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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Wednesday, June 30. 2010Architectural Juxtaposition: Newport EditionNo photo dump today; just this one pic from the Cliff Walk of what is now part of the campus of Salve Regina College in Newport. The family of the owner donated the grand if gloomy cottage overlooking the ocean to the college which now owns some good hunks of priceless Newport real estate. Naturally, they needed more space and had to build that thing on the left in a style I refer to as Jesuit-Stalinist. Note absence of any windows facing the sea - and the flat roof which always is a genius idea on the rainy, snowy, and stormy Northeast coast. Relevant, from Driscoll: Corbu: The Meshugeneh Man Who Built �The Machine for Living In�
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Tuesday, June 29. 2010My Newport pics #1, plus my instant tour guideThere seem to be just a few things a 3-day visitor to Newport can do to get the most out of the visit. (Like a real travel writer, I like to figure out the essence of a place quickly. I know that is not really possible without friends who live there, so I may BS a bit.) Here's what I figured out: 1. Take a stroll down Thames St. and look at the boats and all of the cool piers and pubs. 2. Bike or take a hike down Bellevue Ave. from town out to the end, or, better, continue on and make it a bike ride all the way around the Ocean Drive back to the harbor. It's only about 12 miles. 3. Walk a few segments or more of the Cliff Walk. Do it early in the morning and beat the rush. 4. Scout out the antique areas of town where the tourists and drinkers don't go, and there are no shops. The Point is one such neighborhood. Also, around Spring St. Probably plenty more nooks and crannies we didn't find. 5. If you must, check out the interiors of one or two of the grand "cottages." ("Cottage" means that they aren't really winterized. Summer places.) I don't really like them or want to see the insides, but it gives one an idea of what life could be like for an ambitious entrepreneur before the income tax, the corporate tax, and the SEC. And with 20-30 servants to keep things functioning smoothly. 6. Rhode Island seafood always seems to have a Portuguese spin on it. Even a bowl of steamers has hot peppers, red peppers, chorizo, and onions in it. Not bad at all, but not my favorite. Mrs. BD loved her grilled salmon with sweet barbecue sauce on a bed of pickled red cabbage. People say The Mooring has the town's best seafood. It is housed in the old Station #6 of the New York Yacht Club, which has moved to a quieter side of the harbor. 7. On a rainy day, I'd probably stop by the Tennis Hall of Fame, right on the main drag. Photo from along the Cliff Walk, facing the Atlantic Ocean on the right. I think that is the charming Little Compton in the distance. More random Newport pics below the fold. Continue reading "My Newport pics #1, plus my instant tour guide" Monday, June 28. 2010Couple o' kids vids
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Boats, babes, booze and architecture: Newport, RIIf I claim that there is no more saiboaty place in the US than Newport, RI in June, I know somebody will argue for San Francisco or Annapolis. All I can claim is that I have never seen as many lovely or majestic sailboats anywhere as I did in Newport this weekend. I will share some of my pics this week, at the risk of producing boredom. It's an interesting salty 3-day getaway spot with plenty to do besides sitting and watching the scenery. For those not familiar with this famous New England seaport summering spot, it sits on the southernmost part of Aquidneck Island (once known as "Rhode Island"), helping to define Narragansett Bay. It's about 30 miles south of Providence. Newport has a giant, well-protected harbor and, in the 1700s, was one of the 5 busiest harbors in North America - a major factor in the "Triangle Trade," in privateering, piracy, and general trade. Newport, like all of Rhode Island, was settled in the 1600s by refugees from Massachusetts. The town was fortunate in having had no major fires during its history (although the Brits were tough on the town until the French navy chased them off), so large parts of its entire architectural history is well-preserved - predominantly early to mid 1700s dwellings and taverns. Because it sits on the Atlantic, but guards the entrance of the Bay, it has been a naturally air-conditioned popular and fashionable summering spot since the 1730s. While it may be most famous for its Gilded Age summer "cottages," these ostentatious European palace imitations are not of much interest to me (but I don't mind the Shingle Style ones). However, Newport still has a considerable High Society, old money contingent. It's a good mix, but free of low-lifes and hippie-looking people. Preppy and wholesome mostly, but with a hedonistic flavoring to it. Nothing tacky about it. Because of its night life, charm, and excellent harbor facilities, Newport remains a standard stop for those cruising the New England coast. Thames St. along the piers is one pub or open-air bar or restaurant after another. Lots of seafood, and Kobe beef for the rare seafood-avoidant. The boaters are known to get rambunctious at night: it is expected. John Hiatt and his group were playing at one of the open-air places on Sat. night, and you could hear him for blocks. Not bad at all. Beaches? Newport has only a few, but the best are small and are owned by exclusive private clubs. It is not a very beachy place. It's a rocky coastline. People swim by diving off docks and boats. Photo on top is a 1720s dwelling in the Point area, near the causeway to Goat Island. Photo below is the rear view of one of the Gilded Age cottages along Bellevue Avenue, from the Cliff Walk. More later when I find time to organize my pics.
