Thanks for that reference and excerpt regarding Dickens’ Mrs. Jellyby character and “telescopic philanthropy” that you made on a prior post.
I had never heard reference to that and it’s a brilliant encapsulation of a trait we humans seem susceptible to.
Someone leaked Trump Administration plans to try to rein in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to far-left NPR. The plans are good news since previous Democrat administrations have populated the agency with anti-nuclear advocates. The details on the new structure for the bureaucracy are not clear, but any effort that speeds up the approval of nuclear power plants is welcome.
@Rufus: Dicken’s giant talent was for creating memorable characters with just a few paragraphs or even sentences, who frequently remind us of someone we know.
The book is Bleak House, and worth reading if you have the energy for a Victorian doorstopper.
The issue with zebras being not good candidates for domestication presumes the first candidates for what we know as “horses” today were considerably more mellow. It’s a planted axiom, comparing today’s horses to wild zebras rather than pre-domesticated (not domesticated breeds who got loose).
The reason that even in domesticated animals–cattle and horses–the majority of males are gelded is that whole males are still potentially dangerous even after umpteen thousand generations.
We “fix” dogs to keep the population down. We “fix” the big herbivores to keep from getting run over or otherwise attacked. Bull, anybody? And that’s the domestic brand.
To domesticate an animal, you usually need to confine it. And you can’t fence in enough prairie land to support a bunch fo cattle. You have to grow food elsewhere and feed them, while confining them to a convenient area. Which is to say you need the Neolithics to have some agricultural surplus. Only then do you have the capacity to domesticate large herbivores.
So, as to zebras…case not proven.
Re: Michelle Obama
Great dish from Megyn Kelly and Maureen Callahan. Fun and insightful.
At one point Kelly and Callahan are so horrified by how poorly MO speaks of her husband that they hope Obama is having an affair, as rumored, with Jennifer Aniston.
I don’t think Michelle O. has any idea how negatively her podcast comes across to most people. She seems to be a small, miserable person.
For those of you who speak Spanish, an excellent, but scary, discussion by a conservative Spanish economist Daniel Lacalle, about the threats to free speech and liberty in Western Europe.
Great dish from Megyn Kelly and Maureen Callahan. Fun and insightful.
==
I’m sure I must have been acquainted with women who were catty to this degree, but I cannot think of a name.
==
No insight into MO. I might think her dissatisfaction is derived from the realization that almost nothing she and her husband have is due to any actual skill either one of them possesses (above and beyond knowing how to work a room at a fundraiser). Which suggests that she sees herself as she is and sees him as he is. Mmmkay….
AD never likes anything except his own recommendations.
should one be so catty, well for someone who was granted many privileges, a prestigious education, poorly employed, made the first lady of the United States, and still can’t get the chip off her shoulder, all the acclamation from every outfit short of cat fancy, yes she did little to merit it, but complain effusively, maybe a little risque ridicule in some parts, but not more than most,
“So, as to zebras…case not proven.” – Richard Aubrey
Maybe not. However, Zebra meat is the least tasty of the grazing animals in Africa. Horse meat, on the other hand, is just below beef for taste. So, maybe there is something quite different about the DNA of Zebras versus the horses.
I enjoyed this romp through the history of domestication of wild animals. They have played a big part in the evolution of human society from hunter gatherers to the modern society we have today.
It’s interesting to me that Julius Caesar and George Washington, with about 1800 years between their times, would have understood one another quite well. Horses and sailing ships were still the main methods of transport. On the other hand, look at where we are today. George Washington would be astounded at the progress made in the last 250 years.
About Michelle Obama. It’s amazing that she can be so bitter about all the success that she and Barak have enjoyed. She may well feel/know that much of it was luck/affirmative action. However, you’d think she would be somewhat grateful for all her good fortune.
She complains that it was expensive to live in the White House. That may be true, but I’ve never heard a whisper about that from any other residents of that august residence.
She and Barak have become multi-millionaires post Presidency. Quit complaining and get on with your life. No one car es about her issues except she and her shrink.
There seems to be a coordinated move by Democrats toward strong profanity and physical violence. I’m not sure what their plan is. Maybe to whip up their base and force strong reactions from Trump and MAGA people, and then to complain about authoritarianism, racism, right wing violent extremism etc.
