Althouse: At the Mountaintop Café...

March 29, 2010

At the Mountaintop Café...

... unspoool.

58 comments:

traditionalguy said...: That is a great cool down post. Thanks.; 3/29/10, 4:14 PM
Hunter McDaniel said...: Not sure if you are still in town, professor, but I thought I'd mention one of my (and the wife's) favorite places to go snowshoeing.

http://www.bouldercounty.org/openspace/recreating/public_parks/caribou_ranch.htm

It has quite a bit of history, as you can read at the link.; 3/29/10, 4:17 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: That is a great cool down post..

Next stop Frank Rich Central ;); 3/29/10, 4:19 PM
traditionalguy said...: Is it a misprint, or have the Police in Michigan actually found explosive IUDs at the group members homes? That would be a hate crime for sure.; 3/29/10, 4:25 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Looks like a good place to dump a body.

wv = caperti [Eyetalian for "the dirty mug deserved it"]; 3/29/10, 4:27 PM
Peter V. Bella said...: Is Meade contemplating building a mountain retreat? (Redoubt?); 3/29/10, 4:31 PM
traditionalguy said...: Did you catch the Podhoretz opinion on Palin in the Wall Street Journal? He writes it like I think it.; 3/29/10, 4:33 PM
Calypso Facto said...: "Unspool"

Or unwind....; 3/29/10, 4:38 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Althouse is scouting for a location of a Coen brothers movie. This pic looks like the indistinguishable spot where that dumbass buried the bag of money in Fargo.; 3/29/10, 4:47 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Trad Guy:

Does your wife know you are hot & heavy for Palin?; 3/29/10, 4:49 PM
mesquito said...: Hey! It's still winter somewhere!

I was just swimming in Mesquito Creek.; 3/29/10, 5:01 PM
AlphaLiberal said...: Let’s just hope the media really flogs this story. Although you know the Republicans will push back hard.; 3/29/10, 5:02 PM
knox said...: Unspool. That'd be nice. Every day there's something new that reveals just what a giant clusterfuck HCR is. At least it's mildly interesting to try to guess how much of the mess is caused by incompetence, and how much of it is by design. But mostly it's just depressing.; 3/29/10, 5:14 PM
knox said...: Alpha,

You assume the rest of us are as invested in our political figures as you are in yours.

We want the political class to have less influence in our lives, not more. They're all creeps.; 3/29/10, 5:15 PM
ricpic said...: Bear Claw Chris Lapp: You've come far pilgrim.

Jeremiah Johnson: Feels like far.

Bear Claw Chris Lapp: Were it worth the trouble?

Jeremiah Johnson: What trouble?; 3/29/10, 5:16 PM
Michael said...: Alpha: Your homophobic brethren now turn against both bondage and lesbians? do you people have no shame at all? Are you against adult entertainment? do you loathe sex industry workers? Holy smokes you people are not only humorless you are absolute puritans. Homophobe.; 3/29/10, 5:22 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: You assume the rest of us are as invested in our political figures as you are in yours.

One of the most compelling attributes of the Tpers is their willingness to remain top-down leaderless.; 3/29/10, 5:27 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "Hey! It's still winter somewhere!"

It was actually 56° there. It takes a while for all the snow to melt.; 3/29/10, 5:29 PM
Anonymous said...: Alpha is just using Althouse's blog to game Google results.

She should delete his spam. It's cluttering up what is quickly becoming just another lefty-troll comment blog they use to goose Google.

B. O. R. I. N. G; 3/29/10, 5:30 PM
mesquito said...: 56 degrees is winter where I live.; 3/29/10, 5:32 PM
Revenant said...: Let’s just hope the media really flogs this story.

I knew there was something I liked about Steele. :); 3/29/10, 5:36 PM
traditionalguy said...: A J Lynch...The wife thinks all traditional men are smitten with gutsy Sarah, so I'll have to act like I think she is only another woman trying for a man's job. But she does have a dose of Charisma that even The Chosen One cannot contend with. Find me a male GOP candidate like that and then can dismiss Palin as a mere woman.; 3/29/10, 5:44 PM
traditionalguy said...: Alpha...Do you think we need a Special Prosecuter yet for strippergate?; 3/29/10, 5:46 PM
Joe said...: You people are all SLACKERS, we are labouring mightily to break a 300 post thread and you all are here looking at a rusty, tetanus infested snow-scape.....BAH on you people!; 3/29/10, 5:48 PM
traditionalguy said...: Joe...New rule:if more than a fourth of the posts are by or at Jeremy and Alpha, then the 300 comment thread must have an asterisk beside it.; 3/29/10, 5:54 PM
Chip Ahoy said...: I tempered several ounces of couverture today and coated a plate of pecans like chocolate turtles. They're indescribably delicious and I intend to eat them all, but not all at once. I will not share heh heh heh heh heh until I perfect the idea. They could be improved. I'm thinking of topping them with candied ginger or possibly candied orange peel or lemon.; 3/29/10, 6:05 PM
Anonymous said...: POLLOS; 3/29/10, 6:08 PM
traditionalguy said...: Chip...If they are dark chocolat, then the try adding a few raisins.; 3/29/10, 6:13 PM
LonewackoDotCom said...: Anyone care to guess the current background image on my Twitter? Hint: the place where (IIRC) it ends is not named after a luxury car, and it's in a NationalPark.

