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. |
Our Recent Essays Behind the Front Page
Categories
QuicksearchLinks
Blog Administration |
Wednesday, May 31. 2017Jordan Peterson University
Peterson, for one thing, has a knack for framing large topics. That is a job of a teacher (or a preacher). He offers the listener a big frame, a map, in which to fill in the details. That is something which is difficult to do on one's own without expertise. In my career as a student, I had a couple of History teachers and profs who never set the frame: Battle of Thermopylae? What, when why, how, and why should I care? Plenty of reasons to be interested, but it wasn't told so it was disembodied information. Peterson's hypomanic lectures teach Psychology, Anthropology, Politics, Religion, Mythology, History - they are interdisciplinary explosions. It's all from the tragic, fierce, fact-facing view of the world. With things around now like The Great Courses, and Peterson, for examples, any curious person in the world can get a high-level university education if they want it. Cliche though it is, a formal education is just a door to further learning for those who want it. We'll continue to post Peterson's explosions, and to urge our readers to try out some of The Great Courses as alternatives to TV. In this piece, he focuses on IQ as a limiting factor in pursuing goals, but makes the more important point that personality factors are likely more important in life choices and career success. Unfortunately, he ignores certain factors, like passion and interest but this is just a short segment.
Tuesday, May 30. 2017The sad decline of America's rural townsRURAL AMERICA IS THE NEW ‘INNER CITY’. It's difficult to maintain the vision of pastoral innocent wholesomeness. Non-tourist rural areas are rapidly becoming creepy. There is no fix for this evolution.
Posted by The Barrister
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
at
19:19
| Comments (19)
| Trackbacks (0)
Saturday, May 27. 2017James Watson blackballed for life, and related topics
A decade ago, in a moment of excessive candor, Watson referred to the (statistically true) lower average IQ of black Americans. He probably had some bad experiences, but there is no shortage of less intelligent white people in the world either. Half of white Americans have below average IQs and many of them sport college degrees. Anyway, the warnings are out there. You can be blackballed in academia, and in life, so keep your disappointing experiences with race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc. to yourself and to your friends like everybody does. Lie if you have to. Thus experience and facts are driven underground. Jordan Peterson, in one of his Youtubes, said "The alternative to free speech is tyranny." In Watson's case, as in Charles Murray's case, the consequence of free speech is being blackballed which is a sort of extra-legal social tyranny with financial consequences. Watson would be a very wealthy man if not for his indiscretion. Fast is, there are plenty enough intelligent, energetic, and competent people out there of all colors and ethnicities. Statistics do not apply to individuals or to the task at hand, but only at the macro level. My ethnicity is dumber, statistically, than Ashkenazi Jews and East Asians. I can see that, experientially, in my life. My competitive self is disappointed, but I am ok with it now. IQ is not the most important factor in success or life happiness anyway: it's just one of several limiting factors in high-complexity work. I know my limits. In fact, I think I have seen more people with average IQs achieve their life dreams than I have high IQ people. It's just in different areas of endeavor. Depending on the area, any of these can be life- limiting factors: IQ, social skills and social graces, solid judgement, stick-to-it-iveness, stress tolerance, self-discipline, energy and drive, integrity and loyalty, articulateness, curiosity, dutifulness - and more. IQ, like height, is a life factor which can't be improved by effort.
Posted by The Barrister
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
at
16:13
| Comments (12)
| Trackbacks (0)
Friday, May 26. 2017Prof. Peterson at Harvard: Postmodernism & the Mask of Compassion
Posted by Bird Dog
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
at
16:10
| Comment (1)
| Trackbacks (0)
James Naismith
Posted by Bird Dog
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
at
04:46
| Comments (4)
| Trackbacks (0)
Tuesday, May 23. 2017For the youth only6 Statistics That Show How Much America Has Changed in a Half-Century They didn't mention that the youth can no longer spell "idle."
