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.
Mrs. BD and I spent a balmy (low 50s) Sunday tramping around midtown because we had a special date day for elegant lunch and ballet, and walking around NYC is something we love to do. Golly, it is a blast to walk around and to look around.
Instead of tramping, I should have said "Trumping" around midtown. That is because The Donald was on our minds, and we must have passed ten buildings with his name on them. Not to mention the Plaza Hotel which he used to own. We kept laughing about it, and I laughed some more when we got to one of our favorite NYC lunch joints - Jean-Georges right off Columbus Circle. Wonderful prix-fixe luncheons. Damn if I had never noticed before that it is on the ground floor of The Trump International Hotel and Tower, southernmost building on Central Park West.
View from our table, Central Park on left, Columbus Circle on right, mounted cop in center, construction cranes everywhere in the sky:
Just a couple more pics below the fold. Marianne would have enjoyed all this.
9:28 Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray.
9:29 And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white.
9:30 Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him.
9:31 They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.
9:32 Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him.
9:33 Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah" -- not knowing what he said.
9:34 While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud.
9:35 Then from the cloud came a voice that said, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!"
9:36 When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.
9:37 On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him.
9:38 Just then a man from the crowd shouted, "Teacher, I beg you to look at my son; he is my only child.
9:39 Suddenly a spirit seizes him, and all at once he shrieks. It convulses him until he foams at the mouth; it mauls him and will scarcely leave him.
9:40 I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not."
9:41 Jesus answered, "You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here."
9:42 While he was coming, the demon dashed him to the ground in convulsions. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father.
9:43a And all were astounded at the greatness of God.
The great Okefenokee Swamp - 430,000 acres straddling Georgia and Florida.
Mrs. BD is talking me into doing a kayak trip through it. Being the home of Pogo, I should be more enthused but I watched this excellent video and think I got the gist of it without having to actually do it. Lots of reptiles.
Really, not enough interesting bird life there. Everglades, or the Georgia barrier islands are better for that.
Many Americans feel helpless in the face of government invasions into private life, all in the name of safety. We have police video cameras at every intersection. Cops are using fake cell towers to listen in on calls. They want to eliminate cash so private transactions can't be private. The EPA wants to police your land use. Etc, etc. Government agencies are militarizing. Why is all of this happening now?
My grandfather's first wife grew up in this wonderful farmhouse in New Hampshire. Her name was Mabel Porter, but I don't know what town this was in. I don't know the age of the photo either. She died childless of leukemia shortly after her marriage so she is not really an ancestor.
Grandpa grew up on a farm in northern Connecticut, but became a bit of a dandy and a prominent cardiologist and found a second wife after a while but my guess is that Mabel was his true love (Run-on sentence). Her name was never mentioned after she died, and he always called his second wife "Mother." He focused only on his work.
Grandma was a farm girl from Norwalk, Connecticut who became a teacher of immigrant schoolkids in Brooklyn. Mostly Jewish immigrants, she told me, but some Irish and Italian. They all had lice. Gramps met her when she was doing summer work at a resort he liked in Rhode Island. She bore Grandpa 2 very smart kids.
Trees are the classic New England streetfront vase-shaped Elms, now, alas, mostly gone due to the blight. The Maggie's HQ has some architectural similarities.
Sanders and Trump are not leaders of new political movements. Both are where they are because they are willing to put a finger in the chest of their respective party leaders. Neither man makes a great case for himself, but like those Muslim men wandering into Germany, threatening to collapse Europe, they correctly see that the old guard is a collection of yesterday men, unable to defend their position.
Saturday is Cardio Fun Day for us. After doing my "Eights," ie cardio intervals, yesterday morning, I spent 40 minutes working on my jump rope drills while Mrs. BD did her assigned routines. Stay fit and strong for your spouse, if not for yourself. Need each other to be fit for a long life. You do not want to crap out or fat out on him or her.
Man, jump is fatiguing as heck but there is little to no joint impact, done properly. Just a light tap on the balls of the feet. I did lots of singles speed rope (sets of 100+) and worked on one-footed and then worked on Running Man. I can do one-footed jumps sort of ok for a bit, but I find it tough to coordinate running with the rope. It looks easy but is not until you get the hang of it. Brain is the problem - it gets mixed up.
Supposedly doubles come next but I have to master Running Man first, and for somebody for whom walking while chewing gum is challenging, it's a bitch, but there is some fun it in.
Jump games are excellent high-intensity cardio-endurance drills, cost next to nothing, zero joint impact, and can be done anywhere. Why not? Boxers and tennis pros think it's the best endurance drill. Maybe stairs can compare, but demand less moving balance.
(nb: Lots of people have the idea that you can lose fat via exercise. No way. De minimus. Cardio-endurance exercises - "calisthenics" - can keep you energetic and mobile, though. Lucky for me, fat not a problem. Keeping my weight up is my problem. That's where the mashed taters come in.)
Sheesh. Climate change hits New England. 6 below zero F around here, frozen pipes. Amazing what global warming can do to us. A few years ago, Mrs. BD and I skiied at 10 below. That was zippy, and we had the whole place to ourselves, almost. Wonderful. I remember putting anti-freeze in the toilets.
The Poetics of life are much more persistent in their knocking at the door of your inner self than the Politics. Politics have their seasons, but the Poetics are our constant companions, waking and sleeping, thinking and dreaming. In a very real sense, since they run deeper than the Politics, the Poetics are the Politics' power source. But what are the Poetics about? Simply put, they are "like all Greek songs, about love and death."
...
I've stood in a room high above Central Park West where the only sound was a death rattle in an old man's throat, and told the doctor on the telephone that there was really no reason to send the emergency resuscitation crew for the twelfth time in half as many months. I sat quietly holding the old man's hand for around thirty minutes until his breathing stopped. Then I left that room, told my in-laws he was dead, and watched them mask their expressions of relief.
While American education goes further down the tubes, lame-brained notions are raised to levels of respectability in academe that should shock any halfway reasonable person. What has happened is the normalization of bad ideas, thanks mostly to identity politics. We constantly hear that we live in a hopelessly racist and sexist society, but the truth is that we live in such a liberal atmosphere that identity-based complaints are always taken seriously. And rarely does a student shouting obscenities at a professor or administrator get told to just “shut up and study.”
4:1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness,
4:2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished.
4:3 The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread."
4:4 Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'One does not live by bread alone.'"
4:5 Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.
4:6 And the devil said to him, "To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please.
4:7 If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours."
4:8 Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.'"
4:9 Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here,
4:10 for it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,'
4:11 and 'On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'"
4:12 Jesus answered him, "It is said, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"
4:13 When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.
Bring Back Dueling!
The great 
Showdown
Remains at a Swedish fort 
Lady Gaga - 