. Most physical movements involve Third Class Levers of bone, tendon, and muscle. Longer bones mean the range of motion (say, in inches) in a physical effort has further to go, and is thus more challenging. When the fulcrum is in the same place, and the lever is longer, it takes more force to move. Basic mechanics. So if your 5'8" friend can bench more than you, this might be part of why that is. Speaking statistically, of course, because there are plenty of short weak people and plenty of giant strong people (like Thor, in photo). From today's Lectionary: My covenant with youGenesis 9:8-17 9:8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9:9 "As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, 9:10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. 9:11 I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth." 9:12 God said, "This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 9:13 I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 9:14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 9:15 I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 9:16 When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth." 9:17 God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth." Saturday, February 17. 2018Saturday Verse: W.B. Yeats (1865 - 1939)
Painting is a copy of a now-lost Leonardo painting Leda and the Swan A sudden blow: the great wings beating still How can those terrified vague fingers push A shudder in the loins engenders there Being so caught up, Thursday, February 15. 2018Weights: 5- rep and 10-rep daysFor powerlifting and related high-resistance exercises, we tend to alternate between higher (10) rep days and lower (5-6) rep days. Obviously, the number of reps reflects the max weights that we can do at those reps. 10 reps means you can't do 11 with good form. Of course, over time you keep upping the weights. Our format is to do a light warm-up with the specific exercise, then only four-five working sets. And that's it for my weekly deadlifts, for example. A younger person could do more each week (like twice), but there is a time consideration too. Our typical weight exercises are below the fold - Continue reading "Weights: 5- rep and 10-rep days" Tuesday, February 13. 2018"Correcting The Myths of the Vietnam War"Tuesday morning linksWhy Tarantino sucks Scientists Unearth Hope for New Antibiotics - Researchers identified new compounds by sifting through genetic material from soil samples Boston Police Dept Apologizes For Tweet Honoring Celtics Coach Red Auerbach During Black History Month If gender is a social construct, how can gender identity be innate and immutable? Earth to NBC: Russians did not change one vote in 2016 - CNN just lost its Fake News crown to NBC. Its effort to win the gold has been Olympic this month. George Soros hits back at 'toxic, personal criticism' and defends donation to anti-Brexit campaign The US is selling oil to the Middle East Kimball: Our New Secessionists Byron York: Comey told Congress FBI agents didn't think Michael Flynn lied MSNBC Host Isn't Sure If She's Out Of Touch After Getting Filleted Over Bonus Remarks Unhinged Conspiracy Theorists: Leftwing Professor Lawrence Tribe Floats Theory that a Carter Page Associate Was Murdered in an Engineered Plane Crash, Then Deletes His Noxious Tweet Dem Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand: My Constituents Outside New York City Are “Wrong” And “Racist” About Guns And Immigration… Trump Starts Year Two In a Far Better Position Than Democrats Imagined Anchors Await - The Navy is failing at its most basic responsibilities. Low Recruit Discipline Prompts Army to Redesign Basic Training IDF shows Iran and Syria it’s serious about Israel’s security Monday, February 12. 2018Monday morning links
Image via ‘Gender trouble’: Museum removes 19th century painting to ‘prompt conversation’ Lucky fellow. Like Narcissus, but with admirers Experimental Drug Promises to Kill the Flu Virus in a Day L.L. Bean Drops Life-Time Guarantee Makes sense. Their customer has changed. I doubt that I will ever wear out my 2 prs of Maine boots On the other hand, GoRuck's products are lifetime-guaranteed Olympic Venue Surrounded by Dog Meat Farms, Dog Soup on Menus Despite Protests It's multicultural Peer Inside Japan's Secretive Love Hotels The 10 Whitest Things About the Woman Who Flushed Her Emotional Support Hamster Down the Toilet at the Airport Is the 'Global Warming' Cult Finally Coming to Its Senses? Growing number of state laws are passed or introduced focusing on campus free speech Why would laws be needed? California launches investigation following stunning admission by Aetna medical director In Defense of Offense by Michael Robillard
