Wednesday, June 29. 2005
Dear Editor: I can see through your game at this blog. You want to dupe the people into thinking your blog is reasonable and intelligent and fun, while you sneak in extreme Right Wing propaganda and Christian mind-tricks to confuse their thinking. I know that the Right Wing game is to fool the people into thinking that there are things in life more important than their material comfort, which only can be secured by a caring government which understands the needs of the little people far better than they do themselves - a government which is not the agent of business. Sincerely, Smarter than You, in Boston Dear Smarter, Gee, I guess you just blew our cover. We were hoping no-one would notice our tin-foil hats to protect us from the government mind-rays, and our stash of AK-47s to fend off the government mind-control agents and Thought Police. But on a serious note, What qualifies as Right Wing? All I see on this blog is everyday normal American conversation. It is true that we feel that Freedom is a big deal, but is that extreme? Or do you folks just, out of habit, label anything extreme if it fails to advance international socialism? And, by the way, quit walking around Cambridge and sitting in Starbucks with that volume of Kierkegaard's Either/Or in your hand - it won't get you babes. Trust me - I've tried it. Sincerely, The dumb (but still learning) Bird Dog PS: Are you sure you just don't want some of my money?
The Rogue Court, More A Souter quote in the McCreary County (Ten Commandments) case, in NERepub: “The divisiveness of religion in current public life is inescapable,” he said. “This is no time to deny the prudence of understanding the Establishment Clause (of the First Amendment) to require the Government to stay neutral on religious belief….”
Historically, this is nonsense. As one blogger pointed out yesterday - I forget who - during the early years of the nation several states had specific religious criteria for candidates for office. This is pure legislating from the bench, and it is insidious and wrong. In the end, as NERepub notes, public religious behavior and symbols become relegated to a similar status as pornography. Furthermore, if "divisiveness" is ample justification for a ruling, why not ban the Democratic Party? They are very "divisive" too. Heck, ban the NYYankees too - always creating angry division with the Red Sox.
1968 Farmall, Model 656.  A sonnet in steel and rubber.
Tuesday, June 28. 2005
Memories of Childhood Children's memories are famously unreliable, as are adult's memories of the past. Memory is distorted in hundreds of ways for hundreds of reasons for which there is no space here. But there is a truly "dark age" of birth through about age 6 in which children have what Freud termed "infantile amnesia." Nothing from that period seems to be retrievable, at least not in the usual ways. Cognitive Daily speculates, and provides an excellent thumbnail summary, on the subject of infantile amnesia here. But I'd like to add a psychoanalytic dimension to the subject, despite the Munger's discomfort with analytic theorizing - some of which is surely deserved and some of which has to do with different disciplines. The realm of "meaning" crosses many discipline boundaries, and is a strange and baffling subject. Several points of interest: 1. Memories from birth through 6 may not be retrievable in the sense of "I remember my 4th birthday party," but emotional reactions, and states of mind - neither of which are readily expressible, may be solidly engraved in the old hippocampus - and why not? Deep memories can be visceral, not just visual and verbal. 2. People create things which psychoanalysis terms "screen memories." These are not literally accurate memories, but they are mental constructions which may capture something meaningful from the past - an issue, a conflict, a fear, a joy, a wish, etc., in a similar way in which dreams do. Thus in analysis, we tend to be more interested in the psychological meaning of memories and recollections than in their objective truth. We psychiatrists and psychoanalysts are not historians of truth, we are historians of meaning. When we have a spontaneous memory, it probably carries a telegram, from ourself to ourself, relevant to the present. 3. Memory distortion - I said I would say nothing about this, but just one superficial comment. We all re-write our histories, especially to protect ourselves from pain, or to protect our self-respect, or to create a story we can feel good about, or to portray ourselves as virtuous victims, or to justify ourselves or to rationalize things (meaning an effort to justify, or to make sense out of something we have done or thought, that we are not comfortable with), etc. etc. We do not do this consciously or willfully - our devious, self-deceiving brains do it for us. Humans are forever at battle with their consciences...those that have one. One of the most interesting things we observe in patients in analysis is how the "narrative" of their life changes over time. Thus anyone's autobiography is a momentary story, a construction of reality, usually with a self-serving psychological purpose - and the most common is to preserve an illusion of self-regard - something which darn few of us hominid critters deserve to hold, but which we must fake to survive. There is nothing easy about being an animal with a soul. (Just ask any hunting poodle - they will tell you all about it.)
