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, August 5. 2017Clean the drainA service guy asked me to clean out my dishwasher drain filter because it grossed him out. That was a humiliating experience. Clean your own once in a while to avoid that unpleasant experience. Chances are that it is full of gunk.
Posted by Bird Dog
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15:20
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The CometThe de Havilland Comet was the first commercial jetliner. 1949. It had problems, like falling apart in midair. In time, those were fixed but it left tourists feeling uneasy. David Warren flew on one, and another David Warren invented the airplane Black Box.
Posted by The Barrister
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14:46
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Tuesday, August 1. 2017Harris Tweed
Label photo via Salt Water New England. She seems to like Harris Tweed. It lasts forever, except moths. "Hand-woven in the Outer Hebrides from Scottish wool." It's still a cottage industry on Harris and Lewis. No factory. I am not sure where the garments and hats, etc. are actually constructed, though. A Harris wool sports jacket is heavy, water-resistant, and heathery-looking, perfect for Isle of Harris summer or winter weather. Scotland, they say, has no summer and no winter. The wool just keeps growing. Was that a mutation in sheep? Mrs. BD and the gals forced a sports jacket on me at the Harris Tweed shop on the harbor in Tarbert. Nice lining in it. Nothing really in the tiny village of Tarbert but a ferry dock, a whiskey distillery (where they suggested coming back in 5 years when they will have something good) and the little Harris Tweed shop. Pics of a weaver, the shop, and bustling downtown Tarbert below the fold. Continue reading "Harris Tweed" Monday, July 31. 2017Choosing a daypackPhoto is the REI 40-L daypack. I've done reading on the topic of daypacks. I have always used my antique Osprey daypack (made in Dolores, CO) which is about 20-liters. With a replacement waist belt which my shoe repair guy fixed up for me for $10, it sits right and holds anything I might need for an ordinary day hike. (I think any pack without a waist belt is a terrible idea. I have also found that a proper fit and tweaking the adjustments makes a big difference. It has to sit on your butt.) I bought my Osprey pack in Telluride on a ski trip with the kids. Needed a place for them to put spare winter clothing in as the temperatures went up and down and as snow came and went during the day. Mrs. BD took the liberty of buying me a 40-Liter REI daypack for our recent Hebrides hiking trip. It fits well, but holds far more stuff than I am ever likely to need other than for lengthy winter hikes. In fact, it could function as a smallish airplane carry-on. These days, half the people on international flights carry backpacks. They have become standard tourist items, but who needs a backpack or daypack to walk around Florence all day? Let's say the usual day hike off the beaten track is from 4 to 8 hours. What do you need in the pack? Some liquids, snacks, maybe a sandwich or two, some rain pants and waterproof jacket, a trail map or travel guide, a first aid kit and some blister packs, a wallet, binoculars, a little camera or iphone, perhaps a 2-way radio if remote, maybe a place for hiking poles - and empty space to stuff layers that you might not want as the day warms. A box of ammo if hunting in the wilderness. Shouldn't a 20-L pack be able to handle that, and more? Unless it's warm weather and you are carrying several liters of water, or unless you are playing sherpa and carrying stuff for other people. Here's The Ultimate Backpack Size and Volume Guide I think the Osprey 20 L pack is a good daypack choice. We're about to plan our next wilderness hiking trip (day hikes only, thank you, with fluffy towels and hot water at night), so I will decide for sure whether 40 L is overkill. If you are a regular day hiker, what size do you use, how do you use it, and what do you put in it? And if you would want a 40-L pack, why?
Sunday, July 30. 2017Thrill du Jour: A record-breaking Mt. Washington climb
"Travis Pastrana crushed the Mt. Washington Hillclimb record reaching the 6288’ summit in a stunning 5:44.72. The #199 WRX STI with a specially fitted 600hp engine actually beat the record two times, running a 5:46.28 on the first attempt up the twisty 7.4 mile race course. This is just shy of a twenty-five second gain on the old record of 6:09.09 held by Subaru Rally Team USA teammate, David Higgins, from 2014." Not your
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Saturday, July 29. 2017A little fun with Baccarat
One of Steve Wynn's casinos lost $10 million on the Baccarat tables. That is no biggie for his company. The story got me looking into the game of Baccarat. I have never played it. It's a card game, a game of chance with some more complicated versions like Chemin de Fer which I believe is what James Bond enjoyed. Punto banco is the common version of the game. Is any skill involved in the betting component? I am not clear on that but it mainly seems to be about the adrenaline. Photo above is Tranby Croft, site of the famous Royal Baccarat Scandal of 1890. A great story.