FEMA FLIP: MAYBE WHITEFISH ENERGY WASN’T SO BAD AFTER ALL! "Real life is beginning to mimic college tribunals. When the perpetrator of an anonymous list accusing dozens of men of a whole range of sexual misdeeds..." BEN SHAPIRO: TOO HOT TO HANDLE Too smart to handle AK-47 Rifles, Claymore Mines, & Grenade Launchers Discovered On Mexico Border The Democrats’ secret weapon to take back statehouses 'Hire the best and fire the worst': Trump proposes biggest civil service change in 40 years Doubt this will go anywhere. GREAT NEWS ON REGULATION FROM THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION Russia-Trump Investigation: How Did Hillary Clinton Get FBI, FISA To Do Her Political Dirty Work? Peeling back the layers of Hillary Clinton’s deceit GOP LAWMAKERS RELEASE VIDEO EXPOSING DEEP STATE LIES TO FISA COURT - ‘The Republican memo fairly raises questions about why certain facts were never disclosed to the FISA court’ Sunday, February 11. 2018Crows and ChipmunksTwo things I've been wondering about: - The Eastern Chipmunk supposedly hibernates, but I see them venture out on warmer winter days in the 40s (F). Their extensive burrows have bathrooms and food storage rooms. We have lots of them around probably because we have few big snakes here. Yes, they take bites out of my tomatoes but I like the little buggers. - What is the home range of the Common Crow? It depends on whether they live in urban, suburban, agricultural, forest, or plains habitats. Crows are adaptive. According to one study, their home turf in urban areas can be under a half square mile, and in more open areas up to 15 square miles. Crow tribes' home turfs overlap somewhat, and many tribes often travel to share winter roosts. When they want to, they will wander far from their home turf but might run into trouble from other Crow tribes defending their turf. Can you understand Crow language? From today's Lectionary: TransfigurationMark 9:2-9 9:2 Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, 9:3 and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. 9:4 And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. 9:5 Then Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." 9:6 He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. 9:7 Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, "This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!" 9:8 Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus. 9:9 As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. Saturday, February 10. 2018How to sell Girl Scout cookies
Posted by Bird Dog
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
at
17:01
| Comments (4)
| Trackbacks (0)
“On Not Being a Dove”In 1989, John Updike relfected on his political experiences during Vietnam: Long Read of the Week: “On Not Being a Dove” by John Updike (1989)
Saturday morning linksThe sun is growing colder Yikes. I can feel it The 40 Most Expensive Colleges in the Country Many or most kids do not pay full-freight, tho The Amazon-ification of Whole Foods - There’s a broader strategy behind two-hour delivery for heirloom tomatoes. Grid Girls, models, and feminism Rent Control Needs Retirement, Not a Comeback Rent control harms low-income people. It's not about logic, it's politics Update, public housing in NYC San Francisco Bay Area Experiences Mass Exodus Of Residents Local Man Takes Advantage Of 3-Hour DMV Wait To Pen Blog Post Arguing For Government-Run Healthcare The Idolatry of Journalism - The Newseum is a monument of absurd self-praise. Another bogus gender injustice claim made it in the Super Bowl California confronts the complexities of creating a single-payer healthcare system Deep in the fine print of the two-year budget deal in Congress Andrew McCarthy: No, Trump Cannot Be Found To Have ‘Obstructed’ The Russia Investigation CLINTON ALLY IN STATE DEPT ADMITS PASSING BLUMENTHAL/SHEARER MATERIAL TO STEELE Breaking: Peter Strzok KNEW Hillary Camp Used Bleachbit to Delete Emails – The Week They Were Deleted U.S. Spies Paid $100,000 To Shady Russian Who Promised Them Stolen