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.
Evil is like a shadow—it has no real substance of its own, it is simply a lack of light. You cannot cause a shadow to disappear by trying to fight it, stamp on it, by railing against it, or any other form of emotional or physical resistance. In order to cause a shadow to disappear, you must shine light on it.
Interesting computer problem today. Every indication of a hard drive failure. Replaced hard drive after a quick run to Staples ($189.). Same problem after reloading drive from external drive. Computer expert thinks it must be a motherboard problem. Then he says "Hmm, I've never seen a BIOS problem in 20 years but let's try asking BIOS to heal itself, just for the heck of it."
Instantly repaired. "Holy f-," says he. "This is a first for me: BIOS never fails."
I think this might be a fake website, alas: Felonspy. I found some bad guys I did not know about, but none of my friends. If it were genuine, some of my pals would show up there, for sure.
They do not guarantee accuracy - read the disclaimer.
Frank Sinatra, the greatest vocalist in the history of American music, elevated popular song to an art. He was a dominant power in the entertainment industries—radio, records, movies, gambling—and a symbol of the Mafia’s reach into American public life. More profoundly than any figure excepting perhaps Elvis Presley, Sinatra changed the style and popular culture of the American Century.
Read the whole thing at The Atlantic while listening to one of his masterpieces below (music, no video):
I refer to Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth, which I have just finished. It ain't littercher, but it's an absorbing read. He is a master storyteller and permits no let-up of tension.
It's in the historical fiction genre, set during the Civil War of 1139-1153. That war of succession was prompted, you may recall, by the foundering of the White Ship with William, the only legitimate son of Henry l, on board.
The book does a good job of putting you in a time and place. The gravitational center of the book is the building of cathedrals during the time when pointed arches and ribbed ceilings were first used, and when it was realized that pillars could support the weight of the buildings without relying on thick walls, thus permitting large windows.
Has mankind ever built anything to match the grace and artistry and grandeur of a gothic cathedral?
As I was reading the book, I kept wishing I could find our copy of David Macaulay's Cathedral. It's here somewhere...
Personal weapons are the mark of a free man or woman. Guns are not about hunting: they are about the fundamental human right of self-defence. I have been held up twice and burglarized twice. Never again, because I was neither raised, nor made, to be a passive victim of low-life scumbags.
The wealthy and powerful have bodyguards, but it is up to regular folks to be our own bodyguards and the guards of our families. In the old days, it was a club, or a spear, or a sword, or a dagger. Shooting sports are secondary: great fun, but secondary.
At the last minute (today), decided to do a little supper for 20 next weekend, and I have decided to do something simple and American with the pheasants: Pheasant smothered in sour cream. Talk about old-fashioned comfort food - a casserole. (This is a famous old "guy cookin'" recipe for Ruffed Grouse.) I'll quarter the peasants, not halve them like grouse.
I like to serve recipes like this on the wide (1") Italian noodles.
Yes, I have some Beach Plum Jelly in the pantry. What old Cape Codder would not? Plus I now grow them myself. The worse the soil, the better the plums.
I was considering a duck salad like this as the first course. One wild duck breast per serving, with the breast cooked rare and sliced thin.
"We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing. With some the word liberty may mean for each man to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his labor; while with others, the same word may mean for some men to do as they please with other men, and the product of other men's labor. Here are two, not only different, but incompatible things, called by the same name - liberty. And it follows that each of the things is, by the respective parties, called by two different and incompatible names - liberty and tyranny."
"What is conservatism? Is it not adherence to the old and tried, against the new and untried?"
"When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretence of loving liberty -- to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocracy [sic]."
"It is said an Eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent him a sentence to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate in all times and situations. They presented him the words: 'And this, too, shall pass away.' How much it expresses! How chastening in the hour of pride! How consoling in the depths of affliction!"
"In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free - honorable alike in what we give, and what we preserve. We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth. Other means may succeed; this could not fail. The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just - a way which, if followed, the world will forever applaud, and God must forever bless."
"Property is the fruit of labor...property is desirable...is a positive good in the world. That some should be rich shows that others may become rich, and hence is just encouragement to industry and enterprise. Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another; but let him labor diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built."
1. The Wall Street Journal is read by the people who run the country.
2. The Washington Post is read by people who think they run the country.
3. The New York Times is read by people who think they should run the country and who are very good at crossword puzzles.
4. USA Today is read by people who think that they ought to run the country but don't really understand The New York Times. They do, however, like their statistics shown in pie charts.
5. The Los Angeles Times is read by people who wouldn't mind running the country - if they could find the time - and if they didn't have to leave Southern California to do it.
6. The Boston Globe is read by people whose parents used to run the country and did a poor job of it, thank you very much.
7. The New York Daily News is read by people who aren't too sure who's running the country and don't really care as long as they can get a seat on the train.
8. The New York Post is read by people who don't care who is running the country as long as they do something really scandalous, preferably while intoxicated.
9. The Miami Herald is read by people who are running another country but need the baseball scores.
10. The San Francisco Chronicle is read by people who aren't sure if there is a country or that anyone is running it; but if so, they oppose all that they stand for. There are occasional exceptions if the leaders are handicapped minority feminist atheist dwarfs who also happen to be illegal aliens from any other country or galaxy, provided of course, that they are not Republicans.
