Althouse: At the Back-to-School Café...

September 3, 2012

At the Back-to-School Café...

... you'd better get to work.

53 comments:

David said...: One of your very best photos Althouse. Love it. Do tell some of the background of the shot.; 9/3/12, 8:26 PM
Meade said...: David, here is a clue: If you are ever visiting the state capital of one of the most optimistic economies in the nation, do not miss the museum of the state historical society. It is outstanding!; 9/3/12, 8:31 PM
rehajm said...: House of Stairs for first graders..; 9/3/12, 8:34 PM
chickelit said...: Perfect for duck and cover.; 9/3/12, 8:35 PM
rhhardin said...: Shorts last day at Kroger.; 9/3/12, 8:35 PM
Meade said...: Here is another clue: York; 9/3/12, 8:37 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: I heard a great yogism today.. I think its a yogism.. of the Yogi Berra kind.

I thank God for the man upstairs.; 9/3/12, 8:39 PM
ALH said...: Love the picture. We have an old one story schoolhouse in my area that has been preserved and looks very similar. When my dad's old rural 1st thru 12th grde school was being taken down, he got a few of the desks like those pictured.; 9/3/12, 8:39 PM
NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...: You'd think that school would make it easier for two parents to work... but then you realize someone has to pick up your child at 2:50 in the afternoon. And then you have to find day care until 6 anyway.

Grumble grumble.; 9/3/12, 8:44 PM
NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...: That's a photo? Wow, amazing, I thought it was a painting. Looks Rockwell-esque, without the people.; 9/3/12, 8:44 PM
edutcher said...: Oh, I can just see Mrs Meade walking up and down the aisle in her pince-nez glasses and shirtwaist, with a 2 foot pointer in her hand, ready to smack anyone talking out of turn.; 9/3/12, 8:45 PM
mikee said...: Today is Empty Chair Day, in honor of President Obama's achievements in his first term.

Say what you want, running a picture today full of empty chairs is hilarious.; 9/3/12, 8:46 PM
edutcher said...: Everybody's been dancing around this, but it's a better slogan for the Demos this time out than Forward:

Hope And Chair.; 9/3/12, 8:48 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Obama isn't working.; 9/3/12, 8:55 PM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: ... you'd better get to work.

I know. No more drinking or smoking and socializing.; 9/3/12, 9:00 PM
Beta Rube said...: My 5 year old grandson starts school tomorrow. He gets a ride to Kindergarten, but is very excited about the bus ride home.

I can't wait to hear all about it!; 9/3/12, 9:00 PM
JAL said...: Amazing how kids learned anything back then, isn't it?

No, not really.; 9/3/12, 9:05 PM
madAsHell said...: My dad bought one of those from a hardware store for a dollar.

Yeah...we just threw them out.; 9/3/12, 9:06 PM
Michael said...: Isn't this a picture of Obama's cabinet, in honor of Empty Chair Day?; 9/3/12, 9:15 PM
Meade said...: Michael: Bingo!; 9/3/12, 9:16 PM
john said...: Colbert's going to interview a chair.

There were two chair stories mentioned on IE browser yesterday.

That gift will keep on giving for most of another week.; 9/3/12, 9:30 PM
dreams said...: "We have an old one story schoolhouse in my area that has been preserved and looks very similar. When my dad's old rural 1st thru 12th grde school was being taken down, he got a few of the desks like those pictured."

The one room school my mom attended still stands in it's original location. Located by a long time cemetery where my parents and brother are buried and is used as a church updated with church pews and a window air conditioner attended by those who believe in the old time Baptist religion.; 9/3/12, 9:31 PM
David said...: Meade, it must be North Dakota.; 9/3/12, 9:31 PM
David said...: Empty chairs!

(Head slap.)

Finally David gets it.; 9/3/12, 9:32 PM
Saint Croix said...: This RNC ad is brutal. Maybe the best ad I've seen in my life.; 9/3/12, 9:32 PM
Meade said...: " North Dakota."

The gentleman is correct to guess North Dakota!; 9/3/12, 9:37 PM
dreams said...: "... you'd better get to work."

Obama is determined to work harder in a second term.

"The president views a second term in some ways as a second chance, an opportunity to approach the office differently, according to close aides. He would like to tackle issues such as climate change, immigration, education and filibuster reform.

A second chance? Translation:" “Please give me a mulligan.”

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2012/09/four-more-years.php; 9/3/12, 9:41 PM
ad hoc said...: Those are serious desks and chairs. Quite a contrast.; 9/3/12, 9:42 PM
Synova said...: I like how only the larger desks have inkwell holders.; 9/3/12, 9:45 PM
FissionChips said...: Looks like my grade school, George Washington at the end of Wisconsin Ave. in Tomahawk Wis in the 50s, Except all our desks had round inkwell holes and only a few have them in the photo; 9/3/12, 9:54 PM
FissionChips said...: Looks like my grade school, George Washington at the end of Wisconsin Ave. in Tomahawk Wis in the 50s, Except all our desks had round inkwell holes and only a few have them in the photo; 9/3/12, 9:55 PM
Kylos said...: I'm looking for some thoughts on skipping stones. I'm mostly interested in discussion on my last points.

