Althouse: At the State Street Café...

February 9, 2012

At the State Street Café...

... showcase yourself.

55 comments:

Patrick said...: Here's an interesting thing I noticed in my son's second grade class. They are learning about biographies, so each kid has to choose a subject and write one. The teacher sent home a list showing who each kid is writing about. Predictably, many kids chose President Obama as a subject. But I noticed that of the recent immigrant families (around 25% of the class), not one chose the President. Or, I should say that not one chose the current President. Most of them chose George Washington, Abe Lincoln of Ben Franklin. Of the "natives" (I guess) if they chose a US political figure, it was the Pres.

Just found it interesting.; 2/9/12, 9:13 PM
Wally Kalbacken said...: OK. So if the Orpheum is over there, this must be where the porn shop used to be, back in the day.; 2/9/12, 9:26 PM
MadisonMan said...: The local paper today talked about that show produced for hulu (Battleground) that's set in Madison.

I wonder if it'll be any good.; 2/9/12, 9:29 PM
deborah said...: OMG this is BIG:

Mark your calendar!!!

"Remember how all the major meteor showers in late 2011 were drowned in bright moonlight? It was fun to see meteors streaking along in the moonlight, but … alright, already. Let’s have a moonless meteor night! In fact, the next major meteor shower in 2012 – the Lyrid shower in April – will be virtually moon-free. Mark your calendar for the best night – the evening of April 21 until dawn April 22, 2012. The nights before and after might also feature some Lyrid meteors."

http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/earthskys-meteor-shower-guide; 2/9/12, 9:39 PM
john said...: It'll probably be cloudy.; 2/9/12, 9:42 PM
john said...: April showers and all.; 2/9/12, 9:48 PM
edutcher said...: Looks like Trigger with one of Roy's Rhinestone Cowboy saddles.

Patrick said...

Here's an interesting thing I noticed in my son's second grade class. They are learning about biographies, so each kid has to choose a subject and write one. The teacher sent home a list showing who each kid is writing about. Predictably, many kids chose President Obama as a subject. But I noticed that of the recent immigrant families (around 25% of the class), not one chose the President. Or, I should say that not one chose the current President. Most of them chose George Washington, Abe Lincoln of Ben Franklin. Of the "natives" (I guess) if they chose a US political figure, it was the Pres.

When I was in 5th Grade, we all had to read 2 biographies of a great American.

For some reason, I ended up with Robert E Lee. Since I was a Yankee (PA), I wasn't thrilled, but, the more I learned about him, the more impressed I was.

Guess that couldn't happen today.; 2/9/12, 9:49 PM
john said...: Martha McSally has joined 4 Repubs in the AZ race for Gabby Gifford's vacanted seat. She could really be a game changer, unless of course, all 5 of them stayed in the race (forming a nice circular firing squad).

McSally's creds (ret. colonel, pilot, air combat vet, woman) would be hard to top. Don't know anything else about her though; didn't even know that she has been an Arizona resident.; 2/9/12, 9:51 PM
bagoh20 said...: I went to high school with Santorum and just found this photo from a yearbook. He's probably 17 in this 1975 photo. He was a normal straight-laced athletic kid in a small PA town.

It would be interesting to watch if he became the front runner and was turned into a monster over night.

Rick; 2/9/12, 9:57 PM
deborah said...: Perhaps...I need to check for the rest of the year now...; 2/9/12, 9:57 PM
rcommal said...: POV

(Seriously, fascinating click.); 2/9/12, 10:00 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Thanks for the heads up Deb.; 2/9/12, 10:04 PM
deborah said...: "August 12 and 13, 2012 Perseids
And when we say August 12 or 13, we mean the morning hours after midnight – not that night. The waning crescent moon will rise around midnight, only somewhat obscuring the Perseid display during the shower’s actual peak. The moonlight shouldn’t be so overwhelming as to ruin the show. These typically fast and bright meteors radiate from a point in the constellation Perseus the Hero. You don’t need to know Perseus to watch the shower because the meteors appear in all parts of the sky.."