Cyberweapons And Dirt On Trump Tom Steyer Hires Army of Operatives With Eye Toward Impeachment Has Anyone Seen the President? Michael Lewis goes to Washington in search of Trump and winds up watching the State of the Union with Steve Bannon. Amusing. Trump's flaws are such easy targets though. So are my own. Justice Dept. and FBI Personnel Changes Amid Probes Can't keep track of the probes Assad Is Still Using Chemical Weapons in Syria. Neither the threat of U.S. action nor an Obama-era agreement appears to deter Bashar al-Assad. It’s Hard to Believe, but Syria’s War Is Getting Even Worse Israel Carries Out "Large Scale Attack" On Syria After Israeli F-16 Shot Down Friday, February 9. 2018QQQ"I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life." Theodore Roosevelt practiced what he preached, to a fault Friday morning linksGabon fights elephant poachers with hi-tech tracker collars Can't repair your John Deere yourself anymore Goodbye to Newsweek Columbia University Professor Warns Women’s March Has Been “Deeply Infiltrated” By Zionists… Trump's environment chief Scott Pruitt suggests climate change could be good for humanity - 'We know that humans have most flourished during time of warming trends' It is true Governments Hate Bitcoin and Cash for the Same Reason: They Protect People’s Privacy. Nasty: Footage of Donald Trump's bad hair day goes viral CNN: These "Dreamers" Are Threatening to Leave America if They Don't Get Their Amnesty The Senate’s immigration debate, starting next week, is really at least 7 different debates, And Mitch McConnell has just wrapped the whole thing in yet another layer of confusion. House passes bill to ease Obama’s excessive menu labeling rules - Common Sense Nutrition Disclosure Act erases more nanny-state nonsense implemented through Obamacare. DNC Deputy Chair Keith Ellison Sits and Applauds as Linda Sarsour Calls America Racist, Hateful Country Founded on Murder Tammy Bruce: Trump wants a military parade and liberals are hysterical Chuck Schumer 2014: You Know What We Should Have? A Military Parade Sultan on the congressional black caucus: It’s become a gang of thieves united by greed, racial solidarity and racial animosity. A TIMELINE OF TREASON: How the DNC and FBI Leadership Tried to Fix a Presidential Election "They (Dems) are being hoisted on the petard of their own moral narcissism. It has made them blind." CVS Announces Wage Hike To $11 An Hour Thanks To Tax Law ECONOMY RATING WENT FROM 39% UNDER OBAMA TO 70% UNDER TRUMP It Takes Chutzpah to Call This the ‘Obama Boom’ - Hundreds of thousands of Americans are moving from part-time work to full-time employment. Can't people celebrate this? U.S. Jobless Claims Drop To Near 45-Year Low VDH: Trump is radiation therapy for the US A visit to Albania today Revisiting Vietnam 50 Years After the Tet Offensive George Soros, the man who 'broke the Bank of England', backing secret plot to thwart Brexit Complicity of Poles in the deaths of Jews is highly underestimated, scholars say Thursday, February 8. 2018SpaceX heavy boosters landingTwo out of three ain't bad for a first try:
Thursday morning linksLove vs. Lust: Don’t Know What the Angular Gyrus Is? Your Heart Does Hmmmm. I call it all "desire" WHY IS ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION FAIR? Maryland School District Dedicates This Week To ‘Black Lives Matter’ Lessons… Re Kimmel: The lovable late night host is gone, replaced by a finger wagging scold belittling half the country. Study: New Minimum Wage Laws Will Eliminate More Than 260,000 Jobs in 2018 Including teens who want to work California and the definition of insanity: Why do Democrats love tax hikes so much? Philip Hamburger on ‘The Administrative Threat’ FBI Informant Testifies: Moscow Routed Millions To Clinton Foundation In "Russian Uranium Dominance Strategy" Clinton ‘Hatchet Man’ Shopped Trump Dirt Earlier Than Previously Believed FBI Didn’t Notice Clinton Emails MARKED Classified, Wanted To Shut Down Probe Before Others Did FBI lovers' latest text messages: Obama 'wants to know everything' Reynolds: “Hypothesis: The spying-on-Trump thing is worse than we even imagine, and once it was clear Hillary had lost and it would inevitably come out, the Trump/Russia collusion talking point was created as a distraction.” VDH: The press used to uncover government wrongdoing. Today’s press is defending it.
