Wednesday, September 22. 2010
Soft tyranny, manliness, Western Civ, the Leftism of the campuses, etc. Video interview with Harvard's Harvey Mansfield thanks to Powerline.
It's a long interview, and well-worth every minute. I am now a confirmed Mansfield fan.
Tuesday, September 21. 2010
Prost!
Monday, September 20. 2010
Mrs. BD found this good deal from our friends at Club ABC: 8 days in Prague and Budapest. They do a very good job making world travel possible for the non-weathy and for those who are willing to fly economy and maybe endure a stopover.
I've always been more of a Mediterranean and UK traveller, but the Holy Roman Empire is growing on me. It's probably just a phase.
You can make online reservations for music and opera tickets way in advance. She wants to see Janacek's Kat'a Kabanova at the Prague Opera (where Mozart first conducted Don Giovanni).
I have never been to Hungary. Mrs. BD wants to see Hungarian folk music and dance troupes, and try some of the historic coffee houses. Here's a nice Budapest restaurant. Looks just like I would expect:
Thank God that the commies are gone from Czecho and Hungary. Maybe Cuba will be next.
Amusingly, they do have a Hammer and Sickle Times tours in Budapest. Join us, Comrades and ex-Liberals:
Go back to the good old times to experience how life was when Big Brother ruled our every move, we drove Trabants, drank spirits at work, lived in block flats, stood in banana lines, had two passports, coupon books, no TV on Mondays and no freedom of speech! Written and raved about every year in major newspapers around the world, don't miss out on this bygone era.
They also have this more cheerful tour: Historical Revolution Walk. This one is about the good guys.
Thursday, September 16. 2010
The oyster farmers get out onto the mudflats at low tide, with their trucks and boats, to tend their oyster cages or to harvest the humble but tasty Wellfleet Oyster:
One of many vast Wellfleet salt marshes. These are happy homes for Diamondback Terrapins, on the northern edge of their range. I think they hunker down in the mud at low tide, then come out to feed on worms, crabs, and snails when the water comes back in. They never leave the water except to lay their eggs, and are rarely seen. Some Mallards and Black Ducks breed there, but you never see many ducks up there until winter, when the sea ducks come down from the north in large numbers - Eider, Old Squaw, and all of the Scoters.
Miles of "empty" beach. This is on Cape Cod Bay, roughly across from Plymouth. Endangered Piping Plovers breed along this stretch of beach. Montana is not the only place with big skies (but we do love Montana - been there many times).
Wednesday, September 15. 2010
The parlor of the place where we plant ourselves on Cape Cod. Tiny antique rooms, all with views of marsh and harbor.
Tuesday, September 14. 2010
From Wind in the Willows (a book without which no child should be)
"Is it so nice as all that?" asked the mole, shyly...
"Nice? It's the only thing," said the Water Rat Solemnly, as he leaned forward for his stroke. "Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing -- absolutely nothing -- half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats."
"Simply messing...about in boats -- or with boats... In or out of 'em it doesn't matter. Nothing seems to matter, that's the charm of it. Whether you get away, or whether you don't; whether you arrive at your destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never get anywhere at all, you're always busy, and you never do anything in particular; and when you've done it there's always something else to do, and you can do it if you like, but you'd much better not."
"Look here! If you've really nothing else on hand this morning, supposing we drop down the river together and have a long day of it?"
Photo is of Lightnings. Info and some links about that class here. Watched one flying past in Wellfleet Harbor, despite being loaded with 5 guys. I grew up racing that class, still love them because they double as comfortable little day-sailers. My late lamented uncle used to take his half-waterlogged wood Lightning out on a Saturday afternoon alone with his pipe and some beers, placidly contemplating life and enjoying toying with the fickle breezes. I am far from being an old guy, but I even sailed wooden Lightnings as a youth. Played lots of tennis with wooden racquets too. Jack Kramer Pro Staff was my favorite in that department.
As understood by the USMC:
- BEARING - Creating a favorable impression in carriage, appearance, and personal conduct at all times.
- COURAGE - A mental quality that recognizes fear of danger or criticism, but enables a Marine to proceed in the face of it with calmness and firmness.
- DECISIVENESS - Ability to make decisions promptly and to announce them in a clear, forceful manner.
- DEPENDABILITY - The certainty of proper performance of duty.
- ENDURANCE - The mental and physical stamina measured by the ability to withstand pain, fatigue, stress, and hardship.
