Monday, January 10. 2011
 God, nature, and chance must be against me, because I failed to win that $300 million Powerball. Oh well, maybe next time. And when I do, I'll buy a nice ski place near Killington.
The one pictured is for sale. I think it's ugly, but it would work OK as a party house.
Sunday, January 9. 2011
A reference to Nagel's classic What is it like to be a bat?: What is it Like to be a Man? A quote from the essay:
If science offers a complete account of nature, then it must be able to offer a complete account of human conscious experience, since human conscious experience is a feature of nature. It must be able to say something about what it is like to be a man. Accordingly, for several decades, a relentless effort has been undertaken by those in the disciplines of cognitive science and philosophy of mind to conceptualize such an account – an explanation of the mental in terms of the purely physical. The results of this endeavor are unambiguous – it has been a complete disaster. One would be hard pressed to identify, in all of intellectual history, a philosophical detour more obstinately barren, more improgressive, more tangled up in empty verbiage, more devoid of genuine insight, more irrelevant to life as it is actually lived, than is to be discovered in contemporary philosophy of mind. John Searle described the futile history of this materialist project as follows:
One sees this pattern over and over. A materialist thesis is advanced. But the thesis encounters difficulties; the difficulties take different forms, but they are always manifestations of an underlying deeper difficulty, namely, the thesis in question denies obvious facts that we all know about our own minds. And this leads to ever more frenzied efforts to stick with the materialist thesis and try to defeat the arguments put forward by those who insist on preserving the facts. After some years of desperate maneuvers to account for the difficulties, some new development is put forward that allegedly solves the difficulties, but then we find that it encounters new difficulties, only the new difficulties are not so new – they are really the same old difficulties.
Saturday, January 8. 2011
I have been sorting through my file of images, and found some that are worth posting before discarding. I suppose some have been used in past years. I don't recall where most of them came from.
I may need to do this for a few Saturdays, to clean out the files...
Steal them at will.
More below the fold -
Continue reading "My first fun and useful image dump"
 I discovered something pretty neat at Office Depot a while back. .3 millimeter doesn't sound like much, maybe the width of a hair, but, in my case, it actually made a real, tangible difference when it comes to the ease of shopping trips.
First off, if you aren't hip to gel pens yet, you are just squaresville, baby. The main reason 'razor point' pens came into popularity years ago is because, unlike cheap ballpoints, the ink starts flowing immediately. Gel pens do likewise, but they don't have that scratchy feel that razor points have.
To note is that almost every pen out there, regardless of type, lays down a line .7 millimeters wide. Somebody once decided that's the standard and there she be. Then the other day I was looking over gel pens at Office Depot and way over to one side I noticed a package that said "1.0" for the line width. A star was born.
What's interesting is that the line doesn't necessarily look 'fatter' as much as 'darker'. I'm speaking of black ink in this case, and that .3 millimeter made all the difference as to whether or not I had to haul out my stoopit reading glasses every time I wanted to glance at my shopping list. That .3 millimeter crossed some delicate boundary in my eyes' field of focus.
The pen I grabbed is here. Most of the larger pen companies have a 1.0 gel stashed somewhere.
Coincidentally, the next day I was giving some info to my mom over the phone and got the old "Darn, hold on a sec — this pen doesn't work." Naturally, I immediately made a beeline for the Office Depot site and sent her a box of 12 just in time for Christmas.
I'd like to report that it was her favorite present, but that would be the elephant Chia Pet I gave her. The pens came in second. She was, however, so thrilled at having discovered (1) gel pens to begin with, and (2) 1.0 gels pens at that, that she promptly doubled the amount of the Xmas check she sent me.
A victory for .3 millimeters, everywhere.
Friday, January 7. 2011
Via Steven Taylor's post, When Heroin was Legal.
If you don't mainline it, and when it's legal and cheaply available, it doesn't seem so terrible from a societal standpoint. Why should I care if you want to live on a cloud? No skin off my back.
Doctors and druggists especially seemed to enjoy it in the old days. It reminds me of how much Freud enjoyed his recreational cocaine (as did Sherlock Holmes), Dr. Leary his LSD, and Coleridge his opium.
All prohibition does is to raise the prices and to raise the societal cost. My view is to let every person struggle with his own soul and destiny.
Thursday, January 6. 2011
 Women like their men to be brave in the face of what life presents. Women appreciate men who will take it on, and not hide, retreat, or run from the things in life. Furthermore, they appreciate men who will get out there and take things on, new things, challenges, and mix it up with life. Not in a sociopathic way, but boldly.
However, many or most men are full of secret fears and timid in some ways about the risks in life. In many ways, more so than the average female (but that is another post). Fears of being hurt, killed, lost, confused, vulnerable, humiliated, ego-damaged, etc. Especially ego-damaged.
