Althouse: At the Abbie-Got-the-Ball Café...

March 28, 2013

At the Abbie-Got-the-Ball Café...

... there are many new things.

78 comments:

edutcher said...: And Abby says, "You can sniff me all you want. You'll get the ball when I'm ready to give it to you".; 3/28/13, 8:08 PM
rcommal said...: It's delightful.

It's delicious.

It's; 3/28/13, 8:10 PM
Paddy O said...: And Paddy got the PhD

Dissertation defended, passed with distinction.

Which made for a fine day.; 3/28/13, 8:11 PM
rcommal said...: ever so, ain't it?; 3/28/13, 8:12 PM
rcommal said...: An alternative.; 3/28/13, 8:14 PM
Patrick said...: Fantastic Paddy! On Holy Thursday, no less. Congrstulations and a happy, blessed Easter!; 3/28/13, 8:23 PM
Mark said...: Congrats, Paddy.

And that girl REALLY needs a cask on her collar. She's perfect.; 3/28/13, 8:32 PM
virgil xenophon said...: Great, Paddy O! What now?; 3/28/13, 8:39 PM
bagoh20 said...: This guy is famous today for being cute:

Boom; 3/28/13, 8:39 PM
Anonymous said...: I like these dog videos Ann posts at the end of the day, but a little hard too as my yellow Lab seems to be in her final days. May have to make a decision...; 3/28/13, 8:40 PM
edutcher said...: This may be a wash for Meade: Medicare isn't going to pay for diagnostic testsbut ObamaTax will pay for implants for the wife.

Paddy O said...

And Paddy got the PhD

Dissertation defended, passed with distinction.

Many congrats. I know how it feels.; 3/28/13, 8:46 PM
edutcher said...: bpm4532 said...

I like these dog videos Ann posts at the end of the day, but a little hard too as my yellow Lab seems to be in her final days. May have to make a decision...

I hear ya.

When we lost Bow Jangles, it was enough to break your heart.; 3/28/13, 8:47 PM
Anonymous said...: Congratulations Paddy!; 3/28/13, 8:50 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Congratulations Paddy.; 3/28/13, 8:50 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Congrats, Paddy!; 3/28/13, 8:50 PM
ken in tx said...: We have two dogs, Abbie and Franklin, Boston Terriers. Franklin started having seizures. He is being medicated now. He stumbles and staggers but does not have seizures. Abbie misses him. We do too. He is not the same dog.; 3/28/13, 8:57 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: Congratulations, Paddy! Bravo!; 3/28/13, 9:10 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Damn you have had snow in your dog pics for it seems like 2-3 weeks straight? Has your winter been extra snowy and colder than usual?; 3/28/13, 9:14 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Way to go Paddy!; 3/28/13, 9:15 PM
Petunia said...: Congratulations, Dr. Paddy!; 3/28/13, 9:17 PM
edutcher said...: AJ Lynch said...

Damn you have had snow in your dog pics for it seems like 2-3 weeks straight? Has your winter been extra snowy and colder than usual?

Everybody's has.

The Euros are about ready to start sacrificing virgins.

If they can find any.; 3/28/13, 9:19 PM
bagoh20 said...: Great job, Paddy.

Except for the obvious stupidity of the lefties that visit, I must be the dumbest person in here. Is anyone else a college drop out? Anybody more dumberer than me? I did complete a course on the proper use of Xerox photocopiers once, so I got that going for me.; 3/28/13, 9:19 PM
bagoh20 said...: The snow pack in the mountains of Southern California is a record low this year. That's where we get our water. The reservoirs should supply enough to get through summer fine, but a couple years like this and we will be in trouble. Of course we hear that every year, even when the snow is plentiful. Things are always very very concerning here, which of course requires more money, which itself is very very concerning here. I think that last one is for real though.; 3/28/13, 9:24 PM
bagoh20 said...: Paddy, you could have avoided all that work if you just came here first. I just read above that you could have bought a Mazda MX-5 and made $83 per/h just selling gopher dung from home. I'm going for it. I'll let you know how it works out.; 3/28/13, 9:31 PM
Alex said...: bagoh - guess what LA is a desert. It shouldn't have 15 million people. Get them out of there and your water problems are over.; 3/28/13, 9:31 PM
bagoh20 said...: I know Alex. Nothing would make me happier than a mass exodus through the desert to the promised land of Madison WI. Our locals would fit in there just perfect, and add a little "color", which is sorely needed. Madison blossoms to 10 million overnight, and tequila with brat tacos take over the area.; 3/28/13, 9:44 PM
Tim said...: "The snow pack in the mountains of Southern California is a record low this year. That's where we get our water."

