Friday, October 25. 2013
Wimpy boys and wimpy girls. If safety is your biggest concern in life, you will never live. I thought it was all about fear of lawsuits, but I am beginning to think it reflects some form of psycho-ideology. We are raising a generation of wimps.
Thursday, October 24. 2013
If $300,000 buys you a statistical chance of living a few more days with a terminal cancer, would you take it? Would you take it even if Medicare paid for it - which it probably would?
Cancer chemotherapy is a big business: The Cancer Drug Racket:
What is sobering about this booming business is that, as a group of oncologists wrote earlier this year, "most anti-cancer drugs provide minor survival benefits, if at all." They often (but not always) reduce the size of inoperable tumors, but they rarely eradicate the disease. For relatively uncommon malignancies like testicular cancer, some forms of leukemia, and lymphoma, drugs effectively cure the disease; for the common "solid tumor" cancers (lung, breast, colon, prostate, and so on), which account for the vast majority of annual cases, drugs buy some time-precious time, to be sure, but time usually measured in weeks and months rather than years. And even though many of the newer drugs are less toxic, they often still have to be given with older drugs whose side effects include nausea, hair loss, fatigue, and decreasing blood counts. One anti-cancer drug produces a skin rash so severe and disturbing, according to Saltz, that some patients have been asked by employers not to come to work.
Wednesday, October 23. 2013
I have referred to the DSM as an obsessional disorder. This author approaches it as a dystopian novel, and I do agree with some of his sentiments.
He says, about this "novel," that "A mad person is like a faulty machine." What he doesn't quite mention is that, in the DSM, essentially everybody has at least one DSM disorder. That satisfies insurance companies, which is the main point in the end.
 Shaidle on The Hate That the Hatred of Hate Speech Produced/:
Bureaucrats like those at the European Union, which is entertaining a proposal to set up “surveillance units” within the Ministry of Justice to “monitor citizens…suspected of ‘intolerance.’”
I hope the European Muslims are aware.
"..As some warn victory, some downfall
Private reasons great or small
Can be seen in the eyes of those that call
To make all that should be killed to crawl
While others say don’t hate nothing at all
Except hatred."
Astonishing full lyrics to It's Alright, Ma here.
Tuesday, October 22. 2013
We like to support entrepreneurial friends, especially those who have fled Wall St. to do their own thing. The young Math major, Div. 1 tennis player, and ex-Wall Streeter has launched Nora Gardner Apparel, day-to-night clothing for youthful professional women: Nora Gardner.
I hear that professional women are sick of wearing men's clothing (eg suits or pants) to work, and want to look good. With these, just add a little jewelry and you're ready for your evening out. Conservative, but feminine and affordable and well-made in New York. Here's her About Us.
Pics from her launch party in NYC this weekend at fashion site Guest of a Guest. Miss Gardner is center front in this one:
Monday, October 21. 2013
When government gets involved in things, those things become politicized. Same thing goes for medical care. The death panels are meant to be a buffer against popular clamorings, but they won't work.
When it comes to medical care, nutrition, vitamins, exercise, etc, the loudest quacks and cranks tend to prevail: The Quackish Cult of Alternative Medicine - Dr. Paul Offit's battle against charlatanism
Is there quackery in non-alternative medicine? Sure, but it is mostly unintentional quackery. Docs tend to cling to the most recent information they have read, but most of it proves, in time, to be in error: Trouble at the lab - Scientists like to think of science as self-correcting. To an alarming degree, it is no.
Best to go with a conservative physician who has a good dose of skepticism and common sense.
Sunday, October 20. 2013
From Higher Education: The Conventional Wisdom Is Wrong:
Individuals with a lot of intelligence and drive are, overwhelmingly, drawn to college, but it is their intelligence and drive that brings about their later success, not the fact that they passed enough courses to get the credits necessary for a degree. John Mackey of Whole Foods, for example, took a number of college courses before dropping out to concentrate on his business. He would be no more successful if he had earned his degree, or less successful if he hadn’t ever taken a single course.
On the other hand, we lure great numbers of young Americans into college these days with the idea that by getting their degree, they’ll enjoy a large earnings boost. A figure that is often, carelessly thrown around is the million dollar earnings premium for college grads.\
The problem is that, increasingly, high school graduates do not have even the most basic academic tools – they don’t read well, don’t write well, and can’t do basic math – and also expect that college will be like high school, only more fun. Any increase in college enrollment will overwhelmingly come from such academically marginal students. Going to college rarely transforms those disengaged kids into highly productive adults.
