Althouse: At the Winter Fountain Café...

February 28, 2012

At the Winter Fountain Café...

... you can see things you're not meant to see.

44 comments:

edutcher said...: The backyard at Casa Althouse?

This is what keeps Meade busy 8 months of the year.; 2/28/12, 8:38 PM
HT said...: Help. Where am I? Not. comfortable. in this - milieu. Can't see.

Yuck is this new format.; 2/28/12, 8:46 PM
coketown said...: This gives me ideas.; 2/28/12, 8:52 PM
bagoh20 said...: I bet every pond everywhere has at least 1 cinder block. Mine has about a dozen - hidden, supporting the beautiful flora world above that would sink without their unappreciated strength. Cinder blocks are like the 1% in our national tax pond.; 2/28/12, 8:52 PM
bagoh20 said...: OK, this is a cafe post, so I can talk about the word verification.

It sucks! It discriminates against men, the aged, the handicapped and the impatient. It's a digital poll tax. This is a civil rights issue, dammit!; 2/28/12, 8:56 PM
Petunia said...: Ann, that's very cool! Is that on the UW campus somewhere?; 2/28/12, 9:15 PM
garage mahal said...: icy poll results
treading riskily
in a bird toilet; 2/28/12, 9:24 PM
Meade said...: Three miles east of campus.; 2/28/12, 9:25 PM
Meade said...: You only need type the first word in the WV.; 2/28/12, 9:28 PM
KCFleming said...: Fountains, like women, look more glorious when gowned.; 2/28/12, 9:38 PM
gail said...: Thanks for the wv tip Meade, that makes it half frustrating. I agree, wv discriminates against the visually impaired...and no way will I click on that audio button again....

Now, what the heck is with this new format? It stinks.; 2/28/12, 9:44 PM
bagoh20 said...: "You only need type the first word in the WV.

Son

of

a

bitch!

I just kicked my dog. I hope that makes Blogger feel better. I could have written the great American post-digital, aesthetically ascetic novel with just half of those wasted keystrokes. How do I get that back? I will never, NEVER get over this!

Update:

Oh, very funny - it doesn't work. Now how do I explain this to my cowering dog?; 2/28/12, 9:47 PM
pm317 said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 2/28/12, 10:03 PM
chickelit said...: ...you can see things you're not meant to see.

Reminds me of the "river" at Disneyland when they periodically drain the swamp. That's when you can see the tracks that steers the "Mark Twain"

Mark Null!; 2/28/12, 10:08 PM
Almost Ali said...: Here's my [first] wv word: Barlds

Then: "The characters you entered didn't match the word verification. Please try again."

Here's my 2nd wv word: regulle; 2/28/12, 10:08 PM
MadisonMan said...: Beautiful Olbrich Gardens.

Can I say how much I'm enjoying hearing rain on the roof tonight?; 2/28/12, 10:09 PM
Almost Ali said...: What would happen if you (Althouse) turned off the wv? Would anarchy ensue?; 2/28/12, 10:13 PM
edutcher said...: gail said...

Thanks for the wv tip Meade, that makes it half frustrating. I agree, wv discriminates against the visually impaired...and no way will I click on that audio button again....

Now, what the heck is with this new format? It stinks.

If you can't decipher the words, hit the refresh symbol (the little swirl) and you'll be given a new one. Sometimes it takes a couple of shots.; 2/28/12, 10:15 PM
Palladian said...: Meade, since they changed it from the totally unreadable words to the mostly unreadable words, the "type only the first word" trick no longer works.

Worse than the CAPTCHA is this terrible buggy "redesign" of the "Post a Comment" page. I can't imagine another large tech company letting a design atrocity like this squashed, left-justified page go live.

They just don't care, is the problem.; 2/28/12, 10:21 PM
Sprezzatura said...: "OK, this is a cafe post, so I can talk about the word verification.

It sucks!"

I would be a 100% bagoh backer. But, I love that this WV will (hopefully) put an end to the comments that think they're cleverly presenting some context to which the WV is relevant.

The new WV is a high price to pay, but well worth it.; 2/28/12, 10:22 PM
MadisonMan said...: The lousy redesign and the captcha problems makes me wonder: althou.se?; 2/28/12, 10:46 PM
garage mahal said...: Funny, I rule in any format. Wait, do I really? Why yes I do Who else gets you dope guitar like dat? huH?; 2/28/12, 11:09 PM
Wally Kalbacken said...: Once seen, the things you are not meant to see, cannot be unseen.; 2/28/12, 11:21 PM
Chip Ahoy said...: If you were skating on that
and hit the bumps
and fell
and smashed into the wall
I mean really smashed
into the edge of that wall
the part that sticks out

well

that would really hurt.; 2/29/12, 12:22 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Thanks for mentioning The Realms of the Unreal (2004)
Some people mentioned it here the other day.. I enjoyed it.

I think its interesting how the man (Henry Darger) in the story overcame a gruesome violent upbringing.. whereas.. in sharp contrast.. another kid in the news today.. this time in Ohio.. went on a shooting spree at his school.. for no apparent reason.; 2/29/12, 12:50 AM
Roger J. said...: BTW--how about an update, Professor--you posted a cryptic prediction many moons ago--how does your prediction look at this point in the game?; 2/29/12, 1:03 AM
Chip Ahoy said...: *gulp* shark; 2/29/12, 3:02 AM
AlanKH said...: Philosophical musing du jour...

If Communism is left wing and Nazism is right wing, what commonalities does the latter share with the Heritage Foundation (which everyone agrees to be right wing) that it doesn't share with the former?; 2/29/12, 4:10 AM
edutcher said...: Even better - if all cultures are the same, as the multi-cultis contend, why aren't the Catholics shooting Democrats?; 2/29/12, 5:38 AM
David865 said...: Hi

Actually i want placement of 2 logo links for 3 months site wide at http://althouse.blogspot.com.

