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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Tuesday, November 10. 2015Interesting objects to look at
He experimented with sculpture intermittently during his life, beginning with realism and moving through all of his stylistic phases: cubism, surrealism, etc., and just plain whimsical but all with what I term the Picasso Perfect Eye because I have never found the right words for his transformative genius, making the ordinary into something entirely new and startling with great discipline and economy of line. See it. A show like this will not happen again in your lifetime. A review: Picasso, Completely Himself in 3 Dimensions Old New York City remains the art museum capital of the world, and the liveliest. Pics below from his work from 1905 to the 1960s, below the fold - Continue reading "Interesting objects to look at"
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Monday, November 9. 2015Os Guiness: "A Free People's Suicide: Sustainable Freedom and the American Future,""The greatest enemy of freedom is freedom." It's about "sustainable freedom." A speech from a couple of years ago. Some of his books.
Posted by The News Junkie
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Sunday, November 8. 2015Mr Perkins' Privy
Posted by Bird Dog
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Dear Prudence
For example, Prudie counsels a letter writer whose atheist husband coopts Thanksgiving grace to rant about God.
Saturday, November 7. 2015Bob & Ray "Booking Agents to the Politicians"
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Friday, November 6. 2015More house-cleaningThose were my first skis. Wood Northlands. Kept them for sentimental reasons I guess. I must be ancient. Off to the garbage. At the time, my rich friends had Heads. Gosh do I love skiing, once I am on top of a mountain. The hassle and cost to get there is what deters me often. We're throwing out everything we can, or giving away. Closets full of older winter clothing, spare sweaters, parkas, leather jackets, fur coats, the snow-blower, the power edger, the power-washer. Left 10 duck stamp prints off for the Ducks Unlimited event. I have never had anywhere to hang them. And tons of stuff to church winter clothing drive, and Good Will. It's not to prepare for Global Warming; it's to lighten the burdens of excess possession and clutter. We have too much stuff from many years and three kids. On Thanksgiving, I am going to unload all of the family antiques, family china, and art that I can onto my sibs because I will not wait for my kids to have houses. The only things I am "keeping for the kids when they might need them" are our substantial collection of antique oriental rugs. Rugs on top of rugs, like Armenians. Trouble is, they are so out of fashion they probably won't want them. I have too many firearms too. More than I ever use. Should sell most of them. The pleasure in a new possession is fleeting, isn't it? It's a cliche because it is so true. It's a relief of an interesting sort to get rid of stuff.
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Thursday, November 5. 2015What came before the Big Bang?Did time begin at that instant, so that there was no time or space "before"? Or are space and time human constructs? Of course they are. Humans have been making up our understanding of the universe forever. We are wired to do that although we know that it is all beyond our comprehension and our feeble animal senses. Good fun to contemplate, especially with medical marijuana: Video discussion at Aeon.
Posted by The Barrister
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13:11
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Tuesday, November 3. 2015American dialects
I came out as New York City/Yonkers/Jersey City. Odd, because I grew up in western Massachusetts. I think the test is approximately accurate, though. My parents were immigrant kids from Queens, and I have been in NYC for a few years now.
Monday, November 2. 2015High-intensity interval exercise
You can watch Social X-Rays, models, and quasi-anorectics jogging or doing cardio exercises for hours all the time in NYC, but they do not look like that because of exercise. They look like that because they don't eat carbs, or anything else much. Creepy. Does high intensity interval training work? What most of us regular exercisers do is a combination, eg 20-40 minutes of continuous cardio machines with brief bursts of maximum speed effort - sprints in effect. Distance runners train with sprints, as do swimmers. Other high-intensity sprint-like exercises? Squats, heavy ball smashes, lunges, high steps with weights, burpees, and the like. Basically, any relatively-brief spurts of demand that make you feel like you might drop dead, or might wish to drop dead. Why short bursts of activity boost fitness in the body. You make more mitochondria, for a while Remember, cardio doesn't burn fat hardly at all, and does not build strength or power either. It can burn some carbs (roughly 2 slices of toast per hour), help mobilize fat-burning somewhat only when combined with low carb, and it puts whatever strength and power you have to work. It is really just about endurance/fitness. If you build your strength and power with other exercises, your effectiveness with high-intensity will obviously increase because your maximum will be more intense. Losing fat is low-carb diet, improving fitness is demanding cardio, and improving strength/power is resistance. It's simple. Our goal is simple too: to be fit for whatever life offers. *Thanks to reader for etymology of the balls expression
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18:59
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Sunday, November 1. 2015Best cross-training shoeThe expert consensus is that the best all-purpose exercise shoe is the Nike Metcon. I will give it a try, because the sneaks I am using are not right for all of the things I do. Barefoot would probably be ideal, except for transmitting foot fungi. People say these Nike sneakers feel sort of like being barefoot. I wonder how many pairs of sneakers I have been through in my life. Running shoes, trail-running sneakers, city-walking sneakers, tennis shoes, bang-around sneakers. For whatever reason, never owned any Converse as far as I recall. Roundball is much more fun to play than to watch, but I was way too bad at it. Can dribble, can't jump. Pathetic.
