Saturday, August 3. 2013
There are some teams which, for one reason or another can't get out of the way of themselves. I happen to root for these teams, and they come from Philadelphia.
Before I get an email from Doc complaining "oh geez, another sports post," I'll allay his fears and assure him this is about racism.
The Philadelphia Eagles, in the midst of rebuilding a franchise that had been successful for the past decade, lost one of their key players. A Wide Receiver, Jeremy Maclin, blew out his ACL and was lost for the season.
What do you do? Turn to the next guy, of course, who showed flashes of talent, but hadn't broken out yet. Riley Cooper hadn't been nearly as successful, but could potentially fill this huge gap.
If he had kept his mouth shut, of course.
Based on the video, it's hard to tell why he used it. However, he has said that a black security guard didn't allow him to go backstage, and that was the word he chose while reacting.
There are no good reasons to use it. But it is used somewhat regularly by rappers and athletes (I've heard it used in the gym locker room by young black men), and even once by a commentator. It seems to be a term of endearment, at times, though I'm too far removed to give it context.
Certainly, there seems to be a fine line between using the word itself, and adding an "A" to the end of it.
Some comedians have taken this view to task (video is terrible and audio hard to hear, but it's part of a sketch that aired on Comedy Central's "Tosh.0").
Certainly, we know that time does not heal all wounds and now Riley Cooper's fate in the NFL remains as unclear as Paula Deen's.
At least some of his teammates have stepped up, and Michael Vick even rejected his brother's words. Apparently, he knows a little bit about forgiveness.
This is not a word which should ever be used in any form, with an "A" or not. If people want issues like this to go away, the word has to be avoided by all, including those who use it in friendly or familiar manner. In the meantime, mistakes are going to happen. Overcoming ignorance takes time, effort, and a willingness to forgive and provide support. After all, from my perspective, freedom of speech means you have the freedom to be offended from time to time. Of course, it's better to avoid offending people whenever possible.
After all, sometimes ignorance causes us to take action that is misguided and needs to be remedied.
In 1999, a white D.C. official was forced to resign for using a word that sounded like a racial slur. David Howard used the word "niggardly" during a meeting, which a black staffer mistook for an epithet. Webster's Tenth Edition Dictionary defines "niggardly" as "grudgingly mean about spending or granting."
Friday, August 2. 2013
 Re-posted -
Lots of folks think bluefish are barely edible, but they are fit for a king when cooked the day they are caught, full of rich juicy fishy goodness. Mix in a bowl: mayonnaise, lots of chopped fresh ginger, some soy sauce, some salt and pepper, and chopped scallions. Coat both sides of the bluefish filets, then throw on the grill.
The secret to cooking many fish on the grill is to put a layer of aluminum foil on top of the grill, then cut a bunch of slits in the foil with a knife - it allows you to turn it without crumbling. Don't overcook - just 'til it flakes. Sprinkle with more chopped scallions when done on the flesh side, and serve with potato salad and green salad, crusty bread, martinis and champagne, and go to sleep happy, fulfilled, and thankful for God's bounty.
I've been using this recipe ever since I found it in John Hersey's 1987 bestseller "Blues" - a very fine and delightful book about fishing on the Islands - and about Life, of course. They might have it in that good bookstore on the main drag in Nantucket, but I'd be surprised. Anyway, they should.
The Bluefish is the favorite fast-food snack of the giant 500-1500 lb. Bluefin Tuna - a fish which I find inedibly dry and dull except as sushi. However, if you can find "toro" - the fatty belly meat of the Bluefin, which only can be found where Bluefin are regularly caught in Montauk, Cape Cod, and the Islands, season it with salt and pepper and throw that on the grill and it beats the best Kansas steak by a mile.
Ask your fish store up there to save you some. Be careful and use low coals, because it will flame up and burn far more than a steak. The Japanese pay through the nose for it, which is why we can't find toro at our local fishmongers. They ice it and put it on a plane to Japan, and probably eat it raw, which is a shame and a waste because good Yankee smoke and flame reveal its deeper character. Indeed, as with people.
