Wednesday, January 15. 2020
Gerard Vanderleun has a post up about ants. Of course, they are fascinating bugs capable of vast, complex works with microscopically-sized brains.
He happened to link the famous short story, Leiningen Versus the Ants.
It's a heck of a tale. Somewhere around the first third of it it dawned on me that I had read it long ago, but that didn't matter because I had forgotten the ending.
 Roger Scruton: A Defender of Life on a Human Scale
Spain's abandoned tiny villages for sale
Some Rich Parents Are Giving Their Kids HGH to Make Them Taller
The College Wealth Premium Has Collapsed
Did you know that Star Wars is racist?
Virginia Passes Four Gun Bills in One Day
Can't believe this Pelosi tweet
How Trump Derangement Syndrome Makes You Stupid
Joe Biden's streak of being wrong on foreign policy continues, uninterrupted
The Score: US 10, Iran 0
That's the wrong way to view it. This could be good for Iran too.
We Can’t Trust the Media to Report Honestly on Iran
Iran State TV Sees At Least 2 News Anchors Quit: ‘Forgive Me For The 13 Years I Told You lies’
Tuesday, January 14. 2020
“The great poems, plays, novels, stories teach us how to go on living, even submerged under forty fathoms of bother and distress. If you live ninety years you will be a battered survivor. Your own mistakes, accidents, failures, and otherness beat you down. Rise up at dawn and read something that matters as soon as you can.”
Advice from Harold Bloom, shortly before his recent death
Steve Hilton:
This is the Trump Revolution: Pragmatic, non-ideological. He approaches issues as a problem-solving businessman.
It's actually a revolution in ideas and it goes way beyond foreign policy. He is combining the best of traditional conservative ideas with positive populism, appointing conservative judges and leading the way on criminal justice reform, cutting taxes and boosting family leave.
Monday, January 13. 2020
He has been in the Maggie's Pantheon of thinkers since we began this website. Brief obit.
Here's Scruton chatting with Jordan Peterson about "the transcendent" last year.
The preceding Taleb quote headlines a post by Rippetoe with the above title.
He makes a number of good points, and not just about strength training.
For one thing, he makes a useful distinction between exercise and training. Exercising is using or maintaining what you've got. Training is about steadily building ability, whether in strength, endurance, etc.
I like his idea of the Minimum Effective Dose, which is pretty much what my trainer guides me through - just enough needed to show slow but steady improvement.
"For real people, if something works in theory, but not in practice, it doesn't work. For academics, if something works in practice, but not in theory, it doesn't exist."
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Sunday, January 12. 2020
Matthew 3:13-17
3:13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him.
3:14 John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?"
3:15 But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness." Then he consented.
3:16 And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.
3:17 And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."
Saturday, January 11. 2020
Scott Alexander: WHAT INTELLECTUAL PROGRESS DID I MAKE IN THE 2010S?
Wow
Glaciers refuse to melt at Glacier Park
Progressive Minded Washington City May Ban Use Of Natural Gas To Solve Hotcoldwetdry
US emissions are falling under Trump, thanks to fracking's war on coal
"Despite a new imperative to be scrupulous about affirmative consent, young men are still subject to incessant messages that sexual conquest... remains the measure of a 'real' man..."
Tucker Carlson Masterfully Debunks the Transgender Murder “Epidemic” Myth
Once Again, Government-Subsidized Projects Fail to Deliver. Trump’s Foxconn failure shows that targeted subsidies don’t pay off.
What is private equity, and why is it killing everything you love? Private equity led to the closing of Toys R Us and cost 30,000 workers their jobs — and it’s hardly the only example of a deal gone wrong.
Willing seller meets willing buyer. Isn't that ok?
More Chinese students arrested for photographing US naval base'
Prof calls college a 'racket,' blasts diversity hires
Is Fauxcahontas Sane?
