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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Thursday, February 4. 2016The challenges of rape prosecutionThe news focuses on on-campus rape, but proportionately far more rape occurs out in the real world. In either case, prosecution can be difficult. I know many of our readers agree with me that rape is a matter for the criminal justice system, not for college panels. At the same time, college disciplinary panels do have the task of maintaining decency on their campi and punishing or expelling wrong-doers whether the issue is rape, theft, assault, plagiarism, cheating, etc. A discussion: Rape and Retribution, Jon Krakauer’s compelling but misguided Missoula
Posted by The Barrister
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15:11
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An Indian CodeLessons from the Sioux in How to Turn a Boy Into a Man with the story of a unique individual, Charles Alexander Eastman.
Posted by The Barrister
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13:28
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Tuesday, February 2. 2016What is success, American-style?
As one example, I gave up my delusions of grandeur in late adolescence as most people seem to do when the reality of our limits sinks in. Change the world and all of that. As far as I could tell, I had no rare talents, passions, or bold new ideas but I liked to work and to learn so I pursued the conventional bourgeois format of education, financial security, raising interesting kids, and becoming a member of the gentry like my parents and grandparents. Some comfort, some security, a warm home, lots of hobbies, interests, and friends. I bought into the conventions of my personal background. Is that "success"? Security and comforts seem like lame aspirations, lacking in adventure and risk, but what else can an ordinary person do? The youth of today seem to be having a hard time achieving the post-war conventions of success: house, picket fence, secure job with room for advancement. "...many Americans believe the changing economy is rewriting the rules of success, the latest Allstate/National Journal Heartland Monitor Poll has found." Ah get born, keep warm Subterranean Homesick Blues
Posted by The Barrister
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17:20
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Breaking news: Men like to look at females
Posted by Bird Dog
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15:32
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Monday, February 1. 2016Rent or buy?Economics on Buying vs Renting a House Good comments there. I think, for the average person, ownership is a forced saving and a mortgage tax deduction. However, home maintenance is a black hole. I guess it depends on your situation. What's your opinion? Economics on Buying vs Renting a House
Sunday, January 31. 2016Retirement
Our senior partner is 84, and at work every day. He is the Socrates of our firm and he lifts at the gym before work. Last year we voted him 6 wks paid vacation per year, in gratitude. But if he is on a big case, of course he can't and would not go anywhere. We have no retirement age, and offer no retirement benefits. However, we can, and do, vote partners out unless we love them. Most guys over 65 are working at something, and want to be. Second careers, and third careers, are common today. Defined benefit pensions have disappeared outside of government employees and even there, for many, these are being replaced by IRAs. The short historical period of those 30-40 year retirements is gone outside of government union jobs. Unions still idealize not-working as if that were a wonderful thing. It seems not to be for most people. It's not just about money, and it's not just men. Women too need to feel productive, contributive, active in the world. The alternative is to feel either dependent or useless. Overall, it's a good thing. The wise old owls have much to offer the arrogant young bucks and buckettes. The late 1800s Bismarckian notion of a few years of leisurely rest before death is as obsolete as most of the Progressive ideas of the 1920s in the US (mostly borrowed from Bismarck if not from Marx). Mind you, neither Bismarck nor Marx ever held a real job, or could even hammer a nail. For the "common good," I would set Social Security at 75, and means test it too based on assets and income.
Posted by The Barrister
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13:56
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Boomer FolliesI recently read somebody questioning how the "Greatest Generation" - meaning the WW 2 warriors, makers, and builders - could be so great if they spawned the ridiculous Boomers. Balsamic Dreams: A Short But Self-Important History of the Baby Boomer Generation by Joe Queenan. How does it happen that so many people from one generation can end up with so much foolishness and self-absorption in common? Queenan is tough on his peers and on himself, mocking everything from the obsession with staying young and "eating healthy" to the fad for "tag team" funerals with the clergy as an accessory. You will never touch "organic balsamic," a "heritage tomato" or a free range turkey again without a sense of your own absurdity. Boomers will see themselves almost too clearly in this book. Laugh or cry? Your choice, but the book's mirror could cause a boomer to want to off himself due to self-disgust. The good part is that it offers one good laugh per page, the bad part is that it offers a horror of self-recognition on every page too.
Posted by Bird Dog
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11:14
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Friday, January 29. 2016Not about...Reposted, from Robin Hanson's piece:
Posted by The Barrister
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15:52
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Wednesday, January 27. 2016Poetry, spokenIs all poetry lyrical poetry? Does it matter? In my view, poetry (and drama) are meant to be heard, not read. I am not, however, a professor of literature. Why poetry should be heard, not seen:
Posted by The Barrister
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15:03
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Tuesday, January 26. 2016What is Psychoanalysis for?
