Tuesday, January 1. 2013
More Yankeeland architectural pics tomorrow. One aspect of the traditional ethos is to make a home appear humbler and smaller, than it is. One way to do that is to make them narrow in the front, but to run on in the back with endless additions and attachments.
This is not an inn, it's a family homestead. Could have been an inn at some point in history. Here's the full view, behind the trees, Hard to determine which part came first, but Sipp can probably explain the cobbling here. I tend to guess that the Federal front part came second, but I can't be sure:
Good advice, for bloggers and for everyone, from Wizbang:
Never say anything you would not be willing to repeat under oath.
Never say or write anything you would not want to see plastered across the front page of the newspaper.
Never write when you can speak.
Never speak when you can nod.
Never nod when you can wink
Well, I am not a winker but I would add, as lawyers always advise, "Say it in flowers, say it in mink, but never, ever, say it in ink." I'm afraid that I break all of these rules, daily, as I have a perverse tendency to actively resist PC just for the fun of it. Fortunately, I have no employer to object. That's the Maggie's Ideal Way of Life.
Remember flying a kite as a kid? It's a pretty simple task, really, in the sense that (1) all you have to do is hold onto the string, and (2) as you proved, even a kid can do it.
And I'm sure you know that there are people who can make kites do some pretty nifty tricks, like barrel rolls and loops and all that.
And what's extra special is when you get three people flying three kites together, performing a beautiful aerial ballet.
Or two people flying three kites.
Or one.
Happy New Year, y'all!
Monday, December 31. 2012
You always wondered where Eskimos went to the toilet:
You always wondered about Reindeer and sleds:
More old Eskimo pics here, from before the Welfare and snowmobile era. What I have always wondered is why they never moved further south..
Saturday, December 29. 2012
The books from the people who know my reading tastes and tendencies but are always trying to nudge me towards a slightly higher fiction ratio. Having been rid of TV for the past few months, my reading rate has not increased at all because I never turned the thing on anyway. Who has time for TV when there is life to be lived, and a website to be edited?
I prefer dead-tree books to digital. Precious things. This is all great stuff to nourish brain and soul:
Mark Helprin: In Sunlight and in Shadow
Leonardo Sciasia: The Wine Dark Sea
Tom Reiss: The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo
Guiseppi di Lampedusa: The Leopard (I can't believe I've never read this classic, but Mrs. BD decided it was time that I did)
Andrew Motion: Silver: Return to Treasure Island
Giles Foden: Turbulence
Orhan Pamuk: Snow
Sandra Benjamin: Sicily: Three Thousand Years of Human History
Louise Dickinson Rich: We Took To The Woods
Frank Oppell (ed): Tales of Old New England (Who knew that Boston used to export ice to India?)
Friday, December 28. 2012
Thursday, December 27. 2012
A powerful report from Heather MacDonald: Chicago's Real Crime Story - Why decades of community organizing haven't stemmed the city's youth violence.
I cannot pick out one juicy quote because the whole sad thing is of a piece: moral, family, and cultural breakdown since the 1960s. These kids are growing up in something between anarchy and Lord of the Flies. One quote:
Some members of Chicago’s Left will argue against holding fathers or mothers responsible for their children. “To blame it on the family is totally unfair,” says Gwen Rice, a board member of the Developing Communities Project. “I’m tired of blaming the parents. The services for the poor are paltry; it boggles the mind. Historically, you can’t expect a parent who can’t get a job to do something that someone with resources can do. These problems have histories; there are policies that have mitigated against black progress. What needs to happen is a change in corporate greed and insensitivity.” Rice corrects my use of the term “illegitimacy”: “There are no illegitimate births,” she says.
Wednesday, December 26. 2012
Part 1 was Lamp and Lantern Season
Part 2 was Keeping your humidor humid in winter
Winter in central New England entails jump-starters, oil lamps and lanterns, snow-blowers, snow plows, flashlights, snow shovels, plenty of firewood, hats and long-johns, and good gloves and boots of all sorts. Global cooling will be here soon. Oh, and 4WD for the sissies and the city-folk for whom a little snow and ice are daunting - and for your plow truck. Gas generators? We country folk don't go in for those.
