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 |
Saturday, November 11. 2023MITSaturday morning linksTop 100 Movie Dances What the Octopus Knows - A scuba-diving philosopher explores invertebrate intelligence and consciousness. Ohio schoolgirl says she was harassed by male who 'asked to join in' while she was changing in restroom - as dozens of students walk out to protest school's transgender bathroom policy American dad who moved to Sweden with his young daughter reveals the staggering differences in European school system that ultimately forced his family to RETURN to the US The Perils of Affective Polarization - Our increasing desire to isolate ourselves from supporters of the opposite party can have dire consequences DOUGLAS MURRAY IN ISRAEL White House Aides "Simply Cannot Stomach" Biden's Israel Policy, Dissent Memos Leak, Revolt At State Dept HITLER YOUTH AT MIT Friday, November 10. 2023LeadershipTiziano VecelliFor some reason, in English this 16th C. Venetian artist is known as Titian. Some of his cool masterpieces are in the Frari church in Venice. Tiziano had a productive and lucrative career. If life somehow takes you to Venice, make sure you spend some time in the Frari church, aka Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari. He spent 2 years on that altarpiece. Lines of people prepare to go into San Marco, but that Byzantine stuff is too much to take in. You could easily spend a day just examining the floors of that place. The Frari church is more of a church. Yes, it's still an active church and monastery but you have to remember that the Venetian population is far less now than it was historically. Probably a third, or less. Friday morning links115 Million Years Ago An Entire Continent Vanished. Now We've Found Where It's Hiding Feds Say They Uncovered Prostitution Ring Serving Politicians, Military Officers, And Tech Execs Is that still enforced in the US? How to Deal with a Narcissist What horses see The Government Wants to Release Grizzly Bears WHERE? A strange medical malpractice case Hudson Booksellers blocks 'America First' authors: MTG, Mark Levin, Kari Lake, Judge Jeanine Why some are really mad at Mr. Beast TGIF: Jihadis Get Lost in Translation. Anne Frank is offensive. Building wells is bad. Chinatown is evil. Silence is violence. War is peace. Bari Weiss: End DEI. It’s not about diversity, equity, or inclusion. It is about arrogating power to a movement that threatens not just Jews—but America itself. Stuart: Should We End DEI? Who is "we"? Judge Engoron’s TDS-Afflicted Wife Regularly Flips Out on X Did you know that the UN runs the school system in Gaza? Thursday, November 9. 2023Mark Twain's visit to Venice
My pic is early morning. I am an early (often too early) riser:
"We reached Venice at eight in the evening, and entered a hearse belonging to the Grand Hotel d'Europe. At any rate, it was more like a hearse than any thing else, though to speak by the card, it was a gondola. And this was the storied gondola of Venice!--the fairy boat in which the princely cavaliers of the olden time were wont to cleave the waters of the moonlit canals and look the eloquence of love into the soft eyes of patrician beauties, while the gay gondolier in silken doublet touched his guitar and sang as only gondoliers can sing! This the famed gondola and this the gorgeous gondolier!--the one an inky, rusty old canoe with a sable hearse-body clapped on to the middle of it, and the other a mangy, barefooted guttersnipe with a portion of his raiment on exhibition which should have been sacred from public scrutiny. Presently, as he turned a corner and shot his hearse into a dismal ditch between two long rows of towering, untenanted buildings, the gay gondolier began to sing, true to the traditions of his race. I stood it a little while. Then I said: "Now, here, Roderigo Gonzales Michael Angelo, I'm a pilgrim, and I'm a stranger, but I am not going to have my feelings lacerated by any such caterwauling as that. If that goes on, one of us has got to take water. It is enough that my cherished dreams of Venice have been blighted forever as to the romantic gondola and the gorgeous gondolier; this system of destruction shall go no farther; I will accept the hearse, under protest, and you may fly your flag of truce in peace, but here I register a dark and bloody oath that you shan't sing. Another yelp, and overboard you go."" Thursday morning linksWhat Is 'Rebecca Syndrome' and Is It Ruining Your Relationship? Your Fault: Climate Doom Is Sexist COVID-19 Lockdowns Contributed To 'Collective Trauma' Among Americans: Psychologists Controlling Minds by Controlling Language You’ll Never Guess to Whom Hillary Clinton Compared Trump (Actually, You Will) Marjorie Taylor Greene Weighs In on GOP’s Complete Trainwreck Performance in General Election Why does the ‘party of abortion’ keep winning? Hamas to NYT: War of Annihilation Is Exactly What We Wanted WHO: Gaza Was Unicorns and Teddy Bears Until the Jews Bombed It Israel celebrates breaching ground Hamas didn’t foresee as war enters second month Zelensky goes on Meet the Press, calls on President Trump for help, and begs for money like a crackhead Wednesday, November 8. 2023Books: Like a miracleIt is normal for you to produce nearly 100 billion white blood cells each day. How the Immune System Works That book is written for the general public. Mind-boggling. It is a wonder that it all works so well most of the time. Nothing man can make works as well, for so long. With health, I tend not to be overly curious about why things go wrong, but to be amazed about how anything ever goes right.