Posted by The Barrister
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14:55
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Wednesday, July 26. 2017Physical work, exercise, and the desire for life free from physical effort and discomfort
Hansen himself has always done farm work and brain work. Just one of many quotable paragraphs:
Sunday, July 23. 2017Stuff you vigorous outdoor people can use: A brief review of hiking ratings
There are so many rating systems that it can be confusing or misleading. And when it comes to off-trail wilderness hiking, which we did a lot of in the Outer Hebrides, you really need a guide who knows the terrain to estimate what sorts of challenges you can handle. In less wilderness areas, of course, we all get a kick out of doing off-trail explorations on our own. Not always a good idea. Many difficulty- rating systems are based on altitude changes, steepness of grade, length, agility-requirements, and risks (eg weather, cliffs, boulder fields, etc.). Other rating systems are based on technical difficulty alone. I'll pick one example: the famous and popular Tuckerman Ravine trail up New Hampshire's Mount Washington. Alltrails rates it as Hard on their Easy/Moderate/Hard system. But what does that really mean? 9 year-olds prance up it with daypacks. What it means is that there is a substantial altitude change, variable weather (foolishly-unprepared people have died of exposure up there but it would be difficult to be that stupid), and high rocky steps at times, but it is a relatively easy hike if you are in good health and cardio condition. It's a 7-hr hike up to Lion's Head and back down - what Europeans call "hill-walking." In the European system, the Tuck hike probably would be rated in the 2 range on their 1-5 rating system. Several of our Hebrides hikes would be rated Hard (if you sometimes have to be on your hands and knees grasping rocks and heather to get up the steeps) in some US systems, but all were around level 2-2.3 in the Euro system. I like that Euro system which takes into account your fitness level and the hike's challenges. In my view, though, those Euro ratings - "Easy" to "Expedition-Level" - do underestimate the challenges. The Euro level 2 to 2.3 range is plenty for me. On level 3, I suspect that I would be a slowpoke in a group. People do not like to have to wait for the slowpokes. On straight steep uphills, off-trail, with unstable footing, I need a minute to catch my breath every 20-30 steps. I call that "admiring the scenery" or "taking a picture." Since we're talking about hill-walking - all-terrain hiking - and not technical mountaineering, we are mostly talking about stamina and cardio conditioning. Strength is not a major factor but mental and physical stamina are. Trailmaster posts about two common American rating systems in Choosing a Difficulty Level for Your Hike is a Key to Wise Hike Planning Here's another piece about different rating systems for hikes and mountain bikers: TRAIL DIFFICULTY RATINGS SIGNS And yet another to rate hikes you have taken: Hike Evaluation Calculator Photo is from the popular hill walk/climb, Breakneck Ridge Trail in the very pleasant village of Cold Spring, NY. It's a 6-mile hill walk but the first mile involves lots of scrambling and a 2000-foot altitude change which is why some people rate it at a rather high - too high - 3 because anybody in decent shape can do it.
Wednesday, July 19. 2017Whereupon Michael Weatherly morphs into Jason BullLike many fans of 'NCIS', a big chuck of my interest in the show went out the window when Michael Weatherly left a season ago. It just wasn't going to be the same without our lovable ol' Tony. Just to get us into that Tony mood, I'm going to include a couple of clips from his NCIS days, then we'll move on to his new show. What's interesting is that Weatherly played a multi-faceted persona on the show, sometimes being sentimental, and sometimes comedic. Here's a short clip that puts both facets on display. Gibbs has received (yet another) medal of achievement, doesn't even bother to attend the ceremony, so Tony accepts it in his stead, as usual.
More on this interesting story below the fold. Continue reading "Whereupon Michael Weatherly morphs into Jason Bull"
Posted by Dr. Mercury
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14:00
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Tuesday, July 18. 2017Life in America: I like my dentist, etc.
