Althouse: At the Lotus Café...

September 1, 2011

At the Lotus Café...

... you can talk about anything you want (including the Badger game).

35 comments:

DADvocate said...: Love this story: White House: Slower jobs recovery ahead. Obama's going to come out with a jobs program in a few days and even the White House is predicting slower job recovery. Hahaha!

What kind of message is that? He/They don't even have confidence in themselves.; 9/1/11, 8:57 PM
David said...: What kind of message?

Dampen expectations, baby. They actually learned something from the failed projections of the "stimulus."; 9/1/11, 9:06 PM
caplight said...: A bat just got into our house. Probably down the chimney. It flew like a "bat outta hell" all around the house. Knocked it out of the air with a pillow. Tossed it outside. Caplight-1, Bat-0.; 9/1/11, 9:12 PM
edutcher said...: Nice pic. I like the variations of blue green.

PS cap, you should have had a mobile for the bat. That way it could have driven itself out.; 9/1/11, 9:15 PM
David said...: Starting to feel sorry for UNLV.

And for Packers' Nick MacDonald, who can't seem to block anyone.; 9/1/11, 9:21 PM
David said...: But not for So' Oto.; 9/1/11, 9:26 PM
traditionalguy said...: Espn is parleying Wisconsin tonight and TCU tomorrow night to see what the teams look like after the NFL gobbled up their stars from last year.; 9/1/11, 9:32 PM
Anonymous said...: So'Oto is an animal!

Another BYU walk on.

Do you think he'll make the team, David?

;); 9/1/11, 9:32 PM
pm317 said...: From the wiki on Led Zeppelin..yeah, a big fan!

The group deliberately dropped the 'a' in lead at the suggestion of their manager, Peter Grant, to prevent "thick Americans"[18] from pronouncing it "leed".

haha..; 9/1/11, 9:50 PM
Eclecticity said...: Simply lovely Ms. Althouse. Thanks for sharing. E.; 9/1/11, 10:05 PM
paminwi said...: GB wins by the skin of their teeth!; 9/1/11, 10:13 PM
Calypso Facto said...: Pack wins...Badgers win...a good night!; 9/1/11, 10:13 PM
KCFleming said...: The tiny steps of the oriental lotus are bound to entrance the unwary.; 9/1/11, 10:14 PM
Carol_Herman said...: Didn't I see this one last night? Among the group of water lilies? When it opens isn't it going to be a water lily? Not the pod. The pod's different.

Ain't nature grand on how she provides stuff we usually see in wide-angle delight ... And, then you notice them one at a time? What happens when you go back ... and nature's blossomed?; 9/1/11, 10:28 PM
MadisonMan said...: Beth, I hope you don't flood in the next 5 days. The precip forecasts look very ominous.

(on the plus side: No more swamp fires!); 9/1/11, 10:38 PM
Chip Ahoy said...: Lotus is my favoritestest flower, mostly because it is so frequently painted in Egyptian art. I've made several pop-up cards featuring lotus because it is such a doggone suitable subject, easily divided into six, perfect for pop-uppery. Would you like to see one?

But right now I cannot think about flowers for I am vexed and disturbed by an article written by Professor Codevilla that has been linked to by right wing sites the last few months, this time excerpted at PW, that discusses six books about Obama and speculates deeply about the missing bits which are considerable.; 9/1/11, 11:18 PM
BJM said...: Apropos of nothing; this goes downhill faster than a BHTV diavlog.; 9/1/11, 11:31 PM
rhhardin said...: Perennial corn video; 9/2/11, 5:10 AM
Quaestor said...: Chip Ahoy wrote:
Would you like to see one? [a lotus-themed pop-up card]

Very nice, and commendable as art. However, the plant you have artistically represented does not appear to be a lotus. Judging by the shape of the leaves and the reproductive organs the flower is a water lily, a member of the family Nymphaeaceae. Though there is a superficial resemblance and both plants are aquatic, the water lily and the true lotus (family Nelumbonaceae, such as the flower often shown in art of pharaonic Egypt) are not closely related, but are examples of convergent evolution.

A the unopened flower in Ann's photo is a true lotus, I believe, however at that stage it's hard for me to tell. A few day ago. Ann showed us a photo of an odd fruit which resembled a shower head. That was the seed cup of the true lotus, Nelumbo nucifera. Assuming the immature flower in this evening's "cafe" shot is a neighbor, then if's safe to conclude that it too is a Nelumbo nucifera.

