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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Wednesday, November 22. 2023Wednesday morning linksJFK assassination: 60 years later we know the truth about the real killer LA Times Op-Ed: This Thanksgiving, Honor Turkeys By Not Eating Them What We’re Grateful For - Jonathan Haidt, Tyler Cowen, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Mayim Bialik, and Free Pressers weigh in. There Is No Good Way to Travel Anywhere in America. An Amtrak ride can go so, so wrong. That "new" Beatles song What's up with the Mayo Clinic? Black women of African descent were more likely to die of the medieval plague in London, academics at the Museum of London have found. Scarborough: If Elected, Trump Will 'Execute' As Many People As He Can Get Away With! Why Democrats Became The Totalitarians They Warned Us About Stuart's Wednesday Potpourri Cry no more for Argentina — it’s about to be a new model for economic reform Tuesday, November 21. 2023Bird du JourGreat Argus Pheasant, southern Thailand, looking for a wife. Hmmm, one of these birds might make fr a Thanksgiving feast.
Lead us not into Penn StationPenn Station is a sort-of terminal in NYC for the Long Island Railroad, AMTRAK, and the New Jersey Transit - all heavily used. One cool - if only 150 years late - is a new stop for the LIRR in Grand Central. Grand Central Terminal has a total of 67 Metro North tracks serving the New Haven line (to Boston), the Harlem Line (s commuter line to Dutchess Co., NY), and the Hudson Line which connects to Yankee Stadium but mainly goes to Poughkeepsie. There is also a train to Montreal (The Adirondack). It might be AMTRAK - I get confused about all of the lines and destinations because there are so many.
The magnificent old (1910) McKim, Mead and White Penn Station was knocked down in the 1960s. Apparently there were some good reasons to do that . Since I almost never use that station, I am grateful that the also grand Grand Central Terminal, which I use frequently, was saved from the urban renewal wrecking ball. Lifetime of memories there. I have not seen the new Penn Station (sort of renewed in time for the holidays). What do readers think about it?
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Tuesday morning linksAnother look at The Band The Nation: We Need to Decolonize Thanksgiving VDH: Can We Save our Universities? Six Books That Might Change How You Think About Mental Illness - These individual, honest narratives can help dislodge oversimplifications about mental health. Male Malaise Is Not Just About ‘the Culture’. Big Business and Big Education have a hand in our boys’ failure to thrive. Want to fix education? Bring back authority. Gentle parenting and the refusal to exercise earned authority is contributing to mediocrity and disorder Gen Z workers say they should be hired for their ‘personality,’ not productivity: We ‘set the vibes’ How Aristotle’s Advice On Friendship Is Relevant In The Modern Workplace In Defense of Diet Drugs - Judith Korner ’92GSAS, ’93VPS, an expert in the science of obesity at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, weighs the risks and benefits of Ozempic and other medications. WEF ‘Great Reset’ forecast looks gloomy as ‘demand for vegan food plunges’ Woke Lancet Warns: ‘Highest Global Temperatures in over 100,000 Years’ DHS Chief Mayorkas Warns Agents Not to Misgender Border Crossers, but Ask Their Preferred Pronouns ‘Damaging Disruption’: NY Times Editorial Board Admits Coronavirus School Closures Were a Mistake Progressives for Atrocity Martin Gurri: When Things Fall Apart - Perverse policies and institutional rot have turned America upside down. “He isn’t Trump” might not be quite the selling point it was in 2020, Anti-Socialist Javier Milei Is Elected President of Argentina Why there can never be a two-state solution Ukraine End Game: Putin & Medvedev Discuss Maps, Putting Kiev On The Menu Monday, November 20. 2023Already like a bad dreamI've had a couple of surgeries in my life, but had never spent a night in a hospital until last week: 5 days in there. Even in a very attentive and kind hospital it is a strange, unpleasant - and disorienting - experience. Feeling like a pin cushion is the least of it. I'd be interested in other peoples' experiences. Things I learned: - Rules about your restaurant doggy bag: Heat to 165+ degrees before eating it, and throw it out after 24 hrs. Our new rule: No more doggy bags at all (except steak) which is a drag for me because I have not finished a restaurant meal in a decade. Typical food-poisoning is Salmonella, but I got Campylobacter (which is typically minor but not in my case). Besides fatigue and constant diarrhea, my electrolytes became dangerously imbalanced which is what concerned the docs: Potassium mostly. Plus IV saline to combat the dehydration. - When you are sick as s-, you don't necessarily appreciate how ill you are because it affects your mental clarity. I had to fall on the floor from weakness + dizziness due to dehydration to realize this was not nothing. - Being in hospital feels like confinement (is confinement) unless you feel too terrible to get out of bed. Plus the hospital gown makes you feel (and look) like an invalid: "How are we feeling this morning? Did we have a BM?" - The BBC Planet Earth series has stunning videography. Also I read 2 books. I highly recommend Empires of the Sea: The Siege of Malta, the Battle of Lepanto, and the Contest for the Center of the World - A "Clear liquid" diet is the worst thing. 3 times/day: Decaf tea, jello, ginger ale (which is ok), lemon ice (which I hope to never see again). Finally got a nice nurse to sneak me fresh coffee from the nursing station. - How to fix an IV pump yourself when it beeps an obstruction. - A regular Med/Surg floor at my place had 4 units, about 20 patients/unit. A unit has a Charge Nurse, 4 RNs, 4 CNAs (Certified Nurse Assistants) and a clerk. The RNs work 12-hr shifts for 3 days (7 -7), then 4 days off unless they want to fill in for others. I had a private room, thankfully. The hospital docs make rounds any time before 1 or 2 pm. - When a patient dies it is dealt with discreetly. Happens all the time, too. - Can you sleep normally in a hospital? Nope, even with sleep meds. More about Med/Surg routines below the fold -
