So the French plotted to wipe out your elm trees too... I suspect cryptofascists. They were trying to turn the Allies against France. No shit! Actuall...
The US once had millions of elm trees shading the streets of cities and small towns, In 1937 a shipment of elm logs from France to Cleveland, Ohio arr...
Sorry - it's not the Siberian Cherry -- it's the Tibetan Cherry. I hope you didn't order the Siberian cherry already -- it doesn't seem to exist. http...
You might try a North American Hornbeam - a hardwood related to birch. It's often used in landscaping, they say. The church across the street planted ...
My default assumption is that the government public health employees at the federal, state, and county levels are reasonably competent. However compet...
Who gets sick with what is often a matter of contingency or chance. Infectious diseases like chickenpox, measles, polio, HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea, tub...
We'll need fancier clothing too. Let's see, who here fits the costume? https://i.pinimg.com/564x/50/ea/d3/50ead3cc3250fbbe65d0d5e2a45a31c7.jpg This ti...
God knows Indiana needs a renaissance. But then, so do 1001 other post-empire agglomerations of peasant hovels, many of them selling cigs well above s...
Regarding language and thinking... I've been reading Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art by Rebecca Wragg Sykes (2020). Great read, by the ...
Highly substantive OP and followup comments. Some brain scientist (if only I remembered correctly) noted that the primary function/purpose of the brai...
My idea of a nightmare. I've gotten better at coping with spiders, but they still bother me -- especially the webs. Big spiders unnerve me. This goes ...
The map site you linked up is quite interesting. Hopefully the data behind the maps is very good too. Thanks! Another good data / image site is the Vi...
"The only war is the class war." The rich get richer by making the people poorer. Workers create wealth through the various processes of their labor. ...
Maybe yes, maybe no. Social security and unemployment insurance were established by Roosevelt and the US Congress in the 1930s in the face of abject n...
Well... news to me. Consider this: So, some level of unionizing was occurring at least in the immediate post-Civil War period. Congress did pass an 8 ...
Unions have self-inflicted wounds, certainly, some of them near fatal. But it Is also the case that unions, unionizing, union leadership, union thinki...
Black walnut or English walnut? Black walnuts are richly flavored but very hard to crack and extract the meat from. The husk is excellent for staining...
Joining the military is a HUGE gamble, really in the same way taking any job is a gamble, only much much more so. True, one might join up in a peacefu...
25 reasons to join the military, according to Indeed, the personnel people: 1. To serve your country 2. To learn new skills or a trade 3. To find purp...
The circumstances of signing up for the armed forces helps explain some motivations: An intelligent but unskilled youth may find few employment opport...
Roach is for real, as you discovered, and has been on the New York Times Best Seller lists. She likes to delve into the gory details. Working class me...
I have not read Mary Roach's book, Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War. Based on reading her other titles, I would expect this to be an intere...
This idea has been explored in novels. My favorite is Earth Abides by George Stewart, 1949. The lead character is alone for quite some time, and only ...
Good post. I don't agree that the less powerful could "easily unite" or easily "topple the elite". True, it has happened in the past, but not often. T...
Whether the politicians are corrupt or not, whether we voted them in or they just muscled their way in, may not matter that much. The State has intere...
We are certainly experiencing the consequences of some people's actions. Yes it does seem futile; yes it is hard to be optimistic; yes some people hav...
Tibia -- even worse, a main weight-bearing bone. Flutes were once made from tibias -- just not the ones belonging to the flautist, presumably. Sufferi...
Yes, do -- we love medical pictures. You are no doubt aware that broken bones, especially with cast and crutches, gains maximum sympathy from others, ...
Oh no! Sir2u, glad you are still with us. Was the broken bone your tibia, fibula, or femur? Were you walking or on a bike? You have my sympathies -- l...
Clark must be on vacation or something - he hasn't posted on the shout box lately. But then, hardly anybody else has, either. Everybody on vacation? I...
Did you spot the clown moving from the left to the right in the video. I am not very observant, but this is a classic experiment. The subjects are ask...
Eating raw/undercooked grains and beans may well cause lectin-related digestive problems. It's also the case that lectins have become a popular dietar...
There isn't that much to say about learning how to meditate. It starts with practicing controlled breathing. The brain stem manages our breathing just...
"In the long run, money invested in stocks will do better than money invested in savings" -- or some such formulation. Perhaps, but as John Maynard Ke...
It did cross my mind that people who live in normal sane countries might not get the joke. For you who live in sane countries: pharmacies found produc...
No snarky wisecracks in the Shoutbox for 72 hours? What is the world coming to! https://ci6.googleusercontent.com/proxy/Y1XBnd58sLu_xwWogVRFrXpuT5zoRg...
Machines are good enough at writing copy for publication -- not editorials, not art/drama/book/film reviews, not investigative stories--not humor, not...
Sausage can't help but be phallic, but Freud had nothing to do with it. I merely thought it was a bizarre advert to suggest summer sausage as a means ...
Some people use dead shrimp; others use summer sausage. https://64.media.tumblr.com/b41906b08a5207c73f2f612ca575d52e/c1a6fa735dd8de3b-e8/s500x750/e1f7...
Which war was / is that? Bojo was aware that Chrisp Incher had groped two men while "incredibly drunk" and didn't do anything about it. Seems sort of ...
It's apparently outré to ask Google for bird/women words. What is the existential difference between a bird and a chick (with reference to human femal...
Thinking about reality requires that the emotions be observed because our minds are embodied. Maintaining philosophical enquiry long enough to achieve...
:100: It doesn't take a grand conspiracy. It takes narrow interests pursued relentlessly. The "right to life" anti-abortion drive is another good exam...
Comments