A tip from a reader - you can do swordfish belly meat too - never tried it but it makes good sense.
Thursday, August 1. 2013
Again, as I mentioned in the last AGW/NGC/ACW/NGW update, we're catching a hint of desperation in the air. The North Pole is melting! — except that the slush pond pic they splashed all over the Internet was taken over 300 miles south of the North Pole.
And did you click on the Norilsk link?
Norilsk Breaks Records For Arctic Heat In A New Sign Of Changing Weather Patterns
Yep, them changing weather patterns is finally here as verified by the bikini-clad sunbathers right there before your disbelieving eyes. Sure, the picture was taken what looked to be about 10,000 miles south of Norilsk — but never mind those pesky details!
Well, before we continue, let's make sure any new readers are up to speed on the marvelous variety of science-based global climate models we now have to choose from:
— If you believe the science, then it's obvious that Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) is the villain.
— On the other hand, if you believe the science, then there's no question that Natural Global Cooling (NGC) is the true menace.
— However, if you believe the science, then it's quite apparent that Anthropogenic Chlorofluorocarbonic Warming (ACW) is the real threat.
— But, for those who believe the science, it's crystal-clear that Natural Global Warming (NGW) is what's really goin' on.
Again, it's all about the science, folks, and the wonderful options it provides.
The exciting news today is that responsible parties have finally stepped up and taken control of the problem, leaving all of those biased and subsidized "scientists" out in the cold — so to speak. I think we can all cheer that the issue has finally been removed from the political arena and that clinical, impartial pragmatists are finally in control.
CIA Wants To Control The Weather, Climate Change
The CIA is funding a study examining various ways mankind can geo-engineer the planet -- blocking or limiting the sunlight that reaches the Earth, stripping carbon dioxide from the skies, seeding the clouds and so on.
So they're keeping all options open, as good pragmatists should.
And they have the highest backing our nation can offer:
The project, a panel called “Geoengineering Climate: Technical Evaluation and Discussion of Impacts,” is backed by the National Academy of Sciences, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), NASA -- and the U.S. intelligence community.
Of course, the naysayers and doubters will come out of the woodwork and claim they're just doing it to make a bunch of fat-cat corporations happy, and, while true, at least they're right up front about it:
“All of our sponsors are interested in this topic as a part of the larger climate-change discussion,” he said.
As for why this smart group suddenly stepped to the fore to solve this difficult problem once and for all is easy to understand.
It's for the children.
A 2008 study by the National Intelligence Council concluded that climate change posted a serious threat to national security.
When your great-grandchild doesn't die because she accidentally locked herself out of the house for 35 minutes because she's living in what's been relabeled the Temperate Boiling Zone where a human being can only survive for roughly 30 minutes in the blazing heat, you'll have the CIA to thank for her deliverance.
So, to sum things up at this point:
— If you believe in AGW, then you're comforted to know that smart minds are finally stepping in to solve the problem.
— If you believe in ACW, then you're happy that the worst is over with.
— But if you believe in NGC, then you must be worried that the CIA is doing all it can to ensure the next ice age.
— And if you believe in NGW, then nothing anybody can do is going to make any difference and we're all doomed anyway.
So, on the good/bad meter, we're basically batting .500 at this point. On the other hand, that's good enough for the Hall of Fame.
So we've got that going for us.
Wednesday, July 31. 2013
I said I'd grab a few more pics of my late parents' home before we hurriedly plan to empty it out this week. Here's their living room. I think it is very pleasant, airy and and simple. Cathedral ceiling. A serene feeling. My Dad designed the whole house, and he was not an architect.
Large, wall-length fireplace on the left, with a raised hearth doubling as a bench, and with a 4'X4' antique oil portrait of a prize cow hanging over it.
No TV of course, but a radio for WQXR and a CD player on a bookshelf. Plus a piano in case you really love music enough to try to make some.
