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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Thursday, June 23. 2016Higher Ed against freedom
Are the leaders of our academic institutions complicit in the current student-led challenge to free speech and free expression on college campuses? Jonathan R. Cole thinks so.
Posted by The Barrister
in Education, The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
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16:07
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Tuesday, June 21. 2016How lawyers make moneyFrom Thank You FedEx, For Standing Up to the Feds:
Nobody knows all of the laws and regs. Remember, Three Felonies A Day
Posted by The Barrister
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
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14:40
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Monday, June 20. 2016AR-15 crazinessI think that the press and most of the politicians do not know the difference between an AR-15 and an AK-47. More likely, they don't care because incremental gun-grabbing is one of their missions. Thus any new regulation is a step towards the goal of citizen disarmament. In case you think Second Amendment is standing in the way of banning semiautomatic weapons... Apparently CT can outlaw some semiautomatic firearms. I have semi-automatic shotguns which I am certain will not fall under regulations - yet. The magazine is internal, so there is no visible clip. To comply with game laws, I have plugs in them to limit me to 3 cartridges (or bullets, as we term them). Besides being black and ugly, I do not get the functional appeal of the highly-popular AR-15. It is not particularly powerful or useful at long distances. I think it is good fun at the range or close-in game hunting but there are better firearms for that. There is no accounting for taste, and the best thing to do is to pick a firearm for your use and to get good with it. I think it might be the clips that the grabbers are using, in this case. Thursday, June 16. 2016How Androgynous Bathrooms Ruin Social Cohesion, And Women Can Restore It
The retrograde author insists that there exist men and women.
Posted by The News Junkie
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
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16:09
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Wednesday, June 15. 2016Immigration and diversity
Open Borders after Orlando - Can open societies remain open, with mass immigration? VDH: Same Old, Same Old Horror - The Orlando massacre brings up familiar lessons that we never quite learn. Monday, June 13. 2016Self-esteemWe and others have written about the topic of self-esteem and self-respect ad nauseum. There is healthy narcissism and unhealthy narcissism; there is healthy self-hatred and unhealthy self-hatred. Pride is a mortal sin, but pride in a difficult accomplishment seems like a good reward. We generally consider self-respect as something which must earned against some inner or outer obstacles, struggles against fear, temptation, or external resistances and challenges. We generally think of self-esteem as similar to self-administered mother's love or God's love. That is, unearned and undeserved. A modest dose of that never hurts and few of us are thoroughly evil or worthless. A good dose of humility never hurts either. We all have plenty of reasons for self-contempt and self-disappointment, and those deserve our attention however unpleasant that may be. I do not trust people who are not open to doing that job on themselves. Has college changed?A Letter to a Bright Young Woman It is all almost entirely true. However, higher ed still can be somewhat like it used to be if and only if a student and his parents together make a plan to navigate the place so as to get the most out of it. A solid traditional education can usually be designed from their offerings just as a nutritional meal can be designed despite all the the junk in the supermarket. Seeking the most rigorous coursework and diving into constructive extracurriculars are good starts. When the structure of a school would once make sure the student was a product of which the school could feel proud (literate, well-rounded, and, as they used to say, able to comprehend every section of the Sunday New York Times), now it is up to the paying parents to ensure that that happens.
Posted by The Barrister
in Education, The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
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14:06
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Sunday, June 12. 2016Design Mrs. BD was discussing the elements of design with me as she has been working on yet another one of her design projects. We talk about rhythm, balance, repetition, unity, etc., but, above all, putting the specs first. Like a sonnet. We thought that this wiki entry, Design elements and principles, offers a beautiful and succinct summary of the topic. Each section can lead to nifty conversation about almost anything. Design principles can apply to anything that anybody wants to make beautiful: art, gardens, clothing, buildings, furniture, tools, music, etc. Come to think of it, even writing stories or making up a dance. I know somebody whose career is industrial design. Give him the specs and he will design a work of functional art. With talent, function can be made beautiful. Consider the humble sinuous scythe. One of my grampas, the industrialist, was a pro with a scythe on the farm. In Yankeeland, pronounced "sigh." Sad to admit, I have always been lazy and partial to power machinery but a good man with a scythe can do faster and better with the added benefit of keeping in shape.
Posted by Bird Dog
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
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14:59
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The Yale undergraduates who demand the right to be ignorant.They are Canon Fodder. A beginning list of the canonical minds who must be banned. Basically, anybody smarter than you. That is, the people whose brains, talents, and accomplishments damage your self-esteem and make you feel small. I guess admiration is passe. It feels like the Cultural Revolution in China.