Texas Governor Announces the State Will Not Be Accepting Any More Refugees, Becomes First in Nation to Decline Them
The Reagan Revolution Gives Way to the Trump Revolution - As with Reagan, Democrats and the media panic.
New Lawsuit Claims Rod Rosenstein Led Task Force that Spied on Sharyl Attkisson’s Computers
FBI Apologizes To Court For Surveillance Of Carter Page, Pledges Fixes
Intelligence Community’s Inspector General Is the Link Between FISAgate and Impeachment
Trey Gowdy Reveals Real Reason Democrats Impeached Trump
How McConnell Outplayed Pelosi
WE NOW KNOW: THE STEELE DOSSIER BACILLUS
Under pressure, Iran admits it shot down jetliner by mistake
The IRGC Just Admitted All The Terrorism/War Proxies They Are Working Behind Across Region
Iran’s attacks against the US in Iraq accomplished what was intended. Behind the Lines: A large amount of noise and smoke
Trump's Approval Rating Among Terrorists Hits All-Time Low
Eliminating Qasem Soleimani was Donald Trump’s Middle East farewell letter. President Trump’s opponents cannot forgive him his victories. But it has become increasingly clear that it doesn’t matter
No Senate Democrats Support Measure Praising Military For Killing Soleimani. All GOP Senators Supported Same Resolution About Bin Laden During Obama Years
Five Obama Foreign Policy Messes That Trump Is Cleaning Up
Democrats Are Out of Touch on Foreign Affairs, Too
The new socialism, like the old, will not protect Jews
Or Christians, or Muslims
Friday, January 10. 2020
Malcolm Gladwell’s cool, playful intelligence has made him one of our leading public thinkers, and he has a host of imitators. But, in a time of antagonistic debate and polarised opinion, does he still have something to say?
Study Shows Genetic Source of Anxiety
It is unsurprising, since we can identify anxious kids quite early. It frequently appears as unusual separation fears.
OOPS: Worship Band Accidentally Worships For Real During Rehearsal
Virginia Ban On Woods And Backyard Shooting?
An insane ‘feminist’ attack on Alcoholics Anonymous
Climate Change Advocacy: Application Of Science, Or Religious Cult?
Has Saint Greta become a joke?
The Climate Decade that Was: Failed Predictions, Tour De Paris, and the Gretas
Progressive Eco-Group Admits It: Renewable Energy is a Hoax that Benefits its Greenie Elmer Gantries like Al Gore
California to Throw Another $1.4 Billion at Homelessness
Brilliant
Academia's Leftism becomes more aggressive and more stupid
New York Bar Association Calls on Congress to Launch Investigation Into Attorney General Bill Barr
Medical Journal Declares War on Natural Gas
Idiots. That's not their expertise.
The Big Farmer Bailout Was Never Debated
TRUMP WINS IN COURT ON BORDER WALL
White House unveils plan to speed big projects permits
How Bernie Sanders Became Your Child’s Economics Teacher - Without proper education, it's demagogues who will teach voters about political economy, to the nation's detriment.
Taco Bell Dangles $100,000 Salary Amid Tight Worker Market
I blame Trump
Why Warren Buffett is right to warn about Illinois: The state’s true retirement costs now total 50% of annual budget.
At some point, you run out of other people's money
Democratic Minority Voters Overwhelmingly Favor School Choice. Don’t downplay party’s racial divide on charter schools
This Is The Washington Post On Crack
Elizabeth Warren Gives Advice On Boyfriends, Pets; Gets Crushed Online
New York Democrats Move to Register Illegal Aliens, Non-Citizens to Vote
Trump's second term: Trump Unbound
Trump wows the crowd at Toledo rally – and takes no prisoners.
The guy's energy is impressive. In his mid-70s, right?
MSNBC Katie Tur is OUTRAGED After President Trump Delivers Speech with “Stern White Military Men”
Iran’s Fawning Western Apologists
Democrats And The Media Are Blaming America Because Iran Shot Down A Passenger Plane. This Is Beyond Despicable.
