Maggie's Farm

The new Queen Elizabeth. h/t, Theo.

She has the hull of a liner, but the superstructure of a Miami Beach hotel. Everything is quite elegant inside, but on ships like this you can too easily forget that you are on a ship at sea.

I prefer smaller ships, like many of the Holland-American line, that feel like big boats instead of like giant hotel-resorts.

Call me a snob if you want to. I like the Ryndam, below. I was looking at her because we need somewhere new to go to in 2011 - and I love ships 'n boats.

The Instyman posts something which might almost be considered a blog post instead of an Instyism. Good stuff, with some Heinlein for dessert. One quote:

The main problem with the “new elite” is that they’re not an elite at all. That is, they aren’t particularly smart, or competent. They are credentialed, but those credentials aren’t so much markers for smartness or competence, or even basic education, as they are admission tickets to the Gentry Class, based on good standardized test scores. That’s fine — ETS was berry, berry good to me — but it doesn’t have much to do with ability to succeed, or lead, in the real world. Worse yet, it seems to have fostered a sense of entitlement.

"Read the whole thing."

Purists might object, but these things are made of "resin," not wood. They are heavy. They have been outdoors for over a year and had accumulated mildew and dirt, so I decided to give them a bleach spray bath last weekend. It worked like magic.

I asked Mrs. BD whether she wanted me to put them inside someplace for the winter and she told me not to bother. "They're resin." I said "You mean plastic." I never realized it. I am happy to know that a lifetime of scraping, painting, and replacing rotting Adirondack chairs is over.

Seaside Casual Furniture, from Rhode Island. Only somebody like Sipp would notice that they aren't the real thing.

On Cape Cod in September. Thought blogger colleague Retriever might enjoy this pic.

One of the good things about this handyman special on Route 6 in Wellfleet is that you can just walk up the dirveway to the Cumbie and the liquor store. What does anybody really need that cannot be got at one of those places?

Over the transom:

Waimea Bay shore-break surfing pioneer, husband, and father of two, Clark Little has gained nationwide recognition for his photography with appearances on Good Morning America, Inside Edition, and many local news stations across the U.S.

It all started in 2007 when Clark 's wife wanted a nice piece of art to decorate a wall. Voluntarily, Clark grabbed a camera, jumped in the water, and starting snapping away capturing the beauty and power of monstrous Hawaiian waves from the inside out.

"Clark's view" is a unique view of the ocean that most will only be able to experience safely on land while studying one of Clark 's photos. 

Now with a camera upgrade and an itch to get that better shot, Clark has taken this on full time and has moved his office from land, to the inside of a barrel. 

Here is Little's website.

Is it time to return to caveman parenting?

Stone Age families didn't spank and relied on multiple caregivers to raise their kids, research claims.

It sounds like Noble Savage silliness to me - the idealization of the primitive - although I am sure stone-age tribal people did share in watching the kids. Tribal kid-watching still makes sense today. The nuclear nucular family is a socio-cultural aberration.

Over the transom:

One year, I decided to buy my mother-in-law a cemetery plot as a Christmas gift... The next year, I didn't buy her a gift.
When she asked me why, I replied,
"Well, you still haven't used the gift I bought you last year!"
And that's how the fight started.....
____________________________
My wife and I were watching Who Wants To Be A Millionaire while we were in bed. I turned to her and said, 'Do you want to have Sex?' 'No,' she answered. I then said, 'Is that your final answer?'
She didn't even look at me this time, simply saying, 'Yes..'
So I said, "Then I'd like to phone a friend."
And that's when the fight started...
______________________________
My wife and I were sitting at a table at her high school reunion, and she kept staring at a drunken man swigging his drink as he sat alone at a nearby table.
I asked her, "Do you know him?" "Yes", she sighed,
"He's my old boyfriend.... I understand he took to drinking right after we split up those many years ago, and I hear he hasn't been sober since."
"My God!" I said, "Who would think a person could go on celebrating that long?"
And then the fight started...

