Tonight's Adam Lambert: "Mad World."

"But why?" — Werner Herzog.

(Via Bloggingheads.) IN THE COMMENTS: Pogo said:

That clip makes me think how my own life would seem so much more meaningful and important were I to have a narrator and some choral music in the background. "Shortly before 6 a.m., we saw Pogo heading straight for the downtown buildings some 7 miles away. "Dr. Aingly explained that even if he caught Pogo and returned him to his family, he would immediately head right back for the buildings. "But Why?" Encounters At the End of Minnesota A Werner Herzog Film

MayBee said:

The penguin goes every summer to live alone among the grizzly bears.

The Czech version of Althouse + Meade.

In the email:

Dear Ann,

I am sure you must have received tons of emails recently, after your blogger love story was published in the New York Times last week. I read the text, too and I could not help but smile.

Me and my boyfriend met on a blog, too. We both blogged for one of the Czech dailies and one day, an admiring comment appeared below one of my texts. I knew who the author was - a co-blogger. He kept returning and leaving more and more comments. I thought at first he was just kidding me – so exaggerated it seemed to me at first...To make the story short: we started sending private messages to each other and chatting on ICQ. We found out we had many things in common and I thought I found my (male) alter ego. We decided to meet in the end, which was not that easy as each of us lives in a different part of the country, about 3.5 hours on the train away. We have been together since. :-)

We decided to publish our love story on the blog about a month after our first date and just like in your and Meade’s case, we received a lot of supportive and surprised comments – our readers suspected something (my boyfriend left lots of hints in his blogs) but could not make the link between us. It was fun to observe....

I think it is rather funny that your story was published on 3 April - that is exactly 11 months after me and my boyfriend met in person for the first time. Although we have not announced anything officially, I’ve received a ring from him and plan to move to the city where he lives in autumn.

I would like to wish you and Meade a lot of luck and happiness.

Best regards,
Anna Leskova, Czech Republic

http://leskova.blog.idnes.cz
http://dulique.blogspot.com

(unfortunately, my both blogs are in Czech...)

It's my dear hope that endless numbers of bloggers and commenters will read and write their way to love.

Don't forget the key step: email. You can love the blogger/commenter to the depth of your heart, but at some point, you need to show up in person and see if the physical presence aligns with what you think you love. To make that happen send email.

There isn't too much litigation in Wisconsin.

Says the University of Wisconsin Law School.

"The notion that somehow civil justice is hurting business in the state is just totally unfounded," said UW law professor emeritus Marc Galanter....

Galanter said one intent of the report was to look at what he called the "consistent drumbeat" put forth by Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce... that claimed excessive litigation was hurting the state's business climate.

A Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce spokesman responds:

"It should come as a surprise to no one that the UW Law School is trying to say that we don't have enough litigation in Wisconsin... They have a vested interest in trying to graduate as many future lawyers as they can accommodate. So they have an interest in expressing that point of view."

"I will never forget the sight of our table... with Brando on his left and that childhood friend, who just happened to be Dylan, on his right."

"At first... the Seder progressed normally without anyone noticing anything out of the ordinary. But after about 45 minutes, 'the rabbi figured out that ours was not your average Seder table.'"

"'Mr. Brando, would you please do us the honor of reading the next passage from the Haggada?' he asked. Marlon replied, 'It would be my pleasure.'"

Brando rose and delivered the passage "as if he were reading Shakespeare on Broadway. Mouths fell open and eyes focused on the speaker with an intensity any rabbi would covet. When he was done, I think people actually paused, wondering if they should applaud."

Next... the rabbi approached another member of our table: "Mr. Dylan, would you do us the honor of singing us a song?"

"Althouse is presumed to be in some sort of more powerful, dominant position..."

Jezebel opines.

"As long as the husband is not travelling, he has the right to have sexual intercourse with his wife every fourth night."

"Unless the wife is ill or has any kind of illness that intercourse could aggravate, the wife is bound to give a positive response to the sexual desires of her husband."

"I look after your body only because we need you for information."

The report of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

"I am Jiverly Wong shooting the people."

