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.
The miles-wide asteroid that struck Earth 66 million years ago wiped out nearly all the dinosaurs and roughly three-quarters of the planet’s plant and animal species.
But some creatures survived, including certain rat-sized mammals that would later diversify into the more than 6,000 mammal species that exist today, including humans...
Today I received a note from a friend about the Christmas "risk" and it gave me pause. After all, we humans tend to think so linearly at times, we tend to miss the bigger picture. I'd never actually fallen for the 'Christmas is at risk' story, though for reasons entirely different than what I'm about to share. Her note is as follows:
"The latest fear tactic is saying that "Christmas may be at risk" due to supply chain issues. Christmas is not at risk. The ability to buy a bunch of crap no one needs or knew they wanted may be at risk, but Christmas is not at risk. Let's not allow these fear-mongers to screw with our joy, please. The joy of Christmas isn't stuff, it's family and tradition and celebrating love. And, if you're religious, it is about Jesus' birth. Not STUFF. Christmas is not at risk. Christmas will go on. Maybe in a different way for now, but... Christmas and the way we celebrate it is not dependent upon material things.
Just sayin'...
And this is the last time I will mention Christmas until after Thanksgiving."
I realized, as real as supply chain issues are, the story circulating is just another bit of Leftist FUD. After all, good Leftists don't believe in God and certainly do not support consumerism. As a result, the 'risk' is designed to craft a narrative which simply increases the concept of class warfare among those they seek to oppose.
The real story of Christmas won't be the TV we couldn't get on time, or the doll your daughter didn't get. It's going to be the time we spend together with friends and family and enjoy each others company. That isn't at risk, though Fauci is trying very hard to push it, and we should continue to look forward positively and set aside most of the fear-mongering that the Democrats and Democrat-oriented media push our way.
Her note has altered how I was thinking about the upcoming holidays in a very positive way, and I am 100% in agreement with this point of view.
Mrs. BD always wants new adventures, but in many ways I hate traveling. It's the process - airplanes, airports, rental cars, luggage, etc. I am always glad I did it after getting through the guards at JFK and headed back to my own place.
Mrs. is the travel planner, and she is darn good at it. She uses Karen Brown a lot, and knows how to use miles for first class. For me, long-distance air travel is torture regardless of the class. I try Ambien and hope not to wake up.
Scott Adams wonders whether it's a female thing, at just past the 23 minute mark: Podcast
Bored with their lives, maybe? Happy wife, happy life. I think mine is a good influence on me, but I never feel bored with life.
Unlike real seamen, I do not trust anchors in bigger water other than daytime lunch hooks. There are too many things that can disrupt an anchor, such as wind shifts, big waves, condition of the bottom, etc. It is not unusual for recreational boaters to dive down and check the bottom situation of their anchor. Commercial fishermen use 2 anchors, but the olde time Cape Cod fishermen would often prefer to run up on a beach than sleep on anchor on a bad night when they could not reach harbor.
For large vessels, there are now global positioning systems which will keep you precisely in place without anchor or mooring.
Our 6 1/2 hour stroll around the East and West Village(s?), with a bit of the Lower East side, was delightful as always.
I am told that midtown is about 50% of normal people traffic, but where we went the streets were packed (mostly attractive young people), pubs and restaurants packed, and a mask was rarely to be seen anywhere. It felt like a party.
We stopped into McSorley's at around 1:30 for some (a few pitchers) ales and hot dogs. We were lucky to get a big outdoor table, but the inside was jammed. Nobody seemed to be checking vacc. proofs.
Funny thing about McSorley's is they only have ales, and only two kinds - light or dark. They still make their own. Their rest room seems unchanged since 1860, and there is only one.
So, at least in these neighborhoods, it feels and looks wonderful.
We have a new record - 2 Maggie's Farmers arrived to join us from Los Angeles, which represents a new long-distance visit. Always pleased when our readers travel to join us.