Monday, June 27. 2005
Tsunami Update Show me the money. It has been a few months since the tragic Tsunami hit the shores but just because the MSM isn't covering it, doesn't mean we should forget those poor victims. Pray for them and let's hope the donors make good on their pledges. Travelwire:Critics say that much of the pledged funds has not reached survivors, due partly to unfulfilled promises by donors. The Institute for Human Development, an independent Indian research group, said in an April report that only 39 percent of the $6.7 billion pledged by governments, agencies, and private donors for the entire tsunami region had been released. Lag times after pledges are common in most international efforts, and the good news is that $2.6 billion has already gone out. The Indonesian government says it has received $1.8 billion of the $7 billion pledged to it.
What's with Google? CSM covers Google's hopes and dreams.
The Noble Savage The romantic sentimentalizing of "the noble savage" has been a bugaboo of the Bird Dog for a long time - despite his own Indian blood (lots more of it than Ward Churchill). Margaret Mead in her later years had shed all of her illusions about primitive peoples - Sandall in Commentary: “All primitive peoples,” Margaret Mead had said to her young Oxford visitor, “lead miserable, unhappy, cruel lives, most of which are spent trying to kill each other.” She was overdoing it, but she had a point—a point largely lost sight of in today’s systematic sentimentalizing of the Stone Age. Nevertheless, some people insist on the version of the simple savage living in harmony etc etc. - it's a Garden of Eden fantasy. The story of the Brazilian indians, and their modern-day explorer-admirers, and the discovery of diamonds on their reservation, is fascinating.
Tuesday, June 21. 2005
It's...the Arts Counterfeiters, in Art News:Click here: Full Editorial from Current Issue The art price bubble, including $18,000 for a pound of Belusconis' flesh.
 Junior Wells
The Godfather of the Modern Blues, Wells (1934-1998) brought his harp and his voice from the South to Chicago in 1948 where he played with The Muddy Waters Band until he went out on his own. Whatever country flavor he might have had rapidly disappeared in a unique funky urban sound, with unmistakable harp and unpolished voice. Close your eyes, and imagine yourself in a smoky 1950s Chicago dance club, if you can. (I am listening to his sensual Take Your Shoes Off as I write, from his final live recording, Live Around the World.) He is considered to be the heir of my favorite old-time bluesman, Sonny Boy Williamson, and of Little Walter Jacobs, who he replaced in the Muddy Waters Band. Since his association with Muddy Waters, he had been especially associated with the great and seemingly ageless Buddy Guy, with whom he did several recordings including the live Drinkin TNT and Smokin Dynamite. (Now I am on his great Messin with the Kid.) HooDoo Man, with Buddy Guy on guitar, was his first widely-known album, in 1960. He was known to produce handguns from his skin-tight suits and shotguns from his cars, whenever appropriate. A couple of reminiscences here and here. From an old review by Kelton: The terrific thing about Junior Wells is that he's an unqualified bluesman, stylistically a direct descendant of the Chicago greats and personally an eccentric whose unpredictable singing and harp playing distinguish him from everyone else alive. "Comin' Right at Ya" was the title of one his breakthrough albums in the 1960's and it still describes the Wells oeuvre. In short, he takes no prisoners. Recording to legend, Wells shoplifted his first blues harp and got caught. The judge who heard his case was so impressed with Wells' story that he just wanted to make music that he paid for the instrument himself and set Wells free on the condition that, if he ever made a record, he send one to him. Wells did, years later. The album was called "Blues Hit Big Town."
Monday, June 20. 2005
 Massachusetts Weekend Plans
For this coming weekend: Catch Dylan in Pittsfield Thurs nite, home of Gwynnie's grandfather's Pittsfield Eagle, now the Berkshire Eagle. Well, the Tractor is up and going again after our fiasco. Finish clearing out that field, including the trees downed by beavers and the giant white pine trunks downed by brother, and finally mow it cleanly. More big mulch piles for the box turtle habitat. Then clear out the north side of the river the way it used to be. Chain saws, clippers, and the brushwacker-mower. Bring lotsa gasoline and raw middle-aged muscle.