Can walk from there to our country 1763 Congregational Church. A nice 20-minute walk in any season, any weather.
Monday, July 29. 2013
As my lad and I reviewed the jewelry and silver components of my parents' estate tonight, I happened to notice that he was not wearing a watch. He said that a watch in the summer just gets sweaty and, besides, who needs one? You just pull out your iPhone, and there's the time.
Just like an old-fashioned pocket watch, I observed. Then I pointed out one of my Grandpa's gold pocket watches on the jewelry list.
Then I had a thought. Why don't these modern phones have some clip-on chain-type things like the watch chains of the old days? It could be a new/old fashion, and useful too.
What do they have in common?
Not much. Until now, as Jesse Spector of the Sporting News tweeted:
Which, of course, led to an email exchange in which we fit Animal House quotes to the event. If you're a fan of Animal House, or baseball, try it. As my brother says, it's like shooting fish in a barrel.
"Rodriguez, we've given this a lot of thought, your Delta Tau Chi name is "Juicer""
Continue reading "Animal House and Anabolic Steroids"
Sunday, July 28. 2013
I'm reading two books right now:
Niall Ferguson's The Great Degeneration
Halldor Laxness' Independent People: An Epic
What are y'all reading?
Friday, July 26. 2013
Collectively, our readers seem to know about everything.
I am having battery problems. I do not understand batteries. I think the main purpose of these batteries is ignition. Or are they for generating sparks too? I am ignorant.
Anyway, I have beeb experiencing a rash of dead batteries.
This excellent, heavy-duty baby takes a gel 6 V. battery. It died over the winter. I tried to recharge it but that didn't work. The guy said not to leave its batteries out in the winter.
A also have one of these cool trimmer-mowers which are fine and easier to use for weeds and tall grass in tight or steeply-sloped areas. It's like a gas-powered scythe. Luckily or not, it's a pull-start so no battery issue there.
Our Farmall tractor takes a regular 12 V car battery, so that's simple. Naturally, the battery dies over the winter from disuse, but is sometimes rechargeable by jumping it. However, our old Ford tractor takes a 6 V which will not hold a charge after jumping it and running it for hours.
I don't like that because I sometimes stall out on hills, and don't want to leave the tractor stuck outdoors. Do I need to buy a new 6 V tractor battery every Spring?
Battery advice please, dear readers.
Wednesday, July 24. 2013
I posted yesterday on Why complain to your college about campus crime?
Law enforcement is simply not something that schools do. It's not something they should even attempt. There's a perfect example today: USC Student: Campus Police Said I Wasn't Raped Because He Didn't Orgasm.
I guess that's wasn't what that idiot on The View would term "rape-rape."
This seemingly naive or reckless young girl (which is not to blame her) should have called the cops, and let the DA sort out the facts and the details.
Perhaps the issue is that college kids these days do not view themselves as part of the big adult world yet.
Tuesday, July 23. 2013
Sounds like a dull topic? It isn't.
I have always countered people who complain about parking with the observation that they should feel fortunate to live where many other people want to be instead of some dying place where nobody wants to be and there is nothing to do.
I mostly avoid malls since internet shopping took hold, but you never really hear people complain about a 5 or ten-minute walk from a garage to their destination in the mall. Similarly when you drive into Manhattan and usually require a lengthy - but scenic - hike to your destination. Same with a stadium.
When street parking is available, people seem to think differently.
Three pieces on the topic from The Old Urbanist:
On parking in Norwalk, CT: Common Garage Parking in Practice, Part III: On-street Problems
In Charlotte: Common Garage Parking, In Practice: Part II
In Toronto: Common Garage Parking, In Practice
Sunday, July 21. 2013
It's a dreadful task to break up one's parents' household but, with my Dad's death two weeks ago, we need to get it on the market before Labor Day in order to sell it before the lengthy driveway and parking area need snow-plowing and shoveling, and are covered with ice.
