Althouse: At the Catkin Café...

April 28, 2010

At the Catkin Café...

... let the feline family meow.

48 comments:

rhhardin said...: It's Black's move.; 4/28/10, 7:44 PM
Rialby said...: Is it time to donate to Marco Rubio? Yes, it's time to donate to Marco Rubio.; 4/28/10, 8:42 PM
Scott said...: Me and partner missed the gym again tonight. He's screwing around on the computer instead of filling out the six page job app for the job at Newark Liberty Int'l Airport that I will be taking him to tomorrow.

He needs the work but he's not doing what he needs to do to prep for the interview. He won't get enough sleep tonight, that's for sure. But if I push him, the likelihood of failure will go from being a high probability to being a virtual certainty.

I love him, but he makes it so hard.; 4/28/10, 8:51 PM
Trooper York said...: Why because the specialize in the fish taco?; 4/28/10, 8:51 PM
Palladian said...: "I love him, but he makes it so hard."

Hmm, that's generally why I love a young man. Because he makes it so hard...; 4/28/10, 8:53 PM
former law student said...: Special event to coincide with Sarah Palin's Chicagoland appearance in two weeks:

http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/politics/Strip-Joint-Hosting-sarah-Palin-Look-a-Like-Contest-admiral-theatre-92201764.html

It's safe to say more than a few red-blooded American males have pictured Sarah Palin in her birthday suit. Considering her political aspirations it'll likely remain a fantasy.

But one local strip club may have the next best thing to seeing "Sarah Barracuda" in the buff.

Chicago's Admiral Theatre is hosting a Sarah Palin Look–a-like Contest on May 12, coinciding with the Republican politician's appearance in Rosemont.

Club owners have opened the competition to anyone who wants to
participate, but seeing as it's an adult entertainment club, the potential winner will likely need to reveal more than a quirky Alaskan accent.; 4/28/10, 9:03 PM
LonewackoDotCom said...: There's already a pern0 star who looks like Palin. News you can use.

Say, on the "best interests of the U.S." beat, can anyone direct me to someone - anyone - doing a better job opposing the opposition to the new Arizona law?

Why isn't anyone else even coming close?; 4/28/10, 9:21 PM
chickelit said...: There's already a pern0 star who looks like Palin. News you can use.

She's probably the same one who that X-rated Tina Fey spoof called 30 Cock(s).
Yawn; 4/28/10, 9:35 PM
Synova said...: So... my husband and his friend called the cops to come out to see if what appears to be blood all over the inside of the trunk of the junker they just bought actually is blood or not.

He said "looks like arterial squirting" or some such... I'm trying to think what else might possibly look like that. I haven't gone out there to check it out. It's dark after all.

When I was a kid we dehorned an adult cow. She was fine when it was all done, but right after she ran around the barn with blood squirting out of her sawed off horns. She was shaking her head as she ran around the barn so there were trails of blood in waves on the bare wood walls.

So maybe I should go out to see if it looks like that, or if it looks like someone was just trying to clear the nozzle of a can of spray paint.; 4/28/10, 9:59 PM
chickelit said...: Nice avi change Palladian- is that Mondrian?; 4/28/10, 10:04 PM
chickelit said...: Why because the specialize in the fish taco?

That's right Trooper- it's part of the Catkin's diet.; 4/28/10, 10:06 PM
LonewackoDotCom said...: I just posted another one about the AZ law, this one about Shikha Dalmia of Forbes Magazine and Reason Magazine. If you believe anything she says after that and Part 1, please do leave a comment on the latest and I'll add even more.; 4/28/10, 10:13 PM
Palladian said...: "Nice avi change Palladian- is that Mondrian?"

Nope, it's just me.

My old avatar, an 18th century print of an Andrea Palladio facade, with colored orifices.; 4/28/10, 10:21 PM
Unknown said...: Ann Althouse said...

... let the feline family meow.

Much better if you can get the feline in your family to purr.; 4/28/10, 10:22 PM
chickelit said...: He said "looks like arterial squirting" or some such...

Synova- is your husband a Dexter fan?; 4/28/10, 10:28 PM
BJM said...: Our pussy president makes a dick move.; 4/28/10, 10:32 PM
chickelit said...: BJM: Hardly threatening. They're just typical white people.; 4/28/10, 10:43 PM
Chip Ahoy said...: Yay for Nikons.

I don't know what my sister is doing but she sure has different views on how to raise her kids.

My relatives came over en mass so my place was packed with people and I was busy. My nephew, a rather spoilt technophile, picks up my Nikon fit with a lens more expensive than the camera and he just starts using it. Taking pictures all over the place. I know it's in steady hands, but still. Then he takes out the chip and uses my card reader to upload the photos he took on my laptop. Honestly. Must I lock these things up? He didn't break anything, and he does know what he's doing, but that he didn't even bother to ask has be totally flummoxed, mostly with my sister who sees nothing amiss. WTF?; 4/28/10, 11:03 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: I know what you mean Chip..

