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, December 31. 2014Life in Yankeeland: Just informed about another holiday party I was just informed by my social secretary that "we" had accepted a black tie cocktail party, and then later a late-night black tie dinner event with music and dancing, for tonight. I had been happy to imagine that we had no plans. Glad I had my dress-up uniform cleaned. The rules which apply to me generally seem to be "Suit up and show up" - and shut up. I hate New Year's Eve and I will never watch that idiotic Times Square thing, but I am a curmudgeon. Of course, I was there for that once in youth, and once was enough. I will not have a drop of ETOH, and I do not like champagne, but I greatly enjoy the stimulating and amusing people we'll be seeing. I will ask our readers to be careful out there today. We need all of the live readers we can get, so drive defensively because there are lots of amateur drinkers out there. Tomorrow, I am told, leg of lamb for family. I got Prosecca and a very nice Mt. Etna Rosso. Life goes on, God willing. Best curmudgeonly wishes to all for a happy, healthy, grateful, and prosperous 2015.
Posted by Bird Dog
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Tuesday, December 30. 2014Interesting Football FactoidFrom Wikipedia, where I was doing some background research on various football teams: In 1930, there were still many who questioned the quality of the professional game, claiming the college "amateurs" played with more intensity than professionals. In December 1930, the Giants played a team of Notre Dame All Stars at the Polo Grounds to raise money for the unemployed of New York City. It was also an opportunity to establish the skill and prestige of the pro game. Knute Rockne reassembled his Four Horsemen along with the stars of his 1924 Championship squad and told them to score early, then defend. Rockne, like much of the public, thought little of pro football and expected an easy win. But from the beginning it was a one-way contest, with Friedman running for two Giant touchdowns and Hap Moran passing for another. Notre Dame failed to score. When it was all over, Coach Rockne told his team, "That was the greatest football machine I ever saw. I am glad none of you got hurt." The game raised $100,000 for the homeless, and is often credited with establishing the legitimacy of the professional game for those who were critical.
Not an insubstantial sum, it represented .6% of per capita government welfare spending in the New York area. Total government (federal, state, and local) spending in 1930 was $11.9bb and only $300mm was on welfare. By 1934, those totals were $12.8bb and $1.0bb. By 1940, the same figures were $20.4bb and $2.1bb. For all the problems the NFL faces, there is still plenty to feel good about, though I don't think it would be easy to match that $1.4mm figure today, unless all the ticket receipts were just turned over.
Posted by Bulldog
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Sunday, December 28. 2014Another Cuthbertson ChristmasI was glad to inherit my Mom's huge and complete set of Cuthbertson Christmas china - including the coffee cups. She kept expanding it, so the designs vary a little as the company made minor changes over the years. My sibs still get to use and see them here at the Maggie's HQ, every Christmastime. It is sentimental for all of us. Like most nice stuff, they are not ok for the dishwasher despite what they may say. Frederick Cuthbertson of Greenwich, CT, designed these classic and charming things in 1922 for his shop in NYC. Still made in England, though. You can buy them today and leave them to your kids. They don't get heavy use.
