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Showing posts from April, 2021

Trout lilies.

  Trout lilies.

"At the risk of becoming Mr. and Mrs. Intense, we directed dinnertime chats with friends away from trivialities like vacation plans and house purchases, and..."

  "At the risk of becoming Mr. and Mrs. Intense, we directed dinnertime chats with friends away from trivialities like vacation plans and house purchases, and..."

"I understand and partially support your decision to remove comments from your website but if you persist in this effort you need to quit asking questions that beg a comment. State your opinion and let the chips fall where they may."

  "I understand and partially support your decision to remove comments from your website but if you persist in this effort you need to quit asking questions that beg a comment. State your opinion and let the chips fall where they may."

Late afternoon sky.

  Late afternoon sky.

"I feel like it’s fucked up they have so much power they can get shoes cancelled. Freedom of expression gone out the window."

 https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/i-feel-like-its-fucked-up-they-have-so.html

"When Lou swims naked in the river, he begins to 'run his long, ridged tongue up and down her wet back.'"

 https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/when-lou-swims-naked-in-river-he-begins.html

"These hefty sums are a far cry from how lethal injections were initially envisaged. The use of medical drugs to kill prisoners was pioneered in 1977..."

 https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/these-hefty-sums-are-far-cry-from-how.html

"A software mistake caused a Tui flight to take off heavier than expected as female passengers using the title 'Miss' were classified as children, an investigation has found...."

 https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/a-software-mistake-caused-tui-flight-to.html

"Even though he has not yet announced that he is running, and I certainly hope he does, I am giving my Complete and Total Endorsement to Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin."

 https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/even-though-he-has-not-yet-announced.html

"As the only Asian American woman on the academic faculty, I can’t imagine any other faculty member would be treated with this kind of disrespect and utter lack of due process."

 https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/as-only-asian-american-woman-on.html

"Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh and husband of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II for more than 70 years, has died at age 99."

 https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/prince-philip-duke-of-edinburgh-and.html

"I evaluate my potential dates based on eight traits. Five of those traits I try to learn about before the date."

 https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/i-evaluate-my-potential-dates-based-on.html

"The boars snooze in people’s paddling pools. They snuffle across the lawns. They kick residents’ soccer balls and play with their dogs.

 https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/the-boars-snooze-in-peoples-paddling.html

Daffodils.

 https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/daffodils.html

"A neopronoun can be a word a created to serve as pronoun without expressing gender, like 'ze' and 'zir.'"

https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/a-neopronoun-can-be-word-created-to.html

"You might be getting tired of hearing about the Great Comments Decision of 2021 but here are my two cents after thinking about it for the past few days."

  "You might be getting tired of hearing about the Great Comments Decision of 2021 but here are my two cents after thinking about it for the past few days."

New flowers.

https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/new-flowers.html

The tiniest word that is recognized as a word — in the sense that there's an OED entry — is "fancyette."

  The tiniest word that is recognized as a word — in the sense that there's an OED entry — is "fancyette."

"I can say he’s a good kid — he was a good kid, and I think the football messed him up. He didn’t talk much and he didn’t bother nobody."

 https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/i-can-say-hes-good-kid-he-was-good-kid.html

Before we get too deeply into mocking Kirsten Gillibrand for her expansive definition of "infrastructure," we need to look into the history of how "infrastructure" found its way into political jargon.

 https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/before-we-get-too-deeply-into-mocking.html

"Because Trump is now effectively living at a private club perpetually littered with wealthy supporters desperate to show off their close, personal friendships with the former president..."

 https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/because-trump-is-now-effectively-living.html

