December 11, 2016

At the Big Snow Café...

DSC04590

... you can talk about whatever you want.

And if you're doing some shopping on Amazon, please consider going in through The Althouse Amazon Portal.

60 comments:

JackWayne said...

76 in houston. Shorts and t-shirt.

YoungHegelian said...

For the first time, & I hope the last time, in my life, last night I got on my RS-6000/AIX server & read a 16 year old backup tape from a client.

Talk about yer dinosaur feathers in amber!

Left Bank of the Charles said...

Just don't let the black-faced Zeus scratch his ass on any snow boulders.

rhhardin said...

Ohio dog surveys the snow damage this morning.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Let's talk about how AGW supposedly prevents warmer air from retaining more moisture to fall as excess snow.

Robert J. said...

Did you know there's an Althouse Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins?

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=M7JsrwcAAAAJ&hl=en

HT said...

"John Bolton doesn’t get it. He still believes in regime change. He’s still a big cheerleader for the Iraq War. John Bolton is so far out of it and has such a naive understanding of the world. He should get nowhere close to the State Department if anybody with a sane worldview is in charge,” Rand Paul said.

Etienne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Prof.

Do you know anyone planning to get a haircut as people are doing in DC? Any stories like this in Madison?

http://nymag.com/thecut/2016/12/women-make-dramatic-beauty-moves-after-trumps-victory.html

FYI, Hillary Clinton will win the Electoral College and will be the new POTUS on 12/19.

The next POTUS (i.e., after Hillary) will be Warren or Gillibrand.

Original Mike said...

Current forecast is for another 8-12 inches next Friday. A white Christmas looks likely, which is great. A snowless Christmas sucks.

HT said...

A handful of women in a select part of the northwest quadrant get a haircut and it’s a thing.

Drago said...

HT: "A handful of women in a select part of the northwest quadrant get a haircut and it’s a thing."

Theoretically (very theoretically) we won't know its a "thing" until Vladimir Putin directs his government to direct individuals in other countries to hack the email accounts of all the fashion gurus and then, via wikileaks, release those email messages to the US public at large to see if that public can be swayed "fashionistically" in a direction viewed more advantageous to Russia's long term fashion interests.

This will necessarily require an FBI investigation by our newest J Edgar Hoover type (according to the dems) that will work in concert with these email leaks to ensure the public gets the correct Putin-directed, vast right wing, climate denying, comb-over message.

gadfly said...

+50 F/ 10 C Wisconsinites plant gardens

+20 F/-7 C Cleveland's water freezes
Green Bay Packer fans put on T-shirts

+15 F/-10 C Cats and dogs insist on sleeping in the bed
Wisconsinites swim with the Polar Bear Club

+10 F/-12 C It's too cold to snow
You need jumper cables to start the car

0 F/-18 C Sheboyganites grill brats on the patio, hey!

-5 F/-21 C You can hear your breath

-10 F/-23 C American cars don't start
It's too cold to skate
Ice fishers close the door on their shanties

-15 F -26 C You can cut your breath and use it to build an igloo
Wisconsinites lick flagpoles

-20 F/-29 C Cats sleep in your pajamas with you
People in La Crosse think about taking down their screens

-25 F/-32 C It's too cold to kiss outside
You need jumper cables to get the driver going
The Milwaukee Brewers head for Spring Training

-30 F/-34 C Pilsner freezes
Bock beer production begins
Wisconsinites shovel snow off the roof

-40 F/-40 C Wisconsinites put on sweaters

-50 F/-46 C Alaskans close the bathroom window
Green Bay Packers practice indoors

-60 F/-51 C Wisconsinites put away their gloves and take out the mittens
Boy Scouts in Eau Claire start the Klondike Derby

-70 F/-57 C Hudson residents replace their diving boards with hockey nets
Green Bay snowmobilers organize a trans-lake race to Sault Ste. Marie

-90 F/-68 C Minnesotans migrate to Wisconsin thinking it MUST be warmer

-100 F/-73 C Wisconsinites pull down their ear flaps

173 F/-114 C Ethyl alcohol freezes
Only Door County cherries are usable in Brandy Old Fashioneds

http://dnr.wi.gov/wnrmag/html/stories/1996/dec96/weather.htm#hot




walter said...