Example is shown on www.radut.net. Links are of www.dinodirect.com

Kindly send me you price.

Looking forward for your kind reply.

Regards; 2/29/12, 6:34 AM
Rusty said...: Philosophical musing du jour...

If Communism is left wing and Nazism is right wing, what commonalities does the latter share with the Heritage Foundation (which everyone agrees to be right wing) that it doesn't share with the former?

Fascism and communism are both bred from socialism. Mussolini, a communist, wanted a way to lure the Italian upper class into his socialist remaking of Italy so he tweaked his socialist philosophy and came up with fascism. Hitler latched onto it and the rest , as they say, is history.; 2/29/12, 6:41 AM
Anonymous said...: I was once in a classroom where we discussed the professor's book, at the beginning of which she had situated her work (an ethnography of a particular cultural tradition and how it interacted with the concept of human rights) within the tension between cultural relativism and universal human rights theories. I asked her, now that she had done the research and published the book, where she came down on that issue. She had no answer.

An answer that would have made sense (and which I happen to subscribe to): Cultural relativism is important only because it sharpens the notion of Universal Human Rights. There are many rights that people call "universal" which are really the product of the Western-liberal-progressive tendencies to glorify certain aspects of our society (Sexual Freedom!) over others (loyalty to family and duty to one's own). I believe in the universal. Through the lens of cultural relativism I see that 1)the universal are much smaller than most human rights people think they are and 2)There are many many good values we bring to the world but, there are also some important values we are oblivious to.; 2/29/12, 6:49 AM
KCFleming said...: @Lem
"I think its interesting how the man (Henry Darger) in the story overcame a gruesome violent upbringing.. whereas.. in sharp contrast.. another kid in the news today.. this time in Ohio.. went on a shooting spree at his school.. for no apparent reason."

Darger himself had violent tendencies as a youth and teen.

But he reined them in with the help of his Catholicism.

The modern kid has no one telling him his thoughts are bad, in fact, he is told they are good. He is against those who made him uncomfortable as an outcast.

What other message is there for him today?
None.; 2/29/12, 6:49 AM
Ann Althouse said...: If I turned off the word verification, there would be commercial spam on every post, including the thousands of old posts. The comments would be ruined. I would prefer no comments at all to what would happen to the blog without that anti-robot filter.

So... that's reality. Can we stop talking about it now?; 2/29/12, 7:35 AM
rhhardin said...: My suspicion is that word verification allows you a few errors.

Several of my wild guesses were accepted.

cumern or cumem? Hard to say.; 2/29/12, 7:37 AM
tamsf said...: Instapundit had the following post recently. It talks about what is going on.

THE PROBLEM IS THAT WHILE SPAMBOTS ARE GETTING SMARTER, HUMANS REALLY AREN’T: CAPTCHAs need to get harder again. “It’s been getting harder to prove you’re a human online in recent years. The squiggly letters known as CAPTCHAs that protect websites against spam software have got more distorted, as the software has got better at reading them. That was why I thought it worth noting when NuCaptcha launched its video CAPTCHAs, which are easier for humans but still secure and have been adopted by sites including Groupon. Now researchers at Stanford suggest they, too will have to become more cryptic.”; 2/29/12, 8:13 AM
Paddy O said...: Want to know my big worry?

That Althouse is going to install one of those see-through-my-clothes scanners next, so that in order to comment we all have to be examined for possible robot parts or spam content.

Maybe a fastpass or Platinum Commenter Club could be instituted so that instead of being caught up in the security line, regular and longterm commenters can have their comments post straight from the curb with no hassles.; 2/29/12, 8:19 AM
Almost Ali said...: It's not like I've talked about WV until I'm blue in the face. Although I can understand your frustration - as I had overlooked the downside of a monetized blog.

On the other hand, how much money is enough?; 2/29/12, 9:14 AM
Ann Althouse said...: I have read about 100 comments on WV in the last week. They're all pretty similar. The point has been made. I've responded numerous times. WV is annoying. I know. But repeating the same complaint over and over again is also annoying.

I know my comments message now says: "I realize it's a pain to type out the word verification, but it's a necessary defense against robotic spam. Email us or wait for an open thread — a "café" post — if you want to talk about it."

I think I'll just change it, because I thing the topic has hit the wall.

So... last chance: Does anyone have anything new to say about it?; 2/29/12, 9:23 AM
Almost Ali said...: ...Treasure of the Sierra-Blog Madre; 2/29/12, 9:25 AM
Paddy O said...: "Does anyone have anything new to say about it?"

Hey, I was trying! Baby names, scanners, platinum club cards. that's creative stuff!

How about this:

It's well known that Tolkien named all his elves and dwarves by making comments on blogs then writing down the captcha words that popped up.; 2/29/12, 9:57 AM
ed said...: Is that an elephant turd on a pedestal? Seriously. What is that?

Modern art. Not modern. Not art.; 2/29/12, 11:17 AM
Almost Ali said...: Here's how an entire post-war generation got hooked on cigarettes, in this instance courtesy of Jack Benny (1953):

Featuring Humphrey Bogart in case of the "Lucky Strike" Hard Sell

The first two minutes would be outlawed today, but watch until the smoke gets in your eyes - especially from the 22:10 mark.; 2/29/12, 11:32 AM
AlanKH said...: No lefty perspective on the Nazism/Communism question?

I have a theory on why the Left lumps Nazism as right-wing: the Left equates "Right" with "anti-egalitarian," a characteristic it perceives in Fascism and free-market capitalism but not in (non-Fascist) collectivism such as Marxism or Western social democracy.; 3/1/12, 3:55 AM