Posted by Bird Dog
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Thursday, December 25. 2014For those not too busy with Christmas todayA few fine Christmas treats: Christmas at Bastogne - Seventy years ago, American heroes spent the day halting Hitler’s advance in Belgium. A now-elderly friend of ours was there, in the medical corp. At age 16. He lied to get in, and so did his mom. I've seen his letters home because his mom saved them all. Carried lots of stretchers of bleeding through snow during artillery barrages. What are our 16 year-olds doing? Went on to go to medical school later. How Haussmann destroyed the old Paris 600 BC Greek pottery comes to life Was Robert Frost an obnoxious person? Yes Damocles Had Nothing To Do With It. It Was Cassandra All The Way For Sippican Sex, slavery, and freedom in ancient Rome. Ice in the Arctic and Antarctic is 'not melting', says global warming expert Daniel Hannan for President! We love this guy: And from Prof. Alan Kors, "Who's Too Weak to Live With Freedom?" American kids need to be raised to freedom and independence. This fellow is enjoyable -
Posted by Bird Dog
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Wednesday, December 24. 2014Santa, Clement Clarke Moore, and ChelseaClement Moore (1779-1863) inherited his grandfather's estate, named Chelsea, which now constitutes NYC's wonderful neighborhood of Chelsea where the gays walk their mini dogs, the moms push their strollers, the hipsters do their hipster thing, the Pearl Theater produces lots of cool dance concerts and other good things, the old Chelsea Hotel which sheltered so many artistic and musical luminaries like Bob Dylan - and where Dylan Thomas died - is still there, and everybody in that neighborhood has a fine youthful, ambitious, capitalist time. Ha - including one of my artistic and literary daughters - and one fierce capitalist daughter who did live there in the past. Wonderful city. If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere. Moore led a movement to block the running of 9th Ave. through the middle of his rural estate, but NYC progress could not be stopped. He hated Jefferson for his apostasy. His summer house was in Newport, RI. He was buried in the Trinity Church graveyard. His dad was a bishop and president of King's College, now Columbia University. Writing The Night Before Christmas was the least of his academic and cultural accomplishments and generosities, but it did end up inventing an American version of Santa Claus which has endured until now. He's the guy who made Santa fat and jolly. An email from a daughter:
You know the words of his delightful doggerel, so I do not need to print them out. Like people such as Conan Doyle or Lewis Carroll, inventive people never know what they will be remembered for. Moore's house in Chelsea - Moore founded St. Peter's Church in 1838 on his estate. It is still there, on W. 20th St. I've been there for performances of the Chelsea Opera. Lovely old Anglican church, now sort-of Episcopalian.
Posted by Bird Dog
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Winter: Can All-Season Tires Really Handle the Snow?No, not really, even with all-wheel drive. In the back woods of the Northeast, most local people drive crappy little old RWD rusty GM sedans and zoom around nicely with snow tires while the skiers from the cities slip and slide their Subarus and 4-WD Suburbans, Range Rovers, and Escalades all over the roads and into the ditches. Monday, December 22. 2014Pray think of us poor children who wander in the mire...From Here We Come A-Wassailing: We are not daily beggars They are not beggars, but they would like a Christmas coin and a taste of Wassail as they go from door to door, singing. "Old English wæs hæl, literally 'be you healthy.'" Here's an alcohol-free Wassail recipe but anything similar would work. In its classic form, it was made with ale or mead, and often nowadays with rum or vodka added to cheer up your guests.
Posted by Bird Dog
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Sunday, December 21. 2014My favorite Christmas party My favorite holiday party is an annual open house that friends hold the Saturday before Christmas. The house is great and the food is great, the guests dress up in holiday finery and Christmas ties, the bartenders are pleasant, the hors d'oevre waitresses are always near, the cheeses are excellent, especially the little room with the port and Stilton and cookies. Their pastor plays Christmas songs on the pianny (between cocktails), boxfulls of goofy Christmas hats are distributed, and carols are sung. All of that is very good, but what is special is that they invite your entire family - all ages, so the place is full of peoples' kids and grandkids from 6 months to 40. Probably 150 people, maybe more, arriving, and going off to other parties. There are some crawlers underfoot dressed in their Christmas best. Balloons everywhere. That's what makes it merry, relaxed, and interesting. My kids love it, and it's a chance for others to catch up with them too. If and when my daughters decide to tie the knot, I'd love it if they wanted to do a jolly wedding like that, with no formal sit-down, no deafening band, and with kids running around. I guess that is sort-of Mediterranean-style.
Posted by Bird Dog
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Thursday, December 18. 2014Info you can maybe use: Flossing vs. Interdental Brushes Had to visit my friendly local dentist early this morning for what I term a "cosmetic emergency." Mrs. BD did not want me going through the rest of the holiday season looking like a Halloween pumpkin - or like a visitor from England (famous for its rotten and/or missing teeth). He did give me one tip while I was there: he advised me to use interdental brushes instead of flossing. He said they are best for your gums, and clean better between teeth. They come in different sizes to fit your tooth spacing. These things are news to me. I always avoided flossing and these are easier to use. He gave me a demo.