My observations thus far:
1. Stone must be big enough to avoid being deflected as it strikes the water, but small enough to be thrown quickly with fast rotation.
2. It should have an edge that can rest againt the inside of your knuckle on your index finger to aid in imparting a high rotational velocity.
3. The leading edge should be pitched slightly upward.
4. The rock should be relatively flat, but it does not have to be disk-shaped. Flat oblong stones work reasonably well.
5. From my experience, it seems concave surfaces against the water work better. I have a couple theories on this.
a. Concave surfaces mean a higher rotational inertia relative to mass, so the stone is much less susceptible to being deflected as it bounces off the water, thus maintaining the proper pitch during subsequent contacts with the surface.
b. Alternately, the concave surface somehow helps stabilize the stone as it bounces off the water. I'm not sure if this is a reasonable explanation, but I propose it as a possible mechanism explaining my observations.

Are there any stone skippers out there who have thoughts on these issues?; 9/3/12, 10:02 PM
wyo sis said...: Our district elementary schools start tomorrow. It's a late start for us. Usually we start a week before Labor Day.

Our desks are a little more modern, our teachers are not unionized and our district is great.

Looking forward to a great year.; 9/3/12, 10:05 PM
wyo sis said...: I've always wondered about double comments. Is that something that happens on purpose? If so why?; 9/3/12, 10:07 PM
john said...: I've skipped the stones many many times.

Too succeed, it helps to have something to replace them with, my preference being Pink Floyd.; 9/3/12, 10:11 PM
Christopher said...: I have one of these desks, sitting over here ten feet from my sofa, as a collectible back when I went antiquing with my Mom. Impressive photo. These were standard issue all over the place, of course--Mom and I got this one in Pennsylvania.; 9/3/12, 10:12 PM
Methadras said...: Back to school eh? I'd like to see Urkel's school transcripts.; 9/3/12, 10:26 PM
Kylos said...: wyo sis, I think it usually occurs when someone clicks the back button on their browser after posting to the thread. I don't know the specifics with blogger, but in some cases with some browsers, this can cause the post to be resubmitted.; 9/3/12, 10:29 PM
wyo sis said...: One of the schools in our district has benches that look a lot like those old desks. They can be turned and the tops clipped together to make lunch tables when they're not being used for desks or seats.
Actually pretty ingenious.; 9/3/12, 10:35 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: "You better get to work,..."

I'm working, baby, I'm working,...; 9/3/12, 11:14 PM
AlanKH said...: Ann's reasons for voting for Obama bring two more questions to mind:

First: I can think of two rationales for Reason 2 (McCain was unprepared to tackle economic policy):

a) Obama was prepared for that task, or at least more prepared than McCain was. (This seems utterly absurd, given that Obama's pre-elected-office career revolved around scarfing up special interest money.)

b) Regardless of whether or not Obama was prepared in any measure, economic woes could never be solved without Republican help, and the GOP would never be of any help as long as it keeps giving its top support to its fiscal B-team and not its A-team.

Is Ann's rationale one of these, or somethign else?

Second: Imagine a parallel universe that is exactly identical to ours except for Obama. Alternate Obama is an honest politician who really is interested in MLK-style racial harmony. In this alternate universe, how would President Obama advance racial matters?

A lot of folks have expressed wishes that Obama could do something to benefit racial relations, but I doubt that any of them have put any real thought into how it could be done. I think they vastly overestimate the power of (positive) Presidential influence.; 9/3/12, 11:55 PM
kentuckyliz said...: Re stone skipping, it also depends on thebtemperature and thus viscosity and friction of the water. Cold water is more viscous, thick, slow, high friction. I know this as a sculler and former racer.; 9/3/12, 11:55 PM
Mark said...: That is a really great photo. Museum quality. Thank you and congratulations.; 9/3/12, 11:55 PM
NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...: Saint Croix-

What an amazing ad.; 9/3/12, 11:58 PM
Chip Ahoy said...: So that's why they call it little red schoolhouse.; 9/4/12, 12:00 AM
Chip Ahoy said...: Oh man,these ink bottles are cool.

I'm going through the strangest phase right now. Bear with it please. It'll pass. Every single bottle I look at right now gets looked at upside down and regarded for its hummingbird feeder potential. It is so weird, turning every bottle upside down. This is ridiculous. Every little upside down jar that's interesting gets visualized as the nucleus of an atom with electrons spinning around, glass beads, copper wire, copper tube, tendrils and leaves and such. If you looked, did you notice the tipped over bottle farther down the page? A bottle made to be already spilled therefore spillproof.; 9/4/12, 12:14 AM
Roger J. said...: Good to Mr Obama is into recycling: Although in this case it is old stump speech.; 9/4/12, 7:45 AM
madAsHell said...: My Dad bought 3 similar school benches from a surplus store about 35 years ago. He could never explain why he purchased the desks. We threw them out after he died.; 9/4/12, 8:02 AM
Freeman Hunt said...: All the people who think Obama is a Muslim and all the people who think Obama has done a good job with the economy should get together and have a fantasy-themed party.; 9/4/12, 8:30 AM
Meade said...: But Freeman, isn't that what the Democrat's convention is?; 9/4/12, 9:12 AM
Freeman Hunt said...: guffaw; 9/4/12, 9:26 AM
ken in tx said...: My double comments occur when Blogger tells me my comment was not accepted for some reason. If I find out later that it actually was accepted, I delete one of the comments.; 9/4/12, 11:56 AM
jungatheart said...: I can't get it out of my head that it looks like a photo of a miniaturized classroom.; 9/4/12, 12:49 PM