Hunting

Over at PZ’s he posted about hunting. [phar] That’s one of those topics that’s guaranteed fun, because it sits at the intersection of toxic masculinity, gun control, environmentalism, and class. PZ was merciful enough not to mention class as an issue in hunting, but, well, I’m not.

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On the Gentle Art of Giving Advice

We bought the farm in 2002, and moved up from the ‘far suburbs’ of Baltimore. The farm came with a bunch of stuff in mostly-workable condition: baler, rake, hay cutter/bind, and a 1974 Belarus MtZ572 tractor. We had horses to feed, so there was hay to cut, and the place had been going to seed for a decade – there was a great deal of bushhogging to be done, and the tractor came with a 10′ deck bush hog.

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Antlers

Elk drop their antlers in the spring, and grow new ones. I confess, I did not know this. Another thing I did not know is that, apparently, they grow back quite quickly in time for spring – about 1″ per day. That seems to be a ridiculous way of doing things, but I suppose evolutionary psychologists can explain why elk choose to do things that way.

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Missile Defense

Missile defense is one of those technologies that has the potential to dramatically destabilize certain aspects of warfare. Back in the 1980s, when Ronald Reagan began his fixation on “Star Wars” ballistic missile defense, wiser heads pointed out that: a) it’s really hard b) if it did work, it would mean the US was setting itself up to “win” a nuclear war.

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Uncommon Sense

It’s in times of war that freedom of speech is most endangered, and is most repressed. And we’ve seen this: the sedition act was passed in the period of near-war with France in 1798. People were sent to jail for criticizing the government during The Civil War, or were sent to jail for criticizing the entrance into World War One. And, so on, down to the present day.

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