Posted by Bird Dog
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13:42
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Tuesday, December 16. 2014Life in Yankeeland: I must be getting older...because my lad wears my Tux
...because a cute, perky young gal held the door for me at the gym at 5 am this morning. Sheesh. And because my lad now fits into my tux. He borrows it when he needs it, but the legs and sleeves are a little bit short but not so's you would notice at a crowded event. I've had mine for many years. Admittedly, Brooks did let out the waist an inch for me (35 to 36) a while ago and it has been dry cleaned many times. The lad fits into my formal dress shirts too, and I am happy to loan him my grandpa's gold studs and cufflinks. If one is not wealthy, as I am not, a classic Brooks tux remains a bargain, is always appropriate, and is cheaper than an ordinary fancy suit. They last forever unless you get fat or live a far more hoity-toity life than I do. It's holiday season now and, in Yankeeland, you have to dress up a little for special occasions. Year 'round, really. At Christmas and New Year's, I just do it by adding my red holiday cummerbund and red bow tie. It's a uniform. Maybe we remain a little old-fashioned. Nowadays, we easily forget that the tux was invented (in Tuxedo Park, of course) as a casual dinner get-up for the jazz-age youth who rightly rebelled against wearing vests and tails to dinner and parties.
Posted by Bird Dog
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16:22
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How nature does genetic engineeringIt's called "horizontal gene transmission." The gene that jumped - Genes that leap from one species to another are more common than we thought. The know-nothings out there know nothing about biology.
Posted by Dr. Joy Bliss
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15:46
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Income inequality and those greedy pigs who cause itWe'll leave out the billionaires, because they are too few to move the dial. Let's just look at the very high-income people who make America look unequal in the statistics. Who are the piggish people with multi-million annual incomes? Pop music stars I don't begrudge any of these people their incomes, but I sometimes envy it while aware that I would not be capable of doing what they do. Still, if we taxed them all 100% over 1 million, we'd eliminate the statistical "crisis" and people would have to bitch about something else. Who am I missing on my list?
Monday, December 15. 2014Christmas Tree water
Pic was the Maggie's HQ tree set-up in the parlor last year. Yes, there is an outlet in the floor. This year, we're in process of going back to colored lights for the darn pagan tree.
Tree is a fire hazard, but the fake ones just feel fake and seem to create the unpleasant feeling of bank-lobby to me. I don't like to keep a real dead tree up for over 14 days but maybe I'm a scaredy cat. I like the tree in the middle of the room, away from heat and far from a fireplace. I keep the water full, and I use this tree water recipe. Same trick that makes cut flowers last longer. Best to use warm water to soften any sap that would block water uptake. Cut trees are thirsty. I use a heavy and heavy-duty welded steel stand like the one below. It holds a gallon of water and could easily hold a 12' tree. After 14 days or so, I carry the tree with its stand and lights out to the front of the house to abide a while, or even months, with an extension cord to keep it lit. I don't even try to keep last years' lights anymore. Good news: Mrs. BD is already practicing her carols on the pianny. It's a delight for Bird Dog, even the missed notes.
Posted by Bird Dog
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Sunday, December 14. 2014Your Sunday Advent music
My only problem with Messiah is that my brain changes "We like sheep..." to "We like lamb...". Here's Fred Plotkin's Searching for Messiah, in Dublin and New York. And here 'tis -
Posted by Bird Dog
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14:18
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Peter Berger
Despite the formality of the title, it's a very readable and persuasive book about our experiences of reality and the role of our local cultures in shaping our experience of reality. Berger was on my mind because Pastor Keller had mentioned the idea of "relativizing the relativizers." I like that idea, because nobody can really think outside their own culture, and relativists and multiculturalists of all sorts tend not to be aware of how deeply Western and, indeed, parochial their views really are. Anyway, that's a chapter from another book by Berger, A Rumor of Angels: Modern Society and the Rediscovery of the Supernatural. I have not read it, but I think I will. Saturday, December 13. 2014Origins of some expressions
(I've also heard some claim that it's to make it easier for guys to unbutton ladies)
Posted by Bird Dog
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13:35
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Friday, December 12. 2014A few more Christmas ideas: Things guys like
Posted by Bird Dog
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Tuesday, December 9. 2014Deep mysteries of Christmas lights
Christians use Christmas lights and Christmas candles to symbolize and celebrate Christ's coming to illuminate a dark, painful, and sinful world. There are two mysteries to those strands of colored lights which I have never understood: - No matter how carefully you stow them away, they always come out tangled. Are they self-tangling? - You stow them away for 11 months untouched, but when you take them out in December, half the strands don't work and you have to run to Home Depot or CVS. Do they have a built-in obsolescence?