Trump's Right: The U.K.'s Health System Is Broke And Failing Wednesday, February 7. 2018Stronger legs without weights?
For ordinary "functional" fitness, lots of people skip the weights and do body-weight lower body strength workouts. These are the basuc things you need to hike up hills all day. Body-weight Lunges and Squats . And although Stair Machines are usually considered a cardio/endurance activity, they are a body-weight lower body muscle stressor for sure so I consider them cardio/calisthenic if done at a good intensity. Predictably, I come down to my usual recommendations: Do all of it: Weights for strength and bone, cardio for heart, endurance, and stamina, and body-weight exercise/calisthenics for everything. This 15- minute set of leg calisthenics with no breaks from Mindy looks good and tough. I would find it challenging at the least. Feel the burn. An hour of calisthenics like this will make you feel great the rest of the day.
Wednesday morning linksImage from Wait: The Government Is Incompetent, So We Want it To Do *More*? “Emotional Support Animals” Help Explain How America Is Losing Its Mind " Ms Schaefer, who teaches performance art to those less gifted than herself, is a recipient of the Boston ICA’s 2015 Foster Prize, and has been described by the ICA’s senior curator as “amazing,” “compelling” and yet inexplicably “underfunded.”" Transgender College Student Files Complaint Against Professor for Not Using Preferred Pronouns Justin Trudeau interrupts a woman to tell her to use 'peoplekind' instead of 'mankind' because 'it's more inclusive' Guy is a putz The death of the American newspaper Why “Open Borders” is a Dangerous Idea The left’s wild fantasies about finding crimes to topple Trump Hillary’s Attempt to Steele the Election DON'T CALL IT THE STEELE DOSSIER, CALL IT THE CLINTON DOSSIER From Russia, with love Václav Havel’s politics of encounter Tuesday, February 6. 2018Something worth conserving: Plum IslandOver the years, the 800-acre Plum Island in the outer part of Long Island Sound has been the site of several forts, and in recent decades, the site of the federal Animal Disease Center. The latter is moving to Kansas, and for ten years the feds have wanted to sell the mostly-wild island to the highest bidder (most likely developers). Perfect place for a high-end resort with a helicopter pad and a links golf course - but... There are very few precious plots of undeveloped coastal land in southern New England, and most of those are so frequented by people that they are unsuited for nesting shorebirds or breeding seals, etc. The feds just want the $, and NY State seems uninterested. My preference would for the island to become a NWR or something like that. Or for the Nature Conservancy to buy it (but they aren't buying much land outright any more). My other choice would be for somebody conservation-minded to buy it as a private preserve as Louis Bacon did with Robin's Island and as Hank Paulson did with Little St Simon's Island in Georgia (11,000 acres, 32 guests). We love to visit LSS. Here's the site for Preserve Plum Island Tuesday morning linksPeople Are Actually Considering Not Having Kids Because of Global Warming Fine with me Solway: The Jordan Peterson Phenomenon Stimulating psycho-spiritual speaker/preacher Yales most popular class is Happiness A+ for attendance? End the Bias in Campus Sexual-Misconduct Tribunals Watts: The Extent of Global Warming Deception and the Damage is Not Hyperbole China’s Surveillance State Should Scare Everyone How uncomprehending is David Brooks about unlimited immigration? Polls swing toward GOP, easing fears of midterm disaster Christopher Steele Wrote 2nd Dossier, Containing Rumors Fed to Him by Hillary's Hatchet-Men Klavan: The media's lies are unraveling Trump Creates 'National Vetting Center' For Immigrants, Refugees And Travelers Secret Alliance: Israel Carries Out Airstrikes in Egypt, With Cairo’s O.K. Monday, February 5. 