Althouse: At the Blue Sky Café...

December 28, 2014

At the Blue Sky Café...

... you can talk. I've got to drive for 9 hours.

26 comments:

Laslo Spatula said...: I have this reoccurring sequential dream where I have killed somebody (the details in the dream are sketchy on how and why), but no one has found the body yet. There may or may not have been a car accident.

I have almost forgotten that it even happened, but now the police are somehow on to me, and keep asking me questions, insinuating that they are getting closer to the truth. I can't remember the truth.

In the later dreams they have begun exploring the field where I had buried the body, and keep getting closer to the tree where the body is. There are dogs, and shovels.

I have the dooming sense that time is running out: there are undercover police cars across the street in case I attempt to flee. The waiting is excruciating. I do not want to go to prison. Somehow I want it to be a misunderstanding yet I know that I am wrong.

I am wondering if I am going to get caught in a dream to come.

I wake up from these dreams paranoid and disoriented.

I am Laslo.; 12/28/14, 8:55 AM
Oso Negro said...: Has the good Professor previously revealed a fear of flying? Three hours on the plane, no matter how demeaning the screening process, surely beats two days each way in the car in the dead of winter.; 12/28/14, 9:00 AM
Phil 314 said...: Drive, she said

(WARNING: Not a lot of middling virtues included. There will be smoking and driving fast, probably not stopping for pedestrians); 12/28/14, 9:23 AM
Humperdink said...: Spouse and I have embraced the flying boycott. Unless it's an emergency, we will drive anywhere. We refuse to participate in the TSA's handiwork. Used to fly a lot. Haven't flown in years.; 12/28/14, 9:25 AM
SomeoneHasToSayIt said...: More flash violence by African American youths, this time at a McDonalds: Stompin' and Chimpin' out

I post these to refute the Leftist meme that all cultures have value.

They don't. Some are toxic.; 12/28/14, 9:28 AM
SomeoneHasToSayIt said...: If you think I exaggerate, check this out: Just a few days worth.; 12/28/14, 9:38 AM
Scott said...: @Oso Negro, I can see why Prof Althouse might want to drive to Austin and back. On such drives one experiences a sense of how vast and empty the country still is. You can listen to an audio book, or music, or just meditate while the engine hums and the crosswinds nudge the car a little, reminding you that God still runs things.; 12/28/14, 9:57 AM
Scott said...: As long as I'm sipping my latte here, let me opine on the WaPo.

Since Jeff Bezos bought the WaPo, they brought in the popular independent law blog The Volokh Conspiracy as part of the WaPo universe. The effect of this move has been phenomenal. Now the Volokh crew has exposure to a lot of more liberal readers who have never seen this high quality blog before. And, the Washington Post has become a classier place, with a slightly bigger tent. I hope this experiment by the WaPo proves to be a profitable one.; 12/28/14, 10:16 AM
Big Mike said...: Wishing you a safe and uneventful trip.; 12/28/14, 10:25 AM
SomeoneHasToSayIt said...: Scott said...
@Oso Negro, I can see why Prof Althouse might want to drive to Austin and back. On such drives one experiences a sense of how vast and empty the country still is.

Yes.

You can listen to an audio book,
Yes.
or music,
Yes.
or just meditate while the engine hums and the crosswinds nudge the car a little,
Yes.

. . . reminding you that God still runs things.

Oh my. Clank. You just killed the mood, and for no good reason. Why add that phrase? Up to that point, everything was real.; 12/28/14, 10:28 AM
grackle said...: I will do almost anything to avoid flying. I came to this attitude long before the TSA screening. Why? Short answer: Because the airline industry treats their customers like crap. I was humiliated once too often and swore off. I see complaints about the airlines all the time and wonder why the customers put up with it when most of the time there are alternatives to flying.; 12/28/14, 10:35 AM
SomeoneHasToSayIt said...: grackle said...
I will do almost anything to avoid flying. I came to this attitude long before the TSA screening. Why? Short answer: Because the airline industry treats their customers like crap. I was humiliated once too often and swore off. I see complaints about the airlines all the time and wonder why the customers put up with it when most of the time there are alternatives to flying.

Exactly right.

Folks should give Amtrak a try, too.

Spring for a sleeper berth. Excellent way to travel, and the food on board is actually pretty good.

If enough of us do this, perhaps things like train service from Madison to Chicago, or from anywhere to Nashville (yup, you can't get to Nashville at all via Amtrak) will return. And we don't need high speed rail boondoggles. Regular trains on existing track, will do fine.

Consumers actually have all the power. Vote with your pocketbook.; 12/28/14, 10:44 AM
Sydney said...: Today's Doonesbury was the epitome of why Gary Trudeau should retire. He's incapable of keeping current with the news. The topic was the University of Virginia gang rape story, but it was treated as if it was a true story.; 12/28/14, 10:51 AM
Sydney said...: Britain wants Winnie-the-Pooh back, even though he was a gift freely given.; 12/28/14, 11:00 AM
rhhardin said...: Fox news, which comes on at noon in hopes of hearing Rush owing to old-time timers in the radio, covers the missing airliner news with the same credibility as is given to covering Santa's journey.

