Sunday, February 2. 2014
No bond for elderly Sebring woman who repeatedly fed bears
Regardless of the law, the lady is stupid to do this. Nothing good comes from it.
Today's reading happens to be one of my favorite writings of Paul - who was a Greek and a Jew:
Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians 1:18-31
1:18 For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
1:19 For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart."
1:20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
1:21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe.
1:22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom,
1:23 but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,
1:24 but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
1:25 For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength.
1:26 Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.
1:27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;
1:28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are,
1:29 so that no one might boast in the presence of God.
1:30 He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
1:31 in order that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."
I predict Seahawks by 3 points, not that I care. Here's one of their cheerleaders. Is that Ann Althouse on the left?
Saturday, February 1. 2014
Goldberg on Groundhog Day.
I think it's a religious movie.
"The American Medical Association has its 3As for a successful private practice: Ability, Affability, and Availability."
That via our medical friend CT Azeff. Probably applies to most things in life.
 The Lowdown on Low-Cut: Salary's Dress Code Survey - Find Out the Revealing Results of Our Office Dress Code Survey
Feminist gal on the right meets my personal dress code.
In praise of gossip
Negroes and the Gun: The early NAACP championed armed self-defense
International Test-score champs don’t have much to teach U.S.
Big Government’s Fist Crushes Tech Training Outfits
Feds regulate pizza
Pizza requires government rules: I want a hard, thin, half-burnt crust and hate the soft soggy crap, and I demand government action now. It should be free, too. The People need good pizza.
Massachusetts Opening 20 Marijuana Dispensaries
Groovy.
Who Should Pay for the Arts? Private support beats public subsidies
Why should taxpayers subsidize my elitist tastes? Why should taxpayers support sports stadiums either?
The Neoreactionary Movement
New to me, interesting, but the name is confusing. I consider Libs to be reactionaries, pining for the 1930s.
Harvey Silverglate: Justice Goes After the GOP
Count me a Harvey fan. Antiquated Lefty though he is, he has intellectual integrity and does not aspire to run the world or to control me.
Nearly Half of America Lives Paycheck-to-Paycheck
Save the Owls and Shoot the Owls!
Proof that the guy is racist - he's obviously trying to hide it
Racism is becoming extremely subtle. The real racists hide behind color-blindness which exposes their true racism.
Disability: Welfare State Madness
IEA: Energy Woes Will Hobble Europe for 20 Years
Buchanan: How the GOP lost Middle America - Pat Buchanan explains impact of Republican Party 'selling its soul to the multinationals'
How the GOP lost Middle America
Pat Buchanan explains impact of Republican Party 'selling its soul to the multinationals'Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/01/how-the-gop-lost-middle-america/#QIvdZiLIr2MGWV5v.99
The Teasers
Not but they die, the teasers and the dreams,
Not but they die,
and tell the careful flood
To give them what they clamour for and why.
You could not fancy where they rip to blood
You could not fancy
nor that mud
I have heard speak that will not cake or dry.
Our claims to act appear so small to these
Our claims to act
colder lunacies
That cheat the love, the moment, the small fact.
Make no escape because they flash and die,
Make no escape
build up your love,
Leave what you die for and be safe to die.
I believe this quasi- villanelle was written in the 1930s. I have quoted a brief bio of Empson on the continuation page below, from this site.
Continue reading "Saturday Verse: William Empson (1906-1984)"
Friday, January 31. 2014
Of course you recall that story: in a dangerous lose-lose scenario, you change the rules, break the rules.
This, found at American Digest, reminded Mrs. BD of Kirk's KM Test as a student at Starfleet Academy. In this case, thinking outside the box - inside the box, as it were:
I'd rather play touch in the park with my old buddies than watch football on TV while eating junk food, but I guess it's a social ritual like secular Christmas.
Well, there are the top seeds in this game. Offense vs. defense, in a cool weather match-up of laundry vs. laundry with often amusing advertisements. Given Ground Hog day, I'll go with defense.
The game will be played in MetLife Stadium (aka Giants Stadium) in East Rutherford, NJ (aka New York). The stadium is part of the Meadowlands Sports Complex, which was built on landfill on the vast New Jersey meadowlands (aka swamps and marshes), in view of Manhattan.
Everyone who has driven the NJ Turnpike has passed through those Meadowlands.
Those marshes are recent. A mere 3000 years ago those marshy lands were woodlands, and the Atlantic coast was 40 miles to the east. With the retreat of the last glacial incursion and the slow, steady sea-level rise of the post-glaciation, it became a estuary based on the route of the Hackensack River and a (no doubt lovely) White Cedar brackish swamp. The cedars were all cut down by settlers, for lumber.
Despite heavy industrial pollution (ended now), diking, ditching, impoundments, etc., these meadowlands are now mostly protected from development and are a wildlife resource despite the proliferation of Phragmites australis. You could not build Giant Stadium there, today.
There are nature tours, or you can rent canoes and kayaks to explore the 30+ square miles of these marshes.
