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, October 15. 2015FleeceIt's autumn here. Fleece is one of the great inventions for cool weather, maybe second to fire. Lightweight, layerable, and cozy. I always hated wool. It makes me itchy. I am grateful for those mill folks who came up with fleece. How Fleece Conquered the World Addendum: A reader notes that fleece is highly-flammable. I once destroyed a fleece jacket when the hot engine of my chain saw rested against it.
Posted by Bird Dog
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16:38
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Wednesday, October 14. 2015DaliFollowing up on the previous theme of finding things to do as an empty-nester, we were at the mall recently (the Apple Store to fix an iPad and iPhone which had gone awry) and found a gallery which was selling/showing Salvador Dali etchings from the Argillet Collection. Christine Argillet is the daughter of Pierre Argillet, one of Dali's patrons. His relationship with Dali began in 1934 and continued throughout his life. Christine essentially grew up with Dali, and since Pierre's death has managed one of the largest Dali collections in the world. I love Dali's work and for my sake my wife suggested we walk in. The gallery manager viewed the etchings with us, telling stories from previous shows which Christine had attended. We were invited back for the show (this weekend on Saturday), which I will attend. A bit later, on the ride home, my wife told me she had no interest in Dali, but knew I enjoyed surrealism, was willing to take a look but I'd likely attend on my own. That's fine, I spent an hour by myself in the Time Warner Building on Columbus Avenue when they had Dali's work in the lobby. A lucky find while out walking NYC streets during lunch. I was lucky that my wife had paid attention as we were leaving the mall. Empty-nesting is a constant relearning of what brought you together in the first place. Sometimes you find things one or both enjoy, sometimes you just indulge the other person. Dali is a great indulgence, particularly on her part.
Continue reading "Dali"
Posted by Bulldog
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18:43
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Cross-Training shoes I think I have settled on the New Balance Minimus 20V-3 Trainer as my all-purpose exercise/work-out shoe. Lightweight, stable for weights, good for everything a Cross-Trainer or gym rat might need. They do not make you feel bare-footed, but close enough. They have a 20v4 out now, but the 3 is fine. They come in men's and women's because men and women are different. New Balance (made in USA) tend to run 1/4-1/2 sizes small, so I go up 1/2. They make narrow, which is good.
Posted by The News Junkie
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12:11
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Tuesday, October 13. 2015The Rise and Fall of Statistics
Posted by The News Junkie
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16:12
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FirewoodThe exercise and satisfaction in producing your own firewood. Plenty of readers know how to do that. Too late to collect fresh firewood for this winter, but it's always the right time to collect wood for next year. Photo is a nice woodshed from Salt Water New England. It's scenic, but too far from the house for my taste.
Posted by Bird Dog
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04:45
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Monday, October 12. 2015The Walk Isn't Just a Movie
This weekend we determined to go to the movies. The Martian was playing, and has gotten good reviews. I like Sci-Fi, she does not, but she likes movies where people save Matt Damon, I guess. As luck would have it, the showtimes were all sold out. We then considered The Walk, Robert Zemeckis' dramatization of Philippe Petit's traversing the World Trade Center Towers. It was in 3-D. Generally, I don't like 3-D. We thought maybe this would be a good application of the gimmick. It could be fun to be that close to feeling what Petit felt. The wife was not as sure, and she had see Man On Wire, the documentary, which I had not seen. She had enjoyed the documentary and wasn't sure this would do the story justice. Still, we took the plunge. If you can deal with 3-D, the movie is relatively true to the story, and told in compelling fashion. Not being a fan of 3-D, I'd have to say it worked. My palms were sweating as he crossed the wire. I flinched twice in scenes which were deliberately shot to make you flinch (knew it was going to happen, but still fell for it). Continue reading "The Walk Isn't Just a Movie"
Posted by Bulldog
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14:57
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Feminism Wants Your Soul - The Fiamengo File
Posted by The Barrister
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14:50
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Sunday, October 11. 2015HowTom Wolfe became Tom WolfeSaturday, October 10. 2015A Black Patriot Honors His American Dad"...whenever a door opened for blacks, Dad prepared himself, applied, and walked through it." Those were the days before these Americans identified as victims. They didn't want to be victims, and pushed their way into the middle class. That was before the 1960s mess.
