We 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.
Just as in ancient times, traditional marriage is becoming a thing of the prosperous, educated, and tradition-minded. The solid citizens, the pillars of communities; the stable people with predictable lives.
In my humble view, marriage is, or can be, two separate things: a secular property contract, and a religious covenant. Both are quite serious matters. I happen to believe that it is a difficult and challenging, but rewarding, structure for a good life. Seems to be good for kids too, which should not be surprising.
Making relationships that work is not an easy thing, given how neurotic everybody is. It can be worth the trouble, however.
The Decline of Marriage and the Rise of Unwed Mothers: An Economic Mystery. The real question here isn't "Why so many babies?" It's "Why so few marriages?" And we have an answer.
As we say here, building a complex life with social pleasures, financial stability, family structure with continuity, traditions, and reliability, and the general comforts of life, is difficult without marriage and family.
It's the time of year for trip planning. A bit early to think about fall hunting, but spring and summer plans are on the menu.
For no reason that I can comprehend, Mrs. BD likes to go places with just me. I enjoy including the kids and giving them special life treats as did my parents for me, and their companionship and getting to know them better as they unfold is a joy.
She has gotten a little carried away, and now has things in the pipeline for 2014 too, God willing.
She has scheduled Little St. Simon's Island in April to catch migration season (to please me), a kid's graduation mini-trip, and the annual family reunion week in Wellfleet in August (for the first time, sadly without Mom but, I hope, with all of the immediate and extended family).
For fall, I dunno.
Before I get old, my short-term (3-yr) bucket list includes:
- a good-sized villa (5-8 bedrooms) in Tuscany for 2 weeks with enough room for the entire family and dearest friends, with a cook and housekeeper (they all come with that anyway) and rental cars for all. I am saving up for that, but it's not really too expensive. As much as I love Umbria and enjoy Sicily, the family all deserve more time in Tuscany. Well, my kids are lucky. They've been everywhere.
- More Sicily. Rent a sports car, drink a little Tenuta delle Terre Nere Etna Rosso, then drive all over with my cowboy hat and a history text and ignore the speed laws like everybody else. Try to frighten the Mrs. with speed, but that is difficult to do. She likes speed too.
- a barge trip through southern France with the inlaws and family. Dad's a bit too feeble for this now, but he already took plenty of these with my Mom.
- I need to get back to Pine Butte in Montana soon, maybe next Spring for wildflower bloom and Grizzly Bears,
- and to Big Sky in the winter before my joints begin to creak. I need new skis.
- Bermuda again, for a romantic 5 days (we like Cambridge Beaches - they call it luxurious but it is only luxurious by British standards)
- Another Holland-America Line cross-Atlantic trip, as we used to do when I was young. I love the North Atlantic stormy days on a ship.
- Another Holland-America Line history cruise
What's on the top of Mrs. BD's bucket list? A week down the coast of Turkey on a gulet. I would love to get back to Turkey again.
Carpe diem, friends, because memories are all we have of lasting value, and memories rarely include our daily routines and chores. Even if they should, so much of it just blends together.
Thomas Nagel may be the most famous philosopher in the United States—a bit like being the best power forward in the Lullaby League, but still. His paper “What Is It Like to Be a Bat?” was recognized as a classic when it was published in 1974. Today it is a staple of undergraduate philosophy classes. His books range with a light touch over ethics and politics and the philosophy of mind. His papers are admired not only for their philosophical provocations but also for their rare (among modern philosophers) simplicity and stylistic clarity, bordering sometimes on literary grace. ..
another quote from the piece:
Materialism, then, is fine as far as it goes. It just doesn’t go as far as materialists want it to. It is a premise of science, not a finding. Scientists do their work by assuming that every phenomenon can be reduced to a material, mechanistic cause and by excluding any possibility of nonmaterial explanations. And the materialist assumption works really, really well—in detecting and quantifying things that have a material or mechanistic explanation. Materialism has allowed us to predict and control what happens in nature with astonishing success. The jaw-dropping edifice of modern science, from space probes to nanosurgery, is the result.
But the success has gone to the materialists’ heads. From a fruitful method, materialism becomes an axiom: If science can’t quantify something, it doesn’t exist, and so the subjective, unquantifiable, immaterial “manifest image” of our mental life is proved to be an illusion.
Bailey argues that it's because of moral presumptions, biases really. I'd agree that that is a factor, but he doesn't consider peoples' healthy skepticism about the Truth du Jour. Science offers theories, not facts. Educated people know that Science is not a religion, and few scientists claim Truth.
Few things that were believed to be "scientific truths" 50 years ago are believed today, and the same will apply 50 years from today.