- ENTHUSIASM - The display of sincere interest and exuberance in the performance of duty.
- INITIATIVE - Taking action in the absence of orders.
- INTEGRITY - Uprightness of character and soundness of moral principles.
- JUDGMENT - The ability to weigh facts and possible courses of action in order to make sound decisions.
- JUSTICE - Giving reward and punishment according to the merits of the case in question. The ability to administer a system of rewards and punishments impartially and consistently.
- KNOWLEDGE - Understanding of a science or an art. The range of one's information, including professional knowledge and an understanding of your Marines.
- LOYALTY - The quality of faithfulness to country, the Corps, and unit, and to one's seniors, subordinates, and peers.
- TACT - The ability to deal with others without creating hostility.
- UNSELFISHNESS - Avoidance of providing for one's own comfort and personal advancement at the expense of others.
Monday, September 13. 2010
Monastery on a hill overlooking the Danube, early morning light, a few weeks ago. No, the Danube ain't blue.
Home from a four-day mini-vacation to Wellfleet for a homeopathic salt-and-pine-and-sand-and-shellfish infusion before autumn sets in. It was too cool to be good beaching weather, but perfect walking weather. We did get in one good swim. Wellfleet Harbor, early morning (yes, I am an early-riser):
Sunday, September 12. 2010
This was done to glorify God. Gilding the lily, in my Protestant view, but it's a heck of a sight. They have the bony corpse of a saint in an altar on the side, under glass. Memento mori.
That must be some American kid in the Nantucket Red.
Saturday, September 11. 2010
A fantasy trip, that is. NetJets to Vienna. Five days at the Hotel Sacher with opera tix etc. Then onward maybe to Bucharest and Budapest. And why not Trieste, then down to Venice? Or tack on five days of skiing at Innsbruck or Zermatt? Those nice NetJets pilots will be there whenever needed, and the copilot will load and unload your skis and luggage and mix your drinks for you, and a car and driver will be waiting for you on the tarmac.
It's like I said about boats...
I don't need to go back to Venice, but the rest seems fine to me. That's why I buy Powerball tickets. Foolish not to.
A re-post. This is an important essay about individual freedom. From Peter Saunders
The problem for those of us who believe that capitalism offers the best chance we have for leading meaningful and worthwhile lives is that in this debate, the devil has always had the best tunes to play. Capitalism lacks romantic appeal. It does not set the pulse racing in the way that opposing ideologies like socialism, fascism, or environmentalism can. It does not stir the blood, for it identifies no dragons to slay. It offers no grand vision for the future, for in an open market system the future is shaped not by the imposition of utopian blueprints, but by billions of individuals pursuing their own preferences. Capitalism can justifiably boast that it is excellent at delivering the goods, but this fails to impress in countries like Australia that have come to take affluence for granted.
It is quite the opposite with socialism. Where capitalism delivers but cannot inspire, socialism inspires despite never having delivered. Socialism’s history is littered with repeated failures and with human misery on a massive scale, yet it still attracts smiles rather than curses from people who never had to live under it. Affluent young Australians who would never dream of patronising an Adolf Hitler bierkeller decked out in swastikas are nevertheless happy to hang out in the Lenin Bar at Sydney’s Circular Quay, sipping chilled vodka cocktails under hammer and sickle flags, indifferent to the twenty million victims of the Soviet regime. Chic westerners are still sporting Che Guevara t-shirts, forty years after the man’s death, and flocking to the cinema to see him on a motor bike, apparently oblivious to their handsome hero’s legacy of firing squads and labour camps.
Environmentalism, too, has the happy knack of inspiring the young and firing the imagination of idealists. This is because the radical green movement shares many features with old-style revolutionary socialism. Both are oppositional, defining themselves as alternatives to the existing capitalist system. Both are moralistic, seeking to purify humanity of its tawdry materialism and selfishness, and appealing to our ‘higher instincts.’ Both are apocalyptic, claiming to be able to read the future and warning, like Old Testament prophets, of looming catastrophe if we do not change our ways. And both are utopian, holding out the promise of redemption through a new social order based on a more enlightened humanity. All of this is irresistibly appealing to romantics.
Family Security Matters collected essays today about 9/11 nine years later. I was asked to contribute one.
On 9/11, I awoke, turned on the computer, saw something bad had happened in New York, turned on the TV in the living room, and sat there from 6AM to 9PM Pacific. My then 1 ½ year old son was toddling around. Several times I hugged him and cried, for America, for New Yorkers, for the battles that I was sure lay ahead, and for my son’s future in that world.