Uh, sorry dude, So Cal doesn't just get its water from the local snow pack.

There's this thing, been around for a while too, called the California State Water Project.

It sorta works like "progressive" income taxes.

How, you ask?

Well, like "progressive" income taxes, the California State Water Project takes from those who have, in this case Northern California, and redistributes, or more accurately, ships via the delta and canals, to those who don't have, in this case the Central Valley and Southern California.

And, because there are more Southern Californians than Northern Californians, guess what?

You have nothing to worry about.

You'll get your water.

Enough to live on, anyway.

Your lawn may go brown, and you may put a brick or two in your toilet, and may not flush but once or twice a day, and washing the car will be a fine-able offense, but you'll live.

Now, apply that lesson to income taxes, and it isn't so hard to figure out whose taxes are going up, and why, lol!

In this "democracy," the people have always been able to vote themselves someone else's stuff.

Angels v. Dodgers knotted at zero in the bottom of the third, FWTW.; 3/28/13, 9:50 PM
Synova said...: I held a piece of Mars in my hand today.

It was this one.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mars/news/mars20130103.html

I also got to see and handle several other Mars meteorites and some Lunar meteorites, but they were all in plastic boxes. NWA 7034 was in my *hand*.; 3/28/13, 9:51 PM
rcommal said...: bagoh: While I'm not a college drop-out, not only do I not possess an advanced degree, I never even dropped out of a program pursuing one on account of never having enrolled in one or trying to. So, there's that.; 3/28/13, 9:56 PM
madAsHell said...: Is anyone else a college drop out?

My parents paid to put me through college. Guilt pushed me over the line.

Thank God that I found engineering. Who knew that you could get paid to build things, and then break them?? My childhood in a nutshell!!; 3/28/13, 9:57 PM
Basta! said...: Paddy-O, that's grand. Congrats.; 3/28/13, 9:59 PM
Big Mike said...: Before I congratulate you, Paddy, what's your degree in?

If it's something that ends in the word "studies" you have my sympathy instead.; 3/28/13, 10:03 PM
Big Mike said...: Is anyone else a college drop out?

Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, a few folks like that. I'm sure they wound up starving in a gutter somewhere.

Anybody more dumberer than me?

garage mahal, phx, roesch-voltaire, AlphaLiberal, ...; 3/28/13, 10:05 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Shoot I dropped out twice and got my degree on the 7 year plan.; 3/28/13, 10:07 PM
Alex said...: Mark Zuckerberg - another college dropout.; 3/28/13, 10:07 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Big Mike made me laugh. Good one!; 3/28/13, 10:07 PM
Synova said...: Congratulations Paddy!; 3/28/13, 10:11 PM
chickelit said...: Synova said...I held a piece of Mars in my hand today.

Was it hard? Pieces of Venus are soft.; 3/28/13, 10:18 PM
chickelit said...: @rcommal: I thought you knew that famous politician in college?; 3/28/13, 10:20 PM
chickelit said...: Congratulations, Paddy O!; 3/28/13, 10:20 PM
rcommal said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/28/13, 10:21 PM
Paddy O said...: Thanks all!

Virgil, what now? Profit!

Big Mike, Theology. Which is the original doctoral study. Minor in church history.; 3/28/13, 10:22 PM
Paddy O said...: bagoh, now you tell me out the $83 a week! I wish you had mentioned it in 2008.

