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.
Those very thick Costco Prime Ribeyes are the official steak of Maggie's Farm. Given the choice of cooking them on charcoal or in a fiery-hot cast iron pan, I'll always use the pan. They must come out Rare, in my view, and crispy on the outside which means taking them off the heat before they are Rare. I always have to remind myself that they continue cooking after you take them off the stove. Undercooked is much better than overcooked, and a smoky kitchen is a good kitchen.
I use a little butter in addition to the steak's fat. On a normal day, I can only eat half a Costco ribeye. I like to serve it with some canned red bell pepper slices, sauteed and almost burned, in the same pan. Mashed potatoes too, of course, and if anybody makes creamed spinach, then it's a perfect supper.
Are any of these real? Count me as highly skeptical, despite whatever truthiness they may contain.Amusing too.
Just one example:
“…the world is more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world government. The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the national autodetermination practiced in past centuries."
— David Rockefeller, June, 1991, Bilderberg Conference, Baden, Germany
Another:
”If I were reincarnated I would wish to return to earth as a killer virus to lower human population levels.”
—Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh, husband of Queen Elizabeth II, Patron of the World Wildlife Foundation
One more:
”We need to get some broad based support, to capture the public’s imagination… So we have to offer up scary scenarios, make simplified, dramatic statements and make little mention of any doubts… Each of us has to decide what the right balance is between being effective and being honest.”
—Stephen Schneider, Stanford Professor of Climatology, Lead author of many IPCC reports
Years back, a popular notion among liberal thinkers was something called
"imperial overstretch." This was the idea that America's far-flung
foreign-policy commitments could bankrupt the country. Mr. Obama
believes this, and before Chuck Hagel started talking the other day, he
was supposed to explain it. In his State of the Union speech next
Tuesday, Mr. Obama will say again that Washington, after Iraq and
Afghanistan, needs to "invest" at home. But isn't the federalization of
pretty much everything in a diverse country like the U.S. just another
exercise in imperial overstretch?
Our editor has been inspiring with food this winter.
My serious girlfriend and I are having a little dinner party for 12 friends tonight. Acquaintances with whom we feel we would like to be better friends, and who could enrich our life.
Building new friendships as a couple is a complicated dance, isn't it? Do I enjoy their company? Do they think I'm boring, or a jerk? Do they wonder what I am doing with her, or she with me? You never know unless they call you back to do something after you have extended your hand in friendship.
Whether formally or informally, inviting people into your humble abode for supper is generally a social signal of warm and positive feelings unless it involves business. No space at my kitchen table, so will need my whole humble Lower East Side 1 BR apartment for seating. Who cares, if it's a good time?
I had braised (Massachusetts White-Tail) venison shoulder and various scraps in the crock pot all day yesterday, and later we'll whip up some cheese grits for a side and reheat the stew. About 8 lbs. of meat. I agree that stews are always better a day later.
We're having people who never ate a Bambi before. Actually, it's from a sweet-tasting and tender doe I bowed last month up at the Bird Dog homestead, but I will not mention that. Baguette to sop up the juice. A relatively cheap California cabernet, and good beers for the beer people. I am too cheap and modest to pay for some good Burgundies.
Then a tiny scoop of mango sorbet with a mint sprig on it.
After that, the Stinky Cheese Board (thanks, Fairway cheese man) with fruit, dried fruit, and nuts, for dessert or, I suppose, a savoury. Fig preserves and walnutty French breads to accompany the cheeses which have been out of the fridge all day to soften up. Bottle of nice port that my Dad gave me for Christmas, for those who enjoy Sunday morning headaches.
Entertaining people with whom you want friendship is easy, the Maggie's Farm Way. The secret ingredients, it seems to me, are not food, decor, or fancy homes or restaurants, but intelligent people with interesting and varied interests, charming gals, lively conversation, controversial topics, and snappy repartee. It requires just one or two people who are willing to rise to the occasion to be the life of the party without over-drinking. I will do that if nobody else will, but I'd rather leave that to others.
The meaning of tasty or interesting food is to honor guests who take the trouble to come to your place.
I don't know how Theo got this pic of my new girlfriend on my fishing boat last summer, in Southington CT harbor. The cool, smart chicks seem to like me. I have no idea why.
When Two People Click - Finding a mate used to be a long quest to uncover a few worthy people, but dating sites now offer hundreds of potential mates at a keystroke.
I have come to the conclusion that current energy and climate policy is probably more dangerous, both economically and ecologically, than climate change itself. This is not the same as arguing that climate has not changed or that mankind is not partly responsible. That the climate has changed because of man-made carbon dioxide I fully accept. What I do not accept is that the change is or will be damaging, or that current policy would prevent it.
With all of the recent reports of fake news stories, grossly-distorted or fraudulently-edited news stories, and incurious repetition of administration talking points, alert followers of the happenings of the world grow increasingly distrustful of anything coming (or censored and thus not coming) from the MSM.
