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 modern GOP pol is one step from groveling to these people on camera. It’s unmanly and disgusting and that’s why no one takes Rubio seriously. He looks and sounds like a little boy being corrected by his teacher. But he is the modern GOP. The only thing they are missing are guys with neck beards and ear gauges, perhaps a few trannies thrown in to make the pathetic freak show complete.
There is roast beef, mutton chops, fish and chips, and steak and kidney pie, but #1 is this good comfort food. But who has these spices in the cabinet?
Overweight is not exactly a minority. Last I read, Mexico leads the world in fatties, USA is #2. Most Western countries feel fat is aesthetically gross and unwholesome, but many prefer food anyway.
Had dinner with a Swedish friend this weekend. Just back from Sweden. H told me the Swedes have no problem, on the whole, with mass immigration. He said "Our view is, they are just people. We don't judge them by a few bad apples."
Pastor preached this morning on the loaves and the fishes and the hungry heart, advising something like this: Whenever you desire anything - food, love, material things, personal importance or glory, amusement, money, beauty, power, relationships, etc., just stop for a minute and ask yourself whether you are just trying to fill the hole in the soul that only God is big enough to fill with the bread of the Spirit.
He could have stopped right there. I have preached the same idea to myself many times. I will tell Pastor that I frequently desire sex, and I know in advance what he will say: "Me too."
Indeed, not all desire is desire for God. Just asking the question is enough, for us mortals. Humans are full of desires and subject to pointless temptations and wonderful desires. Shrinks would pose a similar question, but in a secular format. Pastors pay attention to false idols, and shrinks look for displacements.
10:46 They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside.
10:47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"
10:48 Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"
10:49 Jesus stood still and said, "Call him here." And they called the blind man, saying to him, "Take heart; get up, he is calling you."
10:50 So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus.
10:51 Then Jesus said to him, "What do you want me to do for you?" The blind man said to him, "My teacher, let me see again."
10:52 Jesus said to him, "Go; your faith has made you well." Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.
Why should 23-year-old Mohammed work for four decades so that Hans or Fritz across the way can retire at 61 and lie on a beach in Mallorca? The idea that Mohammed would ever want to do such a thing out of love for Europe was a silly fantasy that European governments fed their worried citizens.
...
Muslims have a high birth rate because their approach to the future is fundamentally different than the European one. Europeans have chosen to have few children and many government agencies to take care of them. Muslims choose to have many children and few government agencies. The European values so admired by American leftists have no future.
Asylum seekers are increasingly using tactics such as hunger strikes, lawsuits and threats of violence in efforts to force German authorities to comply with an ever-growing list of demands.
Stevens was, if anything, too smart for his own good. Readers of his essays and correspondence know that he thought at length about the essence and purpose of poetry. Stevens was an Emersonian mystic for whom poetry was a substitute, and a fit one, for belief in God, which, for reasons he was usually vague about, was impossible for those of us living in the 20th century. The highest life to which man could aspire was one of exhaustive, all-consuming self invention. Like Eliot, he wrote the poems that fit his own extensive critical criteria to a T. I underlined the word “self” 46 times in my copy of the new Collected Poems.
Misery loves company. I hope to inspire readers towards my exercise program so you can share the pain with us.
My Fridays are just for calisthenics (it's never the same things, but it's always some form of "kick the sh-t out of you morning" at 5 am):
- 3 minutes Elliptical wake-up warm-up - 3 sets of medium-weight bench press, third dropped set to muscle failure, alternating with 3 types of high step-ups (this is to weaken me for the rest of the hour) - 3 sets of heavy ball smashes alternating with squats - 3 sets of hand/arm step-ups in plank position (not sure what they are called but my damaged shoulder can't do ordinary push-ups) alternating with heavy ball burpees (like Burners) - 2 sets of lunges with light weights alternating with 2 sets of one-sided kettlebell walks
That's it. One hour. I felt a little faint a few times, and out of breath often. Good stuff. The goal of calisthenics is to use your body with max intensity, not to build strength but to improve endurance, posture, agility, and cardio. If that sounds like a warm-up, then you don't know how many reps I do in each set.
After that, coffee, sausage, toast, and eggs at the diner with my Bible pals. Stress and challenge in all areas of life build American strength. That's Life in America,where all citizens strive constantly for physical, moral, spiritual, intellectual, relational, artistic, and financial improvement and uplift! What else is there to do?
