Maggie's Farm

This wood-hulled replica of a 1790-era New England schooner was built in 2000. 32' and an 8' beam. "Caledonian." Besides being used for fishing, schooners like this one transported everything up and down the East coast. Yes, she is for sale, too.

 

A gentleman diner asked a waiter to take a bottle of Merlot to an attractive woman sitting alone at another table. 

The waiter took the Merlot to the woman and said, "This is from the gentleman seated over there," indicating the sender.

She regarded the wine coolly for a second, not looking at the man, and decided to send a reply note to the man. The waiter, who was lingering for a response, took the note from her and conveyed it to the gentleman.

The note read:

"For me to accept this bottle, you need to have a Mercedes in your garage, a million dollars in the bank, and 7 inches in your pants."

After reading the note, the man decided to compose one of his own in return. He folded the note, handed it to the waiter and instructed him to return this to the woman.

It read:

"For your information, I have a Ferrari 360 Spyder, an Aston Martin DB9, a Mercedes SL600 and a Porsche Turbo in my garages. I have over twenty million dollars in my bank account, but, not even for a woman as beautiful as you, would I cut two inches off.
Just send the bottle back."

Casual sex is a feminist con, says ex-groupie. I always found it amusing that the feminist con was so compatible with the time-honored male con. One quote:

Whatever Greer and her ilk might say I’ve tried their philosophy — that a woman can shag like a man — and it doesn’t work. We’re not built like that. Women are built for bonding. We are vessels and we seek to be filled. For that reason, however much we try and convince ourselves that it isn’t so, sex will always leave us feeling empty unless we are certain that we are loved, that the act is part of a bigger picture that we are loved for our whole selves not just our bodies.

It took me a long time to realise this. My earliest attitudes about sex were shaped from what I saw in the lives of my older sister and my mother — especially my mother, a free spirit who was desperately trying to make up missing out on the hippie era.

Whole pitiful story at Times Online

A basic summary piece on Jonathan Edwards' view of free will, with a comment about Pilgrims and sex, as quoted:

Puritans had a dim view of extramarital relations, but that was because they had a very high view of sexuality in marriage. Love, like the will, needs boundaries and channels; it needs a trusting and trustworthy context. The scholar Edmund Leites has studied hundreds of Puritan sermons about love and sex (there are many), and he has documented how much they preached about the duties to desire and how they saw the marriage bed as the "other altar of love." But they also knew that love, if it is to be sacred, needs a deep set of moral rudders. It needs to be modeled on the way God loves us. For nurturing awareness of the love of God, a vibrant community of faith is needed. For nurturing the love between persons, a faithful marriage is the context.

This fireplace grate comes highly recommended: Wall of Fire.

This 1927 22' Chris Craft Cadet, with its original 6 cylinder Chrysler engine, can be had for $52,000. Having beauty in life is one good reason to make money. What's not to like about this boat?

And hey, blog brother Right Wing Nation - you need to get over your water phobia. Shrinks sometimes think it's a fear of one's own unconscious: the strange and unknown depths, etc. Dr. Bliss could cure it in one day with her "total immersion" technique in blue water. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

 

Excellent online magazine.

Among various other business interests, my Gramps had the Elco dealership for New England in the 30s. Although he was mainly a sailor, he loved all sorts of boats, and the dealership made it possible for him to have a new Elco every year. I still think of the Elco as the classic yacht. You can still buy them, if you want to can afford to mess with wooden hulls. The history of Elco here. (BTW, PT 109 was built by Elco.) He donated his last Elco to the war effort. It was shipped to Britain, and used at Dunkirk.

Here's a 1925 57' Flat Top Motor Yacht ($195,000):

Here's a 1938 34' Sedan Cruiser ($137,000):

A sight for sore eyes, especially considering the vulgar, non-nautical appearance of most modern motor yachts. You can look at other old Elcos for sale here.

Dracula's castle for sale. BBC. Cheap, but can you afford to heat it?

17 cool and unusual buildings.

It's not a Hinckley, but the Fortier 26 seems like a fine boat, for less than half the price of the Hinckley Picnic Boat. You can find one used between $60-90,000. Certainly enough boat to handle the blue water off Block and the Islands, or Maine.

 

Several men are in the locker room of a golf club. A cell phone on a bench rings and a man engages the hands-free speaker function and begins to talk. Everyone else in the room stops to listen.

MAN: "Hello"

WOMAN: "Honey, it's me. Are you at the club?"

MAN: "Yes"

WOMAN: "I am at the mall now and found this beautiful leather coat. It's only $2,500. Is it OK if I buy it?"

MAN: "Sure, go ahead if you like it that much."

WOMAN: "I also stopped by the Mercedes dealership and saw the new 2007 models. I saw one I really liked."

MAN: "How much?"

WOMAN: "$92,000"

MAN: "OK, but for that price try to get it with all the options."

WOMAN: "Great! Oh, and one more thing...the house I wanted last year is back on the market. They're asking $3,500,000"

MAN: "Well, then go ahead and give them an offer of $3,000,000., in cash. They will probably take it. If not, we can go a few extra 100 thousands if it's really a pretty good price."

WOMAN: "OK. I'll see you later! I love you so much!"

MAN: "Bye! I love you, too."

The man hangs up. The other men in the locker room are staring at him in astonishment, mouths agape.

MAN (turns and asks):  "Anyone know who this phone belongs to?"

Two ways of being a public intellectual: Robert Kagan and Noam Chomsky, in Comparative American Studies. (link only good for a day or two). I cannot cut and paste from it.

Video here. Bear with it.