Saturday, October 19. 2013
The change in medical care. I refuse to term it "health care," since health needs no care other than one's own reasonably-sensible and attentive but not health-obsessed life, combined with the main factor - luck. From a commenter at Allahpundit:
Perhaps the concept of ‘insurance’ isn’t the right one for health care?
I always liked the comparison that was trying to be made with car insurance…
Yet for there to be an equivalent your car insurance would have to cover:
- maintenance tune-ups, including oil and filter changes
- the cost of repairs for any reason
- a price break per gallon of gas
- an annual detailing
- the cost of tires
- a new muffler annually
- and never, ever raising the cost of your insurance no matter how many accidents you were in, how many tickets you got… anything
Imagine what car insurance would be like if we modeled that on health insurance coverage and you get an idea why health insurance coverage is so high. And why get fuel efficient vehicles if you are getting the gas subsidized? Or bother with the maintenance if you’ll get a brand new engine if you forgot about it? And the cost of such insurance would be… lower than what you have now?
The number of shades of maroon that went into trying to make this entire ‘insurance’ concept work for one’s health is plain nuts. It isn’t ‘insurance’ if you are going to use it constantly… you want something else.
Perhaps a clue.
Health insurance used to be an executive ‘perk’ because it was TOO EXPENSIVE to provide for everyone in the workforce. Businesses got a price break for it to entice people who would not normally come to work to do so during WWII. The war ended. The subsidy via the tax code did not. Strangely enough before this misbegotten idea got infested into the tax code and people’s minds, individuals did not drop over dead in the street and did work out payment schedules WITH hospitals and physicians. Amazingly that worked and there was a strong system of charitable hospitals and care givers to pick up the slack. Then government got involved and screwed it up.
Government is all about money. Government's expertise is perverse incentives. The Obama-thing, like the previous Hillary-thing, is not technically insurance. It's just pre-paid medical costs, spread across populations and subsidized, or not, by income and with bureaucrats deciding what you can get paid on it.
That's not an entirely insane idea, except that whenever government gets involved with things outside their Constitutional mandate, things turn out wrong and over-controlling by the standards of a free country. Always.
I do not believe that most Americans want every detail of their lives politicized. I think they want to be left alone, but maybe I am old-fashioned.
Thursday, October 17. 2013
A self-propelled log loader, built by Clyde Iron Works, Duluth.
Good stuff, cheap: Sierra Trading Post
Good stuff, expensive: BestGear:
Day-To-Night dresses and interview dresses for younger professionals - with pockets - made in New York City: Nora Gardner
Wednesday, October 16. 2013
From EBT recipients stole food this weekend (and every other weekend) (h/t Vanderleun):
Middle class families are forced to watch as food is taken from the mouths of their children and given to others, in an elaborate political scheme to breed dependence and ensure a loyal voting base. If we’re OK with that, why shouldn’t we be OK with what happened at a few Walmarts this past weekend? Sure, YOU can’t walk into your local supermarket and take things off the shelves, but YOU aren’t entitled. Only certain people are entitled, and the government decides who those people are. Don’t you get it?
also
I’d like to at least believe that our tolerance for Welfare stems from some sort of charitable feeling. That still wouldn’t make it right, but it would make it perhaps more palatable. Yet, I know this isn’t the case. I believe strongly in giving to the poor, and my wife and I do just that. Anyone who wants to GIVE, and GIVE FREELY, is more than able to do so. It doesn’t, therefore, make sense to support the Nanny State simply because you wish to help the poor. You could help the poor without the government, and you know it.
On the contrary, I think most of us submit to and accept Entitlements because we lack the moral or mental energy to oppose them.
The UK and Scandinavia are reforming the living on the dole lifestyle
Tuesday, October 15. 2013
How is this for $230,000? I wonder whether the hobbits come with it.
I know, I know - most of the value of a property is the land - and its location, but the sheet of plywood over the door, you must admit, is a gracious touch.
A reader referred us to the 1999 essay by Shelby Steele, The age of white guilt: and the disappearance of the black individual,
One quote:
Here is a brief litany of obvious truths that have been resisted in the public discourse of black America over the last thirty years: a group is no stronger than its individuals; when individuals transform themselves they transform the group; the freer the individual, the stronger the group; social responsibility begins in individual responsibility. Add to this an indisputable fact that has also been unmentionable: that American greatness has a lot to do with a culturally ingrained individualism, with the respect and freedom historically granted individuals to pursue their happiness--this despite many egregious lapses and an outright commitment to the oppression of black individuals for centuries. And there is one last obvious but unassimilated fact: ethnic groups that have asked a lot from their individuals have done exceptionally well in America even while enduring discrimination.
