Maggie's Farm

We now have more evidence of global warming on Mars than we do on the earth. As the ice melts, it is causing harmful erosion, and soon the beautiful natural deserts may be under ten feet of water, thus destroying potential happy habitats for camels and Arabs. (Nice for the Dutch, though, who prefer to live in swamps, below sea level.)

There may be a risk that Martian craters, now in their pristine natural form, may fill with water and be destroyed like Crater Lake in the image. Water vapor will doubtless add to the heat-trapping of Martian warming, and erosion will release more CO2 from the soil and rocks, creating a true crisis for Martian planetary stability. An atmosphere means weather, and weather means bad weather, like Katrina.

Thus the policy of environmental destruction continues unabated under Bush. But what can we, as individuals, do to save the Martian environment from further degradation? More recycling and more car-pooling are fun places to start.

Another good idea is to have a neighborhood "Save the Martian Environment Party." Serve Mars-friendly hors doeuvres and snacks, and exchange ideas about what we all can do to save the Martian environment. Remember: No idea is wrong! It's fun, and Mars-friendly!

(Editor's Note: "Neighborhood Save the Martian Environment Party" is a UN trademark. Used with permission. "No idea is wrong" is a trademark of the US Department of Education. Also a shared international trademark of the EU Department of The People's Education, Sub-Directorate of Empathy, Pity and Condescension, Sub-sub Division of Cheerful Slogans For the Ignorant Masses. Used with permission, of course.)

(Editor's Second Note: Our most humble apologies to the Dutch, and all those of Dutch extraction and to the entire Dutch community, who might have been offended, or felt insulted, by any unintentional negative connotations regarding flooding of Martian land. We know the Dutch would know how to deal with Martian flooding, and supportively and admiringly invite them to give it a try - you go straight up in the air, then take a hard left at the Moon. That will take you right there. It's the big red thing on the right, just before the Asteroid Belt.)

Ann Althouse reminded me, with her piece, that we have never written about any of the projects of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture, including their interest in supporting faith in the workplace.

I am happy to have met, and listened to, David Miller on a number of occasions. He is inspiring, funny, and self-deprecating and, as an ex-Wall Streeter, he knows the business world very well indeed.

Do we like the idea of workplace chaplaincy? Definitely. And the Yale Center does lots of interesting things. Check it out.

All we want at Maggie's Farm are more links, more blogrolls, and more readers.

For readers, we have a fine cadre of congnoscenti, who are hip to our deal and down wid us. You all have a capacity for irony - which means a decent IQ.

But, for Christmas, we want a mass market, like Michelle and Glenn. No - we want to be bigger than them: we want to be Glenn and Michelle and Kos and Powerline combined, and invited to the White House for chats! But, sadly, we just aren't good enough for that dream. Delusions of grandeur!

We don't even want money...well, we do want money, but we expect none from Maggy. She is cheap: we work for free. Galley slaves! Rescue us!

Please, Santa! We will be a one year-old blog (or two, really, depending on whether you count it from when we signed up with Truth Laid Bear) in February. 

Blogroll us, and link us, for Christmas!

We are sorta, kinda unique. Email us to your million intelligent, skeptical, inquiring friends, who might be deprived of their Daily Maggie's - to their detriment.

Gift-wrapping included! And the price is right! What a fine gift!

A very fine rant indeed, on education, by Derbyshire. (h/t, Never Yet Melted). It's about all of the education scams in the US. Just one quote:

Towering over all these lesser scams is the college racket, a vast money-swollen credentialing machine for lower-middle-class worker bees. American parents are now all resigned to the fact that they must beggar themselves to purchase college diplomas for their offspring, so that said offspring can get low-paid outsource-able office jobs, instead of having to descend to high-paid, un-outsource-able work like plumbing, carpentry, or electrical installation. ..

OK, one more:

Professionals have their own credentialing systems:   You may have graduated law school, but you’ll still have to pass the bar exam, and so on.  Then why make aspiring lawyers go to law school?  Presumably for the same reason we insist on cube jockeys having bachelor’s degrees from accredited four-year colleges.  Why not let them study up at home from Teaching Company DVDs, then sit for a state-refereed common exam when they feel they’re ready?  Why not let lawyers learn on the job from books and as articled clerks, the way they used to?  I don’t know.  College-going is just an irrational thing we do, the way upper-class German men used to acquire dueling scars, the way women in imperial China had their feet bound.  Griggs vs. Duke Power probably has something to do with it.  Since, following that decision, employers are not permitted to test job applicants to see how intelligent they are, the employers seek a college degree as a proxy for intelligence.)

