Maggie's Farm

Via The Decades-Long Comeback of Mark Twain's Favorite Food - When America's favorite storyteller lived in San Francisco, nothing struck his fancy like a heaping plate of this Pacific Northwest delicacy:

... newcomers to the city, including Twain—straight from the Nevada desert with its pickled oysters and an appalling coffee substitute he dubbed “Slumgullion”—developed a taste for the tiny, coppery Olympias. The Oly, as it was called, was the classic gold rush oyster, a staple of celebrations and everyday meals in San Francisco restaurants and oyster saloons. Olys appeared in oyster soup and stew, stuffed into wild poultry and, of course, raw. Perhaps the most distinctive local dish was a “Hangtown fry” of oysters, bacon and eggs.

Mark Twain loved good food. I've had the Olympia oysters, but prefer the Northeast mollusc. I once ate 72 of them in a contest with a friend somewhere where they had an all-you-can-eat raw bar. I lost, but I still love to eat them.

Photo is an Olympia oyster.

A scene from the 1957 classic A Face in the Crowd, starring Andy Griffith as an unsavory politico:

 

The Little-Known History of How the Modern Olympics Got Their Start - As London gets set to host the XXXth Olympiad, acclaimed sportswriter Frank Deford connects the modern Games to their unlikely origin—in rural England

The United Kingdom Is Doomed by a Perniciously Wimpy Form of Political Correctness

Can being a too-good mother make you sick?

Remembering the Gettysburg Reunion of 1913

Is there a connection between rising college tuition and rising college grades?

Is the customer always right?

The Real-World Middle Class Tax Rate: 75%

Via Insty, IRS Goes on 'Hiring Frenzy' After Supreme Court Ruling Upholding Affordable Care Act

Polar Bear Scare: A Letter To The Economist

Climate Scientists Ripping-Off The U.S. Taxpayer?

June Jobs Report Brings Another Round Of Disappointment

Don’t Read Too Much Into the Fact that More Americans Went on Disability than Got Jobs in June

Expectedly. From 2009, see Obama, the Cloward-Piven Strategy, and the New World Order

We’re told the healthcare system is “broken,” but I’m not convinced giving the government more money and more power would help. It never does.

Commenter on a Rangel story:

Now this is a perfect example of poetic justice! A corrupt democrat politician uses corrupt means to win an election by a tactic that our Attorney General claims doesn't exist.

Analysts: Romney Needs to 'Etch A Sketch' New Campaign Staff

Take Off the Gloves, Mitt

You are not up against gentlemen, Mitt. Street-fighters from Chicago.

Officials have already drafted 13,000 pages of rules & regs for health care law

"...don’t let others who are no better than you are, convince you that there is something wrong with you because you don’t want to use the power of the state to try to improve the lives of others. Their strategy has a very mixed track record."

Sporting art on top via Theo

View from the rooftop garden at NYC's Metropolitan Museum last Sunday afternoon. Took a pic of the cool new stainless steel scupture up there, but somehow deleted it by mistake.

 

I have no clue about the Physics of this, but it's quite a remarkable phenomenon: Pendulum Waves:

"Fifteen uncoupled simple pendulums of monotonically increasing lengths dance together to produce visual traveling waves, standing waves, beating, and random motion. One might call this kinetic art and the choreography of the dance of the pendulums is stunning! Aliasing and quantum revival can also be shown."

London celebrates completion of Europe’s tallest building

Dante’s Circles of Hell Created in LEGO

You do not have to love yourself first

That's a relief

The number of crocodiles has increased dramatically in the Keys, from 300 in 1975 to 1,500 to 2,000 today.

Tick, tock

Where are the parents? 3 Million Kids Now Get Free Lunches All Year Long

Debunk a "Miracle" - Go to Jail for Blasphemy In India

Michael Bloomberg gives a speech and then mutters "Who Wrote This Shit?"

In 2008, 61.6% of adults were insured by their employers, while in 2012 that figure dropped to 55.9%.

47% Consider Obama’s Political Views Extreme, 31% Say Same of Romney

7 points that could tip the election

In Close Race, Obama’s Plan B Is Paying Off

Liberals ignore Obama’s Guantanamos

Yet Another Fake Hate Crime

California Assembly Approves High-Speed Rail Funding, Now With Higher Price Tag!