My parents raised most of us kids in this sunny and cheery 6-BR contemporary which my Dad designed, and my parents remained there until they died.
The realtors want the house emptied out, heavy-duty cleaned, and floors waxed, in the next 3 weeks. We 5 kids will draw a number out of a hat, then pick stuff we want in order (jewelry, silver, furniture, chatchkes, art, the Steinway, etc.), then call in Good Will to take whatever they can use. Then comes the dumpster and the cleaning crew. Thus does a home devolve into a house.
I took some photos to help my memory of home when my Alzheimer's arrives.
This is their kitchen with its fireplace with a wood stove insert at the far end of the kitchen area. The only sign that old people lived there, I think, is having things scotch-taped to the cabinets. Plus their refusal to put a/c in the house. That baby picture I was taking home was of me. I don't really want it, but I don't want to throw it away. Everybody has some stuff like that.
The garbage can was to empty the fridge:
Thursday, July 11. 2013
My, how these things do evolve.
Bulldog and I were yakking away in email the other day. Such terms as "loads of sugar", "M&Ms" and "Hershey Kisses" were bandied about, an indication of the somber tone the fabled bloggers of Maggie's Farm take on when discussing life's most serious issues in private.
We got to talking about the recent Korean-owned Asiana Air crash at SFO and whether cultural conditioning played any role. I mentioned I was thinking of doing a short post on it. As I said:
1. If Asians are involved, and
2. it seems inaction was the sole cause of the crash
then it's a pretty good guess where, deep down, the problem lies.
This was just after the crash where, with everything else seeming to be functioning normally, simple inaction was the only thing left on the table.
Bulldog (known as 'Big Drool' to his bar buddies) mentioned author Malcolm Gladwell, who had tied together two Korean Air crashes due to "cockpit culture", along with an Avianca crash; a company based in Colombia where the same 'militaristic hierarchy' existed in the airline industry.
So, thanks to Droolie, I then had to track down this Gladwell character and I came across this:
Gladwell did not return a request for comment, but in summarizing his ideas for Fortune magazine in November 2008, he said Korean Air's problem at the time was not old planes or poor crew training. "What they were struggling with was a cultural legacy, that Korean culture is hierarchical," he said.
"You are obliged to be deferential toward your elders and superiors in a way that would be unimaginable in the U.S." he added. That's dangerous when it comes to modern airplanes, said Gladwell, because such sophisticated machines are designed to be piloted by a crew that works together as a team of equals, remaining unafraid to point out mistakes or disagree with a captain.
Both Gladdy and the writer are one-third right.
Yes, it's cultural, but not in the way they indicate, and not in the conclusion they reach. But we'll get to that.
Of course, then I had to watch the 'Mayday' episodes of the three big crashes the article backs up Gladdy's claim with, and that's when this post took yet another leap as I realized how wrong both The Gladman and his adoring acolytes were.
Then, wiping my fevered brow, I realized the horrid truth that since I was the one with all of the aforementioned 'Mayday' episodes at hand, it was up to me to grab my video editor and put it all together. In other words, one quick flurry of emails with Droolie and this went from a 1-clip, 250-word 'behind the scenes' peek at the Asiana crash to a 5-clip, 3,120-word video essay.
Like I said, how these things do evolve!
Continue reading "Culture in the cockpit"
Wednesday, July 10. 2013
 Aging is not for sissies, the saying goes, because something is always going wrong. However, Oliver Sacks is delighted to be turning 80:
The Joy of Old Age. (No Kidding.)
As a kid, I spent one summer trying to get the hang of this near-impossible, absurd, pointless, and extremely fatiguing stroke. Never could.
In the summertime, it is fun, though, to see the kids' swim teams do their best with it and, at high levels, it's more interesting to watch than any other stroke.
I found myself wondering who was to blame for this monstrosity, which seems to have been invented around 1933.
Here's the history of the "Fly."
