The Country Mice Do Some Talkin'

Don’t Throw Out the Tin-­‐Foil Hats Just Yet: Libertarian Criticisms of Keeley’s “Of Conspiracy Theories”

Mr. Big Food, Brian, A. Leland, and I went to Memphis the other day. Mr. Big Food and I talked about Big Egg, a now-defunct piece of legislation that I blogged about last summer, and conspiracy theories. Brian talked a bit about conspiracy theories and more about folks who hear colors. A. Leland talked about many things, among them the Sisters of Mercy-- a sad tale. No dull moments for the Country Mice this weekend! But boy! Are we glad to be back on the Farm.

As I have a few minutes, I may post a draft of our Big Egg project over at Other Thoughts. Our thoughts involve Individual Liberty. Go figure.

In other news... isn't that an awesome picture? Kat made it. She blogs about photography at Pare and Focus and talks about GIMP (a free photo editing program) and her "How to GIMP" book here.

Reliability

Central Bar-B-Que, Memphis

Reliability: It's an epistemological B-B-Que concept.

Explore!

Nearly everybody has a back yard. If you haven't, you probably know where there is a vacant lot. Or you may go to a park or a school playground. Wherever you go outdoors, that's the place to begin your exploring.

An explorer looks carefully at everything around him. ...

A good explorer uses scientific methods. ...

From page 9 of the crappy old book, Science in Your Own Back Yard-- a Weekly Reader Children's Book Club book-- by Elizabeth K. Cooper copyright 1958 published by Harcourt, Brace and Company.

This book's first two chapters encourage us to "Explore the Yard on Your Stomach" and on our backs. When we've finished our initial explorations we'll set up our back-yard laboratory. (More on this below the fold.) After we've located it properly (and asked our parents if it's okay), we'll provision it with old spoons, a garden trowel, some single edged razor blades, a kitchen knife, wire, string, notebook, and so on (but no power tools [see footnote 1]). And then we will commence exploring

• Soil & rock
• Fossils
• Water
• Grass
• Flowers 
• Plant from Seeds
• Plants from Spores [See footnote 2]

Aunt Margaret's Bookmarks

Aunt Margaret's bookmarks

I found these all marking the same page in Aunt Margaret's An Explanation of the Baltimore Catechism of Christian Doctrine, Fifth edition, by Rev. Thomas L Kinkead, published by Benziger Brothers (New York, Cincinnati, Chicago) and copyright 1891. The marked page begins an explanation of The Lord's Prayer.

Please do click on the image to enlarge. The bookmarks are quite lovely.