Yes R&B, the sky is falling...but it's pretty this time of year.

HT said...

Thumbs up, R&B! Good one!

HT said...

Go Steelers! (Though I think the big ole center for the Bills just made a great play. Very alert.)

HT said...

Is it my imagination or do the Steelers always have a good running game?

Etienne said...

YoungHegelian said...RS-6000/AIX server

We were an RS 6000 office. Running IBM CAD. One day we got charged $1000 for a server hard drive failure. Our company slowly phased everything to Oracle Linux servers and PC's over six months.

I liked them because of the bare metal backup/restore of the "mksysb" tape. We had 4mm, 8mm, and 9-track reel tapes. That way we could send our drawings to the mainframe, and customers. I might even remember how to go from EBCDIC to ASCII with enough coffee.

rehajm said...

Nerds.

Bay Area Guy said...

If you love history in general, and love WWII history in particular, you must read AJP Taylor's classic "The Origins of the Second World War", published in 1961.

It's pure counter-intuitive genius from a famed, probably socialist, British Historian.

HT said...

Ben!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What is that? The third or the fourth? You can't thow in the snow or what? OMG.

My understanding of WW2, I deem as adequate for now. What I really don't understand is WWI, and I have had relatives who were alive for it and fought in it. Maybe they didn't understand it either.

I recommend Mind of the South. Every sentence is incredibly rich.

Etienne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
FullMoon said...

T said... [hush]​[hide comment]

Ben!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What is that? The third or the fourth? You can't thow in the snow or what? OMG.

My understanding of WW2, I deem as adequate for now. What I really don't understand is WWI, and I have had relatives who were alive for it and fought in it. Maybe they didn't understand it either.


I have a photo handed down with a note on back to my WW2 marine uncle

"Dear Jack ,
40 years ago today in Belleau Woods I got hit with hand grenades.
Time sure marches on. Here is a picture of our strawberry garden.
Not too many berries yet but hope we’ll have some soon again.
With Love
Dad

5th Regiment 16th company 3rd battalion"


Grandfather was a man of few words.

Etienne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Alex said...

Dogs.

HT said...

We did it!!!

We beat the last place team in the NFC East. Whew!

FullMoon said...

It will be fun if Obama makes a speech in mid January saying the investigation into Russian interference is complete and there is no basis in fact.
I believe Obama dislikes the Clintons and that it more profitable in the future for him to be on Trumps side than Clintons.

HT said...

Power likes power.

YoungHegelian said...

@smitty,

I liked them because of the bare metal backup/restore of the "mksysb" tape

The 16 year tape I read as a "test tape" to test if my drive could read their system's tapes was a 16 year mksysb system image.

The production data we are charged with restoring is much younger than 16. Unfortunately, the 8mm tape cartridges the recent backups were written to are 16 years old!

walter said...

Blogger FullMoon said..
I believe Obama dislikes the Clintons and that it more profitable in the future for him to be on Trumps side than Clintons.
--
For a man pretty fond of his golf game, he seemed to campaign fairly vigorously for her. Even risking attention to his prior lack of experience by exhalting hers.

lemondog said...

A Final Warning from George Orwell

....the intoxication of power

Michael K said...

"if anybody with a sane worldview is in charge,” Rand Paul said."

Rand Paul is not much of a judge of a sane worldview. It's almost the only thing I don't like about him but it is disqualifying.

I like Bolton but think he is a better deputy to Tillerson. Deputies can be the COO type guy.

Hagar said...

Since Nixon and Kissinger, we have had the Secretary of State office as a separate entity from the State Department.
Trump may have selected Tillerson to do the jetting about and Bolton to try to get control of Victoria Nuland's "building."

Hagar said...

Japan attacked Pearl Harbor because their military was out of control and had been since their successful wars of 1894 and 1905. Hirohito was not an "innocent," but he was a "go along" person and not the one to tell the military No!
They were on a roll and had no idea of how to stop or what the final outcome should, or would, be.