A few more below the fold -

Shamelessly stolen from TigerHawk (who is welcome to steal from us any time):

Quoted in an otherwise appreciative City Journal review of a Normal Rockwell show, this supercilious comment:

Washington Post art critic Blake Gopnik, who in reviewing the show derided Rockwell as the cowardly, “aw, shucks” epitome of Middle America. Rockwell “doesn’t challenge any of us, or himself, to think new thoughts or try new acts or look with fresh eyes,” wrote Gopnik. “From the docile realism of his style to the received ideas of his subjects, Rockwell reliably keeps us right in the middle of our comfort zone.”

I can't stand people who write like that. I almost thought it was satire, at first.

Whoever decided that art was meant to afflict comfort? Comfort is a good thing, and difficult to obtain. Sure, art ought to be stimulating in some way - like any other sort of entertainment - or nobody would buy it.  Art is entertainment. We love looking at pictures and designs of all sorts.

Here's Rockwell's 1962 Saturday Evening Post cover pic, The Connoisseur. It makes me think new thoughts and try new acts, and I think his Pollock imitation is better than Pollock:

Carl Sagan's bunkometer list, via SDA re global warming climate change climate disruption:

• Whenever possible there must be independent confirmation of the “facts”


• Encourage substantive debate on the “evidence” by knowledgable proponents of all points of view.


• Arguments from authority carry little weight as “authorities” have made mistakes in the past. They will do so again in the future. Perhaps a better way to say it is that there are no authorities; at most; there are “experts”.


• Spin a variety of hypotheses. If there’s something to be explained, think of all the different ways in which it could be explained. Then think of tests by which you might systematically disprove each. The ones that survive are the ones to do in depth study on.


• Do not become attached to any hypothesis just because it’s yours. Find reasons for rejecting all, including your own, hypothesis.


• Quantify. If whatever you are explaining has a measure, quantify it so that measurement is more possible. Vague hypothesis, or those difficult to quantify will be the most difficult to prove or disprove.


• If there is a chain argument, then each and every link must work, including the premise.


• Use Occam’s Razor; which is to choose the hypothesis that explains the data in the simplest terms.


• Ask: is the Hypothesis testable and falsifiable. Hypothesis that are not testable are not worth much. Could you duplicate accurately, at least theoretically, the hypothesis?

Photos of East Germany, before and after reunification. h/t No Pasaran

Photos of the construction of the new Swiss tunnel

As I live and learn, I no longer view Roman civilization as "ancient." Old, but not ancient. Those folks were a lot like us, and lived a lot like us.

Roman floor mosaics and wall paintings were the usual fashionable decor of the time, and typical for the homes of the prosperous. Naturally, the floor mosaics are better preserved than wall mosaics or wall paintings.

In 2009 we were fortunate to make our way to the Bardo Museum in Tunis to see the world's largest collection of Roman mosaics. They have so many, you even walk on them to get from one display room to another. This was decor, mind you - not fine art.

The Lod mosaics are a recent find, very-well preserved. They are now displayed in NYC.

Here's the story of the Lod mosaics.

Our wonderful, invigorating cold weather is finally upon us, despite the warming alarums. I got my wood. It's a start, at least. That's about two cords, and I'll need another two to get to Spring.

I am not good for much, but I can split wood pretty good.

From Sipp, or Greg Sullivan, or whatever his current alias is. A quote:

Me, I'm self-employed, so I always have to be on the lookout lest my next meal comes out of that dumpster I mentioned earlier. My resellers went bankrupt with a bucket of my money, my biggest customer went bust and handed me a five figure loss, the forty percent equity I had in my house might as well have been forty dollars, the state of Massachusetts demanded I purchase $13,000 worth of health insurance with an adjusted gross income that was hovering a little above that just then, and the banks that lent me money at 3% would like it paid back at 30%. Or immediately. Immediately would work for them, they said. Time for a change.