The Gitmo Torturous Muzak Ya gotta love Steyn: "Well, readers had plenty of suggestions of their own, and so the Tribune’s website put together a list of “Interro-Tunes” — the most effective songs for aural intimidation, mood music for jolting your jihadi. A lot were the usual suspects - like the Captain and Tennille’s blamelessly goofy “Muskrat Love”, which, as I recall, put the Queen to sleep at a White House gala, though the Duke of Edinburgh sat agog all the way to the end. Someone suggested Bob Dylan’s “Everybody Must Get Stoned”, which even on a single hearing sounds like it’s being played over and over. I don’t know what Mr Kass has against “Ballerina”, which is very pleasant in the Nat “King” Cole version. But he seems to think one burst of “Dance, ballerina, dance/And do your pirouette in rhythm with your aching heart” will have the Islamists howling for the off-switch and singing like canaries to the Feds. Who knows? I sang “Ballerina” myself once on the radio long ago, and, if it will discombobulate the inmates, I’m willing to dust off my arrangement and fly down to Guantanamo, if necessary dressed liked Christina Aguilera. If they want an encore, I’ll do my special culturally sensitive version of that Stevie Wonder classic, “My Sharia Amour”. ' What vitamin or drug or homeopathic stimulant or herb or steroid does Steyn take? And where can we get some? Read entire hilarous piece.
Non-Stop Cartoons from the New Yorker's archives. Just leave it on your screen. It changes every 30 seconds. You will never leave your seat. You will just waste time, like the rest of us.
Those Evil Boy Scouts The Left, not just the ACLU, has been in a fit about the Boy Scouts for years. I can only assume it is because they represent "honorable values," which are anathema to the Termites. Heck, the word "honor" itself seems to have disappeared from the lexicon of the Left, has it not?... if not from the lexicon of our culture. I am hanging on to it, although it ain't easy to do. Is the concept of the Boy Scouts innocent? Yes. Is it old-fashioned? Yes. Is it religion-based? Yes. Does it represent the traditional core of our nation? Yes. Does it represent a love of nature and wilderness? Yes. Does every American lad of today -urban, suburban, or rural - need this? Yes. Ernest Thompson Seton, of Connecticut, has been a life-long hero of ours. His books on the outdoors and natural history here. His "Woodcraft Indians League" has been an aspect of Traditional Scouting since the beginning. How evil is this: Campfires? Woodcraft? Arm-wrestling? Seamanship? Duty? Honor? Or is it all just too masculine? | Scout Oath | | Scout Law |
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On my honor I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my country
and to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong,
mentally awake, and morally straight.
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Trustworthy
Loyal
Helpful
Friendly
Courteous
Kind | | Obedient
Cheerful
Thrifty
Brave
Clean
Reverent |
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Friday, June 17. 2005
 What's This?
A Full-Rigged Ship, a Bark, a Barkentine, a Brig, a Brigantine, or a Schooner? Well, you know she's not a schooner because of the square sails. Not a Full-Rigged or a Bark because she only has two masts. But what's the difference between a Full-Rigged and a Bark? Learn your Tall Ships here. They are among the most majestic, yet lovely, of all of man's creations. (She's a Brigantine, the UK's 132-foot Eye of the Wind)
Gentleman and Gentlewoman Farmers I know Dr. Joy Bliss gets Yankee Magazine, but does she know about Progressive Farmer? Fine site and fine magazine. No, it's not politically progressive.
The recent release of Crash is worthy of a Saturday night at the movies. Ebert: "Crash" was directed by Paul Haggis, whose screenplay for "Million Dollar Baby" led to Academy Awards. It connects stories based on coincidence, serendipity, and luck, as the lives of the characters crash against one another other like pinballs. The movie presumes that most people feel prejudice and resentment against members of other groups, and observes the consequences of those feelings.
