Friday, March 18. 2011
My friend Mark Safranski's blog ZenPundit is one of my favorites. Its focus is on foreign policy, and more specifically on military affairs. The breadth and eclecticism of its links and discussions, agree or not, are of the highest order and center on rational discussion of complex issues. Most of us value the rational discussions we have, unfortunately though not often enough, because all parties come away with new appreciations and better understandings.
I found this graphic there, a flowchart of whether you are having a rational discussion.
Thursday, March 17. 2011
 O'Reilly and the Big McNeill (Donneil Kennedy) The day I met O'Reilly it was 32 below; The sparks were flying off me pick, I was up to me neck in snow. His footsteps shook the basement slab, I saw the sky go black As he roared out, "I'm your ganger now, so dig until you crack.'' He was bigger than a dumper truck with legs like concrete piles, His face was like a load of bricks, his teeth were six inch files. His eyes, they shone like danger lamps, his hands were tough as steel, But a man as small as that was never a match for Big McNeill. When tea came round at dinner-time, he grabbed a gallon tin, But I said, "Better put that down, if you would save your skin. You may be called O'Reilly but I will to you reveal That the cup you've got your hands on, it belongs to Big McNeill.'' Well, he laughed at me and carried on as if I hadn't spoke. He said, ``A man from Dublin Town can always take a joke.'' But when he picked a shovel up, wee Jimmy gave a squeal "You'd better leave that teaspoon, it belongs to Big McNeill.'' Well, everything the ganger touched we said to leave alone, Or else McNeill would grind him up and make plaster of his bones. At last O'Reilly lost his head and said he'd make a meal Out of any labourer in the squad, especially Big McNeill. We said McNeill was sick in bed and told him where to go. The boys all downed their tools and went along to watch the show, And when we got to Renfrew Street, wee Jimmy danced a reel, To see him thundering at the door to fight the Big McNeill. When the ganger got inside he saw a monster on the bed, A mound as big as a stanchion base with a barrel size of head. He punched it and he thumped it and he hit about with zeal, 'Til the missus cried: "Don't hurt the child, or else I'll tell McNeill.'' He was bigger than a dumper truck With legs like concrete piles, His face was like a load of bricks, His teeth were six inch files, His eyes, they shone like danger lamps, His hands were tough as steel, But a man as small as that was never A match for Big McNeill.
Wednesday, March 16. 2011
Education loans: The Sweeping Federal Takeover You May Not Know About. One quote:
...perhaps the most troubling aspect of this new federal intrusion in the higher education marketplace is its underlying assumptions about the best way to control college costs. Whether it has been efforts to increase Pell Grants, or now this student loan fix, President Obama and his allies in Congress, driven I believe by the best of intentions, have assumed that increasing federal aid will help students better afford college. And there is no doubt that college costs have skyrocketed recently, more than doubling the rate of inflation over the past twenty years. However, every time the federal government has increased aid to students, colleges have turned around and raised tuition and fees accordingly.
Similarly from Michael Macchiarola's ''Too Big to Fail'' Goes to College:
Aided by the government-encouraged extension of credit, education costs have skyrocketed. In fact, it is fair to describe today's higher education price tag as having been reduced to a formula - where tuition seems to equal all the money a student can pay plus all the money a student can conceivably borrow. And, this same access-for-all government policy has made loan-eligible middle- and lower-income students easy prey for aggressive higher education and student-loan marketing. The end result has been an unprecedented, debt-fueled wealth transfer from students of modest means to the increasingly affluent higher education industry and its student-loan lenders. Unfortunately, as this damage continues to reveal its depth, its consequences are likely to become more evident by the day.
A generation of students has been reduced to the equivalent of the underwater homeowner: resigned to a fate where the amount owed to finance their schooling might be greater than the value of the education they received (and, therefore, beyond their capacity to repay it).
Government student loans and grants are little more than indirect handouts to the academic institutions in whose pockets they end up.