It's illegal to vote with your feet using the method I had in mind for many of the people foremost in my mind last year --using a shod foot like that is a felony -- so we decided that we'd move instead. 

Read the whole thing. It's America today. Also, if you happen to be a Down-easter, read the Meteor. It's your only reliable source of info...assuming you can get contact with the intertubes up there.

Via Reason, this remarkable portrait of a dead American city. It's not easy to kill a city without bombs, but unions, numbskull business managements, and corrupt pols did it there. Their "light rail" will be the tombstone before the whole city is plowed over to grow wheat or corn or trees or something.

Government did not build NYC's subways and trains. Businesses built those things to meet a profitable demand. Someday though, this absurdity in Detroit might be a tourist attraction - to ride a trolley through the vacant lots, wreckage, and abandoned buildings filled with feral dogs and cats.

A big deal: Solomon Burke

What ethnic group or nation has the best brains? (h/t, Larwyn's Links)

English in 24 Accents

Jobs for College Grads.

They are in government.

Prince Charles: West Should Emulate Indian Slums

You first.

Astonishing skiing video

Dalrymple discusses his dog, and painter Metsu

A book, Robert Coles' House Calls with Dr. Williams

A poem, Kenneth Koch's Variations on a Theme by William Carlos Williams

For true Yankees, being able to sail is a basic outdoor life skill, along with riding a horse, tennis, swimming, ice-skating, log-splitting, starting a fire, dog-training, and shooting. Every region of the country, and the world, has its basics, doesn't it?

One-design racing boats. Sailing season is winding down in the Northeast US, but for no good reason I thought it time to review a few cool boats. If you have never raced, you have no idea how complicated and tricky this game is - or how athletic it can be. Talent, knowledge, experience, and skill win consistently.

The Star (or International Star, or "Starboat"). This 22' 2-man keelboat was designed in 1910. No spinnaker: whisker pole for the jib downwind. It remains an Olympic Class and a favorite of serious racers. Plenty of professional big boat racers would be happier racing a Star, but there's not much money in it unless you are a sail salesman on the side. Not much fun for a day sail.

A new Star goes for around $50-60,000; used $16-35,000, depending on equipment, quality, and age.

Another popular racing class, and also an Olympic class. The Etchells, designed in 1965 by Connecticut's Skip Etchells. A 30' 3-4-man keelboat. You can buy a used Etchells for $15-30,000. There is almost no reason to ever buy a new fiberglass sailboat. A new suit of sails and fancy rigging can cost almost the price of the used boat, however.

The good old Lightning. I could race one of these, blindfolded. A light hand on the tiller telegraphs even subtle wind shifts. The class is nowhere near as large as it once was, but is still one of the largest one-design classes. A 19' three-man racer with a centerboard, the Lightning also doubles as an enjoyable day-sailer.

Over 300,000 Sunfish have been built since the 1950s. Ancient lateen rig. No sailboat is more fun for two people, preferably you at age 18 and a girl in a loose bikini. People do race them - one man - for fun and for serious. We used to think it was amusing to capsize a Sunfish and listen to the girl squeal when her boobs fell out of her top, but the best was when my buddy and I would go out right after a hurricane and surf the 10-15'-foot waves on a Sunfish. (How, and why, did we survive? Our parents never knew we were out there, no life jackets, etc. My Mom would have killed me. She was a serious sailor, though, in youth.)

We learned a lot about boat-handling in the process.

My final boat du Jour, the 33' J-105. Quite popular these days, as a racer and a day-sailer or cruising sailboat. Not much overhead in the cabin, however, and it's a handful for amateurs in a stiff breeze. Over 700 of them have been built. Fast boat. A pal of mine just bought a new one (around $250,000), and promised me we would sail her before he puts her away for the winter. He is getting new carbon fiber sails made. I'd like to take her for a spin in a 25 knot breeze. We'll see whether he calls me...