Maggie's FarmWe 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. |
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Saturday, February 1. 2020Most disgusting Superbowl foodsThe entire USA will be at some football get-together on Sunday afternoon. Some people care about The Game, but for most, I think, it's just a good excuse to gather in the winter. Nachos, guacamole, and other foods are classics. There are many websites dedicated to Superbowl party food, and some to "most disgusting Superbowl foods". Beer is of course good. I like Coronavirus Extra with a slice of lime, if you have some. Nachos, guacamole? Disgusting. What things are on your list for Superbowl disgusting food items?
Friday, January 31. 2020More from "Florida Man"
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Tuesday, January 28. 2020ZoomFew people nowadays want to carry cameras around, especially bulky ones. This bulky point-and-shoot has an impressive zoom.
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Christmas for a man who needs and wants nothing but peace of mind and moments of delightMy book stack is high enough for another 6 months. I have enough outdoor clothing (I do like to do outdoor things) for a lifetime. I have enough gym clothes for daily workouts if I do the wash weekly. For hunting and fishing gear I am ok. Too many firearms too, really. So the family got me some of the usual rare stinky cheeses I love along with exotic jams to go with them. Also, a cool spy boardgame: Codenames. It makes you think about words. They also gave me a trip, but to where remains a secret surprise to me. I hope it's low on museums, medium on quaint or historic architecture, and high on hiking, cafes, and vino. Provence might hit the spot, and I think the Hadrian's Wall hike is in the pipeline. I never know. They did identify one thing I didn't really need but is an excellent layer: that featherweight Patagonia quilted vest. I don't like sweaters - too constricting - but I do like to feel relatively comfortable outdoors. A bit chilly is fine with me. Yeah, fleece is great too but heavier than this thing. Next year I think I will get one of them for my lad.
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Sunday, January 19. 2020Why this MIT math/computer/business genius is one of my heroes
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Friday, January 17. 2020Rod Dreher on moving home to Louisiana
It is a touching report.
Posted by The Barrister
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Thursday, January 16. 2020Fun with antsAn ant hobbyist. Watching this, I sort-of get it. This guy cracks me up.
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14:59
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Wednesday, January 15. 2020Ant Army
He happened to link the famous short story, Leiningen Versus the Ants. It's a heck of a tale. Somewhere around the first third of it it dawned on me that I had read it long ago, but that didn't matter because I had forgotten the ending.
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17:10
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Friday, January 10. 2020A Malcolm Gladwell updateMalcolm Gladwell’s cool, playful intelligence has made him one of our leading public thinkers, and he has a host of imitators. But, in a time of antagonistic debate and polarised opinion, does he still have something to say?
Posted by The Barrister
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Wednesday, January 8. 2020A message from JerusalemThe Message from Jerusalem - American society faces a deep crisis of meaning to which the city, and the idea, of Jerusalem has an answer. It is needed by Jews, and as much or more by Christians.
Posted by Bird Dog
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Tuesday, January 7. 2020More fun with Great BooksIt's about Antigone this time (I know somebody who named their daughter Antigone). I keep up with their fine podcasts at the gym.
Posted by The Barrister
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16:40
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Saturday, January 4. 2020The value of our junk (ie excess), and recyclingMuch of the stuff we own, or which we even value, has minimal monetary value or might even cost money to get rid of. It might be useful to us or of sentimental value or other sorts of personal value (that is true value, emotional value I suppose) but of no value to anybody else. Talking about meaning. Monetary value is less than you think, and the effort to unload a possession of any monetary value is large. Just try getting rid of an over-aged piano. Pianos have life spans, unlike violins. American Scholar's podcast on The Global Garage Sale. The interviewer is a bit of a nut, but the guy is interesting. They are both sort-of anti-consumption with a minimalist ethic. For the "environment," of course...Lots of our "good" stuff ends up in landfills despire our virtuous intentions. I do know some people for whom the only value of anything is monetary.
Posted by The Barrister
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Monday, December 30. 2019The "talent stacks" you want in your pilot
For your pilot, you want a certain talent stack: ACTUAL DUAL ENGINE FAILURE IN A CITATION JET
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16:22
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Saturday, December 28. 2019Crossing the Atlantic in a DC-3This is part1, the first leg of the trip
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16:28
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Friday, December 13. 2019Brooks Brothers shirts
This frivolous topic comes up because a friend teased me last night at a Christmas party about my shirt. Being sort of conservative types, we 3 guys devouring the sliced filet were all wearing Brooks shirts (and jolly ties and jackets, as befitting the event). Not Barney's shopper types, or Armani types. We stupidly got on the topic of dress shirts, and the friend accused me of wearing a Milano. Guess what? Brooks now makes 5 fits of their classic dress shirts. It's about time. You could fit two people in my old Brooks shirts. Here's a related topic: They still have the classic cotton, but their big sellers are the no-iron ones. The no-iron ones feel less comfortable to me but they do not wrinkle up in one day and save a lot on laundry bills. Re Christmas, most women appreciate a Brooks silk blouse. Silk seems to feel good to female skin. Founded in 1818 and still in the rag trade. A brief history of the brand.