"The first I want to say sorry I know a little English I hope you understand all of this. Of course you need to know why I shooting? Because undercover cop gave me a lot of ass during eighteen years... Cop bring about this shooting. Cop must responsible. And you have a nice day."

Here's the PDF of Wong's letter. It is clear that the man was insane.

"George Orwell once observed, brilliantly, that every joke is a tiny revolution."

"So are the best political blogs – that’s why so many powerful people want to silence them."

(Link via Instapundit.)

"At one point, the Wisconsin state capitol building in Madison was evacuated as a precaution as the plane flew over the city."

I'm just seeing this story. Strange how one can be in a city and have no idea some strange possibly terrorist madness is going on around you.

ADDED: When I was considering buying a condo, I wanted a particular one that looked out directly onto the state capitol building, and I thought about how it could be a terrorist target. I also thought about how it might not be good for the mind to have the government looming so conspicuously and constantly in view.

"Okay, you convinced me to try it!!! I've started a blog and written my first post. (Incredibly easy.)"

Working on an old computer yesterday, I happened across the first email I sent after starting my blog (on January 14, 2004).

Just before that I fretted:

I think a problem with professional [blogs] & humor is that you have to be concerned about your reputation too much. I'd like to do one, but also worry about mixing the personal with the professional (in front of the whole world!).

And, hearing of a quirky blog written by a sociology professor, I said:

It is exactly the sort of thing I'd love to do, but I'm too chicken to do it.

I felt that starting to blog was pretty far out of reach for me, but then, an hour later, I just did it.

Barney Frank called Justice Scalia a "homophobe." If that "inflamed you, think hard about why Frank chose to portray Scalia the way he did."

I have an op-ed this morning in the Chicago Tribune. Read it! Conclusion:

I suspect Frank would like to soften us up for future judicial nominations. Back in 2007, Barack Obama told us about "the criteria by which I'm going to be selecting my judges": "We need somebody who's got the heart, the empathy, to recognize what it's like to be a young teenage mom. The empathy to understand what it's like to be poor, or African-American, or gay, or disabled or old."

If Obama delivers nominees who've demonstrated their heart and empathy by reaching outcomes that accord with liberal political preferences, will liberals forget that we need to test the soundness of their legal reasoning? If Frank succeeds in getting people to believe that judicial opinions are the kind wishes of good hearts, we will rubber-stamp these seemingly good people.

If we do that, we will have forgotten what law is, and our rights will depend on the continued beneficence of the judges we've empowered.

IN THE EMAIL: "You are a radical and a rascal and you should be on the Bill O'Reilly show."

"Did Robert Gibbs really need to wake Obama at 4:30 am with news of the North Korean missile launch?"

"We knew the launch was coming and Obama had no imminent decision to make. Waking the president to tell him things so he can return to a troubled sleep that leaves him less sharp the next morning strikes me as a PR-oriented tradition we can do without."

***

"Why can't I just eat my waffle?"

"I cannot play with you. I am not tamed."

Link by Meade.

"Should I stay with my girlfriend after she gave up sex for religion?"

For some reason, I read that as: Should I stay with my girlfriend after she gave up religion for sex?

I thought that was a more interesting question!

IN THE COMMENTS: Paddy O. said:

"I wonder how many married men would have agreed to marry their wives if she told him in advance that she would never, ever have sex with him, even after they were married."

I would have. I would have been heartily disappointed in some ways but the chance to spend my life with my wife far outweighs the delights of sex.

That's how much I love her. I would be willing to give up even that. Sometimes that's not always a choice. If there was an accident, or something happened that physically prevented sex, that would in no way mean I'd see the relationship as over. It would just mean living the life as it was handed to me, and being the better person for walking with her throughout my life.

As far as the article goes, of course he should break up with her. Unless he's on the same page spiritually they will run into problems no matter what. Good for her that she's taking a step to find more wholeness and inner peace, and it'll be better for her to get away from this guy and find someone who is a much better match.

Stanley Fish on the Ward Churchill verdict.