Trump reset the Obama Grand Bargain with the Mullahs by taking out Soleimani and staring down threats of retaliation
The Chicken Littles got everything wrong on Trump and Iran: Goodwin
Post-Mugabe Zimbabwe Still Faces a Host of Economic Problems
Iran's Options in Showdown with America Are All Bad
China: Beijing's Arctic Power Grab
That's why Trump offered to "buy" Greenland. We bought Alaska, and it worked out well.
U.S. congressional study urges sanctions on China over 'crimes against humanity'
Thursday, January 9. 2020
From our archives:
Cassoulet
As you may know, cassoulet is basically French baked beans with meat. The real original of hot dogs and baked beans. It is country home cookin, but it can be great stuff. Dutch oven cooking. Crock pot? Why not, as long as the meats are browned first, but it will not brown the top.
It's a good way to cook some wild game meat, especially the less-tender parts.
Any meat, but not beef - strong red meat is too strong for cassoulet. We have, over time, used various mixes of duck, snow goose, chukar, venison, chicken, pork, wild boar, and pheasant which we have killed. Mix the meats - it adds to the flavor. There should be some source of pig fat or duck fat in it. Some venison sausage, or any sausage, because it is a necessary traditional ingredient. The meat-to-bean ratio is supposed to be fairly high - 30% - but I like beans and prefer a lower ratio. I think every village in southern France has its own recipe and method. I figure roughly one hunk of sausage and one hunk of meat per person.
A few tips about Cassoulet:
1. Make it at least the day before. Like beef stew, it improves overnight.
2. Serve with salad, toasted garlic bread with a pile of stinky and gooey cheeses on the side, and then fruit for dessert. And a Cote Rotie or Cotes du Rhone.
3. You need to use large white beans, ideally French haricot beans. Use the canned beans, don't bother with dried beans.
4. Make sure you push the bread crumbs down into the surface of the mixture when baking.
5. Sprinkle chopped fresh parsley on top when done - it looks better that way.
It's worth reading a few approaches to get the general idea. Here's an easy American version. Here's one French version. Here's another.
Via Boudreaux at CD:
"To paraphrase Sheldon Richman, however, just because some people cannot be trusted with liberty does not mean other people can be trusted with power.
DBx: No single human inclination has done more harm to humanity than that which turns us to power as the first and surest ‘solution’ to problems imaginary and even real."
Readers know that, for the strength-building and maintenance part of fitness, we prefer compound exercises to the isolated muscle exercises which many gym machines offer.
We all see people going from machine to machine in the gym and wonder why they bother because they could get far more bang for their buck (and time) with compound resistance movements. Sometimes the machine-users are body-builders and body-sculptors, but that ain't us.
Accessory strength exercises are fine if you have the time, but the compound ones are the priorities: Deadlift, Barbell Squat, Bench Press, Pullups (or pull downs), Rows and Dips, Overhead Press. Five or 6 sets of each of those once (or even twice weekly if young or very fit) will produce a good sturdy foundation for life whether male or female, young or old.
No compound exertion stresses as many muscle groups at once as the Deadlift. Here's the list of the muscles challenged in the traditional Deadlift:
Gluteus Maximus: Butt
Quadriceps: Upper front legs
Adductor Magnus: Inner thigh
Soleus: Smaller part of your calf muscle
Hamstrings: Upper back of legs
Gastrocnemius: Bigger part of your calf muscle
Erector Spinae: Lower back
Trapezius, upper: Upper neck muscles
Trapezius, middle: Middle neck muscles
Levator Scapulae: The muscle from your jaw to your shoulder
Rhomboids: Upper inner back muscles right below your neck
Rectus Abdominis: Abs
Obliques: Side abs
Forearms: Grip
If you punch in gender and age, you can get some average Deadlift standards here. I am in the Intermediate strength range now, aiming higher. I can not move 300 lbs. two inches off the floor. Point is, do one's best and keep advancing by small increments.
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