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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Friday, September 7. 2018Gilder on life after GoogleWe rarely link postcasts, but this one is worth it. (h/t. reader)
Posted by Bird Dog
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
at
14:41
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Wednesday, September 5. 2018Nike - A Massive FAILI'm not commenting that Nike's Kaepernick ad will hurt them financially. So far, it has hurt them (in their stock price) but people are people and will buy things for a variety of reasons. Using Kaepernick as a 'theme' is, however, polarizing on many levels. For some people, the ad may spur sales. For many others, the ad will lead them to spurn the brand. If we look back at the Chick-fil-A and In 'n Out 'boycotts', we're resolved to recognize boycotts which are designed to exact retribution will often result in exactly nothing to harm a firm. The difference with Nike was their ad is not a perceived slight. It's deliberately offensive. Nike raised the stakes in the marketing wars, and I don't think what they did will benefit them. This wasn't just a misguided statement or an ill-conceived donation. This was taking the Social Justice Warrior mentality and turning it into and ad. It's big question - can social justice be branded? Can the "revolution" of Progressive Thought be promoted in an ad campaign. I'd say no, and the fruits of this campaign may have people talking about Nike...but Nike doesn't need people to be talking about them in this fashion. Let's start from the beginning. Kaepernick and other players have the right to kneel during the anthem. We all do. Excoriating them for this is silly, uninformed, and ignores the right to free speech. So set that aside. Let's discuss the real problem, which is the outcome of that decision to kneel, because that's where Nike messed up. They took a relatively benign issue, and amped it up on steroids. The NFL has a Game Day Operations Policy it chose to not implement, which stipulates players which do not stand for the anthem MAY be fined. Not enforcing this has hurt the NFL's image and proved it to be a business at the mercy of its employees' political views. Try breaking YOUR employers' policies and see what happens. Good luck with that. But, hey - it's the NFL, and these guys are "STARS". So yeah, I guess if you have no backbone, you can ignore your own policies and assume everything will turn out fine. Continue reading "Nike - A Massive FAIL"
Posted by Bulldog
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
at
16:08
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Tuesday, September 4. 2018Woodstock at 49
I was only 7 at the time. I remember it as 'an event'. At the time, I remember some vague political commentary surrounding it, I was too young to really care. The only thing I was aware of was visiting my cousins in the nearby town where they lived, and thinking the dirty hippies were scary. Several years ago, I moved closer to the empty nest phase of life, having dropped my second son off at Syracuse (followed in dad's footsteps) for his freshman year. I had fun regaling him with my past life experiences. It was a period of time when past lives were looming. Mrs. Bulldog and I had been married 22 years, and only 2 had been sans children. That's a big gap, and if you've had kids you know what I'm talking about. A former co-worker, who had been unemployed at that time, landed a job that started in September. He asked if I wanted to take a trip up to Bethel and see the Woodstock museum. I asked my wife if she had any interest, she didn't, so I signed on with him and one other former co-worker to take in some cultural history. Another bit of a past life.
Continue reading "Woodstock at 49"
Posted by Bulldog
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
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15:14
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Re Labor Day weekend, a life of working with Dunkin DonutsI had a Dunkin with our roofer boss at 7 this morning when I got back from my calisthenics class. 64 year old Irish-Italian guy from Springfield, MA who needs no exercise classes because his entire day is physical. Physical, with lots of subtle skills too. Bending copper to fix a roof cricket is not easy geometry. I asked him how he knew how to do so many things after he told me he had put new brakes in his ageing F-150 over the weekend. I have a special admiration for practical skills because I am a bit of a klutz with most machinery other than Farmall tractors and chain saws. An American story. High school then 4 years in the US Army. They put him in a mechanical company, repairing broken things. After that, 6 years in a Massachusetts sawmill spending a lot of time, again, fixing broken things and maintaining machinery. Got in too many fights with the boss, so got a job in a junkyard, retrieving good parts from junked trucks and cars. After 4 years of that, was offered an auto mechanic job by somebody he knew who knew him to be a hard worker. Became a master mechanic. Always did tree work on the side, and still does. Then his brother-in-law offered him a partnership in his roofing business. He had already done his own roofs, so he jumped at a chance to be a business owner. When that guy quit the biz because it was "too hard," the business was his. He has good crews to supervise but he does all of the tricky stuff and the copper work. He is a perfectionist. This morning on a second story roof ladder he decided to add some aluminum edging under his new copper flashing to completely protect the crown molding on our dormers. Waterproof, paintable glue to hold it in. "That crown will be good for 200 years." His life advice: Learn how to do as many things as you can. That way, you can always be useful. His results: Bought his first house at 25. Has 5 kids who he likes. Bought two houses on his street, both as wedding gifts for his married kids. They are very happy to be near family. Married once. Also has a shack on Cape Cod that he is renovating, and a house in Florida. Grows tomatoes and fruit trees. Claims he will never retire but admits the day might come when he'll have to just be a boss instead of doing 3-story ladder work. Not yet, for sure. Says God blessed him. Yes, he has a Trump 2020 bumper sticker. He is deplorable.
Posted by Bird Dog
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
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12:38
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Friday, August 31. 2018The Most Masculine Song Ever Created
Posted by The News Junkie
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
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15:57
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Thursday, August 30. 2018Why you are probably a federal criminal even if you think you are a good person
Everything is a crime. That link is via Menton's A Closer Look At Our Over-Criminalized And Badly Slanted Legal System
Posted by The Barrister
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
at
13:32
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Tuesday, August 28. 2018Part 2: Music-lover in Saltzburg
I admire and envy people like Nordlinger with the ear and talent just to be able to discern the sound of one conductor from another. Their experience of ambitious music must so be different from mine, much as I am a music-lover. To me, it is all wonderful. I am with Janssen who loves Schubert. That's one guy who wrote music I feel I can get my head around. Also Mendelssohn I guess. Here's a masterpiece:
Posted by The Barrister
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
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15:56
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Sunday, August 26. 2018Belief in angels and demonsFrom David Warren: He put a Baudelaire quote in there: “Everyone believes in God, but nobody loves Him. No one believes in the Devil, and yet his smell is everywhere.”