Brilliant! A 19th Century government solution to a non-problem. Just like Obamacare.

House Report: Countrywide Issued 'Hundreds' of Discounts for Influence

Big government and big business, perfectly corrupt together

Latest example: Obama Admin Gave $98.5 Million to Alternative Energy Company Now Going Belly-Up

Does big government stifle growth?

Sultan's A Country of Free Men or Free Things:

As the last wave of fireworks die out, the shooting stars sinking to earth and vanishing into the darkness, the light of Independence Day fades and the crowds slowly trudge away from the brief spectacle, past the lines of police barricades, through narrow streets, past government buildings, back to their co-dependent lives in a co-dependent nation where the will of the people and the rights of the individual matter less than the latest proposal to solve the problems of their independence by making the country a more dependent place.

A few hundred years ago in these streets, men and women celebrated the end of tyranny, and in its darkest hour, lines of grim men marched along the waterfront up to the highest point on the island to mount a final defense. Sometimes the older buildings still wear their shadows on their brick walls and by the golden light of the fireworks you can almost see them, shadows moving in the darkness, their footsteps taking them north, a faint song on their lips, muskets in their hands, their lives lost and gained in defense of their freedom.

If you have a minute (but who does?) and have been on vacation from the intertubes, please scroll down Maggie's and catch up on some of our posts from the last couple of days.  

Mead: The unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen Post-Colonial, Multi-Racial Societes of North America

Surely inspired by Howard Zinn

Via Insty, 5 Reasons to Answer that Booty Call

Living the Feminist Nightmare

Dinosaurs Had Feathers, New Fossil Discovery Shows

The Passive-Aggressive Vegetarian

Fans Howl After Weather Site Buys Out Rival

If You Want More Higgs Hype, Don’t Read This Column

Chinese Airline Passengers Demonstrate "Let's Roll" To Terrorist Hijackers

Springsteen: Taxes for thee but not for me

On Independence Day the New York Times published “the Downside of Liberty”

They want to be Pravda. Woops, almost forgot. They already are.

DHS Study Brands Those Who Believe In Individual Liberty As Terrorists

Just hanging out here, working in the garden, waiting for the SWAT team

Henninger: ObamaCare's Lost Tribe: Doctors - The practice of medicine is the Obama health-care law's biggest loser.

Pethokoukis: Yes, there is a free-market alternative to Obamacare

Helpful flowchart: do I qualify for the Obamacare mandate-tax-penalty surcharge fee?

Impact on temperature measurement: Cities expand by area equal to France, Germany and Spain combined in less than 20 years

Would it have been so bad if America hadn’t won its independence from Britain?

Re France, "Why should they (the Germans) accept to contribute to the financing of a 60 year retirement age in France when they have just raised it domestically to 67?"

This started out as a lighthouse-keeper's house. Camera got lucky with those early AM clouds.

 

Via Theo:

A book: Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences

A Survival Guide for the Right in Leftist Academia

Why Einstein Was Not Qualified To Teach High-School Physics

At Vietnamese restaurants, Hispanic workers have become vital to survival

Apple’s Retail Army, Long on Loyalty but Short on Pay

Fort Hood: After the Massacre

Life without air conditioning

Spontaneous Order, Sometimes It Just Happens

We are all Kulaks now - The American Bushwhacked still wonder what happened. When did this stop being a free country?

Jindal: Obama Wants People To Depend On Government

Not a safety net, but a way of life

Union boss Trumka: Freedom is a dirty word

Who are the losers in Obamacare?

Cranky Uncles, for Better or Worse, Will Lurk in More Exam Rooms

Rogers: National-Security Leaks ‘Probably the Most Damaging’ in U.S. History

The Fourth of July (1958, mind you)

