October 30, 2011

Yesterday, we drove past the new "Occupy Madison" encampment...

... which you can see in the first 10 seconds of this 14-minute video...



... and you can hang out with Meade and me for the rest of the drive if you want. You'll see some more of Madison and the University of Wisconsin and eavesdrop on us. It's not all politics, I assure you, at 2 p.m. on a beautiful Saturday.

ADDED: A couple extra videos for reference. Here's the awesome song "United We Stand" by Brotherhood of Man:



And here's one of the wonderful "I'm a Pepper" commercials from the 1970s:



Of course, you must know the Herman Cain "smoking man" commercial, and here's the take-off by the Huntsman daughters.

AND: 2 more references. Donald Rumsfeld:



And Little Edie:

62 comments:

Shouting Thomas said...

Go Meade!

I'm so happy for you that you've found love, Althouse. Not easy to do when you're an old fart.

That tiny "encampment" puts things in perspective.

Not much to say about the Badgers two bitter defeats, huh? Same for the Illini.

The Badgers seem to have a problem in the secondary. Two straight weeks of giving up a game on impossible last second passes.

Sal said...

A man is supposed to wait until he's out of the vulva before he lights a cigarette.

Irene said...

"Right wingers ... generally low profile."

*winks*

Sal said...

"For the third time..."

Althouse, I hope you know this about men by now: We can navigate a car or we can pay full attention to a conversation, but not both at the same time. Our brains work differently than yours.

My ex-wife never got that.

Anyway, nice video of Madison. I hope to be living there by spring. I can't wait. (Well, I can wait until spring).

Shouting Thomas said...

The smoking bit... what can you say?

Smoking is one of the reasons Myrna is no longer in this world. But, what the hell, she loved to smoke.

So many of the great people I've known departed this world because the things that they loved killed them. Rick Danko is long gone because he loved to party, loved women and couldn't say no.

The hell raisers of this world (and Myrna was one of them) depart prematurely.

What would the world be like if the do-gooders succeeded in saving the hell raisers?

Ann Althouse said...

"We can navigate a car or we can pay full attention to a conversation, but not both at the same time."

Notice how he paid plenty of attention to the girl playing baseball in a pink tutu and the boy dancing down the street like a Pepper.

It didn't bother me that he didn't hear it the first 2 times though. For one thing, nothing Meade does bothers me. For another thing, my father didn't speak while driving. My mother told me that the first time she went out with my father, she thought he didn't like her because he didn't respond to anything she said while he was driving. Later she found out he just concentrates on driving when he's driving. And he did like her. They got married 2 weeks after they met.

Meade said...

MarkG here... sinccce October... I've had the privilege of making Althouse and Meade laugh out loud.

Irene: *winks back*

Shouting T: That's life and death in the Big Ten, bud. Badgers better hope they don't get their improvable defense jumped around on by Boilers next week.

alan markus said...

Guy smoking in the "Vulva" reminds me of the joke going around in the early 60's:

1st guy: I just bought a new car.

2nd guy: Did you get a "Falcon"?

1st guy: Nah, they gave me a pretty good price.

ndspinelli said...

Good travelogue and a steady hand, particularly in the car.

A couple observations. You took the route of my 8 mile walk. If I'm ambitious, I do the walk up Observatory Drive as you did[in a vehicle!]. If it's hot and I'm lazy, I walk the lake path.

The second observation is a point I've made when asked the boilerplate question by plaintiffs attorneys about privacy. When I present surveillance video of people in public, akin to the shots of people you have, the point is simple. If you're in public..it's public. If you're in private[in your house] it's private. Almost invariably juries get that, but plaintiffs attorneys don't stop beating that dead horse.

Ann Althouse said...

I wonder how many times I've tried to say "Volvo" and had it come out "vulva." Twice in that video alone, so I assume every time I've ever tried to say "Volvo" I've said "vulva." How... hilarious.

