Althouse: At the Snowfall Café...

December 23, 2012

At the Snowfall Café...

... you can talk about whatever you want.

(And consider shopping through the Althouse portal.)

34 comments:

ricpic said...: After the storm all is crystalline stillness;
So let's bundle up, go out, get our fillness.; 12/23/12, 2:19 PM
Michael K said...: In southern California, we're getting our snow one drip at a time. Except in the mountains.; 12/23/12, 2:25 PM
traditionalguy said...: Christmas being Tuesday is the best day.

Most offices (especially Government ones) are closed from Friday through Wednesday. And what the heck take New Years off too and come back January 3rd.

The interstate 75 was an industrial strength bottle neck all day Friday for folks Going to Florida that day. It added 2 hours to their travel time through Big A.; 12/23/12, 2:47 PM
garage mahal said...: Good ice making weather last night: cold and calm. Going to check to see if Monona iced over. Maybe stop for a bloody mary on the way back. The things I do for my family.; 12/23/12, 2:54 PM
edutcher said...: Very Christmasy, although no blizzard. I hear that's coming Christmas.

PS Hey, garage, cute kid for an avatar.

Your granddaughter?; 12/23/12, 3:13 PM
bagoh20 said...: I'm on the Atlantic shore of Florida for Christmas with the whole family, and it was in the low 30's last night, but will be in the 80's this week. You just can't pack enough clothes in a carry on to handle that varied temperature, so I'll be forced to wear a sock for a bathing suit. It avoids tan lines though. Please forgive me, baby Jesus.; 12/23/12, 3:27 PM
Chip S. said...: How about regular posts updating us about Miss Venezuela?; 12/23/12, 3:30 PM
MadisonMan said...: Good ice making weather last night

I saw people out skating on the neighborhood rink -- course, it's not on a lake. Ice is kinda rough, always takes a while for the skaters to wear down the high spots.; 12/23/12, 3:44 PM
Anonymous said...: Picking lemons, oranges and tangerines after this weekends cold snap. It actually got down to 30-ish degrees for a few hours along the St Johns river. Just the bump the citrus needed to start turning sweet. Ordered a couple things through your portal. 7% your way is cool.; 12/23/12, 3:45 PM
garage mahal said...: Your granddaughter?

Daughter. LOL; 12/23/12, 3:46 PM
garage mahal said...: Now this is a snowball.; 12/23/12, 3:57 PM
Bender said...: You would think that constant and repeated vindication would be gratifying. Not so much, actually.

Tagg Romney said his father "wanted to be president less than anyone I've met in my life," according to the Boston Globe.

“He had no desire,” the eldest Romney son said. “If he could have found someone else to take his place ... he would have been ecstatic to step aside."

He had no desire. NSS.; 12/23/12, 3:59 PM
edutcher said...: Why do I think the Baaston Globe might be fudging, just a bit?

garage mahal said...

Your granddaughter?

Daughter. LOL

I assumed the machinery was a little older.

No aspersions intended.; 12/23/12, 4:05 PM
Deb said...: head cold. Nyquil and orange juice. Walking Dead marathon.; 12/23/12, 4:13 PM
Fr Martin Fox said...: We may have a white Christmas in Cincinnati this year: a dusting.; 12/23/12, 4:13 PM
garage mahal said...: I assumed the machinery was a little older.

Probably all that sage wisdom I drop around here on a regular basis. I get that a lot.; 12/23/12, 4:15 PM
bagoh20 said...: "“He had no desire,” "

I believe this. Of course he wanted to win, and being President is something you don't pass on if enough people want you, but right now the job is about as uninviting as it could possibly be, especially for a conservative.

You know what needs done. A majority of the country won't admit it. The opposition, including the press, will fight you all the way, and you will probably not be able to succeed in doing what you absolutely know must be done.

Like any addict, the country is not yet ready to admit the obvious, which is that it simply cannot go on like this, and much of what it considers necessities are actually optional, unsupportable, and fatal obsessions.

Who would want to spend their reputation and last years being the intervention specialist with such a poor prospect. We haven't even puked on our keyboards yet. We got a ways to go to hit bottom.

I'd say Romney was actually the winner in November, considering what would have happened to him if a few hundred thousand more Republicans showed up in the right places to stick him with the hot potato (potatoe).; 12/23/12, 4:48 PM
Hagar said...: Tagg Romney said his father "wanted to be president less than anyone I've met in my life," according to the Boston Globe.

I don't know about that, but he certainly did not want it badly enough to win.; 12/23/12, 4:48 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: If it be conspiracy, then we don't know about it.

Do you understand?; 12/23/12, 4:54 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: So the Patriots were victorious today... bored and same old was restored.

How about those Packers... did they run-up the score?
The fans snow-shoveling Lambeau
did the mighty chore.