Scott Adams gets into a conversation with China state-affiliated media. FROM THE EMAIL: A reader named Mike writes (and I haven't fact checked the history): Click for more » Posted by Ann Althouse at 7:59 AM Tags: China, Christian (the commenter), Daniel (the commenter), drugs, George Floyd, history, labor, Mike (the commenter), railroad, RigelDog., Scott Adams, slavery, Stephen Ambrose "Harvey thinks Michael is a soulless, tasteless, lying prick." From "How Harvey Weinstein Survived His Midlife Crisis (For Now)," a 2004 article in New York Magazine. The "Michael" in question is Michael Eisner. If you care. I'm seeing that quote because it is in the Oxford English Dictionary, the most recent example of the use of the word I looked up, "soulless." That is, most recent for meaning 2a: "Of a person: lacking spirit, sensitivity, or other qualities regarded as elevated or human; (now esp.) lacking in human warmth, feeling, or sympathy; cold, heartless." I'm actually more interested in meaning 1, "Having no soul," because I was having a real-life conversation about the notion that some people don't have a soul, and whether, if that could be true, the soulless person could acquire a soul, and whether a person who regards another person as soulless has a moral or intellectual obligation to look inside himself and seriously examine whether he himself has got a soul. I read the news today.... "Legendary Drummer Nick Barker Thinks Modern Death Metal Has Become Soulless "There's very little artistic merit these days'" (Metal Injection). "Millionaire Sandbanks residents are at war with developers over £250m plan to build 'soulless' block of 119 flats on site of Victorian hotel where radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi set up wireless station in 1898" (The Daily Mail). "Internet slams ‘idiot’ senator who tweeted graphics attacking infrastructure bill" (Raw Story)("Each of you Republican Senators is just a soulless husk void of a heart, morals, or any ideas of value-- mere grifters and racists willing to say and do anything for money, the future be damned. What a legacy"). "Justin Bieber Continues to Gush on the Soulless ‘Justice’" (The Emory Wheel). "Godzilla vs Kong Review – Soulless CGI MonsterFest" (NerdFest). "Safaree Samuels Explains How Social Media Creates Culture of Soulless Materialism and Vanity: ‘The Reality Is Nobody Shows the Struggle’" (Atlanta Black Star)("Social media got 22-year-olds wanting to off they selves cause they don’t make 6 figures and drive a 7 series. S–t is terrible. Got Women thinking if you can’t afford a Chanel bag, you doing bad in life and offer them nothing. Got dudes thinking a good 9-5 is slavery. Nobody likes their body, nobody like their home. Just a mass group of people wanting what others have. Or pretend to have"). *** If you want to share your comment, you can email it to me here. Posted by Ann Althouse at 7:34 AM Tags: architecture, Harvey Weinstein, Justin Bieber, language, lightweight religion, monsters, movies, music, partisanship A+ on the Joe Biden Quiz. Posted by Ann Althouse at 5:55 AM Tags: Biden rhetoric "Say f*** it, put on a your string bikini, and imagine that you're a golddigger who created your own happy ending and is now giving all the cash you scored to the resistance behind your conser[v]ative husband's back." That's a photo caption by Lena Dunham that appears with a photo in "Lena Dunham's most body-positive photos on Instagram" (NY Post). It's an interesting collection of photos with captions straining at humorousness. Though the Post assumes it's all body positivity because Dunham is, we're told, a "vocal advocate of body positivity," the text and pictures don't show unalloyed positivity. Unalloyed positivity would be inane. And inconsistent with comedy. If inane, uncomic expression of the experience of female embodiment is what you want, read this other NY Post article, "Khloé Kardashian breaks silence, talks body image struggles after unwanted photo saga." Kardashian has a problem with the publication of a photograph of her in a bikini looking like a reasonably nice, ordinary woman. It runs counter to her public image as a beautiful woman, part of a beautiful-women family. How can she fight that without expressing negativity about her body, making the ordinary women of the world feel bad about themselves, and looking like she's on the wrong side of the body-positivity movement? Here's the quote she (or her people) came up with: "The photo that was posted this week is beautiful. But as someone who has struggled with body image her whole life, when someone takes a photo of you that isn’t flattering in bad lighting or doesn’t capture your body the way it is after working so hard to get it to this point — and then shares it to the world — you should have every right to ask for it to not be shared — regardless of who you are." FROM THE EMAIL: A reader named Roz writes: Click for more » Posted by Ann Althouse at 5:52 AM Tags: fat, feminine beauty, Lena Dunham, psychology, Roz (the commenter) I've been monitoring men in shorts for a long time, and I have my standards... my evolving standards... So what am I to make of this? At the link: The 85-year-old Libertarian inadvertently gave the glimpse of his liberally cut short shorts in the last seconds