Thursday, June 16. 2005
The Gospel According To AmericaA book worthy of reading this summer or anytime but especially in light of the discourse occurring in the Capital, the MSM, and everywhere else in America. David Dark’s The Gospel According to America: A Meditation on a God-blessed, Christ-haunted Idea. A Review by Zachry Kincaid, director of The Matthew's House Project: G.K. Chesterton who wrote a series of newspaper articles some eighty years ago about his visit to America. Chesterton says that America is a country with the soul of a church. Based in the equality of all human beings principle, Dark relates this church soul to the Apostle Paul’s sameness in Christ. But, Chesterton reminds us that America is either entirely heroic or completely insane. Today’s version of gospel is closer to insane. The abuse of freedom has driven the Gospel out of serious public thought, reduced to Ten Commandments lawn signs and ichthus-marked SUVs. We should pause, Dark says, “as we consider how easily many Americans speak of their faith as a private, personal matter; a relationship somehow contained within the heart; an odd, airy thing called ‘spirituality.’” Ought Christians to rather act in step with the early followers who “are not of this world’s way of doing things, but their hope is still scandalously this-worldly. And the intensity of their passion for a socially disruptive, enduring freedom won’t be diminished, divided, or conquered by the prerogatives of any government.” (6) Freedom ringing from the mountains to the prairies, Dark argues, can be a corrupting factor to the definition of gospel in America. From Constantine making official the Christian faith as the Roman government’s faith, the West has been riddled with what to do with this system of faith that demands poverty and meekness. America is no exception. How do you take a “rogue” faith, as Dark says, and make it stately? One way President Bush has neatly tied Christianity to the American way is through rhetoric and terrorism and war. (As Dark references) Bush has framed America and Christianity as synonymous: Ours is the cause of human dignity; freedom guided by conscience and guarded by peace. This ideal of America is the hope of all mankind… That hope still lights our way. And the light shines in the darkness. And the darkness will not overcome it. (14
Holy and Unholy; Moral and Immoral; Animal and Divine Prager: The human being can be said to be created in the image of God and in the image of animals. We are biologically animals, and we are spiritually, morally and theologically God-like (at least in our potential). God is the most holy; and animals, as helpful, loyal and lovable as many are, are at the opposite end of the holiness continuum. This is in no way an insult to animals. Saying dogs and lions are not holy is no more degrading to them than saying men are not women or women are not men. That is how they are created. Read his enitre Judeo-Christian Values, Part 4
Wednesday, June 15. 2005
400th Anniversary of Don Quixote This masterwork of western literature holds up very well today, and yes, I read it recently - for the first time. A contemporary of Shakepeare (and thought to have been familiar with Shakespeare's work), Cervantes fought, and was wounded, in the epic sea battle of Lepanto, which held off Islam's last effort to invade the west - until now. A piece in the NYT.
Tuesday, June 14. 2005
IQ In the psychological-medical fields, we find IQ to be a useful measure, along with many others. IQ has only very broad predictive power for adjustment to life or for achievement in life, but a person's reasoning ability, curiosity, analytic talents, and their sensitivity of pattern-recognition, all say something important about a person and the tools they have to deal with life. But a very high IQ doesn't equate with "success", whatever that is, though it certainly correlates with the richness of the life one is able to live; a lower IQ, on the other hand, cannot interfere with happiness or with achievement in less intellectually rigorous areas of life. In the variety of folks we encounter in medicine, it is common to see folks of high IQ doing relatively menial jobs, but who must find outlets for their abilities in all sorts of surprising interests, intellectual hobbies and obsessions. I recall one truck driver whose hobby of Latin translation was almost obsessive, and wonderful. And a refridgerator repair guy who could have taught the Cornell Lab of Ornithology a thing or two...not everyone spends their spare time stupified, watching sports on TV or the other crap. And neither is it rare to find folks of very limited talents and potential, but of slippery, conniving character, shoving themselves forward in the world, beyond what substance they really bring to the table - especially in sales, finance, and politics - the realms of BS, the schmooze, and the con job, and, in some cases, genuine integrity. IQ shows a bell-curve distribution across a given population, with the peak around 