Posted by The Barrister
in Education, The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
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13:30
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Saturday, June 11. 2016Radio FlyerFriday, June 10. 2016Choosing a career
Another problem with the "career" idea is that it implies a lifelong occupation with some sort of upward trajectory. Today, however, many if not most people change jobs, or careers, during their lives. Sometimes voluntarily, sometimes not. Work that "does good for others"? All compensated work does good for others or it would have no monetary value, but the work which does the most "good for others" is work that creates jobs. It makes sense to claim that it is the entrepreneur and the inventor who do the most good for others and for society as a whole. Want to do good for society and for others? First thing: be independent and self-sufficient. Second thing: support your family and raise them well, if you have one. Those are the most valuable things a person can ever do. What about the idea of a "calling" or a mission? Interesting idea but usually only applied to religious or medical paths and most people would like to be writers, artists, or musicians if they could. I have never heard anyone claim a calling to software sales, but far more people build interesting, fulfilling, and useful lives doing the latter than the former. Many are called but few are chosen. Missions and passions make for good hobbies if they do not seem to work as income-producing jobs. Everybody needs cool hobbies and sports, and a stimulating social life, to round out a life so it's a good idea to make time for one's passionate pursuits too. Also, below: Tuesday, June 7. 2016A little poetry from the late, great Muhammad Ali“I wrestled with an alligator. I tussled with a whale. I handcuffed lightning, I thrown thunder in jail.” (h/t Warren)
Posted by Bird Dog
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
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20:26
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MapEach color represents one billion souls
Posted by The News Junkie
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
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17:27
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Monday, June 6. 2016Useful dogs Ratters and the original squeaky toy
Posted by Bird Dog
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
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17:31
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Another book
Posted by Bird Dog
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
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17:30
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Did you know that they hung Pinocchio?Forget Disney. We were discussing the real story of Pinocchio - one of the most-translated stories in the world.
Posted by Bird Dog
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
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17:27
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Sunday, June 5. 2016New neighborhoods in ManhattanThe midtown west side of Boom Town, USA has been transformed over the past decade. First came the giant high end residential Trump complex, as seen in my car pic below from the West Side highway. River views. A city itself, built on the old Hudson Line railroad yard. I think one or two more such apartment towers are in the works. If you stroll over to the far west end of 42nd St., new luxury construction is everywhere. It all feels kinda sterile, but people want to live there now. The new new thing is Hudson Yard, a bit downtown from that Trump development, just south of the terrible Javits Convention Center. This is an ambitious centrally-planned neighborhood (by urban experts which means it probably will not work), but it is a yuuuge project. It's being built atop the Long Island Railroad yards, as seen in my pic last Sunday from the High Line. Cranes everywhere as the project proceeds: While I prefer human-scale, older neighborhoods, it's impossible not to be impressed by what can happen in a prosperous and vibrant city.
Posted by Bird Dog
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
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13:51
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Friday, June 3. 2016Suit Up and Show UpAlways show up. Cocktail parties, neighborhood parties, church, weddings, funerals, club events, professional meetings, interviews, volunteering, community activities and events. Even if these things are not your cup of tea - which, for many guys, they are not - at least one good thing comes out of each attendance. I guarantee it. This is not a mercenary attitude. It's an attitude of connection and respect. Except for funerals, I always go somewhat grudgingly because I am naturally taciturn without much to say but I am never sorry that I did "suit up and show up," and at least tried to be engaging and humorous. I bring this up because I have had several highly serendipitous encounters in the past couple of weeks which have been good fun for me and will be helpful to my kids' lives. My life, and the lives of our kids, would be quite different if they, and I, did not apply the Woody Allen theory: "70% of success is showing up." My second great job came from a random show-up, and our dearest friends today came from random meets in friendly surroundings. Come to think of it, meeting the future Mrs. BD was highly random and would never have occurred under normal circumstances. That was good, because otherwise the mate might have been a more socially-predictable and ultimately boring one. One must make space to let serendipity happen.
Posted by Bird Dog
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
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17:46
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Saturday, May 28. 2016Little HouseFriday, May 27. 2016College for allThe Chronicle Supports the Case Against College for All The higher ed marketing machine has done a good job for its booming industry over the past 50 years, but it has gotten ridiculous. A college degree means nothing. Anybody who wants to can now cheat, drink, and bs their way to the piece of paper as long as they can find a way to come up with the cash. Let's face it. If you can't or won't handle Calc. and Aristotle, you can't use it. Get a job and learn something real. And read books.
Posted by The Barrister
in Education, The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
at
14:16
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Thursday, May 26. 2016A life in the theaterRandomly stumbled on Moss Hart's autobiography, Act One. Seeing as he died at 57, I am grateful to him for having taken the time to write this inspiring and delightful autobio of his life in theater.
Posted by Bird Dog
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
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18:27
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Monday, May 23. 2016NYC's new skinny skyscrapers
Posted by The News Junkie
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
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19:46
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How to Grow OldA new translation of Cicero by Philip Freeman: How to Grow Old: Ancient Wisdom for the Second Half of Life
Posted by The Barrister
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
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18:24
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Sunday, May 22. 2016My brain made me do it.
It's a good discussion. I have several problems with their conclusions, but by free will I have decided to put my tomatoes out instead of writing my thoughts. I guess you could claim that my genes and neurons made me make that decision.
Posted by Bird Dog
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
at
13:00
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Saturday, May 21. 2016More things in heaven and earth...
How is it possible, they will ask, that so much of reality remains closed to us?
Posted by The Barrister
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
at
14:54
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