I keep one of these charged up in the garage, and it came in handy when one of the tractors, rarely used this summer, had both a dead battery and squishy front tires Saturday. I had been using the Ford all summer, and figured I ought to get the Farmall moving a little to prevent Tractor Arthritis.
What was my chore? Heading up into the woods with the wagon to clear our cross-country ski trails of fallen trees, and to accumulate some more firewood in the process.
This cool thing solved both problems easily:
Monday, December 24. 2012
It's very brief, Here. (Don't tell the kids.)
The modern American celebration of Christmas, with its commercialized gift exchanges, developed in cities, led by New York, after 1880.
Nast, 1863, Santa in Camp
Nast, 1865
Sunday, December 23. 2012
The Folly of Scientism. Prof. Hughes begins:
When I decided on a scientific career, one of the things that appealed to me about science was the modesty of its practitioners. The typical scientist seemed to be a person who knew one small corner of the natural world and knew it very well, better than most other human beings living and better even than most who had ever lived. But outside of their circumscribed areas of expertise, scientists would hesitate to express an authoritative opinion. This attitude was attractive precisely because it stood in sharp contrast to the arrogance of the philosophers of the positivist tradition, who claimed for science and its practitioners a broad authority with which many practicing scientists themselves were uncomfortable.
The temptation to overreach, however, seems increasingly indulged today in discussions about science. Both in the work of professional philosophers and in popular writings by natural scientists, it is frequently claimed that natural science does or soon will constitute the entire domain of truth.
another quote:
Of all the fads and foibles in the long history of human credulity, scientism in all its varied guises — from fanciful cosmology to evolutionary epistemology and ethics — seems among the more dangerous, both because it pretends to be something very different from what it really is and because it has been accorded widespread and uncritical adherence. Continued insistence on the universal competence of science will serve only to undermine the credibility of science as a whole. The ultimate outcome will be an increase of radical skepticism that questions the ability of science to address even the questions legitimately within its sphere of competence. One longs for a new Enlightenment to puncture the pretensions of this latest superstition.
Friday, December 21. 2012
Been in the City lately? I have. Love the vitality of it, the spirit, the pretty people. Best place in the world at Christmastime when everything and every corner is hopping. It is uplifting, invigorating, inspiring.
McSorley's is one of the great old pubs, but there are so many.
McSorley's allows ladies to enter nowadays, but it's really still a guy place. I puked in their bathroom one time as a youth. "Boot and rally," as we say. Not a sacred place - just old, uncomfortable, dusty, and rickety. Perfect.
Here's one: How Joseph Mitchell’s wonderful saloon became a sacred site for a certain literary pilgrim.
Thursday, December 20. 2012
 "In the battle over gun rights in America, both sides have distorted history and the law, and there’s no resolution in sight."
Well, I think the Heller case sort of settled it. As I say, the only problem is criminals with illegal guns. America doesn't have too many guns, it has too many crims. When we figure out how to effectively control criminals and the violent insane...
Here's my proposal: First, the government removes all illegal weapons from all of the criminals and from the violent insane. This would require a major, nation-wide undertaking. Second step, as a sign of faith in their effort, the government removes all weapons from their own bodyguards and the bodyguards of the wealthy and celebs. Then we can talk about reasonable rules for civil society and for us ordinary, rule-following citizens. Historically, only aristocrats could be armed with swords or whatever. God forbid the humble, honest peasants like us have access to weapons too.
I saw at Drudge that WalMart is almost sold out of firearms this Christmas. Guys and gals both enjoy a fun new firearm to play with. So do kids. Many if not most American boys remember their first .22 under the Christmas tree. I sure do. My Dad, a US Army vet, university professor, opera- and ballet-lover, taught me everything about it, safety, assembly, cleaning, everything. Good stuff. The smell of that Hoppe's cleaning fluid always takes me back to the farm's kitchen table covered with newspaper with gun-oil stains, just like Proust's madeleine brought him back. I destroyed countless beer bottles and coke cans with that rifle.