And personally, I think you're pretty brilliant. You have a gift for getting people working. Well, except for those 18 year old welders who don't need jobs.; 3/28/13, 10:27 PM
rcommal said...: @bagoh:

Would you have been more successful had you not dropped out? Well, I think you've answered that question both explicitly a number of times, as well as implicitly. Would you be smarter? I tend to doubt it.

As for me: It's a different question, and therefore there are different answers. Would I have been more successful had I pursued an advanced degree? Perhaps. It depends on what is meant by "more successful" not to mention "at what." Would it have been smarter had I done that? I think it's pretty much certainly true, given the age then and my age in a cohort, that this would have been the much smarter of a choice, in retrospect. Would I be smarter and better read (& etc.)? That's an open question, because intellectual integrity demands that it be so, and I do not shun the question. I suspect that the answer is "no," at least apart from the issue of "more successful," depending on what's meant by that.; 3/28/13, 10:27 PM
rcommal said...: @chickelit:

At various times before college, during college and after college I met various people. Some of them have recognizable names. How unusual, really, is that, after all?; 3/28/13, 10:30 PM
bagoh20 said...: I really have no idea how things would have been different had I not dropped out. I did continue to attend college for years when I could afford it in different disciplines just to learn what interested me.

I ended up very happy with what I have done and where I am. I wished I had learned more musically, I love to try and play, but know nothing of it, can't read a note, and know no theory. That is a failing.

I never stopped learning things, so I can't say I missed out on knowledge.

I believe I owe a tremendous amount to moving to California at 22 years old. It would have been better had I not arrived completely broke with $40 and no job, but still that was a learning experience itself. California, after small town Pennsylvania was an eye opener, and it seemed like the whole world opened up with new options. Had I stayed in school, I probably would not have made that move, but who knows.

I was on course to be an Industrial Engineer specializing in Environmental Controls. I have no idea where that would have gone, but where I did end up going was a lot of fun. No regrets at all.; 3/28/13, 10:39 PM
rcommal said...: I have met both extremely smart and well-read, if not "educated" folks working at what would be considered menial, or at least working-class, jobs in my life. I have met some relatively average-IQ and not very well-read folks with advanced degrees in my life. (Of course, I have also met some incredibly smart people with advanced degrees doing remarkable things far beyond my ken, and I have also met...well, it should be obvious where this must go.) What am I supposed to say about all of that? What is it that folks in various camps would want me to say about all of that, expect me to say about all of that? *Shrug*; 3/28/13, 10:45 PM
chickelit said...: At various times before college, during college and after college I met various people. Some of them have recognizable names. How unusual, really, is that, after all?

Not at all. I always considered you fortunate in that regard. I went to HS with two WI politicians with potential. One day they may pay me not to reveal certain things. ;); 3/28/13, 10:46 PM
rcommal said...: Life is a cornucopia, mostly on account of the different people you meet along the way; 3/28/13, 10:55 PM
Almost Ali said...: Re: "$40 and no job..."

Me too, but with a little less: arriving in SF with 40-cents and no job. Sitting on a bench on Market Street as the sun was about to set. I pulled a classified section from a nearby trash basket, then this:

"Help Wanted, No Salary"

Boy, did I choose to the wrong place! People so desperate they'll work for nothing. Until I finally realized these were offers of exchange - ie You wash our dishes for 3 hours each morning, we'll give you room and board. And the rest of the day free.

So when the sun went fully down that night, I had a place to stay, and a good meal to sleep on. It was 1962. God bless America.; 3/28/13, 11:05 PM
traditionalguy said...: Great news, Paddy. A Phd commenter should dissertate here more than ever. We are happy for you.; 3/28/13, 11:05 PM
traditionalguy said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/28/13, 11:06 PM
bagoh20 said...: "Uh, sorry dude, So Cal doesn't just get its water from the local snow pack.".

