Pun Salad

¹³ Whoever scorns instruction will pay for it,
    but whoever respects a command is rewarded.

I must be feeling libertarian today; the Proverb seems to be dogmatic and authoritarian: "Shut up and obey!"

Girls today are entering college with far superior academic qualifications and a better background in STEM classes than boys. Unless women suddenly face gender bias and stereotyping at the college level that didn’t exist in K-12, or existed but didn’t stop them from excelling in STEM classes, perhaps it’s then a personal choice of college degree programs that leads to female underrepresentation in certain STEM fields. While under-represented in engineering and computer science, females are nevertheless over-represented in many STEM fields like biology, health sciences, veterinary medicine, anthropology, zoology, pharmacology, genetics, biomedical sciences, etc. To the extent that there is a gender gap in STEM, it’s not universal and certainly doesn’t exist in all fields, and is limited to certain STEM fields. High school girls are excelling in math and science and are doing just fine continuing their academic success in the college degree programs that they voluntarily choose, both in STEM and non-STEM fields.

The underlying assertion/assumption is "underrepresentation" of a favored group must be caused by invidious discrimination. That doesn't stand up to even slight scrutiny. But it is a convenient argument for those looking to maximize their political dominance.

Almost certainly recommended: our Amazon Product du Jour, Discriminations and Disparities by Thomas Sowell. Which I haven't gotten around to reading yet, but I assume…

I, for one, would like all candidates for local, state, and federal offices to take that quiz.

A majority of House members believe it is acceptable in the Live Free or Die state to purposefully end the life of a baby who has reached a level of development that would allow it to survive, and, with medical support, eventually thrive. Why are we shocked to see judges literally pull the plug on living babies whose parents and other medical professionals seek desperately to love and care for them?

Well, we shouldn't be, should we?

“New Hampshire is the Live Free or Die State, and what could more live free or die than non-discrimination bills, making sure that people are able to be who they are?” Oakley said.

Unless you have traditional religious beliefs on such matters. Then the state can push you around with impunity. Unsurprisingly, something called the "Human Rights Campaign" doesn't care about that.

Gen. John Stark, whose portrait hangs in the White House, built the barn in the late 1700s on his family’s farm in Dunbarton, N.H. A veteran of the battles of Bunker Hill and Bennington, Stark was known as the "Hero of Bennington" and coined New Hampshire’s state motto: "Live free or die."

Inspired by this history, retired Odessa resident John Zumwalt III bought the barn at 6930 Lutz Lake Fern Road in 2013. Over a three-year period, the hand-hewn, post-and-beam barn was dismantled, trucked to Odessa and painstakingly restored and reassembled.

On Saturday, May 5, it will begin a new chapter as The Barn at Stark Farms, a "living history" education center and lodging house providing lessons in colonial-era crafts and farming techniques, the history of the Revolutionary War and the values of Americans who fought for independence.

I can't get too upset. Free market transaction, something I hope the General might approve. Website here.

As is with many visitors, there was something indefinable but appealing about Hope Gutwrench’s first hours in New Orleans.

“The magic of long-armed trees reaching over the streets, the thick air, the warmth of the people. I love the slow pace of July, the stupid heat and sudden showers and realizing you just have to slow down,” she said.

A transplant in New Orleans from New Hampshire — states similar in a way, both seemingly living by the motto “Live Free or Die” — Gutwrench has a way with words.

Ms Gutwrench's website is interesting.

And, not to quibble, but Louisiana's state motto is actually Laissez les bons temps rouler "Union, Justice and Confidence", but that's a quibble.