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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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Sunday, January 29. 2012Not from today's Lectionary: Dark Night of the Soul (La noche oscura del alma)
John also wrote a treatise on his poem, of the same title. As I understand it, the "dark night" also refers to the period between death and resurrection and union with God, or between death and heaven, and as a metaphor for the condition of being out of touch with God and His love, seeking it in the dark. However, John of the Cross makes a sexy love poem of it too, in the tradition of Song of Songs (Solomon, the old rascal, had 700 wives and 300 concubines to keep him from straying too far from the harem, and out of trouble.)
Here's one translation from: THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS, translated by Kieran Kavanaugh, OCD, and Otilio Rodriguez, OCD, revised edition (1991). (Copyright 1991 ICS Publications. Permission is hereby granted for any non-commercial use, if this copyright notice is included.) 1. One dark night, 2. In darkness, and secure, 3. On that glad night, 4. This guided me 5. O guiding night! 6. Upon my flowering breast 7. When the breeze blew from the turret, 8. I abandoned and forgot myself,
Posted by Bird Dog
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Saturday, January 28. 2012TribesListening to Bill Whittle's video we posted yesterday reminded me of his Katrina-era post titled Tribes. As you may recall, it's about sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs - and about the Pink and Grey tribes.
Posted by The Barrister
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Friday, January 27. 2012Americans in prisonA friend of mine recently joined a 3-day prison ministry in which our church participates. He returned home shaken by the entire experience. 6 million Americans sit in prisons today. I am certain that many of them are dangerous sociopaths who we would not want living next door, but many are non-violent (eg drug crimes, white collar crimes, etc) for which better penalties (eg fines) could be concocted. After all, it costs the taxpayer more per year than a year at Harvard to incarerate somebody. America does have high rates of emprisonment. China doesn't, because they use the death penalty so liberally that they have medical vans on routes to stop by and harvest your fresh organs. In places like Saudi, they just cut your hand off if you steal. I suppose my feeling is that prison is ok for violent offenders, but not for the non-violent. Anyway, this comes up because Dr. X. linked Gopnik's New Yorker piece, The Caging of America - Why do we lock up so many people? What do you think? Am I a bleeding heart?
Posted by Bird Dog
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16:27
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Thursday, January 26. 2012More on FishtownMore on Charles Murray on Fishtown and Belmont, from Kay Hymowitz:
I respect Murray a great deal, but I think he juxtaposes two extremes. America is filled with middle-class towns and middle-class neighborhoods which are neither Fishtowns nor Belmonts but which are having a tough time in the current economy. While the welfare state has enabled much of the deterioration of civilized culture in Fishtown, the lack of unskilled jobs (largely taken by new immigrants who are grateful for any work at any pay) and semi-skilled jobs (overseas) probably plays a role in that too. It takes a lot of initiative to take charge of one's life nowadays, regardless of one's advantages or lack thereof. Where are the jobs for a guy who is happy to run a lathe or machine tool all day at a steady job, then go home to his cozy family? Those jobs no longer exist in Pittsfield or Bridgeport, and nothing will bring them back. It is a tragedy, I think, of the changes.
Posted by Bird Dog
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The King's Best Highway: The Boston Post RoadRecently stumbled on this book: The King's Best Highway: The Lost History of the Boston Post Road, the Route That Made America. I bought it. The "post" road meant a mail road. It now has different names as it travels through different towns, but locals call it "the Boston Post Road" or "the Post Road" still. Its original name was The King's Highway. That old road, based on an Indian trail. has been part of my life, on and off, forever. In fact, when I was a kid, the old trolley tracks still stuck through the asphalt creating a bike challenge. Image of the Boston Post Rd in the late 1600s in Pelham, NY, from this site.
Posted by Bird Dog
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Wednesday, January 25. 2012A wonderful goofball from Larchmont
Posted by Bird Dog
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Hockney
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Tuesday, January 24. 2012Neuroscience for DummiesThe "for Dummies" series is spotty, but this one is quite good: Neuroscience for Dummies. I would highly recommend it for students before they take any neuoscience-related courses in school. Our learning theory here is that it's best to learn all you can about a topic before you take a course in it. That way, you will at least be oriented. Sometimes, the whole expensive course might end up being redundant.
