Althouse: At the Incense Café...

February 14, 2011

At the Incense Café...

... please don't get angry.

49 comments:

MadisonMan said...: I have never understood the appeal of incense. It just makes me wheeze when they use it in church.; 2/14/11, 8:44 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: I'm with MM. Except that I sneeze rather than wheeze.; 2/14/11, 8:47 PM
Palladian said...: "I have never understood the appeal of incense. It just makes me wheeze when they use it in church."

Probably 'cause you're evil.; 2/14/11, 8:48 PM
kent said...: Bieber fans go on Grammy-fueled Wikipedia rampage

Obnoxious Beiber teenyboppers, on the one hand; purveyor of misinformation and mass ignorance, Wikipedia, on the other.

It's like Godzilla duking it out with Mothra. You just keep thinking to yourself, over and over again: Please, God... please, let them both lose. ;); 2/14/11, 8:51 PM
Palladian said...: I love incense, which, properly speaking, is the word used to refer to the resinous exudate from the Boswellia sacra tree.

Here's one of my censers, an 18th century brass one of American provenance. Incidentally the word "perfume" comes from parfumar, "smoke(d) through", referring to incense.; 2/14/11, 8:54 PM
madAsHell said...: I went to Christmas Eve midnight mass in Salzburg (St Sebastian). We were late, and I was surprised that the seats in the front were available.

They lit the incense.

What a nice touch....incense on Christmas Eve.

The incense burned out.....and the fugger reloaded.

The incense burned out again....and another reload. Could they not see us suffering??

The Austrians in the back seats were bailing out. We were paralyzed by etiquette, and suffered through the entire mass.; 2/14/11, 8:56 PM
The Elder said...: That's enough to make a guy incensitive.; 2/14/11, 8:59 PM
David said...: "We were paralyzed by etiquette . . . "

Almost as bad as a stroke, and often more permanent.; 2/14/11, 9:03 PM
Unknown said...: Not my thing, although The Blonde has been using it to mellow out a bit as we try to find success in the search for employment.

Having been dumped by her employer after only 43 years, rejection is tougher for her.; 2/14/11, 9:14 PM
Lem the artificially intelligent said...: We were paralyzed by etiquette..

lol.. I know exactly what you mean.; 2/14/11, 9:21 PM
The Concrete Dog said...: after
lying in a coma
fr 28 yrs
sunny von bülow
died at a nrsing home
in new yrk

her 2nd husbnd claus
found gilty th 1st trial
of kilng her with insulin
acquitd in retrial

seren n still
like sleepng beuty
manicurd nails
blond hair set 2wice a wk
nuns n nurses
hr son n dautr
and later the estrangd one
in a 3 decade vigl

there wer no eulogies
only hymns
grandkids she nevr met
red from the bible

th incense
reminded hr
of her 1st weddng; 2/14/11, 9:23 PM
traditionalguy said...: I remember reading that incense clouds were a symbol of worship behind which a Levitical High Priest approached the Living God in the Holy of Holies. The incense was then very much the designated method to prevent God from getting angry and killing the intruder who was bringing in the sprinkled blood sacrifice as an atonement.; 2/14/11, 9:25 PM
Phil 314 said...: I was an altar boy growing up and I can definitely and unpleasantly recall carrying the incense for stations of the cross. so no, I don't appreciate incense.; 2/14/11, 9:28 PM
Meade said...: The Elder said...
"That's enough to make a guy incensitive."

Come on now - Don't be an old nag, champin' at a bit of nag champa. Be an incensitive new age guy, why doncha?; 2/14/11, 9:30 PM
Peter Hoh said...: Edutcher, sorry to hear that.

Best wishes in your search.; 2/14/11, 9:31 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: Sorry to read that, Ed. Wow, forty-three years. That's rough. Best of luck to you both.; 2/14/11, 9:33 PM
traditionalguy said...: Someone once gave me a box of middle-eastern Frankincense to try burning, and its fragrance was actually very nice.; 2/14/11, 9:33 PM
dick said...: Reminds me of Smoky Mary's Church - Church of St Mary the Virgin right off Times Square. I went there wit a friend and the priests used so much incense that I had to leave. I could not even breathe. I think i it is on 46th St. They seem to really load up with the incense there.; 2/14/11, 9:39 PM
KCFleming said...: edutcher,

Bad news, sorry to hear.
My prayers for her.; 2/14/11, 9:43 PM
Unknown said...: Thanks to you all for your concern.

She did know much about e-mail or some of the other computer-related things job search requires these days and she's had to learn a lot.

Things seem to be looking up a little more now, but, if a week goes by and she doesn't hear from any contacts, she gets a bit down.; 2/14/11, 10:06 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: please don't get angry.

No? Then you explain how a motherfuckin' burning stick is supposed to calm me the fuck down.

Damn.; 2/14/11, 10:21 PM
Lem the artificially intelligent said...: That's very rough to get laid off after so many years.. I know because it happened to me.

Good luck.; 2/14/11, 10:21 PM
G Joubert said...: I have never understood the appeal of incense

It masks the smell of pot.; 2/14/11, 11:12 PM
Anonymous said...: A vacuum cleaner salesman knocks on the door of an older woman's trailer and proceeds to dump a bag of dog turds on the floor. He tells the shocked woman that he is selling the Acme A-1 Vacuum Cleaner, the absolute top of the line model, and that he will demonstrate its prowess by vacuuming up the dog turds. "I am so confident in its cleaning power," he tells the woman, "that I will literally get down on my hands and knees and eat anything left behind!"