This is news and we are just the people to give you the formulas developed over years that you want.; 12/28/14, 11:04 AM
Michael K said...: "You can listen to an audio book, "

One time years ago, I pulled a trailer of my daughter's possessions when she began law school in Spokane. My younger son helped her drive her car. My youngest (10 y/o) daughter rode with me and I had a small TV/VCR combo that played "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" the whole trip. Mercifully, I had ear phones for the TV so she could listen and I could not.

Coming home, we were in my car and I had the audio book of "Clan of the Cave Bear," which we listened to all the way home. When we got home, there was still about 20 minutes of the book to go and they ran into the house to hear the rest.

A highly successful trip.; 12/28/14, 11:06 AM
chillblaine said...: @sydney thanks for pointing out the Doonesbury cartoon. Boopsie says, "why do our most trusted institutions, universities, the church, the military, continue to cover up sexual violence..." Trudeau thinks he is speaking truth to power but he left out our public schools.; 12/28/14, 12:09 PM
bleh said...: sydney said...
Britain wants Winnie-the-Pooh back, even though he was a gift freely given.

Has Britain returned to Egypt and countless other lesser countries the artifacts it "discovered" and showcases in the British Museum?

Finders keepers, losers weepers?; 12/28/14, 1:05 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "Has the good Professor previously revealed a fear of flying? Three hours on the plane, no matter how demeaning the screening process, surely beats two days each way in the car in the dead of winter."

It's much more than 3 hours, when you count getting to the airport, parking, slogging with luggage into the terminal, the wait that you have to build in to avoid missing the plane, the possible delays, in Madison and (especially) in Chicago (the only available connection), including the horrible delays that involve getting kicked out of the airport and needing to go to a hotel and then come back 4 hours later. I once had my 3-days-before Christmas flight cancelled, automatically rescheduled a day later, then had that flight cancelled, and found out that they had no flight that could get me to Austin for Christmas. That was the first Christmas I ever spent alone.

Quite aside from the time, it's that you are pushed around and crowded with other people continually. I don't have a fear of flying. I hate the conditions of disorder and complexity and indignity. I don't want to be treated that way.

And I have a car.

A car gives me flexibility about when to leave. I can pick good weather days, or give up on the whole trip at the last minute if I want. With a car, I have control and freedom. Yeah, it probably takes longer, but I am a free citizen in the United States of America. I'm comfortable in my safe and luxurious car (an Audi TT), and I've got satellite radio to fill my quiet space and cause my thoughts to roam.

I listened to a great TED Talk Hour about memory, and then I had an hour-long (hands-free) phone conversation with Meade, which included his stories about walking around Madison, which jogged my memory about the memory show, and we talked about all that for 70 miles.

The mental space of a long drive is a very different place. You can't get there by plane.; 12/28/14, 1:12 PM
SomeoneHasToSayIt said...: Ann Althouse said...

It's much more than 3 hours, when you count getting to the airport, . . .

The mental space of a long drive is a very different place. You can't get there by plane.

That's exactly right. More folks should try it, imo. The flight experience sucks, and 'demeaning' is the perfect word for it.

I drive from Madison to Dallas about 7-8 times a year.; 12/28/14, 1:15 PM
Scott said...: "Why add that phrase? Up to that point, everything was real."

Because I am not in this world to live up to your expectations. None of us are. And that's what progressives find impossible to understand.; 12/28/14, 2:49 PM
HT said...: McCullough,

Google "college with the most nfl players." Just do it.

Also, you're probably watching GB now, but did you see who just returned the TD for Carolina's D? Bama's Roman Harper.

All of which is to say - please.

PS: Look who is QB'ing Carolina.; 12/28/14, 4:33 PM
RecChief said...: any comment on State v. Hull?; 12/28/14, 8:26 PM
HT said...: Oh, and three QBs in the playoffs are from the SEC. So much for THAT argument. (of yours)

Carolina - Auburn
Detroit - Georgia
Seattle - Wisconsin
Baltimore - Delaware
Arizona - Brookville High School
Denver - Tennessee
Green Bay - Cal
New England - Michigan
Dallas - Eastern Illinois University
Indianapolis - Stanford
Pittsburgh - Miami
Cincinnati - TCU; 12/29/14, 6:59 AM
Lawyer Mom said...: Well said, in these comments, Ann. Nothing but nothing beats driving as the best way to travel. And NOTHING but driving begets more delightful conversations with your children.

(I'm over here because of the snarksters' comments in your other post).

The indignities and forced intimacies of flying are innumerable and unbearable. I'd rather have a root canal, televised for all the world to see. Well ... almost. Take out the televised part though, and it's true.

As for the bossy TSA and its effectiveness, you might enjoy this funny clip.

http://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/2014/12/12/video-how-the-genius-tsa-thwarts-al-qaeda-attacks/?singlepage=true; 12/30/14, 1:56 AM
mark said...: As a motorcycle enthusiast, your comment in a subsequent post ...

"The mental space of a long drive is a very different place. You can't get there by plane."
got me to think:

.... The mental space of a long ride is a very different place. You can't get there by car.

of course, you likely can't get from Austin to Madison in December on a motorcycle in ANY event, so .....; 12/30/14, 11:58 AM