Maggie's Farm

I once had a sparrow alight upon my shoulder for a moment, while I was hoeing in a village garden, and I felt that I was more distinguished by that circumstance than I should have been by any epaulet I could have worn.

Henry David Thoreau

A wonderful review of some very funky 19th C. American architectural styles, at Sippican Cottage. Scroll down. Or look at the log cabins too. Good fun.

Keep 'em comin', Mr. S. Cottage: it's a free eddication for me. But what would you call that French Quarter architecture we posted below? "Caribbean Whorehouse"?

"The people of Nebraska are for free silver, and I am for free silver. I will look up the arguments later."

William Jennings Bryan, as quoted by Betsy

Boat designer Skip Etchells, who lived in Connecticut during most of his career, is best known for the International Etchells. That sailboat is no comfortable day-sailer, but a sleek, knife-like racing boat which unfortunately was never chosen as an Olympic class, but which has been a racing sailboat of choice for many of the best skippers in the word.

Etchells are still going strong after Skip's death.

We forgot to link the Peggy Noonan piece on VT, at Opinion Journal. Better late than never. A quote:

The school officials I saw, especially the head of the campus psychological services, seemed to me endearing losers. But endearing is too strong. I mean "not obviously and vividly offensive." The school officials who gave all the highly competent, almost smooth and practiced news conferences seemed to me like white, bearded people who were educated in softness. Cho was "troubled"; he clearly had "issues"; it would have been good if someone had "reached out"; it's too bad America doesn't have better "support services." They don't use direct, clear words, because if they're blunt, they're implicated.

The literally white-bearded academic who was head of the campus counseling center was on Paula Zahn Wednesday night suggesting the utter incompetence of officials to stop a man who had stalked two women, set a fire in his room, written morbid and violent plays and poems, been expelled from one class, and been declared by a judge to be "mentally ill" was due to the lack of a government "safety net." In a news conference, he decried inadequate "funding for mental health services in the United States." Way to take responsibility. Way to show the kids how to dodge.

The anxiety of our politicians that there may be an issue that goes unexploited was almost--almost--comic. They mean to seem sensitive, and yet wind up only stroking their supporters. I believe Rep. Jim Moran was first out of the gate with the charge that what Cho did was President Bush's fault. I believe Sen. Barack Obama was second, equating the literal killing of humans with verbal coarseness. Wednesday there was Sen. Barbara Boxer equating the violence of the shootings with the "global warming challenge" and "today's Supreme Court decision" upholding a ban on partial-birth abortion.

One watches all of this and wonders: Where are the grown-ups?

Read the whole thing.

I can't believe Chuckie Cheese said this (piece at Cramer):

Hell is about to freeze over. Watch out for those flying pigs! I just saw Senator Schumer (D-NY) on The O'Reilly Factor admit that the Second Amendment protects an individual right. He went on to argue that the right isn't unlimited, just like the First Amendment "doesn't protect pornography." He even acknowledged that there is a right to defend yourself, and that can even include using a gun to do so.

This tells me that gun control is off the table. But where did he read that our Bill of Rights are not unlimited? Since when doesn't the First protect porn? Who gave govt the right to limit rights?

Freedom is not a gift of government. Freedom came first, and our government was designed and employed to protect it, right? Or am I confused?

From Speak No Truth, at LaShawn:

As this country has become more racially and culturally diverse, telling the truth about racial and cultural differences has become off-limits. At the same time, liberals want to apply separate standards to these diverse groups based on those differences. For example, you can’t talk about personal responsibility in the context of underachievement among black students, or you’re a racist. Yet, so-called affirmative action — a government-mandated racial classification system — exists to compensate for those differences (and not to combat racism, as some people believe). But to be PC is to pretend racial disparities like underachievement or high crime rates are caused by white racism instead of by individuals and something lacking within the subculture itself, and to say otherwise is taboo.

Political tags - such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth - are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire.

Robert A. Heinlein

Confederate Yank on the psychology of courage.  How do people behave when they feel trapped? I think a "Let's roll" reaction could have taken the guy down. We only know of one guy who even confronted Cho - Liviu.

Not to blame the victims, but just wondering. For example, if Cho had decided to take on the Rugby team in their locker room or an ROTC class, instead of a German language class, would it have ended differently?

Department of Things You Always Wondered About: How does a snake swallow a larger snake? Live Science

North America's handsome King Snake is best known as a snake-eater, hence its name. He is immune to the venom of poisonous snakes.

