Maggie's Farm

We do not know what "college" or "higher ed" mean anymore. I used to think of "college" as referring to Liberal Arts, but I am way out of date. Wasn't a liberal arts education always an elite thing except for the very curious and self-educated?

Lots of Higher Ed is work- or career-related these days.  

 College Is Not For All

I am fortunate to know many people with more life competencies that I have. I envy them. I am not talking about talent and talent stacks, but just competencies. Building a stone wall takes competency: Michelangelo had talent.

Here's a beginning ist of life competencies that I see in people, and admire. Trigger Warning: These might be white male competencies:

- Gracious and graceful social amiability
- Ability to follow the math and statistics
- Ability to handle one's finances reasonably
- Ability to handle boats
- Ability to handle firearms on the range and in the field
- Knowing how to manage gardens of all sorts
- How to cook decent meals
- How to handle a cranky horse
- How to camp in the wilderness
- How to keep playing some sport into adulthood
- How to handle a chain saw
- How to do simple carpentry, and how to paint a house
- How to start a fire with wet wood
- How to write an essay
- How to put out a kitchen fire
- How to do CPR
- How to use a GPS in the woods - and a compass to navigate
- How to drive a stick shift vehicle - sports car or tractor
- How to catch fish
- How to ride a bike and motorbike
- How to play some instrument, even if poorly

Add your own life competencies, or desired competencies, below.

When to Sealcoat or Resurface Your Asphalt Driveway

I like vacations because I can escape all of my possessions.

- Scott Adams 

The 30-minute postcast about Lewis' That Hideous Strength

George Balanchine, paraphrased: "Any distinction between art and entertainment is not worth making."

If something is labeled as "art," I think we tend to give more attention to what is done. Is that right?  

I am reposting this interview because it was misrepresented as the topic of ethics. It is not. It is much more than that.

A bunch of high-schoolers get a taste of USMC basic training

Did you ever try to play Chess, taking both sides?

It stretches your brain out of shape. Try it sometime.

My IT guy was here this morning. He helped me out with some nagging problems with my machines, but since he also does sound systems for houses I asked him for a solution to my music needs, mainly upstairs.

I have posted about this in the past.  He told me that it's simple: A Sonos amp system can do it all. It can feed to my existing speakers (wires), can stream WQXR (Wifi), can handle my CDs (which are important to me), and has portable wifi speakers to move around if I want. He says the rich folk love the sound quality.

I think my ideal is unobtainable. No - my ideal is live music.

At Daily Signal. Historian Grant Wood:

 “I know of no one in 1776 that anticipated the kind of federal government that emerged 10 years later,” Wood adds. “Something awful had to happen in those 10 years to explain the Constitution. I find that it’s harder to explain the Constitution than it is to explain the Revolution itself.”

The old Car Talk radio shows are becoming dated, but can still be heard on their archives. Fun to listen to while driving.