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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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Wednesday, June 9. 2010Local News and ColorWe, and others, have often felt that one of the best uses of the internet is to disseminate local - very local - news. Local newsletters/online newspapers will never win millions of daily viewers, but if they can pick up some local ads (and if the area has broadband), it's a better biz model nowadays than the dying dead tree format. Our pal Greg Sullivan has just begun publishing The Rumford Meteor. Pretty slick for a small town rag, and a good model for what can be done. Among other things, he posted this video of Maine clam diggers:
Posted by Bird Dog
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08:18
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Monday, June 7. 2010Desire, and the EconomyThomas Jones, Naples. The Capella Nuova outside the Porta di Chiaja, 1778: Dalrymple discusses Thomas Jones and the non-essential consumption economy: The Machine. Almost a miracle, isn't it, that we no longer have a predominantly essential-consumption society?
Posted by Bird Dog
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16:58
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CPR you can rememberThe problem with CPR is remembering what to do when your adrenaline begins surging because it looks like somebody is trying to die. (Some of the other problems are those of cracking some ribs of some guy who doesn't need it, or of keeping "alive" somebody whose brain is already dying or dead. Knowing when to use CPR is as important as knowing how.) Coyote offers this useful reminder: Super Sexy CPR
Posted by The Barrister
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12:25
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Sunday, June 6. 2010A sail, with the Bird Dog family as guests and photosYesterday afternoon on Long Island Sound with a nice breeze, with some pics of pretty boats. These folks are setting their sails: This was a 12-meter race which we watched for a bit, mostly boats from the 60s:
Posted by Gwynnie
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12:05
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My visit to Matzada (Masada) yesterdayAn email with pics from our friend and occasional guest-poster Nathan, who is living in Jerusalem: After watching Verdi's Nabuco performed at night at the foot of Matzada, I planned my ascent on Saturday. Up at 415 a.m. and cabbed to Matzada from Ein Gedi Kibbutz facing the Dead Sea, two kilometers below sea level. Hiked up the 350 Meters during sunrise. First one up. Took the "snake path" on the east face of the mountain fortress built about thirty years before Christ by Herod, the son of Edomite Converts to Judaism, who was King under the Romans and fairly much despised by the Jews, even as he prevailed over some thirty years of stunnning prosperity and --- trained as an engineer/architect -- proliferative building including the entire port of Cesaria (named after Cesar), which included a hippodrome and perhaps more importantly a major port for the Romans.
The history here is ironic and as twisty as the Snake Path, which was built by Herod so that supplies, including water from Ein Gedi oasis about 17 km north, could be brought up by donkeys. There is a western ramp built by Jewish slaves under the Romans to defeat the Jewish Sicari in 73 AD, but that in a moment. The remarkable stillness (beyond quiet) on the 45 minute hike up gives time for reflection and occassional glances to sight the hints of sun's birth over the Dead Sea, even as the crescent moon and a star-like planet linger in the South East.
Herod built this fortress, designed by himself after his architects and engineers said that it could not be done. Built it to protect himself with the sheers on all sides. Protect himself from his Jews. Having been driven once from Jerusalem by angry Jews (a tough crowd to rule over, it seems), he decided he needed a few refuges to which to escape in the future. Built Herodian just south of Jerusalem, but Matzada was his star. Quarried in place, he imported the two-piece capitals for the columns. The quarries apparently became used for water storage. But, Josephus (the Jewish general turncoat who became a chronicler for the Romans) describes massive storehouses filled with wine amphoras (Greek for any container that can be lift from either side) for wine and olive oil, and supplies of corn, dates, pulse and other preserved foodstuffs, which Josephus said could supply the garrison for years. There are remaining frescos (apparently the artisans were familiar with Vitruvius multi-volume work on architecture) and elegant mosaic floors in place. The castle was built on three levels at the northern tip of the plateau, on three natural ledges. The castle faces towards the oasis of Ein Gedi, where David once took refuge from King Saul, who was jealous of DAvid's achievements. But that is another tale. Below as one reaches the top, the Dead Sea has a heaviness to it, as if made of molten lead. Light appears before the Sun, which arises with its shifting colors until it attains that blinding glare of the Desert. After Herod's death, the Jewish rebellion began against Rome: the Jews even minted their own shekels, labeling them for each year of the rebellion: one can eye these up to the fifth year in the new Museum at the end of the visit. Jerusalem fell. (The Romans complained that there was so much blood from slaughtering Jews in the Old City that Roman horses had to wade through lakes of blood to their bellies.) A group of some seventy Sicari Jews (very fierce and named for the Sicar, double-edged curved knives) retreated to Matzada, which became the last refuge and last place defeated by the Romans. Coming out here, at the edge of a dead lake of salt, two kilometers below the world of sea level, surrounded by pastel-hued mountains which themselves once were ocean bottom, on the edge of the Syrian-African rift, one is impressed, amazed at the extent to which the Romans went to defeat this last 70-citizen outpost of the Jews. They set a siege that lasted several years, the Romans building some eight permanent camps, the largest of which had a Cardo, the central commercial street of every major Roman town. The Sicari settled into the opulent palace and buildings of Herod, leaving evidence of their pottery, which measure poorly when compared to the simple, but elegant Edom-tinted, reddish pottery made for Herod (and each labelled by its artisan). The Jews wrote notes on pottery shards to use for dealing out each families portioin and so on.
