Monday, February 14. 2011
Sunday, February 13. 2011
To support the ancient history course we are doing with the Teaching Company, we had to go to the City to see some Assyrian stuff close-up.
Interestingly, there were Christian groups going through the ancient rooms with guides making all the relevant references to the Old Testament. Wonderful to overhear them. Ur of the Chaldees. Abraham. Captivity in Babylon.
These pics are actually Neo-Assyrian carvings from the acropolis at Nimrud, palace of Ashurnasipal ll, 880 BC. Note that one of the guardian gods or genies has hooved feet, the other lion's paws. They also have 5 legs, so that from the side they are walking, but from the front, standing firm. Cool.
Readers know my personal Museum Rule: Just go to see one group of things, and leave before becoming a victim of Museum Brain. An hour and 20 minutes is my limit.
More pics below the fold -
Continue reading "Neo-Assyrian, and lunch"
Diligent students of Maggie's Farm have had the chance, over the years, to become familiar with many of the common birds of North America - or at least of the Eastern US. The common winter sparrows around my parts (not including Junco, which is a sparrow):
In winter at my feeder, I mainly see Song Sparrow
and White Throated Sparrow:
In some winters, we get a surge of Fox Sparrows, but not this year. This year, though, I have seen more Tree Sparrows than ever (that's the American Tree Sparrow, not the Eurasian):
The Chipping Sparrow is common here in the summer, but migrates south. I rarely see a Field Sparrow anymore these days. No idea why. Never see White Crowned Sparrow at my feeder either.
This is the common urban pest, once called the English Sparrow (they were a nasty import from Old Blighty):
Matthew 5:21-37
5:21 "You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, 'You shall not murder'; and 'whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.'
5:22 But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, 'You fool,' you will be liable to the hell of fire.
5:23 So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you,
5:24 leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.
5:25 Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison.
5:26 Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.
5:27 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.'
5:28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
5:29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
5:30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell.
5:31 "It was also said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.'
5:32 But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
5:33 "Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, 'You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.'
5:34 But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God,
5:35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.
5:36 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.
5:37 Let your word be 'Yes, Yes' or 'No, No'; anything more than this comes from the evil one.
Saturday, February 12. 2011
A large flock in a Vermont field, taken by Vermont Woodchuck (now of American Moxie)
 You need to understand the meaning of the Gettysburg Address: Vanderleun
The Vanity of his Passion
O you, who hear in scattered verse the sound
Of all those sighs with which my heart I fed,
When I, by youthful error was misled,
Unlike my present self in passion drowned;
Who hears the woes, the pleadings that abound
Throughout my song, by hopes and vain griefs bred;
If ever true love its influence over you shed,
Oh ! let your pity be with pardon crowned.
But now full well I see how to the crowd
For a long time I proved a public jest:
Even by myself my folly is confessed:
And of my vanity, what's left is shame,
Repentance, and a knowledge deep impressed,
That worldly pleasure is a passing dream.
Sonnet written by Francesco Petrarca for Laura, of course. Who else? This devout Renaissance poet drew inspiration from Dante, but maybe never escaped his shadow.
Said he, in his Letter to Posterity (everybody should write a ltter to posterity):
"In my youth I was blessed with an agile, active body, though not particularly strong; and while I cannot boast of being very handsome, I was good-looking enough in my younger days. I had a clear complexion, between light and dark, lively eyes, and for many years sharp vision, which, however, unexpectedly deserted me when I passed my sixtieth birthday, and forced me, reluctantly, to resort to the use of glasses. Although I had always been perfectly healthy, old age assailed me with its usual array of discomforts."
Friday, February 11. 2011
An interesting perspective on internet marketing from our respectable oriental rug consultant/expert friend at Rug Rag, who is clearly frustrated by the Google system in which, as I understand it, one can buy one's position on searches. Commerce is a tough game:
Sniper sites show up in the top 10 search results for "Oriental Rugs." A 100% commission-based single page facade website literally has every site link directing traffic straight to an affiliate Canada-based dealer which cannot sell most of their Persian rugs to the States unless they happen to be warehoused in NY.
Another is a hole-in-the-wall shows in top ten for "Oriental Rugs." So many unbelievably great rug companies in the States with fantastic websites and merchandise, and a black hat SEO site represents the top 10 searches for the term. They have over 20,000 pages from what we can see most are dedicated for each town and city in every state covering the US, in some cases, misleading to have a location selection in every one.
Picture of a spider-hole rug store below, courtesy Google maps. Front had the name on it, so that pic is from the side. Ranks 6-8 for "Oriental rugs" in Google. Problem is, there need to be more quality sites ranking for these keywords.