100. Along with social class and background and emotional maturity, IQ tends to be an important part of social affinities and friendships - people of similar IQs are "on the same page." There seem to be optimal IQ ranges for different areas of life. CEOs of Fortune 500 companies tend to be in the 120-130 range - very smart but not so smart that they get tangled up. Attorneys today, unlike the past, inhabit a wide range, from 90 to the max. - there are lots of law schools looking for paying customers. As people enter the high end, over 140, they often seem a bit eccentric or awkward, because they are experiencing the world a little differently and their range of interests can be wide and unusual. Quick IQ tests, and further comments, on continuation page below:
Continue reading "IQ"
The Tug of Peace Yes, eliminating the ancient, time-honored Tug Of War will definitely teach kids the lovely sensitive lesson of not competing. Sure. What a fine, progressive idea. The world is upside-down. What good is life if you don't try? Losing is not a problem - losing happens, and it isn't such a bad thing, either. You learn to deal with losing and disappointment, or you will remain an infant, and will never accomplish anything you might wish to. This self-esteem crock of BS has got to go. Dr. Bliss - old pal, old buddy - please do something authoritative on the subject. Who are these termites who want Americans to be spineless whining weenies? I will tell you one thing - anyone without the will to TRY HARD, and to discover their limits, will do nothing in this life. Gay and Right has the story: Click here: GayandRight: Political correctness gone mad...
Monday, June 13. 2005
 The Tacoma Narrows Bridge
Dr. Bob clearly has a thing about bridges, both the architecture and the engineering. He has a fine series, with lots of photos, on the construction of his local suspension bridge. That's a lot of polpo. Why a photo of a Pacific Giant Octopus? Read it.
 James Kilgo's Deep Enough for Ivorybills. Timely in a season in which the "extinct" Ivorybill has been found alive. A modern classic of Southern literature by a hunter-naturalist-armchair philosopher. Getting lost in the swamp is something to which all outdoor-people can relate, either literally or metaphorically. A 1988 review from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
"Though he never glimpses the rare, regal Ivorybill wodpecker, James Kilgo's lifelong urge to "go deep" has grown into this thoughtful book of autobiographical sketches...This is a book not just for hunters, birdwatchers, or naturalists. It's for everbody who senses, or perhaps remembers, that the woods have more to offer than a splotch of shade on a deck." Image from Peterson's Field Guide
Tuesday, June 7. 2005
Moms at War Auster is right to point out to what extent our PC machine in America is able to "normalize" the grossly abnormal and nonsensical (while simultaneously trying to "abnormalize" the normal). His case in point concerns "coping groups" for military Moms in Iraq who miss their kids. There is a craziness to letting Moms go to war which mocks common sense, emotional sense, family sense, cultural sense, and psychological sense, and would only make sense if our shores were invaded by barbarian hordes. How did we get to this, unless we are psychotically imagining that Moms are Dads, and men are women, and black is white? Auster here.
I cannnot believe some of the emails we receive. Honestly, getting bored with being called a moron. Let's get a little more creative out there, critics: Editor Bird Dog, You stupid ---- ---- Republican jerks why dont you look at yourselfs and see how stupid you are, the whole country is dieing from pollution and no food and needs help and all you do is look at birds and get jobs while people are starving and not getting education because of Bush or disability which I need and cannot get and what do you care. You are hopeless morons and I do not read your blog and you are right there is no cure for stupidity - and I mean yours. Anonymous  Dear Loyal Reader,
Thank you for the genteel and constructive criticism. We must earnestly try to be less stupid, but it is hard to do with the limited brain content we have. We can't all be as wise and perceptive as you obviously are. I would suggest that you run for office, instead of writing to blog editors. You have a future in politics, along with John Dean and all the others, and you wouldn't have to worry about that disability problem. I think you meet the IQ hurdle, but take it easy on the Old Milwaukee or you might slip below the bar, which is 75. But hey - we aren't Republicans so much as we try to be Rationalists who vote for whoever makes the least bad sense and is the least corrupt. There are many dogs we'd be glad to vote for but they are way too smart to run for office. Running for squirrels or ducks is a wiser game. But keep reading Maggie's - we need the numbers. Sincerely, Bird Dog (yup, that's my photo)
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