Tuesday, March 15. 2011
The BD family contains avid snorkelers, but only Mrs. BD is a skilled scuba diver. But even snorkeling, she can swim down 20 feet easily to inspect something. Loves it.
But about the peas. On good advice we bought a big bag of frozen peas at the Cabo WalMart, filled a plastic water bottle with them and then added water to the bottle. When you are diving or snorkeling near rocks or a reef, just squirt a few peas out of that bottle. You will be swarmed with tropical fish. Works like a dream. Like tossing bread to pigeons in a park. Fish were crashing into me, some over a foot long, and one bit Mrs. BD while trying to get to the pea bottle. Very cool thing to try. Wish I had had an underwater camera.
We had to go on a goofy party boat to get to a good snorkeling area, and they provided the equipment. Unlimited free drinks. It was jolly. On the way back, Mrs. BD danced the Macarena and YMCA without touching a drop of drink (not a photo of her). I didn't, and I did.
Monday, March 14. 2011
Met the pupette in NYC yesterday to take her to brunch and to take her to look at some Kandinsky at the Guggenheim. Clever of those Guggenheims to buy so many Kandinskys before he became too well-known, but you have to figger they got rich by being perceptive.
Readers know that I am a Kandinsky fan.
Mrs. BD wanted to get lunch first at the Viennese cafe, Cafe Sabarsky, in the Neue Gallery up the street. Having been in Vienna last summer, I can say that it sure feels like Vienna in there. Wonderful. Gallery worth visiting too.
A few more pics below -
Continue reading "Bratwurst and Kandinsky"
Sunday, March 13. 2011
Not that he needs one. There's a line waiting down the sidewalk for supper at Maro's, for his simple menu of grilled shrimp and lobster. And for his Bulldog cocktails. It's like a rustic Cape Cod seafood joint.
It's not our Yankee lobster - it's the lobster that grows down there. Yes, you order by the kilo.
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Continue reading "We promised Maro a free ad"
Via Tigerhawk's A short note on the sunset of gallantry via Good Sh-t's Being a Man, we recall Harvey Mansfield's Manliness. That that review:
The world of gender studies has never before had to confront anyone quite like this solitary rogue male professor of politics. Critics will rail against his excesses and feminists will be indignant and offended. But many women will be charmed by his effrontery, and grateful for the truth and wisdom in Mansfield's elegant treatise.
Every guy aspires to be a strong, gallant, valiant fellow. It's not easy to do.
Via Ace:
Massachusetts passed a law in 1663 making the wasting of time a crime: “No person, householder or other shall spend his time idly or unprofitably, under pain of such punishment as the court shall think meet to inflict.” A century later, the Boston-born Benjamin Franklin (“time is money”) proposed a version of daylight saving time as a joke to stop slothful Parisians from sleeping in. But it was an English Puritan, Ralph Thoresby, who invented an early alarm clock.
"Unprofitably"? Maggie's Farm would have been in trouble in 1663.
Saturday, March 12. 2011
Once the US was the New World of promise. After World War II, with optimism and skills, we successfully led the Free World. Since the surrender of Vietnam, and the power of a masochistic elite became entrenched in our media and academia, with a brief and fragile intermission for Morning In America, we've become the Lazy World. With the embattlement of our economy and the fecklessness of our current administration, we're the Retrenching World. What's next? Wayne's World or The New Beginning at keeping the promise?
Your thoughts?
Friday, March 11. 2011
Good feminism war fun, at The Other McCain. The war between the sexes genders will never end, will it? It's as old as mankind humankind itself.
We're just differently constructed, brains and bodies. Everybody knows that. Still, we need eachother.
As I mentioned earlier, we stayed at Pueblo Bonita Sunset Beach. Nice place. No obnoxious LA celebs, just regular folks but well beyond the also obnoxious college crowd. You can see why I gave it the nickname, because everything there looked like this. Toto, I don't think we're in Maine anymore.