The Jets quarterback spent the game on his back... If you snooze you loose... But McElroy was a snore.; 12/23/12, 4:57 PM
Michael K said...: "I'd say Romney was actually the winner in November, considering what would have happened to him if a few hundred thousand more Republicans showed up in the right places to stick him with the hot potato (potatoe)."

I believe this although I have tremendous respect for his willingness to take on the job. We are the losers and we will have to survive another four years of Obama.

Just imagine if Herbert Hoover, who is somewhat comparable to Romney in his lack of political ambition, had not been a progressive. If Coolidge had run for another term, we might have avoided the Depression although he was very reluctant to intervene even though he did so in the Boston police strike.

Obama is in this for the power and the perks. It may finally trip him up. Even Roosevelt, who was far wiser than Obama, overreached with the Supreme Court.; 12/23/12, 5:06 PM
pm317 said...: Why does he cry at every turn now?; 12/23/12, 5:21 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: The Rifleman's Creed; 12/23/12, 5:36 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: As it were unabated, it isn't per me.; 12/23/12, 5:36 PM
edutcher said...: Hagar said...

Tagg Romney said his father "wanted to be president less than anyone I've met in my life," according to the Boston Globe.

I don't know about that, but he certainly did not want it badly enough to win.

I think that's a lot of nonsense, more of the Lefty Operation Demoralize like the Gray Lady trying to convince us Choom won by an overwhelming majority.

I doubt Romney would have made the effort, particularly understanding the stress it would put on his wife, if he didn't intend to win it.; 12/23/12, 5:58 PM
Penny said...: NotquiteunBuckley, I've been remiss in not telling you a story.

I am a Jeopardy fan, and about a month ago, in Double Jeopardy, they had a category called "Jr's".

They flashed up a picture and the contestants buzzed in to name the well-known "Jr."

The most difficult question is worth $2000, and answering at that high level of difficulty, often determines the ultimate winner.

So they flash up a picture of none other than William F. Buckley Jr. and guess what happens?

Nada! Zilch! No buzzers, not even a single guesser!

So tell me, NotquiteunBuckley, of the double negative. Does that please you? Or does that displease you?; 12/23/12, 7:02 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: You are missing out on some beautiful.

Others aren't.

We are.

Others are not, we are.

Kill.; 12/23/12, 7:52 PM
Penny said...: "You are missing out on some beautiful.

Others aren't."

Yeah well.

I yam who I am.

Course you might call me Sweet Potato, but PLEASE!

Send me no Flowers.

I have no particular aversion to skunks, but my friends?; 12/23/12, 8:08 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: The NRA's story that Drudge has linked to right now has this bit of... I like what Althouse called it... "chewing in The Theater of Outrage".

"Wayne LaPierre, the executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, said planned legislation to outlaw military-style assault weapons and large-capacity magazines was "phony" and would not work.

He repeated the NRA's call to place an armed guard in every school and argued that prosecuting criminals and fixing the mental health system, rather than gun control, were the solutions to America's mass shooting epidemic." (bold letters mine)

I googled whats an epidemic?... and I found this Slate story among the returns...

In terms of the flu, the difference between an outbreak and an epidemic is the percenatge of overall deaths caused by the disease. Every week, the CDC gathers morbidity data from hospitals in 122 cities nationwide and figures out what percentage of the decedents died of pneumonia, cancer, and other prolific killers. If the number of flu-caused deaths exceeds 7.7 percent of the total, then the United States officially has an epidemic on its hands. According to the latest survey, only 7.2 percent of last week's deaths were due to influenza, so there's no epidemic yet.

I'm no statistician, but in terms of how the word epidemic is used by the controlling authority - the CDC - these sensationally covered cases do not rise to the level of an epidemic.; 12/23/12, 10:22 PM
Penny said...: No chit, Lem.

The worst part of this is that we all need to hold our breath until the philosophers are replaced by the statisticians.

Unfortunately, that may be WAY too long. We seem to not even be able to teach our kids basic math, for cripes sake.

How will they ever respond to "What are the odds ... ?"; 12/23/12, 10:40 PM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: We are watching Firefly on Netflix and have made it through about 5 episodes. I find the show moderately entertaining and somewhat charming, but I'm not seeing anything that would inspire the fanatical devotion that one sees directed at it. Is it going to pick up steam or get deeper or something?; 12/23/12, 10:55 PM
edutcher said...: I can't, either.

The irony is, when Gene Roddenberry was trying to sell "Star Trek" to NBC, he described it as "Wagon Train" in space.

It wasn't, but "Firefly" sure is.; 12/24/12, 6:44 AM
Big Mike said...: It's Christmas Even and we're having snow in Northern Virginia.

And my snowblower's in the repair shop. Fortunately it's supposed to warm up above freezing and turn to rain, so I won't need even a shovel, much less a blower.; 12/24/12, 11:53 AM
Big Mike said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/24/12, 11:57 AM