Unknown said...

Couple of things I noticed about the "United We Stand" video:

1. Helmet hair.
2. I am so glad that I never wore one of those shirts.

Ann Althouse said...

"Couple of things I noticed about the "United We Stand" video..."

1. Vests — also seen in the "Pepper" ad — were important in the 70s. The slimming effect of a jacket without the constriction of sleeves. And they allowed for the free billowing of flower-patterned shirt sleeves.

2. The males were styled as late-60s hippie-mods, but the females had a different stylist, seemingly from the early 60s. Maybe she had billowy hippie clothes and then at the last minute they decided it was important to show off her figure and they swapped in a dress from some random manicurist.

Chuck66 said...

Jess.....the guy on the left. Austin Powers, baby.

MadisonMan said...

If UW hadn't screwed up punts in both games that turned into touchdowns for the opponents, then the last-minute heroics would never have happened.

I'm amazed that my alma mater keeps cranking out wins, such as against Illinois with game-tying FG doinking off the upright. JoePa gets #409.

Big Mike said...

Your coach going to teach his safeties how to defend the Hail Mary?

edutcher said...

Very nice campus, Madame, more spacious and modern than I would have thought. You have about the same amount of leaves on the trees than we do.

Also surprised Madison isn't more industrial.

And I can't believe Ann, who grew up on the east Coast, doesn't know rugby when she sees it.

PS Can't believe all the tie-dyed junk for sale. The 60s never really ended, did they?

Ann Althouse said...

"And I can't believe Ann, who grew up on the east Coast, doesn't know rugby when she sees it."

Meade calls it soccer at first look, then immediately sees that it's rugby. I'm not really seeing what's going on or purporting to describe it.

That said, the "east coast" is a big place! I don't think there was any rugby at my high school, and soccer was maybe something we did in gym class. The team sports that mattered to people in that time and place were football and basketball.

MadisonMan said...

Nice video. You drove by three family landmarks: The building where my grandmother got married, the building that her grandfather designed, and the house where a family lived whose daughter my Dad dated (pre-Mom).

vnjagvet said...

That Pepper guy is 60 now. All those Peppers are at least in their 50s.

edutcher said...

Ann Althouse said...

"And I can't believe Ann, who grew up on the east Coast, doesn't know rugby when she sees it."

Meade calls it soccer at first look, then immediately sees that it's rugby. I'm not really seeing what's going on or purporting to describe it.

That said, the "east coast" is a big place! I don't think there was any rugby at my high school, and soccer was maybe something we did in gym class. The team sports that mattered to people in that time and place were football and basketball.


Rugby started coming in around the middle 60s.

I saw some where I went to school and a good bit more at Villanova. Soccer was bigger in some environs than others, but I would have thought Newark and Wilmington, if not North Jersey, were close enough to the Philadelphia 'burbs culturally that you would have seen more of it. I know North Jersey only because I was up at my aunt's, usually on vacation, so what schools did might be different, but I would think the NY 'burbs aren't that different culturally.

But, as far as the big three sports, yeah, Philadelphia's a big roundball town, especially at the college level.

Paul said...

"Althouse, I hope you know this about men by now: We can navigate a car or we can pay full attention to a conversation, but not both at the same time. Our brains work differently than yours."

What a load of shit. I can drive, hold a conversation and eat a hamburger at the same time. Most women drive adequately at best, but are completely oblivious to the finer points of assessing and anticipating patterns and movements of other drivers, picking lanes, braking before curves and accelerating out of them, etc., etc.

Psychedelic George said...

It's the real thing--what the world wants today.

I'd like to buy the world a home and furnish it with love, grow apple trees and honey bees and snow white turtle doves.

I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony.

That's the real thing.

ndspinelli said...

ebutcher, My brother played rugby @ Villanova..small world. I think he liked the singing and drinking postgame as much as the game.

gail said...