Common courtesy ain't so common anymore.

Like my sister, asking people to help her move while her husband and her not bother packing a thing.; 4/28/10, 11:33 PM
reader_iam said...: Consider seeing this view of Palladio; 4/28/10, 11:34 PM
BJM said...: @Chip

I had a similar experience with my nephew and a laptop. My sister couldn't see the problem either.

Now I log off my computers and stow cameras and such when the extended family is in the house.

I also had a private chat with the nephew about boundaries and the correlation of my displeasure and his birthday/college fund checks.

You really do not have to put up with inconsiderate behavior because the bad actors are family and you're not doing the nephew a favor by enabling his lack of manners/consideration.; 4/28/10, 11:35 PM
Synova said...: "Synova- is your husband a Dexter fan?"

I don't know.

The cops said "You were right to call, we don't think it's blood."

Which I suppose is good.; 4/28/10, 11:38 PM
reader_iam said...: Yet: *and* layers within a whole exist;--for example, I have an additional, particular, perhaps peculiar love for the pages-flipping bit contained therein.; 4/28/10, 11:46 PM
LonewackoDotCom said...: Anyone want to humor me and compare BJM's "dick" link with this one?

If you oppose BHO, which is better:
1. Lying about him (he doesn't call the cops) and not doing anything approaching real reporting (there's no who/what/etc.). That's BJM's link.

2. My post, which is based on years of coverage and which shows BHO lying and even swiping a line from Bush (I can guarantee you that very few would have picked up on that).

If you really oppose BHO - and you're not just playing around - which is more effective?; 4/28/10, 11:54 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: Heh. Chip, you have to tell him to knock it off. My nephews are quite polite, but I tell them to 'knock it off' for various reasons all the time when they visit.

"Hey, you're wrestling with each other on my feet. Knock it off."

"Hey, you're throwing a football back and forth in the living room where a dozen adults are trying to have a conversation. Knock it off."

"Hey, you're reanimating the dead. Knock it off."

Just the usual stuff like that. (I bet no one read that far.); 4/28/10, 11:57 PM
reader_iam said...: Just the usual stuff like that. (I bet no one read that far.)

Consider your bet lost--and then some.

; ); 4/29/10, 12:01 AM
Revenant said...: Anyone want to humor me and compare BJM's "dick" link with this one?

I'm going to guess "no".; 4/29/10, 12:08 AM
BJM said...: As usual Lonewacko misses the point.; 4/29/10, 12:17 AM
reader_iam said...: My own son has been around technology all of his life. In certain ways that means freedom. In other ways it's a complete throw-back to "I brought you into this world, and I can take you out of it."

He does not--repeat NOT--just [get to] pick up anybody's shit and use it. Nor does he just remove the cards from just whatever (including, truth be told, from his own stuff, just yet) to upload them or do anything else.

He has lots of access (at least by our lights) but even more limits (due to our lights). For the record, those parameters apply to everyone else, too--child, teen and adult alike--who might enter our space, containing all its technology.; 4/29/10, 12:19 AM
reader_iam said...: Now I log off my computers and stow cameras and such when the extended family is in the house.

You are a much nicer person than I am. I will not do anything of the kind. I don't do that in my own home, and we don't have to do that in the homes of our extended families either (with the exception of moving stuff way up high when kids approximately 6 and under are around). As a result of the collective stance, the problem is roughly 97% addressed.; 4/29/10, 12:32 AM
reader_iam said...: I admit to being utterly cold on this issue. My parents were musicians. I was born when they were both in school. My younger brother was born as they were both starting out. Both of us were capable of carrying precious instruments (at that time without back-ups; money was close to non-existent, and what money was was made depended on the meager equipment so far acquired) at very, very, very early ages with all due care. We both knew not to fuck with, or fuck around, vital equipment. Which--as was repeatedly reinforced--was not ours to fuck with, or around, to begin with.

And that, as they say, was that.

FWIW. : ); 4/29/10, 12:45 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: There is a house in a movie called Ripley's Game (2002) that looks like one of Palladio's.

See it here at aprox 00:39 secs; 4/29/10, 12:49 AM
reader_iam said...: To be clear, my parents did not use the actual word "fuck" in any form to inculcate in us the absolutely inviolable value referred to.

(At that time, "emphasis" didn't necessarily require what was then quaintly referred to as "profanity" to have strength and carry weight.

LOL.); 4/29/10, 12:55 AM
Anonymous said...: Yep, Reader, my kids have learned to respect musical instruments, too, but with surprises.

My oldest, who is the family space case, loses and wrecks things. Sorry, he's just that way. We've been trying to teach him since toddlerhood. But he has never dinked his violins, including his final, full-size adult instrument, inherited from his mother. He broke a cheap bow once as a small kid, but that was IT.

His brother, the careful, cautious one, with everything in its place and wiped up and neat, managed to put a nasty dent his $2400 trumpet. Arrgh! Got it fixed, but it will never be the perfect, new professional trumpet again. The only reason we risked such an instrument (gotten quite a bit more cheaply b/c I'm in the biz) was that he was supposed to be the responsible one.