Posted by The News Junkie
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14:52
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Friday, October 9. 2015The End of Retirement As We Know It?The End of Retirement As We Know It? - As Chairman of the Milken Institute Center for the Future of Aging, Paul Irving wonders if retirement actually makes sense today. Retirement is a modern concept, dating back only to the 1930s in the US. I have an IRA for tax purposes, but we have no retirement plans of any sort. We enjoy like life as it is, she enjoys my being out of the house all day, and if I quit working some things would need to change. Making income and being out in the world is a good thing at any age. I see plenty of guys working in their mid-70s, sometimes doing much less prestigious jobs than they once had. Clearly good for their mind, body, and soul. Example: sales guy at our local Jos. A. Bank used to sell bonds. He's 72. Wife died, decided he had to get out of the house and off the golf course and away from the bar there. Top salesman, loves seeing people all day. Bought 3 suits from him for my lad. Also, people who have paid lots of tuitions probably still need some income to maintain their lives as they like them.
Posted by The Barrister
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15:38
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Thursday, October 8. 2015How Picasso the Sculptor Ruptured Art History
From an illuminating review of the MOMA show, How Picasso the Sculptor Ruptured Art History:
See it if you possibly can. It is a feast. Whatever visual adventures Picasso pursued, he did them with authority, some humor, dead seriousness, and perfect taste.
Posted by Dr. Joy Bliss
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16:59
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Wednesday, October 7. 2015Can Truth Be Subjected to a Vote?
Should Scientific Truth Be Subjected to a Vote?
Sunday, October 4. 2015An annual repost: Never speak with the policeExcept to say "Hello." Both of these guys are excellent and entertaining presenters. Only police officer I would talk to is Andy Taylor.
Posted by The Barrister
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05:59
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Saturday, October 3. 2015Firearms for me but not for thee Pope Francis claimed that firearms and firearm makers cannot be Christian. A curious statement as he is surrounded by heavily-armed guards whenever he leaves his house. The Vatican is equally protected. The same thing applies to Obama's pontificating about firearms. He is surrounded by firearms every day, and will be provided with armed guards for free for the rest of his life. I guess it's supposed to be different for us little people but not for me. I carry. If you worked in today's Hartford, CT, you might too. Friday, October 2. 2015More on food mythology
The American lobbying and advertising Whole Grains Council has had huge success in selling their health scam. Just like Whole Foods. Food piety has two arms: the ignorant, and their commercial predators. Enjoyment applies to OJ too. It's basically sugar with no other food value. Years ago, the Florida Citrus cabal convinced Americans that they should have it for breakfast. Tasty, but no different from a Coke. Scurvy is not a problem. My point with my nutrition myth posts is that you should eat whatever you enjoy. If you have a weight problem or a health problem, that's another matter. Just don't pretend, for example, that an OJ is any "healthier" than a Pepsi, or brown bread is "healthier" than white bread. That is just marketing to the low-info shopper and gullibles like Michelle Obama. We all love happy myths, do we not? The fantasy that we can control fate. Thursday, October 1. 2015Small town gossip on the internetThis Imagine what people will say about you. Nothing flattering and shameful secrets.