From the article by Ron Paul:
The goal of academic regulation is to limit the supply of schools that compete against public schools. This is done in the name of guaranteeing the educational quality of the school, thereby protecting the students. Yet the academic performance of the public schools continues to decline, and has done so since the early 1960s. The scores on the SAT and ACT exams continue to fall. The high point was in the early 1960s. So, regulation has not been successful in guaranteeing the quality of education. But it has been quite successful in restricting entry into the field of education.
Monday, October 14. 2013
I spent several hours this weekend wrestling with a rented Bluebird Aerator.
I did about an acre of lawn. The machine is not as effective as the kind you tow, but it produces pretty good cores as long as the soil is not too dry and hard. Some heavily-used areas seemed to want to be done twice and some needed to be done thrice where most of the walking and wheelbarrowing is done, but I ran out of steam. It is said that the cores should be every 6 inches or so, but that is difficult to accomplish. The wrestling is because it's a heavy and top-heavy machine, tricky on slopes, and tough to turn without tearing your turf to shreds. After the plugging, I fertilized it all and overseeded the patchy spots. The results should be evident in early May.
Soil gets compressed by foot traffic, lawn mowing, wheelbarrows, etc. You can put a lawn on life support with extensive fertilization and irrigation, but it won't be healthy. Lawns that are walked on should be aerated each year, late Spring or Fall. Athletic fields are typically aerated twice a year and top-dressed once a year with a very thin layer of topsoil/sand mix.
Earthworms are excellent aerators too, but they won't live in compressed soil.
Sunday, October 13. 2013
If you're set up in the right barley or hay field before 5 am, the Snows will come noisily fluttering into your decoys like this. Hot barrels. Great fun.
You get up at O dark 30, grab a coffee, a Marlboro, an apple and a banana and a handful of granola bars, then drive a while down gravel roads and through vast farm fields and set up early in the chilly field in the dark with the aid of headlights and headlamps. Then you drive the trucks out of the field and hide them behind a distant tree row.
Unlike Canadas with their tough plumage and rugged build, Snows are easily killed. As it is said, "They go down like a prom dress."
Saturday, October 12. 2013
Prof. Lee Smolin has doubts: Think About Nature.
The problem that I've identified—that I think is at the root of a lot of the spinning of our wheels and confusion of contemporary physics and cosmology—is that you can't just take this method of doing science and scale it up to the universe as a whole. When you do, you run into questions that you can't answer. You end up with fallacies; you end up saying silly things. One reason is that, on a cosmological scale, the questions that we want to understand are not just what are the laws, but why are these the laws rather than other laws? Where do the laws come from? What makes the laws what they are? And if the laws are input to the method, the method will never explain the laws because they're input.
Friday, October 11. 2013
The view at sunset with the “second half” held firmly in one hand, a Montecristo #4 in the other. Lord Dundee, who drank his whiskey by the tumblerful, once said, ''A single Scotch is nothing more than a dirty glass.'' We love single malts and single cask single malts, but, for regular drinking, Famous Grouse is the favorite.
Mitford didn’t think her book would fly off the shelves, but her publishers suspected they were sitting on a bombshell.
Mitford may have been a nutjob, but I tend to believe that the way we deal with the dead (and the dying) in America is close to insane. Death is just a routine part of living, is it not? Loss is terrible, for sure, but we must adjust to it as we all grow older.The deaths of friends, family, and, finally, of ourselves.
What do you want to be done with your mortal remains, and at what expense? Do you even care?
Seems to be an excellent airplane despite initial glitches. Boeing designs, and builds a fair amount of it, but does all of the assembly. Similar to American auto manufacturers. There are engineers and manufacturers around the globe creating these wonderful things for us - people who know how to make useful things.
This via Cafe Hayek:
Thursday, October 10. 2013
I don't want to spend time criticizing doctors. My father is one, after all. I also don't want to criticize the VA. I'm sure many of our readers utilize the VA services and may be happy with the care they receive. Or perhaps they aren't, I'm not sure. I don't use the VA and don't have personal experience, but my father did some work there while he was in the Navy years ago, and remains very critical of its administration to this day.
He always told me if I'd like a glimpse at what a government run program for health provision would resemble, take a look at the VA. My extended family members who have utilized the VA did so mainly because they could, and they lacked any other access to health services. None were particularly happy with it, except to say it didn't cost them much when they needed it.
I don't want to imply this kind of abuse can't happen in private practice. Certainly Hollywood stars have managed to find their fair share of enablers. But when it is the government running things, we're supposed to expect better, and when it's a single payer system, we won't have the range of choice to avoid charlatans.
They are confused about what to do about sex, Obsessed with it. Clearly, homosexuality is nurtured, but what about heterosexual interests?