Posted by The Barrister
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16:00
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Wednesday, December 11. 2019Walker PercyPerhaps my favorite contemporary novelist, the late Walker Percy: Walker Percy Ponders The Joy And Risk Of Naming The World. In newly published material, the late author complains that linguists can explain lots of things about language--except meaning. I hear you asking about my other favorite contemporary novelists. OK, Mark Helprin and Cormac McCarthy, not including beach books with snappy, wacky, sociopathic dialog like Carl Hiassen.
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Monday, December 9. 2019Pagan ChristmasLots of Saturnalian and also northern European pagan aspects to this season around this part of the world. It's a multicultural festival season. - Cocktail parties, lots of them. Saturnalian, but on a civilized level. Time to look great and behave well. Get hair done and dig out that tux for the fancy ones. Gotta show up or people will forget that you exist. - Excesses of foods and hors d'oevres. Saturnalian. Control oneself. - Random reckless holiday drunken sex. Saturnalian. Sounds exciting, but I have not seen this yet around my neighborhood, so no worries. - Decorated evergreen trees. Ain't they purty? Pagan German/Scandinavian. I do not think baby Jesus had one, though. We bought one for outdoors and one for indoors. Almost bought a fake one for indoors. It looked perfect, and had 1000 lights but I hate white lights. They look like a bank lobby and if you're not sensible, you might need to visit the bank for Christmas anyway. - Presents? Sort-of Saturnalian (jewels for your mistresses - they can give you Viagra), sort of European with St. Nicholas. And the wise men with their perfume and stuff. You know what She wants - A Pucci scarf and ballet tickets. We guys generally want nothing other than family happiness. Presents are the worst thing about Christmas unless they are food (we like rare stinky cheeses). We go with 1/person only to keep the tradition going. Yes I know - little kids love opening gifts. Adults don't. - Snow and cold. Not real Christmassy - northern European. Lucky for me, I like snow and cold and the only thing I love as much around here as a powerful hurricane is a beautiful blizzard that stops life in its tracks and gives us time to not be busy. - The Messiah. It was written for Easter, for heaven's sake. - Christmas - it was illegal to celebrate it in New England until, like, a few years ago. You could go to jail for making a savory mince-meat pie at Christmastime. They had pie-police sniffing on the streets of Boston. I have (well, had) and old-tyme Connnecticut Congregationalist pal whose family still refused to acknowledge Christmas. As a Congregationalist by ancient family tradition, I do not think of Christmas as "holy" either but there is nothing not to like about it and the hymns and carols are as good as it gets. - As for me, any excuse for assembling family is good. I have a big one (5 sibs), and I love them all. Not certain about vice-versa... The holiday decorations are fun, and lovely. Church on Christmas Eve always brings tears to me but whether they are holy or sentimental is hard to tell. All has little to do with whether I am a Jesus-follower or not but yeah, I feel He's worth following as best one can and I take it seriously. Not a grinch, not a scrooge. Birth (Christmas), or re-birth (Easter) - all good lives of the living Spirit.
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Sunday, December 8. 2019James Prosek: An American OriginalAs a college junior, he wrote an illustrated history of trout — and he’s been an outside-the-box artist ever since.
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13:30
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Fine ArtA banana duct-taped to a wall was sold for $120,000 at Art Basel Miami 2 hour painting he made during a live paint-off last night Wow. Like Bob Ross.
Posted by Bird Dog
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11:36
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Saturday, December 7. 2019Being Leonardo
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Friday, December 6. 2019Navigating the new MoMAI haven't been yet. Happy to go, tho. The Whitney, however, is not my cup of tea.
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Sunday, December 1. 2019Hunting vs. Hiking clothing in cold weather
My love is grouse hunting in the North Woods. BD is the same. Hours of tramping over hill and dale and marsh, hoping to find a stray grouse or woodcock. With dog, of course, preferably pointer. You barely need 12 bullets in your pocket for a whole day and if you come back to the lodge with a grouse or two, it's a banner day. Both strenuous activities require layering and you need to add an inch to your trousers to handle cold weather under-stuff. Also, if age adds an inch (which it should not, God forbid), take it into account too. Best thing: suspenders. Filson tincloth winter gear requires them. This gear is not for "bird" hunting in the southland but it is good for brush-busting in the northern regions. Hiking, especially mountain hiking, keeps you warm and you peel layers off into your daypack as you begin to sweat. Bird hunting is slower and colder, more methodical, tactical, and there is no daypack to put stuff into. Duck and goose hunting is another story entirely. What is your experience?
Friday, November 29. 2019Old-fashioned toys for kids
Do the young'uns these days live on their ipads and junk like that? It's a damn shame. If you have kids, or grandkids, let's get back to good toys and things which add real life, vs virtual life, to real living. I am thinking of blocks, pick-up-sticks, wooden train sets, Legos, Chess (can be learned at 5), board games, card games, etc. Poker should be learned as young as possible, because it's part of life. Books at their levels, of course. Real books. Older kids, BB guns, bows and arrows, etc. By age 10-13, fishing rods, 28 ga shotguns, .22s, and big boy and girl toys like that. Everything imaginable is on Amazon. What ideas do our readers have for kids, for Christmas things?
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13:21
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Sunday, November 24. 2019Kierkegaard for grownups
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13:55
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Remembering the Puritan Pilgrims
Who were these people who put the England into New England? Certainly, an unusual group. The great Prof. Andrew Delbanco: Vexed and Troubled Englishmen. How should we remember the Puritans?
Posted by The Barrister
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13:48
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