He also got us a powerful clay target-thrower when we moved into shotguns. Since then, I have enjoyed the challenge of shotgunning more than rifles but I still have a few rifles in the closet. Not sure how many because we never use them. Farm tradition always had a loaded 12 ga. leaning against the kitchen wall like any other farm tool, and a loaded revolver in the kitchen drawer with the pliers and scissors and balls of string. Country-style, I guess. My Mom is/was a champion with skeet and trap, better than me because of her relaxed, serene focus.
I love hunting, but only hunters know that shooting guns is only a small part of it. That's why it's not called "shooting." Self-protection? I don't really need it now but we have had problems at the farm where, in a very isolated place far from government control, a firearm would be handy for justice purposes or to civilize an insane Black Bear.
Handguns? Well, I figger my concealed carry permit should be enough to deter bad guys because I have never actually carried except in the trunk of the car. Might be amusing for people to wear the carry permit on their Brooks Brothers sports jacket as a deterrent to trouble.
I often hear complaints that many colleges appear to have limits to how many Asians they want to accept. I have heard it said that "Asians are the new Jews", recalling when elite colleges elected to keep their Jewish component low.
It's understood that no competitive college wants to fill a class with nothing but kids with perfect SAT scores (just joking about the stereotype) who play concert violin, but at what point does discrimination against eyelid contour begin to exist?
The subject is discussed and debated in The NYT.
I'd like to see color-blind and ethnicity-blind admissions. We all know what colleges are looking for - bright, curious, and hard-working kids who are likely to be a credit to the school and who can fill some sort of slot in the construction of a class, eg they will want a few lacrosse players, a sailor or two, a cellist, some literary types, some genius science geeks, some kids who have shown unique initiative in life, etc.
Wednesday, December 19. 2012
 The cacophany from the gun nuts is getting intense these days, and very little of it makes logical sense to me. I spoke with a colleague gun nut this week who told me that she'd be afraid even to touch a gun. I promised to take her to the range to get over this phobia. Hoplophobia. Probably a mental illness. A firearm is just a pipe and a hammer.
People talk about "dangerous semi-automatic" firearms. What? A cowboy six-shooter is semi-automatic, and so are most duck-hunting shotguns. Automatic firearms are illegal for civilians in the US. I don't think they know what they are talking about. (My error - were illegal but are not now. Missed that change. Machine guns are illegal.)
Guns are dangerous? Gee wiz. Who knew? I thought large bottles of Coke and table salt and globalistical warmening were dangerous.
Now, I will not get hysterical about this topic because I know that nobody is going to take away my guns or my (heavily-vetted) concealed-carry permit. It's politically impossible. Just one point: How come the gun nuts hate ordinary people having guns - any guns - while it seems fine for "important Liberal people" - like Sen Feinstein, who carries or used to, or Harry Reid, who has carried most of his life, or Mayor Bloomberg, surrounded by armed bodyguards despite his horror of guns, or a President surrounded by a small army of weaponry, or Oprah with her armed bodyguards, etc etc.?
This is America. We're all equal. I'm important too. All of my kids can handle firearms. Basic life skill, same as swimming and tennis and trigonometry and land navigation.
Dead at 85. Here's Kimball on one of Bork's books, a few years ago. A quote:
Like many profound books. Coercing Virtue does not attempt to say anything new. Instead, it does something that is at once more valuable and more difficult:It reminds us of old, familiar truths—so familiar that they are everywhere neglected. “Democracy” means the rule of the people and its duly elected representatives,not the rule of unelected judges. Professional do-gooders, intoxicated by the emotion of virtue, are dangerous threats to public tranquility.Traditional morality became traditional largely because it provided sound answers to the hard problems of human frailty. Custom and convention are generally not the enemy of freedom but, on the contrary, something closer to its precondition.The single-minded pursuit of self-fulfillment is self-defeating. Individuality, like freedom, thrives best when limited by commitment and respect for values that transcend the individual.
Here's Kimball's tribute today.
I never understood the venom that was directed towards Judge Bork.
Monday, December 17. 2012
"If you ban guns, only criminals will have guns." Leaving the rest of us to be helpless sheep in the face of criminals and reckless lunatics.