Originally, I was worried nobody would make it. As it turns out, we had a hardy group of 10 people and we had a great day. Thank you to everyone who joined us, each of whom had a little bit extra to add to the commentary as we wound our way from Chelsea, through Greenwich Village, the East Village and down into the Lower East Side. MacDougal Street allowed us to work through a Beatnik/Rock and Roll section, which was followed by a series of Stanford White buildings, among a variety of other interesting and fun items like Edna St. Vincent Millay's townhouse, Commodore Vanderbilt's first Manhattan home (replaced by a more modern building), Triangle Shirtwaist Fire building, the Turkish and Russian Baths, and many other locations.
We had a great lunch and a few beers at McSorley's. As I was mapping and herding, I didn't take too many pictures. Bird Dog was, and I'm sure he will share them.
Thanks to our good friend, the Manhattan Contrarian, for purchasing some delicious muffins at Magnolia Bakery, which we all shared.
We missed many of our regulars, and hope you will join us in the Spring when do this again in 2022.
If you have been on ships at sea, you know how interesting it is to watch pilots embark or disembark sometimes miles from land, in all weather. The pilot takes over a ship, more or less, when approaching land.
Pilot boats are the toughest small vessels, with master handlers. Sometimes pilots have doors to enter a ship. but often ladders as in this photo. In bad seas, they jump.
Unless you are a Captain-level seaman, I advise avoiding rough waters. Lobstermen and fishermen know how to do it safely, but most recreational boaters do not. It is a skill, or an art. It takes years to get the feel. Besides that, I read that fishermen have the highest fatality rates.
The sea wants to kill you. I believe I have better feel in sail than in power.
This piece has been widely noted. I have no real comment about it other than to note that IQ matters, but so do many other personal traits and qualities which are not so easily measured but which are also genes to a real extent: 'The Genetic Lottery: Why DNA Matters for Social Equality'—A Review
His name came up in conversation this weekend and I figured Bulldog would have included his famous arch in Washington Square in our urban hike plans. I'm wondering whether there might be other White buildings near our hike.
White was a bad guy by today's standards but nobody complains about his architecture. He had a crazy, reckless life (and dramatic death), but nobody at McKim, Mead, and White made an issue of it. It's not clear to me whether his wife cared either. Despite his behavior, he was friends with everybody including Mark Twain.
Yes, he did design Rosecliff in Newport (been there?) and tons of other appealing places:
"Shall" is a dandy word, but not used much in the USA anymore. Perhaps it sounds stuffy, or maybe people do not know how to use it. You can say "I shall attend" but you can also say "You shall take out the garbage"
I repost this about every four years. I think, a good reminder. Below is a repost of a column I wrote at another venue for Labor Day 2006 and posted again here in 2011 and 2014 and 2018:
What remains of Labor Day? Some speeches about the hard work of our parents or grandparents, and some newspaper articles about current difficulties getting established or obtaining benefits for today’s workers.
Conservatives are distinguished by particular respect for the hallowed history from which current and future advantages spring, without which we would be rootless and at the whim of passing fancies or incitements.
Supposedly, the virtues and rewards of hard work are among these cherished principles.
The Left trumpets redistributive schemes from the affluent or hard working to the poor or lazy, most of which have relatively little benefit to the poor but create newly enriched bureaucrats and union leaders.
Conservatives’ answer is usually more along the lines of how to preserve and protect the fruits of the labor by those in the middle and upper rungs of the economic ladder.
Sebastian Mallaby steps on the Left and Right’s toes today in the Washington Post.
Mallaby points out the futility of most of the Left’s prescriptions, to the “point the left begins to seethe.” He then focuses on reducing tax incentives that mostly accrue to the middle and upper classes, to free up a quarter of them for $180-billion that could be used for increased earned income credits and reduced regressive payroll taxes.
The problem with Mallaby’s arguments is that they are another, albeit better, form of redistribution, and government has repeatedly proven its penchant for wasting such billions on other than targeted needs. More necessary is the unbridling of energies and rewards for labor. That requires investment which creates demand for labor, and skills-oriented education that creates competitive wage earners to fill those new openings.
As Mallaby correctly argues, many of the poorest workers are in service trades not impacted by international competition. Such positions that were once beginning rungs on the ladder now face a gap of steps up due to lack of skills.
Instead of redistributing tax incentives, more needed is redistributing our already huge tax outlays on education from schemes that create administrative and union positions, and posh campuses, toward greater vocational and skills education.
That honors labor, by providing the tools for all to benefit from labor.
