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.
For him, his accumulated stuff is like a joke on his inheritors. He does understand that no amount of possessions can fill an emotional or spiritual hole.
My experience is that most people stop accumulating stuff and possessions around age 50, and begin getting rid of it all slowly thereafter. How many ties, jackets, socks, sweaters, shirts, cooking pans, decorations, lamps, chairs, tables, china sets, serving platters, do I need?
We would have an abundant life without buying a single material thing (other than food) for the next ten years. I will admit that dress clothing becomes outdated and can look ridiculous or like thrift shop goods, so that does need to be replaced. As the kids grow in independence, I will encourage them to take anything here that they want, but they won't want it. They will have their own ways and their own tastes, and all of our stuff will end up in a large dumpster someday. I can live with that.
Until Feb. 12. Despite seeing so many of his artworks and sculptures, one of my favorite Michelangelo experiences was scrambling around the ruins of the defensive walls of Florence - which he designed.
I had to read The Agony and the Ecstasy in high school. That book made an impression. I had a great education, but my IQ could not appreciate it all. Older now, and likely less smart, everything in life becomes more magical to me.
It's difficult say exactly what the topic is (it says "Reality and the Sacred") but it really meanders all over the map. Very rich stimulating. I believe this is from when Peterson was teaching at Harvard.
"A phenomenon always transcends the manner with which you frame it."
Pure reason is amoral, godless, material, resists poetry, music, magic, the soul, and the transcendent. On the other hand, reason has the tools to critique reason itself. That is cool. The dark gifts of reason.
Mendelssohn (my main man this past year) drank deep in the Lutheran A Mighty Fortress in his 5th:
The "photogenic," like aesthetics in general, is socio-culturally defined. We seem to have a few categories for photos: Nature scenes, kids at play, quaint scenes, people who look interesting or attractive, and images used to document moments or things. At this point, a lot of them are cliches (sunsets, waves, babies, old men on benches, etc).
Painting is a Cropsey, Hudson River. We're looking at a photogenic photo image of a picturesque painting of people looking at picturesque scenery.
Not for walkers, but for those who really want to Move It With Vigor over hill and dale and and clamber over steep rocks: The Best Five Hiking Pants
I have the Pranas and the Montanes. The thing is that, for cold weather, they are easy to layer underneath. Re the Montanes, Amazon doesn't have them but Montane USA does. Their sizing is not US sizing, so check the sizing for those great water-resistant hiking/climbing pants.
At Maggie's we tend to recommend Christmas gifts like activities and trips rather than material things that moth and rust do corrupt. Of course, if you have a kid that needs something like a computer or a hat, boots, and gloves, I suppose you have to do that but, in general, it seems that very few Americans need any more stuff.
A good stocking-stuffer: The Alltrails Pro app.It's half-price right now, $14 for a year's membership.
... I've been reading Jonathan Haidt's "The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion," which posits 5 foundations of moral reasoning, one of which is sanctity/degradation. Haidt has studied how conservatives and liberals do moral reasoning, and liberals stick to only 2 of the 5 foundations — care/harm and fairness/cheating — which is why they have a terrible time understanding (and appealing to) conservatives, who use all 5. (The other 2 are loyalty/betrayal and authority/subversion.)
I have a problem with that term "moral reasoning." I don't think it exists to any extent in real life. Some people know right from wrong, some do not, and some know but don't care. Aside from the Ten Commandments, most peoples' moral rule of thumb is to avoid, or to feel uncomfortable, doing anything their Mom or Dad would be unhappy about or dismayed by. Morals are mostly cultural, tribal. Are you listening to me, Prof. Haidt?
Two smart guys, Peterson (a mostly-Libertarian, or at least anti-authoritarian sort) and Haidt (non-Leftist Liberal). Warning: Once you begin, you will not want to turn it off because these are thoughtful, knowledgeable guys.
