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Apr 15·edited Apr 15

https://www.nationalreview.com/2024/04/how-to-prevent-an-american-decline/

Test to see if you can read this. Looks like you can. It's a speech by Bing West, the writer, given at The Citadel in South Carolina. One might not agree with the whole thing, but I'll bet very few would disagree with the whole thing.

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Apr 14·edited Apr 14

Good Sunday afternoon. Yesterday and today were the first sunny days here since Eclipse Day.

The temperature now is in the high 70s. prompting me to dig out a pair of shorts.

I probably will get out my summer clothes soon and put away my winter clothes. While my wife likes to talk about clothes for the spring and fall, I stay with just warm-weather clothes and cold-weather clothes. That habit was ingrained im me from my Army days when I dealt with summer uniforms f(atigue/BDU sleeves rolled up) and winter uniforms (sleeves down).

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I just saw this on FB. For those interested in cell phones in schools, take a look: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10234296034321248&set=a.1806069390503

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Apr 13·edited Apr 13

WSJ is now reporting Iran has attacked Israel, launching over 100 drones.

I was afraid of this, but it's on.

Nothing good is going to come of this.

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Good afternoon. Bright suny day here. (I could have sworn I made a post this morning).

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Here is group Jen Durkin went to during a hiatus from DBB. The Bomb Squad. Not as good as DBB but still funk.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-CaJdaNSf4

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The funk got me out of a funk this morning. Thanks!

Sunny but cold in the wind. And it is windy.

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I sent Katie a picture of the dog sign showing I've not let them escape for 7 days in a row now!

She and her crew did their annual pilgrimage to Shipshewana, which has multiple fabric stores, and a good family style restaurant. Katie sent me a picture of 7 of them sitting around a rowboat full of fabric.

Panic hit. Does Katie's Rogue have a trailer hitch? Is she bringing home a rowboat full of fabric? 😱

But I remembered it doesn't have a trailer hitch...yet. A row boat would not be practical...yet....So I think it was just a fun picture. I'll know for sure Sunday.

My MIL is grinning at the camera, looking pretty happy. She doesn't get many projects done anymore but she loves the fellowship and camraderie. She doesn't seem to be in much pain, but she isn't walking about as much. She's still wearing a knee brace.

Katie is working on a quilt for my office, a "stained glass window" design that I intend to hang in the conference room. I'll put a sign next to it stating who made it...I thought it might get aside for her to help on Janet's latest baby quilt project, but that has been set aside for now. The couple don't agree on the decor for the baby room.

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That is some truly excellent funk. My fav in the funk/soul category is, of course, Tower of Power.

But here are 2 other fund groups I like:

Mingo Fishtrap: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQNs23SHe3k. Sadly, the lead singer/guitarist is recovering from throat/tongue cancer so they haven't played in a while.

And here's the other: Deep Banana Blackout. They are a band from the Northeast (CT, actually) and the female singer Jen Durkin, left, but came back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWeHri6MFDY

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Optimum sent news that Jonathan Haidt isn’t giving up:

https://open.substack.com/pub/persuasion1/p/social-media-not-the-economy-is-harming?r=2jqk5&utm_medium=ios

The main feature of psychological and sociological research is that the findings are never quite conclusive. So I can’t say this is surprising. The findings usually have to be read out of evidentiary data that don’t always clearly represent the hypothetical hunches. That is, there’s some data, and then there’s the researcher reading the data in order to get a certain conclusive sounding interpretation.

My gut feeling is that “something” happened to change the general teen and young adult mood, and the digital environment would seem to offer a tantalizingly appealing explanation. The mechanisms are all too easy for us to imagine. But they will never be possible to “prove”.

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Good morning. I don't know if I like some funk or the kind of funk you like. I'll give it a try after more coffee.

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