MEADOWLANDS TOURS
Geographic history of the NJ meadowlands
More Than A Super Bowl Site: Meadowlands has Super Natural Treasures
Birds of the meadowlands
"More than 8,000 acres of wetlands across the Hudson River from New York City has been earmarked for a wildlife preserve. The New Jersey Meadowlands was long known as a dumping ground: one of the country's largest landfills — and an occasional burial spot for mobsters."
 A course from Great Courses: Fundamentals of Photography
Great story about Davy Crockett
Real or apocryphal? Difficult to know for sure
Sailer: To feminists, "perpetual psychodrama" is a feature, not a bug.
Democrats Really Don’t Want You to Smoke E-Cigarettes
Dear America, I Saw You Naked -And yes, we were laughing. Confessions of an ex-TSA agent.
Romney’s Revenge - Romney said his Bay State health reforms weren’t necessarily suited to other states. Few listened.
Goldberg on The Handbook for Closet Conservatives: How to Succeed in Today’s World.
The latest Gallup Poll shows every state in America except for Massachusetts and Vermont has more self-identified "conservatives" than "liberals."
Government Conducted a Study of a Study about Studies
The ACA: A Train Wreck and a Lie - Preexisting conditions, guaranteed renewability — HIPAA already covered those issues.
From One Cosmos' Don't Worry, the State of the State is Bigger and More Powerful than Ever!-
Religion is a map. A map provides orientation and direction, but one is under no compulsion to go anywhere with it. It lets you know YOU ARE HERE and GOD IS THERE. The rest is between you and him.
Thursday, January 30. 2014
 Kid-Rearing (This is like, so Un-PC… But is it useful?)
Related: Does Amy Chua have it wrong?
How Do Trees Survive Winter? (video)
Sugaring your way through college
Doctor walks six miles in snow to perform life-saving brain surgery
I would hope so
Seahawks, Broncos, Manning -- what men really need to know about Super Bowl XLVIII:
The reality is, while few little boys will grow up to be football stars, every son can grow up to be an honorable husband, father and citizen.
Totten: The Lost World - Trinidad and Cuba
College Athletes Move to Unionize
No New Continent ‘Hottest’ Temperature Records Since 1978
Racist Al Gore Tells World Economic Forum: Africa’s Population Is a Problem That Must Be Addressed
Charlie Crist — beyond flip-flopping
Brit Hume: In Good Times, In Bad Times, In War and In Peace, The Hurt Feelings Industry Always Thrives
1991 Radio Shack ad: 13 electronic products for $5k (and 290 hrs. work) can now be replaced with a $200 iPhone (10 hrs.)
The Market is Taking Over Sweden’s Health Care
History Shows Dems Face Long Odds in Keeping Senate
Five Important Mistakes in Obama’s SOTU
Mistakes?
Why Obama is over
Rand Paul: ‘It’s Not That the Government’s Inherently Stupid, Although It’s a Debatable Point’
Boot: Obama’s Disappearing Pacific Pivot
California prof's required reading paints Usama bin Laden as a freedom fighter
I always grow a pot of Thyme on the back porch steps. It's my favorite herb. Savoury. It remains fresh and fragrant all winter. Just dust off some snow, break off a few sprigs, and toss them in ye olde stew pot. No need to dry it.
Learned that from my Mom. She was all about keeping her life simple but she sure enjoyed grand luxe for a change of pace.
Wednesday, January 29. 2014
 I've reflected a little bit about our post about attire, posted yesterday. It was clearly about white-collar and professional work dress, but the general point about signaling is well-taken. People signal their real, or wannabe, personae.
It's impossible not to be signaling. It's what animals do. And if we wear nothing at all, that's a strong signal too.
A friend recently showed me his new Elmer Fudd hat that he bought on a skiing trip in Jackson Hole. A red-and-black-checked thing with a black tassel on top. Canadian hat. Hilarious-looking thing, but he could pull it off. He called it a Beaver-Trapping Hat...and I'm sure it attracts female glances of various sorts. It looks sort-of like this, but black and red checks:
For professional women in the early-mid stages of their careers (ie pre-Chanel and pre-St. John), we recommend Nora Gardner's line of conservative but flexible day-to-night attire for gals who are going places in life:
Tuesday, January 28. 2014
I saw him perform several times. Grew up middle class, went to prep school and Harvard, affected a working class style but I doubt any working class people were ever interested in him. A likeable old commie, naive and innocent to the end.
Here's a good obit.
Monday, January 27. 2014
 A different version of Tell Ol' Bill
Scarlet Town, live
You’re A Big Girl Now, 11 Great live versions
 If you cook at home at all, a good Chef's Knife is the first thing you need. The proper use of this tool for all of its various purposes - chopping, dicing, slicing, etc. - are things to be learned. YouTube is a fine resource for learning knife skills.
Pictured is an 8" Wusthof.
I bring this up because last week we posted on the topic of Knife Control, and were reminded about docs in the UK: British Doctors Call for Ban on Long Kitchen Knives to End Stabbings.
Next, it will be a ban on knitting needles.
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