Posted by Bird Dog
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12:53
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Saturday, October 31. 2015Crossfit
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Friday, October 30. 2015Garmentos and CrossfitThat's the NYC term for people who work at any level in the "rag trade." That is, fashion and attire. It was once a Jewish business in NY, now mostly Asian. NYC remains a bustling center for design and manufacturing, even though most cheap stuff we buy is made in Asia. A NYC daughter emailed me her iPhone pic in front of a Crossfit in the garment district, with the comment "Poor skinny Chinese guy struggling with his heavy cart of fabrics for $5 an hour while yuppies pay $200 an hour to lift boxes inside Crossfit." My thought was "This lucky Chinese immigrant will live to 100, his kids will go to Harvard and end up going to Crossfit to stay in shape with their white collar jobs in finance and medicine."
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Thursday, October 29. 2015Skinny Weaklings Photo is your editor, after 6 months of exercising. -Want to get bigger and heavier? If you are a scrawny and weak guy (or gal) like I was, your fitness job is relatively easy compared to flabby guys and gals. Just lift weights for 40 minutes 3 days/wk, eat carbs and meat, and avoid cardio exercise for a few months. Here's good advice about getting into better, fit-for-life shape for those people: A Beginner’s Guide to Getting Bigger. They also have good advice there about exercising in general. I like their idea of eventually getting fit and strong enough to handle just a few full-body resistance exercises involving, combined, pretty much all muscle groups. It is efficient but takes work to get there. Eg:
Posted by Bird Dog
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Wednesday, October 28. 2015Bob and Ray: A Visit with Neil Clummer of The Hobby Hut with The Vegetable Collector
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Great Job Search, addendum on resumesTwo sample resumes related to yesterday's post, below the fold -
Continue reading "Great Job Search, addendum on resumes"
Posted by Bird Dog
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Monday, October 26. 2015Telecommuting Jobs
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Sunday, October 25. 2015Prof. Paul Cantor discusses Shakespeare, TV, and movies
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Saturday, October 24. 2015HamiltonVery popular. The author of the musical plays Hamilton too. I do not need to see this show, but I am glad they are getting rich. Making money is a pretty good thing. Not the best thing, but good.
Posted by The News Junkie
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Thursday, October 22. 2015Will Americans ever embrace the 30-hour workweek?I have a problem with the premise of that question, assuming that the premise is that Americans work 35-40 hour weeks. Americans are not the French. I don't know anybody in any field who works as little as a 40-hour week. Nobody other than clerical and support staff. Everybody I know works like a farmer, ie as long as it takes to get it done, to keep the job, to advance, and to show results. I do not think that most Americans count their work hours outside of union jobs. The 40-hour week was from another time, another era. Perhaps my perception is skewed by working in business in NYC for a few years, so please inform me how I am wrong. Will Americans ever embrace the 30-hour workweek? Here's a related piece: The Labor Theory of Value Refuted: Nobody Cares How Hard You Work Nobody cares how hard you work or how long, but they care about the results. However, nobody wants to look like a slacker. Tuesday, October 20. 2015Virtue Signalling
I suspect that he overestimates its importance. In politics, there are many factors: likability, charisma, vote-buying, partisan loyalty, and so forth. Virtue itself has never been a major factor in electoral politics, or in any form of governance in history. However, I would not dispute AVI's several posts over the years about the importance of tribal and affinity signalling in social relations. (Two Ls in signalling? Who knew?)
Posted by Bird Dog
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Monday, October 19. 2015The Modern Man vs. A Man's Man
He seems like the kind of guy you would love to have an everyday conversation with, toss back some beer or bourbon, then work with him to replace your septic system. In no particular order. He responds to fan mail fairly regularly, and I really enjoyed his post today:
Continue reading "The Modern Man vs. A Man's Man" Sunday, October 18. 2015Oktavists"The term "oktavist" describes a basso profundo singer with an extremely deep range. You'll notice that the singers showcased in this video all sound unbelievably deep, with some making you question whether or not it's humanly possible to produce such low notes. Their voices can go as deep as an octave below the bass staff."
Posted by Bird Dog
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Exploring southern Manhattan on foot, as if a tourist: A photo report from the First Annual Maggie's Urban HikeRe-posted from Oct, 2014. Was it really a year ago? Seems like yesterday. We began our jolly urban hike on the southern tip of Manhattan Island, Battery Park, where the ferries depart to Staten Island, Ellis Island, and the Statue of Liberty. What is fatiguing is not the hiking itself - it's the overstimulation. So much going on, so much to look at. Below the fold, a photo summary of our hike, with relevant links - Continue reading "Exploring southern Manhattan on foot, as if a tourist: A photo report from the First Annual Maggie's Urban Hike" Saturday, October 17. 2015Why Carry a Gun? Over the transom - My old Grandpa said to me, 'Son, there comes a time in every man's life when he stops bustin' knuckles and starts bustin' caps and usually it's when he becomes too old to take a whoopin'.' Rigoletto at the Met
Posted by Bird Dog
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