Hagar said...

Today, Iran is on a roll in the Middle East, and China is pushing for a "Greater East-Asia Co-prosperity Sphere" under Chinese management.

Bob Ellison said...

Hagar, I studied foreign policy and concluded that I don't know shit about it, and also concluded that nobody else does, either. Joe Nye, I'm pointing at you. John Kerry, please go to your potty and shut up.

Hagar, you point at power as the main issue, and I think I agree.

If power is the main point of diplomacy, then most people in the leftosphere are powerless. They don't know how to deal with that. Talking about the problem is not going to solve the problem. Thinking about it, ditto. This is tough for leftists.

Hagar said...

"Diplomacy is the continuation of war by other means."

Etienne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
DB said...

"Kremlingate" involves unauthorized disclosure of information. That's what happened to Nixon in Watergate. Someone disclosed ugly secrets, and the press published them. In the Nixon case it was sublime. The way the Fourth Estate should work. Now it is a tragedy. Of course, it shouldn't matter the rat; if the press were doing their job, they'd be "hacking" one way or the other (electronically or by human sources), and they wouldn't be calling themselves a threat to our democracy. They'd be heroes. And, when comparing the evils of hacking versus the evils of electing the President on false and incomplete information, I say the latter is far worse.

Drago said...

HT: "Thumbs up, R&B! Good one!"

Yes, it's especially clever to post "AGW" in your link to a cartoon which only mentions "climate change"!

Clever!
Honest!

ngtrains said...

WWII - A World at Arms is a great read. It's been updated.
Hitler needed to have Japan open a second front against the US.
They really thought the US would fold after the attack. One admiral
warned against waking the tiger, but he was overruled. They were
confident they could win with a quick strike. But the carriers were out
to sea, The harbor was really too shallow so several big ships could be
raised and rebuilt. They did not hit the fuel depot. they dod not destroy
the dry-docks. The Japanese navy and army did not communicate at
all. They were nearly independent. They stretched themselves too thin
to take Australia, etc.

Fascinating book

Fandor said...

"The weather outside is frightful...let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...I've got my love to keep me warm!"

HT said...

It is so cold in GB that I closed a window in DC and felt warmer.

Big Mike said...

I don't get why people are praising R&B. Every time those d**ned kooks open their yaps about "global warming" or "climate change," we get another spell of unusually cold weather. Every. Single. Time.

Hey! R&B! You there! Gaia is trying to tell you something. Now shut up and pay attention.

HT said...

Why can't we win by a similar margin as GB is currently beating Seattle? Why do our games always come down to a final drive???? marcia marcia marcia. (But hey, we did beat Green Bay)

Big Mike said...

@gadfly, your comment about temperatures made me think of this song.

Sydney said...

I'm continuing my exploration of the writing of Doris Lessing. I took commenter Carol's advice and tried The Golden Notebook after being disappointed by Shikasta. The Golden Notebook is much better, and Carol was right- it's a fascinating look at the lives of Western communists. Part of the novel centers around a group of young communists in colonial Africa during World War II. This has made me want to read about the history of post-World War II Africa. Any recommendations? I realize that might be too broad a topic for one book, but would appreciate any suggestions.

walter said...

Skantily clad

wildswan said...

Extra Rules for Grilling in Wisconsin

First, brush off the snow.

Second, wear shoes if it's snowing.

Third, nothing ever looks better in the dark than sparks rushing up while heavy snow swirls down

Michael K said...

"This has made me want to read about the history of post-World War II Africa. Any recommendations?"

One small suggestion is the biography of Mary Renault, the author.

She is one of my favorite authors and wrote a whole series of novels about ancient Greece, She was also a doctor's daughter, a registered nurse and a lesbian. She and her partner moved to South Africa after the war and lived there until she died.

David Sweetman's biography of her and her partner, Julie Mullard, is a picture of post war South Africa, where she was sometimes criticized for not speaking out about Apartheid. She was enough of a pioneer and just wanted to be left alone. It's an interesting portrait.

I'm sure there are much more authoritative treatments but sometimes a biography will let you ease into a topic.

madAsHell said...

