Mr. Free Market writes to inform me that he’s off to the North for a spot of bird shooting [jealous], and has laid in an adequate supply of the necessary, to whit:
Off-camera: the case of Scotch.
Remember: there’s no danger of Chinkvirus infection at a driven bird shoot, seeing as the shooters are spaced thirty-odd yards apart.
It’s the after-shoot activities that should give cause for concern… just not to me nor, it appears, to Mr. FM and his shooting buddies.
According to Some Survey Or Other (Science!!!), this is what most Brits dream of when thinking about their ideal garden:
Okay, some of them are just daffy — a maze? — and good luck getting the go-kart track past the neighbors (unless you’re going to be racing electric go-karts).
I am as given to dreaming and wishful thinking as any, and probably more than most; but I can’t help thinking that having so many outdoor activity features (yoga areas, outdoor gym etc.) are not going to be used that often given a climate in which Britain’s principal export is rain.
Also, excepting bloated plutocrats such as Mr. Free Market (whose estate holdings make Prince Charles look like a slum dweller) and Top Gear’s Richard Hammond (who has a castle), most Brit houses have an average outdoor area which can be measured just as well in square inches as feet — and not the 88-foot “desirable” backyard they dream of.
In Kim Terms, 88 feet couldn’t even accommodate a 25-yard indoor pistol range, which leads me to my next point.
Notably absent from all the Brit dream gardens is anything devoted to shooting. I know that the BritGov (a pox be upon it) seems to frown on the shooting sports, but nowhere on the above do I see listed even something as innocuous as an archery range. (I have a well-founded suspicion that a similar list taken from a poll of my Readers would have a 100-yard rifle range near the top, followed closely by a 1,000-yard playground where one could happily play with Barrett rifles etc.)
So, on to just such a poll. In Comments, please list — in order — the top 10 most desirable features you’d like to see in your “back yard” (define it however you wish: “back forty” is also acceptable). Don’t bother with explanations or exposition; the inclusions should be pretty much self-explanatory, e.g. “four-bay 25-yard air-conditioned indoor pistol range” (which would be in my own top 3, incidentally).
No mazes. Also exclude strange exotica such as “hippie burial ground” and the like. This is a serious poll. [eyecross]
Have fun with it, and limit ten, please.
For some time now, I’ve been hankering after a six-shooter — for no reason other than the usual — and I’ve gotta say, this offering is pretty tasty:
You can get a decent .45 LC revolver for half that, but nowhere near as pretty.
From Matt Morgolis:
“Facts don’t lie; Democrats do.”
The rest of the piece is full of toasty-fresh facts, and the lies the Socialists are spinning.
I have never understood why people give themselves deadlines on activities which require no deadlines: “I have to get my hair cut this week” or “I need to do the laundry today” and “I must finish my book before Saturday” and so on. Other than an attempt to impose some kind of self-discipline over chronic procrastination, all this does is add a layer of stress into one’s life — all the more so because it’s both needless and self-imposed. An ex-boss of mine put it in perspective, speaking purely of business matters and not of obvious crisis situations: “There is no decision can’t be improved by waiting till the next day.”
Over at Insty’s place, Mark Tapscott posted a long letter from a friend who is grappling with the fact that his kids — and the kids of many of his upper-middle-class neighbors — will not be attending public school anytime soon, thanks to the teachers unions’ unnecessary obsession with the health risks of their members being exposed to the germ-laden petri dish that is the average school. (It’s definitely worth going over there and reading it.) Leaving aside the obvious retort that other workers (in supermarkets etc.) seem to have had few problems in this regard, I want to focus instead on one aspect of this hapless parent’s dilemma. Here’s the part that got me thinking:
“And, for the families who either cannot leave a job or are not interested in what has been proposed by the public school systems, they are either spending tens of thousands of dollars per year on private education or are now for the first time acquainting themselves with homeschooling options. I will also add that in many cases, private schools are full and homeschooling curriculum options are sold out leaving families with no idea what they will do in a few weeks.”
Somebody needs to sit this harried man down and explain one of the most beneficial aspects of homeschooling: there are no deadlines. The “few weeks” he’s talking about is an artificial construct: schools say that the new semester must begin on September 7, therefore that’s when education should begin. Of course, that’s utter nonsense if you’re not chained to the public (or any) school system: your kid can take up classes on September 7, or October 15 (or tomorrow, for that matter) — because given the glacial speed of public education, the kid will catch up with, and overtake, his former classmates in a matter of weeks. (Remember that the entire middle- and high school mathematics curriculum — all five years of classroom instruction — can be learned by an average student in just over six months, when delivered at their own pace at home.)
I remember the mother of my son fretting about his slowness in getting toilet-trained, and telling her: “I promise you that by the time he’s fifteen he’ll be using the toilet just like everybody else.” And from an educational perspective, whether a kid starts learning in August or September is irrelevant to their future progress.
Everyone seems to want to set deadlines on education: must complete high school by age 18, then go straight to college and finish the undergrad degree in four years, or else “they’ll be left behind” — as though that matters, when of course it doesn’t.
Unsaid in all this, of course, is that if education is truly unshackled from the education establishment, there’s nothing to stop a kid from finishing their undergrad degree by age 18, either, if the kid is smart enough and motivated enough — because just as homeschooled kids of high-school age typically finish twelfth grade earlier than their classroom-educated contemporaries, the appearance of online university-level classes (delivered either by streaming or by DVD) means that the homeschooled college student could finish their degree in two years and not the more common four.
The only thing that holds parents back from homeschooling is their own sense of inferiority — that somehow, even college-trained adults can’t teach their kids mathematics (the discipline which frightens parents the most). Let me assure you all right now: with the proper course materials, anyone can teach their kids anything.
And best of all, there’s no need to feel pressure to do it by any specified date — hell, you can even learn the stuff with your kids as you go along, and how bad can that be?
Commentary short and sweet, like Isla Fisher.
…from his office in San Antonio.
…no doubt upon the advice of his shaman after reading the chicken entrails. And speaking of fairy tales:
…is our preview of the feature film, “Green New Deal”. And:
…as Britain and California get in their race for the bottom. Speaking of racing to the bottom:
…I know, they backed away from the policy after a massive public outcry. But the very fact that they thought of doing this… Also, speaking of dying cities:
…as Chicago, New York, Portland, Seattle and the rest of the socialist paradises start to circle the bowl.
…BritGov to ban pens in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… I mean, nobody needs more than a crayon, amirite?
…I’m thinking daisycutter bombs and MOABs, not “bigger guns”; but that’s just me.
…welcome to the U.S., Yer Gingerness. Now bend over that IRS desk, just like the rest of us.
…seeing as the BritGov has solved all Britain’s other pressing social needs, that is.
And finally, some excellent news for a change:
…there was some other crap in the headline about face masks, but this is all I care about.