of a video chat on political issues with host Doug Casey. The men had finished discussing the future of personal liberty, when Paul rolled his chair back from the camera and showed just how much liberty his tiny jeans allowed his slightly tanned, thighs to enjoy. First, I'm more bothered by the comma after "slightly tanned" — "his slightly tanned, thighs." My guess is they had another adjective after "tanned" but they took it out for some reason. Maybe it was "slightly tanned, skinny thighs" or "slightly tanned, hairy thighs" and they backed off, ashamed of their body shaming. "Tanned" was okay, but the rest — I imagine they decided — was the kind of judgementalism that could get them in trouble. But the telltale comma remained. Second, I'm going to give Ron Paul a pass. It's a totality of the circumstances analysis: 1. He's 85, so I give him extra room to find whatever ways he can to greater physical ease. 2. He's at home, not out in the world displaying disregard for the aesthetic experience of others. 3. He didn't intend his lower body to be seen, but he refrained from outright nakedness or mere underpants. 4. He's a libertarian, so his theme is freedom, and the shorts express his idea of freedom (though if I were looking for freedom in a pair of shorts I'd pick something more pliable and flowy). 5. He amused us. *** There is no comments section anymore, but you can email me here. Unless you say otherwise, I will presume you'd enjoy an update to this post with a quote from your email and I'll identify you with your first name only. IN THE EMAIL: A reader named Julie writes: Best men in shorts post to date! Not only has it been a funny little joy for us all to have you share this shorts obsession with us for years, but also because we COVID weary souls in our home offices totally relate with Ron Paul. I spend hours every week in video conferencing, often with executives I have never met before. Whenever the mood at the start of a video call is bright enough and I am looking for an ice breaker, I make a joke of the fact that my professional on-camera blouse does not match my fraying sweatpants off camera. EVERY SINGLE TIME the professional on the other side reveals a similar predicament and we have a good laugh. It's become a new form of rapid trust building. Posted by Ann Althouse at 5:23 AM Tags: coronavirus, Julie (the commenter), men in shorts, punctuation, Ron Paul April 7, 2021 6:39 a.m. and 6:41 a.m. IMG_3511 IMG_3516 Posted by Ann Althouse at 8:57 PM Tags: Lake Mendota, photography, sunrise Campus today. IMG_3541 Note the forsythia in the background. There's lots of forsythia blooming around campus, so if yellow is your favorite color, now is your time: IMG_3529 And I got my own view of the brutalist building that dropped a slab of concrete on that walkway: IMG_3536 Posted by Ann Althouse at 5:00 PM Tags: architecture, flowers, motorcycles, photography, University of Wisconsin, yellowness "I had to email you, because the photo you posted of Meade catching you 'wandering off' bears an uncanny resemblance to the park in Antonioni's great film Blow-Up." "In the film, the protagonist surreptitiously photographs a rendezvous in the park. And then as he keeps 'blowing up' the prints, i.e. zooming in, he starts to think he's witnessed a murder. I thought you'd appreciate the similarity of the images! By the way, I've been reading your blog every single day for years and years. Huge fan. I love that you never skip a day, even holidays. Also by the way, I completely agree with the decision to stop comments. The commenters were often rude and obnoxious, and to the extent they drew you into conflicts and took your attention away from other things, that was a waste of your time. And your time matters to your audience -- us! I agree with the person who emailed you saying the comments had become male-dominated (I would say misogynistic). Which seems to be a theme in online comments sections. Those commenters were a tiny sliver of your audience, and frequently an unsavory sliver. Thanks for everything you do! Please don't stop! The Althouse blog is a daily delight." That's email from someone with the first name Paul. Thanks, Paul! Here's the shot from "Blowup": And here's Meade's shot of me: IMG_5590 Posted by Ann Althouse at 4:46 PM Tags: blogging, Paul (the commenter), photos by Meade Older PostsHome Subscribe to: Posts (Atom) P1030274_2 Who is Ann Althouse? To comment, just email me at annalthouse@gmail.com. Click here to enter Amazon through the Althouse Portal: Amazon I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Support this blog with PayPal Make a 1-time donation or set up a monthly donation of any amount you choose: PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online! Follow by Email Email address... Subscribe To Althouse Posts All Comments Blog Archive ▼ 2021 (796) 04/04 (48) 03/28 (68) 03/21 (57) 03/14 (66) 03/07 (60) 02/28 (53) 02/21 (56) 02/14 (40) 02/07 (62) 01/31 (53) 01/24 (61) 01/17 (56) 01/10 (58) 01/03 (58) ► 2020 (3644) ► 2019 (3453) ► 2018 (3410) ► 2017 (3818) ► 2016 (3557) ► 2015 (3788) ► 2014 (3825) ► 2013 (5118) ► 2012 (4971) ► 2011 (4463) ► 2010 (3835) ► 2009 (3716) ► 2008 (3407) ► 2007 (2915) ► 2006 (2745) ► 2005 (2920) ► 2004 (2035) Subscribe with Bloglines Powered by Blogger