"October 21, 2012, before dawn. Orionids
With the waxing crescent moon setting before midnight (on October 20), that means a dark sky between midnight and dawn, or during the best viewing hours for the Orionid meteors. On a dark, moonless night, the Orionids exhibit a maximum of about 15 meteors per hour. These fast-moving meteors occasionally leave persistent trains and bright fireballs. If you trace these meteors backward, they seem to come from the Club of the famous constellation Orion the Hunter. You might know Orion’s bright, ruddy star Betelgeuse. The radiant is north of Betelgeuse. The Orionids have a broad and irregular peak that isn’t easy to predict. More meteors tend to fly after midnight, and the Orionids are typically at their best in the wee hours before dawn. The best viewing for the Orionids in 2012 will probably be before dawn on October 21..."

That part I italicized sounds neat.; 2/9/12, 10:06 PM
deborah said...: y/w Lem :); 2/9/12, 10:09 PM
Henry said...: @Patrick and @eDutcher -- In second grade my son reported on Paul Revere. In fourth grade, he reported on Mary Anning. He chose Mary Anning so he could make a paper mache ichthyosaur as a prop.

If anyone stood out in the second grade reports it was Tom Brady. Albert Einstein also made an appearance.; 2/9/12, 10:13 PM
rcocean said...: Has Althouse blogged about the JFK Intern thing?

That was pretty juicy. Guess JFK was getting Lewinsky's before Monica was even born.; 2/9/12, 10:17 PM
rcommal said...: That was pretty juicy.

That was very old news. It's just that it "wasn't mentioned."; 2/9/12, 10:19 PM
bagoh20 said...: Love the link, rcommal, Thanks.; 2/9/12, 10:24 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: So, what is up with the signatures?

Did they find any Sesame St characters?

Any glittering irregularities?

Is mrs garage having second thoughts?

(stop me when you had enough); 2/9/12, 10:26 PM
deborah said...: Cool link, R. I hadn't thought of strings and branes as being so...well, anything. It's neat they're the tiniest, if they exist.; 2/9/12, 10:27 PM
Patrick said...: edutcher, I can assure you none of them are writing about Robert E. Lee. That likely would have made the papers where I live. When I was in second grade, I did one on Thomas Jefferson. I remember putting a lot of work into it, but it not being all that good.

Wally, I worked at the mexican fast food place next to the porn shop (Mall Books) back in the day. WHen I was a freshman, just off the turnip truck, I was closing one night, and took out the trash. One of the bums, apparently just out of the porn shop was masturbating on the bench near where I had to go. Nice.

RCommal, thanks for that link. Very cool. In a mind blowing way. I love that stuff. Went camping during the Perseids last summer, but it was a full moon, so very diminished. Maybe in April.

I'm watching The Cowboys on Amazon. I like the streaming.; 2/9/12, 10:27 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Cool link rc..

I heard on The John Batchelor Show (I believe) that we humans are (as far as size) somewhere in the middle.; 2/9/12, 10:37 PM
rcocean said...: test; 2/9/12, 10:48 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: The Obama administration is not a test.. the events you have seen have not been reconstructed for dramatisation.. they are very real.; 2/9/12, 10:54 PM
edutcher said...: rcocean said...

Has Althouse blogged about the JFK Intern thing?

IIRC, she did when the story first broke a year or two ago.

Patrick said...

edutcher, I can assure you none of them are writing about Robert E. Lee. That likely would have made the papers where I live.

Keep in mind, it was 1958 when I was in 5th grade. He was still a hero then, even to Yankees.

As far as I'm concerned, he still is.

(a minority view these days...)

His Mexican War service interested me back then.; 2/9/12, 10:58 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Obama Administration officials and various state Attorneys General looked gleeful yesterday announcing a $25 billion settlement with five big tobacco—er, banks—and why not? The bankers coughed up shareholder money to settle a pseudo-foreclosure scandal, while the White House moved closer to its political goal of guaranteeing every home mortgage.

Now.. where have I heard this before?; 2/9/12, 11:46 PM
rcommal said...: Keep in mind, it was 1958 when I was in 5th grade. He was still a hero then, even to Yankees.

As far as I'm concerned, he still is.

That is fine. DSFDF.

Still, oh, for Pete's sake. In today's world, JFK wouldn't be considered even a RINO (by Democrats or Republicans alike, much less liberals or conservatives). On most issues, he'd be considered most of the way to the right (except for those ways in which he'd be considered looney, which--it is true--is hard to pin down as belonging to just any and only one particular way).