BTW, thanks loads for the troubling link. It is indeed troubling, and I dare say that subject will be taboo among academic historians for years to come. A new generation of scholars who have not allowed ideology to blind them to their intellectual and moral obligations will be needed to expose the mystery behind the Obama presidency. I wonder if Professor Althouse will do her bit to raise that generation of scholars.; 9/2/11, 5:34 AM
ken in tx said...: My wife has both water lilies and lotus plants in her pond garden. They both make nice showy flowers. I sometimes get them mixed up, but the shower-head pod comes from the lotus.; 9/2/11, 6:56 AM
Joaquin said...: You have one special player and great guy in Russell Wilson. He had a great run here at NC State, and I have no doubt he will have a monster senior year with the Badgers. Enjoy him while you have him.; 9/2/11, 7:22 AM
FedkaTheConvict said...: Zero employment growth for August 2011 and that estimate is optimistic.

It's funny to watch Drudge, he's re-written the headline at least 4 times in the past 20 minutes in attempting to describe the unemployment report.

I suggest he use 0-Zero.; 9/2/11, 7:57 AM
Lincolntf said...: So UNLV managed to eke out a "cover" by one measly point, meaning that while the Badgers won the game, the UNLV bettors won the cash. Everybody's happy.; 9/2/11, 7:58 AM
Curious George said...: Badgers again have a nice team but clearly their goal is to try to win the Big-Ten but definitely go to a bowl game somewhere. Weaksauce scheduling to rack up victories makes it almost impossible to play in the big game. Alas, WI fans seem not to care, and it gives them some place warm to go in January.

Look for two major stories to pop up in the next month:

1) Detailed report of just how much WEA Trust has been ripping off school districts over the years. Everyone knew it but not how much.

2) Statewide scam of teachers retiring, taking their full pension and paid health insurance, and then being rehired to their old job at their old pay. This is reprehensible, and shows just how close school boards and teachers are.; 9/2/11, 8:03 AM
FedkaTheConvict said...: Heck of a job, Oh-Zero.; 9/2/11, 8:09 AM
pauldar said...: well, that Lotus flower picture has more flowers on it (1) than Jobs created last month - How quaint; 9/2/11, 8:29 AM
kjbe said...: Do you think he'll make the team, David?

Yes.; 9/2/11, 8:31 AM
kjbe said...: CG - actually, I think, after seeing Wilson, the bar has been raised. Anything less than a BCS bowl game will be a huge let down. Defense will have to improve, for that to happen, me thinks.; 9/2/11, 8:39 AM
Robert Cook said...: Just found this...the great Robert Crumb sums up Ronald Reagan more succinctly than I've ever heard:

"Reagan? Hated him; a silver-tongued liar. He was either a liar or really stupid or both. You know, basically he was a shill for corporate America. 'The great communicator,' what bullshit. And now when they drag that guy out and prop him up and try and make him look like a great president, to me it’s nauseating. It was the beginning of the end when he became president. And the people around him were such a bunch of scoundrels. Remember these guys, like Edwin Meese? Just awful, evil people."

Well said, R.!!; 9/2/11, 8:43 AM
Curious George said...: "Kit said...
CG - actually, I think, after seeing Wilson, the bar has been raised. Anything less than a BCS bowl game will be a huge let down. Defense will have to improve, for that to happen, me thinks."

I'm not sure how this doesn't square with what I said. Badgers have a great program. They need to schedule like a great program.; 9/2/11, 8:50 AM
ndspinelli said...: Too damn hot for football.; 9/2/11, 9:19 AM
kjbe said...: CG, on the schedule, agreed. More commenting on "someplace warm to go in January" - sounded like we'll take anything. Just saying, I think folks are pretty specific on where they expect to go...and it's not Tampa or Orlando.; 9/2/11, 9:40 AM
Carol_Herman said...: Ronald Reagan knew he was in hostile waters! He never got mean!

Jimmy Carter got mean.

And, now we have a whole new classification of "mean."

Reagan was also a class act. This time? I can't call what the schlemiel does "class."

But when things were bad back in the 1930's ... Charlie Chaplin became a very rich man! He walked funny. He was always in love with the girl. But she thought he was a schlep. At first.

By the end of the movie nobody could really explain how the "tramp" worked ... But it won in the "imagination" department, just the same.

Anyway, where are the great ideas coming from ... from the GOP? And, where's the enthusiam? The gleam in the eye ... that makes people feel things are gonna be getting a whole lot better?; 9/2/11, 10:13 AM
Chip Ahoy said...: Quaestor, thank you!

You have cleared up a point of persistent if not massive confusion on my part. Finally I understand that the flower upon which Buddha sits is not the same flower that rebirths the head of King Tut from the Nile mud.; 9/2/11, 11:11 AM
MikeinAppalachia said...: Robert Cook-
Is there some reason that you think others would be interested in the opinions of an LSD-damaged comic and porn illustrator? I didn't realize Crumb had been released from the asylum, or has he? Hard to tell from that rant in your post.; 9/2/11, 11:41 AM