Althouse: Biking down by Lake Wingra, we encounter some kind of political polka...

September 9, 2012

Biking down by Lake Wingra, we encounter some kind of political polka...

45 comments:

john said...: Were swords involved?; 9/9/12, 9:39 PM
kentuckyliz said...: God damn hippies.

I bet the neighbors love the polka music.

Don't they have to have a permit?; 9/9/12, 9:39 PM
kentuckyliz said...: ^ that was an epic episode.; 9/9/12, 9:41 PM
chickelit said...: I see Allie in the red hat at 1:10.; 9/9/12, 9:43 PM
Anonymous said...: Yep that's me! ;); 9/9/12, 9:47 PM
JAL said...: OK. You guys are just plain weird. Badgers, that is.

And what's the gadget on Meade's bicycle?; 9/9/12, 9:48 PM
A. Shmendrik said...: When that dirty hippy guy gets back from these festivities, which look to be set to go all night, he will take umbrage at that remark!

Thanks for posting this. I have lived away from Madison for several decades, and when I try to tell people in other parts of the world what a freak show that place is, I'm not sure I do it justice. This saves a lot of words.

Please get a Steadicam or other camera stabilizer. They are very convenient. So, when you don't want to approach the polka fest, you can still document it with the zoom racked out to the longest focal length, hand-held. From a safe distance.; 9/9/12, 9:48 PM
kentuckyliz said...: They need whistles and giant puppets; 9/9/12, 9:49 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "And what's the gadget on Meade's bicycle?"

It's not really Meade's bicycle. We were accessing the B-Cycle system.; 9/9/12, 9:49 PM
Meade said...: That's it - this park is closed. Get outta here hippies! And that means you, Richard and Ann, you college know-it-all hippies.; 9/9/12, 9:50 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "That's it - this park is closed. Get outta here hippies! And that means you, Richard and Ann, you college know-it-all hippies."

It's a park, man. You can't close a park.; 9/9/12, 9:51 PM
garage mahal said...: So, Meade knows what marijuana smells like......how?; 9/9/12, 9:52 PM
MadisonMan said...: Are the B-cycles an okay ride?

@Ky Liz, they may have had to reserve the shelter, but why would you need a permit to use a park?; 9/9/12, 9:53 PM
Meade said...: Like pot eradication, man.; 9/9/12, 9:53 PM
kentuckyliz said...: Noise ordinances?; 9/9/12, 9:56 PM
chickelit said...: Ann Althouse said...

It's not really Meade's bicycle. We were accessing the B-Cycle system.

My kids wanted to rent those when we were back in Madison last summer but they wouldn't rent to minors. If you read the fine print on the machines they seemed child-hostile. Do you ever see kids riding them?

Meade gave me a great tip on renting from the Williamson Street Bicycle Works so we did get to bike.; 9/9/12, 9:56 PM
Anonymous said...: Hey Laurence, why didn't you answer me when I called you?; 9/9/12, 9:58 PM
Meade said...: B-Cycle bikes are heavy. Heavy, man. Too heavy for children.

Unless you're a flower child. Or, well, you used to be one. Sort of. A college know-it-all flower child.; 9/9/12, 10:01 PM
Meade said...: I don't answer to people who call me Laurence.

Unless you're my mother.; 9/9/12, 10:02 PM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: I don't answer to people who call me Laurence.

Unless you're my mother.

I'd go by Meade too if I were you. It's a cool name. We were going to name our third child Mead if it was a boy, only it was a girl. Who is now a delightful first grader nicknamed Allie.

True story.; 9/9/12, 10:19 PM
Almost Ali said...: Strange how Wisconsin liberals pacify themselves.

Did you know that, generally, liberals are highly socialized? By that I mean they need to be with other people constantly. Which explains why they think and act alike, as one.; 9/9/12, 10:23 PM
Anonymous said...: Erika, cute nickname for a sweet little girl. My real name is nothing even closely resembling Allie though, it's actually very ethnic, German.; 9/9/12, 10:28 PM
Sprezzatura said...: I'm shocked to see Meade's down-stroke.

I thought he was a real biker

WTF?; 9/9/12, 10:52 PM
bagoh20 said...: The one identified as Allie is clearly the source of the pot aroma. She obviously has delusions of music caused by some altered state.; 9/9/12, 11:13 PM
gadfly said...: garage mahal said...
So, Meade knows what marijuana smells like......how?

9/9/12 9:52 PM

Pot smoke has a very distinctive smell that even those of us who have never touched the stuff know immediately what it is when we pass close to it.