Posted by Bird Dog
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
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13:51
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Saturday, August 25. 2018Best of Season 6: Genius comedy TV
Posted by The News Junkie
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
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15:29
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Life In America: The project at the Maggie's HQ proceeds
What are unemployed Americans doing? The painters began work today, following the sides of the place where the carpenters have finished their work. 3 Brazilians. Lovely guys, very polite and accommodating. Perfectionists. One has been to Lisbon/Lisboa, but not to Porto. Depending on weather, they predict 3 more weeks of work (prep takes the longest): scrape entire house, then power-wash, then re-scrape and sand, then prime, then paint. Doing the job the right way. These guys have never heard of Fado. I suggested that they check it out. We liked this club in Lisbon. We had some Portuguese dessert there and I had a glass of wine:
Posted by Bird Dog
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
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14:22
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Friday, August 24. 2018The New Media: My Experience and MoreCommenter: "I could listen to Jordan Peterson all day. Oh shit, I have." This genius guy's coherence is inspiring. Rock star talker. Puts into words what you thought but could not express.
Posted by The News Junkie
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
at
16:15
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Language and the Lunatic Fringes of the Left
I recommend it. Things have gotten much worse since 1992. I have noticed the growing use of the word "problematic" lately. I find the use of that word to be problematic. What it means is that you might be in trouble with the Thought and Culture cops.
Posted by The Barrister
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
at
13:20
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Saturday, August 18. 2018Peterson on IQ and other character traits
Posted by The News Junkie
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
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15:32
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Wednesday, August 15. 2018V.S. Naipaul, 1932–2018
Posted by Bird Dog
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
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15:15
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Tuesday, August 14. 2018New England Real Estate: Wellfleet, MA
While meandering around the alleys near downtown Wellfleet last week, we stumbled on this white elephant. Naturally, I was mainly attracted to its barn. The place is for sale. A 10-minute walk to the village. It's safe to say the place could probably use some work. Roof looks great but I wonder about the age of the wiring, but from the photos it looks pretty up to date inside. 12 bedrooms, said to have been built in 1800 but I doubt that. The cool thing is that it was the home of Wellfleet's most famous son, Captain Lorenzo Dow Baker. Sea captain and entrepreneur, he's the guy who introduced the banana to the US and Europe and founded the company which became the United Fruit Company, now Chiquita Brands. Cool guy, cool life.
Posted by Bird Dog
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
at
21:14
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Monday, August 13. 2018The mileSo-called "imperial" measures, or British Imperial, are or were practical, while metric measures are somewhat more arbitrary. The mile, as the word implies, was 1000 paces of a Roman soldier (mille passus), but the concept evolved and changed and now there are all sorts of miles despite the kilometer taking over in most places. The American mile is about 1700 yards, but the origin of the yard is obscure. What countries do not use the metric system? Quiz: What do people mean by a "country mile"?
Posted by The Barrister
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
at
14:10
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Sunday, August 12. 2018Apple Confidential Steve Jobs on 'Think Different'Apple Confidential Steve Jobs on 'Think Different' Internal Meeting Sept 23, 1997
Posted by Bird Dog
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
at
13:06
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Saturday, August 11. 2018"Get your head back in the car!"It's not the Manhattan I know, but it's a hilarious slice of a Manhattan neighborhood/subculture which is largely Jewish, but culturally, not seriously. I had to look up what "Birthright" was. I like the way he walks around with his posse. "We've got more JAPS than all of Tokyo!" Murray Hill is kind of middle class and nondescript.
Posted by Bird Dog
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
at
16:19
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Thursday, August 9. 2018Why the Left Is So Afraid of Jordan Peterson
Most people have many more important interests than politics. For example, constructing a good productive and fulfilling life in the brief span allotted us. If anybody expects politics to deliver them a good life, they must dream on.
Posted by The Barrister
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
at
16:48
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Why should we be good?Other than to stay out of trouble, that is. From Quillette. It begins:
Posted by The Barrister
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
at
15:02
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Armillary Spheres and AstrolabesThese complex astronomical machines were all the rage in Medieval Europe after they had been brought by the Spanish Muslims from the east. Chaucer wrote about them with enthusiasm. Early versions seem to have been separately invented in China and in Greece. Astrolabes were rendered obsolete by sextants, telescopes, and timepieces but are still used for instructional purposes. The armillary sphere was the predecessor of the astrolabe. The Armillary Sphere Brief history of the Astrolabe
Posted by The Barrister
in History, The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
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13:48
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Monday, August 6. 2018Dust MitesI thought that dust mites were mythical beings. They are not. Apparently every home has them, and there is no known way to get rid of them.
Posted by Bird Dog
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
at
14:46
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Sunday, August 5. 2018The Leatherman Tool, and how nerds make great lives
Really, a Leatherman is an extra-sturdy Swiss Army deal with pliers. Vanderleun found this, the story of the Leatherman.
Posted by Bird Dog
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
at
14:33
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Saturday, August 4. 2018Prof. Mark Perry loves Venn diagrams
Posted by The Barrister
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
at
14:25
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Friday, August 3. 2018More in praise of apprenticeshipsI am always promoting apprenticeship learning, at least partly because that is how lawyers learn their skills. Jobs are going begging in the US now: Closing the Skills Gap - America must get serious about worker training—and retraining—to stay competitive.
Posted by The Barrister
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
at
12:08
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