Read it all. You'll feel better if you do. Griggs vs. Duke Power? Interesting case, in which it was decided that intelligence is racially discriminatory. Huh? That sounds like a deeply racist finding, does it not?

Wherever there is a jackboot stomping on a human face there will be a well-heeled Western liberal to explain that the face does, after all, enjoy free health care and 100 percent literacy. 

 John Derbyshire  H/t, Rhymes with Right. Precisely. What are we, cattle?

Merrily T-rated, on Continuation page below. (Thanks for the Christmas cheer, Black Dog.) The two four two ladies on the left appear medically enhanced, but I am no expert.

(Out of consideration to our readers, many of whom seem to read Maggie's at work or school, we will no longer post T-rated material on the front page, however much fun we think it is to do so. Apparently it has lead to some uncomfortable moments. Sorry - just click below to see Santa's friends.)

Update, by Rick. Sounds like a mechanical astronomical calculator. Clever Greeks.

The Antikythera Project website is here (photo from that site).

Standing on the tiny deck of the Arabella in 1630 off the Massachusetts coast, John Winthrop said, "We will be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us, so that if we deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword throughout the world."

h/t, Sisu

Yet another sport I would rather play than watch. This was today, in Danbury, CT - the New England Division.

The game is a wonderful combination of muscle, physical endurance, tactics, skill, anticipation, brains, and attitude. And of course, as a mano a mano game, it's all up to you. No team-mates to blame, and No Excuses.

This must have been one heck of a dramatic game when real swords were used. Ouch!

A superb put-down of the sanctimonious Bono.

Macho Man of the Year contest

The PC Poetry Corner

Lessons in modesty for Britney Spears. Fabric is your friend.

Negotiating with cancer

A breakthrough:

Apple Computer reported today that it has developed computer chips
that can store and play music inside women's breasts. This is considered a major breakthrough because women are always complaining about men staring at their breasts instead of listening to them.

Luke 21: 25-36

Winter is here. Time for nude surfing down under. Since Christmas is coming, I am thinking that it would be fun to decorate her with lights. But, on second thought, she needs no improvement.

The smell of money. Viking. Haha

By the way, how did you do on the Bovine exam?

These are the best of times, world-wide. Samizdata.

Granddaddy loves Dylan. Of course - he has excellent taste.

Who said this? A pop quiz at Betsy

The concept of "relative poverty." Asst. Village Idiot. Sounds like a way to make non-poverty sound like poverty. Daddy drove an Olds, I drive a Chevy - so I'm poor.

Meine kleine Deutsche penis, at Right Thinking

Smearing Mitt. With a very good point about The Globe's sudden interest in illegals, at Wizbang

Killing because of stingy dowries. Lib Leanings. There's an idea for the U.S. - Dowries here have been shrinking steadily, to the point of crisis, in my opinion. Where else can a guy get capital?

And, speaking of punishments, what's your opinion? Stoning or hanging for adultery? Moonbattery. For women only, natch. Boys must be boys, as Mohammed said.

Christian theologian advises forgetting about Jesus, if you want to get along with others. LGF. Not a joke.

Why Dick Morris thinks the Dems are now "pitiful": Ex-Donk. Slaves to their special interest caucuses. Who lives by the slave will die by the slave.

What he said. Hawkins:

You know, if you didn't finish high school, spent time in prison for dealing drugs, and have 3 different kids by 3 different mamas, I don't care what color you are, you're probably not going to be a very successful person. But, if you're white and behave like that, people will blame you for your behavior, while if you're black, because of the soft bigotry of low expectations, you'll have a lot of people excuse your behavior on the basis of the sort of garbage Ann McGinley wrote in the above quote.

Whole thing here.

Giving government money and power is like giving car keys and whiskey to a teenage boy.

P.J. O'Rourke

I know you all have been waiting eagerly. We have promised this exam for many months, but today is a good day for it. All beasts have been featured on Maggie's Farm. Multiple choice!