Continue reading "Already like a bad dream" Monday morning linksMURPHY'S LAW OF DUCK HUNTING Cheers! A bottle of Scotch whisky sells for a record $2.7 million at auction Nobody will open that bottle This Is Not the Way to Help Depressed Teenagers One More Gone Woke: Girl Scouts Stick With BLM, Will Train to 'Decenter' Whiteness Of course New AARP Report Finds Family Caregivers Provide $600 Billion in Unpaid Care Across the U.S. I don't get that viewpoint. NY Times: Pandemic Learning Loss is the 'Most Damaging Disruption' in the History of American Education NYC: Why Rikers Island is ripe for a rethink At The New York Krazy Klimate Konference Peak Cognitive Dissonance For The Climate Scare Salon: Scientists warn of catastrophic sea level rise, unless major climate change action is taken. A new study by the International Cryosphere Climate Initiative reveals sea level rise is more serious than thought Sheesh Leftist Bill Maher Confronts RACIST Donna Brazile for Intentionally Mispronouncing Vivek Ramaswamy’s Name The Return of the Progressive Atrocity Stumbling Toward the White House - Here comes everybody. When Has War Even Been ‘Proportional?’ Israel's conventional disproportionality is proving more effective than the terrorist disproportionality of Hamas MeToo unless you’re a Jew - Feminist groups are whitewashing Hamas's crimes ‘Signs of Hope’: One Man’s Sign Steals the Show After Anti-Israel Protest Breaks Out at Harvard-Yale Game A Chart: What Happened to the Jewish Population of the Middle East (There Did Used to Be One) Why Western Women Are Converting to Islam - Since October 7, young Americans have been professing their devotion to the Quran in ‘the ultimate rebellion against the West.’ More than a million Palestinians in Gaza are now displaced; why are Arab countries not opening their doors? It's a mystery... If Ukrainians don't want to fight for Ukraine, why are we financing this war? Another mystery Sunday, November 19. 2023Your Editor just out of jailFiguratively-speaking. In reality, medical. Will fill in some things learned. Tuesday, November 14. 2023Tuesday morning linksKmart pulls ‘Merry Ham-Mas’ bags in Australia over fears looks like a tribute to Hamas: ‘We got it wrong’ ‘Church Shouldn’t Be Political,’ Says Pastor With BLM, Pride Flags On Building The End of Feminism Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Why I Am Now a Christian Young Americans Are Having Less And Less Sex, But It’s Not Because They’ve Found Jesus Sex With Dogs & Other Critters Back In Vogue, Thanks To Academic Peter Singer The Leaky Bucket Gets Leakier - Increasing fraud and overpayments since Covid are leeching U.S. welfare programs. Pervasive Government Surveillance To Achieve Human Perfection: Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs The FBI Needs Downsizing, Not $3.5 Billion for a New Headquarters WaPo: Scoop! Hamas Wanted Major War! Monday, November 13. 2023Pheasants in Montana
Monday morning linksWondering WHY you overspend? Any activity is better for your heart than sitting The neural impact of “generalized trauma event witnessing”: How violent news affects our mental health Really? How to Maintain Hope in an Age of Catastrophe - The psychoanalyst and author Robert Jay Lifton on what seventy years of studying both the victims and the perpetrators of horror has taught him about the human will to survive. Is there any age without catastrophe? Nashville Shooter’s Manifesto Suggests an Inconvenient Aspect of ‘Gender-Affirming Care’ UMich 'doubling down' on DEI with latest campus-wide initiative “Western Civilization Gave the World Pretty Much Every G*ddam Liberal Precept Liberals Are Supposed to Adore” – Bill Maher Strangely Defends Western Civ from Woke Warriors Related, Free Speech Is Already Dead in Great Britain Anarchy in the UK. Mob Rule at Yale. Protest, policing, and the misrule of law. Common sense all went out in Massachusetts The West Gelds Itself Larry Summers - REFLECTIONS ON ANTISEMITISM AND THE UNIVERSITY Feds Focus on Eric Adams’ Texts to Turkish Consul General in Public Corruption Probe A big nothing 10 Of New York's 72 Billionaires Have Left Due To Taxation Since 2019 The Bright Line Between Good and Evil - It is crucial to understand what our enemies actually believe. The question of the place of Islam in Western culture is particularly acute in France—home to the largest Muslim and Jewish populations in Europe. Palestinians don’t want to govern Gaza — here’s why Ukraine Is Stalemated Again Is the Ukraine mess basically over? Make a deal, people. Sunday, November 12. 2023Never get stuck with a broken bulb in a socket again.Damn annoying problem. A potato?
Mark Helprin on Israel
Here's his new opinion: Israel at the Precipice Once Again.
From today's LectionaryMatthew 25:1-13 25:1 "Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. 25:2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 25:3 When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; 25:4 but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. 25:5 As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. 25:6 But at midnight there was a shout, 'Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.' 25:7 Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps. 25:8 The foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' 25:9 But the wise replied, 'No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.' 25:10 And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut.\ 25:11 Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, 'Lord, lord, open to us.' 25:12 But he replied, 'Truly I tell you, I do not know you.' 25:13 Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. Veterans' DayThank you, Veterans, for all of your service. The nation is grateful.
Saturday, November 11. 2023TreeSpent a great day in NYC, mainly looking at the Picasso Fontainbleau show at MOMA, urban hiking, and getting to one of our favorite lunch places. Readers know that I am a Picasso junkie, and the amount of varied stuff he produced during a 3-month summer vacation is mind-boggling. However, on our walking we happened to see the crane lowering the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. Cool. City jammed with tourists. All good, mostly.
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MITSaturday 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.
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