We know from January 6 that they are unscrupulous enough to use false flags.
J. J. Still, comparing domesticated horses to zebra for taste. Nobody’s tasted the pre-domesticated version in maybe five thousand years, not for choice, anyway. Free range, organic, mountain trained….versus in the paddock, corral, barn, eating grain provided and not starving in a bad season or running itself half to death to escape predators.
Or the wild aurochs as opposed to a beef cow.
You could maybe put a dent in the feral hog situation of somebody had a recipe. No luck so far.
But you don’t have to eat it, just make it work for you. Different issue.
Really interesting book, “Elephant Company”. It’s about the mahogany industry in Burma up into WW II. The elephants would work all day, be turned loose to go forage, come back in the morning to work. Got weirder. Wonder if “domesticated” fits anywhere near. But it’s something.
Dax, I don’t think there’s a front-runner to challenge Tillis in the R primary in NC as yet. There’s lots of speculation from Dems on whether former governor Roy Cooper will run for the seat. A former Dem congressman, Wiley Nickel, is already in the race. I’m just hoping Mark Robinson won’t try again, having lost so badly last year.
Michelle Obama has always struck me as being irrationally full of herself. Shortly after going to the White House she got nasty about a short (white) woman who approached her in a Target store to ask her to reach something from a high shelf. MIchelle said this little woman was racist and treated her like a slave, since it was incomprehensible to her that the woman had no idea who she was. Short women ask me for help in grocery stores routinely because I can reach what they can’t. Michelle’s constant whining about “racist” mistreatment shows she is an entitled spoiled brat.
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Some people can’t be either
US mediation brings an India-Pakistan ceasefire.
https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2025/05/10/trump-announces-full-and-immediate-ceasefire-between-india-and-pakistan/
Niketas,
Thanks for that reference and excerpt regarding Dickens’ Mrs. Jellyby character and “telescopic philanthropy” that you made on a prior post.
I had never heard reference to that and it’s a brilliant encapsulation of a trait we humans seem susceptible to.
Someone leaked Trump Administration plans to try to rein in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to far-left NPR. The plans are good news since previous Democrat administrations have populated the agency with anti-nuclear advocates. The details on the new structure for the bureaucracy are not clear, but any effort that speeds up the approval of nuclear power plants is welcome.
https://www.npr.org/2025/05/09/nx-s1-5392382/trump-nuclear-regulatory-commission-watchdog-safety-radiation
@Rufus: Dicken’s giant talent was for creating memorable characters with just a few paragraphs or even sentences, who frequently remind us of someone we know.
The book is Bleak House, and worth reading if you have the energy for a Victorian doorstopper.
The issue with zebras being not good candidates for domestication presumes the first candidates for what we know as “horses” today were considerably more mellow. It’s a planted axiom, comparing today’s horses to wild zebras rather than pre-domesticated (not domesticated breeds who got loose).
The reason that even in domesticated animals–cattle and horses–the majority of males are gelded is that whole males are still potentially dangerous even after umpteen thousand generations.
We “fix” dogs to keep the population down. We “fix” the big herbivores to keep from getting run over or otherwise attacked. Bull, anybody? And that’s the domestic brand.
To domesticate an animal, you usually need to confine it. And you can’t fence in enough prairie land to support a bunch fo cattle. You have to grow food elsewhere and feed them, while confining them to a convenient area. Which is to say you need the Neolithics to have some agricultural surplus. Only then do you have the capacity to domesticate large herbivores.
So, as to zebras…case not proven.
Re: Michelle Obama
Great dish from Megyn Kelly and Maureen Callahan. Fun and insightful.
–Maureen Callahan, “Breaking Down Michelle Obama’s Ongoing Midlife Meltdown and Disdain For Barack, with Megyn Kelly”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pDfcEjD-I4
At one point Kelly and Callahan are so horrified by how poorly MO speaks of her husband that they hope Obama is having an affair, as rumored, with Jennifer Aniston.
I don’t think Michelle O. has any idea how negatively her podcast comes across to most people. She seems to be a small, miserable person.
For those of you who speak Spanish, an excellent, but scary, discussion by a conservative Spanish economist Daniel Lacalle, about the threats to free speech and liberty in Western Europe.
https://youtu.be/ezbn0fQj35k?feature=shared
This link works better
https://youtu.be/ezbn0fQj35k
Great dish from Megyn Kelly and Maureen Callahan. Fun and insightful.