Posted by The News Junkie
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12:12
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Tuesday, September 29. 2015A fan of grand opera speaks outFrom Mead's A Night at the Opera:
Broadway musicals are opera. Often, "light opera" but still opera. Light opera and opera buffa have longer histories than grand opera. Indeed, Verdi was the pop music of his time. Shakespeare's plays were the hit tv shows of his time too. Nothing can be more pop, or more delightful, than this. The spartan production highlights the music:
Posted by The Barrister
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13:58
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Monday, September 28. 2015All the world's a stageYesterday we popped into NYC, the greatest and most entertaining city in the world, to see a series of street theater events that were staged up on the High Line. One part of what was cool about that was that, in NY, so many things are happening all the time that it's hard to tell the staged from the real. Not to mention that the city is an excellent stage set in itself and everybody on the thronging streets is interesting to look at. Bit part players on a giant stage. Glad we parked in the burbs and took a train in. Took an Uber to Gansevoort. This week, we had the Pope, Obama, Putin, the tyrant of China and the whole UN General Assembly yesterday and again today. Thus, blocked streets, barricades, and cops making huge overtime everywhere. Not to mention the tourists. September is a big tourism month in NY, and rightly so. I notice that nobody uses cameras anymore. Even the Japanese tourists, remarkably, just use their iPhones these days instead of their fancy Nikons. Fine cameras seem to be obsolete and nobody buys them anymore. Even the little Lumix I like to use seems kinda dorky, but I don't care. The terminus of the High Line in the old meat-packing district, Gansevoort Street. I remember when this was a grim industrial neighborhood. Now the crowds and the new construction are astonishing:
More pics below the fold -
Continue reading "All the world's a stage"
Posted by Bird Dog
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06:30
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Sunday, September 27. 2015Muir and Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson, an important American figure who I find almost impossible to read, took a train out west partly to visit John Muir. Emerson was Muir's hero. However, the elderly Emerson, the author of Nature, had no interest in going into the woods with Muir. I think nature was an idea for Emerson, not experienced outside of a park or a farm. For Muir, of course, wilderness was religion. Pic: Muir with Teddy Roosevelt in Yosemite, 1906. Fun and inspiring math talksThese TEDs are interesting even if, like me, you liked math once you got the hang of it: Talks for people who hated math in high school
Posted by Bird Dog
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07:50
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Are You As Fit As a World War II GI?The US Army introduced fitness tests in 1943. They have relaxed their standards since. When I began high school, every entering boy had to take the test while the coaches recorded. They were looking for athletic potential. If you didn't pass, you had to do a semester of remedial fitness before you could even do a (required) intramural sport - or even a JV sport. The remedial fitness was a bitch. 2 1/2 hours each afternoon. Ex-USMC math teacher was the coach. He made overweight kids go on diets and run extra unless they needed a JV fullback. Good stuff if you could handle a little humiliation. Runs, sprints, lifting, squats, football sleds, sit-up marathons, pushup marathons, etc. I flunked on the pull-ups. They also had a swim speed test which I handled easily but I didn't want the swim team. I still stink at pull-ups. Are You As Fit As a World War II GI? I doubt that a public school could make such demands on kids. Funny, as I reflect on it: We had riflery and shotgun teams too, but they were extracurriculars, did not count as sports. Still do, I am sure. Heck, even girls' summer camps have them today. A Bird Dog daughter was an NRA-certified riflery and archery coach/counselor at a girls' camp.
Posted by Bird Dog
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07:28
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Friday, September 25. 2015The NJ's different kind of workout program: Plyometrics and Calisthenics By request - The program I have taken on is quite different from the ones that have been discussed here. I understand that strength-building resistance work is important even if you do not want to model underwear, because strength is needed to maximize your general fitness exercises and recreational activities. I am a young guy luckily without any need to build muscles at this point. I am doing general fitness and cardio to feel good, to have energy, to prepare for skiing season, and so as not to look like a soft slob before I hit 35 or 40. Every gal and guy I know works out in some form. White-collar people have to keep moving or we will decay. The only sport I play these days is basketball on Sunday night. We have a good group and we invade the pub afterwards in our sweats. I'd like to assemble squash or racketball group for Saturdays but I haven't arranged it yet. My self-directed general fitness program combines plyometrics with calisthenics on 3 days a week, and cardio 3 days a week. I rarely miss a day because when