We 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.
"The term "oktavist" describes a basso profundo singer with an extremely deep range. You'll notice that the singers showcased in this video all sound unbelievably deep, with some making you question whether or not it's humanly possible to produce such low notes. Their voices can go as deep as an octave below the bass staff."
Well, that's really what she asked me. I always try to be agreeable - except when I do not.
Yes, I am always ok with picking up a nice rental car at any airport in the world and heading out towards God knows where like some farmhouse miles up unmarked dirt roads in the Sicilian boondocks, but rockin and rollin at sea on an elegant craft with interesting people is fine with me too. It's the lazy way.
Windstar, best small ship sailing in the world. We'll be sailing in the eastern Atlantic and stopping by some cool ports, including Lisbon, Tenerife and North Africa.
New places for the curious to explore. Carpe diem. Home and constant work may suit me best, but I can't be a stick in the mud and Mrs. BD is a skilled, adventurous, and resourceful travelmeister who only wants to do things the average American tourist doesn't do. Lucky me. All of my kids are like her with adventurous travel.
I love being at sea. I love a smoke and coffee on deck watching dawn break over Mother Ocean when everybody is still asleep. I like stormy weather at sea. I am fascinated by the maneuvering into ports. I especially like to hang out with the helmsman and the navigator during transits. Shoulda been in the USN and I could have gotten it out of my system as my brother in law did.
He still regrets his 'Nam tattoos, and now hates boats of all sorts but especially Destroyers.
Holland-America Line is the official line of Maggie's, but we have several friends who love Windstar so we have to give it a try. A free ad for Windstar:
Re-posted from Oct, 2014. Was it really a year ago? Seems like yesterday.
We began our jolly urban hike on the southern tip of Manhattan Island, Battery Park, where the ferries depart to Staten Island, Ellis Island, and the Statue of Liberty.
What is fatiguing is not the hiking itself - it's the overstimulation. So much going on, so much to look at.
Below the fold, a photo summary of our hike, with relevant links -
The left is in full-blown smear-Carson mode. He is, after all, the left's worst nightmare — a black Republican who is brilliant, kind and widely admired, including by many blacks.
From an American perspective, handing the Middle East over to the Russians is not a terrible thing. Americans are far too moralistic to run a proper empire. The Russians are too incompetent to remain a big player in the region in the long run, but in the short run they will be the whip hand that is needed to keep the peace. The Russians will kill everything that moves in eastern Syria, for example, in order to subdue ISIS.
Somewhere
between 1 million and 2 million Europeans came to the New World between
1500 and 1800; by contrast, over 8 million Africans came via the slave
trade. - See more at:
http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2015/10/americas-fact-of-the-day.html#sthash.nZxXKlEJ.dpuf
Jim Webb, American Hero- He's everything voters pretend to want in a politician -- but don't.
It's autumn here. Fleece is one of the great inventions for cool weather, maybe second to fire. Lightweight, layerable, and cozy. I always hated wool. It makes me itchy.
I am grateful for those mill folks who came up with fleece.
On the evidence of this book Coates wants to raise up in his son an ideological resentment, to querulous monomania. He repeatedly extols what he calls the “struggle,” though he does not tell his son what it is a struggle for. He makes explicit his disbelief in the likelihood of real change, given that America is ruled by what he so elegantly calls “majoritarian pigs,” so that it cannot be for any concrete or tangible political or economic goal. There is not a single call to his son to expand his horizons beyond “the struggle,” which is really that of giving a meaning to life in the absence of any other. Of course, it is also (potentially) a lucrative career: but while Coates sees the economic beam in everybody else’s eye, he does not see the financial mote in his own. He has successfully commodified his dissent, to adapt slightly the title of Thomas Frank’s book. It does not occur to him that, even in America, outrage cannot be the way forward for millions of people, or indeed that dwelling exclusively on injustice, real or supposedmay not be the best advice to an adolescent (adolescence being, in any case, the great age of resentment).
Mr. Coates, tell your kid he can be a famous neurosurgeon
Plenty of readers know how to do that. Too late to collect fresh firewood for this winter, but it's always the right time to collect wood for next year.
Mrs. BD's doc is a conservative sort, slow to change advice. This month he was impressed with her physical condition and her numbers. She told him she was either working out or doing Yoga daily and sticking to a low-carb diet with plenty of meat, fats, butter, olive oil, etc.
He told her that that was his new, revised recommendation to all of his patients, after years of advising low-fat, high-grain diet. He acknowledged his error and explained how carbs contribute to the inflammation which leads to arterial disease, not to mention to fat accumulation.
He is an internist and cardiologist, and is in incredible shape. Lifts and works out every day before making his hospital rounds.
Her Gyn doc races a swimming mile each morning before work. She has 3 kids, so I guess hubbie gets them ready for school. He's a surgeon. He doesn't look like he exercises at all.
If it is any consolation to you prosperous readers (which you all are by Jesus' standards), the accurate translation is to thread a camel hair through a needle. But whatever.
Mark 10:17-31
10:17 As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
10:18 Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.
10:19 You know the commandments: 'You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.'"
10:20 He said to him, "Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth."
10:21 Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, "You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me."
10:22 When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.
10:23 Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!"
10:24 And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!
10:25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God."
10:26 They were greatly astounded and said to one another, "Then who can be saved?"
10:27 Jesus looked at them and said, "For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible."
10:28 Peter began to say to him, "Look, we have left everything and followed you."
10:29 Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news,
10:30 who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age--houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields with persecutions--and in the age to come eternal life.
10:31 But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first."
In America, a pasta dish is often used as a secondi (ie an entree - the use of the term entree for a main course is American). Properly done, the pasta is a small dish primi followed by a meat (eg braciole) and vegetable secondi. Well, in America we do whatever the heck we want but at Maggie's HQ we try to respect the time-honored Italian traditions.
For me, any pasta as a main meal is a disgusting, bloating, cloying, enervating, fattening, brain-numbing experience. Best for a small dish primi, for special flavors. Same applies to risotto, gnocchi, or polenta. American restaurants serve too much primi to fill you up on the cheap.
Most common American error is to dump the sauce (or "gravy") on top of the pile of pasta. Nope. Dump the pasta in the hot pan of sauce and serve thinly-coated. That's what pasta tongs are for.
Funny - had dinner with friends last night at a fancy Portuguese restaurant, and had Portuguese cod cakes for appetizer. They served them with a parsley pesto.
Well, that's really what she asked me. I always try to be agreeable - except when I do not. 
Job 38:1-7, (34-41)
Amazing 
Cabin porn 
It's autumn here. Fleece is one of the great inventions for cool weather, maybe second to fire. Lightweight, layerable, and cozy. I always hated wool. It makes me itchy.
How 
Stop Worrying So Much About Making a Big Impact 
Connecticut School District Bans Halloween, Will Rebrand Day As “Fall Themed”… 
The exercise and satisfaction in 
Forgiveness and Grace: 
A few re-posts:
With Tunisia in the news this week (
Mrs. BD's doc is a conservative sort, slow to change advice. This month he was impressed with her physical condition and her numbers. She told him she was either working out or doing Yoga daily and sticking to a low-carb diet with plenty of meat, fats, butter, olive oil, etc.
Mark 10:17-31
In America, a pasta dish is often used as a secondi (ie an entree - the use of
Robocoach,