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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Tuesday, May 28. 2024Tuesday morning linksDesign vs Fine Art: Sitting on the art The branch of the Nile that ran past the Pyramids The Debate Over Lab-Grown Meat - Are concerns about cultured meat justified? How Finding a “Third Place” Can Boost Your Well-Being Physically-healthy Dutch woman Zoraya ter Beek dies by euthanasia aged 29 because she did not want to live with depression Angry Young Women Bird flu is now widespread in wild birds around the globe, and it has been causing outbreaks in U.S. poultry and dairy cows, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Michigan Confirms First Human Case of High-Risk Bird Flu, Marking Second U.S. Case This Year Screwworms once killed millions of dollars’ worth of cattle a year in the southern U.S. Their range extended from Florida to California, and they infected any living, warm-blooded animal: not only cattle but deer, squirrels, pets, and even the occasional human. Trust The "Science"...That Just Retracted 11,000 "Peer Reviewed" Papers Anthony Fauci's Superior at the NIH Admits That the "Six Foot Rule" of Social Distancing Was Never Based on Any Science At All Nellie Bowles Thoroughly Humiliates the New York Times Biden To Ruin Thousands Of Miles Of Land For Green Energy Scheme Some employers are reluctant to hire college grads who attended pro-Palestinian protests, survey finds
‘Supportive housing’ is no cure-all for mentally ill homeless Gavin Newsom Touts California Plan to Combat Homelessness As a ‘National Model’ California’s Looming Crime Catastrophe - Recent legislation makes it easier for felons to claim racial bias—potentially putting them back on the streets in large numbers. The Nation: It’s Not Too Late for Democrats to Win Back Rural Voters National Park Construction Crew Told to Stop Flying American Flag Columbia has more full-time employees than undergrads, including an Earth Observatory DEI director New York City's Ongoing "Affordable Housing" Follies The Massive Immigration Wave Hits America's Schools And Shelters Joe Biden spends his Memorial Day weekend celebrating George Floyd Harrison Butker, supervillain Petition demands Kansas City Chiefs fire kicker Harrison Butker for ‘discriminatory’ grad speech 'So Much For Democracy'? Blinken Justifies Ukraine Canceling Elections Nation Building’s Last Stand in Gaza. Germany: No driving on the weekends? The End of Ireland's Great Consensus Sunday, May 26. 2024Why Mrs. Bird Dog is our boat CaptainI've been a boater all of my life and have some basic feel for seas and boat-handling. She has not been unless you consider things like Sailfishes and Sunfishes (which are great fun). With our previous (smaller) boat, I was always Captain for her comfort. My view is that she needs to handle things if I crap out in some way. Makes sense, doesn't it? So she is Captain, and I First Mate. She handles everything, and she does not take joy in my advice. I feel boating can be dangerous, but she feels it is fun. Yup, fun until it isn't because sh-t happens. I put safety first with boats. It is true that, over the past few years, she probably handles this boat better than I can much of the time. I wish I had taught my kids boat-handling better, but it didn't happen. It's an art and a science.
From today's Lectionary: Send meIsaiah 6:1-8 6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. 6:2 Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 6:3 And one called to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory." 6:4 The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. 6:5 And I said: "Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!" 6:6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 6:7 The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: "Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out." 6:8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I; send me!" Saturday, May 25. 2024A sort-of recent Van MorrisonSaturday morning linksIs Boeing's Starliner Ever Going to Fly? To have or not to have breakfast? The Debate Over Lab-Grown Meat - Are concerns about cultured meat justified? The Best Years of Your Sex Life - Aging need not be a sexual deterrent; it can be an enrichment. 35-Year-Old Man Seriously Injured After ‘Surprise’ Grizzly Bear Attack in Grand Teton National Park Mathematics & The Imposing Your Beliefs Fallacy Too Much Self-Esteem Is Beef Production A Major Contributor To Climate Change? ChatGPT’s Moral Compass - We hear much talk of “aligning AI with human values” but relatively little delineation of what these values are. Academic conference looks ‘critically’ at Taylor Swift’s career — including the whiteness of her fans How The New York Times Went Woke - Confirmation bias has distorted the paper’s reporting. Stuart's Saturday Miscellany Martin Gurri on the Revenge of the Normies. Plus. . .The Pope goes after conservative Catholics. The ICC goes after Israel. Michael Cohen falls apart on the stand. And much more. Barbara Furlow-Smiles, a former diversity program manager at Facebook and Nike, has been sentenced for stealing more than $5 million Stanford now has 177 DEI employees, research finds Stand Firm, Boomers — the Student Protesters Actually Are Idiots Exposing The CIA's Secret Effort To Seize Control Of Social Media Hochul Insults Americans As She Tries to Attack Trump and His Rally in South Bronx Trump’s bumper Bronx rally is a bad omen for Biden. He promised to return to New York and sort out the anarchy DIALING THE HYSTERIA UP TO 11 Nonprofits Are Making Billions off the Border Crisis Guess What Hamas Is Doing With Aid We Are Sending to Gaza All the Aid From Biden’s Gaza Pier was Seized by Hamas Dutch Lawyer Faces Prosecution For Social Media Post Slamming Mass Migration Trout Fishing
"I fish because I love to. Because I love the environs where trout are found, which are invariably beautiful, and hate the environs where crowds of people are found, which are invariably ugly. Because of all the television commercials, cocktail parties, and assorted social posturing I thus escape. Because in a world where most men seem to spend their lives doing what they hate, my fishing is at once an endless source of delight and an act of small rebellion. Because trout do not lie or cheat and cannot be bought or bribed, or impressed by power, but respond only to quietude and humility, and endless patience. Because I suspect that men are going this way for the last time and I for one don't want to waste the trip. Because mercifully there are no telephones on trout waters. Because in the woods I can find solitude without loneliness. And finally, not because I regard fishing as being so terribly important, but because I suspect that so many of the other concerns of men are equally unimportant and not nearly so much fun." Robert Travor, author, Anatomy of a Murder Friday, May 24. 2024Bob turns 83 today
WKCR (89.9) is doing 24 hrs of obscure Dylan. Can listen on your machine. Lots of basement tapes, with lyrics made up at the moment.