 https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/scott-adams-gets-into-conversation-with.html

"Harvey thinks Michael is a soulless, tasteless, lying prick."

 https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/harvey-thinks-michael-is-soulless.html

A+ on the Joe Biden Quiz.

 https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/a-on-joe-biden-quiz.html

"Say f*** it, put on a your string bikini, and imagine that you're a golddigger who created your own happy ending and is now giving all the cash you scored to the resistance behind your conser[v]ative husband's back." T

 https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/say-f-it-put-on-your-string-bikini-and.html

I've been monitoring men in shorts for a long time, and I have my standards... my evolving standards...

 https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/ive-been-monitoring-men-in-shorts-for.html

6:39 a.m. and 6:41 a.m.

https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/639-am-and-641-am.html 

Campus today.

 https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/campus-today.html

"I had to email you, because the photo you posted of Meade catching you 'wandering off' bears an uncanny resemblance to the park in Antonioni's great film Blow-Up." "

https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/i-had-to-email-you-because-photo-you.html

"Greetings, Ms. Althouse. I've just shown up to your blog to discover you've stopped comments. And while my opinion is, like most, certainly meaningless..." "

 https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/greetings-ms-althouse-ive-just-shown-up.html

“I don't think that you need to rehash ending comments any further, but I just thought of this. There is a Grateful Dead documentary on Prime..."

 https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/i-dont-think-that-you-need-to-rehash.html

6:33... oversaturated.

 https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/633-oversaturated.html

"I’m not surprised that without any of that background information or context that voters would not support these changes."

 https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/im-not-surprised-that-without-any-of.html

"I don’t think I’d need to give up football to do it. They film 46 days a year. I worked 187 this year in Green Bay. That gives me 178 days to do Jeopardy!"

 https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/i-dont-think-id-need-to-give-up.html

Justice Stephen G. Breyer said something very obvious about Supreme Court authority.

 https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/justice-stephen-g-breyer-said-something.html

this is earth built landscape millions

 https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/this-is-earth-built-landscape-millions.html

The Same Donald Trump Pudding

 https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/the-same-donald-trump-pudding.html

We took a walk in the Arboretum today.

 https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/we-took-walk-in-arboretum-today.html

"Long-time reader, first time commenter. I love the café style blog you created and have spent way too many hours reading you and your commenters over the past eleven years."

https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/long-time-reader-first-time-commenter-i.html

https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/how-ron-desantiss-critics-are-turning.html

https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/how-ron-desantiss-critics-are-turning.html  

https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/i-was-sensitive-to-way-my-body-had-not.html

  https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/i-was-sensitive-to-way-my-body-had-not.html

https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/the-new-murakami-book-is-out-today.html

https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/the-new-murakami-book-is-out-today.html  

https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/the-comments-section-had-become-very.html

https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/the-comments-section-had-become-very.html  

https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/the-sun-found-at-636-am.html

https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/the-sun-found-at-636-am.html  

https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/why-is-supreme-court-hesitating-on.html

https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/why-is-supreme-court-hesitating-on.html  

https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/speaking-of-brutalism-when-concrete.html

https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/speaking-of-brutalism-when-concrete.html  

https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/we-heard-bullet-hit-branch-above-us-and.html

  https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/we-heard-bullet-hit-branch-above-us-and.html

https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/looking-for-sun-636-am.html

https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/looking-for-sun-636-am.html  

https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/a-conscious-neck-restraint-by-policy.html

https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/a-conscious-neck-restraint-by-policy.html  

https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/perhaps-youve-noticed-that-ive.html

https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/perhaps-youve-noticed-that-ive.html

to-me-this-is-something-you-do-ideally

  https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/to-me-this-is-something-you-do-ideally.html

"See that smile? Ron had slipped up. He knew it and I knew it."

 https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/we-will-soon-have-no-choice-but-to.html

Looking away from the sunrise

Please post a comment to see if I have things set up correctly. Even if nothing more than Hello or test.  https://althouse.blogspot.com/2021/04/looking-away-from-sunrise.html

Welcome to the Ahouse Comments blog

 Alas Althouse comments are no more. It was the only place I actually commented regularly. I know a number of others feel as I do. I could sit around whining and missing them and all the community who commented there. Or I can do something about it.  So look man, here's the deal. No malarkey. This blog will publish the headers of all of the Althouse poses with a link back to the Althouse blog. You can comment on the posts here, just the same as you would have on the Althouse blog. I ran two popular mailing lists for about 15 years with over 20,000 mails. One of them became the Nevil Shute Foundation www.nevilshute.org. I never had any rules, only guidelines. Basically don't make an asshole of yourself. Try to stay more or less on topic (and yes, I am a big offender and will welcome people calling me out on it) and lets avoid Usenet style flame wars.  I am hoping not to do any moderation at all in terms of cleaning up after commenters. I will if necessary but I really don'...