"The verdict did not surprise me because I had read the committee’s report and found it less an indictment of Churchill than an example of a perfectly ordinary squabble about research methods and the handling of evidence. The accusations that fill its pages are the kind scholars regularly hurl at their polemical opponents. It’s part of the game. But in most cases, after you’ve trashed the guy’s work in a book or a review, you don’t get to fire him. Which is good, because if the standards for dismissal adopted by the Churchill committee were generally in force, hardly any of us professors would have jobs."

"The cupola of the 18th-century Santa Maria del Sofraggio church was broken in half like an eggshell, revealing the stucco patterns inside the dome."

Many are dead, and historic buildings are damaged in the earthquake in L'Aquila, Italy.

"Those are winter harem pants. Do you hear me? HAREM PANTS. For WINTER."

"It's ridiculous. If Jeannie dreamed of becoming a lawyer in, like, Milwaukee or something, she'd have ten pairs of those made. But you do not live in an oil lamp."

AMBER: Are they that bad?

ALEXIS: Honey, they give you Grandpa Crotch.

AMBER: ... Okay, let's get out of here.

ALEXIS: Finally.

Girlfriends don't let girlfriends wear horrible pants.

Bob Dylan on Barack Obama: "He’s like a fictional character, but he’s real."

From an interview with The Times Online's Bill Flanagan:

First off, his mother was a Kansas girl. Never lived in Kansas though, but with deep roots. You know, like Kansas bloody Kansas. John Brown the insurrectionist. Jesse James and Quantrill. Bushwhackers, Guerillas. Wizard of Oz Kansas. I think Barack has Jefferson Davis back there in his ancestry someplace. And then his father. An African intellectual. Bantu, Masai, Griot type heritage - cattle raiders, lion killers. I mean it’s just so incongruous that these two people would meet and fall in love. You kind of get past that though. And then you’re into his story. Like an odyssey except in reverse.

BF: In what way?

BD: First of all, Barack is born in Hawaii. Most of us think of Hawaii as paradise – so I guess you could say that he was born in paradise....

BF: What in his book would make you think he’d be a good politician?

BD: Well nothing really....

BF: Do you think he’ll make a good president?

BD: I have no idea. He’ll be the best president he can be. Most of those guys come into office with the best of intentions and leave as beaten men. Johnson would be a good example of that … Nixon, Clinton in a way, Truman, all the rest of them going back. You know, it’s like they all fly too close to the sun and get burned.

Which celebrities do you think have a Google alert on their names?

Billy Bob Thornton?

What do you do on a long drive when you are overcome with sleepiness?

That was me sleeping in the reclined front seat of my car in the parking lot of a McDonald's in El Paso, Illinois yesterday.

Mickey Kaus on Sniggergate.

"Sniggered? You make the call!"

ADDED: I accept the apology.

"I give you Jane Althouse Eyre…"

"Reader, I married him... "

Meade reads the paper.

A late night post.

I'm back in Madison now, after 500 more miles of driving.

Yesterday:

Let me supply the missing links for that NYT article about the Althouse + Meade love story.

Here's the whole article. What follows are the bits that could do with links to the various blog posts and comments that are mentioned:

... the March 22 announcement on her blog...

“Does she know the guy?” sniggered Mickey Kaus, the Slate blogger, in a bloggingheads.tv interview....

... Andrew Sullivan (who also snickered at her betrothal last week)...

... about three years ago, when Ms. Althouse and her ex had a blog-spat, Mr. Meade, whose marriage was then unraveling, commented on Mr. Cohen’s behalf...

In a January post, Ms. Althouse listed lessons from Clint Eastwood’s film “Gran Torino.”...

The next morning, she posted a harsh review of “The Wrestler,” but didn’t mention the date itself....

On Friday, Feb. 13,... the commentariat buzzed with suspicion. “I think the professor has a boyfriend.” Another wrote: “Has anyone seen Meade lately?”

The next morning, Valentine’s Day, Ms. Althouse posted a photograph of the cafe with the caption, “In the Heartland.”...