I can picture the millions of chickens, pigs, cattle, sheep, etc. of the American farms gloriously set free in downtown Oakland, but I suspect they would all quickly end up in peoples' stew pots or hit by cars.
What these people perhaps do not deal with is the simple fact that none of these animals would exist at all without meat and dairy farms.
Worse of all, these annoying people ignore the far worse, massive animal genocide brought about by antibiotic medicines. Why protest the slaughter of only big animals? Does nobody care about the little animals? Are they that heartless?
h/t Willisms. Large, interesting chart is below the fold -
Regardless of that info, I'll keep repeating my gun mantra: Government should focus on disarming the bad guys, not the good guys. Begin with Chicago. Disarming the good guys only creates more helpless victims: Milwaukee Sheriff goes national with message to arm yourself.
Police rarely prevent crime. They cannot be everywhere. Their main job is to find crims after the crime. Your own job is to prevent crime against you and your family.
We get paid for a thing, a service, or a thing plus a service. Most jobs entail some degree of customer service, whether the customer is a client, a buyer in a shop, or a boss. Yes, a boss is a customer, pays you for your service to him or her. This simple textbook might open your eyes to seemingly-obvious things you have been doing wrong to interfere with good business and good business relationships.
It's a lesson in humility. As I said last time, this course is about things many of us think we're too smart to need to learn.
Recap of prior postings in this course this semester:
While getting a college degree dramatically improves a person's potential earnings over time, the sheepskin alone is not the sine qua non.
Certainly not, especially in a time when college degrees are so commonplace and when graduate degrees have lost their economic, social, and academic value through dilution.
Listed in the article are not things you learn in college, but things you can learn wherever you are: high school, college, armed forces, crappy job, or on the street. Basic life lessons which I began learning at 12. I have had paid jobs since then. That's where I learned about life even though my book-larnin' has been a blessing to me.
They could or should have said "should learn before leaving high school" because that is when adulthood is supposed to begin. Well before my time, college students wore suits to class. It was a serious adult endeavor. We don't know what it is now, except that they will give you As (or rarely Bs which used to be Ds and Fs) for paying the bill because the customer is always right except in math, physics or chem. Which is why employers like to see the tough courses and the demanding majors in college grads. They grade on curves, so the right stuff shows to potential employers.
Now that I am in a position to interview new hires at our place, it has been a very interesting experience. We are finally doing quite well after post-start-up challenges. I'll write up a post about our hiring process and our hiring filters when I have a chance.
We get 1000 applicants for each job posting at our little shop, but we do not delete the "overqualified" here if they are willing to take a chance with low wages to start.
What we are witnessing is the full and seamless fusion of media power with government power.
The media used to hide it a bit, in their actions; they would temper their scorn of conservatism, throw them a bone now and again just to prove they were capable of such a thing.
No longer. The media no longer hides it in their actions. They are fully fused with the Obama Administration and DNC. The only way in which they do hide it is by simply lying when confronted about it: They'll issue a snide denial, then go about doing precisely what it is they were accused of doing.
Related to the post we linked this morning from (the Liberal Dem) Mead on one of the assumptions of modern Liberalism (ie the notion that most of the masses will never do much or reach full self-sufficiency in a modern economy), here's A nation of takers.
Naturally, we wonder to what extent that could be a self-fulfilling notion.
However, we know that Leviathan's hunger for money and control is never sated. If you imagine that there is ever "enough," just ask a Leftist where the endpoint should be, the point at which government's task is complete.
There will always be a list, the job will never be done, and, still, utopia will never arrive because dystopia always arrives first.
Related: Gerard found that One Cosmos has reviewed Our Logophobic President, with his sarcasm button turned on. One sample:
"A great nation must protect its people from life's worst hazards and misfortune."
Hmm. Does that include protection from the most devastating hazard and misfortune of them all, the tyrannical and intrusive state?
Because if the 20th century taught us one lesson, it is that there is nothing more destructive than the all-wise and all-powerful state predicated on the fantasy that it will protect its citizens from all of life's unavoidable exigencies. I mean, just protect me from domestic and foreign enemies, okay? And stop violating with the Constitution. Then we'll talk.
What are life's worst hazards, anyway? Probably the same they've always been: war. Famine. Disease. Poverty. So, why don't we cure hunger by imitating the Soviet Union and putting the state in charge of food production and distribution? While we're at it, why doesn't the federal government create millions of pretend jobs and lavish its worthless employees with absurdly generous wages and benefits?
Oh, right. I guess Obama noticed how effectively that model is working here in California
Maybe we all need to learn the hard way, but there is so little time to fail. It's a truism that we can learn more from failures than from successes. 
All you can do is laugh. 
Our editor has been inspiring with food this winter. 
I don't know how 
Customer Service: A Practical Approach.