"I'll get you a knife and fork" the woman replies. "They shut my electricity off yesterday."

Peter; 2/14/11, 11:13 PM
chickelit said...: Peter I am going to start cutting and pasting your jokes for future reference and retelling.

Most awesome sir.

Thanks!; 2/14/11, 11:16 PM
Chip Ahoy said...: This had me in stitches at 2 o'clock in the morning.

Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon are reviewing six restaurants for BBC, but in this YouTube clip they're trying to outdo each other with their Michael Caine impersonations during a lunch break.

The thing that got me was Brydon's, "I'm not fucking finished!"; 2/15/11, 1:14 AM
Revenant said...: I have never understood the appeal of incense. It just makes me wheeze when they use it in church.

It smells nice but, yeah, it bothers my allergies too.; 2/15/11, 2:19 AM
Clyde said...: @ madAsHell

Actually, the Fuggers were based in Augsburg, not Salzburg. I'm posting from my phone or I'd add a link!; 2/15/11, 2:20 AM
Revenant said...: Chip, that is awesome.; 2/15/11, 2:22 AM
MamaM said...: Moving sticks in the form of Strandbeests created/invented by Dutch kinetic sculpture Theo Jansen. (They appear 8 seconds into the video and are amazing to watch in motion); 2/15/11, 3:13 AM
Almost Ali said...: Obama's so-called budget proves once again that he's a jive turkey. A very dangerous jive turkey.; 2/15/11, 5:58 AM
HT said...: That picture is misleading. Is the incense good incense or that nasty cheap stuff that invariably costs 3.59 (or less) a packet? And smells exactly the same whether it's vanilla peach or one of the more standard ones? I love incense, but only the good stuff. There was a winter pine or something that I used to buy in Georgetown. Hard to find that these days, so I buy lavender, and that's good too but not as. I'd love to try out the incense they burn in churches (though not in my southern church), but I don't know where to go to buy it.; 2/15/11, 6:58 AM
Clyde said...: Why is it that when I comment from my home computer, I have no problems but when I comment from my cell phone, using the same Blogger account, I get flagged as spam? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

Anyway, while waiting for my early-morning comment to get chummed out of the spam bucket, here's a thought: I read a quote on Instapundit last night from some fellow named Brian Leiter bemoaning the fall of the Soviet Union: “Finally, certain other world-historic crimes, such as the U.S. war of aggression against Iraq, are unlikely to have occurred if the Soviet Union had remained intact.”

Instapundit has no comments, but I can put my reaction here: Stupidity is like toothpaste: Once it comes out, you can't put it back.; 2/15/11, 7:19 AM
Clyde said...: And here is that promised link for madAsHell to the Wikipedia article about the Fuggers, the medieval merchant family from Augsburg. I became familiar with them when I was stationed in that city for a couple of years in the early 1980s.; 2/15/11, 7:31 AM
Fred4Pres said...: insense is good if you are camping and you need to repell mosquitos.; 2/15/11, 7:35 AM
Anonymous said...: With incense, as with everything else under the sun, the golden rule of life applies:

Everything in moderation.; 2/15/11, 8:13 AM
knox said...: It masks the smell of pot.

Huh. I always thought its purpose was more to sort of announce "We've been smoking pot here! We're pot smokers!! Aren't we cool?!"; 2/15/11, 8:46 AM
Triangle Man said...: $23 million more federal dollars that Wisconsin doesn't need.; 2/15/11, 8:54 AM
MadisonMan said...: Yes, I saw that too. (shakes head)

Wisconsin is open for Dial-Up!

It's like the present Governor doesn't want to invest in the future or something.; 2/15/11, 8:57 AM
James said...: I voted. The cynical ploy by liberals to get David Prosser off the Supreme Court shouldn't be allowed to succeed.; 2/15/11, 9:07 AM
Lincolntf said...: knox said...

Yeah, I always thought burning incense in a dorm, wherever, to "cover" anything was pretty stupid. Kinda like the jackass who slaps a "Legalize It" sticker on his car and then wonders why the cop "invaded his privacy" by peeking in his ashtray.; 2/15/11, 9:11 AM
MadisonMan said...: I voted too. My votes for Mayor, Alderman, and Supreme Court Justice went to my neighbors. How can you not vote for people you see out and about when you're walking around the neighborhood talking to friends? There wasn't a County Supervisor candidate who lives near me though so I had to choose in a different way.; 2/15/11, 9:11 AM
kent said...: "[A] massive pile of fiscal bullshit."

Evidently, the thrill (up Andrew Sullivan's leg) is gone.; 2/15/11, 9:22 AM
TMink said...: Where is the K2?

Trey; 2/15/11, 9:46 AM
Unknown said...: Funny, all the comments about incense. The photo isn't about incense, as I see it, it's about color, and texture, and light and shadow. Nice image.; 2/15/11, 10:12 AM
James said...: @MadisonMan. Voting for neighbors is better than several other reasons I can think of.; 2/15/11, 10:19 AM
Almost Ali said...: Sex in public:

CNBC cutie Erin Burnett attempted to interview Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska this afternoon, but her every expression cried rape. Deripaska did everything but rip her clothes off, and Erin felt it. Like a cornered school girl.

CNBC hasn't posted the video yet, and I wouldn't blame them if the never post it. There's a partial transcript available, but the words reveal nothing. And is why I and others always monitor CNBC with mute on.; 2/15/11, 2:32 PM
pavlova8 said...: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? like it :); 2/15/11, 6:06 PM
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