Posted by Bird Dog
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Subsidizing middle class markersVia Driscoll's Elizabeth Warren Goes Full Orwell:
Sunday, December 7. 2014Truthiness and gullibility
Perhaps politics has always been about irrationality, propaganda, pandering, deception, etc. Socrates himself fell victim to a democratic witch hunt. There are always plenty of people out there who desire power, money, easy jobs, public recognition, etc. and who will do lots of things and compromise whatever integrity they have to get them. I understand that, but I do not respect it. I do not respect calculating, manipulative, dishonorable people, and I desire to insulate myself from them. In recent years, it seems that the contagion of truthiness (useful fictions) goes hand-in-hand with the generation of underlying long-term politically-driven narratives. The seemingly-sociopathic Al Sharpton proved, in the 1987 Tawana Brawley episode, that a lie which fits the right political narrative can be profitable in many ways. In fact, his reckless, destructive ballsiness made his career as a public figure - while destroying many others involved in that famous non-story. Truthy stories cannot get a foothold without media support or incurious acceptance. The media made Al Sharpton by refusing to treat him like the charlatan he is. The media made the Duke rape story, the "Hands up" story, and so many similar stories now culminating in the UVA gang rape story. None of these things were stories - they were ginned-up fictions to provide data points on a narrative line. That is what novelists and poets do. These are modern versions of yellow journalism. We need more people willing to call "Foul" against tendentious PC baloney. I don't really think this is all about gullibility and wish to believe. For the most naive, perhaps, but generally I think it's more cynical and calculating than that. There are agendas which seem, to some, to be more important than the truth. There are hardly enough Walter Duranty awards left to go around these days. Advocacy journalism doesn't just run with fairy tales. Just as importantly, the MSM refuses to cover stories which would be fueled to near-fatal or fatal levels (eg, the IRS story) were a conservative in power. May I note the dearth of aggressive "investigative journalism" since the Left has held power in Washington? Has the Obama administration done anything worse, thus far, than the Nixon administration did? He has known, all along, that the MSM will cover for him because he is a lefty and has brown skin. Good insulation. Pretty much everybody knows all of this now. The news is mostly spinfotainment and the only thing the public can do about it is to switch to FOX where "fair and balanced" means something - to the chagrin of the lefty narrative-spinners. Or Morning Joe too. A few related links: The author of the article, Sabrina Rubin Erdely, now says that it Sabrina Erdley, Rolling Stone, and the Media Put the Cause Before the Truth Rolling Stone’s disastrous U-Va. story: A case of real media bias Jonah Goldberg being called a rape-supporter "We have a member of the administration feeding a bogus story to a social "What is truth?" asked the very clever Pontius Pilate We'll see what happens with that UVA story eventually. To my mind, a "rape culture" is a feminist invention to keep their movement alive. Rape is a serious felony in the US, and is becoming more rare as time goes by. The criminality of rape is not controversial in the US although it is acceptable in many parts of the world and in many cultures. Dubious rape stories, like dubious racism stories, only harm a cause and create backlash. The same thing has happened to the "climate" hyperbole. For rape or attempted assault, call the cops, same as with a burglary or mugging. It's that simple. For climate, enjoy the day whatever the weather. Not to worry, in New England it will change tomorrow. In no place in history on this planet has there ever been less sexism or racism, or more opportunity, or more generosity to the unfortunate, the feckless, the disabled, the homosexuals, and the transgenders, than there is in the Anglosphere today, and especially in the US. So why are the voices so shrill? Could it be because they see their relevance disappearing?
Astor Place
Mrs. BD snapped this pic of one of the wonderful tiles in NYC's Astor Place subway station."In the mid-to late-19th century, the area was home to many of the wealthiest New Yorkers, including members of the Astor, Vanderbilt and Delano families" Why beavers? Because John Jacob Astor, at one time the wealthiest man in America, made his fortune in beaver pelts (and wisely went on to invest his beaver wealth in NYC real estate). Why the Waldorf-Astoria? Because Johann Jakob Astor was an immigrant from Waldorf, Germany.