Meaning does matter, in all areas of human life. Unfortunately, fake meanings, ie "false narratives," can matter a lot in life too. Analysis is a mental laboratory as much as anything else. Can psychoanalysis or psychodynamic therapy (which I prefer to offer) be curative? Sometimes. Can it be helpful? Certainly. Can it be done right? Not really. It's called "the impossible profession" for good reason. I can testify that it did a lot of good for me and made me a better Psychiatrist too. (We were required to be in a lengthy analysis in analytic training.) Interestingly, that analysis has continued to work, grinding away, in my head ever since in a never-ending and self-questioning process. Self-knowledge is never pleasant, however, and I would rather play tennis than dwell on it too much. I only dwell on it when I need to. It burns sometimes, but it cleans the instruments. Monday, January 25. 2016The 14 Red Flags of Dating (for guys)
Posted by The News Junkie
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18:17
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Saturday, January 23. 2016Snow day danceNYC Ballet's Teresa Reichlen on George Balanchine's SYMPHONY IN C:
Posted by The Barrister
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16:38
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Wednesday, January 20. 2016RelativesMy lad and a couple of my cousins are studying old family portraits and putting them on a family ancestral photo website. Good clean fun. They emailed me this photo of a couple of my Mom's ancestors, asking me whether I recognized them. They must think I am ancient, but I can't even make out the faces. A guess is that's my great-grandfather's winter house in Fort Lauderdale. His grand old place still stands there.
Posted by Bird Dog
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22:17
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Why bad science won’t dieWhy bad science won’t ever die It's an interesting topic. For example, there are still people who avoid fats for fear of their cholesterol or of getting fat. Even some doctors can't let that go although it's been debunked for years now. So often, people believe what they want to believe unless they are of a skeptical bent. Many people believe that the moon landing was faked. People afraid of cell towers.
Posted by Dr. Joy Bliss
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15:51
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Monday, January 18. 2016"Teaching" in a rough school
He was dealing with unassimilated (but more historically-accurate, de-assimilated) people who mostly did not want to be there. So why were they there at all? Such stories are heart-breaking. I do blame the emergence of this urban subculture on LBJ, a racist at heart who figured that urban blacks could never succeed in civil life in any numbers, and so needed to be given money to vote and to shut up. I sometimes wonder what I would be like had I been sent to a school like that. I doubt that I would be skiing in Vermont with a bunch of friends on the MLK long weekend. That was a public school. Charter schools can be wonderful, but only with parental (ie maternal mostly) support. These kids are screwed - by their "parents" and not by any "system." It's hopeless, so give them free money to live on. And guess what? It's not just urban black people. It can be rural white people too. There is a bell curve in human nature. I just feel for the ones who have aspirations, talent, and abilities but are crushed by their destructive subcultures of dependency and sociopathy. Obama had a great chance to change this game for all colors of skin, but never did. Politics.
Posted by The News Junkie
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20:28
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Friday, January 15. 2016Deliver Us From InnocenceAbout cognitive innocence:
Posted by The Barrister
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13:59
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Thursday, January 14. 2016Midtown
Details: Park Ave. Note the line for Grizzly's food truck on the left. Smells great. Flags are St. Barnabas. Next, on left, Waldorf-Astoria (now owned by the Chinese). Other buildings are mostly banks. All day and all night, streets filled with people bundled against the cold, cars zooming, limos waiting. Vitality. Attractive, put-together people. Great fun just to amble around and check things out.
Posted by Bird Dog
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18:58
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Wednesday, January 13. 2016Review of "Fargo" (TV Series)I watch less TV than the average American, but more than a little. M*A*S*H reruns (it's on when I get home from work and it's still great television), sports, and movies. I was a regular viewer of The Sopranos and Mad Men. I never watched Breaking Bad (though I may since many people have recommended it), but I have gotten hooked on Better Call Saul. Most of this viewing has been done via binge-watching. Late at night, when nothing else is going on and I can squeeze two or three episodes in on VOD or Netflix. Recently, the wife and I got a recommendation to watch Fargo. The original film is classic, thoroughly enjoyable. Coen brothers at their very best. I wasn't sure how telling fake 'true crimes' tales in serial format would play out. Despite my reservations, the show is fantastic. I finished the final episode of season two (because I can't get season one yet) this week and had a difficult time taking a break from viewing. In true Coen brothers fashion, there is plenty of violence, dark humor, and outlandish twists of fate. The Coen brothers often have a theme of unstoppable and overwhelming evil running through their films. Fargo is no different, with several characters, who can only be described as psychotic, pursuing various goals. Each one meets a different end, some more surprising than others. Without providing spoilers, there is one particular theme which caught my attention. It was mentioned early, and barely discussed until the very end. A secondary character is reading Camus' The Myth of Sisyphus for a class. This detail is brought up in conversation on occasion as the story progresses, several characters comment on the book. As