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.
Man, that article is interesting. Look at the room that thing's in. Linenfold wainscot. Looks like oak. You might already know this, but wainscot means the side of a wagon -- a wain. Pitsawn lumber was hard to come by, so joiners would split green oak to make lumber for everything. Eventually the split wagon sides started getting nailed on the lower half of the walls indoors. They'd carve the panels inside the frames to look like an open book, or a piece of linen, folded up. It was considered barbarous after a while, (gothic) so only the oldest houses in England had it, until it was revived three hundred years later or so. Neato.
Her: "Honey, I know you want snuggles but I don't feel close to you. You never talk to me or share your feelings."
Him: "But I am talking to you right now, and I am sharing my strongest, most personal feelings: Please take off your clothes and let's hop into bed and have some fun."
Similar:
Her: "Honey, let's take another marriage class at church so we can open up with eachother and communicate better."
Him: "I learned at the last one we did that I communicate best non-verbally."
12:1 Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.
12:2 There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him.
12:3 Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus' feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
12:4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said,
12:5 "Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?"
12:6 (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.)
12:7 Jesus said, "Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial.
12:8 You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me."
FOR every hour that thou wilt spare me now, I will allow, Usurious god of love, twenty to thee, When with my brown my gray hairs equal be. Till then, Love, let my body range, and let Me travel, sojourn, snatch, plot, have, forget, Resume my last year's relict; think that yet We'd never met.
Let me think any rival's letter mine, And at next nine Keep midnight's promise; mistake by the way The maid, and tell the lady of that delay; Only let me love none; no, not the sport From country grass to confitures of court, Or city's quelque-choses; let not report My mind transport.
This bargain's good; if when I'm old, I be Inflamed by thee, If thine own honour, or my shame and pain, Thou covet most, at that age thou shalt gain. Do thy will then; then subject and degree And fruit of love, Love, I submit to thee. Spare me till then; I'll bear it, though she be One that love me.
When I cook this, I do it in my largest stovepot, 10 or 15-quart. Usually 2 hunks of corned beef and 2 cabbages, plus the rest. I've never included rutabaga. Parsnips are always a good idea but you have to remember that they cook fast. Parsnips are delicious with their menthol tang.
I like to overcook the meat a bit until fork-tender. Serve with abundant Dijon mustard and Horseradish mustard on the side. And beer.Mrs. BD got us some Wasabi Mustard this year.
But not so much beer than you cannot go out and plant your peas. It's the day to plant peas in Yankeeland, regardless of the weather. Snow Peas.
“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”
First, I think she is mainly talking about Manhattan real estate. There is a lot of NYC outside of Manhattan, and the prime fashionable neighborhoods of Manhattan (and Brooklyn) will never be "affordable" to the middle class because, given the barriers to new construction, demand will always outstrip supply. Even so, there are reasonable neighborhoods in places like Inwood, Harlem, Washington Heights, Spanish Harlem, Little Italy.
Second, there are few free markets in housing in NYC except at the higher end (ie condos in the 2+ million range). Even there, it's not really a free market because the barriers to entry for builders are so high (legal, regulatory, community review, architectural boards, time, political dealings, etc). Donald Trump, with his huge legal teams and political connections, can get that sort of thing done, but there are few of him and, even so, supply will never catch up to demand.
Third, NYC's approach to "affordable" housing since WW2 has been housing projects for the poor and rent control and/or entire rent-controlled developments (eg Stuyvesant Town or Tudor City) for the middle class. The former destroyed neighborhoods and was a catastrophe, and the latter (ST as an example) is bankrupt. Furthermore, rent control, instituted temporarily as a post-war adjustment, now has a huge and vociferous constituency (of course). The more recent efforts are to require some time-limited below-market rentals in new construction.
Altogether, many things conspire to keep rental and condo prices high, even out in the boroughs. Since massive deregulation will never happen in NYC, supply will never catch up with demand because NYC is a world-wide magnet for the energetic, the prosperous, the young, and for those who just want a toe-hold in the greatest and most interesting city in the world. (And if supply ever did catch up with demand, a lot of people would lose a lot of money.)