The Romans, as I said, used Jewish slaves to build the assault ramp. At first the Romans built, but the Sicari would dump scalding oil on the Roman laborers, so Jewish slaves were enlisted to solve that problem. To taunt and demoralize the Roman soldiers, whose water was carefully met out, the Jewish women would hang out their clothes to dry, as if to show that they had plenty of water in the underground cisterns (which are massive as one walks into them.) The end of this story came quickly when it came. The Romans, upon completing the ramp, pushed a ram to the top to batter the wall. The Jews tried to reinforce with stone and dirt. I believe that at this point the Jewish set the ram afire, but winds blew this towards the wall and burned through what was not made of stone. The rest we know from Josephus, a very literate turncoat, who in turn learned of the last moments of the Sicari from two surviving mothers and their five children who had hidden within the double-walled storage area so as not to be "suicided" by the Sicari. Ben ari, the leader of the Sicari Jews gave a speech, stating that their women would not be violated by Romans, nor their children ever taste slavery. They set all the stores afire to defeat the Romans in death. After the ten men killed the others, they had lots with their names written upon them. The leader cut the throats of the remaining nine, then his own. These lots -- with the names legible -- were found by Yigal Yadin in the 1960's excavation.
Matzada was mostly forgotten. Briefly used by some monks, then forgotten again. In the late 50's a Jewish archeologist, Shmarayu Guttman suggested excavation. but, not until 1963 did former General Yigal Yadin do the excavations as a Professor at the Hebrew U. Just a brief tale from Yadin. By reading Josephus (you know the reversible-coat part here already), Yadin was determined to find the castle on the northern lip. But, from above, it looked like nothing was there and colleagues doubted that anything could have been built on such a sheer, surfaced with shards and rubble. But Yadin tied a rope to a rock at the top, rappeled down with a brush and hand tool, and discovered the castle. When they got to the lowest level, the third terrace, they found the skeleton of a Roman soldier -- armor intact -- lying near a woman's skeleton, her hair braids intact. That's the news from Matzada.
Posted by Bird Dog
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06:31
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Friday, June 4. 2010An educated fool: Derek BokArrogant idiot Derek Bok thinks government needs to provide us with happiness. More at Moonbattery. Says I, just give me my freedom, and I'll figure out how to be as happy or unhappy as I chose to be - and I'll do it my way, and definitely not the way a Harvard President would do it for himself - or "for me." Furthermore, I do not need any government Soma. I can handle unhappiness just fine and I can take my lumps like a man, when necessary. Life wasn't meant to be a bowl of cherries, nor did I ever expect it to be.
Posted by The Barrister
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15:11
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Thursday, June 3. 2010How "Mama Grizzlies" killed paleo-pomo feminismNo More Identity Politics; Palin Proves Old School Feminism is Dead. A quote from Lori Ziganto's piece (h/t, Linkiest):
The LotterySo far, 54 theaters around the country have signed up to show "The Lottery", and more are signing up daily. Take a moment to see if "The Lottery" is playing in a theater near you and buy tickets by clicking http://www.screenvision.com/s/showing/TheLottery/. The Lottery" will be playing for some single showings and week-long runs: In New York for one night, June 3, a free showing at the Apollo Theater followed by a reception, 253 W 125th St., in New York from June 11-18 at the Big Theater, 239 East 59th Street (near 2nd Avenue). In Los Angeles from June 18-25 at Laemmle's Music Hall 3, 9036 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills. Additional runs in Denver and other cities are being planned. Recent reviews: An already heated national debate over charter schools gets a few degrees hotter tonight with the premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival of "The Lottery," a powerful documentary about the Harlem Success Academy charters launched by former City Councilwoman Eva Moskowitz. The film is designed to knock ambivalent people off the fence when it comes to the benefits of charter schools, and it does. In the same way that "An Inconvenient Truth" mobilized a vast constituency to take action on climate change, "The Lottery" will create and energize charter supporters by the thousands.
Posted by Bird Dog
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12:00
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Wednesday, June 2. 2010Wrong about crimsRegular people living in the real world never bought the Leftist narrative that criminals are victims. Neither did shrinks, who know how much character matters. Criminality knows no socio-economic or ethnic boundaries. This is right on the money: Were Liberals Wrong on Crime? It's a sad day when honest, hard-working people who are willing to work two tough jobs to pay their bills and support their families are made to feel like chumps, or worse. Such good folks are the salt of the earth and the backbone of America, whatever the Manhattan radical chic set thinks of them. Leisure and FantasyHow do Americans spend their leisure time? Paul Bloom begins:
Fascinating article. However, that 4 mins per day seems dubious on many counts.
Posted by Bird Dog
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16:43
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Saturday, May 29. 2010Childrens' books
Rabbi Harvey, the cowboy.