How did Canada's gun registry work out? After billions spent and years dedicated to it, not one crime solved. Duh. Bad guys do not own legal firearms. They obtain illegal ones on the street or they steal them.
But first, reminiscences about bucolic Newtown, CT: “An Adorable Little Town”
Chicago murder rate up - as in the UK - since handgun ban, plus lots of other data
More good news above: Such mass crimes are on the decline since 1929.
The good news: Armed Woman Stops Gunman at San Antonio Theater
Again from NYM: Gun control didn't work in CT
From John Fund in our links this morning:
In all of the fevered commentary over the Newtown killings, you will hear little discussion of the fact that we may be making our families and neighbors less safe by expanding the places where guns aren’t allowed. But that is precisely what we may be doing. Both criminals and the criminally insane have shown time and time again that those laws are the least of the problems they face as they carry out their evil deeds.
SO IF WE’RE GOING TO HAVE A “NATIONAL CONVERSATION ON GUNS,” HERE ARE SOME OPENERS
This past week was finals week for my son. Thankfully, his slow start at college led to a fine rally and his efforts were rewarded with good grades. I give him a tremendous amount of credit for pulling himself together in his new environment. He started out carelessly, as many young people do when suddenly placed in an environment which is seemingly responsibility-free. The reality hits home quickly, of course, and his hit in the first two weeks, details of which are not important.
What was important was how he responded. He buckled down, and realized that while he could have some fun, he was there to do work. I pointed out to him his payment for the work he does is the sense of accomplishment good grades provide.
However, for all the fine work he did, there was one event which bothered me. He handled it well, I can't say that I would've.
His professor, for their final paper, asked them all to write a letter to President Obama asking for increased legislation and leadership to move our nation to a 'green' or sustainable energy policy. All the papers would be graded, but the highest grade would be sent directly to President Obama through a personal friend.
My first reaction was "what right does this professor have to force a particular view on his students?" My son replied, "Look, I don't agree with this and I don't support it. But I can get an A and I've got a good idea of how to write this. If I fight him, he'll probably give me an F on the paper."
As much as this approach bothered me, I was impressed with his maturity and focus on the goal. His paper was, for what it was, pretty darn good. I don't know if it will get forwarded, but it was worthy of a very high grade. He and I laughed and I said "at least if it does get chosen, we can use it as a platform to show the inadequacies of some portions of higher education."
I'm aware that many colleges have become bastions of liberal indoctrination. I'm not sure when the decision was made to eliminate critical thought in the classroom - but I hope it is not fait accompli. Luckily for my son, he and I have active discussions about topics like his paper regularly, so he's aware there is more than one view on the topic. I'm not sure how many of his classmates are.
Sunday, December 16. 2012
 Sipp makes the case that life is accumulated error. Lots of truth in that. Even small errors in facts, in choices, in judgement, build on eachother and you eventually you can have a mess that you drag along with you. It's difficult in life to start on a clean slate.
In Maritime Academies, they always teach the famous case of the cargo ship leaving NY harbor headed for Brazil in the 1960s. After a day at sea, the ship beached itself on Fire Island on Long Island, NY. The autopilot, as today, was controlled by a gyro. When a gyro malfunctions and drifts, everything checks out and agrees with the malfunctioning gyro. When the ship hit the beach, the crew had no idea where they were. Degree by degree, over three watches, the ship had made a 180. I'll assume they hit the beach at night.
Well, everything checks out as consistent - unless somebody bothers to check the heading against an old-fashioned magnetic compass. There is a reason all ships still carry a sextant and a copy of Bowditch too.
Here's a recent example: The maps lie: Australian scientists discover Manhattan-sized island doesn’t actually exist
Friday, December 14. 2012
Or to anyone who comes into a windfall of cash whether by inheritance, good luck, hard work, or however: How not to live on $550 million.
Wednesday, December 12. 2012
"Ted Dalrymple" (Dr. Anthony Daniels) is, as readers know, a retired Brit Psychiatrist with experience in the prison system (as a physician, not as an inmate).