Paul said, "Most women drive adequately at best, but are completely oblivious to the finer points of assessing and anticipating patterns and movements of other drivers, picking lanes, braking before curves and accelerating out of them, etc., etc."

-----
I'll take you on any day Paul. You ain't driven until you've done a big truck, at times loaded with cargo that could shift and put the whole thing on its side. Or crossed 1930s era bridges so narrow semi's would have mirrors ripped off either by an oncoming truck or the bridge if you moved too far right to give the oncoming truck room. Adding to the fun was dodging the holes in the bridge deck and trying not to look through them to the river.

And hey, since manly genes make you such a great driver, do you notice the people on bridges ready to drop rocks on your vehicle in time to take evasive action?

But what do I know, I just used to be part of the 5% of female professional OTR drivers, and less than 0.5% female owner-operators.

Driving ability is just another thing INDIVIDUALs do differently with different levels of ability, skill, common sense and a self-defined level of expertise.

Oblivious and stupid are equal opportunity labels.

Jason (the commenter) said...

I would love, during the debates, for one of the candidates to whip out a cigarette and light it up.

jungatheart said...

Jason, that would be a cool ongoing SNL skit.

Carol_Herman said...

You go to war to win!

And, we should never have gone to war to "help" the saud's!

How did Donald Rumsfeld go from being a poor boy ... to where he got?

I give his brains credit.

It got him into Princeton (I think), on a wrestling scholarship.

And, yes. He won his elections by working hard. THEN? Well, "then" he found out how you can go to a pharmaceutical company. Run it. And, become quite wealthy.

Then, in politics ... first he found Nixon. From Nixon he jumped to Ford. Ford lost. Which meant he had to figure out some other way to grow rich.

Along the way he found the parasitical Bush's.

The truth is pretty easy to figure out.

Tyrone Slothrop said...

I played a bit of rugger at UC Irvine in 1972-3, then another season at Gonzaga U in 1979. I have the crushed vertebrae to prove it. A great deal of it was based on drinking and lewd songs. Certainly our athletic ability was nothing to write home about, but we would have salivated at the prospect of rolling over some effete east coast team, who I'm pretty sure sipped sherry as they bid their valets to carefully remove the grass stains from their "rugby costumes".

Ron said...

Too much Wisconsin for me....I need other locales!

coketown said...

This just screams Richard and Hyacinth. "Mind the pedestrian." "Minding the pedestrian."

Johanna Lapp said...

The male lead singer for The Brotherhood of Man was Tony Burrows, a five-time One Hit Wonder.

From Wikipedia: Besides "United We Stand," Burrows sang the lead vocals on Edison Lighthouse's "Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)" (February 1970); White Plains' "My Baby Loves Lovin'" (March 1970); The Pipkins' novelty song "Gimme Dat Ding" (April 1970); and The First Class' "Beach Baby" (July 1974).

In February 1970, he became the only person to appear on BBC-TV's Top of the Pops fronting three different acts in one show: Edison Lighthouse (who were number one that week), White Plains, and The Pipkins.

Sal said...

Paul: Yes, there is probably some individual variation in the ability to multi-task when one of the tasks is listening to someone talk. I find it difficult and so do others.

Also, we don't know what your idea of a conversation is. It could be you talking while your wife sits there silently looking out the window. That would be much less difficult.

michaele said...

So, is the video your own little joke on your family of commenters to see how many would stay for the full 14 and a half minutes. My husband looked up when I said the word "bubbles" aloud and I had to explain the context. I felt busted!

Anonymous said...

Isn't Madison wonderful?! I never appreciated it back when my youngest daughter was an undergrad and living in those old houses in those neighborhoods inhabited with students and an occasional Professor. Later after seeing more of Madison and it's beauty I fell in love with it.

After selling my house he in Waukesha County I am moving to Madison, where being a lefty I will fit right in. Waukesh County can keep its righties and County Clerk. I guess your hopes for more rightosity in Madison may be dashed, it's a lefty Mecca, always will be.