Her: "Honey, I know you want snuggles but I don't feel close to you. You never talk to me or share your feelings."
Him: "But I am talking to you right now, and I am sharing my strongest, most personal feelings: Please take off your clothes and let's hop into bed and have some fun."
Similar:
Her: "Honey, let's take another marriage class at church so we can open up with eachother and communicate better."
Him: "I learned at the last one we did that I communicate best non-verbally."
First, I think she is mainly talking about Manhattan real estate. There is a lot of NYC outside of Manhattan, and the prime fashionable neighborhoods of Manhattan (and Brooklyn) will never be "affordable" to the middle class because, given the barriers to new construction, demand will always outstrip supply. Even so, there are reasonable neighborhoods in places like Inwood, Harlem, Washington Heights, Spanish Harlem, Little Italy.
Second, there are few free markets in housing in NYC except at the higher end (ie condos in the 2+ million range). Even there, it's not really a free market because the barriers to entry for builders are so high (legal, regulatory, community review, architectural boards, time, political dealings, etc). Donald Trump, with his huge legal teams and political connections, can get that sort of thing done, but there are few of him and, even so, supply will never catch up to demand.
Third, NYC's approach to "affordable" housing since WW2 has been housing projects for the poor and rent control and/or entire rent-controlled developments (eg Stuyvesant Town or Tudor City) for the middle class. The former destroyed neighborhoods and was a catastrophe, and the latter (ST as an example) is bankrupt. Furthermore, rent control, instituted temporarily as a post-war adjustment, now has a huge and vociferous constituency (of course). The more recent efforts are to require some time-limited below-market rentals in new construction.
Altogether, many things conspire to keep rental and condo prices high, even out in the boroughs. Since massive deregulation will never happen in NYC, supply will never catch up with demand because NYC is a world-wide magnet for the energetic, the prosperous, the young, and for those who just want a toe-hold in the greatest and most interesting city in the world. (And if supply ever did catch up with demand, a lot of people would lose a lot of money.)
Government helped create the problem - if it is a problem. The Dems want to fix their problem with even more controls and takings. Typical.
My final thought is this: High prices mean high demand. That's a problem few city centers have these days. It's a good kind of problem to have. It's like when I hear people complain about parking in my village, and feel I need to remind them that there are tons of towns where you can park anywhere downtown - but would you want to live where nobody wants to go?
Mrs. BD and I went down to NYC yesterday to see The Pearl Theater Company's production of Part 1. Matinee, sold out house.
Their new digs are way over on the west end of 42nd St. We admire their efforts to run an acting company with its own theater, given the competition with hundreds of Off-Broadway and Off-Off Broadway theaters in NYC, very few with their own acting companies. (Along with the Classic Stage Company, we support them with modest donations.)
I am amazed by the number of fancy apartment towers that have emerged in that once-seedy area - "Hell's Kitchen" district, more or less. Used to be all street hookers and drug dealers, and now it's parents with kids in strollers with their dogs, even in the evening:
Over an early northern Italian dinner at the tiny, cozy Gallo Nero, Mrs. BD and I discussed whether the play - chock full of eternal quotes (eg "If all the year were playing holidays, To sport would be as tedious as to work" - is a coming of age play, or a comedy featuring Falstaff with some sword-fights and wars for tension.
My theory is that Shakespeare was an entertainer, a screenwriter, who would do anything to sell tickets. Throw in some sword fights, family conflicts, a king and some nobles, some thieves, a jester, a tavern wench, some human emotions, and see what happens. Just happened to be a genius writer/thinker too. When he made enough money (and he made plenty), he just retired from theater.
Despite the obnoxious Nanny Bloomberg, NYC sure seems to be thriving, clean, cheerful, safe, and busy. Just a wonder to me, always. So many good-looking people, too. If I were a little rich, I'd buy a brownstone there somewhere, rent out the top 2 floors, and keep the garden floor and the first floor as a pied a terre. That would be fun. We country and suburban folk need an escape once in a while, an escape to where the action is. Gee whiz, I really do love banging around Manhattan and I am fortunate to have a Mrs. who drags me in at least monthly, or more, to do interesting, stimulating things to prevent mental/cultural/spiritual decay.
Around here, we have seen many older people retire by buying a 6-month + 1 day place in a low tax state (FL, NH, SC, etc) and a place in the city. I like to remain rooted in my community, but I think that sounds cool.
By the way, Mrs. BD strongly recommends the series In Search of Shakespeare on Netflix. Enjoyable.