Tomorrow is my 3 day/wk cardio-fat-burner day, first thing in the morning. That will be this simple routine, under 60 mins:
10 min intervals on elliptical 70 calf-lifts 1 1/2 min elbow plank 5 min stair machine 50 calf lift 1 min straight-arm plank 20 min inclined treadmill intervals - fast walk intervals 50 calf lift 1 min straight-arm plank 5 min stair machine fast
That's it. No breaks. I will shorten the calf thing with weights. The stair is a killer for me. Can't do 10 min on it at one shot. (As I explained before, Mon and Weds are for upper, back, and lower body heavy weight work plus pull-ups, pull-downs, dips, rows, one-arm and dumbell presses, etc) I am almost 6 months into this darn program now and showing some progress. Thank God for Sunday - day of rest and recovery before dead lift Monday.
We are blessed with a smart, savvy, knowledgeable, attentive trainer who really knows his physiology. Without him and accountability to him, this would not work at all. And I have a "partner" - Mrs. BD.
Economic freedom is so unpopular among liberals that Bernie Sanders openly disavowed it to the sound of roaring applause. Clinton was hesitant (for now) to fully label herself a socialist, so instead she said she’s a sorta-capitalist who thinks “capitalism has to be saved from itself.” This is another way of calling American people children who need to be rescued by benevolent bureaucrats, but that’s OK because Democrat voters fervently wish to be treated like children.
Since you are so interested, here are the species we shot last week in Manitoba, and which now reside in the freezer: Shoveler ("Smilin' Mallard"), Bluebill, lots of Redheads, Canvasback, Mallard, Gadwall, Wigeon, Pintail, and Canada Goose.
The limit in Manitoba is 8/day, any species of duck.
We also had some luck with Ruffed and Sharptail Grouse. I do love huntin' the grousies because you get to walk all day in beautiful places.
Photo of a few handsome Redheads - they taste as good as Canvasback. Tip for fellow duck hunters: forget steel shot. It often cripples and does not kill cleanly. Use heavy-shot or bismuth or anything else -our wonderful ducks deserve the best, despite the expense. I am through with steel shot for ducks and goose forever, as of now.
Somewhat related to the post below, AVI is thinking about how much of politics is about virtue signalling.
I suspect that he overestimates its importance. In politics, there are many factors: likability, charisma, vote-buying, partisan loyalty, and so forth. Virtue itself has never been a major factor in electoral politics, or in any form of governance in history.
However, I would not dispute AVI's several posts over the years about the importance of tribal and affinity signalling in social relations. (Two Ls in signalling? Who knew?)
Birding is America's second-fastest growing hobby. It's a lot like hunting, but with binoculars. Most birders are not competitors like the ones described: most are people like me who just like to know what's around them and who like to walk and clamber around outdoors. I don't even keep lists anymore, and just enjoy seeing the critters.
It's the beginning, or middle, of hawk migration season in North America, and there are always plenty to be seen on the ridges and shorelines of the Northeast.
Bird guides are not too useful for identifying migrating buteos, eagles, ospreys, falcons, and accipters because the light in nature is rarely perfect, the birds can be quite high and in just dark silhouette, the birds can be immature birds of the year, they could be color morphs, or they might dash past low (like a Sharpie or a Cooper's) without time to get a good diagnosis.
It takes time with an expert to get the hang of it and to get the feel for specific hawks but in time anybody can learn to recognize them as easily as recognizing people.
These three are easy because their details are so well-illuminated in these pics, and because they are not flying at altitudes of 1000-2000 feet as they often do:
In New England, the most common migrating raptor is the Broad Wing, but I rarely see them in breeding season. They seem to hunker down quietly in the woods, like Cooper's, and hunt from a perch. Kettles of Broad Wings can number in the thousands as they ride the thermals to South America for the winter.
"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 -
Has Feminism 
Here's Why 
Pastor preached this morning on the loaves and the fishes and the hungry heart, advising something like this: Whenever you desire anything - food, love, material things, personal importance or glory, amusement, money, beauty, power, relationships, etc., just stop for a minute and ask yourself whether you are just trying to fill the hole in the soul that only God is big enough to fill with the bread of the Spirit.
A Rabbit as King of the Ghosts (1937)
Misery loves company. I hope to inspire readers towards my exercise program so you can share the pain with us.
Dylan does Sinatra 
Since you are so interested, here are the species we shot last week in Manitoba, and which now reside in the freezer: Shoveler ("Smilin' Mallard"), Bluebill, lots of Redheads, Canvasback, Mallard, Gadwall, Wigeon, Pintail, and Canada Goose. 
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)