What is khat?Wednesday morning linksHenry Winkler’s Secret to Always Smelling Great - On the heels of a new memoir, the actor, producer and author talks about therapy, thinking about exercising and the legacy of The Fonz Does Elon Musk Have Too Much Power? Bari talks to Walter Isaacson. Elon Musk’s free speech stance is ‘dangerous,’ Columbia journalism fellow says Stop clearing thousands of acres to build solar panels: Harvard study Progressive teachers want ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ banished from curriculum Ohio Voters Approve Radical Amendment Removing Limits on Abortion, Gender-Transition Procedures Ugly, but it's up to the states Bari Weiss: DEI is Undermining America Turley: This Is A Case Uniquely Created For Trump, "This Crosses The Line From Law To Entertainment" Trump Derangement Syndrome, Snobbery, and A Sophomoric View Of The Truth Behind Demands For Censorship The Roots of Campus Hatred - Why have noxious ideas flourished at U.S. colleges? We have some answers. Biden 2024 Campaign in Disarray Over Israel-Hamas War Hamas leaders worth staggering $11B revel in luxury WILL ISRAEL RE-OCCUPY GAZA? Welcome to Venezuela. Tuesday, November 7. 2023Related to the YoutubeCan Anyone Give An Example Of A Muslim Country Treating Members Of Another Religion Appropriately? Well, in history not many countries have treated non-majority religions and/or ethnicities very well. That's not an apologia for any of it.
Free Palestine? No thanksDo identical twins have identical fingerprints?Tuesday morning linksSheena Josselyn, neuroscientist: ‘Eliminating a memory is fairly simple, once you have the right tools’ Is Flossing A Waste Of Time? Sleep experts want to make standard time permanent after clocks fall back How do you solve the problem of free will? Climate Cult Pushes Psychedelic Drugs To Deal With Climate Doom Anxiety Facebook Censors Nashville Trans Shooter Manifesto Liberals Shocked About Musk's Non-Woke Chatbot Now That Biden's Campaign Is Off the Rails, POLITICO Discovers He Might Be Corrupt Another Hugo Chavez-style idea on electricity rates from California's one-party regime The Mindset of Our Anti-Semites - Why does the world apply a special standard of conduct to Israel? Don Jr. Shares Viral Video from Germany: “If Necessary, We Must Use Violence to Institute Islamic State Once Muslims are a Majority” Anne Frank's Name to Be Removed From Day Care Center in Latest Woke Attempt to Erase History Obama: We Are All Complicit For the Violence in Israel-Hamas War Fierce hand-to-hand combat in and around Gaza City can be expected to continue in the coming days The Ukraine war has no end in sight Monday, November 6. 2023Brooks Brothers: "It is an off the rack suit, M'am."Mrs. BD dragged me down to Brooks, cuz moths destroyed my wedding and funeral suit. Plus she wanted my dressing to be up-to-date. Spent a fair amount of money. We do go out quite a bit and I am lazy with clothing because I am not looking to pick up chicks these days and have nobody to impress with clothing except to be appropriate for the occasion. FYI, they have excellent help and service, and also do bespoke stuff if you want with good Italian wool. She was not entirely satisfied with the fit of the two suits she wanted for me, but the title tells you the response. Yes, well-tailored by their folks, but not perfect like some prosperous people have. Whatever. Mrs. BD is right - men look their best in well-fitted suits, assuming they are in decent shape. Can say the same for womens' dress, of course. I'm happy to use this stuff for a wedding, but want no more damn funerals right now. Or my own. Local Italian men and women look great. That's how you can tell them from the tourists. Not the kids though who try to look American.