My son has a Hebrew name, shield of Joshua, and an English name, non-labeling, as he, his younger brother and my wife visit my mother-in-law in Dusseldorf, Germany for a month each summer. We don’t want the boys targeted by the increased number of open anti-Semites in Europe, especially the radical Arab youth who prowl the streets. Some of the wonderful counselors at the summer camp my sons go to in Dusseldorf are Muslim. My sons are warned to keep their religion to themselves, not knowing who might be infected with hate. The synagogue in Dusseldorf is well-secured and under constant police protection.
Back home, in suburban San Diego, my sons don’t have that fear. But, since 9/11 there is a locked gate and a guard at the Jewish preschool my sons attended, and guards around our synagogue. The fear is spreading in the US, as is the Leftist-Muslim alliance to delegitimize Israel and to stir hate. We have Muslim friends, who are not radical, and appreciate being in the US. And, 64% of Arabs in the US are Christian, who know persecution for not being Muslim. Unfortunately, their voices, though subdued, are drowned out by those with bigger mouths and designs.
Last Memorial Day, we went to Petco for a Padres game. At the end was a stirring salute to the US military. On the way home, my now 10-year old son, knowing I served in the Marine Corps in Vietnam, quietly asked me what I felt. I told him, simply, that sometimes we have to fight, not because we want to, only after trying not to, to do good and to survive.
To my surprise, a few weeks ago, my son came into my office and told me he was watching a four-part, two-hour, documentary about 9/11 on Youtube. Since 9/11, I’ve not watched such films, trying to avoid the pain and fear I felt in 2001. Neither had my son watched any, or been taught about it in school.
I watched the documentary, very factual and matter-of-fact, with my son. After, I asked my son what he was feeling.
He said, “I’m glad the US has people who will fight so another 9/11 or worse doesn’t happen again.”
Religion is about doing good, not feeling good.
That was just a couple of weeks ago.
Friday, September 10. 2010
in the Adirondacks. That's my kind of place.
The garden-level back entrance of the Belvedere in Vienna. Like them columns?
Thursday, September 9. 2010
Fairfield was established as a town in 1635. Pleasant, unpretentious place. Wiki says:
In July 2006, Money Magazine ranked Fairfield the ninth "best place to live" in the United States, and the best place to live in the Northeast.[1] This is primarily due to its affluence, low crime rate with only three homicides in the last five years [2] , excellent public school system, suburban character, scenic location on the Long Island Sound, and proximity to New York City. The town was also listed among the "preppiest" places in the United States in the tongue-in-cheek 1980s best-seller The Official Preppy Handbook.
It considers itself the "dogwood capital of the world," and each spring a Dogwood Festival takes place in the Greenfield Hill neighborhood.
This handsome place is just off the Boston Post Road (which is the Main St. for most CT shoreline towns). It was build in 1791, now in the historic district.
The listing is here, with the details. I see the asking price is creeping downwards, now asking 1.3
Kimball. One quote:
Ms. Feldman is an extreme specimen of the breed. And she specializes, as anyone who wants to excel in the new anti-cultural cultural world must, in the non sequitur:
“We live in a more global, multicultural society that cares about diversity and inclusivity. We're thinking about how we increase our service to the community.”
“Service to the community,” eh? Well, if you are President of the Association of Art Museum Directors, how about serving the community by making sure that museums are exhibiting the best art in the most appropriate way? Just a suggestion. But really, does every institution have to become a sort of social worker’s outreach program? Can’t we have the museum as repository of politically correct thinking over here while still holding onto the the art museum as a place where great art is treasured?
So now museum directors are community organizers. It's a pleasant rant.
In a farming hamlet outside Deggendorf. Frequently, the farmers live in little hamlets and drive their equipment to their barns or land to work. Like non-agribusiness farmers in the US, they often supplement their incomes with other work (such as driving school buses, running booths at Oktoberfest, driving tourists around in horse-drawn wagons, etc). I noticed a keg with spigot and cups inside one cow barn, leading me to believe that either the farm workers or the cattle drink beer on the job.
I will dribble out some last few interesting trip pics as I find them in my screwed-up photo files.
Wednesday, September 8. 2010
When to stop? How to gamble if you must—the mathematics of optimal stopping. Black-Sholes is a bit over my head, but my pupette thinks it is simple and obvious.