Tuesday, March 8. 2011
 No, Virginia, there is not a little pill to fix everything that ails your heart and soul. It's the new fad, however. Your soul isn't troubled: you just have a little chemistry problem. Better living through chemistry!
In the New York Times, Talk Doesn’t Pay, So Psychiatry Turns Instead to Drug Therapy.
It's not just about money. It's more complicated than that, but it's all very sad, in my opinion. I will not go into all of the reasons now other than to say that any doctor, Psychiatrist or not, who doesn't take the time to know you, and just wants to know your disease, isn't worth your time or your hard-earned money.
OK, now I'm depressed by my profession. Where's the pill for that?
Walter Russell Mead is rapidly becoming one of my favorite Liberals. This from Paul Krugman Gets It Half Right:
Moving from “time-served” processes of certification (four year BA degrees, three years in law or divinity school) to certification based on achievement can make education dramatically cheaper. It is sheer madness that most students spend 12 years in school, and another four in college. Why exactly should all kids the same age be in the same grade? One size does not fit all; why shouldn’t high school kids go free when they can pass the equivalent of a GED? And for that matter, shouldn’t school districts encourage and reward teachers and schools that are able to graduate students faster? Among other things, this would allow some of the resources not spent on babysitting high-achieving kids to go to kids who really need the help. How “right wing” is that?
The same goes for college. Oxford and Cambridge graduate their students in three years — yet few people think British college grads are less accomplished than their American peers. What is sacred about the four year BA? Wouldn’t a shift to an exam based system (students who make qualifying scores on the appropriate exams would be certified as graduates) allow more people to advance farther at less cost? And there’s an element of social justice here: the kid from a no-name school who scores high on the exam will have an edge on the Ivy League kid who partied through college and just scraped by.
These are things I have been preaching for years.
(Good comments here. Thank you.)
Entry porch of the place where we stayed, Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach on the Pacific side. Lots of people with kids, but elegant, beautifully-designed, built for the ages, friendly, simple, and utterly free of any tackiness. I nicknamed the place "The Hanging Gardens of Babylon" because it's built into an oceanside cliff.
A few of my random Cabo notes:
- Baja California Sur is a desert, dominated by cactus forest habitat. There are always rocky mountains in the distance, running north-south down the long peninsula. There are no rainy days and no cloudy days except in August and September. That's what creates the huge arroyos and canyons.
- The weather is said to be similar to that of Palm Springs, but with a constant sea breeze. Cool desert nights. No humidity.
- Besides the place where we stayed, other resort hotels that seemed especially appealing were Hacienda Del Mar and Palmilla (with golf) in San Jose.
- Cabo is famous for its fishing, deep-sea and coastal. Lots of tournaments. I like to know that the Marlin and Sailfish are out there, but I don't feel much of a need to hassle a fish anymore.
- In the winter months, whales are everywhere for calving season. Gray Whales and Humpbacks. Whether you go fishing, whale-watching, or just sit on the beach, they'll be out there. On the morning we left, I watched, from our terrace, a baby Humpback leaping and cavorting like a puppy.
- Our place had seven pools, some with jacuzzi jets in the corners and some with swim-up bars. We swam in a couple of them, but I am not a pool person and did not sit by one for a minute.
- I'm not much of a resort guy either, but I have to admit that they do know how to make a vacation as comfortable, painless, and convenient as this life can be. I am adaptable, and can adjust to that for a while before I feel like chopping some wood or doing something useful.
- Overheard at night in a pool between two Texas guys with drinks in hand (the only time I heard any crude talk at all): "My f-ing wife, her neighbor gets a f-ing 20-foot Christmas tree, and she has to have a 40-foot tree. Where the f-ing f- does she thinks this money comes from?" "My wife, it's the f-ing shoes. Thousand dollar shoes, she wears them once and tells me they pinch." "Yeah, well last week my f-ing wife..."
