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 Met set out to be “worthy of this great metropolis and of the wide empire of which New York is the commercial center,” the civic leader William Cullen Bryant declared at its inception. Through a history of dedicated leadership, dutiful scholarship, and astonishing private beneficence, such ambitions have been more than realized.
Our Christmas Tree is a museum of sentiment. Essentially no store-bought stuff except things we found on our travels that stick on a tree, and all of my small bird ornaments. We have our kids' rattles, things they made in kindergarten, things like that. It's all personal.
The BD genius was to store them all in a living room bureau. 4 steps to take 'em out, 4 steps to throw them back in. No boxes, no wrapping ornaments, no fuss, almost no hassle. Bureau is a lovely 1500s hunk of wood.
If some old things break, it's ok. Nothing material lasts but Christmas lasts. We're planning a few small get-togethers, and we are signed up for Christmas Eve service (outdoors, I think).
When grandkids, will ask them each to pick one ornament to take home for their own tree.
Our post on tipping the other day raised the issue. As Christmas season is quickly approaching, I reviewed in my mind all the people to whom I give gratuities (ie material Thank Yous) at Christmastime, and throughout the year.
- our two garbagemen - $50 each before Christmas - horrible job, hard work, - our mailman - $25 at Christmastime - our carpet-cleaners - $5-$10 to each guy when they come (I give it before the job, not after - it works well) - our doctors and dentists - we send them all a Harry&David or fancy cheesecake each holiday season - restaurants - 15%, or 20% if I mean to return - hotel room staff - leave a $20 for them on the table. It's a crappy and thankless job. - my accountant - a holiday bouquet - porters at airports and hotels - $5 - barber - $5 per haircut - family lawyer - a holiday bouquet - food delivery guys, $5 - parking garage guys - $3-5 each time - cabbies and limo drivers - 15%, unless limo tip is included in the bill - coffee shops - I always leave them a buck or 50 cents. Spread the wealth! - bartenders - around 10-20% of the total - club and golf club staff - if you don't know what to do, the club managers will make suggestions - yard helpers - once or twice a year I'll give them each a $20 - home repairmen - $10 per visit, or $20 for a big or difficult job
I believe that I am pretty much in the mainstream on this. I am missing a few on that list, can't remember them all.
We have natural gas heat, stoves, etc. Good stuff. Our only 35-year-old furnace system came to the end of its life in the past week or two (planned obsolescence?), and the water heater for the heat system leaked.
I don't know what our readers have, but we have 4 zones. It would be better to have 6, but whatever. We didn't get into that.
A new high-efficiency gas furnace is not cheap. And it is tiny. 48 hours with just fireplaces was a good reminder about how people lived in the past. A reminder of how good we have it.
The wonderful installers asked me whether I wanted a new programmable thermostat for my work space. Nope. The antique one is great. Just turn the dial up, down, or off. I can do that.
With the Superbowl of politics coming up, let's address real daily life. So many people seem hyper about the election. Relax. Life is good, except for House Mice.
Mus musculus was a native to northern India but is now worldwide, spread by shipping.
They are clever enough to realize that living in houses and barns are a good deal. They are annoying but cute pests for sure. Cats, in fact, were introduced to Europe from Egypt to control house mice on farms. Even today, you do not know how much House Mouse poop is in your flour.
Native wild mice of all varieties do not tend to invade homes or barns. Hardly ever, just the highest IQ ones.
What a life he led, from poverty to fame and fortune. He had the luck to be born handsome with an animal masculinity which, in some ways, limited his range. No matter what role he played, I always saw him through the role.
Sure, he defined James Bond, but if you never saw Hunt for Red October, watch it.
The lady reviewer found the book arousing. It's about sex, surrender (or sacrifice), and individuality or lack thereof in acts of surrender or sacrifice.
The author of the piece at Quillette says the book is not about sexual fantasies (male and female), but it is.
If one must always search out one’s own desires in order to correct them, then we are suddenly no longer in Aury’s tender world of flesh and fantasy, but rather in Orwell’s world of surveillance and paranoia. Once we moralize the inner landscapes of our own erotic imaginations, even our explicitly pornographic fantasies, what pleasures are left to us that aren’t merely ruthlessly self-serving? And what is left private? It was, after all, a moment of privacy and warmth within myself that I enjoyed while reading O on an airplane. It was a privacy that opened up my erotic imaginings, that deepened me and, ideally, planted the seeds of private fantasies to be shared and discovered with a lover. For sometimes even privacy is best shared with a co-conspirator in laughter, and imagination, and sensuality, and in secret touches and all things forbidden. Things wicked and sweet and brutal and tender. My own private Chateau.