I am out of town I can do it too. I do these early, on the way to work. No resistance exercises per se at this point. My pure cardio is 30-40 minutes of running sprint intervals on the treadmill. I would prefer running my intervals outdoors but I have genes for bad knees and the treadmill is joint-friendly. Sometimes I do intervals on the elliptical, bike, or Stairmaster instead, for variety. I finish it up with calf lifts and calf stretches, and throw in a plank if I have time. For my plyo/calisthenic days (plyo and calisthenics have some overlap) I do an hour, more or less. I use "plyo" to refer to exercises requiring quick bursts of high energy, like box jumps, burpees, mountain-climbers, medicine ball throws and smashes; and the term "calisthenics" for any other high-rep body-weight exercises (or with light weights) like planks, Bird Dogs, kettle-ball walks, step-ups, jumping jacks, ropes, pushups, pullups, jump rope, lunges, squats, jumping squats, etc. This combines general fitness with cardio as there is no time to rest in my schedule. Heart rate never normalizes but you do need to catch your breath. Then shower and shave in the gym, suit up, and get to the office by 7. Great way to start a day. I got professional help designing this workout with the goals of endurance, muscle-toning, agility, vigor, and general full-body fitness. Not for fat loss or muscle building. On Sunday morning, I go to church instead. Redeemer: a good Christian workout with a wonderful community of friends and new friends. - A large assortment of Plyometric Exercises For the first two weeks, I felt exhausted every day. After a month of it, I am feeling good, sleep better, have more appetite (I am a small-eater as in coffee for breakfast and a half-sandwich for lunch), and I think I have more energy. It's good for my head too. Use it or lose it.
Posted by The News Junkie
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13:39
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Thursday, September 24. 2015Fitness Diary, #6 I am seeing that the NJ and Bulldog are getting on board. Good American fitness and strength in mind, morals, body, and spirit is what we're about (we hope). Mens sana in corpore sano. Can I confess how freaking hard it is becoming? My trainer keeps ramping up his demands as I enter my 6th month of intense, six-day/wk fitness training program. It's up there with the hardest work I have ever encountered, mentally and physically. Boot Camp. It is hard, and it hurts. It stretches one's capacity for discipline and effort, same or more than studying Physical Chemistry. In the process, I discover things about myself. For one thing, I learn that when I think I am beat, I can still do a little more if I get my head around it to fully engage my will. In some ways, I am weaker in will than I like to think. Will, self-control, and self-discipline are the keys to so many achievements and accomplishments in life. It is part of what is termed "executive functioning." Overall life effectiveness in pursuing goals. Another thing I have found interesting is that, just as in a job, or in therapy, or in a church group, AA, a military platoon, or on a sports team, it is relationship which brings out the most we can do and pushes us forward. On my own, I could never have accomplished what I have done thus far had I read read instructions in a book. I am amazed by how this middle-aged bod can adapt to physical demands despite the inevitable aches and pains and injuries of intense exercises. This body is harder than it has ever been, no soft spots and no fat except for some (genetic?) but shrinking love handles. Crossfit (which I think is good but I don't do) gets that with their group fitness programs. The team cheers each other on, from the old or fat or heart-impaired to the young and strong. It's not so much competitive as it is relational (not that there is anything wrong with the competitive part because that is fun too). They do compete in weight loss, if they need that. It's a love-hate adventure for me. There is an end point where it will be more about "maintain" instead of "progress." Not there yet, especially in the full-body endurance department. A few more months, I suspect. Can't do enough reps benching my weight either. I am more interested, though, in intense endurance than in plain muscle and my natural build is ectomorph with a meso tendency. Average. I want to do 30 minutes on the stair machine set on a fair speed, for example, or 50 medicine ball smashes without collapsing. My planks are getting longer though, to the point that my whole body quivers and shivers for 80 seconds. That's when my guy says "25 more seconds - c'mon, lock those elbows." So I do it and then fall on the floor. In the end, it is for life functionality and fun, not for the gym. A little vanity is the dessert. Yes, my abs are shaping up but it's just for sex appeal...
Posted by Bird Dog
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17:55
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Art
My apologies but I forget where I found this toon.
Posted by Bird Dog
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15:06
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Wednesday, September 23. 2015Breaking Science newsScientific studies reveal that most men feel attracted to sexy younger women. To all women, but especially the sexy, younger. (h/t Insty) Thank God for scientific studies.
Posted by The News Junkie
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15:27
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