Ann Althouse said...

"Isn't Madison wonderful?!... after seeing more of Madison and it's beauty I fell in love with it.... being a lefty I will fit right in. Waukesh County can keep its righties and County Clerk. I guess your hopes for more rightosity in Madison may be dashed, it's a lefty Mecca, always will be."

1. As a good lefty, you should consider whether calling Madison a "Mecca" is properly PC.

2. Lefties who love Madison because of how much they will fit in as lefties are not showing the greater love for Madison. It's like saying you love your friends because they always agree with you. Real love isn't about getting yourself reflected and reaffirmed. That's insipid.

Carol_Herman said...

NO TRAFFIC!

I grew up with a dad who liked nothing better than to drive his car! (Okay. Maybe, the "destination" was Nathan's, in Coney Island?)

But he just loved to drive, usually for about an hour or so.

And, gas was not only a quarter, you got free dishes! And, the attendant would also wash and wipe your windshield.

Little by little we lost it all.

And, even with super duper freeways ... what's most obvious is that plenty more Americans are hurting so much ... that no one is "adventuring" out for "just a drive."

And, no. They're not encamped out at an "occupy city."

It's as if everything our media turns to is just some sort of cosmic joke.

Anonymous said...

Ann, I didn't say I loved Madison ONLY because I felt I would fit in there, don't put words in my mouth, or should I say take them out. I have family in Madison and I like living in an area I consider beautiful. YOU do not have claim to Madison and what is has to offer, how very snobbish of you Ann.

madAsHell said...

Men have the unique ability to think about nothing. The complete Indian-Chief-TV-test pattern kind of nothing.

Women always have some random thought popping up in their heads, and they want to share it.

Ann Althouse said...

"Ann, I didn't say I loved Madison ONLY because I felt I would fit in there, don't put words in my mouth, or should I say take them out."

Quote the inaccurate words.

Hint: You can't.

Ann Althouse said...

But you are right that I am "snobbish" about things I consider insipid, like left-wingers loving to be inside a cocoon of leftiness.

I love vigorous dialogue. I go out of my way to live around people who don't agree with me. It doesn't appeal to me at all to go looking for a place where people agree with my political opinions. I'm not even that interested in my political opinions. I like stimulation, conversation, and debate. If I were in a more conservative place, the locals would look at me as a liberal outsider. If I'd spent a quarter century rubbing up against conservatives, this blog would be much more about the foibles and incoherences of conservatives.

Anonymous said...

I said that " after seeing more of it's beauty" I fell in love with Madison. THOSE are the words you chose to ignore and instead accuse me of wanting to live in Madison only because I felt I would fit in. That is inaccurate and comes off as snobbish. Do you think only you can appreciate what Madison has to offer?

Anonymous said...

OK that's great Ann, why do you think I hang out HERE?

Paul said...

Gail; Sure there are great women drivers. I don't drive a truck but I have no doubt I could, and do it well. I drive a Class A RV and have pulled lots of trailers, and backed one up for a long distance when I drove out on a narrow levy only to find a locked gate.

But as always it's about the bell curves. They overlap a bit but men are overall much better drivers.

Hell there are even some good Asian drivers but I can guarantee where I live in California the vast majority of the truly boneheaded maneuvers seen on the roads will reveal an Asian behind the wheel.

So you may be a butch drivin' mofo but you're an outlier.

Paul said...

"Also, we don't know what your idea of a conversation is. It could be you talking while your wife sits there silently looking out the window. That would be much less difficult."

My wife? Silently looking out the window? Hahahahahaha!!!

garage mahal said...

Shorter ALthouse:

It's exhausting living around liberals that disagree with me. And it's their fault that they make me take Andrew Breitbart seriously!

Anonymous said...

Garage, Althouse might get really POd when she finds out my daughter and son in law live very near her and are expecting their first child, AND this dirty hippie grandma will be babysitting daily at their house.