Answers on continuation page, for you slackers. Here it is:

1. The animal below is a: Holstein, Texas Longhorn,  Auroch,  Swiss Angus

 2. The beast below is a: Shetland Shorthorn, Bison, Yak, Musk Ox

 3. The animal below is a: Jersey, Guernsey, Brown Swiss, Shorthorn

 4. The animals below are: Black Angus, Holstein, Jersey, Auroch

 5. The beast below is a: Holstein, Hereford, Shetland Pony, Gateway Logo

 6. The critter below is a: Big MF, Brown Swiss, Shorthorn, Polled Hereford

 7. The creature below is a: Holstein, Mottled Swiss, Guernsey, Holstein

8. The nasty creature below is a: Cow, Cat, Goat, Bird

 9. The giant beast below is a: Longhorn, Shorthorn, Spanish, Hereford Bull

 10. The milker below is a: Dark and Stormy, Brown Swiss, Shetland Shorthorn, Limousin

 11. The happy animals below are: Black Angus, Brown Swiss, Polled Herefords, Brown Swiss

 12. This gentle and friendly animal is a: Water Buffalo, European Bison, Cape Buffalo, Yak

 13. A hard one: This breed of beef cattle is: Hereford, Shorthorn. Limousin, Charolais

14.  An Ox is a(n): older bull, older steer, breed of cattle, word for a big cow

15. There are how many surviving species of wild bovines? 3, 7, 12, 17

16. "Polled" means: they grow large horns, they don't grow horns, they are born without testicles, their horns are cut off.

17. This is a:  Polled Hostein, Apache Ghost Cow, Limousin, Charolais

18. Wuzzat?

No fresh postings today, because your Editor Dog in Chief, along with most of the Maggie's Farm crew, are working on an annual fund-raising event for our Ducks Unlimited Sponsor's Dinner tonight, and setting-up takes all day.

By 6 pm, we will be ready to receive an onslaught of 180 well-dressed guys with an open bar, and a fine steak dinner later, with about 70 cool raffle items, 30 Live Auction items including stuff like a 10-day African Hunting Safari for four, and 9 days in Morocco for two with a full-time guide, and dove shooting in Argentina for three days. Even a wild boar hunt in Texas, and a traditional layout duck hunt on Long Island, and other equally cool stuff like his-and-her Rolexes, and lots of guns, too.

The place will be decorated for Christmas. Like modern-day Christmas, our event is a jolly, earthly, material festivity with a spiritual purpose.

For many people on the left and right coasts, DU is not as familiar as it is in the heartland of the US and Canada, but with over 11 million acres of wildlife habitat under protection, and over 800,000 members, it is a big organization, and does nothing but good works, with minimal lobbying, and no political action.

Contrary to the impression of some, DU isn't all about ducks - it's all about protection of fragile and threatened habitats which support all sorts of critters and birds. While probably most members of DU rarely hunt, DU does have a bit of a hunting flavor to it.

Why? Good hunters know the land, and have a feel for it, like the Indians did. The wise ones know the plants and trees and birds and the geography and the habitats. Hunters are the most serious conservationists, because they really get out there, off the beaten path and into the wild world. Your average "greeny" rarely loses their boot in a bog, or surprises a moose in a meadow, gets near-frostbite in a duckboat at 4 AM in a January snow, awaiting sunrise, or watches a red fox trotting home in the early morning from their tree stand, or even sees a Woodcock twitter through the birches. It isn't an abstraction when a subdivision destroys your favorite grouse cover, or fills in your favorite duck swamp "for the tax revenue".

All of us Maggie's Farmers consider DU worthy of our effort and our giving. We consider it part of good stewardship - good citizenship, and it's good fun too.

You can read all about DU here.

To grasp the true meaning of socialism, imagine a world where everything is designed by the post office, even the sleaze.

P.J. O'Rourke

On this day in 1940, Lieutenant Newgass, RNVR, did something extraordinary.

New bio of De Toqueville, reviewed in The Economist here.

Bunch of good mil quotes, more here. Sample:

When the pin is pulled Mr. Grenade is not our friend. — U.S. Marine Corps

It is generally inadvisable to eject directly over the area you just bombed. — U.S. Air Force Manual

What do women do almost twice as much as men? RWN. Duh.

What can Dems do with their new power? Barone. They may want to turn us into France, but not quite yet.

Carbon taxes are modern-day Papal indulgences. Crittenden.

Imams On A Plane. More on the strange Imams. Lib. Leanings. Only a moron would get on a plane with those jerks. The maneuver is this: make 'em feel too PC to ask to get off. My opinion: Get the hell off. Who cares? Would you rather be polite and dead, or rude and alive?

Being willing to give away other people's money is not really a sign of personal compassion.

Betsy, in a piece on charity and political orientation