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Sunday, June 27. 2010Does your dog bite?
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Saturday, June 26. 2010What America needs is a good 15-minute ceegarA friend handed me one of the short box-pressed Padrons yesterday, and I burned it this morning. Delicious. They are not too easy to obtain, and not cheap at all. Davidoff's has them in NYC. Ah, the Havana Club. With all of the rules about smoking these days, short cigars will be a bigger thing. What do y'all like in short ceegars?
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Walking shoes: An annual re-post and a free ad for New BalanceRegular guys do not worry overly much about their appearance (unless at work, on first dates, on the golf course, or at the club). Yes, regular grooming habits do seem necessary, as do clean if not ironed clothing. This post, however, is about so-called "old man walking shoes." In NYC, or when travelling in Europe and parts beyond where you end up walking many cement or asphalt or dusty or dusty in a day, it makes sense to swallow one's vanity and to invest in some seriously comfortable walkin' shoes. I don't mean huntin' and hikin' boots. I have worn out one pair of expensive Mephistos, but for comfort, support, and general ugliness, these New Balance walking shoes are the best. Cheap, too, and ugly enough in black to exceed the criteria for "old men's walking shoes." (If you get them in white, you look like you should be pattering around a nursing home.) I have worn these things all around the world. And consider this: If you are a cool, interesting, streetable man who is good at sparkling conversation, oblique flirtation, and snappy repartee - as I am - only a moron would hold the provenance of your shoes against you. (This does not, obviously, apply to women and shoes, which is a subject of deep mystery to all.) Walkin' Blues, with Roy Rogers on bottleneck. I like it. I first heard this song sung by John Hammond (yes, the John Hammond's son) quite a long time ago:
Skipper's choice
Now see the video!
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Friday, June 25. 2010How Did Israel Become A People?At the doctor�s office this morning I picked up a magazine, Biblical Archaeology Review, of course dated November/December 2009. An article caught my eye, How Did Israel Become A People?, by Abraham Faust, based on his book (hold on for a doozy of a title) Israel�s Ethnogenesis: Settlement, Interaction, Expansion and Resistance (2007) which won the Biblical Archaeology Society Award for Best Scholarly Book on Archaeology. Briefly:
So much for arguments about Jews being a recently externally imposed colony on historically Arab land. The peoples in Faust promises another article about the development of I�m going to be returning to the website of Biblical Archaeology Review, as there appear to be many interesting, scholarly articles and book reviews from various religious and academic viewpoints.
Posted by Bruce Kesler
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Thursday, June 24. 2010A Maggie's Farm Summer Questionnaire: How often do you dine in restaurants?We're asking about dinner, not lunch. At Maggie's Farm, we are believers in a weekly date night for couples, while recognizing that in some quarters the social and business dinner whirl can be so taxing that ye olde "quiet supper at home" with radio music (or NPR, of course) can be a special treat. So please tell us in the comments 1. How many times/week do you dine out in restaurants? 2. Does it tend to be with spouse, with friends, with family (or alone)? 3. Does it tend to be fast food burger and pizza joints, or mid-range burger and/or ethnic joints, or places with tablecloths? Or, if an overseas (from the US) reader, what? Photo is Peter Luger's "Holy Cow." NYC's best steak house, in Williamburg, Brooklyn. A great place to dine out, and not too pricey. Addendum: Thanks for all of the replies. A real cross-section. I think folks around where I live dine out more than the average. Got room for more responses...
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Wednesday, June 23. 2010NSFW- Need a washing machine? YES! (Best Ad Ever!)Just across The ad is real!
Posted by Bruce Kesler
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Bureaucracies live forever
The US standard railroad gauge (the distance between the rails) is 4 feet, eight and a half inches. Why? So, a major Space Shuttle design feature of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's ass. Bureaucracies live forever.
Posted by Dr. Mercury
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Marcus AureliusEmperor, philosopher, warrior. From a review of a new bio of Marcus Aurelius which was written by an author who dislikes Stoicism: To read the Meditations, you would not imagine them to be the writings of a man encamped in barbarian lands in the midst of war, nor of a man commanding the largest army ever assembled on the frontier of the Roman empire, nor of a man whose empire and army were in the grip of a deadly plague. The Meditations' lack of political or worldly anguish and anxiety is a mark of the philosophy they profess: Stoicism.
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Who is in the details?Tuesday, June 22. 2010Is sex consequential or inconsequential?
Clearly it depends on who you ask (and on their degree of sobriety). At Phi Beta, Girls, Sex, and Depression, Part 2
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Public nightclubs discriminate by race and genderMonday, June 21. 2010Invitation to join Friends Of IsraelThe invite link is here.