“We are working with the fraternity on a multifaceted remedy that will require training and other measures be successfully completed before the fraternity can resume its recruitment efforts or host social events to ensure that our values are upheld, and that such a situation will not recur,” Liliana Rodriguez, associate dean at Swarthmore, told The Huffington Post on Wednesday.
"Their values"? This is the college with a co-ed nude masturbation club. That's higher ed in the USA. However, the "training and other measures" sounds like S & M fun. I think this lady dean has whips in her closet. That sounds more exciting than Physical Chemistry but perhaps at Swarthmore they might find a way to call it physical chemistry.
You know that painting. I don't need to tell you or any Swarthmore kid.
 Seckel Pears, aka Sugar Pears, or Dessert Pears. One of my Dad's Seckel trees had a great crop this fall but it was a bit far north for them to ripen by September. More likely ripe on the tree by mid-late October.
Seckels are about 1/3 the size of regular Bartlett or Bosc Pears, and far sweeter. Like most pears, you need a couple of different pear varieties near by to ensure fertilization.
It's tree-planting season now here, late Oct and early November, for every sort of tree and shrub. It's the right time for transplanting things too.
Miller Nurseries has Seckels, also Stark Bros. I recommend the dwarf trees which grow up to about 10'. I only will plant standard trees for the birds and animals out on the edges. Cherry, apple, etc. Let them grow and ignore them.
For gifts, you can send a box of Seckels to people.
Mostly off-topic, but here's how to make one of the best desserts in the world: POACHED BOSC PEARS IN RED WINE SAUCE
Wednesday, October 9. 2013
"Gilmour’s off-hand statements highlighted not misogynist tyranny but the
lockdown by academic feminism on even the most flippant and marginal
deviations from the correct line."
Having lost faith in the discipline they are (over) paid to teach, literature instructors have enthusiastically embraced their roles as the guardians of progressive pieties about women and the Chinese.
This is not to suggest that Gilmour himself is any kind of resistance hero. He has long since apologized for his remarks and will almost certainly never make any such again.
Mau-mauing works. Even tough guys like male profs of literature are intimidated.
Recently, I was invited to join a company seminar on "Reinvigorating the Workday." You spend a few hours at a desk, and reinvigorating yourself seems like a great idea. The seminar was very helpful, providing good information, some stretching exercises and mental games to 'loosen up' a bit when things start to get repetitive.
 Toward the end, the instructor decided to discuss healthy foods. She correctly pointed out what you eat can impact how you feel throughout the day. While I believe this, what I got was a lecture on food 'toxins'. The minute I hear someone talking about toxins in food, my eyes glaze over. Another nut talking about their perfect diet. Which is exactly what we got. I decided to play along, because being snarky can be fun.
The instructor admitted alcohol is a toxin, but we all need to unwind, so you should be careful about what kinds of wine or beer you choose. Obviously, fewer preservatives is 'better'. I told her I brew my own beer, and I prefer craft brews to standard national brands. I was lauded for being so careful about my food choices.
However, when she moved into chocolate, caffeine, and other standard fare, the word 'toxins' became more common. I asked her if she ate almonds. She replied almonds are very good for you, very natural. I then pointed out wild almonds (and to a significantly lower degree domesticated almonds) contain cyanic acid which can be toxic, since it is the basis of cyanide. So my question was, how much of my natural diet could be too much? Unaware of this fact, she stumbled a bit, and mentioned moderation.
I'm an extremist when it comes to supporting moderation. It's what I used to lose 30 pounds over the course of the year. Moderate amounts of the same food I always eat. I didn't change my diet at all. Since the instructor had met me before, she asked about my weight loss and what foods I was eating. I proudly told her I have no problem with genetically modified foods, diet sodas, and a host of other items. She looked at me in horror. I told her, as she pointed out, moderation is important. I'm not opposed to healthy eating and if all-natural is your bag, go for it. But please don't treat me as if I'm a simpleton because I enjoy what I enjoy. I'm not killing myself every time I have a Diet Coke or a Big Mac, though to hear her speak I am making a conscious choice to poison myself.
So I did a bit of research, and sent her a list of natural foods which contain toxins (I particularly like this link - the politics of healthy eating - as if politicizing food choices can save us all from ourselves!). Some I was aware of, others not so much. I pointed out what she considers 'toxins' (usually preservatives) enable a much larger percentage of the world to eat. In fact, it allows them to eat good foods and healthy foods, and is part of the reason why the world is a better, healthier place in general. If we were to move to an all-natural farming structure, eating only natural foods, not only would we likely starve half the world, but we'd be spending far too much time farming.
Toxins are everywhere. Even water is toxic, in sufficient quantities. So enjoy the toxins in your foods, whether they are natural or processed.
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