His political incorrectness would get him instantly fired anywhere but in his own office, but his female assistants just get a kick out of his bawdiness and Trumpism. We always talk about weight lifting and hiking and a little about sex. Conversation becomes a bit one-sided once my mouth is full of cold stainless steel tools of torture, but I am getting the hang of it over time. I wish he were a bit slower, because yanking a bad tooth before the novocaine has taken full effect is unnerving, but getting out of there faster is preferable for me. Why does it help so much when that sweet Filipino gal puts her hand on my shoulder when the going gets tough? Filipino Magic. Wonderful people - the best. He recently completed his 6th muti-day hiking and camping trip in the Grand Canyon with his brother, a buddy, and uncle. No wives signed on. 45-lb packs. I suggested that it might be time to try a new place, and he said they would, having done all the basic GC trails including the worst one which scared the crap out of him. Maybe the Indian Trail. Like me, he is acrophobic but does it anyway. (Lots of people hate heights, so it's really normal. Even when I am snorkeling somewhere, and there is a steep drop-off on a ledge or reef, it gives me the creeps but I generally conceal my fears as much as I can. It's a guy thing.) Isn't facing down your fears the thing that builds the "can-do" in a person, whether male, female, or gender-confused? One of my greatest fears is walking into a dental office, but I take the valium he gives me, then man-up and walk in with a flirt with the sweet gals and a fresh joke ready - ready to act cool...like a mass-murderer to the execution room.
Posted by Bird Dog
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15:41
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Monday, July 17. 2017Sapiens
A very brief summary of Harari's best-seller Sapiens
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13:20
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Sunday, July 16. 2017The insignificance of life
The laws of nature come into existence when a universe comes into existence?
Posted by The News Junkie
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17:25
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Have some old Madeira, m'dearWine dating from the American Revolution era discovered at historic New Jersey house The tune is feminist-approved -
Posted by Bird Dog
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15:08
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Dragon Boat Racing
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13:30
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With age, wisdomSaturday, July 15. 2017Zipper pulls on the left sideHad to buy an emergency Gore-tex rain jacket in Inverness. The old one I brought with me had lost its Gore-tex effect (that happens over time), and it only took an hour of cool drizzle to realize it. Crazy mixed-up Europeans put jacket zipper-pulls on the left side. I am not well-coordinated enough to manage that easily. It feels awkward and unnatural to put the thing in the slot with my right hand, taking too long fumbling with a darn jacket zipper when I could be falling off a cliff or sliding into mud instead. My Barbour is the same way. I know, First World Problems but guys learn their zipper routines very early in life and they become automatic.
Posted by Bird Dog
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13:39
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CoolersPeople tell me Yeti coolers are the best. Might be. They are the most expensive, by far. Keeping things cold for a day or two can be accomplished by any Coleman cooler. My conclusion is that the Yetis are a status symbol, but if somebody gave me one, I would use it.
Posted by Bird Dog
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13:05
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Wednesday, July 12. 2017Sorry, Not SorrySorry, not sorry. A neologism which I hear young people use frequently, and now people my age are adopting. It's a great phrase. People want you to be sorry for something you did, you feel you're in the right. Sorry, not sorry. Urban Dictionary has its first reference to this in 2012. It became a Twitter hashtag at about that same time, maybe 2011. This was predated by an alt-punk song from an obscure band, Amen, titled Sorry Not Sorry, but it seems to have come into common usage around 2011/2012. Today it's used primarily as a sarcastic comeback or response, usually for humorous purposes. There is another aspect to this, though. It revolves around empathy. At least, that's where I see it coming from. Mainly because I tend to have so little empathy (and I'm told that's a problem). Sorry, not sorry for lacking that empathy. Point is, I don't know why we have to be sorry for so many things. President Obama was on an "I'm Sorry" tour for 8 years and what did it get us? Not much. If the US did it, he was sorry about it. Why? Saying "sorry" doesn't change the past. It doesn't even change the future. Stuff happened, and I wasn't involved, so don't judge me on that. Many things he was sorry for occurred long ago. I'm sorry Hiroshima happened, it was terrible. I'm sorry for all the death and damage and horrific after-effects, but it was war, so I'm not going to quibble whether Hiroshima or Nagasaki were worse than Tokyo or Dresden. Death happens in warfare. We don't have to be sorry for killing people in warfare.