Posted by Dr. Joy Bliss
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17:03
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Saturday, January 21. 2012Domino and Mexican Train DominoesProf. Jacobson found this:
Do you ever play Mexican Train Dominoes? A good game, quite absorbing. We learned to play it in Mexico last year. More fun than watching TV. Uncle's Games sells Mexican Train Domino sets. This game is said to be the most popular Domino game these days. Rules here (which sound more complicated than it is to play). It's a good alternative to Chess and Scrabble when you don't feel like over-taxing your brain, and 4 or 5 can play.
Posted by Bird Dog
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16:35
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Free ad for Caravaggio (1571-1610)
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio's The Calling of Matthew (1600) The notoriously brawling artist brought a new look to European late Renaissance art, and is viewed as a bridge between Mannerism and Baroque. He was a rock star artist in his time. The Calling of Matthew is discussed here in the WSJ, and here.
Posted by Bird Dog
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Wednesday, January 18. 2012"Coincidence Studies""What a coinkydinky. I was just about to call you." Synchronicity, Serendipity, Seriality, and Simulpathity. It's a fun topic, but I can't tell for sure whether Dr. Beitman is writing tongue-in-cheek or in all seriousness. Or perhaps he's a Jungian, in which case all bets are off. I know people who say "There are no coincidences." Count me an agnostic on the topic.
Tuesday, January 17. 2012Is good old-fashioned lechery now re-named "Sex Addiction"?One interesting aspect of modern life in the Western World is the pathologizing, or "diseaseifying," of moral and character failures. Putting such failures into the disease category is a popular conceit for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the way it seems to let people off the hook. The victim thing. But while even AA may make use of the disease metaphor, if you go to a meeting you will hear far more about character flaws than about disease. They are not into disease excuses for problem behavior. I have been posting recently about satiable and insatiable appetites for pleasures - food and for other things, here: For the New Year: Satiety, the Animal Pleasures, the Cardinal Sins, and "Addiction," Part 2 and here The bad news: Eating less keeps your brain younger and more vigorous (with comments on satiety) Despite the addiction meme, ordinary people still term those who eat more than they need "pigs," people who buy too much stuff "self-indulgent," people who habitually drink too much "drunks," and people with uncontained sexual efforts as "lechers" or as "nymphomaniacs" or "hos". Ordinary language reflects the common sense moral disapprobation of ungoverned behavior. To say that they "lack a self-governing function" is the disease model, a defect model, but to use it requires turning a verb idea into a noun idea, by reification. The better form is "They do not govern themselves," or, better yet, "They do not exert themselves to govern themselves." The disease/defect model does not do justice to all of the people who must struggle mightily to resist all of the temptations that life offers. Pajamas has a piece up about sex "addiction," Sex Addiction 101 - PJM's advice columnist on the Chinese food syndrome of loveless sex: no sooner satisfied, than feeling empty again. While the article makes the obvious point that people seek pleasure and often seek to replace distress with simple pleasures, it entirely overlooks the moral, spiritual, and character dimensions of lechery as if it were a "chemical imbalance" instead of plain old-fashioned rotten, socially-inappropriate behavior. Sinful too, if anybody believes in sin anymore. While it seems true that habitual pleasures change the brain a little, so does habitual self-control. Self-control offers many rewards, but few rewards of the instant, animal sort. There are good habits and bad habits. I don't know whether it is a sociological fact, but it seems as if the debauchery and bad habits, once the domains of the very rich and powerful and of the poor, have become democratized and, in the process, excused to some extent (eg the Oval Office BJs). People I talk to with bad or unrestrained behaviors of all sorts tend to despise themselves for it, and view putting their behavior into a disease category as a condescension. Unless they are guilt-free sociopaths, they know that their behavior is self-indulgent and immoral. People can quit these things, with help and sometimes without help, if they want to or need to, but it means giving up a lot of instant gratification in exchange for, one hopes, better life results and less self-contempt. Rent Control in NYC and DCWe linked this by Gelinas yesterday: A man’s home is the government’s castle Also, American Thinker's Seizing the Wealth of Landlords, One District at a Time Both cities' rent control laws began as emergencies to meet temporary housing crunches (you always need a "crisis" to create an opportunity for government control). Then your "emergency" action becomes permanent due to its newly-created constituency. That is how Leviathan grows. If rent control were eliminated in NYC today, in short time there would be tons of new middle class rental housing built; supply up, prices down. The moral issue, though, is that these controls do constitute a form of government theft from the owners.