Shhhhhhh. We have the beautiful people here. Do want them to just dry out leaving greasy piles of silcone and cocaine? Don't answer that.; 3/28/13, 11:07 PM
Unknown said...: Way to go Paddy O!; 3/28/13, 11:08 PM
rcommal said...: Perhaps it might be fun, some time, for folks here to list the all of the jobs they've done in their lives, over their lifetimes. I, for one, would find it interesting and probably even illuminating. Open to that, I am.; 3/28/13, 11:11 PM
Amartel said...: Woot, Paddy. Congratulations.
Re: so cal water - about 1/3 comes from groundwater sources (delish!) and the rest is ingeniously pumped in over the hill from various sources, not just nor cal. Read "Cadillac Desert". All of Cali is going to be dry this summer.; 3/28/13, 11:15 PM
bagoh20 said...: "So when the sun went fully down that night, I had a place to stay, and a good meal to sleep on. It was 1962. God bless America."

Yes, what a country. I slept in my broken down car. After driving 3,000 miles, it died the minute I got to Venice Beach, CA, and never ran again. I soon found friends who let me sleep on their couch for a few weeks, until I found a minimum wage job and moved into a small apartment with 3 other losers.

This month our company will have the best month since 2008. We will be more profitable than ever before, pay more taxes, and finally employ as many people as we did 5 years ago.

Just recently, I hired my 1000th employee. I have less 100 of them left. All the rest went on to other things, either voluntarily or not, but every single one of them left us much better off than we found them, smarter, more capable, more experienced, and I hope with a positive opinion of private enterprise, and employers. Those have been my simple goals all these years. I have really enjoyed it.; 3/28/13, 11:20 PM
Paddy O said...: "After driving 3,000 miles, it died the minute I got to Venice Beach, CA,"

My great grandfather O had a similar story in the teens of the 20th century. Rode the rails from east Texas as a teenager. Worked on building some of the piers. Became a farmer in Venice Beach, then elsewhere in California.; 3/28/13, 11:44 PM
bagoh20 said...: "Became a farmer in Venice Beach,"

That's amazing. Los Angeles grew very fast after WW11, and you can look back at photos before the 50s, and see mile after mile of open fields, orchards and oil wells, where currently homes and apartments completely blanket the whole place. Grandpappy O wouldn't recognize it. Venice, CA is now an expensive, tightly packed bungalow village with no farming but backyard weed. The houses from the 20s are bringing 7 figures. Too rich for me.; 3/28/13, 11:59 PM
bagoh20 said...: I don't know if Ann will read this, but I'd be interested to know if she ever did any analysis of what fuels comments most, and if so, what are the top ten winning subjects. Also if she has any idea about what gets people yapping most as far as approach in a post, i.e., controversial, liberal silliness, conservative sacred cows, cultural comment bait, etcetera. Or is all that trade secret stuff?; 3/29/13, 12:19 AM
Chip Ahoy said...: Dr. Paddy, I like that sound of that.

Congratulations.

Your link is interesting, I did not know that. I was struck, ding, suddenly how closely religious institutional authority is woven with regular whatchyacallit profane authority, kingly, civic, government authority. I already knew it, of course, from Egypti mostly, but for some reason your example suddenly showed it.

Shown with the other present obsession, getting the redefinition of marriage sorted.

Originally marriage was a tribal concern, a community concern first in evolutionary terms and secondly a religious concern, completely entangled, presently disentangling. And here your example shows how the religious concern of creating an educational licensing is taken up by government. Like the trees you see with their trunks intertwined. And it's only recently in present day view that they're spread so wide.

Dr. Paddy; 3/29/13, 1:24 AM
Rusty said...: madAsHell said...
Is anyone else a college drop out?

My parents paid to put me through college. Guilt pushed me over the line.

Thank God that I found engineering. Who knew that you could get paid to build things, and then break them?? My childhood in a nutshell!!