Because I am drunk, this Independence Night,
I watch the fireworks from far away,
From a high hill, across the moony green
Of lakes and other hills to the town harbor,
Where stately illuminations are flung aloft,
One light shattering in a hundred lights
Minute by minute. The reason I am crying,
Aside from only being country drunk,
That is, may be that I have just remembered
The sparklers, rockets, roman candles and
So on, we used to be allowed to buy
When I was a boy, and set off by ourselves
At some peril to life and property.
Our freedom to abuse our freedom thus
Has since, I understand, been remedied
By legislation. Now the authorities
Arrange a perfectly safe public display
To be watched at a distance; and now also
The contribution of all the taxpayers
Together makes a more spectacular
Result than any could achieve alone
(A few pale pinwheels, or a firecracker
Fused at the dog's tail). It is, indeed, splendid:
Showers of roses in the sky, fountains
Of emeralds, and those profusely scattered zircons
Falling and falling, flowering as they fall
And followed distantly by a noise of thunder.
My eyes are half-afloat in happy tears.
God bless our Nation on a night like this,
And bless the careful and secure officials
Who celebrate our independence now.

The Four Lads (1956)

 

Why I said goodbye to NASCAR.

Good Reason to Kill #24: Pancake Battery

Surf Dog Competition Sees New Guinness World Record, Gains National Attention

Mitt Romney’s summer vacation full of competitive sports and family meetings

New York Times Asks: Should Air-Conditioning 'Be Rationed Away? via Al Gore’s Mansion Could Not Be Reached for Comment

Why the Education Bubble Will Be Worse Than the Housing Bubble

Mexicans took jobs that Americans did not want to do. Asians take jobs that Americans don’t know how to do.

Sorry, Bucko, Europe Is Still In A Death Spiral

Euroland as an empire

Will More Doctors ‘Go Galt’ Because of Obamacare?

Obama Spanish language ad blitz aims to wrap up Latino vote

Obamacare: Seven New Taxes on Citizens Earning Less than $250,000

Syria's Display of Virility Against Turkey

Palestinian Crimes against Christian Arabs and Their Manipulation against Israel

VDH on the election:  Good News — What Good News?

Another Obama Record… Number of Americans on Disability Exceeds Number of People in New York

Food stamps + EBT card + easy disability = votes

At Bavaria Yachtbau:

Image from Sexist or Not

George Washington and the Constitution

Religious Freedom Wins In New York

Last Bite for Foie Gras Lovers in California

Level 99 archer (video)

Reuse a Leaky Garden Hose, Make a Soaker Hose

How to Save the Planet: Euthanize Your Pet

The Freaky Fetishes of Golden Age Hollywood - A tolerant new tell-all from Tinseltown’s sexual fixer

Degrees in ‘Pop Culture’?

World's first GM babies born

Feds considering declaring Arabs eligible for affirmative action

Supreme Decision: The Best Possible Result for 2012

Judge Roberts’ decision forces Americans to stand on their own two feet — and that’s a good thing

John Yoo: Chief Justice Roberts and His Apologists - Some conservatives see a silver lining in the ObamaCare ruling. But it's exactly the big-government disaster it appears to be.

Food Stamps, Handouts, and the Ever-Expanding Welfare State

'Spoiled Rotten': How the Democratic Party Lost Its Soul to Patronage

Viva La Obama!… George Clooney to Host Obama Fundraisers in Europe

Forget Immigration. It's Big Government Hispanic Voters Want

Had to be back in NYC on Sunday. This wonderful old house is on the corner of East End Ave. and 86th St.

East River views from the rooftop garden, for sure:

Photo is Taki's sailboat (or "yacht," if you will) Creole. Very nice.

His story: Gangsters at Sea

 

Through Delta, flew from JFK to Rome via Paris (cheaper that way) on Air France (which I like very much - decent airplane food with cheese and baguettes, etc, champagne when you board, drinks free, charming hostesses). We had the worst seats so you do your best to zone out. I needed some Ambien. The quick 2 hr- flight down to Rome, using Delta, is on Alitalia.

We clever, thrifty Yankees can do a 12-day grand luxe and glitz-free trip around Umbria for the price of a good high-end Mac server. A few travel trips for this first pic dump post:

We got some very good hotel deals via Expedia. We are very particular about where we will stay, as you will see (if you care). Mrs. BD is my planner. We seek out little gems without jacuzzis and absolutely without bellboys with uniforms. We are allergic to that sort of crap, and like to explore places that most people do not. We reserved a fine hatchback Lancia through Costco. Cheap. With the talking GPS - and that came in darn handy because we prefer trying to get lost on back roads unless we are in a rush to the airport. Somehow managed not to get the car in a roadside farm ditch on this trip - but I have done that in the past. Hilarity always ensues! Amusing recriminations also. Good way to meet the local farmer with tractor!