Posted by The Barrister
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13:21
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Monday, January 16. 2012Is honesty an obsolete, bourgeois "value"?Teaching honesty is no longer a priority in our schools:
I have no way of discerning whether there is anything new here. What I do know is that it is generally a good rule of thumb to let people prove their integrity, rather than assuming that they have any. I have been burned by people enough times to cure me of my optimistic naivete. Dishonesty and concealment, despite whatever mass culture may do, continues to appall me whether in myself or in others. Nice party in Ho-Ho-KusHo-Ho-Kus is one of New Jersey's fine little towns (Pop 4000). We attended an elegant birthday party in one of the private dining rooms at the cozy olde Inn yesterday.
Posted by Bird Dog
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16:32
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Saturday, January 14. 2012Let's address stereotyping! "Not all Irishmen drink too much, not all of them beat their wives..."Lubel is a nut (see his other Youtubes. I know a nerdy guy from Long Island who reminds me of him, who has always gotten lots of girls into bed not from his looks or achievements but from plain cheerful confidence and an optimistic, animal openness about his desires):
Thursday, January 12. 2012Bullshit: The Essay"Bullshit" is the title of a well-known 1986 essay by Princeton philosopher Harry Frankfurt, now expanded into a short book. Two of Frankfurt's main points seem to be that, 1, the bullshitter is more motivated to create an impression of himself rather than to communicate substantial true material and 2. bullshit may be more insidious than lying. From a review of the book here:
Besides being a very bright fellow, his life as an academic gives him unique experience with the world of bullshit. We are all bullshitters, to some extent, but some make a career of it. Frankfurt's original 6-page essay can be read here. One quote:
Unbroken: Louis Zamperini
I am just finishing it. One hell of a tale - and I do mean hell. The xenophobia and racism of the Japanese is well-known, but the book will give one a harrowing picture of it. Mentioned to my father-in-law that I was reading it, and he told me he saw Zamperini run in Madison Square Garden. We young'uns don't realize that Track and Field used to be perhaps the most popular sport in America. Pic is Louie Zamperini carrying the Olympic Torch in 1984.
Posted by Bird Dog
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12:20
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Tuesday, January 10. 2012Ban Ice CreamModern-Day Prohibition - The eternal temptation to ban things that give people pleasure. Stier begins:
The world is full of cranks and zealots who want to make you do whatever they think they should do. From my standpoint, I tend to want people to make up their own minds, and if they want to spend their lives half-stoned on heroin or pot, or fat from ice-cream and pastries, so be it. It's their life and their body. The list of things of which I disapprove is long, but the list of things I would chose to apply power to prohibit is very short. Murder and theft, for starters. Monday, January 9. 2012Tinker Tailor
Not because it is poorly-done, but because it is impossible to depict the plot and the subplots of this complex Cold War counterespionage story in 2 hours. Had I not read the book, and seen the BBC miniseries several times, I would not have understood this film at all. The gold standard for Tinker Tailor is the 6 hour miniseries with Alec Guiness as Smiley. It's one of the best things ever produced for TV. Ever. Even so, following the plot is difficult if you haven't read Le Carre's book first. Reagan's end of the Cold War was a great loss for fiction.
Posted by Bird Dog
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15:03
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Sunday, January 8. 2012Belmont Vs. FishtownCharles Murray on Belmont Vs. Fishtown, about social class in America and the Founding Virtues: marriage, industriousness, honesty, religiousness. It's a major essay. One quote:
Study the whole thing. It rings true to me. Even in a small town where we know all sorts of people, we tend to hang out with people who play tennis and golf, own guns, read lots of books, discuss Plato, Marx, Freud, Adam Smith and Hayek, go to church, have gardens, and love opera. Otherwise, what is there to talk about except the weather? It's not defined by financial status, but rather by common interests and, sometimes but certainly not always, similar backgrounds and similar world-views (but excluding political views, generally, untiil one is clear about where one's companions are coming from). Choosing life goals: Where does money fit in?We posted on The Art of Choosing a little while ago. It got me to thinking about one of my favorite topics, the choices of life goals. There tends to be a political assumption that everybody is most motivated by material and financial goals, but it just is not true for many people unless they are in dire straights. Sad to say, many are these days. However, in normal times, normal people choose their goals, and construct their plans to achieve them for all sorts of reasons: religious, following a passion, "life style" reasons, security, wanting to "make a difference," following a calling, etc. So, while most people could always use more money, that cannot be assumed to be what most people base their choices on. Just ask a toll-collector on the Mass Pike, or a Mass. State Representative why he/she picked the job.