That's the route I should have taken. I have to build stuff that actually works. For hundreds of thousands if not millions of cycles.; 3/29/13, 4:43 AM
Rusty said...: Oh, yeah. Congrats PaddyO.; 3/29/13, 4:44 AM
rhhardin said...: Central Ohio first flower, March 28 instead of March 6 last year.

It comes up eventually even if it's still cold.; 3/29/13, 5:38 AM
edutcher said...: Bless you, sir.

Of course, it's a dandelion, but we'll take what we can get.

Up here our crocuseseses are still trying to break through.; 3/29/13, 6:15 AM
KCFleming said...: Blessings on Paddy O, PhD.

And for his heir, who'll always know him as Dad, not Doc.; 3/29/13, 6:57 AM
AllenS said...: Good for you, Paddy. Proud of you!; 3/29/13, 7:12 AM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: Congrats to Paddy!

Bag: if you ever decided to write a book about building your company and shepherding all those people over the years, I'd read it. Just a thought.

Rcommal: babysitter (starting at 11), hair salon janitor (starting at 12), Sears salesclerk (16), Barnes & Noble salesclerk (17), grocery bagger and gofer (taking apart and cleaning the butcher shop meat saw remains memorable), Amazon warehouse receptionist, espresso barista, office assistant at an interior furnishings company, a decade of stay-at-home-wife and motherhood with lots of volunteering (PTA, church, scouts, charity) and now preschool teacher.

I dropped out of college when I got pregnant--I was getting good grades working on an anthropology degree with the vague intention of winding up a social studies teacher. Thank goodness my path took another turn--what the heck does a 21 year old do with an anthropology degree?

And if anyone I know reads this blog, there goes my anonymity, because no one else on earth has that identical work history : ); 3/29/13, 8:06 AM
virgil xenophon said...: We're gonna have to drum you out of the club, Erika. You just outed yourself of having committed the feminista cardinal sin of shunning the credentialed corporate and/or academic fast-track. Heretic and Traitor to the Cause!; 3/29/13, 8:54 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Bagoh - you are a success story.
(though I am puzzled how you can be so upbeat with the democrat party systematically working to destroy you and small business employers like you)

Congrats Paddy O. No small feat!; 3/29/13, 8:55 AM
virgil xenophon said...: PS: And I haven't even gotten around to that subversive home-schooler Freeman Hunt yet!; 3/29/13, 8:58 AM
virgil xenophon said...: PPS: Make that uber subversive as Freeman insists on publishing outlandish thoughts on her blog without the proper credentials. The Nerve!; 3/29/13, 9:01 AM
Meade said...: Congratulations, Paddy O!; 3/29/13, 10:03 AM
rhhardin said...: Coltsfoot vs dandelion pic that somebody put up already.; 3/29/13, 10:03 AM
Freeman Hunt said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/29/13, 10:33 AM
Freeman Hunt said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/29/13, 10:51 AM
Dante said...: I ended up very happy with what I have done and where I am. I wished I had learned more musically, I love to try and play, but know nothing of it, can't read a note, and know no theory. That is a failing.

Depending on what kind of music you are interested in, I would highly recommend "How to listen to and understand Great Music," by Dr. Robert Greenberg, San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

You can find it here at the Teaching Company, which has a lot of these "Great Courses."

It explains Music Theory at a high level, and takes Classical music, and the influences from Ancient Greece to the Modern Day, and describes the social influences on music. I've known several people who have listened to it, and none are disappointed (though Greenberg is as PC as they come).; 3/29/13, 12:17 PM
kentuckyliz said...: Earlier this evening, in the 7 p.m. hour, I heard two dogs barking up a storm right outside my window. They had my tomcat cornered, and I'm sure that cat would be dead and torn apart if I didn't intervene. I spoke to the dogs sharply to go on home, now go on and git. They stopped barking and ambled away. I had to convince my dumb tom to come inside. I think his pride was wounded. He wanted to stay outside and kick some dog ass now that his life wasn't in danger.; 3/30/13, 12:09 AM

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