Posted by The Barrister
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
at
19:22
| Comments (4)
| Trackbacks (0)
Sunday, May 21. 2017Frederick Law Olmstead
She emailed a pic from his garden
Posted by Bird Dog
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
at
05:13
| Comments (6)
| Trackbacks (0)
Monday, May 15. 2017Take a Vet Fishing
A friend in Connecticut sent this to us -
Our Sportsmen’s club held our Take A Vet Fishing event Saturday. This marks our seventh year in a row of hosting the group. In spite of the threat of rain, around 45 vets showed up for a morning of fishing in our stocked pond (over 100 trout caught), as well as lunch. Take A Vet fishing was formed about ten years ago as a program of a local Congregational Church. The first year we hosted these folks, we were afraid no one would show up – about 20 did. It’s grown since then and this year’s event attendance was held down only by the weather. Couple of things come to mind as I volunteered – Continue reading "Take a Vet Fishing"
Posted by Bird Dog
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
at
13:47
| Comments (2)
| Trackbacks (0)
Sunday, May 14. 2017A few pics from the 3rd Annual Maggie's Urban Hike, with great pizza, beer, and cupcakesOur leader Bulldog planned a West Side route this year, from the fountain at Lincoln Center (where they filmed some scenes in West Side Story when it was rubble) to the site of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire just east of Washington Square in Greenwich Village - with more interesting detours and zig-zags to sites than I can report or remember. He reported briefly here. From Lincoln Center to transport home, I clocked 13.8 miles, with sore quads. My sis, who just had a hip replacement after a running accident, handled it all and is eager for the next hike. It's just far more interesting than her usual country hiking, with so much to look at and to talk about. Golly, as a country boy I do love this crazy city and any out-of-towners who hike with us come to feel the same way. Before I post a few random street pics, two free ads: first, Artichoke Pizza. After going into Moore's ancient Chelsea church, we strolled through Chelsea Market (good fun, lots of food and stuff) and headed up a block to their location on 10th Ave. in Chelsea. Best New York pizza I have found - ever. Thin pizza, oily and slightly burnt the way I like it. Many cool beers on tap. Fast, rough NYC-style service: you had better know exactly what you want when you're up. Perfect for a cool drizzly day. The cupcake ad is for Magnolia Bakery on Bleecker St. Perfect cupcakes. Stupid to resist cuz life is short and you do not get there every day. Marianne would have liked this post. From Lincoln Center, we headed downtown on Broadway thru Columbus Circle, noting the huge new "pencil" high-rises going up on Central park South - Pics of my favorite city below the fold -
Continue reading "A few pics from the 3rd Annual Maggie's Urban Hike, with great pizza, beer, and cupcakes"
Posted by Bird Dog
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
at
14:42
| Comments (4)
| Trackbacks (0)
A Hallmark dayLet's just go along with the culture even if some of these days are commercial inventions to sell stuff. After all, moms do deserve special attention. So thanks to my Mom (photo) for producing me, thanks to my mother-in-law for producing my wife, and thanks to my daughter-in-law for producing two rambunctious little baby boys.
Posted by Bird Dog
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
at
06:53
| Comments (5)
| Trackbacks (0)
Saturday, May 13. 2017Prof. Peterson: My Message to Millenials - How to Change the World -- Properly
Posted by Bird Dog
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
at
14:57
| Comments (3)
| Trackbacks (0)
Friday, May 12. 2017How to Raise an American Adult
WSJ: Many young Americans today are locked in perpetual adolescence. Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse on how he and his wife are encouraging their own children to become fully formed, independent grown-ups
Thursday, May 11. 2017The "boarding process"We get used to people adding words to phrases to make something seem to be more than it is. Pompous language and airlines:
Posted by The News Junkie
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
at
17:49
| Comments (3)
| Trackbacks (0)
Wednesday, May 10. 2017A great physician: "Hardly Human" Hardy Hendren‘Hardly Human’ Hardy Hendren will NEVER retire
Posted by Dr. Joy Bliss
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
at
16:42
| Comments (0)
| Trackbacks (0)
Sunday, May 7. 2017When Dostoevsky faced a firing squadAt the Firing Squad: The Radical Works of a Young Dostoevsky. " In the eyes of most literary circles, Dostoevsky was just a one-hit wonder."