- Once you get off the main drag, it's dirt roads everywhere. Everything is coated with dust until rain comes in August.
- Odd as it seems, Cabo is only a 2-hr time difference from the East Coast.
- The Cabo area seems to mainly attract wholesome people from the Midwest and the West Coast. I suppose it serves similar purposes to those the Caribbean, Bermuda, and Florida do for Easterners. We met a number of delightful people, and spent a good evening having drinks and learning to play Mexican Train Dominoes with them. It's a good game, and you don't have to think too hard.
- Cabo San Lucas is on the southernmost tip of the long Baja peninsula, 1000 miles south of LA. My lad drove from LA to Cabo once. Mexican roads. I would not drive those highways at night - no guardrails or shoulders, cliffs, constant detours, cattle on the highways, etc.
- The ocean-side beaches, alas, are mostly not swimmable but are surfable. They tend to have a steep drop-off with powerful churning surf, strong currents, whirlpools, and undertows. Easy for a strong swimmer to lose control. The Sea of Cortez is entirely swimmable, and swim in it we did. Mrs. BD and I like cold salt water with waves. Chillier than one might expect down there. Most people use the heated pools, and make like a Manatee.
- The old part of Cabo San Lucas and the marina are predictably touristy and honky-tonk, with some fine, relatively inexpensive restaurants. Lively at night. Almost all of the resort hotels are on the Sea of Cortez side, so if you like lots of activity, guys selling faux-Mexican junk, crowded beaches, water taxis, Sea-Doos, girl-watching, boozed-up college kids, etc., that's your place. You have to go to that side to swim in the sea though, which is what we like to do.
- You get the feeling in Mexico that many jobs are either partly completed, never completed, or just abandoned. The ramshackle, third world look becomes part of the dusty charm after a day or two. On the other hand, the jobs which involve the gringos, like the resorts and vacation homes, are done very well and with fine craftsmanship, especially the stonework.
- We saw little of what we think of as "Mexican food" in the East. Yes, they have taco stands all over for the workmen, but the food we had was excellent with nary a refried bean. Not much guacamole either, but sliced avocado on top of lots of things. Saw no lemons, but those little limes are always sliced on a plate.
Some Mexico photo dumps later.
Monday, March 7. 2011
We go places and take photos to save our readers the trouble, hassle, and expense of travelling around. We do it for you!
Rolled back home to Maggie's HQ in Yankeeland at 3:15 this morning after several lengthy flight delays, stuck irritably in the Houston airport. I only have time to post one pic now - our hotel suite's terrace overlooking the quiet and peaceful Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas (as opposed to the Sea of Cortez side). Very pleasant to step into your palatial suite (His and Hers bathrooms, daily sheet changes, hot and cold-running help, chilled Pacificos on hand with lime slices, etc) and to see this sight (decadent hot tub out of sight on the left):
I found Baja Sur to be interesting in many ways. I'll get to my many pics and thoughts about it over the next few days. And yes, Capt. Tom and Dr. Merc, I did do a little fishin' - but just coastal fishing for dinner.
Morning links later today, if I can get my brain in order.
Sunday, March 6. 2011
Gimme The Axe is one of the kids in Carl Sandburg's remarkable American fairy tales, The Rootabaga Stories. Tales told to his daughters.
Welcome to Rootabaga Country--where the railroad tracks go from straight to zigzag, where the pigs wear bibs, and where the Village of Cream Puffs floats in the wind. You'll meet baby balloon pickers, flummywisters, corn fairies, and blue foxes--and if you're not careful, you may never find your way back home.
That was Publisher's Weekly.