I mean, what the bloody hell? At last, is there no decency in intellectual honesty?; 2/9/12, 11:51 PM
rcommal said...: I've thought for the longest time that people have just taken their notions of...[stentorian pause]RFK[/stentorian pause] and... [stentorian pause]Ted Kennedy[/stentorian pause] and just projected shit backwards to JFK and then forwards and then ultimately every which way. It's almost as if it turned out to be useful that the man...didn't live out his first term, much less get to even pursue another one. I'm not saying that's how people view or viewed it, per se. I'm pointing to potential fall-out, of the unacknowledged kind.; 2/10/12, 12:09 AM
Penny said...: While what you said about JFK is very true, rcommal, I fail to understand why you are questioning edutcher's intellectual honesty?

He liked the mythical man. No matter that JFK was considered a Democrat in his time. Today, he would be seen as very firmly center right.

Funnier still is thinking about Tricky Dick Nixon being center left by today's standards.

Course we didn't have party purity tests back then. The only "pure" thing we had was Ivory soap.; 2/10/12, 12:40 AM
shiloh said...: Ivory ~ Snow; 2/10/12, 1:03 AM
rcommal said...: Penny: Indeed.; 2/10/12, 1:21 AM
rcommal said...: I WHISPERED, 'I am too young,'
And then, 'I am old enough';
Wherefore I threw a penny
To find out if I might love.
'Go and love, go and love, young man,
If the lady be young and fair.'
Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny,
I am looped in the loops of her hair.
O love is the crooked thing,
There is nobody wise enough
To find out all that is in it,
For he would be thinking of love
Till the stars had run away
And the shadows eaten the moon.
Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny,
One cannot begin it too soon.
--Yeats; 2/10/12, 1:39 AM
Alex said...: Great Gates of Kiev; 2/10/12, 1:42 AM
Wally Kalbacken said...: The juxtaposition I am enjoying is the revelation about JFK and the posting of the background investigation reports into Steve Jobs when he was under
consideration for an appointment in the Bush 41 administration.

On the one hand, with JFK you are getting a long delayed release of raw (really raw) information about him. With Jobs, he has just barely assumed room temperature and people are disclosing a view of him that is contrary to, and
much less flattering than, the cultivated corporate PR image. I take this to mean - we live in good times, when hagiography hardly even has a chance to get up to steam.

Back in JFK's day his father spent heavy coin to manufacture the image that carried him to the White House. Due to the nature of his death and the narrow, but blindly supportive media of the day, the guy's statue has been waxed for decades. Jobs, worth a reported $8.2B at his death (far in excess of Kennedy's wealth, adjusted for inflation), can't manage to buy the same enduring, glowing press.

That's a good thing.; 2/10/12, 2:04 AM
Alex said...: Wally - Jobs has only been dead for a few months. Who knows what glowing press he will or won't have in 40 years.; 2/10/12, 2:08 AM
Almost Ali said...: Is it just me, or is the country going to pot.; 2/10/12, 4:51 AM
rhhardin said...: Deborah Butterfield minimal form; 2/10/12, 6:00 AM
Rusty said...: Is it just me, or is the country going to pot.

I wish!

Thank you for the heads up Deb. I only hope there's no cloud cover down here. I'm gonna steal one of my wife's Canons and see if I can get pictures.; 2/10/12, 6:37 AM
Toad Trend said...: deborah

Thanks! Marking my calendar.

bagoh20

Who knew? Interesting. Seems there's many of us native Pennsylvanians that visit this blog.

I was in 6th grade in 1976 and did a 25 page series/report on the Bicentennial. I still have it (received an A grade with glowing comments) and was showing it to my kids (high schoolers all). They were impressed by the amount of work I put into it and remarked how much easier it would have been if I had a computer to do it on.; 2/10/12, 6:50 AM
KCFleming said...: With Obama's recent anti-religion healthcare commandments, I was trying to decide if it will be worse living under leftist totalitarianism or under Islamic totalitarianism.

But I am unable to see much difference, except perhaps who wears the burkas.; 2/10/12, 6:55 AM
Fen said...: Leftist totalitarianism would be worse. At least Islam has some moral values.

I know, I know. But feminists and gays have decided to wage war against Christianity instead. And we tried to warn them.; 2/10/12, 7:37 AM
Toad Trend said...: "Leftist totalitarianism would be worse. At least Islam has some moral values. "

God help us all should our leftist betters adopt the burka.

