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.
Yesterday a friend emailed me his photo of sunset from a Dominican Republic resort. He called it Paradise, I don't know why. Cheap but excellent ceegars? Paradise for me is a cold, wet duck boat on a northern marsh, but there are times, I must confess, when the sub-tropics and tropics are appealing. For example, I do love Bermuda and the Everglades.
Mrs. BD is planning a winter trip to Islamorada, but I have sort-of lost my enthusiasm for fishing - I just like to know that the fish are there - and I will not sit on a beach for more than five minutes although I am happy to swim in salt water. Might be good bird-watching, though.
Tallis' "40 Part Motet" - officially Spem in alium numquam habui (c.1556) is a Renaissance motet, not a medieval motet. Thus no real rhythm, but plenty of flow.
Mrs. BD and I had to hustle down to The Cloisters after church to hear their special installation of Tallis' most famous work. One speaker per voice - 40 speakers - and you walk all around and hear each individual voice, or stand in the middle to hear the blend in the acoustically-superb old stone Spanish apse. We did it 2 1/2 times.
It is a popular event. Most people listen to it twice.
18:9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt:
18:10 "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
18:11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, 'God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
18:12 I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.'
18:13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!'
18:14 I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted."
If all of your winter firewood has not been split yet, it is Splitting Maul Season.
Log splitting is a great joy, a great work-out, and useful. And it can be done as well by a 113-pound gal as by an 180-pound fellow because, when done properly, the maul does most of the work. Heck, it's a sort of lever. You lift it, then let gravity and leverage do the rest of the work, assuming you put the right English on the blow to your log. That is a matter of practice and experimentation, and a deep source of pleasure once this basic life skill is acquired.
Axes are terrible for wood-splitting. Wedges get stuck, cause huge frustration, and get lost in the field. There are all sorts of good mauls. This photo of mauls shows the spring-loaded maul, #5, which looks like a foolish gadget but which truly works well, and will really throw the wood around if you are wise and work on the edges and don't aim for the middle of a big one. Highly recommended by the Bird Dog Consumer Reports.
I approach a large log in the classic manner: I work around the edges, then I chop the corners off the remaining square, or pentagon, or whatever it might be. I like to end up with a square piece at the end. Knots? I never fight a knot just like I never argue with a Leftist/Statist. I burn them intact.
Very satisfying work and, as Thoreau said, it warms you twice: Once when you split it and again when you burn it. That is true Yankee economy.
Nothing wrong with that. What else are you gonna do? Drink? Play golf? Surf the net? Do errands all day? Be a useless member of the tribe?The Braves leave the useless ones behind...
It's not because I knew you well or thought you faithful, Gellius, or thought you could keep your mind from vile sin, that I expected you to be true to me in this hopeless ruinous love of mine: but because I was aware that she, for whom a vast desire consumes me, was no mother or sister of yours. And though I was closely linked to you by friendship, I didn't think that was enough excuse for you. You considered it enough: there's so much pleasure in every game to you, in which there's any sin.
Gimmicks are bad, of course, but politicians also respond to fiscal squeezes by raising taxes.
And that can be even worse as the prospect of more revenue leads to a ratchet effect, with periodic tax hikes used to maintain or expand the gravy train of spending. The fiscal mess in Europe is an obvious case study, but if you want a painful example from America, just look at data from Connecticut. The state did quite well without an income tax from the 1600s until 1991.
But then an income tax was imposed, in part to deal with the fiscal shortfall caused by an economic downturn. And, as critics warned, that new tax has produced dismal results. The top rate has jumped from 4.5 percent to 6.5 percent and inflation-adjusted per-capita state government spending has doubled. And there have been zero net private-sector jobs created since the income tax was implemented.
In a city like New York, 0.5% of the people pay fully 50% of the taxes. Has New York become more equal? Not at all, it has become more unequal.
It’s not very difficult to understand. Relying on government programs to solve problems disempowers individuals. It tells lower and middle class citizens that they are victims and that their grievances can only be redressed by the intervention of powerful outside forces, like the government. This implies that they are not responsible for their condition and that they themselves cannot do anything to solve the problem.
We like to support entrepreneurial friends, especially those who have fled Wall St. to do their own thing. The young Math major, Div. 1 tennis player, and ex-Wall Streeter has launched Nora Gardner Apparel, day-to-night clothing for youthful professional women: Nora Gardner.
I hear that professional women are sick of wearing men's clothing (eg suits or pants) to work, and want to look good. With these, just add a little jewelry and you're ready for your evening out. Conservative, but feminine and affordable and well-made in New York. Here's her About Us.
Pics from her launch party in NYC this weekend at fashion site Guest of a Guest. Miss Gardner is center front in this one:
The radicalization of the Democratic Party is slowly leading to a counterpart radicalism in the Republican Party. The process is moving far slower because of the vested interests in the way, but every time the radicals of the left displays their contempt for the consensus, they are paving the way for the rise of a Republican Party whose members are more like Ted Cruz than John McCain.
It’s a big fight, at home and abroad, and calls for civility (of the sort Jeb Bush and Karl Rove keep muttering) are entirely out of place. We need a raucous, no-holds-barred debate to clarify the tough, painful and risky policies we must embrace–and be ready to change over and over again when we discover their shortcomings–if we’re going to win.
My most recent email exchange with Prof. Norm Geras was just a few weeks ago, sending him some obscure country tune I thought he might like. I didn't know he was dying.
and John Ford's classic Tobacco Road. Norm liked the music, especially Shall We Gather By the River. It's a film about people who will not or can not handle life effectively:
I saw these two young girls driving this grey Maserati convertible at dusk in my neighborhood today. This is just so WRONG that I couldn't resist taking a picture as I chuckled. They were trying to make a U turn across the main street in town that has all the traffic on it. I wondered what the father would think if he could see his precious toy being edged one way then another as they struggled.
It's possible one of them is a mutton-dressed-as-lamb mummy, but I'm pretty sure they were both kids.
And I couldn't possibly be jealous because my own car is a boring grey Subaru Outback, now, could I?! Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's Maserati, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbor's teenager's Maserati, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbor's teenager's youth and beauty….
Chris Matthews: I Wish We Could Go Back to the Days of Friendly
Politics, But the Racist Terrorist Tea Party Traitors Who Hate the
President Because He's Black Won't Let Us
Lebanon
Security Forces Shoot Down Dreaded Israeli “Spy Eagle” - See more at:
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2013/10/lebanon-security-forces-shoot-down-dreaded-israeli-spy-eagle/#sthash.R2Zme4Ac.dpuf
Did you ever have a longin’ to get out and buck the trail, And to face the crashin’ lightnin’ and the thunder and the gale? Not for no partic’lar reason but to give the world the laugh, And to show the roarin’ elyments you still can stand the gaff.
Don’t you ever feel a yearnin’ just to try your luck again Down the rippin’ plungin’ rapids with a bunch of reg’lar men? Don’t you ever sorta hanker for a rough and risky trip, Just to prove you’re still a livin’ and you haven’t lost your grip?
Can’t you hear the woods a-callin’ for to have another try Sleepin’ out beneath the spruces with a roof of moonlit sky, With the wind a sorta singin’ through the branches overhead And your fire a gaily crackin’ and your pipe a-glowin’ red?
Don’t you often get to feelin’ sorta cramped and useless there, Makin’ figgers and a-shinin’ your pants upon a chair? Don’t you yearn to get acquainted once again with Life and God? If you don’t, then Heaven help you, for you’re a dyin’ in yer pod.
A 140-Acre
Surfing NYC - The city’s s
Image via Eratosthenes' 