On Feb. 28, Ms. Althouse posted a photo of a skillet on a stove, with the headline: “You cook breakfast. I’ll blog it.”...

Two weeks ago, Ms. Althouse put up a series of photos. The final was a close-up of her hand, trying on Tiffany sparklers. The commentariat went wild....

"Deep Purple, Thin Lizzy, Rush, Kiss, Ted Nugent, Iron Maiden, Motorhead."

Metallica's James Hetfield, celebrating his band's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, names the artists he thinks belong their too.

Also: Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page played "Immigrant Song." Ron Wood, presenting Bobby Womack, told about the time "he and Womack hid as some Hells Angels gang members were roughing up Wilson Pickett." And Rosanne Cash said that Wanda Jackson "could really rock and still kept her femininity intact."

Buying meat and booze in Cincinnati.

In Detroit, the fight against organized... pillow fights.

"Michael Davis of Hamtramck says police confiscated the 32-year-old man's pillows but returned their cases. He says he was told that he needed a permit."

"Taliban Chief Claims Responsibility for N.Y. Shooting Massacre."

Bullshit or not bullshit? I hate the guy either way, but I really can't tell.

"Welcome to the JournoList Top Secret Progressive He-Man Wingnut Haters Club and L33t H4xoR Chat Room."

Iowahawk vs. Ezra Klein, et al.

I photographed the early magnolias...

And I was being photographed...

"Lobsters? This is how I wind up after leading a just life? In a tank on Third Avenue?"

"The Lord works in strange ways... Take Phil Pinchuck. The man keeled over with an aneurysm, he’s now a hamster. All day, running at the stupid wheel. For years he was a Yale professor. My point is he’s gotten to like the wheel. He pedals and pedals, running nowhere, but he smiles."

"Guy coughs up rusty, 30-year-old nail/Strangers dress guy suitably for his job/Teen knits duct-tape prom dress."

3 consecutive items on a list headed "Latest News" at CNN.com.

An article in the New York Times: "Commoner Captures Princess, Blog Version."

Look out! Jan Hoffman writes a very cool article about me and Meade.

Until now, Meade liked his online anonymity just fine. But at his fiancée’s urging, he agreed to be unmasked here. He is....

The Times has the scoop.

"I don’t know why anyone would be so angry. We’re always helping people. It’s just a great place to be."

12 dead in Binghamton, NY.

"You can play a record without electricity, and you probably will always be able to find a way to play records, whereas CDs will become extinct."

"I'm intrigued by the fact that you could be on Mars with no electricity, but if you have an old mechanical record player, you could just turn the crank and play it with your physical movement."

***

What old vinyl record do you picture yourself cranking a tune out of on Mars?

***

Sitting in the stand of the sports arena, waiting for the show to begin.
Red lights, green lights, strawberry wine, a good friend of mine
follows the stars, Venus and Mars are all right tonight.

It's too early for any color on the redbuds of Madison, Wisconsin.

"Americans do not bow to royalty. In my view, when the royal is the ruling tyrant of a despotic regime, the wrong is compounded."

Obama bows to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.

Interstate 39.

Ward Churchill wins his lawsuit against the University of Colorado.

Rightly so, I think:

The jurors found that Mr. Churchill’s political views had been a “substantial or motivating” factor in his dismissal, and that the university had not shown that he would have been dismissed anyway....

But if he won, why only $1 in damages?

"I love movies like that..."

Obama is like Bush... that's been one of my tags for quite a while.

This story wants the tag so badly I'm forced to link.

"I hit the stage, not knowing what I would say first till the second i put the mike to my face."

"I looked at them all and said 'how are you fuckers doing?' The place went bezerk and it became instantly plain to me what they needed and wanted and what I needed to do. 'You people are in a very fucked up place. I mean, it's Kuwait, the dessert and right over there is a starbucks. I saw the sign and thought it would be a little tent with coffe, but it's a real starbucks! With the jazz music, the chess tables and the faggot with the laptop.' They couldn't believe it. the laughs were enormous. I was filthy. It was awesome. People were going crazy. It was like looking out over choppy water. People rocking back and forth, punching each other, clapping, stamping. It was mayhem. Every time I went way over the line I would say 'I'm so sorry. I am not supposed to be saying any of this. I"m so sorry. Am I in trouble?' which would only make them laugh more. The sargent major was in the front row, arms folded, surrounded by Colonels and whatnot. None of them laughing. All aroudn them were young warriors, men and women of all ages, laughing and cheering at things that NONE of them could think about saying on this base, EVER."