P.S. This site, like many others, uses nofollow tags (a scam searchengines came up with that the vast majority of bloggers fell for). That means that links don't pass "Google juice". However, the comments here do get into Google. Taken together, that means that you're working for free.; 3/29/10, 6:20 PM
Unknown said...: Looks like the high range, wherever you are. I'll bet that 56 feels a little nippier than that.

If you've ever been to Flagstaff, you know what I mean. The cold there goes through you.; 3/29/10, 6:28 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: Looks like the high range, wherever you are. I'll bet that 56 feels a little nippier than that.

Not sure where this was taken, but if the next post is any indication of where they are right now, I would say not, but rather, in the foothills.

My guess is that my father and two brothers (and me at one point in time) live at about this elevation, maybe 20-30 miles due south of there (at least they do with the pictures in the next post). The foothills jump from about 5k to 7.5-8k in a couple of miles, and then maintain that rough elevation for maybe 20 miles, before heading up towards the Continental Divide. It isn't a high plain, since it is really the tops of the foothills.

My absolute favorite place in Colorado is above tree line around the Continental Divide in the central Colorado Rockies. Once you are up on the ridges, you can often go for miles and miles in places without gaining or losing much elevation. It is actually reasonably flat there in a lot of places. You wouldn't know it from down below in the valleys where the people are. And, it is a bit high - maybe 12k or so. And, you can see for miles - sometimes up to 100 or so (ok, the only thing you can see that far off are other mountains).

Maybe having lived much of my life around those mountains, I am a bit biased, but I don't really consider something a high plain, unless it is at least 8,000 feet, and maybe higher. Think South Park (yes, the one memorialized by the TV show), maybe an hour and a half SW from Denver on U.S. 285 (or over Hoosier pass from Breckenridge). The difference between places like South Park, and the shots in this post, is that there is actually farming and ranching there. South Park is maybe 30 miles wide and 60 long.; 3/29/10, 7:15 PM
AlphaLiberal said...: Oh, come on you guys. It was a joke.

Here, let me help you understand, for the humor-impaired.

You see the Republican Party spent $2k of donor money for a special strip club specializing in bondage themes, lesbianism, play acting and such.

That's why I said I hope the media "flogs" the story! Get it? It's a pun!

And that the Repubs will push back "hard," because Republicans are a kinky bunch!

Now I know this story will tie the family values party in knots. But you should take heart because this is a real improvement for you since Larry "wide stance" Craig or Diaper Dave Vitter.

Good times!; 3/29/10, 7:16 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: Whoops. The link I put in my last post was to Fairplay (where the real South Park elementary school is that Cartman, etc. supposedly attend) and not really to South Park. If you want to see South Park, zoom out maybe 6 times (until the scale shows 10 miles). Fairplay is at the NW corner of South Park.; 3/29/10, 7:19 PM
AlphaLiberal said...: Oh yes, this really should dominate the newscasts, at least until all the loose ends are tied up.; 3/29/10, 7:31 PM
AlphaLiberal said...: And one can only hope the press investigates if the minority whips Jon Kyl and Eric Cantor were involved.

But this could have been an inquisition into a proposed pole tax.

Must watch Late Night tonight.; 3/29/10, 7:33 PM
rhhardin said...: Notice from the IRS: my 1040 understated my estimated taxes by $1.03 and so they're issuing a refund _plus interest_.

I'm wondering if the threshold on mailing out isn't a little low.

The discrepency, I imagine, would be from Turbotax rounding each of 4 payments to the nearest dollar and then adding them up; vs the IRS adding them up and then rounding to the nearest dollar.

When I wrote little programs of my own to do my 1040s I kept 18 significant digits throughout, and so never exactly agreed with the rounders at the IRS on anything, but they didn't complain about it.