11. The National Enquirer is read by people trapped in line at the grocery store.
12. The Tideland News is read by people who have recently caught a fish and need something in which to wrap it.
Photo: Why a person needs to buy a newspaper occasionally
Stormy afternoon house cleaning yesterday after church and Lenten Group study, including putting away some Christmas stuff. Decided to pick up and re-order the CD mess - hundreds scattered everywhere and many loose, homeless orphans separated from their jewel cases.
I wondered whether anybody still buys, or uses, CDs very much. I still like them, because I have three quite high-end sound systems around the place (including my precious Legacy speakers) which I enjoy more than computer speaker sound.
Anyway, I collected every CD in the house and put them all back in their cases, and made stacks. To Keep it Simple, Stupid, I made five categories: Pop (incl. rock), Classical,Roots (eg folk, blues, country - including every Emmy Lou - , Jazz, Irish, etc) and Misc (religious, Christmas music, Broadway, Cole Porter, Shakespeare plays, random home-made mixes, etc) and, finally, a Dylan stack.
The Pop, Classical, Dylan, and Roots stacks (many stacks of each so they wouldn't topple) were about the same height. How did the Dylan stack get so high? Because the Dylanologist has given me so many CDs of live performances (on top of all of his production recordings), which are far more interesting than the commercial CDs despite the iffy sound quality.
Creating order out of chaos is both mindless and satisfying, like doing the wash. I did find a Highway 61 Revisited in a Schubert case. I did end up with about 20 loose CDs without cases, and about ten cases without their CDs, which ain't bad.
I have enough Creedence. I need more Schubert, though.
Reading Dean's plea for funds reminds me that I've never yet heard a Democrat say that there is hardly any difference between John McCain and Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama.
I once visited the Everglades in April, and it was really too late in the season: the wintering birds had begun to move north, and the dark swarms of attacking skeeters, especially early and late in the day, were a sight to behold.
Marshes are more full of life than any other sort of geography, which is probably why they appeal so much to me.
Despite the skeeters, for birders there is nothing better. Sad that I never saw a Snail Kite, though.
1Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
2And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
3And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
4But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
5Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,
6And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
7Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
8Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
9And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
10Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
11Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
We dedicate this piece to all of those who are still seething about McCain. This will soothe the injured heart: Anderson and Roe piano duo with Saint-Saens' The Swan. (h/t, Classical Virtuoso)
There seem to be Bellow fans and Nabokov fans. I'd have to place myself among the Nabokov, but only because I've read more of his. Lolita's fame - more the fame of shock value than the literary - is probably undeserved. Are older guys attracted to younger women sometimes? Indeed. Historically, it was not uncommon for girls/women to be married at Lolita's age. From the NYT:
Legal considerations aside, not everyone took to the book. Edmund Wilson was repulsed; like many, he had trouble untangling author and narrator. Evelyn Waugh thought the novel without merit, except as smut. (On which count it was "highly exciting." To E. M. Forster those same pages were "rather a bore.") Rebecca West found the novel labored and ugly, a diluted blend of Peter de Vries and S. J. Perelman. Worse, she found in "Lolita" a great deal of Dostoyevsky, whom Nabokov abhorred.
Hmmm. I'd tend to take the Rebecca West comment as a compliment. Anyway, read entire Lolita update in the NYT.
"At bottom, the ordinary is not ordinary; it is extraordinary."
Martin Heidegger
Poet and critic Adam Kirsch discusses the metaphysics of modern poetry in an essay titled The Taste of Silence. A quote:
...Heidegger, more than any other philosopher, looked to poetry as a model of what thinking should be. He used individual poems, especially the hymns of Hölderlin, to help explicate his own ideas about nature, technology, art, and history. He constantly dwelled on the mysteries of language and translation, how the way we name things can reveal and conceal their essence. And he himself approached writing in a poetic spirit. We usually think of philosophy, especially German philosophy, as being written in dry, awkward jargon. But Heidegger's writing, though difficult, is deeply creative: he uses nouns as verbs and verbs as nouns, puns on etymologies, and even plays with spelling, all in an effort to jar the reader out of conventional ways of reading and thinking.
All this makes it natural that writers and theorists of language look to Heidegger. But in "The Origin of the Work of Art," he issues a particular invitation to poets, arguing that poetry is in some way the model for all other art forms, and the exemplary activity of human beings. The poet, he writes, "uses the word—not, however, like ordinary speakers and writers who have to use them up, but rather in such a way that the word only now becomes and remains truly a word." Like Emerson, that is, Heidegger regards poetry as the truest form of language, and most language as merely defective poetry. "The nature of poetry," he goes so far as to declare, "is the founding of truth."
We already posted a 
At the last minute (today), decided to do a little supper for 20 next weekend, and I have decided to do something simple and American with the pheasants: 
Suze Rotolo is writing 
"We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing. With some the word liberty may mean for each man to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his labor; while with others, the same word may mean for some men to do as they please with other men, and the product of other men's labor. Here are two, not only different, but incompatible things, called by the same name - liberty. And it follows that each of the things is, by the respective parties, called by two different and incompatible names - liberty and tyranny." 
An oldie from our cousin 
Stormy afternoon house cleaning yesterday after church and Lenten Group study, including putting away some Christmas stuff. Decided to pick up and re-order the CD mess - hundreds scattered everywhere and many loose, homeless orphans separated from their jewel cases.
I once visited the Everglades in April, and it was really too late in the season: the wintering birds had begun to move north, and the dark swarms of attacking skeeters, especially early and late in the day, were a sight to behold.