Continue reading "Invitation to join Friends Of Israel"
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FathersThe final lines from a Robert Hayden poem posted by neoneo yesterday. A poet who understood fatherhood: What did I know, what did I know Many Moms do not know that, but they know other things. Dads know.
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Saturday, June 19. 2010Best Little Newspaper in MaineHow they produce The Rumford Meteor with a staff of only 72 (Most are Supervisors, Planners and Administrators, but the head count also includes the pimply kid who goes out for coffee, donuts, pizza, cigarettes, and to pick up the police blotter - and the commission-only Head of the Sales Dept. - her photo on right, returning with a bag full of advertising contracts. There is no Editor.) is beyond me. Tonight, The Meteor is waxing gibbous. One thing Maine needs is one or two knowledgeable Conservative pundits, but I do not know whether such thing exists any more. The Meteor needs to provide one, but what is the right "voice"? I wonder how many folks in the Great North Woods have broadband and, from my experience with a number of woods-dwelling Down Easters on hunting trips over the years, how many of those Yankee Rednecks give a damn about what is going on outside their cabin or their pick-up. Is alcohol an issue? Um, d'ya think? Meth too, it seems to me. However, most of Maine's population is along the coast (I think. It sounds like something a knowledgeable poster might say, so I made it up). Definitely, in summer. The Meteor covers the waterfront and, as I have said in the past, sets a standard for local/state news and info that other regional sites may envy - or use as a model. I think local intertube news/info will be the future of the local rags, but I have been wrong once or twice in my life. Sure makes sense to give it a try.
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Is there any advantage to an elite "higher" education?Marginally, maybe. Maybe, from being around curious, achievement-oriented, high IQ peers. From that, one might become competitive, inspired, and humbled - if one were not lucky enough to have those qualities in the first place. Truth is, as I say here ad nauseum, that we don't know what "education" means beyond readin, ritin and rithmatic. A college degree can mean anything and nothing because becoming aware of the world and the world of the past, and the stories and the ideas of the past, cannot be fed. It must be taken. All edumacation is self-edumacation. I think America would be better off if you could buy an Ivy League diploma online for $39.99 after answering a few questions about calculus, Julius Caesar, and Leonardo.
Friday, June 18. 2010Cool Animal vids
Bird Apes Dog, Horses Around, Pigs Out, Is Catty With Ewe Here's Einstein the parrot. If you watch him carefully, you'll see that he's got one thing, and one thing alone, on that beady little brain of his: Her right hand. I watched three DVDs on training parrots a while back, and they just live for that next snack treat. As with other animals, you find out what treat they like the most and then hold that one back for when they do a trick correctly. The parrots in the DVD were certainly eager to learn — but you can bet it wasn't for learning's sake. Like Einstein, they kept their sharp little eyes on the hand that held the treats almost the entire time. Which isn't to diminish this bird's exceptional repertoire. Take it away, Einy! This Dog's No Rummy Here's 'Gin' and owner doing some freestyle dancing. Continue reading "Cool Animal vids"
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Truth without valueI like the idea of "truth without value." How come it took me this long to find that concept? AVI's final paragraph of The Morality of Nonbelievers:
I agree with everything AVI says, and I feel motivated to think harder about things which affect me which have truth but little value. Lux et Veritas, as they say in Rome. They used to say it in New Haven, too.
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The audience will decide the future of journalismJack Fuller has an interesting essay on the future of journalism and the news, and it is worth reading if only to see how older dead-tree newspeople view the world. I disagree with much of it, and with his premises too. Plus his brain thing is just silly. Anyway, I have no time to share my thoughts about it this morning.
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Moving Day in JerusalemAn email from Nathan, our correspondent in Jerusalem: The head burger assembler at Burger Bar is a tall, handsomely groomed, black-bearded Samurai master of the knife. More a ridged machete or sword he wields, rather twirls, flips, flicks in a ballet of carbon-forged steel. He calls me Abelleh, "little father," as if I could have fathered such a towering genius of the blade, with a smile that dims the knife"s glistening. From my loins, not likely. But as one of my professors who served in the Pacific said when complemented for his respect towards Japanese colleagues said, "Gotta be nice to these bastards; never know whether one of 'em is mine." Only the Chagall I worried about, insured separately, and between my house and the truck, it disappeared, evaporated into the blazing Jerusalem arid air, whiffed away as if heavenward. One of the packers complained, "Chagall, Shmagal, what is this, who is this, what does it matter?" Only the insistence of my helper, Keren, and a search of many unlabeled packages was Abraham consoling Sarah as the angels come to announce her fruition, does Chagall reappear. A city of miracles, Jerusalem is. And persistence, as Keren raises her voice and pays back with interest. ("The Chagall is equal to the whole value of the shipment. You will open every box until we find it.") Tough chick. Continue reading "Moving Day in Jerusalem"
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Thursday, June 17. 2010Judge YachtsA buddy who is a fan of Judge Yachts emails me the following:
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