The heterogeneity is the point. We make compromises, don't we, between our practical goals and our emotional goals in the endless pursuit of life satisfaction? However, most people do not have a career-related passion, in which case money and material often become our culture's default choice. I am fortunate in having a spouse with two absorbing passions: doing deals and playing sports. The former frees me up to pursue my less-lucrative academic work and charitable interests, and the latter keeps him out of trouble (except for orthopedic trouble). If leisure is your life goal, here are The Highest-Paying Jobs With The Most Time Off. If your preference is to work hard and long, with rewards potentially commensurate with effort but with plenty of risk too, I suggest starting a business. One fine fact about life is that we can change our goals as we grow.
Posted by Dr. Joy Bliss
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13:16
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Saturday, January 7. 2012Let's Make a DealSeveral months ago, I stumbled onto a baseball article which intrigued me. In probably the best example of how an exchange of product and services doesn't have to have a winner and a loser, Major League Baseball witnessed a trade in 2009 that ultimately benefited every team involved. What is particularly odd about this trade is that there were more than two teams involved.
As the saying goes, one person's trash is another person's treasure. It is sometimes assumed that there has to be a winner and a loser involved in every trade. But the networked nature of exchange can lead to net gains for all involved. In an example of Metcalfe's Law, 4 teams showed how markets can benefit everyone, even in baseball where there are usually winners and losers.
Continue reading "Let's Make a Deal"
Posted by Bulldog
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12:24
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Friday, January 6. 2012Big DataA piece from author and Harvard Prof David Weinberger on his new book: To Know, but Not Understand: David Weinberger on Science and Big Data. A quote:
Posted by The Barrister
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15:37
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A case of Ho Chi Minh's Revenge for the Pupette
She's feeling a little better, now. She's a good, hearty and brave traveller. We taught her that. She'll go anywhere and do anything, doesn't mind getting lost, doesn't mind being on her own, and isn't afraid of getting sick - as long as it's all cheap. She's been almost everywhere already, without us parents - out West, Europe, etc. (All of my kids are like that. Their Mom was adventurous like that too in youth, hitchhiking all around Europe, Turkey, and the Middle East with a backpack. Now, her Mom prefers a bit more comfort in travel but still has the vigorous Go Go Hi Ho attitude to life which is a blessing for me.) What normal college kid would want to sit at home with the old folks during winter break? Not one of them. At least ski with friends, or go somewhere fun and exciting on the cheap. Mine have never stayed at home, comfortable as it may be here at ye olde cozy Yankee cabin homestead by the fire. We preach, and try to make an example of, adventure and accumulating experience and experiences - the good ones and the bad ones. Learn more from the bad ones. As my "Oystersmiling" pupette says, "The world beckons." The world is her oyster. What a fine attitude. Pupette was laughing in her email about spending a day in a "Commie medical clinic" next to a jolly Aussie couple with the same affliction. Aussies - always jolly, always at least half-drunk, never worrying about anything. She reports that the docs and nurses were wonderful and kind, and that she absorbed 7 bags of IV normal saline which brought her back to life. Seven bags? Sheesh. I call that "low on oil." She's back in Saigon now, and posted a few more of her pics. The Americans in the pics are her cute self, and her pal who is working in Saigon. Excuse me - I mean Ho Chi Minh City. Photo is a bag of Normal Saline. AKA salt water - human fluid is the same thing as sea-water, and not by accident. Nurses inject a bag of it into themselves when they have hangovers at work, or so I have heard...
Posted by Bird Dog
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11:23
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