Meanwhile, his brother's violin just goes on in its casual but well-respected way.

Don't ask me about their iPods.; 4/29/10, 1:09 AM
reader_iam said...: Theo: Yes.; 4/29/10, 1:18 AM
reader_iam said...: Absolutely.; 4/29/10, 1:22 AM
reader_iam said...: But consider how different that reality is from:

1) Wha---???? Whaddaya mean my kid can't just do anything he wants? Whaddaya mean I'm supposed to care about that, or do something about it? What's your problem?

or

2) Oh those kids, and their parents! *Rolls eyes, chuckles.* Better to disable or put away all my stuff! *Rolls eyes, shrugs off annoyance.* Why don't those people every learn? *Squints eyes in resentment.*

or, God forbid,

3) The confluence of both.; 4/29/10, 1:39 AM
MamaM said...: Chip...this puts a whole new spin on the polar bear card! WUT??? No wonder he ended up eating the penguin and flossing his teeth with the flippers.

Generosity of spirit can easily be mistaken for permission. It's up to you to let your nephew know what does and doesn't work for you.; 4/29/10, 2:16 AM
reader_iam said...: Yeah, OK, then there's that: WUT???; 4/29/10, 2:47 AM
KCFleming said...: Freeman -Ha!

Chip, my sympathies.

There's an entire generation of montessori princesses, imaginations never stifled, desires never forestalled, rules never observed (if ever proffered).

And usually by pedagogic dictum.
The children of Dewey.

My neighbor kids are like that. Over time, we trained them to ask to shoot baskets, rather than just begin the game.; 4/29/10, 6:33 AM
MadisonMan said...: Don't ask me about their iPods.

My son's iPod is bent. I don't know how. Daughter's iPod has a cracked screen and doesn't work anymore, so she's using her old one. He slammed his phone in the car door. Daughter has gone through five (5) cameras.

They've never dinged their instruments.; 4/29/10, 7:33 AM
MadisonMan said...: So Chip, I will not send my daughter to your house. Your camera would not survive :); 4/29/10, 7:35 AM
AllenS said...: I have to drive to Balsam Lake today and pick up my tree order. 25 red maple, 25 nannberry and 25 Norway pine.; 4/29/10, 7:50 AM
Anonymous said...: I love reader's summary of attitudes. Whether nature or nurture, we're fortunate not to have to deal with such.

Madison Man reinforces what I've noticed: Kids will unthinkingly destroy expensive techno toys, but musical instruments seem to fare a lot better. Being in the flute business, I've seen some amazingly wrecked instruments (e.g., new $25,000 gold flute pancakeized by the family van, because mom, while loading same, left the flute case on the ground), but what's surprising, actually, is how few instruments are damaged.

Considering the fragility and complexity of modern flutes, you'd think they would be damaged at a much higher rate than they are. There seems to be something about musical instruments—perhaps the old-fashioned term, their "virtue"—that communicates itself to people, even little barbarian ones, so they tend not to tear them apart at the same rate as the plastic junkies with which their lives are otherwise festooned. It's not that we have the Maytag repairman here, but everything considered, we should be a lot busier than we are fixing the fragile contraptions that any enterprising three-year-old could tear apart in a heartbeat.; 4/29/10, 8:39 AM
AllenS said...: Ok, I got the trees. Where in the hell is Meade? Do I have to do this all by myself?; 4/29/10, 9:05 AM
former law student said...: Now I log off my computers and stow cameras and such when the extended family is in the house.

Some kids, at least, seem to have a no harm, no foul mentality.

About ten years ago now, good friends who had moved away stopped by for a few days while they were traveling. Their son was 12, a good kid his whole life.

Not till three years later did I discover that during their visit he had installed AIM on our desktop, complete with a lengthy Buddy List. I don't even know when he would have gotten on our computer.

Nothing was harmed, but certainly he never asked any of us if it would be ok to sit down and install software on our machine.; 4/29/10, 9:28 AM
reader_iam said...: ...Daughter has gone through five (5) cameras.

They've never dinged their instruments.

Would you have bought five times over again an instrument?

(Also--and I'm seriously curious here; you're a reasonable guy, I know based on experience, so this is query is not based on snark--why did you choose to buy camera #3? And what motivated you to not just buy, but justify buying, #'s 4 and 5?); 4/30/10, 2:59 AM
BJM said...: It's not just kids, people have lost a sense of propriety and respect for others in general.

During a casual outdoor family birthday gathering I discovered my 38 yr old brother-in-law smoking a cigar in our family room where our book collection is shelved, (we're non-smokers but not fanatics about it; if you choose to smoke that's your business, just not in our home or cars), shoes up on a lacquer table while he thumbed through a rare book of photographic prints. I know he was properly raised.

I threw his ass out. He's still offended many years hence. I don't give a rat's ass.; 4/30/10, 6:05 PM