Heck, they've already adopted a universal excuse system for islam.

The burka can't be far behind. Mimicry IS the greatest form of flattery.; 2/10/12, 7:51 AM
Triangle Man said...: That sculpture always reminds me of Guernica.; 2/10/12, 8:39 AM
garage mahal said...: This story seems to be percolating "You almost get the image of a shadowy government ," said Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca (D-Kenosha).

But signing secret non disclosure agreements and witholding information from the public in a quest to gain and hold power is not totalitarianism. It's FREEDOM!; 2/10/12, 8:42 AM
Triangle Man said...: @Pogo

Perhaps we could all agree that totalitarianism is something to be avoided, whether Communist, Fascist, or Theist. It is a useful political fiction to pretend that leftism goes hand-in-hand with authoritarianism, but historically Left-Right and Authoritarian-Libertarian are separate characteristics.; 2/10/12, 8:44 AM
Triangle Man said...: God help us all should our leftist betters adopt the burka.

Extreme modesty in fashion is not something strongly associated with the Left these days. Please report back here to let us know if you catch of hint of a change in this trend on Project Runway.; 2/10/12, 8:48 AM
roesch/voltaire said...: George Will asks the questions Republicans do not want to answer: Many Republicans say Barack Obama’s withdrawal — accompanied by his administration’s foolish praise of Iraq’s “stability” — has jeopardized what has been achieved there. But if it cannot survive a sunrise without fraying, how much of an achievement was it?"
Not much which is why Mitt wants ten more years of war.; 2/10/12, 9:06 AM
Rusty said...: But signing secret non disclosure agreements and witholding information from the public in a quest to gain and hold power is not totalitarianism. It's FREEDOM!

If you weren't such a hysterical, screaming progressive I'd find this concerning. As it is, coming from you, irony to the nth degree.; 2/10/12, 9:07 AM
MayBee said...: Is there anybody else who can't see beyond 200 comments in the longer thread? The "newer comments" arrows aren't there.; 2/10/12, 9:09 AM
rhhardin said...: "The "newer comments" arrows aren't there."

Click on the blog entry title to get the article alone plus 200 comments.

The click on the newest comments arrow at the bottom (not top - that top one doesn't work) of that page.

Firefox behavior, perhaps.; 2/10/12, 9:14 AM
roesch/voltaire said...: Other then most big Catholic Universities and colleges already provide birth control coverage for those who want this choice, there is this:
Adam Winkler, a constitutional law professor at UCLA, told TPM. “The Supreme Court was very clear in a case called Employment Division v. Smith, written by none other than Antonin Scalia, that religious believers and institutions are not entitled to an exemption from generally applicable laws.”
Something to thank Scaila for...; 2/10/12, 9:20 AM
shiloh said...: Obama job approval average 49/46.7 as Rasmussen leads the way w/51/49.

Part of the equation surely is the ineptitude of the (3) main Rep wannabes er opposition mittens, Santo, Newt as these fools can't seem to get out of their own way lol.

But, as always, it's early so keep hope alive all you self-righteous conservatives!; 2/10/12, 10:03 AM
rcommal said...: I remember being in Philly for the Fourth of July in 1976 (I was 15 and then living in Delaware). Boy, was that a fun day!

Lots of Bicentennial school projects that year, for sure.; 2/10/12, 12:19 PM
rcommal said...: It was a really really really big deal that we were able to go to Philly that afternoon and stay through the entire evening. My parents, being working musicians, always always always had at least two band gigs on the Fourth, and often played both ends of the state. (Granted, Delaware is a small state...still, it made for hectic holidays, always.) I begged begged begged, starting a year ahead of time, for my parents NOT to book a gig later in the day on the Bicentennial Fourth so that we could go to the city, that particular city, on that day. So they just played one gig at a parade in the morning and then off we went.

It was the one and only time I ever got a wish like that granted.

Huge deal. I'll never forget it. In fact, I think I'll go call my dad and thank him all over again. : ); 2/10/12, 12:33 PM
MayBee said...: Thanks, rhhardin. That worked. I used to get the arrows on the "post a comment" page, but now that only shows (and says) 200 comments.; 2/10/12, 3:15 PM

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