the story unfolds, plot twists hint at the absurdity of life, how boring and difficult it is to live a life that only leaves you dead, without much to show for it. As you begin to think there can't be any redemption, the primary characters (the police) continue to pursue their goals, against odds that slowly stack against them. Then the script flips. It becomes clear each character is Sisyphus, pushing their own particular boulder up a hill each day. A criminal seeking to make his boss or himself happy, a police officer engaging crime prevention and enforcement against increasing human stupidity and avarice, a mother dying of cancer trying to make life comfortable for her family, and a woman seeking personal fulfillment. Each day, they wake up and push that same rock up the hill again. What becomes clear at the finish is the rock we all push, the thing we consider a burden, is in fact a privilege. It can be family, a job, any repetitive detail in our lives which we view with some level of disdain simply because it has to be done over and over again. Camus insinuates the reward for this seemingly useless behavior was death. Fargo alternately embraces this point in some cases, and rejects it in others. The characters point out our duties are what provide meaning and value. The show is full of death, and someday we will die. But on every other day, we will live. Living a life expecting nothing but an absurd finish is a fate for many, who don't expect much else. For others, death gave their lives meaning and highlighted what was good in the lives of those around them. Fargo closes with a standard Coen brothers flourish. We're happy, but not completely so. Life goes on, happy enough for those we're pleased to see finish in good spirits, but it takes bizarre twists for others. Good has triumphed, but only barely, and evil continues in various, new, formats. It's not Hollywood. It's close enough to real life to relate to, but strange enough to keep your interest and make you think. I look forward to watching the first season (no spoilers in the comments, please!).
Posted by Bulldog
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10:39
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Tuesday, January 12. 2016Greek bronzes in Washington
Posted by The Barrister
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15:03
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Monday, January 11. 2016Mr. Shrdlu"Mr. Shrdlu - Etaoin Shrdlu" is Houn' Dog's response to Pogo's question, "What you say his name is, Houn' Dog?" Linotype is obsolete.
Posted by The Barrister
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15:44
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Sunday, January 10. 2016Quality Miles vs. Garbage Miles
Whether your cardio includes rowing, treadmill, stair machine, biking, or outdoor running, it is the intense intervals which make a difference for endurance - thus Quality Work vs. Garbage Work. Variety is key. When people say "Walking is good for you," they refer to people over 80 or obese people. Hiking maybe, but not walking. She talks about 20 mins on those stairs. No way I could do stair intervals for 20 minutes. More like 6 minutes. Anyway, it's a damn good and demanding thing to do once a week. My cardio workouts take longer because I cannot handle such high levels of intensity. Not ready to die yet.
Posted by Bird Dog
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16:45
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Thursday, January 7. 2016Scruton talks to Mick Hume about politics, marriage and Islam.The philosopher Roger Scruton is one of the lucky few thinkers in the Maggie's pantheon. ‘These left thinkers have destroyed the intellectual life’:
Posted by The Barrister
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14:23
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Practical wrist watches for regular American fellows
- Watches much over $100 are jewelry, not timepieces - and not very masculine but some guys need them for work Practical watches, zero-pretension, (semi-disposable) that our readers like (but surprising many guys seem to hate watches so I guess that's ok too): Citizen Eco-Drive Mens Strap Watch Any version of Seiko 5 Swiss Army Watches, for example Timex Explorer or Expedition watches What about watches for women? Don't most women prefer a nice Cartier piece? For when they are not working in the fields, I mean. A pretty reward for the rigors and hazards of bambino production:
Posted by Bird Dog
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13:09
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Tuesday, January 5. 2016Life in America: I feel naked without a watchMy leather watch band broke. Mrs. BD brought it into town and asked me about a $125 leather band. I told her my Timex had cost about $37. She advised me to toss the old watch and get another from Amazon. Wrist watches: The young folks do not use them. I feel unclothed without one, even wear it to bed. Often, business people like expensive ones, to demonstrate that they know how to make money. That's fine - it's jewelry for men, like ghetto glitz, but it does not say much about how wisely they spend money. I had a semi-fancy watch once but it died and the parts were no longer available. Now I am a Timex guy. The humble Timex is like Toyota - Timex can wear out many bands, and Toyotas can wear out many tires. Interestingly, both of my doctors are Timex guys too. I do not like digital watches, because I like to see the bigger picture of time. I was rummaging through my safe this weekend, looking for a car title, and found my grandpa's engraved gold watch. I think he used it in his youth, but switched to wrist at some point to keep up with the times. It's an Elgin. Mainly of sentimental value. Antique gold pocket watches do not have much value - under $1000 generally. My watch expert pal tells me they are gold-filled, not solid gold. Do you use a watch? If so, a cheap one or a fancy one?
Posted by Bird Dog
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13:16
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Sunday, January 3. 2016Which way to Millinocket?
Posted by Bird Dog
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11:02
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