Now we know for sure that recent Democratic presidents were weed users even though Bubba never inhaled and Barry, while he was an active member of the Choom Gang, actually preferred snorting coke.; 9/9/12, 11:14 PM
Alex said...: We all know Allie is our resident pot-head.; 9/9/12, 11:17 PM
Anonymous said...: Roll out the Ganga, roll out the Ganga of fun, roll out the Ganga, we got the blues on the run!; 9/9/12, 11:19 PM
Anonymous said...: Ooooo, dude that should be Ganja.; 9/9/12, 11:22 PM
bagoh20 said...: Those hippies are gonna give me nightmares now. I need to think happy thoughts of corporate profits and war before I go to bed..; 9/9/12, 11:51 PM
Chip Ahoy said...: Basket needs flowers, baguette, cheese, delicious frozen drink that you buy in tubes and mix with water for two quarts, I love that stuff, but no wine, ick, nobody likes that awful stuff. People only pretend to drink it. Plus that basket is fortunately large and can hold at least one yard flamingo.; 9/10/12, 12:52 AM
Chip Ahoy said...: All the hummingbird nectars on Amazon descriptions brag about sucrose. One said sucrose is the sugar closest to flowers, and that struck me as very odd and probably not true. Hummingbirds eat bugs too.

It's useless, the reviewers over there collectively are all saying opposite things, the same things oppositely, apparently observable bird behavior varies widely and so do results from all the brands which are basically all the same thing, sugar.

I'm particular about cane sugar.

But I was mixing a tube of that frozen fruit juice for myself and I think no matter what they call it the mixture will be mostly apple juice, it happened this one was pure apple juice, and it sure was delicious even in extra diluted form, and that made me think maybe hummingbirds would like delicious fruit drink too, it's already concentrated.

That would HFCS.

That makes me want to experiment. Have a choice. Leave it to the birds to decide if they like it or not.; 9/10/12, 1:03 AM
edutcher said...: The music sounded more Arabic than Polish and a couple of the women looked as if they were doing some variant of belly dancing rather than polka.

PS Ann saying, "If he gets into trouble...", sounds just like The Blonde, who has been known to send me in harm's way.; 9/10/12, 5:44 AM
virgil xenophon said...: Allie@10:28pm/

I didn't know your name was Brunhilda!; 9/10/12, 6:18 AM
sdharms said...: That was pointless. YOU TOLD US NOTHING!!!! Why do I read or watch?; 9/10/12, 6:40 AM
Hagar said...: Madison, WI is indeed a strange place.; 9/10/12, 7:49 AM
Clyde said...: Ann, just be careful if you encounter Joe Biden. He seems to have a thing for biker chicks!

(That picture of him making the rounds with the bikers is a classic!)

I don't think they need to worry about him stealing their old lady, though. Biden's ride is an Amtrak.; 9/10/12, 7:58 AM
MadisonMan said...: it's actually very ethnic, German.

Gertrude.

(Pronounced Gair-Truda, or course); 9/10/12, 7:59 AM
Hagar said...: This B-Cycle outfit has men's bikes too?; 9/10/12, 8:28 AM
Meade said...: No no. They're all girls' bikes. If you are a man lacking confidence in your manly macho masculine manhood, B-Cycles are not for you, man.

@MadMan, after we dumped the B-Cycles at the new station down on Monroe, we walked home via your street - I think. Doesn't your house back up to the graveyard? I always try to remember to whistle whenever I walk past. But quietly. Wouldn't want to be faced with disorderly conduct charges.; 9/10/12, 8:44 AM
virgil xenophon said...: Meade/

Looks like Madison had the good sense not to require helmets in order to ride those dealios. Thats been the cause of failure of such systems to thrive in cities which have...takes all the spontaneity out of the decision to utilize the bikes if one has to provide one's own (bulky) helmet--too much forethought..; 9/10/12, 9:06 AM
Ann Althouse said...: Helmets on B-Cycles... it's like seat belts on buses. Where are they? When it's your own vehicle, you've got to have one. Otherwise, not so much.; 9/10/12, 10:40 AM
Ann Althouse said...: Isn't your skull a helmet?; 9/10/12, 10:40 AM
ndspinelli said...: Your skull is a subdural hematoma helmet.

"I love the smell of marijuana in the morning, it smells like...victory."; 9/10/12, 11:44 AM
Anonymous said...: Virgil and MM,wrong, keep guessing! :); 9/10/12, 2:20 PM
LoafingOaf said...: Have you seen the invisible bike helmet a couple of design students have come up with? The Invisible Bike Helmet; 9/10/12, 4:56 PM