Continue reading "Sorry, Not Sorry"
Posted by Bulldog
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15:27
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Training for hill and mountainous hikingOn Wednesdays we usually focus on general conditioning (fitness for life) and rarely on training for specific athletic endeavors. That's for a reason. However, tough hiking is just an extreme variant of walking. A question might be "If you had three months to prep for a ten-day backpacking hike in Denali, or the Bob Marshall, or the White Mountains, or, like us, mountains in the Highlands, what would you do?" I should modify that a bit. "What would you do, assuming you had a day job and little free time on weekends?" I asked an exercise expert friend, a competitive athlete who can do several reps of 300-lb deads, that question. She said, given just an hour daily, the emphasis should be on lower body endurance and intense cardio. She said she would do two days/week of the usual powerlifts, but replace her other exercise routines with an hour of stairmaster with a 20-lb weight vest, and an hour of calisthenics with a 5-10-lb weight vest. She correctly observed that hill/mountain hiking is not mostly about strength but is about stamina, agility, and endurance. A person can be very strong without good endurance (and vice-versa). She said an hour of intervals on the bike would be fine, but an hour walking on treadmill with a 20-30 -lb weight vest at a high incline would be better for the purpose. She also said that, from her experience, daily 7-hour mountain hiking with packs over 10 days can not really be duplicated in normal life. Best approach, when actually doing the trip, would be two to three days on, alternating with one lighter day for recovery. In fact, that is roughly what our guide had planned for our mixed group - two days hard, then one day lighter, and so on. By day 6, I felt eager to tackle anything. Pumped up and ready to go. Too soon, it was time to go home.
Tuesday, July 11. 2017Waterproof, Shockproof, FreezeproofOver the past few years the iCamera (aka iPhone, etc) has largely replaced regular cameras. People don't want to carry even small cameras around unless for special situations, and full-sized cameras are rapidly disappearing except for professional shoots. If you are old-fashioned like me, you carry a pocket point and shoot when you go places. Smartphone cameras can be temperamental in cold weather, and do not like to be dropped on rocks or soaked in rain. A reader who enjoys camera stuff recommends the Olympus TG-5 Waterproof Camera with 3-Inch LCD.
Posted by Bird Dog
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Monday, July 10. 2017AI and Universal Basic IncomeYou learn things in the strangest ways... We took a surprise trip to the NJ/PA border to look at some apartments for a friend. She lives in Georgia and is thinking of relocating. We decided to use this as an opportunity to go bike riding along the Delaware Canal, and make a day of it. Bike rides aren't all that interesting but are great exercise both physically and mentally (riding gives you tons of time to concentrate). I spent a great deal of the ride thinking about a person we'd met at one apartment. She said was a writer and a professor. A writer of anything I might attempt to read? Why yes, it turns out. She is a 'futurist' and writes about Artificial Intelligence. A topic which is changing my job on a daily basis. I told her I knew quite about AI, and look forward to the day it replaces me. She looked at me quizzically and said "Really? That's strange, most people would fear it. Besides, we have to hope it comes with a Universal Basic Income." I simply looked at her and said "No, I don't fear it. I've studied history enough to realize change is good. The Industrial Revolution destroyed some jobs, it's true. But it created many more, and those jobs paid better. It also created new industries altogether. I see the same thing with AI. After all, AI is great, but it will probably always be better with humans working in tandem, rather than as a standalone, though some standalone items may exist. Overall I see more jobs coming from it, not fewer. Training is what needs to improve, not payoffs to those who don't want to learn." I didn't get into a deeper discussion, since I wanted to ride my bike. She seemed amazed I was so nonplussed. Actually, I think she was surprised to meet anyone willing to discuss the topic but shocked at my indifference to her perceived negative consequences. My reasons are based on economics, but also her personal story, which made my ride a mental exercise.. She espoused a point of view which may seem to make sense, but her behaviors told a very different story. Continue reading "AI and Universal Basic Income"
Posted by Bulldog
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18:07
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Saturday, July 8. 2017Made in VermontI am sure they are excellent rugged socks for hiking and backpacking. Mrs. BD likes them, but I call them Darn Expensive Socks.
Posted by Bird Dog
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14:15
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Movie Review: four more great flicksIMHO: Criminal — Perhaps Kevin Costner's best movie. Arrival — The greatest 'space aliens' movie — that barely features any aliens. Hidden Figures — A terrific move featuring NASA's early days The Accountant — Perhaps Ben Affleck's greatest movie. Again, IMHO. Juicy goodies below the fold. Continue reading "Movie Review: four more great flicks"
Posted by Dr. Mercury
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14:00
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Famous last words
Who knows how accurate these are? Still, good stuff.
Posted by Bird Dog
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Friday, July 7. 2017Peterson on virtue signalingJordan Peterson Explains Why He Doesn’t Like Virtue Signaling - The line between good and evil runs down the middle of every human heart.
Posted by The News Junkie
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