Posted by Bird Dog
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
at
13:58
| Comment (1)
| Trackbacks (0)
Wednesday, May 3. 2017It's Not Censorship If the Algorithm is Done Right
So who gets to make the decision about what is truly 'fake news'? I know it when I see it, and every individual should have that right to decide. As I tell my friends, I apply Occam's Razor to everything I see and read. If it doesn't look or smell right, then it's probably fake and more digging needs to be done. Few people take the time or effort, anymore. So our government wants to do it for us. The politicians, at least, want to promote the concept that someone should be doing it for us. So guess what? They are. It's my view that Google's announcement last week to use algorithms to flesh out 'fake news' is going to be their Waterloo. Algorithms can't tell people what to read, what to believe, and can't discern truth from falsehood. All algorithms can do is push an agenda from those controlling the algorithm. So we'll be spoon fed pablum as real news seekers are cast aside as non-traditional sources or 'extremist' or having some other epithet applied to lower their score on the algorithm. We may not have a Ministry of Truth, but lots of countries are trying to. If progress and opportunity slow and die in the coming years, the 'fake news' reaction will be why. After all, one clear case of how this is a problem is Man-Made ManBearPig Global Warming/Climate Change. Any site posting legitimate data and information which rebuts the Global Warming/Climate Change agenda will undoubtedly be labelled 'fake news'. From this point forward, any other opinion deemed 'incorrect' will fail the test and we can see where this algorithm will deprive people of good information. Continue reading "It's Not Censorship If the Algorithm is Done Right"
Posted by Bulldog
in Politics, The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
at
17:10
| Comments (17)
| Trackbacks (0)
Lives lived in the passive voice
These are, in fact, like some of the people Murray describes as residents of Fishtown. They are full of excuses for their disappointing and feckless lives. In my experience, the passive voice reveals that these are people who lack the inner resources to act affirmatively or planfully, to adapt to change or bad luck, adjust, or to learn from experience. It is sad to see, and there is no cure for it. Lots of boats, and lives, end up on the rocks. In another era, they might have done fine on the family farm with the support, resources, and teamwork of an extended family and a small, healthy community. The post-agricultural, post-industrial world today is far more demanding of us all. It's tough out there.
Posted by The Barrister
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
at
16:28
| Comments (3)
| Trackbacks (0)
Monday, May 1. 2017Reading List
Posted by The Barrister
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
at
15:47
| Comments (4)
| Trackbacks (0)
Sunday, April 30. 2017Why to embrace your inner monster
and other related riffs on life from Prof. Peterson
Posted by Bird Dog
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
at
16:15
| Comments (3)
| Trackbacks (0)
Thomas Eakins
Posted by Bird Dog
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
at
05:00
| Comment (1)
| Trackbacks (0)
Saturday, April 29. 2017The Shapes of StoriesAn appealing narrative arc is always useful whether truth or fiction. Usually they are fictional, though. Raw truth doesn't lend itself to compelling narratives.
Posted by Bird Dog
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
at
16:16
| Comments (4)
| Trackbacks (0)
Friday, April 28. 2017Trigger WordsSlowly I turned... Vaudeville must have had good fun with trigger words, like "the Susquehanna Hat Company" and in this case, "Niagara Falls."
Posted by The News Junkie
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
at
17:26
| Comments (3)
| Trackback (1)
Thursday, April 27. 2017The Art of MisdirectionLook! A squirrel!
Posted by Bird Dog
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
at
16:27
| Comment (1)
| Trackbacks (0)
Wednesday, April 26. 2017The new George Steiner book
Over “A Long Saturday,” George Steiner faces down Death. He does so not alone, but with a beautiful, smart French journalist who Chunnels from Paris to England. He does so like a Tai Chi master, using Death’s strength and weight against this, his dark Angel. And, Death will not be proud. Continue reading "The new George Steiner book"
Posted by Bird Dog
in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
at
14:09
| Comment (1)
| Trackbacks (0)
Microaggression and related topics
Posted by The Barrister
in Education, The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
at
13:08
| Comment (1)
| Trackbacks (0)
« previous page
(Page 46 of 250, totaling 6233 entries)
» next page
|