Tuesday, July 9. 2013
For several years, I've felt the need to drop most of the spare pounds I've been carrying. At six feet tall and weighing anywhere from 208 to 215, I was never obese but I was definitely overweight. My doctor would ask the same question every year, "You don't look like you're over 200, where are you hiding it?"
It was true. I am naturally thin and once I reached about 185 pounds, the difference between that weight and 210 was not terribly noticeable. Except to me. I was slower on the tennis court, my back gave me problems on a regular basis, and my clothing might still fit but was awfully tight. I used to play two man beach volleyball in tournaments, but there was no way I could even consider this after I passed the 185 mark. I would have been worn out in no time.
I'm pleased to say I recently returned to the 185 pound level and I have a goal of 178 pounds. I remember crossing the 200 line the day I was heading down to attend the Preakness, and feeling proud of that small achievement. So far, I've lost 25 pounds in about 16 weeks.
The only sure and healthy way to lose weight is diet and exercise. However, there are more diets on the market than you can shake a stick at and plenty of exercise gurus who want you to give them money. I chose to focus on reducing caloric intake rather than just removing carbs. I wasn't interested in changing my diet radically.
My method was to engage portion control and self-discipline. I downloaded an iPhone app called "LoseIt". It's free, and all you do is set your goals (I wanted to lose 1 1/2 pounds per week). It's simple. You log your exercise and the food you eat. It will calculate the carbohydrates, protein and fats as well as the calories. I've had an average intake of about 20% protein and 50% fat for the last 16 weeks. I've been going to the gym at least 4 times a week for an hour and a half and mixing bike work with lifting weights. Early on, I did more cardio, and as I lost weight I began to focus on muscle development (which can burn slightly more calories over the course of the day).
There are plenty of apps which do the same thing, and ultimately it will come down to desire, discipline and will-power. I haven't skimped, I haven't starved, and I haven't changed my diet dramatically. All it took was the realization that this would be a good thing to do for myself. I've learned that being aware of what you eat, and counting the calories, actually helps you eat less. Weight Watchers is on to something, it would seem. I don't see the need to pay anyone to help me lose the weight. Except the gym, and only because I sit at a desk for at least 40 hours a week, and usually more.
Tuesday, July 2. 2013
Journey Through the Checkout Racks. One quote:
Start with something that hasn’t changed: American women’s obsession with their figures. The January 1963 Redbook featured a cover line on a 10-DAY DIET TO HELP YOU RECOVER FROM THE HOLIDAYS; the February 2013 issue cajoles readers to “get to your best weight ever” and promises “the plan and the push you need.” The April 1963 Ladies’ Home Journal pledged ideas on how to “dine well on 300 calories”; the February 2013 issue offers a more cheerful take on weight control: “Yay! Retire your fat pants forever.” One shudders to think of the pounds lost and gained over five decades of readership...
Monday, July 1. 2013
 Options. That's what it's all about.
The more options we have, the better off we are. It's as simple as that.
So, imagine how thrilling it was to discover that bad ol' carbon dioxide was no longer suspected in the race to see which substance (carbon dioxide, ozone, second-hand smoke, liberal thought) would destroy the planet first.
I'm speaking, of course, of the latest discoveries in the field of Anthropogenic Chlorofluorocarbonic Warming:
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are to blame for global warming since the 1970s and not carbon dioxide, according to new research from the University of Waterloo published in the International Journal of Modern Physics B this week.
CFCs are already known to deplete ozone, but in-depth statistical analysis now shows that CFCs are also the key driver in global climate change, rather than carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
The verdict is in, the debate is over.
"Most conventional theories expect that global temperatures will continue to increase as CO2 levels continue to rise, as they have done since 1850. What's striking is that since 2002, global temperatures have actually declined - matching a decline in CFCs in the atmosphere," Professor Lu said. "My calculations of CFC greenhouse effect show that there was global warming by about 0.6 °C from 1950 to 2002, but the earth has actually cooled since 2002. The cooling trend is set to continue for the next 50-70 years as the amount of CFCs in the atmosphere continues to decline."