In the US, there are a number of varieties of King Snakes, including the stunning eastern Scarlet Kingsnake, but the taxonomy is unclear. I have only seen one wild Scarlet King Snake in my life, and I tramp the woods, fields and marshes as much as I can.

Image is a King Snake subduing a Copperhead by constriction, preparatory to dining on it.

I have all the money I will ever need...as long as I die before 4 o'clock.

Henny Youngman

It's getting funny. You can hear a bit on the video here. (h/t, Powerline's piece on the wierd subject.) I have known plenty of Wellesley girls, and they do not talk like that, unless in mockery.  Somebody already took down the YouTube of the entire embarassment.

Do you think she believes that if she doesn't talk black, they won't understand her?

And an even bigger issue: What sort of people would be courting the revolting race pimp Al Sharpton? Nobody. So maybe the deal is that you don't want him against you, because he has no morals and no limits.

Hillary and Al - perfect together. Lives built of pure lies.

40% of American women have no financial plan for their future. It is a good source for that info, but I do not have the link.

For a country where people are expected to be responsible adults, and to take care of themselves, that is pretty bad. The numbers could be as bad for guys, but they wouldn't admit it.

But guys do not last as long as gals: life worries do them in.

Grow up, you ladies without trust funds. Daddy won't be there to save you, hubbie will probably be dead, and you may no longer look like the charmer in the photo.

Feminism entails demands along with the opportunities.

Women tend to live a long time as old ladies: it's the price they pay for being so delicious in youth.

Acts 9: 1-20

Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest ²and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. ³Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. ⁴He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” ⁵He asked, “Who are you, Lord?” The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. ⁶But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” ⁷The men who were traveling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one. ⁸Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. ⁹For three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

¹⁰Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” He answered, “Here I am, Lord.” ¹¹The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he is praying, ¹²and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” ¹³But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem; ¹⁴and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name.” ¹⁵But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel; ¹⁶I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” ¹⁷So Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” ¹⁸And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized, ¹⁹and after taking some food, he regained his strength. For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus, ²⁰and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.”

Image: Caravaggio's dark, psychological The Conversion of Saul. The other person in the painting is his groom.

Am. Goldfinch, WB Nuthatch, Carolina Wren, Red Wing Blackbird, Purple Grackle, BC Chickadee, Cardinal, Blue Jay, WT Sparrow, House Finch, English "Sparrow," Cowbird, Tufted Titmouse, Tree Sparrow, Red Bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Mourning Dove (large numbers, fighting over the seeds), Song Sparrow.

I get a kick out of the way the Grackles are always keeping an eye on the sky, for Sharpies. They understand "enemies."

All of these birds are probably local breeders. The large flocks of Jays and Grackles have passed through and moved north. The Juncoes are gone, too. The Red Wings now are locals. Most of the WT Sparrows, with their brilliant breeding-season bright yellow on their heads, have left for the north. We have had the first two warm days of the year, and I expect to see the cheerful Box Turtles clomping around soon, begging for tomatoes. The tree buds are finally swelling up here in Yankeeland, but it is a week or two late this year.

Soon, we will have the wonderful insectivore migrants to watch and to find. Not at the feeder, of course, but everywhere else. Good clean fun.

Now back to the gardens.

When was the last time you heard a liberal talk about liberty?

Mark Levin, on the radio

From Leadbelly to Jimmie Rodgers to Kurt Cobain, it's all phony and it's all marketing. So says Jeff Sharlet in New Statesman: Keeping it Unreal.

Who knew that a record producer added "Mississippi" to John Hurt's name to add pizzazz? "Authenticity" is a marketing ploy. One quote:

One of the pioneering producers of "old-time" music in the early 20th century, Ralph Peer, later boasted: "I invented the hillbilly and nigger stuff."

Yes, Blues and Country aren't as authentic as we'd like to imagine. Sharlet, however, does not see fake as necessarily leading to bad music: he likes The Monkees, who didn't even try to conceal their fakeness - which I suppose makes them a paragon of authenticity. Read the piece (link above.)

Image: Leadbelly performing. The Lomaxes made him perform in a prison uniform, for the "authenticity" factor.

The lighthouse-keeper's house stands today, but the light tower has been taken down. Great Island in the distance to the left, Chequessett Neck to the right. Photo is around 1910.