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.
Mrs. BD and I signed up for a local co-ed Pickleball league. Seems like a fast game. They said you didn't have to have any experience with it. We don't.
Social justice activists have been arguing for some time that scientific societies and institutions need to address systemic sexism and racism in STEM disciplines. However, their rationale is often anything but scientific. For example, whenever percentages in faculty positions, test scores, or grant recipients in various disciplines do not match percentages of national average populations, racism or sexism is generally said to be the cause. This is in spite of the fact that no explicit examples of racism or sexism generally accompany the statistics. Correlation, after all, is not causation. Without some underlying mechanism or independent evidence to explain a correlation of observed outcomes with population statistics, inferring racism or sexism in academia as the cause is inappropriate...
One might have hoped for more rigor from the leadership of scientific societies and research institutions.
In June of 1994 a dangerous storm caught dozens of cruising sailors by surprise as they voyaged north from New Zealand. There are times when there is no rescue. "Mayday, Mayday, Mayday."
When you go boating, you make a lot of other people responsible for you. Amazing film.
Much like Padilla’s, my own early admiration for the classical world can attest to the powerful appeal of the tradition. Unlike Padilla, however, I haven’t grown disillusioned with the field. My engagement with classical antiquity continues to affirm, for me, its civilizing values, rather than the corrosive barbarism of identity politics. As an African American, I am not an immigrant. I can trace my lineage back to slaves (and a few indentured servants) who lived in the early 18th century. I am thus living proof that the classical tradition has just as much to offer the descendant of slaves as it does those who are to the manor born. I suspect that this is part of what attracted the younger Padilla to the field: Like me, he sensed that the ancient Greeks and Romans promised a degree of cultural competence and uplift, if one could master them. Unfortunately, Padilla has since racialized that promise.
I have spent a good part of my life talking with people about the role of faith in the face of imminent death. Since I became an ordained Presbyterian minister in 1975, I have sat at countless bedsides, and occasionally even watched someone take their final breath. I recently wrote a small book, On Death, relating a lot of what I say to people in such times. But when, a little more than a month after that book was published, I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, I was still caught unprepared...
I suspect that some numbers of our readers have inherited sets of China, crystal, and silverware. We have quite a few, more than there are holidays for sure. My Mom's Spode Christmas stuff is always used for a month or so, but the other sets not much. And we have so many large sets of silverware. Kids do not really want this stuff.
In fact, only the most sentimental people like old stuff. I am one of them.
At dinner with friends this weekend we all resolved to use only China and silverware at home for the indefinite future. What good are heirlooms, if not used?
If gold-rimmed, etc., teach any kids at home how to wash dishes and silverware. It is not rocket science and only takes a few minutes.
Twitch users watched 18.3 million hours of chess content in January, nearly as much as they consumed throughout 2019. Last week, chess even surpassed League of Legends, Fortnite and Valorant as the most-watched gaming category.
New Englanders have lived intimately with the sea since the earliest days of exploration and settlement. The rich legacy of three and a half centuries is recounted by three noted scholars of New England history, and handsomely illustrated with 125 images selected from maritime archives throughout the region.
The story of a seafaring land, but it is not so much anymore.
Fine art museums are a modern idea. Like public parks and public libraries, they are a way to let the masses experience things previously reserved for the wealthy and/or aristocratic or, in the case of religious art, reserved for the members of the parish which bought them.
According to the article below, Manet was the first artist to aspire to have his work placed in a museum. In my view, there are a few of his I'd enjoy as our living room decor but we are out of wall space anyway...
I am ambivalent about art and cultural museums. You get to walk around in a strange reverent hush and look at pictures that you could never afford to hang in your living room.
What is the greatest art museum in the world? By all accounts, NYC's Metropolitan Museum. Lots of other wonderful ones (I've been to most of 'em) around the western world to visit, but the Met's scope and abundance is overarching.
As you know, my limit is one hour just to see a show or a few things I want to look at. Otherwise I get "museum brain". I had some excellent art history classes in high school and college, not to mention books and the good things from Great Courses. Still, a semi-illiterate with Fine Art. I like to look at all of it, cool pictures.
Addendum: Re the Met, I wish they would show a mock-up of the Greek guys - the ones with their penises broken off - with the original Greek paint on them. These were not made as "art". More like Tussaud's or Disney. Wish I knew whether Michelangelo knew that the Greek stuff had been realistically painted.
... we are in unforeseen territory. The women who can least afford to raise a child are the most likely to be single mothers, and the children who stand to benefit the most from stable homes and reliable fathers are the least likely to have them.
Photo of our elegant dormitories at the school. $60/night - not bad for a living room with a chart table, kitchenette, and nice bedroom plus a spare bunk in the hall.
First thing, we can recommend them for all levels of seamanship education, from beginner to commercial Captain. Half of our classes were military guys and gals, and were from all over the US and Europe too.
The best thing about their classes is that half the time is spent in classroom, half on the water practicing with whatever size and type boat you want to master. They have the dormitory right at their own marina on Manatee Pocket, which was perfect. Classes are from 8 am to about 4 pm. You need to study for an hour or two after you go out somewhere fun for a seafood dinner.
Wish I had a pic of that lovely narrow lagoon, but I was usually too busy with boat handling to take a pic.
Yes, there are tricky paper exams but the practical water components are useful. Lots of boat traffic to deal with down on the intracoastal waterway in Florida.
A few observations about food, masks, etc below the fold, with a couple of pics.
I recommend 