Posted by Bird Dog
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Wednesday, December 3. 2014Fat in the USA, for holiday piggish season in the USA
"I'll go on a diet after the holidays." Right. Sure you will, just like last year. Being fat in the US is highly correlated with social class. Like academic degrees and choice of clothing, being heavy is a social marker of sorts for men and women. In a sexist way, men are given some leeway for a few extra pounds but only if they are wealthy, powerful, or brilliant. Black women, recent immigrants, working class and lower middle-class, and the poor seem to display the most consistent overweight. (In the midwest US, fat in women seems to be near-universal outside of urban centers. What is that about?) Cause, effect, coincidence, or what? I have no idea what it is all about. One must accept that, in many ways, it is a great success of the western world - to give everybody the opportunity to be fat if they want to be, even if on welfare. (See Dramatic Increases in Obesity and Overweight Prevalence and Body There was a time, over 100 years ago, when prosperous men displayed their prosperity in their bulging bellies. Fashion and expectations change. In eastern Europe and Russia, fat was good. It meant you had more potatoes than the next house. In the 1600s, fat was popular in western Europe too - see Rubens. Today, see a WalMart aisle. It used to be difficult to be pudgy and today it is difficult to be fit. Fortunately for us, we do live in a fitness-oriented world despite our (mostly) daily lack of manual labor. Fitness makes everything in life better and longer, reduces indolence, lethargy, and fatigue, and puts old age farther into the future. Nothing but sinful laziness stands in our way. In the Western world today, with its abundance of cheap and tasty carbs, thin has been in for 100 years and being fat has been a public sign of giving up on an energetic life in many aspects: sex, romance, social attractiveness, sports, fun, agility, and overall vitality. In my view, you can be too thin, you can be too heavy, but you can't be too rich.
Posted by Dr. Joy Bliss
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Monday, December 1. 2014Alexander Pope's wit and wisdomTed Dalrymple takes a look at Pope (and Hume):
Does anybody read Pope anymore? If not, why not?
Posted by Bird Dog
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18:22
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Sunday, November 30. 2014Winter Tips # 11: Firewood info, repostedWe have posted recently about firewood, green or dried. Of course, it all depends on whether your fires are for pleasure, comfort, and ambience or for the BTUs. We have an old wood stove in the kitchen which provides tons of heat, but my fireplace in the den warms that little room up very effectively, to the point that I have to open the window. Fireplaces do radiate heat, just much more ineffectively than stoves. What wood to burn? Any wood is good. Some people are too afraid of burning fir and pine, but they are excellent, produce wonderful smells, and probably produce less chimney creosote than slower-burning hardwoods. However, if you keep a home fire burning as we do, you must have the chimney cleaned at least twice per winter, and ideally once per cord or two whatever the wood. Chimney fires are the reason so many churches and old houses have burned down in New England. Generally speaking, the hotter the fire, the less creosote condensation in the chimney. Here you can read all about chimney creosote. I have read that it takes a year to air-dry unsplit green wood, which can contain over 50% water when freshly cut (dry wood is around 25% water, depending on where you live). I burn green wood sometimes once I have a good bed of coals and don't want a blazing fire, but it certainly does not burn as hot as air-dried wood. I don't care because I am not reliant on wood for heat except when our power is down. Here is some good firewood info from the Master Sweep. Here are some good data about firewood Info re the Franklin stove
Info re the Rumford Fireplace Brick-lined chimneys? They are obsolete. Best thing is to line them with stovepipe. Always bear in mind that every time you light a fire you are producing CO2, killing Gaia, and destroying the planet. Coal and oil, after all, are just very well-seasoned old wood. If you truly love Gaia, you would do without mechanized transport, or horses, or A/C, heat, and the internet.
Wednesday, November 26. 2014Whoopee Pie and Frog Eye SaladThe Thanksgiving Recipes Googled in Every State - Which foods are unusually popular in each state on Thanksgiving. It's wonderful to see how regionally-diverse this big nation of America remains, but I would not touch some of that stuff. I mean, Snickers Salad for Thanksgiving? Sheesh! Nothing against Snickers but oh, well, it's all good as long as we are grateful. I don't want to be a food snob, but, gee whiz, there are some limits! Pic is my standard Yankeeland cooking. I use half the sugar, twice the berries. My mother in law always makes raw cranberry and orange relish - deliciously tangy and different from this.
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