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.
Our commenters to our Hiking Footwear post were well-informed, experienced, and helpful. Appreciate all of those offerings. Lots of hikers, hunters, and some field geologists among our readers.
Two basics about boot sizing: Your dress shoe or sneaker size might be small for boots. Try the boot at the end of the day when your foot is most expanded. With the heaviest socks you might wear with them, but unlaced, check to make sure you can fit your index finger down the heel.
I can't say I agree with the conclusions drawn by this Harvard Business Review article. If office politics are only about influence, the premise is that being political is actually beneficial.
I see a significant difference between being social and being political.
"The truth is that just being a member of an organization is a political act. And in fact, we must influence people at work all the time. It’s how we get things done. And to influence, we must have power, the real currency in workplaces. "
Is that really true? Did I join a fraternity to be political and gain power and influence? Did my joining mean there were political implications? As a member of my church, is membership political? And to influence, must we have power? I have always been taught that influence is not power, but access to, and ability to, inform and shift power.
I can see how these memberships can morph into political alliances or positions, but they are not inherently political, we don't necessarily join social groups for political reasons (though I know plenty of people who joined country clubs for political reasons).
We have too many sociologists, psychologists and anthropologists over-analyzing behaviors and assigning them improper value. I completely understand the value and benefit of good work socialization. We need to maintain relationships and behaviors to not just garner influence, but to just to get jobs done effectively. But the maintenance isn't in itself political, most often (certainly in my case) it's genuine, sincere and geared toward generating productive and useful outcomes.
My perspective is that it becomes political when it is self-serving or guided by less than sincere or honest motives. When subterfuge, dissemination of false or bad information, and exclusion take place it becomes political. The author tries to differentiate these behaviors as Machiavellian, anathema to proper behavior in an office. Certainly they are - but they are far too common, particularly in large organizations, simply because people can get away with it. By lumping good social action in with political behavior, this author does employees a disservice.
Here's my chance to elicit opinions from readers about hiking gear.
I'll limit the discussion to footwear for relatively rugged lengthy day hikes on uneven, sometimes wet, sometimes rocky, steep, or unstable ground with no more weight on your back than a full daypack (in other words, not real backpacking but not ordinary walking either. Something that would be good for our 9-mile urban hikes too). And I will stipulate that merino wool or wicking synthetic socks, with or without liner socks, are important for this sort of thing to prevent blisters. One blister or hot spot can ruin an outing - or a week.
I'm thinking of footwear that would be good for scrambling up Tuckerman's Ravine, for woodsy hikes through hill and dale, and for boggy spots. So I think we're in the realm ofwhat they call "Light Hiking" or "medium duty" waterproof boots with good arch and ankle support, without the weight of those monster boots designed for mountain hikes with a 40 lb pack on your back - or 60 lbs of fresh elk meat.
I've done a lot of hiking in running shoes and it's not ideal but it is blister-free. I have also done a lot of backwoods all-day hunting in things like wellies, LL Bean Maine boots, and heavy snow boots. Those things are not great for distances - at least for me, they become fatiguing to wear after a couple of hours. I guess I am more experienced with the Hunting Boot category (though I don't know why they are different from the hiking boot category except that hunting boots are higher and often insulated - here's a good hunting boot) and with the steel-toed Work Boot category than I am with the Hiking Boot category. I have worn out many pairs of Work Boots at the farm.
In my research I have seen the yuuuge variety of offerings in the general category of Hiking Boots. Capitalism with competition certainly offers us endless choices in things and they all seem to be very good. These range from heavy-duty sneakers with heavy treads to slightly lightened, or ordinary, heavy-duty mountaineering backpacking boots. Some are higher, some lower, some softer, some harder. Some leather, some suede, some synthetics. Some insulated, most not. Hard leather boots need 20-40 miles of breaking in, others not so much. Waterproof usually has some Gore-Tex in it. Gore-Tex was one heck of an invention.
Well, maybe it makes sense to have a couple of different boots for different hiking purposes but I like the idea of a versatile boot which is well-broken-in, and I have no plans to do any mountaineering with a 40-lb. pack. I have not "done" the Presidential Range, but I would like to have done the Presidential Range just so I could say I did it.
What is your experience and what are your preferences?
Photo above is a Merrell Capra boot. A few random examples of pretty good boots below the fold -
Peterson, for one thing, has a knack for framing large topics. That is a job of a teacher (or a preacher). He offers the listener a big frame, a map, in which to fill in the details. That is something which is difficult to do on one's own without expertise.