A Friday trial run for linkingOn The Atomic Bombing Of Japan Hunter hospitalized with ‘significant injuries’ after grizzly bear attack in British Columbia Is Oreo About to Be the Next Bud Light? Trads on Offense Plant-based meat alternatives are trying to exit the culture wars – an impossible task? Scenes From a Global Struggle - Elites still command the strategic heights, but their power and prestige are slipping like water through their hands Censorship: A Global Pandemic Vouchers and Government Control - would government leave schools alone? 'A Failed Medical School': How Racial Preferences, Supposedly Outlawed in California, Have Persisted at UCLA Those 'All Electric' Fire Trucks are a Sad Joke Harvard Kiddies and Their Professors Have a Grand Time Calling for Intifada to 'Come to America' To the Class of 2024: You Are All Diseased Why school segregation is getting worse - Seventy years after the Brown decision, many students are divided by their race and socioeconomic status. DHS Admits Border Has Been Open To Criminals And Terrorists RFK Jr. vows to give black farmers $5 BILLION in reparations if he wins the White House and says funds are 'not money, that is entitlement' despite white counterparts labeling it racist Trump tells wild Bronx crowd he's going to win New York like Reagan How Lawfare Turned Trump Into a Superhero Salman Rushdie: A Palestinian State Would Be Hamas New Dutch Government Fixin' to GASP Do What They Were Elected to Do Something I learnedOne thing I've learned from our website mess is that so many newsy links get stale after a week.
Thursday, May 23. 2024Folk danceThe Battle of Rourke's DriftInteresting, but not historically important
I think I found out our website problemLooks like they updated our software. Sheesh. That did not help us.
Bayes’ Theorem and BullshitWithout being able to link things properly, I feel a bit hog-tied here. However, this is fun: Bayes’ Theorem and Bullshit - https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/bayes-theorem-and-bullshit?format=amp.
Wednesday, May 22. 2024Bird du Jour: Upland Sandpiper, aka Upland Plover
These birds are more commonly seen in the Midwest during migration, but flocks do pass through New England too. Large meadows are their preference. In the UK, their eggs are a delicacy. These birds are basically shore birds who have adapted to a life away from water. They winter in southern Argentina: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Upland_Sandpiper/overview Tuesday, May 21. 2024This tough old codger had one hell of a warMonday, May 20. 2024Building the 787 DreamlinerBoeing made the process more challenging than it needed to be. Isn't the Airbus 350 very similar?
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Linking is still buggyWe have never had this problem before, but suddenly multiple issues with the site's software. It is annoying.
Sunday, May 19. 2024Knopfler and EmmylouI've had a decades-long crush on Emmylou
From today's Lectionary: PentecostActs 2:1-21 2:1 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2:2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 2:3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 2:4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. 2:5 Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. 2:6 And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. 2:7 Amazed and astonished, they asked, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 2:8 And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? 2:9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 2:10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 2:11 Cretans and Arabs--in our own languages we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power." 2:12 All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?" 2:13 But others sneered and said, "They are filled with new wine." 2:14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, "Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. 2:15 Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o'clock in the morning. 2:16 No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: 2:17 'In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. 2:18 Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. 2:19 And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. 2:20 The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord's great and glorious day. 2:21 Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.' Wood HyacinthThe Wood Hyacinth is not a true Hyacinth, the popular bulb brought to Europe from Turkey. The Wood Hyacinth, or English Bluebell, or Common Bluebell, is a native of Western Europe. Today, there are many cultivars of this fine April/May-blooming woodland bulb which, when happy, spreads vigorously. In my opinion, it is much preferable to the gaudy and artificial-looking, plastic-looking true Hyacinth. Photo on right is a "Bluebell Woods" in England. My photo below is our tiny patch of it this morning. It will spread though, in time.
Saturday, May 18. 2024Connecticut birds today
Still can't make links, but I can do posts and, it seems, Youtubes. Armed with the Merlin app, below are what we (it) identified by sound in beautiful northwestern Connecticut. Saw a lot of them too: Continue reading "Connecticut birds today" Roman armiesIt is trickier than I thoughtThe Maggie's link function is still not working. It's a shame, because I've accumulated lots of interesting stuff to share. We're working on it.
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