With or without prison experience, Psychiatrists, priests, and police officers have the experience to view people with a jaundiced eye, knowing perhaps better than most about what dark thoughts and motives lurk in the human soul because they are not in denial about the nature of human selfishness, deception and self-deception, envy, manipulativeness, sin, and evil.
In A Word to the Wise, Dalrymple questions the very premise of the idea of "man's inhumanity to man," from the Poles' treatment of their Jews to the modern British welfare state.
Have you seen dignity?
It's a post at MTC. It begins:
When Isaac Newton went to the University of Cambridge several centuries ago, he studied seven days a week, at least ten hours a day, and actively avoided the revelry that some Cambridge undergraduates engaged in even then. No one expects American undergraduates to work as hard as Isaac Newton or as medieval monks. However, what seems to be happening on many American college campuses is the development of such a powerful "fun" culture that a quarter of the students or more arrive thinking that having fun is the main reason they are at college and that the pursuit of knowledge should be resorted to only when they have nothing better to do.
There was a time when the upper classes approached college casually, more as a rite of passage than anything else because they were confident about their futures, while the aspiring classes put their noses to the grindstone the way Newton did. That was in a time, however, when probably 1% or less of the population even considered higher education. It has been democratized, which might be another way of saying that many colleges are now glorified high schools.
Tuesday, December 11. 2012
 A simple jump rope is possibly the best cardio exercise device one can own. It is also the cheapest and most portable.
Jumping rope will burn also 11 calories per minute (more than anything else) while offering almost total body fitness. If you have the fitness and endurance to jump rope for half an hour, you can burn off one candy bar or one donut but few people could go that long even if they wanted to. At a very fast pace, maybe a donut in less than half an hour. However, nobody I've seen can go that long.
At my gym, it's mainly men who jump. Amazon has all sorts of jump ropes. Many people like the beaded ones and the weighted ones.
Done properly on the toes, it's a low-impact exercise. Most people seem to jump in 30-second to three- or six- minute stints. It is demanding for people over 25.
Here's 3 Benefits of Jump Rope Fitness
10-Minute Jump Rope Cardio Workout
Jumping rope for boxers
If you google jump rope exercise you will find hundreds of articles about technique and the benefits.
Monday, December 10. 2012
 In the course of our basement water pipe flood this summer, I seem to have lost my couple of pairs of light shooting gloves. I like to shoot with gloves even when it isn't too cold. Most of the hunting I do tends to be in cold weather so I like to get used to the feel of gloves on a trigger.
And I have a very mild but uncomfortable case of Raynaud's.
Glovemakers vary in what they mean by L,M, S, etc. Here's a great way to determine your numerical glove size when ordering online. Leather, of course, tends to stretch a bit with use. (That image in the link might need to be reduced before printing)
Sierra Trading Post almost always has nice shooting gloves at a meaningful discount. Those are for cool - not frigid - weather. Not just for shooting either - good cool-weather all-purpose gloves.
The right gloves for hunting grouse in the snow or ducks in the sleet at 10 degrees F is another topic. The perfect gloves for those things do not exist, as best I have been able to determine. Heavy waterproof gloves, obviously, do not fit rapidly and easily inside a trigger guard, and if you are using a double-triggered old s/s, it's really a problem.
Ideas are welcome. I wonder what the Army uses in Afghanistan in the winter. Maybe things like this.
Sunday, December 9. 2012
Since 1498 - the Vienna Boy's Choir. They have four touring groups of 25 kids each. They sing like angels. We caught their Christmas in Vienna concert at Carnegie Hall today with Mrs. BD's music-loving parents after a very pleasant brunch at Petrossian down the block (the prix fixe, friends - but festively with caviar and blini, and champagne). Mrs. BD got us good parterre seats.
The choir has an interesting and ancient history.
As a reprise, they sang the beloved but cornball Leise rieselt der Schnee. Give the tune a listen if you don't know it. You might end up humming it for 48 hours. With all of our German-origin Christmas songs (eg Stille Nacht), it's a wonder we English never took this one. Maybe because of the bland lyrics (but this translation stinks - I can do better even though my German is not very strong anymore). Here's a version of it.
I bet you can't listen to it just once:
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