We want to keep the junk Persian rugs off peoples' floors, but we don't rank high enough to be seen before people make purchase decisions.
I wasted time, and now doth time waste me.
WS, Richard II
 I wasn't able to join Mrs. BD and friends to hear the great Yale and NYU Prof Harold Bloom talk about Shakespeare Monday night at the Classic Stage Company (a theater company she loves and supports) just off Union Square.
She reported a few random things Bloom said, paraphrased:
"Lear is Shakespeare's greatest work. I don't know how a human could have written it."
"I am not a Shakespeare scholar. I give no credence to any Shakespeare scholar."
"Shakespeare used a 22,000 word vocabulary in his writing. No other writer has ever come close to that. And he probably invented 1000 words, many of them now part of ordinary English."
"He wrote Othello, Macbeth, and Lear within 14 months. How could that be done?"
"He may have died of Syphilis."
Mrs. and Co. had supper at the Blue Water Grill. With the Union Square Cafe, The Gotham Bar and Grill, the Blue Water Grill, and Toqueville (which my daughter loves), Union Square has come a long way since I sort-of lived on University Place. Back then, the cops would stop by to pull dead guys out of the bushes in the morning. ODs, mostly.
Now it has a dog park and an open air bar with live music, and I guess most of the old addicts and drunks are dead.
Thursday, February 10. 2011
A seasonal re-post -
Interesting bird, the Snow Goose. For  one thing, it comes in a blue
and white form, and all sorts of intermediate forms, so was long thought to be two species. For another, its population has boomed in recent years such that it is destroying its tundra nesting areas, and so the wildlife managers are essentially begging people to shoot them. They were scarce in the 1970s.
There is almost no real limit on these birds, and it is now legal to use electronic calls to try to bring them into your field decoy spread during the spring Snow Goose season in the midwest. However, as it turns out, hunting makes no dent in their numbers.
When a flock of 100 or 1000 of them descend over your blind into your field decoys on a frigid dawn, it's one hell of an adrenaline rush and one hell of a shooting experience. A literal "blast," and you cannot reload your auto fast enough to keep up with the action of these determined birds who can, at times, seem quite undeterred by the sound of shotgun fire. They go down very easily, compared to Canadas which can sometimes coast or flap for a quarter mile with a fatal wound, which gives a retriever - or a fellow - a good work out.
We say "They go down like a prom dress."
Our Brit cousins would love this shooting - they have, alas, nothing comparable for fun. Neither prom dresses nor Snow Geese. Our good pal Mr. Free Market would have the time of his life.
When 5000 of them decide to chose the seemingly identical barley field adjacent to the one you happen to be in for brainless goose reasons, it is a deeply frustrating experience and there is not a damn thing you can do about it.
A northern Canadian nester, this medium-sized honker is highly migratory across the US, especially in the Central Flyway. It is not unusual, these days, to see them flying over Vermont ski slopes in winter, or on Long Island potato fields.
The causes of the potentially self-destructive population boom are unclear, but may have to do with changes in the agricultural lands on which they winter. I wish I had a decent digital image of the size of the flocks of these birds, capable of truly blocking out the sun, but my best shots are from my pre-digital era, a few years ago. Beautiful, and awe-inspiring but, according to the biologists, a big problem too. They could be wrong; it might just be a natural boom and bust cycle like the housing market.
Being game birds, a word is always in order on cooking, since you must eat what you kill. These geese do not hold a candle to the delectable Canada Goose. The tough breast is best stewed, or crock-potted, and can be quite fine in a cassoulet. But anything is good in a cassoulet on a cold snowy, blowy winter evening, with crunchy garlic toast and a few bottles of Cote Roti and a mountain of powerful stinky French cheeses on the side.
More about Snow Goose at CLO, whence the photo, here.
Our old post on Cassoulet is lost for the moment. Good hearty peasant food, best made with game sausage and game meat of any sort. We once made one with venison sausage, wild boar, and Snow Goose breast.
 Dylan to share Grammy stage with Mumford, Avett Brothers
Does an academic dare come out of the (political) closet?
They shouldn't hide their real identities. But if they are all weenies, they could always play the victim card and scream "McCarthyism."
Am Thinker: Why Can't My Health Insurance Be Like My Car Insurance?
The Weather Isn't Getting Weirder - The latest research belies the idea that storms are getting more extreme.
It's just getting reported more hysterically. Weather sells soap.
Homeowners face 'new normal' in housing bust
If you bought before the bubble, you're doing just fine. Nationally, housing prices are now pretty much back to the historic trend line - thanks to a full inventory.