An important part of being and feeling manly is confronting fear, uneasiness, and discomfort, and overcoming the fear. Vitality entails risk. I suppose those are cliches, but true. Males are supposed to put on a game face when they are nervous or afraid. Life isn't meant to be easy, and males are meant to exit the comfort zone and to enter the jungle. The women of America are sick of pussified, metrosexual males who are afraid of splinters, rock-climbing, snowstorms, rough water, and strong women.
Two things brought this ancient topic to mind:
Banning Bravery: From Yale to the NFL
Are Americans Wusses or Just Fond of Trash Talk?
Wednesday, January 5. 2011
Whoever forgot his wife or girlfriend at my place after the party is asked to please come and get her ASAP.
Beth insists she's got to go!
(Sorta but not quite SFW)
Continue reading "Beth insists she's got to go!"
 *for a whole two hours!
I think I'll be a sociologist in my next lifetime. I've always been intrigued by cultural conditioning and changing perspectives. Even more so when I'm the subject of the aforementioned changing perspectives.
Following are two posts on the subject. The first was made a few years ago, when I bought my 40' liveaboard boat. And, as if that wasn't enough of a perspective change, what happened the other day actually put me in the greenie class.
The topic is wind power. Like you, I've mocked, scorned and belittled it for years. What a fraud! Without fat government subsidies, it'd be as dead as geothermal energy and ocean wave power. Just another greenie notion without a lick of sense.
Until.
Continue reading "Doc goes green*"
Tuesday, January 4. 2011
This January, the BD family is devoting itself to enjoyable DVD series from Santa. That Ken Burns Jazz series is one (the old photos, film footage, and the music are well-worth it).
And, as part of our planned summer trip, we are alternating the Jazz with Great Ancient Civilizations of Asia Minor and the History of Ancient Egypt.
The Teaching Company has some good sales on right now. You can really pick any random course and find it interesting and life-expanding. Plus, unlike college, you get the best teachers, collected from all over the world. Home schoolers should use these courses. Lots of libraries have them now. Each one comes with a study guide.
We love these courses. Some are fine on audio, but some require the DVDs.
The trip (cruise, that is) for which we are preparing is below (we are only doing the Rome to Athens leg of the voyage, due to time and $ constraints). I have been eager to get back to Turkey.
Do I need a better camera?
Monday, January 3. 2011
 Had a chance this weekend to watch the first CD in this nice Christmas gift. It's an absorbing Ken Burns series (2001), although it can be criticized on several levels.
I like it. I learned that Jazz was first called "Jass music," maybe after the Jasmine perfume the whores wore in the whorehouses in with this music was typically played.
Sunday, January 2. 2011
Malanga at City Journal: Pessimism-Proof
A redneck was stopped by a game warden in Central Mississippi recently with two ice chests full of fish. He was leaving a cove well-known for its bass.
The game warden asked the man, 'Do you have a license to catch those fish?'
'Naw, sir', replied the redneck. 'I ain't got none of them there licenses. You must understand, these here are my pet fish.'
'Pet fish?'
'Yeah. Every night, I take these here fish down to the lake and let 'em swim 'round for awhile. Then, when I whistle, they jump right back into these here ice chests and I take 'em home.'
'That's a bunch of hooey! Fish can't do that.'
The redneck looked at the warden for a moment and then said, 'It's the truth Mr. Government Man. I'll show ya. It really works.'
'O. K.', said the warden. 'I've got to see this!'
The redneck poured the fish into the lake and stood and waited. After several minutes, the warden says, 'Well?'
'Well, what?' says the redneck.
The warden says, 'When are you going to call them back?'
'Call who back?'
'The FISH,' replied the warden!
'What fish?' replied the redneck.
Saturday, January 1. 2011
I meant to re-post this in December. Is it too late?
 Red-neck Yankees wear lined overshirts (like the one in the photo, from Moose Creek) much of the year. Few things are more comfortable, and you don't care what happens to them. They keep you cozy at 50 degrees and at 20 degrees - and lower if you are working hard and moving around.
These things are made for outdoor work. You often need to buy them one size up for layering underneath, depending on your personal size range. They look better and feel softer with some dirt and grease on them, and a small tear or two.
If you want to go a bit upscale from that sort of thing, these are always acceptable (even though they are from LL Bean). They are also made with quilted linings like this for colder weather.