In my career as a student, I had a couple of History teachers and profs who never set the frame: Battle of Thermopylae? What, when why, how, and why should I care? Plenty of reasons to be interested, but it wasn't told so it was disembodied information.
Peterson's hypomanic lectures teach Psychology, Anthropology, Politics, Religion, Mythology, History - they are interdisciplinary explosions. It's all from the tragic, fierce, fact-facing view of the world.
With things around now like The Great Courses, and Peterson, for examples, any curious person in the world can get a high-level university education if they want it. Cliche though it is, a formal education is just a door to further learning for those who want it.
We'll continue to post Peterson's explosions, and to urge our readers to try out some of The Great Courses as alternatives to TV.
In this piece, he focuses on IQ as a limiting factor in pursuing goals, but makes the more important point that personality factors are likely more important in life choices and career success. Unfortunately, he ignores certain factors, like passion and interest but this is just a short segment.
RURAL AMERICA IS THE NEW ‘INNER CITY’. It's difficult to maintain the vision of pastoral innocent wholesomeness. Non-tourist rural areas are rapidly becoming creepy. There is no fix for this evolution.
A decade ago, in a moment of excessive candor, Watson referred to the (statistically true) lower average IQ of black Americans. He probably had some bad experiences, but there is no shortage of less intelligent white people in the world either. Half of white Americans have below average IQs and many of them sport college degrees.
Anyway, the warnings are out there. You can be blackballed in academia, and in life, so keep your disappointing experiences with race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc. to yourself and to your friends like everybody does. Lie if you have to. Thus experience and facts are driven underground.
Jordan Peterson, in one of his Youtubes, said "The alternative to free speech is tyranny." In Watson's case, as in Charles Murray's case, the consequence of free speech is being blackballed which is a sort of extra-legal social tyranny with financial consequences. Watson would be a very wealthy man if not for his indiscretion.
Fast is, there are plenty enough intelligent, energetic, and competent people out there of all colors and ethnicities. Statistics do not apply to individuals or to the task at hand, but only at the macro level.
My ethnicity is dumber, statistically, than Ashkenazi Jews and East Asians. I can see that, experientially, in my life. My competitive self is disappointed, but I am ok with it now. IQ is not the most important factor in success or life happiness anyway: it's just one of several limiting factors in high-complexity work. I know my limits.
In fact, I think I have seen more people with average IQs achieve their life dreams than I have high IQ people. It's just in different areas of endeavor. Depending on the area, any of these can be life- limiting factors: IQ, social skills and social graces, solid judgement, stick-to-it-iveness, stress tolerance, self-discipline, energy and drive, integrity and loyalty, articulateness, curiosity, dutifulness - and more. IQ, like height, is a life factor which can't be improved by effort.
Mrs. BD visited Boston this week, and stopped by Olmstead's house in Brookline. Olmstead is a Maggie's hero. Nothing is changed from when he ran his design office there - drafting tables, blueprinters, etc.
Our Sportsmen’s club held our Take A Vet Fishing event Saturday. This marks our seventh year in a row of hosting the group. In spite of the threat of rain, around 45 vets showed up for a morning of fishing in our stocked pond (over 100 trout caught), as well as lunch.
Take A Vet fishing was formed about ten years ago as a program of a local Congregational Church. The first year we hosted these folks, we were afraid no one would show up – about 20 did. It’s grown since then and this year’s event attendance was held down only by the weather.
Our leader Bulldog planned a West Side route this year, from the fountain at Lincoln Center (where they filmed some scenes in West Side Story when it was rubble) to the site of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire just east of Washington Square in Greenwich Village - with more interesting detours and zig-zags to sites than I can report or remember. He reported briefly here.
From Lincoln Center to transport home, I clocked 13.8 miles, with sore quads. My sis, who just had a hip replacement after a running accident, handled it all and is eager for the next hike. It's just far more interesting than her usual country hiking, with so much to look at and to talk about. Golly, as a country boy I do love this crazy city and any out-of-towners who hike with us come to feel the same way.
Before I post a few random street pics, two free ads: first, Artichoke Pizza. After going into Moore's ancient Chelsea church, we strolled through Chelsea Market (good fun, lots of food and stuff) and headed up a block to their location on 10th Ave. in Chelsea. Best New York pizza I have found - ever. Thin pizza, oily and slightly burnt the way I like it. Many cool beers on tap. Fast, rough NYC-style service: you had better know exactly what you want when you're up. Perfect for a cool drizzly day.