Ann Althouse said...

"I said that " after seeing more of it's beauty" I fell in love with Madison. THOSE are the words you chose to ignore and instead accuse me of wanting to live in Madison only because I felt I would fit in. That is inaccurate and comes off as snobbish. Do you think only you can appreciate what Madison has to offer?"

You were supposed to quote *my* inaccurate words. I know you can't, so you should concede as much.

Anonymous said...

Oh good grief Ann, are we going to have a girly fight over who deserves to live in Madison more? I don't concede that I am insipid. Well maybe I am. BUT Madison here I come!

Ann Althouse said...

Mita, I asked a straightforward question and you are avoiding it. I am selective about when I interact with commenters, and you are showing me that you don't appreciate my engagement with you. Noted.

Anonymous said...

Another thought Althouse, please don't presume to tell me what love is. You are not the authority on love, you write a blog, you are a lawyer ,you are a professor, you are not an expert in what true love is , neither am I, but I won't presume to tell you what love is. Love means different things to different people.

If I were looking to be reflected and reaffirmed I certainly WOULD NOT hang out here on your blog that is rife with right wing bigots and haters.

Anonymous said...

Ann should I feel honored you have chosen to grace me with your comments? Well maybe I should it's your blog after all. And now that I have incurred your anger because I didn't reply the way you want me too, you can feel free to ban me, or whatever you do to naughty commenters.

gail said...

Well congrats Paul if you can drive and then back up a Class A RV...a lot of GUYs can't even keep them in a single lane going forward. I'm sure you're one of the few men who make sure the trailer lights are actually working...or even working correctly.

Before calling me an outliar, why don't you provide links to facts that back up your "beliefs" that men are "better drivers"...and just how do you define, "better?"

BTW, don't assume driving an RV is much like driving semi. There's a lot more to freight delivery than driving forward with the occassional backup.

Interesting you resort to name calling for having your opinion challenged...

rtsquard said...

Please clean the lens of your video camera; there is a bit of dirt at the center of the top third of the frame that has been present through a couple of videos now. It is apparent against the clear blue sky throughout and against the light tan building from 5:56 of this video. It looks like a spot slightly darker than the surrounding area.

Ann Althouse said...

"Please clean the lens of your video camera; there is a bit of dirt at the center of the top third of the frame that has been present through a couple of videos now."

I know! Sorry. I have cleaned it.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

It's not all politics, I assure you, at 2 p.m. on a beautiful Saturday.

Thank you and Meade for that.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

..and keep those Rumsfeld references coming.

I miss him.. CSPAN misses him.

Meade said...

Yes indeed, Lem.

And belated congrats on your new job, man.

Dad29 said...

Also surprised Madison isn't more industrial.

Never really was. The town had a large tooling plant which sold BIG machines to GM/Janesville (and a few other places)--now closed and partially used as a bus-barn. Also had another industrial occupant for a while.

Madistan's industry is now largely centered around UW's excellent bio-engineering. There are a few manufacturing facilities, but Milwaukee and the Fox River Valley are the real metal-bending capitals in the State.

As to rugby: that really didn't catch on until the late '80's in high schools, and remains a 'club' sport--not part of the WIAA-governed HS sports-set.

Still a very minor item.

Anonymous said...

Madison needs to have a Chicago fire.

blake said...

I'm pretty sure Dr. Pepper turns you into a werewolf.

Well, that's what happened to that guy, anyway.

ndspinelli said...

Althouse/Mita..IT'S ON..CAT FIGHT. Actually, I think it's not on, the professor threw in the towel.

B said...

'the professor threw in the towel'

Naw. AA made it pretty clear that Apple Butt is now firmly ensconced in AA's bozo bin. I haven't noticed AA being very patient with muddled thinkers and certainly doesn't let an ignoramus like Apple Butt bait her.