Malanga: Rhode Island: A Fiscal Mess Few Care About
Between chronic Dem control, unions, the Mob, and corruption, rational Rhode Island governance seems like a lost cause
Four Reasons Why Big Government Is Bad Government (h/t Linkiest)
Wednesday, February 9. 2011
Anti-multiculturalism is going mainstream, at NRO. It's about time the pols and intelligentsia caught up with the common sense, experience, and wisdom of the people.
Dr. Merc had a movie to post, but I think he wants it in tomorrow's edition. Woops, wrong about that. Anyway, it brought to mind a movie that Mrs. BD has watched three times in the past two weeks: A Woman in Berlin (2009).
The Russian invasion and occupation of Berlin in 1945. We didn't read the book. It's a serious movie, and a true story written by "Anonymous." War is hell.
Winter is made for outdoor fun of the strenuous type. I call the cold "God's air conditioning." Time to do things that make you sweat like a pig when it's cold as hell.
When the kids were young, we focused on family skating, skiing and sledding. Wonderful times, and all of my kids have mastered these things while accumulating the scars and broken bones that are an essential part of a vigorous childhood. My family does vigor, avoids "relaxation" - our theory is that you can lie around and relax when you're dead.
I used to like a ten mile road run in the morning in 10 degrees, but I don't do that anymore even though I should. (I prefer my wake-up cigar and a large Dunkin.) My relatives and friends like Paddle, cross-country skiing, Frostbiting, snow-shoeing, and skiing of course. My elderly Mom still likes to get her cross-country skis on and go out in the woods and hills and fields for a couple of hours in 10 degrees (F). Never was a wimp. She does appreciate a hot toddy on her return, a warm fire, and somebody to listen to her tell what she saw ("I saw a Goshawk on the ridges and flushed a grouse out of the briars by the river. Bear tracks on the mountain trail.").
I told her we might find her dead frozen body someday halfway up Tim's Mountain, and she said that was OK with her.
What do you like to do for outdoor cold-weather fun?
Tuesday, February 8. 2011
That's the title of an opus by Vanderleun. (Bosch's image from his post which I am pleased to add to my image library.) He says:
These days it would seem that the 7 deadly sins are now the 7 cardinal virtues of the progressive left.
I had been having similar thoughts lately, especially regarding government avarice. It's a topsy-turvy world we live in, with Wonderland twists of language and meaning. Glad he wrote the piece.
 I'm sure readers have surmised that we are not big on fake things here at Maggie's Farm. We are sort of stuck on that 1960s authenticity thing.
However, we will make an exception for a few fake candles. Mrs. BD used them over the holidays for decorating tables and pine-strewn mantles, and I had to confess that they were quite pleasant and realistic with a waxy look and feel, and have the benefit of not burning down your house on Christmas Eve while you are busy carving the goose.
Real is better, but there's a role for these fake things. They seem to come in all shapes.
I think she got her collection of them at Bed Bath and Beyond the Budget, but they can be found all over the internet now.
Maine Family Robinson: 10 Luxuries We Don't Do Without
NYT: Social Scientist Sees Bias Within:
Anywhere in the world that social psychologists see women or minorities underrepresented by a factor of two or three, our minds jump to discrimination as the explanation,” said Dr. Haidt, who called himself a longtime liberal turned centrist. “But when we find out that conservatives are underrepresented among us by a factor of more than 100, suddenly everyone finds it quite easy to generate alternate explanations.”
Egypt Exposes Media Hypocrisy
The Apostate - Paul Haggis vs. the Church of Scientology. (h/t, Lucianne)
Rape flourishes in rubble of Haitian earthquake.
No functioning government, no functioning police force, no sanitation, crime rampant, no jobs, Baby Doc back and Aristide returning. What could go wrong?
Repubs: Are We Cutting Enough?
Too much college, and no skills:
The shortage of skilled workers is the No. 1 or No. 2 hiring challenge in six of the 10 biggest economies, Manpower found in a recent survey of 35,000 employers. Skilled trades were the top area of shortage in 10 of 17 European countries…
Apple CEO Steve Jobs on why dropping out of college was one of the best decisions he ever made.
Monday, February 7. 2011
I don't recall doing anything to change my camera settings, but I guess I did. Perhaps I can term this my brief Ohio Highlands Blue Period and try to make an artistic virtue out of a tech accident:
In the end, Gwynnie kindly managed to salvage some of my pics, and to restore the world to its proper tones:
A few more below the fold -
Continue reading "My Blue Period of Ohio pics"
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