So, while granting that it'll take another half-century for things to return to normal, at least we're headed in the right direction. Thank goodness we can put that little problem to rest!
If you, yourself, happen to blunder upon one of those old, outdated "global warming" articles, please inform everybody there that the latest scientific evidence is in and that they no longer have to worry. It's all getting better. I'm sure this will come as a big relief to everyone.
If, however, you, yourself, remain one of those 'skeptics' we read about in Time Magazine and you're convinced that, despite the latest science, Anthropogenic Chlorofluorocarbonic Warming is not the bad guy here, well, remember what I said about 'options'?
The most wonderful aspect of the climate debate at this moment in time, and a point simply no one could contend, is how many choices we now have:
— If you believe the science, then it's clear that Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) is the villain.
— If, however, you believe the science, then there's no question that Natural Global Colding (NGC) is the true menace.
— On the other hand, if you believe the science, then it's obvious that Anthropogenic Chlorofluorocarbonic Warming (ACW) is the real threat.
— And, for those who believe the science, it's crystal-clear that Natural Global Warming (NGW) is what's really goin' on.
It's all about the science, folks, and the wonderful options it provides.
Sunday, June 30. 2013
In British Columbia. h/t Adrenalist
Friday, June 28. 2013
How will I die: The high cost of death
However, death is still slightly cheaper than divorce.
Thursday, June 27. 2013
We recently posted the report that Google is not particularly interested in interviewing American grads with college degrees.
The fact is that the meaning of Higher Ed has changed in the past 100 years in the US. In 1900, around 2% of Americans had BA degrees. That was a meaningful socio-cultural marker, but as the numbers now exceed 35%, and as even the most elite schools do not seem to know what their mission is, it no longer means very much more than a piece of paper required to manage a McDonald's store.
For a couple of decades, as BAs became commonplace, graduate degrees seemed to become more meaningful and popular as markers. Now, however, we are overrun with unemployed and marginally-employed MAs, PhDs, JDs, D. Divs, and MBAs with huge loans and no way to pay them off. And, assuming that MOOCs begin to take off thanks to the internet, there will be far less need for Profs.
Voegli has written a very important essay on the topic: The Higher Education Hustle
One quote:
How do all the other tenured, morally self-congratulatory educators live with the knowledge that many of their students, after having had their narrow certainties and provincial visions broken down, face years of indentured servitude? We can begin to understand by thinking of the 2,774 U.S. institutions that (as of 2010) grant bachelor's degrees as being in the credentials business rather than the education business. The Daily Beast's Megan McArdle, summarizing an interview with economist Bryan Caplan, points out that it's "actually fairly easy to get a Princeton education for free, as long as you don't want the degree: just walk in off the street and sit in on the classes. It's unlikely that a professor will kick you out, or even notice." No one does this, of course, since no matter how much you might have learned auditing courses, your degree-less self will fare no better in the job market than will the next autodidact.
Many students do the opposite, however: earning, or in any case receiving, college degrees after learning as little as possible. After all, writes McArdle, college students "cheer when class is cancelled. This makes no sense if the goal is accumulation of human capital. In no other business are customers excited to get less than they were promised."
Large public universities, where millions of Americans enroll, are especially conducive to the avoidance of intellectual exertion and achievement. As John Merrow, a journalist specializing in education, discovered in 2005 after investigating academic life at the University of Arizona, "learning seems to be optional." Many undergraduates, in the words of one administrator he interviewed, are "‘maze smart'—they have figured out what they have to do to get through: buy the book, find out what's going to be on the exam and stay invisible." Another spoke of the "mutual nonaggression pact," in which the professor gives the students high grades for mediocre work, and the students give the professor generous evaluations for indifferent teaching. As Arizona's dean of students acknowledged, "We have a lot of students whose motivation for coming here is to get a good job. They think, ‘How do I get the grades?' instead of trying to learn."