Government helped create the problem - if it is a problem. The Dems want to fix their problem with even more controls and takings. Typical.
My final thought is this: High prices mean high demand. That's a problem few city centers have these days. It's a good kind of problem to have. It's like when I hear people complain about parking in my village, and feel I need to remind them that there are tons of towns where you can park anywhere downtown - but would you want to live where nobody wants to go?
The gun-control activists drew the wrong lesson from Newtown as they drew the wrong lessons from WW2 and September 11. The lesson is not that weapons are bad, the lesson is that people in the grip of evil ideas are capable of unimaginable horrors regardless of the tools at their disposal. A single man can kill a classroom full of children with a gun and a few men can kill thousands with a few box cutters. It isn’t the tool that matters. It’s the man.
One of my intrepid skiing friends took a long weekend to Alta last weekend. It's a quick and easy trip from the east coast.
This guy likes to hike and traverse off the reservation to find untracked powder and challenging spots. Attracted to signs saying "You are outside the ski area." Seems happy to hike uphill with the skis on his backpack.
The Cruelty of the Hook-Up Culture - At least one Duke University staff member is acutely aware of the problems of casual sex on campus.
First World Financial Problems: Do college or retirement savings come first? How much of my huge cash stockpile should I spend while working on a startup?
Although curbing obesity is the official rationale for restricting beverage servings, the city planned to make exceptions for drinks that have more calories per ounce than soda, such as fruit juices, milk shakes and beer. The exemption for milk-based beverages meant that Starbucks customers could order, say, a Venti White Hot Chocolate with whole milk and whipped cream (640 calories) but not a venti black coffee with four teaspoons of sugar (60 calories). A 20-ounce Coca-Cola, which the city would ban outright from food service establishments, has 243 calories.
It's time for us to humble ourselves with our quarterly request that people who enjoy Maggie's Farm, all around the world, send the link to our site to all of their friends, relatives, neighbors, enemies, clients, bosses - heck, send it to your entire email address list. Some of them might enjoy us.
And if you have a website, feel free to let your readers know we exist. As readers already know, our only reward for our effort is a growing readership.
We cover all sorts of topics: food, natural history, politics, hunting, conservation, art, movies, economics, books, travel - you name it.
Besides being an eclectic and relatively-meaty site, we are not mainly a political site. We tend to post whatever is on our minds. We are freedom-oriented, for sure. Why some people view freedom as "right-wing" is beyond our comprehension because we were taught that freedom from State power was Liberal.
I think people of any political persuasion - especially Communists - can benefit from our rock-ribbed, independent, skeptical, and well-armed New England Yankee view of life which always questions authority and its motives, and always trusts the good sense of the common folk of which we proudly count ourselves members.
Sad to say, we are blocked in China. Subversive? Us? The Chinese mandarins could learn things here.
Photo is one of the Maggie's fact-checkers on siesta break in the hayloft. Greenies would also surely appreciateour home mini-nuke power plant in the basement of the farm.Bought it at Home Depot, fresh yellowcake fuel from Libya, via FedEx. Our enslaved field mice run the thing and it is protected by fierce Woodchucks armed with Pop Tart firearms.
Burning fossil fuels is
Love's Usury
When I cook this, I do it in my largest stovepot, 10 or 15-quart. Usually 2 hunks of corned beef and 2 cabbages, plus the rest. I've never included rutabaga. Parsnips are always a good idea but you have to remember that they cook fast. Parsnips are delicious with their menthol tang.
Fatal Distraction: Teen Drivers And Passengers Are A Deadly Mix
Photo is from 
How to win 
It's time for us to humble ourselves with our quarterly request that people who enjoy Maggie's Farm, all around the world, send the link to our site to all of their friends, relatives, neighbors, enemies, clients, bosses - heck, send it to your entire email address list. Some of them might enjoy us.