Louis C.K. on a Middle East USO trip. Much more, including photos and video, at the link. Via Metafilter.

Bad "Star Wars" costumes.

More here. Via Metafilter.

"I'm sure Macca's new lady-friend Nancy Shevell is a very nice woman..."

"... but she just willingly, knowingly went out in public wearing leggings that might be made out of Miss Piggy."

Michelle Obama just got more popular than Barack.

According to this Gallup Poll. Not surprising, really:

It is not uncommon for first ladies to be more popular than their husbands, in terms of either their favorable ratings or their job approval ratings. To illustrate, Laura Bush averaged a 71% favorable rating from 2001-2009, compared to George W. Bush's 56% average.

Hmmm. I knew Laura was popular — what did she ever do to offend? — but it's interesting to see that Bush's overall average was 56%. He seemed so famously hated.

***

The Brits are liking Michelle:

"She's a lovely lady, she's very open... she'd talk to anyone" [— some English lady.]

"Now we've met, will you please keep in touch?" [— the Queen.]

''I'm not going to pretend that we're even going to contemplate saving you."

''I love you, Simon, but I don't care."

''Megan, with the greatest respect, when you said that you don't care, nor do we. ... This is your swan song. Enjoy it."

ADDED: To help you Idol non-fans have something to talk about, here's Adam Lambert — from Tuesday night — singing "Play That Funky Music":

"Sisters spread happiness while brothers breed distress..."

"... experts believe."

A terribly painful conversation.

I could only get halfway through. I clicked it off out of of vicarious embarrassment.

UPDATE: Embedded video became unavailable. Try here.

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single blogger in possession of a good vortex, must be in want of a husband."

From the comments on last night's post with Bob & Mickey commenting on Ann & Meade.

Sara said:

When Ann & Meade marry, that will make 9 couples I know or that I've had some online contact with who met online and got married.

Ann, if it helps with all the naysayers, the other 8 are all happy and three have been married more than 10 years now....

Theobromophile said:

Ditto to Sara. People meet online all the time. I know a bunch of eHarmony folks, and my mum met my stepdad on Match.com back in the '90s. At least a comment section of a blog presumes a common interest.

Yes, we need to make a big distinction between the on-line version of what was once the personal ads in the newspaper. I think what is getting attention in my case isn't that we "met on line," because that's not unusual at all. In fact, I don't even think it would get a reaction if 2 commenters got together. (Why not email a commenter you like? You might end up in love in real life.) What is stirring people up is that a blogger is marrying one of her commenters, perhaps especially where the blogger is the woman and the commenter is the man.

Hoosier Daddy said:

I met Mrs. Hoosier in a bar while we were in college. We did a couple of tequila shots together, danced to The Fine Young Cannibals got engaged and married two years later. It's been 18 years of wedded blitz ever since.

AJ Lynch said:

80-90% of married couples met in a bar. Many have trouble admitting it.

Hoosier Daddy said:

Not only do I admit it, I wear it as a badge of honor and distinction. We had a rockin good time, made out in the parking lot and 20 years later we're still together.

All those fairy tales about romantic hookups is bullshit. Two years later she's telling the judge what a cocksucker he is and she ends up with the house, car and is banging the pool boy.

Yeah, how are you supposed to meet somebody? What is the officially approved-of way?

Michael Hasenstab said:

Gosh, you youngsters and your interwebs, meeting online and all.

I'm so old school that I met my wife inline. We were lined up (in person, not via computer queue), waiting to get into the same place early one Saturday morning. We talked (in person, not via some electronic thingie, this was pre-email), exchanged names (using pen and paper, this was pre-PDA) and telephone numbers (to our home phones, this was pre-cellular).