Like most of us Maggie's Farmers, I get my education now via a pre-MOOC. If you like to learn, that's what you do. It used to be called The Teaching Company, but now it's called Great Courses. Once you're hooked, you will never waste time on TV or movies again.
Books are good, too. Some students give it up after a paper credential, but some use it as a launching pad for a lifetime of curiosity and intellectual pursuits. In my view, the latter are the only ones deserving of a liberal arts education.
Wednesday, June 26. 2013
Many of us privileged baby boomers were fortunate enough to receive a rigorous classical education while the masses received the fad du jour from the teachers' colleges in the government schools.
A classical education is not dead: Classical schools put Plato over iPad
Tuesday, June 25. 2013
Ran across a post on ZeroHedge last Friday, about the emasculation of men in the US today. The post itself was not particularly enlightening, but the topic is rather interesting. It's a theme my father and I discuss somewhat frequently.
What does it mean to be a man? There's the Y chromosome, and some private parts. But we are different from women in other ways, and we are under attack, in my view. I suspect one of the reasons we're under attack is because many men were raised with minimal male influence over the last 50 years or so. Divorce may play a huge role in the current attack on male society. My father was not your typical 'guy's guy'. He didn't play a huge role in my upbringing until late in my teens, because my parents were divorced. His personal tastes are less Hemingway and more Fitzgerald (though he enjoys Hemingway in a literary sense). He is definitely a red-blooded American man. He does the lawn, can use a chain saw, and enjoys a good fire. He doesn't share too many of his emotions, except when it's really necessary. I was lucky, however, to have several uncles who stepped in immediately, and later a stepfather, to fill the vacuum of a male presence. Most of the younger men in my office could use a lesson or two on being more masculine, though.
I think it is fairly common for commercials, and TV in general, to exhibit men as outlandishly stupid beings. Men on TV are usually infantile, unable to think about anyone but themselves, engaging in moronic behaviors, if not generally portrayed as drooling neanderthals. The media has gone out of its way to diminish the male psyche. It's evident in many ways. Why are there "Women's Studies" programs at universities and no "Men's Studies"?
I also think many high-profile men today are effete snobs, starting with our president and Joe Biden.
I'm all for women's rights, by the way. So it's not like I'm opposed to women in the workplace, seeing them succeed or even earning a just wage. But I don't understand why, every day, I'm told I need to think, act, or behave more like a woman. Women and men are different, and those differences are positive things. We complement each other extremely well. I don't believe women are more capable or smarter than men. I've taken classes (on the recommendation of women) on "Emotional Intelligence". I was underwhelmed, but I can see why women view the concept of "emotional intelligence" as important. To me, the recommendations were really just another way of saying "Because you're a man, you're incomplete."
Saturday, June 22. 2013
 Most people don't need one very often, but they are darn handy when you do. Using the magic of leverage combined with the human arm and the ratchet, one can apply remarkable power either vertically as a hoist or horizontally for pulling.
We are using a come-along today to install some new barbed wire in a 50-acre field. Not too tight, not too loose. Most of the posts are solid enough but the wire helps hold them in place and we use trees for the machine. We used to have an electrified fence but the barbed works fine. It's for the cattle, not for the horses.
If you wanted to, you could pull a tree down with one of these, but a chain saw makes better sense. Pictured is a 1.5 ton lever, but they come in varied powers.
Tugit makes good ones. Good, cheap, powerful tool. With a little grease and some pine boards you can easily move your shed, chicken coop, or outhouse with it.
Wednesday, June 19. 2013
When I was a kid, the Good Humor Man came down the street after suppertime, ringing his bell. I was partial to the vanilla thing coated with nuts, and the orange-raspberry popsicles.
How that guy made a living, just in summertime, with those 25 cent treats, is beyond me. Dad would give us each a quarter for them, but not every night. Maybe once a week. You would hear the jingle, and kids would evacuate their houses. Anyway, the union and gas prices put an end to that charming tradition.
Now they have the more urban Mr. Softee. He does not come into our village.
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