Maggie's Farm

40% of American women have no financial plan for their future. It is a good source for that info, but I do not have the link.

For a country where people are expected to be responsible adults, and to take care of themselves, that is pretty bad. The numbers could be as bad for guys, but they wouldn't admit it.

But guys do not last as long as gals: life worries do them in.

Grow up, you ladies without trust funds. Daddy won't be there to save you, hubbie will probably be dead, and you may no longer look like the charmer in the photo.

Feminism entails demands along with the opportunities.

Women tend to live a long time as old ladies: it's the price they pay for being so delicious in youth.

Acts 9: 1-20

Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest ²and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. ³Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. ⁴He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” ⁵He asked, “Who are you, Lord?” The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. ⁶But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” ⁷The men who were traveling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one. ⁸Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. ⁹For three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

¹⁰Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” He answered, “Here I am, Lord.” ¹¹The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he is praying, ¹²and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” ¹³But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem; ¹⁴and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name.” ¹⁵But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel; ¹⁶I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” ¹⁷So Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” ¹⁸And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized, ¹⁹and after taking some food, he regained his strength. For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus, ²⁰and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.”

Image: Caravaggio's dark, psychological The Conversion of Saul. The other person in the painting is his groom.

Am. Goldfinch, WB Nuthatch, Carolina Wren, Red Wing Blackbird, Purple Grackle, BC Chickadee, Cardinal, Blue Jay, WT Sparrow, House Finch, English "Sparrow," Cowbird, Tufted Titmouse, Tree Sparrow, Red Bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Mourning Dove (large numbers, fighting over the seeds), Song Sparrow.

I get a kick out of the way the Grackles are always keeping an eye on the sky, for Sharpies. They understand "enemies."

All of these birds are probably local breeders. The large flocks of Jays and Grackles have passed through and moved north. The Juncoes are gone, too. The Red Wings now are locals. Most of the WT Sparrows, with their brilliant breeding-season bright yellow on their heads, have left for the north. We have had the first two warm days of the year, and I expect to see the cheerful Box Turtles clomping around soon, begging for tomatoes. The tree buds are finally swelling up here in Yankeeland, but it is a week or two late this year.

Soon, we will have the wonderful insectivore migrants to watch and to find. Not at the feeder, of course, but everywhere else. Good clean fun.

Now back to the gardens.

When was the last time you heard a liberal talk about liberty?

Mark Levin, on the radio

From Leadbelly to Jimmie Rodgers to Kurt Cobain, it's all phony and it's all marketing. So says Jeff Sharlet in New Statesman: Keeping it Unreal.

Who knew that a record producer added "Mississippi" to John Hurt's name to add pizzazz? "Authenticity" is a marketing ploy. One quote:

One of the pioneering producers of "old-time" music in the early 20th century, Ralph Peer, later boasted: "I invented the hillbilly and nigger stuff."

Yes, Blues and Country aren't as authentic as we'd like to imagine. Sharlet, however, does not see fake as necessarily leading to bad music: he likes The Monkees, who didn't even try to conceal their fakeness - which I suppose makes them a paragon of authenticity. Read the piece (link above.)

Image: Leadbelly performing. The Lomaxes made him perform in a prison uniform, for the "authenticity" factor.

The lighthouse-keeper's house stands today, but the light tower has been taken down. Great Island in the distance to the left, Chequessett Neck to the right. Photo is around 1910.

April 18, 1775. The Battle of Lexington and Concord.

Jules Crittenden linked to the English documents regarding that battle.

We owe everything, historically, culturally, and spiritually, to those reckless farmers who were not willing to take any crap from their well-intentioned but ultimately feckless government.

Rick Moran remembers Paul Revere and his midnight ride.

The photo below, taken by our friend Chris in his backyard in Connecticut this week, raised the subject of the opossum.

The Virginia opossum, aka possum, is the only marsupial in North America. These strange, nocturnal, tree-climbing, omnivorous critters have been expanding their range north for many years, and seem to find ways to survive even in suburban neighborhoods. I know the Dylanologist has one living in his backyard in Tennessee, because I saw the big fellow scurrying through his tomato plants at twilight.