The first thing is to bring clarity to those you work with. This is one of the foundational things leaders do every day, every minute. In order to bring clarity, you´ve got to synthesize the complex. Leaders take internal and external noise and synthesize a message from it, recognizing the true signal within a lot of noise. I don’t want to hear that someone is the smartest person in the room. I want to hear them take their intelligence and use it to develop deep shared understanding within teams and define a course of action.
Second leaders generate energy, not only on their own teams but across the company. It is insufficient to focus exclusively on your own unit. Leaders need to inspire optimism, creativity, shared commitment and growth through times good and bad. They create an environment where everyone can do his or her best work. And they build organizations and teams that are stronger tomorrow than today.
Third and finally, they find a way to deliver success, to make things happen.This means driving innovations that people love and are inspired to work on: finding balance between long-term success and short-term win; and being boundary-less and globally minded in seeking solutions.
There are three things you need to determine about a candidate: talent, judgement, and personality. Think of hiring an engineer as if you're buying a race car. The first thing you must look for in a race car is horsepower, because without horsepower the car is useless for racing. The horsepower of engineers is talent. Without talent, engineers are useless for building products, so it's the first thing you must look for in a candidate. It doesn't matter how nice the person is, or how hard-working. No horsepower, no race.
Talent alone is insufficient. The world is filled with talented people who never get anywhere for a myriad reasons. Laziness, anxiety, fragility, impulsivity, egotism, victimhood, just to list a few. So once you've identified talent, you have to determine the shape and quality of its vessel. Where will the person direct their talent? And are they well-adapted to the demands of the external world?
His book is a must-read for anybody. It is a maritime classic. This is fun - who knew that the Brooklyn Bridge blocked tall ships? Melville changed his life, it seems.
Historically, journalistic integrity was rare. It still is. Sometimes it is just propaganda, other times it's just not reporting things they don't like. Example: Huge Trump rally in DC yesterday.
The story of Brave New World preceded 1984 and other dystopian totalitarian/collective novels. It also provides a counterpoint - the idea that there might be a way to accomplish the collective through positive interaction and genuine agreement. Huxley realized this was a seductive approach, but one fraught with problems, all of which eventually bubble up over time. Collectives require some form of force, or provision to derive agreement, to survive over longer periods of time. Widespread collective agreement, even on a small scale, can only be temporary. Huxley saw the value of propaganda, drugs, and psychological manipulation...as well as genetic engineering...to help achieve that "provision to derive agreement" and achieve a means to a presumed end.
There is, of course, no end that is always utopian and happy. That's the farce of our 'science-based' leaders and protesters out there - believing society can be, somehow, manipulated (or forced) into happiness and perfection. Huxley knew that. The critical flaw in Brave New World is the technological advancement and wealth this 'collective' creates. As we know, that is literally impossible. None has ever achieved it, none ever will. Despite that, Brave New World provides a cautionary tale on falling for seductive ideas that run against human nature. And, oddly enough, it aligns very well with the 'science' of the current covid political management...the willingness of people to fall in line to 'save' society.
Really two recommendations. Having completed Yellowstone, I'd recommend it if you have the time and inclination. I doubt some of the mafioso tactics employed actually take place, but in today's world, who knows? That said, if you enjoy westerns, the great outdoors, and some intrigue it's worth your time.
If you want a bit of nostalgia, mixed with some humor and good common sense, I'll toss Cobra Kai out there. Anyone who enjoyed The Karate Kid will get a kick out of this update. It makes fun of itself while teaching some worthwhile lessons about perspective and life. Johnny Lawrence, the antagonist in the original, is the star. His life hasn't quite gone the way he'd expected. So he returns to his roots, and once again Daniel LaRusso is his competition. An updated story, relying heavily on the original for perspective on how Johnny became who he was, and how Daniel seems to have dogged him the rest of his life.
Johnny provides good real-world advice to his new students in his dojo, a bit over the top for comic relief, but his students understand how he is lifting them up. It's a rough approach, not 'acceptable' commentary in modern society, but focuses not on how we want the world to be, but how it really is. Even Daniel, with his 'perfect' life, has to face some of his own failings.
At its heart, it is a comedic look at the original. It's got real world lessons in it, too. Some that would be worth having kids learn today.
A New Look Inside the Most Extravagant Apartment Building in NYC. 
Our Christmas Tree is a museum of sentiment. Essentially no store-bought stuff except things we found on our travels that stick on a tree, and all of my small bird ornaments. We have our kids' rattles, things they made in kindergarten, things like that. It's all personal.
Our post on tipping the other day raised the issue. As Christmas season is quickly approaching, I reviewed in my mind all the people to whom I give gratuities (ie material Thank Yous) at Christmastime, and throughout the year.
With the Superbowl of politics coming up, let's address real daily life. So many people seem hyper about the election. Relax. Life is good, except for House Mice.