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.
18:15 "If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one.
18:16 But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses.
18:17 If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.
18:18 Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
18:19 Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.
18:20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them."
Interesting collating lightning with church bells. Bruuuuce does Dylan's 1964 song, with the lyrics, at Am. Digest.
Yes, poetry from a NYC thunderstorm. I've been in those, in a doorway with a gal. What sort of musical soul could write such a soulful tune? Bruuuce does not do all of the verses, but the following thing is the real Dylan.
The Maggie's List of Basic Life Skills is from some old post that I can't find, but let's note managing watercraft today.
Here's an idea for the no-foreign travel era: Learn at the Helm at Chapman School. It's a 5-day hands-on course, based in Florida. They claim that, by the end of the course, you will be able to back a 40-ft boat into a slip. I can not do that.
Clearly, if you have been a Naval officer or a Coastie, attended the Maritime Academy, etc, this might be redundant. Studying Charles Chapman's classic Piloting and Seamanship is good, but it's not hands-on.
16:21 From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.
16:22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, "God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you."
16:23 But he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things."
16:24 Then Jesus told his disciples, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
16:25 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.
16:26 For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?
16:27 "For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done.
16:28 Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom."
When we left you in June to enter our annual state of aestivation, Nikole Hannah-Jones, the principal author of the New York Times’s malignant fantasy known as “The 1619 Project,” had just won a Pulitzer Prize. The world was looking forward to the end of the shutdown caused by the Chinese virus—remember “Fifteen Days to Slow the Spread”?—and the return of normality...
The new test does not adjust scores for age or gender, unlike the current test. It also adds exercises including dead lifts, sprints with 40-pound weights, power throws and a 2-mile run, among other new tasks.
I think I can pass the Army test. NOT the SEAL test. Can't bang out 100 pushups right now, or carry a man on my back for five miles.
Saliva COVID-19 Test 
Refrigerator Pickles
Image: Not sure there is any solid data behind it, but whatever