Friday.

I thought I had posted my last scribblings yesterday but Blogger was hanging up and I didn't realize it hadn't posted.  Oh, well.  After a bit of thought I posted it and started another.  Let's see where this day goes.

No damage at all from the wind we had Wednesday.  However, I got lazy and didn't do more than water a couple of pots that tend to dry out quickly and drown a few Japanese beetles.  Our temperatures were quite cool yesterday--in the mid 70s--and probably won't be much warmer today.  Good weather for doing all the little chores and for harvesting some stevia and peppermint.  I used some of the previously harvested spearmint and peppermint for tea a few days ago.  Very tasty!!  We watched one of the little hummingbirds working at the lemon basil.  Wonder how many other plants they have visited.

Interesting indictment of U.S. system of higher (mis-)education.  Parallels my own experience in the academic jungle.

Saturday.

Good post from David Kaiser this morning.  For some time I have wonder if the demagogues and would-be demagogues spouting their endless stream of crap could really believe what they spout and whether their followers could rally believe that crap.  Kaiser explains how that can really be the case. I remember a quote attributed to Daniel Patrick Moynahan which claimed everyone was entitled to their own opinion but not to their own facts.  Facts were facts and were the same for everyone.  Well, evidently not.  I spent a lot of time in academia and a good part of that time was spent reading history--including race, gender, and class history.  But I remember that the historians I read at that time didn't argue the facts.  Rather they argued that the facts, i.e. what happened, had differential effects on the experiences of different people depending on their gender, race, class.  I don't know if that is still the case since I have been out of that environment for some time.  If it isn't then Kaiser's remarks explain why we can't seem to agree on anything--politically, socially, economically, or in any other area of our lives.

Just heard an interesting little snippet--the book which contains the injunction "Thou shalt not steal" is not only the best selling book in the world it is also the most shoplifted.  Go figure!!  (Note: I don't know where the information comes from or how valid it is.)

Another first in our little garden--we saw the first cardinal we have ever seen in this area.  It was bobbing around examining all of the structures and the plants very carefully.  Perhaps he will be back.