America's Politico

He's back! This guy plagues me. He....She? always shows up every presidential election year. In 2012, much to my dismay, he correctly predicted the Obama re-election. In 2016, he made no predictions, but he has returned to share his insight AFTER the election. W?T?F????

Anonymous said...

I'm reading Short Nights, Shadow Catcher, The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis, by Timothy Egan on my Kindle... hmm that title is not so good, but the book is great fun so far.The guy was definitely in the right place at the right time in terms of his developing career - he saved a National Geographic expedition from nasty conditions on Mt. Rainer... then ended up touring Alaska with them on an all-expenses paid journey...

Anonymous said...

beautiful scene. quiets the brain, meditation quality. I hate to ask because it would ruin the tranquility of the scene but something more artistic than a yardstick in the middle, with, say just one foot scribes, or something leaf like, or tinsel, or, a tiny led light, or .. ? I don't know, you're the artist. nice work Professor. Fare thee well.

Fen said...

So Buzz Aldrin posts a pic of a pyramid-like mountain in Antarctica with the caption "We are all in danger. It's evil itself". Alien conspiracy theories abound. How do we tell if its fake news?

John Kerry is heading there.

I mean seriously, the only movie where that idiot would be sent on a diplomatic mission to consult with an advanced alien civ would be a comedy. A tragic one.

David Baker said...
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David Baker said...

Nice to see Zeus! I've been away so long I had forgotten! Is he still a regular visitor, or has he moved right in?

Meanwhile, it finally occurred to me that Donald Trump wants a completely new slate. No patronages, as it were. All new people, new names, thus the absence of cabinet picks like Gingrich, Christie, Giuliani, and Huckabee - the one notable exception being Dr. Ben Carson. But Carson is cut from a very different cloth, and fits the new administration. Either that, or Dr. Carson accepted what Trump believed Carson would refuse, which is apparently how Trump unloaded Giuliani and Christie. But even then, it's a well calculated risk, the "risk" being minimal.

And who would have thought of "Tillerson," apparently a man for all seasons. An excellent choice, too, unless we'd rather - ala Obama - make enemies.

But I'd also like to see some fireworks, like in the Strait of Hormuz. After Mattis is sworn in. Then take a shot, Mr. Mullah, see where it gets you. Can you imagine, Iran taking hostages/prisoners. And getting away with it?

And what about the liberals, because today's Trump is not at all what they were told to expect.

Fen said...

Wapo is so close, but still doesn't get it:

"When another person asked why some people seem to vote against their own interests, Cramer again turned the question around. “I’m not claiming people are voting against their own interest,” she said. “We have to be careful about how we define what people’s interests are. . . . The trick is to think about what policies can you offer that people in those positions perceive as in their own interest.”

Why do people seem to vote against their own interest? What a loaded question. What do you think their interests are? By what right do you "know" what's in their own interest? Silly rubes, they don't know their own mind, they need a smart person like you to tell them what's best. Even though the closest you've been to Wisconsin is a postcard.

And note the solution by the "expert" - trick them. Offer them policies they will perceive as being good for them. Maybe they will accept a handful of shiny beads, like the natives who once lived here before them.

The Left is not going to pull up. It's entirely possible that they have lost the blue collar vote for a generation.

Bad Lieutenant said...

AP,

Note how no women have *actually* mutilated their hair, only talked about it. The one photo in the article is meaningless. Surely actual hair victim photos could have been garnered? <--you see what I did there

I wonder if the Soviets at Pravda and Izvestia and Tass had any shame about their work, or were as self-righteous and morally blind as the American media today.

Bad Lieutenant said...

Sydney,

A slice:

The Tangent Objective
The Tangent Factor
By Lawrence Sanders

cornroaster said...

Saw an interesting article that actress Sofia Vergara is being sued by her own frozen embryos. Ordinarily, I would understand that the embryo would have no standing in court, but once it is removed from the female body, is it possible that a court could award it rights that it would not have while still within the mother's body? Interesting concept for the future of reproductive right case law.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/sofia-vergara-being-sued-her-124801910.html