Posted by Bird Dog
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
at
15:34
| Comments (8)
| Trackbacks (0)
Rhubarb in the darkI love rhubarb - raw, compote, pie, whatever.
Monday morning linksMacy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Goes Woke, Gender Non-Conformity Will Be Front and Center UK: Transgender activist who said 'would not matter' if the number of female murders increased if men were allowed to self-identify as women is devising ethics rules for therapists Who Is Robert Greene? David Brooks on Mental Health The Field Of Statistics Is Doomed — Unless It Abandons Testing & Parameter-Based Analysis 9 Ways To Scare Off Californians Looking To Move Into Your Neighborhood Why I don’t lose sleep over AI Street Crime is Destroying Oakland's Economy ‘Out of Room’: New York City Is Literally Paying For Migrants To Leave, But Many Refuse To Go The Deadly Folly of Our Open Border Biden is Suddenly Interested in Fixing the Border Wall Majority Support For Muslim Migration Ban As 3 In 4 Germans Say Newcomers Hate Western Society Another Instance Of Our Non-political Expert Regulators In Action Why Palestinians’ bad behavior has made them pariahs in the Arab world Whose Genocide Is It Anyway? NY Times Writer Resigns After Signing Letter Accusing Israel of Genocide INSURRECTION: Large Mob of Pro-Hamas Radicals Attacks White House Gates Sunday, November 5. 2023Not from today's LectionaryMatthew 22:34-46 22:34 When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, 22:35 and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 22:36 "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" 22:37 He said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' 22:38 This is the greatest and first commandment. 22:39 And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' 22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." 22:41 Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: 22:42 "What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?" They said to him, "The son of David." 22:43 He said to them, "How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying, 22:44 'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet"'? 22:45 If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?" 22:46 No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions. Saturday, November 4. 2023QQQ"He's beginning to show his age." My father-in-law about a buddy who turned 101. Spending 9 days in Vivaldi's schoolOne of Antonio Vivaldi's long-term gigs was to teach violin to orphan girls at the Ospedale della Pietà. That 18th C. building is now the Hotel Metropole. Quite a pleasant hotel, old-fashioned and Venetian-style, of course. Lots of famous people have stayed there, including Freud. It's a ten-minute walk along the docks to Piazza San Marco. Immediately next-door is the church where Vivaldi was the music boss - the Chiesa Santa Maria della Pieta. Convenient for Vivaldi. Their string + harpsichord group has baroque concerts every night, always sold out. Of course we went. Four Seasons and other things. Kinda wonderful. Vivaldi was known as a brilliant improviser too. Easy to believe. That's his Chiesa, and Hotel Metropole immediately on the right:
A bunch of fun Venice and Veneto photos below the fold -
Continue reading "Spending 9 days in Vivaldi's school" Saturday morning linksWe’re Saved: Artist Puts Up ‘Climate Change’ Pieces In Miami Washington and Lee University employs 1 administrator for every 3 undergrads Welcome to the New Campus Normal: A Dispatch from Ohio State OIG Inspectors Sent to McMurdo Station in Antarctica, to Tackle Its Culture of Rape and Sexual Assault Climate change? THE DNC’S 2024 CONVENTION CITY IS DROWNING IN ILLEGAL ALIENS Five Nordic nations are slowly ending their love affair with Muslim immigration Even the German Left Is Backing Off Immigration Far-right MAGA theocrats: Most dangerous threat to America IDF Has No Plans to Enter Hamas' Tunnels, So What Are the Options? Stuart's Saturday Miscellany ALAN DERSHOWITZ says vile Leftist anti-Israeli hate will turn millions of American Jews from Blue to Red - and he's one The Shame of Academe Friday, November 3. 2023Thrush migration in the US
"Long-distance migrant. Twice a year, Wood Thrushes cross the Gulf of Mexico in a single night's flight. They spend the fall and winter in Central America. They return north in spring 2 to 6 times faster on a route that's generally somewhat farther west."