One of us called the other, then the other called one of us a few days later. Then we met once and both explained why we had no, zero, nada, bupkus, zip, nunca intentions of marrying because we both greatly preferred the single life.

We met a second time and part way through that date fell in love and decided to marry as soon as practical. And we did. And decades later remain blissfully married.

When the sparks are ignited, the method or media doesn't matter. A great match is a great match, no matter how it was achieved.

And a few friends and relatives did ask "Does he/she know the guy/girl?" Their questions didn't matter. We already had the answer.

Ha ha. By the way, from my experience, I'd say that the conviction that singlehood is best and I'm never getting married is, oddly enough, breaks through to the shortest path to a decision to marry.

Peter hoh said:

I like the way that "commenter" sounds a bit like "commoner."

It sounds like something out of a Victorian comedy of manners. "She's marrying a commoner? Oh my!"

Paul Zrimsek said:

"She's marrying a commoner? Oh my!"

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single blogger in possession of a good vortex, must be in want of a husband.

"'Money makes people feel self-sufficient.'"

Says Daniel Ariely of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology:

"They are more likely to put forth effort to attain personal goals, and they also prefer to be separate from others." The touchy-feely social side of us may disapprove of such behaviour but it is useful for survival.

You've got your "social norms" and your "market norms"....

[The] ability to assess which set of norms applies in a particular situation is important in guiding our behaviour, Ariely says. It allows you to avoid expecting too much trust in the midst of a competitive business negotiation, for example, or making the mistake of offering to pay your mother-in-law after she has cooked you a nice meal. "When we keep social norms and market norms on separate paths, life hums along pretty well," says Ariely. "But when they collide, trouble sets in."

The trick is to get the correct balance between these two mindsets. Numerous psychological studies have found a general trade-off between the pursuit of so-called extrinsic aspirations — such as wealth, but also fame and image — and intrinsic aspirations, such as building and maintaining strong personal relationships. People who report a focus on the former score low on indicators of mental health, and those strongly motivated by money are also more likely to find their marriage ending in divorce."

Are you keeping your sets of norms straight? It's hard when you're working at a job and even harder in a marriage, but I think it can be done. It's nice if you can arrange your life so that what you do with your time all feels good for its intrinsic value and you also have the cash flow to buy what you need and to pay for the things that are not intrinsically rewarding to do for yourself.

"NASA decided to hold an election to name its new room at the International Space Station and the clear winner is Stephen Colbert."

"NASA decided to hold an election to name its new room at the International Space Station and the clear winner is Stephen Colbert. The people have spoken, and Stephen Colbert won it fair and square -- even if his campaign was a bit over the top."

"It was a loooot of fun!"

Miss Universe visits Guantanamo.

"We visited the Detainees camps and we saw the jails, where they shower, how the(y) recreate themselves with movies, classes of art, books. It was very interesting," she wrote.

"I didn't want to leave, it was such a relaxing place, so calm and beautiful," she added.

(Don't worry. She's not from the U.S.)

A.G. Eric Holder will void the conviction of Sen. Ted Stevens and dismiss the indictment.

Nina Totenberg reports:

The judge in the Stevens case has repeatedly delayed sentencing and criticized trial prosecutors for what he's called prosecutorial misconduct. At one point, prosecutors were held in contempt. Things got so bad that the Justice Department finally replaced the trial team, including top-ranking officials in the office of public integrity. That's the department's section charged with prosecuting public corruption cases.

With more ugly hearings expected, Holder is said to have decided late Tuesday to pull the plug....

Holder's decision is said to be based on Stevens' age — he's 85 — and because Stevens is no longer in the Senate. Perhaps most importantly, Justice Department officials say Holder wants to send a message to prosecutors throughout the department that actions he regards as misconduct will not be tolerated.

Holder began his career in the department's public integrity section; and, according to sources, he was horrified by the failure of prosecutors to turn over all relevant materials to the defense.

Good for Holder. This says nothing about Stevens's guilt or innocence, of course. This is about the insistence that those who wield power refrain from abuse.