In light of the frequency of human and grizzly bear encounters, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game is advising hikers, hunters, and fishermen to take extra precautions and keep alert for bears while in the field. They advise that outdoorsmen wear noisy little bells on their clothing so as not to startle bears.
They also advise outdoorsmen to carry pepper spray with them in case of an encounter with a bear. It is also a good idea to watch out for fresh signs of bear activity. Outdoorsmen should recognize the difference between black bear and grizzly bear dung. Black bear dung is smaller and contains lots of berries and squirrel fur.
Grizzly bear dung has little bells in it and smells like pepper.
Prof. Peterson seems in pretty good shape for a late-50s academic. Here's his daily routine: 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, and a 10km run EVERY SINGLE DAY!
That is a hell of a lot better than a lazy and sedentary schlub, but it's not a program we would recommend. It's not varied enough, for one thing. Repetition builds efficiency, and thus reduces effectiveness. Anyway, the Prof has high vitality and productivity so it works for him.
Years ago, I ran 10k every morning in the dark. A complete waste of time even though I enjoyed the supposedly "healthy" ritual. Since I know Peterson's IQ is at least 20 points above mine, I would not presume to give him fitness advice though.
Here's his advice to younger people, which is basically something like "Do anything, do not feel "above" any sort of work, grab any opportunity, be humble. Life is very difficult so you need to be in it as much as you can."
Socialist W. E. B. Du Bois—Harvard’s first black Ph.D., a founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and editor of its magazine, Crisis—wanted no part of American industrial capitalism. Redistribution, not production, was his focus. Let white America wallow in the world of grubby accumulation; “We black folks is got the spirit,” says a character in one of his novels. So while he valued education, like Washington, its goal was political power, not economic advancement, and he urged blacks not to let their education dilute their sense of a separate, special group culture.
That proved fatal advice, especially given Dattel’s interesting account of Du Bois’s cultural premonitions. However much he disdained bourgeois economics, Du Bois sensed the necessity of conventional morality for a people’s rise. He worried that, by his estimate, a quarter of black births in 1900 were out of wedlock, and only half of blacks observed “monogamic sex mores,” as opposed to whites’ 2 percent and 90 percent, respectively. He also worried that black preachers were too interested in making money to “adopt a new attitude toward rational amusement and sound moral habits.” He saw, in other words, that black cultural mores had a self-destructive streak, and that the one indigenous black institution that could preach a moral message was shirking its principal duty...
Ten of Bird Dog's pals did the long loop (orange up, yellow down) on Storm King Mountain on Saturday. Actually, it wasn't the longest route which we would have preferred, but we missed the turn to make it 4 hrs. Would have been 12 people, but two spouses were under the weather. Perfect weather, high 40s to low-50s. Colder up top. There is some rock scrambling, just enough stair-climbing stretches when you can't catch your breath, and all of the trails are rocky but there are magnificent views of the Hudson River up top. It's just north of West Point, and we ran into some cadets doing a point-to-point over the mountains with 60-lb packs. Nice kids.
The route up that we took might be rated a 5/10 of 3/5 in some American systems, a 2-3/9 in the European system - but all rating systems vary and all are lousy. Descriptions are better. This hike quite manageable if not crippled or frail. Hiking poles definitely came in handy but our rule is always bring poles and especially if carrying a pack. We brought a drone and did some drone group pics from the top, and some drone panoramic views. We did it in 3 1/2 hours, but we didn't really stop for snacks or rests. Stopped only to fly the drone a couple of times, which is so cool to play with.
We saw migrating Broad Wing Hawks, a Merlin, an immature Bald Eagle (maybe a Golden - no binocs), and of course some migrating Turkey Vultures.
We finished up at Prima Pizza in Cornwall for great pizza and beer. Great choice. Try it.
Here's one of our team, perhaps familiar to our NYC Maggie's Urban Death Marches.
So sensitive to offended students, aren't they? As we keep trying to point out to the academic so-called grownups, these kids are manipulating you. And, as with 3 year-olds, the more you give in, the more they want.