We stayed at one hotel in the Tiber Valley, one in the Valle Umbra, and one in the Valnerina to cover all the of Umbrian geography. View of the olive orchard of our hotel 10 k outside Todi, early morning mist:

More good stuff and fun pics below the fold -

Here, via Sipp's To Do A Simple Thing Well

It's difficult to take good pics of people in public spaces because you never know who might take offense.

 

McCarthy: Limiting the General Welfare Clause

Campos: On Roberts’ majority opinion becoming the joint dissent

Bernstein: More Hints that Roberts Switched his Vote

Dear Uncle Sam: What's in the health care act?

Romney’s desperately trying to sell independent voters on repealing Obamacare. But don’t count on it working. America thinks it’s time to move on.

WSJ: Jenkins: ObamaCare—Upheld and Doomed - Regardless of the Supreme Court, fiscal reality will prevail.

What's Wrong With ObamaCare? Here's A Partial List

Lamentations 3:22-33

3:22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end;

3:23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

3:24 "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him."

3:25 The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him.

3:26 It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.

3:27 It is good for one to bear the yoke in youth,

3:28 to sit alone in silence when the Lord has imposed it,

3:29 to put one's mouth to the dust (there may yet be hope),

3:30 to give one's cheek to the smiter, and be filled with insults.

3:31 For the Lord will not reject forever.

3:32 Although he causes grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love;

3:33 for he does not willingly afflict or grieve anyone.

New wheels for ye olde wheelbarrow. I done wore out the old tires. These are slick (Home Depot). Shiny and guaranteed never to deflate, and thus good for impressing the chicks.

Rides like a Beemer now. Get a new girlfriend, wheel her all over town in that thing.

Home Depot, unfortunately, had no whitewalls available.

The clam rake? It does double duty for clamming on Cape Cod and getting nasty roots out of gardens.

Alas, more of the latter these days. My honey-do list keeps getting longer, but I ain't askeered of work unless it's lectrical.

Give me a list, and I will do it. That's why I am here.

 

We had some internet glitches today but now the Farm is open for business again.

Let's blame the fathers

Curious George Will Give You Lung Cancer

Purple Heart for PTSD? Advocates Say Yes

Life causes PTSD. It's just a matter of degree.

John Roberts’s Compromise of 2012

The Chief Justice Done Good

75% of Obamacare Costs Will Fall on Backs of Those Making Less Than $120K a Year

Mead:

We sometimes wonder what the US Constitution would look like if it had been written by “qualified” political scientists with Ph.Ds and a solid body of peer reviewed published work behind them. We think it would probably stink in comparison with the current version ..

"Probably"?

Farmers:

Death of a Naturalist

All the year the flax-dam festered in the heart
Of the townland; green and heavy headed
Flax had rotted there, weighted down by huge sods.
Daily it sweltered in the punishing sun.
Bubbles gargled delicately, bluebottles
Wove a strong gauze of sound around the smell.
There were dragon-flies, spotted butterflies,
But best of all was the warm thick slobber
Of frogspawn that grew like clotted water
In the shade of the banks. Here, every spring
I would fill jampots full of the jellied
Specks to range on the window-sills at home,
On shalves at school, and wait and watch until
The fattening dots burst into nimble-
Swimming tadpoles. Miss Walls would tell us how
The daddy frog was called a bullfrog
And how he croaked and how the mammy frog
Laid hundreds of little eggs and this was
Frogspawn. You could tell the weather by frogs too
For they were yellow in the sun and brown
In rain.

Then one hot day when fields were rank
With cowdung in the grass the angry frogs
Invaded the flax-dam; I ducked through hedges
To a coarse croaking that I had not heard
Before. The air was thick with a bass chorus.
Right down the dam gross-bellied frogs were cocked
On sods; their loose necks pulsed like snails. Some hopped:
The slap and plop were obscene threats. Some sat
Poised like mud grenades, their blunt heads farting.
I sickened, turned, and ran. The great slime kings
Were gathered there for vengeance and I knew
That if I dipped my hand the spawn would clutch it.

I like the way he gets creeped out by his guilty imagination. Heaney's bio here.