==
I’m sure I must have been acquainted with women who were catty to this degree, but I cannot think of a name.
==
No insight into MO. I might think her dissatisfaction is derived from the realization that almost nothing she and her husband have is due to any actual skill either one of them possesses (above and beyond knowing how to work a room at a fundraiser). Which suggests that she sees herself as she is and sees him as he is. Mmmkay….
AD never likes anything except his own recommendations.
should one be so catty, well for someone who was granted many privileges, a prestigious education, poorly employed, made the first lady of the United States, and still can’t get the chip off her shoulder, all the acclamation from every outfit short of cat fancy, yes she did little to merit it, but complain effusively, maybe a little risque ridicule in some parts, but not more than most,
Kate, any thoughts on Don Brown, who is challenging Thom Tillis for the NC GOP senate nomination? Thanks.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/05/meet-former-navy-jag-officer-taking-rino-thom/
I’m going to get this one in early. (for most of y’all anyway)
Happy Mother’s Day!
to Neo and the rest of you for whom it is appropriate.
https://twitchy.com/justmindy/2025/05/10/hakeem-jeffries-wants-law-enforcement-outed-and-arrested-n2412624
“So, as to zebras…case not proven.” – Richard Aubrey
Maybe not. However, Zebra meat is the least tasty of the grazing animals in Africa. Horse meat, on the other hand, is just below beef for taste. So, maybe there is something quite different about the DNA of Zebras versus the horses.
I enjoyed this romp through the history of domestication of wild animals. They have played a big part in the evolution of human society from hunter gatherers to the modern society we have today.
It’s interesting to me that Julius Caesar and George Washington, with about 1800 years between their times, would have understood one another quite well. Horses and sailing ships were still the main methods of transport. On the other hand, look at where we are today. George Washington would be astounded at the progress made in the last 250 years.
About Michelle Obama. It’s amazing that she can be so bitter about all the success that she and Barak have enjoyed. She may well feel/know that much of it was luck/affirmative action. However, you’d think she would be somewhat grateful for all her good fortune.
She complains that it was expensive to live in the White House. That may be true, but I’ve never heard a whisper about that from any other residents of that august residence.
She and Barak have become multi-millionaires post Presidency. Quit complaining and get on with your life. No one car es about her issues except she and her shrink.
There seems to be a coordinated move by Democrats toward strong profanity and physical violence. I’m not sure what their plan is. Maybe to whip up their base and force strong reactions from Trump and MAGA people, and then to complain about authoritarianism, racism, right wing violent extremism etc.
We know from January 6 that they are unscrupulous enough to use false flags.
J. J. Still, comparing domesticated horses to zebra for taste. Nobody’s tasted the pre-domesticated version in maybe five thousand years, not for choice, anyway. Free range, organic, mountain trained….versus in the paddock, corral, barn, eating grain provided and not starving in a bad season or running itself half to death to escape predators.
Or the wild aurochs as opposed to a beef cow.
You could maybe put a dent in the feral hog situation of somebody had a recipe. No luck so far.
But you don’t have to eat it, just make it work for you. Different issue.
Really interesting book, “Elephant Company”. It’s about the mahogany industry in Burma up into WW II. The elephants would work all day, be turned loose to go forage, come back in the morning to work. Got weirder. Wonder if “domesticated” fits anywhere near. But it’s something.
Dax, I don’t think there’s a front-runner to challenge Tillis in the R primary in NC as yet. There’s lots of speculation from Dems on whether former governor Roy Cooper will run for the seat. A former Dem congressman, Wiley Nickel, is already in the race. I’m just hoping Mark Robinson won’t try again, having lost so badly last year.
Michelle Obama has always struck me as being irrationally full of herself. Shortly after going to the White House she got nasty about a short (white) woman who approached her in a Target store to ask her to reach something from a high shelf. MIchelle said this little woman was racist and treated her like a slave, since it was incomprehensible to her that the woman had no idea who she was. Short women ask me for help in grocery stores routinely because I can reach what they can’t. Michelle’s constant whining about “racist” mistreatment shows she is an entitled spoiled brat.