ZIGZAG RAILROAD, THE PIGS WITH BIBS ON, THE CIRCUS CLOWN OVENS, THE VILLAGE OF LIVER AND ONIONS, THE VILLAGE OF CREAM PUFFS, HOW THEY BROK AWAY TO GO TO THE ROOTABAGA COUNTRY, HOW THEY BRING BACK THE VILLAGE OF CREAM PUFFS WHEN THE WIND BLOWS IT AWAY, HOW THE FIVE RUST RATS HELPED FIND A NEW VILLAGE, HOW SIX PIGEONS CAME BACK TO HATRACK THE HORSE AFTER MANY ACCIDENTS AND SIX TELEGRAMS, ....
I hope your kids did not grow up deprived this whimsical Americana. In fact, I think I enjoyed hearing them read outloud more than my kids did.
Instead of reading the books, I'd recommend tracking down the audio versions with Carl Sandburg reading them himself. It's pure delight, and his reading sticks in the mind most pleasantly - unlike most things in life.
"Do you want to buy the ticket with the blue flanch to go all the way and come back, or do you want to buy the ticket with the yellow flanch to go all the way, and never come back?"
Saturday, March 5. 2011
Are all photographers just people who like to make pictures but are too lazy to learn to paint? Who just want immediate gratification?
That topic came up over cocktails with a friend last night. He is an avid amateur photographer who has been taking a watercolor course at night. He told me painting is teaching him to see.
Churchill at the easel:
Here's a vacation idea: Villas in Tuscany or Umbria. Not expensive, either. Chefs available to do the cooking.
Thursday, March 3. 2011
A reader thought this might be of interest: A City of Neighborhoods. (Adjust the % scale to see it in detail.)
I hate to admit that, while I know my way around Manhattan fairly well, the other boroughs are a mostly mystery and an adventure for me unless we are talking about Peter Lugar's, the BAM, Yankee Stadium, the Tennis Center, Jamaica Bay National Wildlife Refuge - and the airports.
Read all about Ashley Madison:
After spending several years as a sports agent at Chicago's Interperformances, Biderman founded Ashley Madison in 2002, naming the company after the two most popular names for baby girls that year. A large chunk of his work as an agent involved helping professional basketball players juggle their wives and mistresses, so when he read somewhere that 30 percent of users of Internet dating services were pretending to be single when they weren't, a light went on, pointing the way to an underserved online niche market. What would happen, Biderman thought, if cheaters had a website all their own?
Clever entrepreneurs, but I wonder how Biderman's Mom and Dad feel about his business.
The natural desire for novelty and excitement in romance and sex is always with us. It takes a while to realize that the new one is, well, just another deeply flawed person too. And for them to realize the same about you.
In my work, I tend to deal with the grim fallout of such adventures so I tend to be biased against acting on romantic temptations. Unlike the "sophisticated" Europeans and Asians, Americans tend to expect vows to be deadly serious. Especially church vows.
I say "tend to." Here are some US infidelity stats. Relatively few American marriages survive adultery, and those that do have some permanent damage.
Another data point, from this site:
Medical field(s) with the highest divorce rate: Psychiatrists and marriage counselors. Ouch.
Carter at First Things:
I’ve been mad at just about anything you can imagine.
Except unicorns. I’ve never been angry at unicorns.
Wednesday, March 2. 2011
How did Colombia become the second-largest flower exporter in the world? There's a story in it, at Smithsonian.
 I am always behind the curve on gizmos. I was so pleased with the Keurig machine at the inn we stayed at a few weekends ago that Mrs. BD was moved to buy one for us - really for me - with spare miles.
We usually consume only half of each pot of coffee we make, except on weekends. I can drink coffee that has been sitting around for 8 hours, but it isn't my favorite.
My beef with those Keurig cups is that they haven't made a deal yet with Dunkin' for their terrible but comfortably familiar coffee, or with Chock full of Nuts for the same, or with Starbucks, Bustelo, Gorilla, or any of the good Italian brands. Those Green Mountain coffees don't do it for me except in a pinch at a minimart.
Their selection is lame, but I'll wait.
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