Variants on the theme of overshirts and "shirt-jacs" is this Woolrich wool classic:
Filson's Wool Cape Coat:
A zippered, Windstopper-lined LL Bean Maine Guide wool jacket:
Carhartt's basic canvas, flannel-lined work shirt:
Lined flannel from Woolrich:
Lastly, Caribou Creek quilt-lined, at Cabelas:
Disclosure: Four dump trucks of wool and cotton overshirts were dumped in our Maggie's Farm driveway, blocking all tractor traffic and causing all sorts of problems with the hogs, in exchange for the above post. Please, everybody - Stop giving us free stuff and money! We don't want it! We have enough money and stuff, and it costs money, time, and effort to get rid of excess stuff. Ever try to take a Filson wool cape shirt off a dirty ole 800 lb. hawg who wants to put on airs? Dang.
Lots of folks I know spend their spare time sitting in Deer stands, with bow or shotgun at hand. Here's the conversation from earlier this season:
How did it go this morning?
Nothing. No buck. A waste of time.
See anything at all?
Saw the sun come up.
Anything else?
A small doe, didn't want to take her.
See anything else?
A Sharp Shinned Hawk buzzed past my head.
Anything else?
Flock of Wild Turkeys walked by.
Anything else?
A Bobcat. No, two Bobcats.
Anything else?
A Box Turtle walking through the leaves.
What are we waiting for? I don't think I need to explain my parable...
Thursday, December 30. 2010
All about monotheism, Abraham, and a mental experiment creating religion amnesia: How Did God Get Started?
One quote from the lengthy essay by Colin Wells:
...faith is the unassailable citadel to which religion withdrew after reason had overrun much of its original territory. And, let’s be honest, storming religion’s territory is what rational inquiry came into this world doing. In the face of such relentless, even terrifying, psychological pressure, it makes sense that our collective embrace of the supernatural, if it was to persist without dissolving completely, would have to tighten to the point of obsessiveness.
But faith is also a mobile citadel, a portable fortress. Having evolved precisely to occupy the territory inaccessible to reason, faith evolved mechanisms to move fluidly with the boundaries of that territory, or, as with apocalypticism, to blithely revise its truth claims about the imminent end of the world as fast as they’re discredited by the world’s contrarian perseverence. Faith’s quicksilver essence can never be rationally pinned down: the harder you press, the faster it squirts out from under your finger. Like the alien monster in countless movies, faith only gets stronger every time you shoot at it.
If this model is correct in its psychology, monotheistic faith will spread across the globe together with reason—as indeed it seems to be doing already, whether through outright conversion or the subtle moulding of older traditions such as Hinduism and Buddhism into more monotheistic forms. Faith and reason help define the package we call Western civilization. We might even say that they do define it, and that they also account for its stunning global success.
Wednesday, December 29. 2010
From the Chimney Safety Institute of America.
Even if you rarely use it, have it checked regularly. Birds, animals, or leaves could make an obstruction up there, leading to a fire.
Monday, December 27. 2010
At City Journal, Cities from Scratch - A new path for development. A quote:
During the twenty-first century, more urbanization will take place than during all of human history. Both the global population and the fraction of it living in cities will reach their peaks, as 3 billion to 5 billion people join the 3 billion who already call cities home. That staggering urban growth will be strongest in the developing world. If the existing cities there simply grow by accretion, many people will end up in dangerous slums.
We've had only 15-18" thus far, I think, but the drifts are the real problem. It's been blowy and blustery, with gusts up to 60 knots. See NYT: “Bundle Up, It’s Global Warming”. Ya gotta laugh - unless it's intended as satire.
I'll try to get some links up when I can, but shoveling and getting things plowed comes first. In the meantime, catch up on our recent posts.
This is early this morning. I love it:
I took the pup for a walk in the snowy dark, strolling - no, trudging - down the middle of the roads, after my excursion to Dunkin. The old Explorer plowed thru the drifts, with some difficulty. This blacksmith's storefront looked pretty in the snow. He'll make custom stuff, and shoes for your horses too. Anything iron -
Dunkin, this morning. Their 2 am Donut delivery couldn't get through, but the nice Mezzican gals were there making coffee. Dunkin is one of those things in life that you can count on.
Friday, December 24. 2010
Tonight with NYC finance genius and present-wrapping daughter, and the Judds' Christmas record on the record player. Yes, the record player. A fine, if old, Denon. I have tons of favorites still on vinyl, including around 40 operas and most of my favorite Christmas records, now unavailable on CD.
Candlelight service later - after cocktail hour.
Thursday, December 23. 2010
Yesterday I spoke with my mother-in-law in Dusseldorf, where she’s snowed in and may not reach her mother for Christmas eve. She saw on CNN that San Diego was suffering from torrential rains, as TV news searches for exaggerations to fill airtime.