Half of those surveyed…said they had trouble finding recent graduates qualified to fill positions at their company or organization. Nearly a third gave colleges just fair to poor marks for producing successful employees. And they dinged bachelor’s-degree holders for lacking basic workplace proficiencies like adaptability, communication skills, and the ability to solve complex problems.
As I have said here many times, a Liberal Arts education is not job training. It's designed to be about life-enrichment and about molding civilized and thoughtful citizens with deeper understanding of the world and of their own civilization than secondary schools can offer.
If people want job credentials, I'd advise majoring in Medieval History, Classics, or Renaissance Literature, and minoring in Accounting, Engineering, hard sciences, or Econ (or the other way around) - combining the life-enhancement with the utilitarian.
The kids should consider this: anything that can be learned just as well at The Great Courses/Teaching Company should not be studied at great expense in college. With all the alternative ways of learning higher ed material nowadays, spending big bucks for it makes no sense. And if you need a class and exams to provide the discipline, then one should work on one's discipline.
You can obtain a top-notch Liberal Arts education with them, with as much breadth or depth as you desire. I eagerly await the day that the company will offer their courses for college credit.
Of the plethora of super-hero movies that have spilled out of Hollywood over the past few years, I've thought most of them went from 'pretty bad' to 'barely okay'. Green Lantern was a slight cut above, and Thor was terrific. It was so good it got its own review.
Add Watchmen to the A List. This engaging little number is intriguing from beginning to end. It deals with a banned group of (mostly) masked crimefighters and the story that unravels after one of them is killed. The ending poses the classic philosophical question; isn't it better that nine million people die, rather than nine billion?
As usual, click on the little symbol on the player bar to expand it to full-screen mode.
Here's a small snippet from the opening. Dig the 'real-time slo-mo' effect. I believe that's Donovan singing in the background.
Hot chicks, bullets, kissing, hot chicks kissing — this movie's got it all!
And then there's Rorschach, the narrator of the story and winner of the coveted 'Mr. Congenial' award in high school. This badass has such a good line at the end that I put it on my Great One-Liners page.
Check out the spy drone at the beginning listening in on your every word.
Likable old cuss, isn't he?
It's hard to put into words, but there's just something about this movie that's...
different.
I'll review the quite-intriguing Bunraku below the fold.
My son Nicholas is now in his early teens. He can swing a pretty mean axe, piling up the wood with steady progress. I remember well when multiple strikes of his little axe were as so many raindrops on a window. As years passed by we kept setting up a chopping station for him at a safe distance from mine. Little talk, much swinging, even if not much splitting. Then the tell-tale sound—a sort of hollow echo—of a strike that has hit home. This followed by the ripping sound of a strike that has broken through. I will never forget his looking over to see if I had heard that magical sound. Of course I had. I would not take that away from him. I would not take it away from us.
Gals seem to have a thing about diamonds. Must be in their blood. Large rocks are tacky. I think emeralds and rubies look great, and gold seems to have been a good investment, but diamonds are certainly flattering and are known to increase the odds of getting lucky.
Fellows, sneak out of work this morning and get her one of these outfits to show that you care:
That's easy for me to answer: I do, and I always did. A person without family, tribe, and community is a person adrift, a lone wolf, a lost soul. Governments have nothing to do with it. He says of socialist schemes:
The state replaced the family. It told men and women that they no longer needed to make permanent commitments to each or to their parents and children. So long as they paid their taxes, the state would bear the burden of their commitments. And so men and women gave up on each other, parents gave up on their children and children gave up on their parents, the family fell apart and now the state that took its place is also falling apart.
He is so earnest that he could almost be an optimist. He believes that the end of the world is nigh, and secretly is rather pleased about it. If he is of a scientific bent, he does the following: he takes an undesirable trend and projects it indefinitely into the future until whatever is the object of the trend destroys the world. For example, he might take the fact that Staphylococci reproduce exponentially on a Petri dish to mean that, within the week, the entire biosphere will consist of Staphylococci and nothing else. Man will be crushed under the weight of bacteria.
The desire to write for publication is one which inheres strongly in every human breast. From the proficient college graduate, storming the gates of the high-grade literary magazines, to the raw schoolboy, vainly endeavoring to place his first crude compositions in the local newspapers, the whole intelligent public are today seeking expression through the printed page, and yearning to behold their thoughts and ideals permanently crystallized in the magic medium of type...
Copies are available at Amazon for over $100. but I found a used copy somewhere on the internet for one dollar.
It's a practical, common-sense introduction to management. Fun to read with all of his examples. His main topics: Authority, Communication, Productivity, Morale, Change.
Previous books in this semester's not-for-credit course:
It's the time of year for trip planning. A bit early to think about fall hunting, but spring and summer plans are on the menu.
Photo is from 
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