Our Editor posted that he had just visited the Nazi stadium, the Zeppelinfeld, in Nuremberg, and that he had felt creeped out by standing there. It isn't "history," - it's recent past.
Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Saddam Hussein, Osama, etc. are just icons of evildoing. Scapegoats, in a way. The evil is not so importantly in them as it is in the effective unleashing of the evil in the hearts of their supporters. We eagerly forget that Hilter was elected. Some charisma helps, but does charisma come from popularity and power, or does it inspire popularity?
I will not reflect on my own potential for evil, or the dark side of my heart, on a website, but I know it exists and I know a bit about it. I am not making moral equivalences here, a la Pogo. There's a big difference between containing some darkness and acting on it. One thing I pray for is for God to always lighten my darkness.
Readers know that I accept the notion of evil, and refuse to medicalize or sociologize it. Readers also know my thoughts about utopianisms of all sorts, and especially what I term Psycho-utopianism. Anybody who has been analysed knows about the dark side of the Force, and does not need Hannah Arendt to inform us about it.
The "problem of evil" is a manufactured, trumped-up "problem" for and of the Enlightenment. Rousseau and all that noble savage stuff. Reason has its limits, and people are not "good." Most of us strive to be good, however, which is interesting and remarkable in itself, and evidence for many of the spark of the divine in humankind. Judaism and Christianity have no "problem of evil" because they accept the reality of man's fallen condition.
Our friend, the retired prison shrink Dr. Ted Dalrymple, who ought to know as much about the topic as anybody, takes on the subject.
Ed: I guess that is something of a Christian Rosh Hashanah post. Why not? Same roots. Reminds me of this (gotta love the fish fry):
Tuesday, September 7. 2010
 Our friend Roger asks:
Is four years at Yale (or Harvard, Princeton, or any other “competitive” college) worth $53,000 x 4 plus annual tuition increases for a grand total (assuming you are entering right now) of roughly a quarter of a million dollars?
This is a question that, to the consternation of academic administrators, more and more parents — not to mention responsible teenagers — are asking themselves.
Yes, it is a bubble, a scam, and a rip-off. And the government subsidizes it too, adding to the problem. As it always does.
Related: Retired Prof VDH has an amusing yet penetrating rant about academics: We Are Ruled by Professors. He concludes:
So why again the above rant about academics?
We are presently governed by academics. In an era in which university people proliferate in this administration and seem to make things far worse for the rest of us, we need to be reminded why we should not look to the university for answers. What I hear coming out of Washington reminds me a lot of what I once heard coming out of the philosophy or English department. And that is a scary thing indeed.
You see, that tribe is more likely to embody the illness rather than the cure, and this time 300 million are paying the price.
Related, from Barone: The Higher Education Bubble: Ready to Burst? Quote:
Government-subsidized loans have injected money into higher education, as they did into housing, causing prices to balloon. But at some point people figure out they're not getting their money's worth, and the bubble bursts.Some think this would be a good thing. My American Enterprise Institute colleague Charles Murray has called for the abolition of college for almost all students. Save it for genuine scholars, he says, and let others qualify for jobs by standardized national tests, as accountants already do.
"Is our students learning?" George W. Bush once asked, and the evidence for colleges points to no. The National Center for Education Statistics found that most college graduates are below proficiency in verbal and quantitative literacy. University of California scholars Philip Babcock and Mindy Marks report that students these days study an average of 14 hours a week, down from 24 hours in 1961.
The American Council of Alumni and Trustees concluded, after a survey of 714 colleges and universities, "by and large, higher education has abandoned a coherent content-rich general education curriculum."
They aren't taught the basics of literature, history or science. ACTA reports that most schools don't require a foreign language, hardly any require economics, American history and government "are badly neglected," and schools "have much to do" on math and science.
ACTA's whatwilltheylearn.com Website provides the grisly details for each school, together with the amount of tuition. Students and parents can see if they will get their money's worth.
The daughter of a friend, who I spoke with in August, will be a college Freshman about now. She complained to me about being required to take Algebra in college. "I don't do math," she said.
"I don't do windows." Guess what? I do windows whenever She Who Must Be Obeyed asks me to.
Monday, September 6. 2010
Sippican: (How I Came To) Disregard The Man Behind The Curtain. How did he notice that hand? One quote:
In the movies, any evil fellow in a suit always has a picture of a Republican president prominently displayed in their office, usually where any normal person has a picture of their family. In my life, the only really crooked executives I ever met all had pictures of JFK in their offices. I don't know what any of that represents, really.
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