Actually, San Diego got from several inches to over ten-inches of rain, varying by spot. That’s very unusual in our semi-arid location, where sunny days are usual and average temps range along the coast from winter 60s to upper-70s in summer (today’s newspaper editorial calls our usual weather “bland”). Still, as most of our soil is sand and roads get flooded, there are commute difficulties and some small landslides (the Coaster rail is blocked for several more days). We have tickets to the Poinsettia Bowl tonight. We’ll have to go hours earlier and stall in heavy traffic; bummer. At Qualcomm, next to the overflowed San Diego River (usually a trickle), pumps are removing over 2,200 gallons of water a minute from the flooded stadium (I guess that favors Navy, versus San Diego State University).
On the way back from the movies yesterday to see Narnia #3 (good, especially with 3D, but #2 was best), Jason and I stopped at Sports Authority for a quick purchase. Instead, we spent over an hour in the baseball glove aisle helping confused parents choose gloves for their sons (we sold over 20; should have been on commission). Almost all the buyers departed wishing us Happy Holidays; not one Merry Christmas. This is not a Jewish neighborhood (nor Muslim), so I thought that unusual, even bland.
For those to whom Christmas is something special, two items in today’s emails tell of their deep loss.
A fellow Vietnam veteran sent me this artist rendering of a photo taken at the Wall in D.C. These and other veterans never got to celebrate another Christmas.
Another friend sent me this AP clip that Iraqi Churches cancel Christmas festivities because of Al Qaeda threats, following increased but hardly new brutalities and murder against them by Islamists, a million Christians having left Iraq since 2003. Christians in most all Muslim countries suffer violence and death at the hands of Islamists.
Wherever you are, whatever your weather, whichever and however your faith, whenever you pause, give thanks for the freedom to celebrate Christmas in America, compared to the alternatives, and remember when it wasn’t Blandmas or an invitation to be slaughtered.
Wednesday, December 22. 2010
It's money. At The American. One quote:
In the eminent domain context, the problem is that landowners are not being paid enough. The standard of “just compensation” is usually interpreted as the market value of the property as determined by dueling appraisers. This standard can be unfair, as Loyola Law School Professor Gideon Kanner has long argued. It skimps on costs of relocation and upset, and excludes consideration of damage to businesses, which can considerably outweigh the value of the real estate. Tenants, especially businesses, are often seriously short-changed.
Pay them the real value. Makes sense to me.
Impressive:
This is an iPhone app, soon to be available for other smart phones. Home site is here. The app is free, languages cost five bucks apiece. They only have Spanish-English at the moment, but converting other languages should be a snap at this point.
What's particularly impressive about this is that it's the quintessential case of the entrepreneur's axiom, find a need and fill it. Check out the second video on the site for the background story.
A truly marvelous invention, and sure beats the hell out of having to look up "ADVERTENCIA! GRAVES DE DERRAMES DE RADIACIÓN! DOS PASOS MÁS Y SE MUERE!" ("WARNING! SEVERE RADIATION LEAK! TWO MORE STEPS AND YOU'RE DEAD!") in the translation book.
"Ad-ver-ten-see-a? Why would there be an advertisement way out here? Should we look it up in the translation book?"
"Look up an advertisement? Why bother? Let's go!"
Tuesday, December 21. 2010
 I am not a huge fan of Florida (I like going to places with more interesting history, and preferably less heat), but with our deep chill so early this year, I have been thinking about it a little.
I am not really a Hobe Sound or Jupiter type, and definitely not a Palm Beach sort. And Vero Beach never sounds very interesting to me. Your editor is averse to "relaxation," and also does not want to waste time by playing that game where you hit the little ball with the little stick.
Islamorada, for the fishing etc. I am also attracted to Gasparilla and Useppa. When we did a week in Captiva a few years ago, we'd rent a boat and tool around the waters between Captiva and Port Charlotte. We had to boat to have lunch in that wacky place on Cabbage Key, and we anchored right off Useppa for a swim and for some exploring.
Cabbage Key has no roads, and there is an insane drunk directing the boat traffic. Gasparilla and Useppa have no cars. They are both clubs. I am told that Gasparilla is for stuffy blue-bloods (it's rustic and simple), and Useppa more for the nouveaus - more luxurious. Tiny Useppa looks to have been having a building boom since we were down there.
A brief history of Gasparilla and Useppa, including how they got their names.
The Gasparilla site here.
Here's a Useppa site. Here are some of their cottages.
If any of our readers like to go to Florida, where and why?
Monday, December 20. 2010
Posted at Bernard Goldberg, My Genes Made Me Do It!
Funny how we humans want to take personal credit for things we feel good about, and how quick we are to come up with excuses and rationalizations for the rest.
The author included this handy-dandy elementary life skills chart, for those who never learned it. Readers might be amazed by how many adults never mastered Life 101. Sadly, the "awareness" part is often the biggest challenge:
Our extended family Christmas gatherings have been much more fun since we made a no-presents rule - you just bring some part of the dinner for 20-25.
Part 1 is good, but this bit captures the very essence of family Christmas joy:
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