Friday morning linksOops. California's Carbon Emissions Went Up Anyway 'Renewable Massacre': SolarEdge Melts Down After Weak Guidance The Wuhan Cover-Up: How Fauci Conspired With Virologists To Deceive The Public And Smear Critics Chicago’s Solution to Its Failing School System: Stop Grading Schools on Performance. It’s become abundantly clear that the greatest obstacle to educational reform is the government itself. TGIF: Useful Idiots - Terrorists have brainwashed America. A woke ‘Snow White’ has been canceled. Long live Queen Hillary. Plus: equitable bird names, Mike Johnson is poor, and much, much more. Biden Issues Government's First-Ever Artificial Intelligence Executive Order To 'Support Workers, Combat Discrimination' THE FRUITS OF THE ABRAHAM ACCORDS Faced with rise in Jewish hate, Kamala Harris tackles made-up ‘Islamphobia’ Victor Davis Hanson: One Sick War Hamas Keeps Making a Clear Case for Destroying Hamas Thursday, November 2. 2023Thursday morning linksWhat Happens When You Escape Death? The story of one man and a miracle drug. I get paid $150 an hour to cuddle — I’m solving the loneliness crisis for men and Gen Z women Homeschooling Has Increased by Over 50 Percent Since 2018. In some states, homeschooling has climbed by over 100 percent. THE DAILY CHART: PUBLIC SCHOOL REFUSENIKS What you are about to watch is the **final round** of the most prestigious national high school debate tournament... VICTORY! Orsted Abandons Whale-Killing Wind Energy Projects American Ornithological Society Cancels Birds Accused of Racism. They've run out of people to cancel. Speaker Mike Johnson Isn't Rich: Democrats Demand to Know Why The $1.8-Billion Lawsuit Over a Teacher Test - In the nineties, New York began requiring aspiring educators to take an exam. Thousands of people later claimed that the test was racially biased. Elon Musk, “The Degree to Which Twitter Was an Arm of the Govt, Was Not Well Understood by the Public”… Boston Children’s Hospital given $1.4 MILLION in taxpayer money for child sex changes White House slammed for ‘tone deaf’ unveiling of anti-Islamophobia strategy as antisemitism surges Dying to Please the Moderates - They love dead Jews AOC Finally Wins The Anti-Semitism First Prize! Not Your Great-Grandmother’s Pogrom: Modern Russia’s Attacks on Jews Are Carried Out by Muslims 'We May Never Know Exactly What Hamas Wants' Says Reporter In Front Of Hamas Holding 'Exterminate Jews From Existence' Banner Ukraine rathole: Zelensky advisor admits they're 'stealing like there's no tomorrow' Wednesday, November 1. 2023Wednesday morning linksPhoto: Plague doctor outfit - on sale in Venice COVID Lockdowns Were a Giant Experiment. It Was a Failure. A key lesson of the pandemic. The Great 'Green Energy Transition' That Wasn't The Climate is Indeed Changing – Grab a Warm Jacket World's Largest Offshore Wind Farm-Developer Abandons Two Major US Projects As Renewable Bust Erupts The rats always win Stuart's Wednesday Potpourri Army Warned That Maine Gunman ‘Should Not Have a Weapon,’ Behaved ‘Erratically’ Months Before Shooting. Weeks before the shooting: “An alert was then sent to law enforcement warning that Card was ‘armed and dangerous.'” Muslim Scottish Labour Party Leader Denounces Scotland as Too ‘White’ Federal Appeals Court Says Ex-Yale Student, Expelled Over Rape Accusation, Can Sue His Accuser for Defamation Briggs: What Scientists Know That Ain’t So NY’s taxes, biz mandates are driving out its Golden Goose — the finance industry Denmark takes forceful measures to integrate immigrants That is not tolerant and multicultural HOW THE HAMAS ATTACK TOOK ISRAEL BY SURPRISE Zelensky Advisor Admits Gov’t Officials ‘Stealing Like No Tomorrow’ as Biden Pushes for Billions More to Ukraine
« previous page
(Page 32 of 792, totaling 19799 entries)
» next page
|