Those were Republicans.; 3/29/10, 7:34 PM
AlphaLiberal said...: No doubt there'll be a penetrating expose.; 3/29/10, 7:35 PM
Penny said...: "No doubt there'll be a penetrating expose."

Must admit, Alpha Liberal, now you have me on your wave length, and I got some personal satisfaction from that. ;); 3/29/10, 7:54 PM
Andrea said...: You know what, the previous comment thread seems to be broken. Althouse either needs to get off Blogspot or get another commenting system that can handle more than 50 comments per post without crashing.

I have spoken.; 3/29/10, 7:57 PM
Penny said...: Here's the thing though...

Between now and November, pole dancing will give way to POLL dancing.

Given my oft times voyeuristic nature, I can barely wait to see just how raunchy this is likely to get.

My guess? "XXXX"!

It may not fall trippingly off the tongue, but it is guaranteed to make your eyes water.; 3/29/10, 8:06 PM
AlphaLiberal said...: Well, we know Republicans are itching for a spanking in November.; 3/29/10, 8:29 PM
AlphaLiberal said...: Or is that aching for spanking?; 3/29/10, 8:31 PM
Penny said...: How could I know?

They have me focused on their new undies right now.; 3/29/10, 8:51 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "You know what, the previous comment thread seems to be broken..."

No, it's not. You just have to click to "newer" (at the bottom of the page) to get to comments beyond the first 200... and do it again if the comments go over 400. Only 200 comments can display at a time. Most posts don't go over 200, but when it happens, it's easy to get to them.; 3/29/10, 8:53 PM
rhhardin said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/29/10, 8:54 PM
rhhardin said...: trying links again

An Imus bumper from this morning, Rosie and the Originals Angel Baby.

Compare the chords in My Darling Forever.

Lonely Blue Nights is another good one.; 3/29/10, 8:59 PM
rhhardin said...: Chabrier the first French composer killed in a high speed bicycle accident.

Benefits from picking full screen.; 3/29/10, 9:09 PM
Anonymous said...: Most posts don't go over 200, but when it happens, it's easy to get to them.

Yes, the BEST comments are often found
around #325 or so.; 3/29/10, 9:16 PM
Ralph L said...: Hankering for a spankering.; 3/29/10, 9:20 PM
Anonymous said...: Someone should do a study of comment periodicity
and resonance effects. But you don't get enough
data until about 180 comments.; 3/29/10, 9:21 PM
Anonymous said...: Ah, rh,
César Franck was run down by a horse-drawn trolley.
He might have been on a bicycle. Never been sure.; 3/29/10, 9:37 PM
Andrea said...: That used to work but now I click "newer" and it seems to just bring up the same page of comments.

Or maybe the comment thread got so boring and repetitive with AlphaJeremy or whoever it was bloviating on and on about Iraq and WMDs and evil Christian rightwingers who want to force Muslims at gunpoint to listen to Ted Nugent records and then kill pigs, or something, that it just looked like the same page loading.; 3/29/10, 9:46 PM
Anonymous said...: You're on to something, Andrea.

My theory is that high-frequency
resonances caused by the effects you describe
weakened the comments so much that they
broke into tiny, random pieces of snark.

But, like sand on a drumhead, they organized
themselves into Chladini patterns, one standing
wave crest unrecognizable from another.
You could scroll through the comments,
but you'd need Fourier analysis to know
where you were.; 3/29/10, 10:11 PM
Penny said...: And perhaps you would need to be plain speaking, Theo?

Not for me of course. I happen to love you just the way you are.; 3/29/10, 10:14 PM
Joe M. said...: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/mar/29/james-lovelock-climate-change

This guy may be the most sensible voice I've yet heard in the climate change camp. He says some pretty shocking things (see the headline), but if you can get past your first knee-jerk "he said WHAT?" reaction and read through the whole interview you see that he's really quite thoughtful.; 3/29/10, 11:30 PM
Anonymous said...: Yes, we are stupid. And murderous. And generally sinful, especially against Mother Gaia.

If we are too rotten to rule ourselves, as your Dr. Lovelock plainly says, I'm wondering just how big a mustache the next guy who's going to do it for us ought to have.

After all, it's probably going to get too hot this time around for much facial hair.; 3/30/10, 12:48 AM
Anonymous said...: People used to feel guilty about sex.

Now they fee guilty about the weather.; 3/30/10, 12:51 AM
Anonymous said...: I was wrong in my 12:38 AM comment.

Dictators no longer have mustaches.
Nobody gets that joke anymore.

No, they have Ivy League degrees.

Next up: Hereditary titles of nobility.

It's a little retro, I know, but how else are the Right People going to keep those proles from wrecking everything?; 3/30/10, 8:11 AM