Posted by Bird Dog
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11:04
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Friday, May 28. 2010VDH does the DanubeI see that VDH is on a trip quite similar to the one we have planned for August. Too bad he didn't wait 'til August. Photo is the Danube Canal in Austria.
Posted by Bird Dog
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12:00
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Thursday, May 27. 2010Jobs Americans supposed won't do - but which High School Americans will doWhen I heard the story and saw the pics, it was clear to me that our Editor happily does the "jobs Americans won't do." Such as outdoor labor. Supposedly only illegal Mexicans will do that hard work. Two months ago I posted a sign at the High School jobs bulletin board. It said "Yard, Garden, and Farm Work, through the season. $10/hr," and I gave my phone number. Unbelievably, given how hard it for kids to find jobs right now, I only received two replies, a guy and a gal. They have been doing chores for me on weekends, and will begin working 5 or 6 days/week until everything on my list is done. It will take at least into August. They are wonderful, do not mind heavy lifting or getting dirty, and tell me this job will get them buff and tan for their summer nights. My list for them includes painting the shed and the barn and a garden fence, splitting wood for the fall (I won't let them do chain-sawing), weekly lawn mowing, clearing out some downed trees in the pasture, mucking the barn, putting up hay when it comes in, weeding the gardens, trimming hedges, edging borders, putting down mulch, re-setting a long slate walkway in stone dust, replacing some horse fence, cleaning the barn windows, rebuilding my garden compost bins, replacing or repairing a couple of gates and garden fences, etc. The Mrs. will give them lunch, and promises me that she will be demanding of them and will treat them formally, as employees and not like kids (which they do not seem to require thus far). It's much more work than I have time to do on weekends. If they stick with it, it's worth $3-4,000 for each of them. A costly summer for me, but many of these jobs have been accumulating and need to get done now. Furthermore, it will give me more time for riding with the Mrs., which she very much appreciates even though I am no great fan of horses. Golf too. Remind me to let you know how it works out, but so far, so good. Yer Editor at workYer editor at work, editing the heck out of an overgrown 15-acre boulder-strewn meadow. Photo does not capture the height and density of the overgrowth, nor does it fully capture the Yankee red-neck elegance of the world-famous blog celeb Bird Dog. We were happy to see that there were still struggling grasses underneath the growth, which will now have a chance to thrive again. I think we will need to mow again in September in an effort to thoroughly discourage the saplings and to give the grasses and wildflowers a good head start next Spring. We carefully gave a wide berth to a huge Painted Turtle who decided to dig a hole and lay some eggs in the field while we were working. Got some photos. This is the meadow adjacent to the beaver marsh.
Posted by Bird Dog
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05:00
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Monday, May 24. 2010“If you believe this, have I got a Brooklyn bridge to sell you.”
Today is the birthday of the Gabriel Cohen tells the history of the con game named after the bridge.
Today’s political con artists don’t have a bridge to stand on. They peddle the illusion that spending money one doesn’t have is the path to freedom and advancement instead of to digging holes in the water that will drown us and our children in debts that will enslave and regress us to the control of those who direct our labor and choices to feed their power.
Posted by Bruce Kesler
in Our Essays, The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation
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12:27
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Sunday, May 23. 2010The Three Sisters of Provence
Posted by Bird Dog
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14:29
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Saturday, May 22. 2010What can't Mark Steyn do?
Mark discusses Peggy Lee, on what would have been her 90th birthday
Posted by Bird Dog
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12:00
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Cape CodRough farm work this weekend, but I'd rather be digging quahogs for supper here in the mud flats. It beats an Easter egg hunt easily.
Posted by Bird Dog
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04:57
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Friday, May 21. 2010Melk AbbeyStift Melk, along the edge of the Danube, is one of the world's most famous abbeys. Founded in 1069, it remains a Benedictine center. The current early 1700 baroque buildings do not charm me, but it's an impressive structure - and it's on my August trip.
Posted by Bird Dog
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16:51
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The rising tide and not unexpectedly. If you're personally concerned about this — and you should be — then please... Continue reading "The rising tide"
Posted by Dr. Mercury
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12:20
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Are our military academies obsolete?The guy makes the case that they have become centers of mediocrity, but I think the better question is whether they serve any purpose any more, or produce any better officers than the 80% that come via ROTC. Vaguely related: How to Make Brownies, Pentagon-Style
Posted by The Barrister
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10:37
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Sentimentality vs ChangeDid Jane Jacobs and her disciples take a moment in time and try to freeze it? It's a worthy debate: Gentrification and Its Discontents - Manhattan never was what we think it was.
Posted by Bird Dog
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09:29
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Wednesday, May 19. 2010Doc gets a nature lesson
Among the pictures is this one, with my caption:
Yep, just another dumb animal doing something completely incomprehensible to humans. All of which shows how much I know. H/T: Theo
Posted by Dr. Mercury
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15:53
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Tuesday, May 18. 2010Thanks, reader
Where did those good things go?
Posted by Bird Dog
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20:52
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