Primitive and adaptable, they are also said to be good to eat by our Southern friends. I have never tried one as a meal. I once saw a female with babies clinging to her back, crossing a road at night. What an odd sight.

You can read about their habits here. Yes, they do "play possum."

He brought his Strad, too, and picked up an easy, tax-free $32.

I think it was a delightfully wacky thing to do. Story here. The audio here. (h/t, reader)

The Intelligence Squared debate on global warming in NYC last month. Pull up a chair, grab a beer, and give it a listen. These guys are scientists, not politicians. Michael Creighton is one of the debaters, and NPR's Brian Lehrer is the moderator. I suggest the longer, unedited audio version.

Unfortunately, it's not set up as a true debate - more like a series of brief talks, but the exchanges get better towards the end. Still, interesting - except for that Brenda, who has nothing to say.

It's at The Reference Frame.

It left me wondering whether there is an ideal temperature for the earth, whether we can have any effect on it or not (which I doubt). Overall, quite enjoyable.

Life is very difficult and everything kills you. The only thing you can do nowadays is sit fully clothed in the woods and eat fruit.

Pat Buckley (Mrs. William F. Buckley, Jr, who died this week)

Video, here. It's about the Clintons. I do not trust these people.

America is better than this.

My opinion? Sexual organs, whatever shape they may be, or however interesting they may be, have nothing to do with political qualifications.

Photo: Hillary at Wellesley. To tell the truth, I probably looked like (or was) an arrogant, know-it-all jerk in college too. But I know better, now.

"Doing my taxes is like doing an appendectomy on myself."

Heard on Bob Brinker radio yesterday. He also noted that, if you get a refund, it's because you screwed up your witholding or your quarterlies, and gave the govt a free loan. A refund is not a gift.

Thanks for the photo, reader.

A truck bomb destroyed the Sarrafiya Bridge this week, and killed drivers in the process.

A landmark, and a gift from the Brits in the 1940s, it was the first fixed bridge in Baghdad over the Tigris.

Our friend in Israel says that "the Germans were good at two things: killing Jews and building vehicles, but the Palestinians are only good at one thing: killing Jews."

Any idiot can build a car bomb, but can Muqtada's or Al Quaida's thugs build a bridge? Or a car? Or a city? Or a modern civilization? Or even save a life?

This story is depressing. Destruction, sadly, is the easiest thing in the world to do: it has the physics of entropy on its side. The Stone Age is never far away, and killing is simple.

Thoughts about the bridge from Iraq the Model and from Treasure of Baghdad (whence the photo).

Is Iraq too "multicultural" to hold together as a nation without a totalitarian, sadistic dictator? Helping the Iraqis seems like treating a patient with cancer. My prayers are with the patient - and with Dr. Petraeus.

(A message to the bad guys here. h/t, Ace)

Photo: "Dirt-drifts" in South Dakota, caused by corn farming on unsuitable and marginal lands. Shades of the Dust Bowl. That mean old Law of Unintended Consequences will get you every time: first we see corn prices rising so high that Mexicans cannot afford to make tortillas, and now this mess. Plus it's a political scam anyway.

The full report on land conversion in the northern plains is here. The Ducks Unlimited press summary below:

From Ducks Unlimited:

BISMARCK, ND, April 12, 2007 - Home, home on the range where the deer,
antelope and ducks play may become a thing of the past if the rapid loss of America's prairie grasslands isn't stopped. Ducks Unlimited (DU) believes a new Congressional report will help Congress focus on solutions to the loss as it writes the new 2007 federal farm bill.

The report says the country's few remaining native grasslands in the Great Plains are being plowed under. The Prairie Pothole Region of the Great Plains is the world's most productive duck breeding habitat.

"It is encouraging to see that the issue of grassland conversion in the
Northern Plains has the attention of Congress as it prepares to write the
2007 farm bill," said Scott McLeod, DU's farm bill lead for the Great Plains
Region. "This issue has greatly concerned conservation groups, hunters and ranchers across the country for several years.

John 20:19-31

¹⁹When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” ²⁰After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. ²¹Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” ²²When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” ²⁴But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

²⁶A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” ²⁷Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” ²⁸Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” ²⁹Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” ³⁰Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. ³¹But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

Image: Caravaggio's (1571-1610) The Doubting Thomas