The cupcake ad is for Magnolia Bakery on Bleecker St. Perfect cupcakes. Stupid to resist cuz life is short and you do not get there every day.
Marianne would have liked this post. From Lincoln Center, we headed downtown on Broadway thru Columbus Circle, noting the huge new "pencil" high-rises going up on Central park South -
Let's just go along with the culture even if some of these days are commercial inventions to sell stuff. After all, moms do deserve special attention.
So thanks to my Mom (photo) for producing me, thanks to my mother-in-law for producing my wife, and thanks to my daughter-in-law for producing two rambunctious little baby boys.
Some of these operations lasted 18 hours or more, earning Hendren the nickname of Hardly Human -- a term used endearingly by friends, and fearfully by some of the house staff he trained. But his patients never called him that: with gratitude, they called him a healer.
The last few months, since the shocking (to some) result of the election, traditional news media has been blaring about 'fake news'. I'm really not sure what fake news is. CBS News says each morning, in their intro and promotions, that they are 'real news' (though I've seen quite a bit that I'd call fake on their network). I've had people try and explain what it is to me, and there are examples of stuff that is clearly fake, but applying a definition to what it is? Unavailable. You pretty much know it when you see it, like porn.
So who gets to make the decision about what is truly 'fake news'? I know it when I see it, and every individual should have that right to decide. As I tell my friends, I apply Occam's Razor to everything I see and read. If it doesn't look or smell right, then it's probably fake and more digging needs to be done. Few people take the time or effort, anymore. So our government wants to do it for us. The politicians, at least, want to promote the concept that someone should be doing it for us. So guess what? They are. It's my view that Google's announcement last week to use algorithms to flesh out 'fake news' is going to be their Waterloo. Algorithms can't tell people what to read, what to believe, and can't discern truth from falsehood. All algorithms can do is push an agenda from those controlling the algorithm. So we'll be spoon fed pablum as real news seekers are cast aside as non-traditional sources or 'extremist' or having some other epithet applied to lower their score on the algorithm.
We may not have a Ministry of Truth, but lots of countries are trying to. If progress and opportunity slow and die in the coming years, the 'fake news' reaction will be why. After all, one clear case of how this is a problem is Man-Made ManBearPig Global Warming/Climate Change. Any site posting legitimate data and information which rebuts the Global Warming/Climate Change agenda will undoubtedly be labelled 'fake news'. From this point forward, any other opinion deemed 'incorrect' will fail the test and we can see where this algorithm will deprive people of good information.
I am, as it happens, evicting my mother’s fourth husband’s fifth wife from a modest house (much more modest than the condition I left it in) in which she resided rent-free for a decade or so. I inherited the house from my mother when she died, and her husband inherited a “life estate” in it, meaning a legal right to reside there so long as he kept current on the taxes and such. He remarried (these are marrying people) and lived there with his new wife until his life estate ended the way life estates end, and I came around to take possession of the house and sell the damned thing. They’d had years and years to prepare for this moment, and, of course, they hadn’t.
These are, in fact, like some of the people Murray describes as residents of Fishtown. They are full of excuses for their disappointing and feckless lives. In my experience, the passive voice reveals that these are people who lack the inner resources to act affirmatively or planfully, to adapt to change or bad luck, adjust, or to learn from experience. It is sad to see, and there is no cure for it. Lots of boats, and lives, end up on the rocks.
In another era, they might have done fine on the family farm with the support, resources, and teamwork of an extended family and a small, healthy community. The post-agricultural, post-industrial world today is far more demanding of us all. It's tough out there.
An appealing narrative arc is always useful whether truth or fiction. Usually they are fictional, though. Raw truth doesn't lend itself to compelling narratives.
Photo is the Meindl Burma 
Here's my chance to elicit opinions from readers about hiking gear.
Let's just go along with the culture even if some of these days are commercial inventions to sell stuff. After all, moms do deserve special attention.
The last few months, since the shocking (to some) result of the election, traditional news media has been blaring about 'fake news'. I'm really not sure what fake news is. CBS News says each morning, in their intro and promotions, that they are 'real news' (though I've seen quite a bit that I'd call fake on their network). I've had people try and explain what it is to me, and there are examples of stuff that is clearly fake, but applying a definition to what it is? Unavailable. You pretty much know it when you see it, like porn.