2018Monday morning linksAn Italian village is selling homes for $1.25 so it doesn't become a ghost town Ivy League Dinner to Celebrate Being Overweight Beer the Wheel & Politics: How it all began UK Education Giant Unveils Hard-Left, Identity Politics - Pushing LGBT Classroom Programme United Airlines Cracking Down On Emotional Support Spouses How Will #MeToo Affect the Average Guy? Postcard from the End of America: Palmyra, NJ by LINH DINH New Jersey’s Tired Tax Tricks - In the Garden State, the promise that higher income taxes will close the fiscal gap never pans out. Tech giants are the robber barons of our time Damore Suit: Google Caters to Furries, Transgenderism, and 'A Yellow-Scaled Wingless Dragonkin' Reed College to revise Western Civ class after protests call it too ‘Caucasoid’ and ‘Eurocentric’ Funny about Western Civ Kimmel: Late Night Hosts Are All Liberal Because 'It Requires A Level Of Intelligence' Think California politics is on the far-left fringe? Just wait for the next elections. How the Clinton team created Russia Russia Obama Admin’s First Request to Spy on Trump Campaign Was Rejected by FISA Court — So They Added the Fake Dossier Knowing It Was Lie TRUMP WAS RIGHT! FISA Warrant Allowed FBI to Spy on Carter Page And ALL OF TRUMP CAMPAIGN Why Did the Democrats Lie So Baldly about the Memo? Former CIA Official Threatens Trump: “You’ve Been Around for 13 Months – We’ve Been Around Since 1908. We’re Going to Win” The FISA Memo, Obama and the Election that Almost Wasn’t Contrarian: Comments On The House Intelligence Committee Memo Nunes: FISA Memo Just "Phase One," Now Targeting State Department In "Phase Two" Why Democrats are holding a losing hand against Donald Trump To the polls – Are the Dems on the wrong side of the important issues? When Democrats Wanted to Compromise on Immigration - Not long ago, liberals embraced restrictions. Sunday, February 4. 2018Shopping(My italics) - - Vanderleun goes shopping at Costco
- Dalrymple discusses shopping in an article about the joys of hatred:
These wonderful guys miss the extent to which shopping is recreational for many people. Don't despise the recreational shoppers. Looking at stuff and buying stuff can be a lifestyle. I think it has been thus since the dawn of urbanism. Or even before that. Much as I hate shopping (including going to the market for bread, cookies, and vegetables), I find the sheer abundance of Costco to be a real kick. So you go home with 4 months worth of toilet paper. That's not a bad thing.
Posted by Bird Dog
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
at
12:05
| Comments (9)
| Trackbacks (0)
From today's Lectionary: Have you not heard?Isaiah 40:21-31 40:21 Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? 40:22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to live in; 40:23 who brings princes to naught, and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing. 40:24 Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows upon them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble. 40:25 To whom then will you compare me, or who is my equal? says the Holy One. 40:26 Lift up your eyes on high and see: Who created these? He who brings out their host and numbers them, calling them all by name; because he is great in strength, mighty in power, not one is missing. 40:27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God"? 40:28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. 40:29 He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. 40:30 Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; 40:31 but those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. Saturday, February 3. 2018A calisthenics day yesterday
The thing about an hour of calisthenics is that, like your cardio/HIIT, it needs no more than a 24-hr recovery so you can do them the day after your weights day. My preferred sequence is Wts Mon, Calis Tues, Cardio Weds, Wts Thurs, Calis and/or Cardio Fri, Calis Sat. After a ten-minute warm-up on elliptical, the rest below the fold: Continue reading "A calisthenics day yesterday"
« previous page
(Page 201 of 793, totaling 19821 entries)
» next page
|