Althouse: At the Lunchtime Café...

August 8, 2016

At the Lunchtime Café...

... get the conversation going.

19 comments:

traditionalguy said...: The Morning Glories are open. Hurry and see.; 8/8/16, 11:14 AM
DKWalser said...: I was so sure the picture showed a spider about to eat a fly. No such luck.; 8/8/16, 12:20 PM
rhhardin said...: We need rain. The insulators on the 19kv power line along the back fence start sparking and generate loud noise on shortwave receivers when they dry out. S7 strength, on the meter.

Nevertheless I just worked a NPOTA (national parks on the air) station in Valley Forge PA, a hare-brained plan that motives some people to pack up and try to operate portable in national parks, and others like me to work them because the conversation is extremely short but a good liveness test. This particular fellow is in his third park that I've worked him at. A small but dedicated band.

Another deal, started in Europe, is SOTA (summits on the air); unique numbers have been assigned to even minor hills across the world, and guys pack up and climb them and operate portable from there. These are also good for liveness tests.

They turn up, like NPOTA, about once a day in the tiny bit of band I look at.

The highest point in Ohio is in a cornfield, as I recall.; 8/8/16, 12:30 PM
Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...: So.. (per the Daily Caller...) The University of Wisconsin - Stout is removing two paintings depicting interaction of Native Americans with French traders. While the activities do not depict violence, "the school’s Diversity Leadership Team warned they could be psychologically devastating for American Indian students."

Seems the pictures are "only suitable for a 'controlled gallery space' that could provide appropriate 'context' for the viewer."

"One will go into a dean’s conference room..."

Hopefully no circumstances will ever arise - interview, or award, perhaps - where a student might be present in the dean's conference room.

As to non-students of Native American extraction - professors, administrative staff, contract custodial persons, caterers, etc. - either they are deemed mature enough to not be psychologically devastated, or UW-Stout just doesn't give a shit about their psychological health.; 8/8/16, 12:39 PM
traditionalguy said...: HI. Biscus.; 8/8/16, 12:49 PM
Hagar said...: How about reminders of "interactions" between the German and Russian empires? Or either with the Ottomans?
Any of the peoples of the Balkans? With any of each other or of the above?; 8/8/16, 12:51 PM
Hagar said...: "Vlad the Impaler" (aka "Dracula") got his name for impaling ca. 20,000 of his enemies on sharpened wooden stakes driven into the earth and leaving them standing there as a warning against any further invasions of his domain.

At least one course in world history should be mandatory for high school graduation.; 8/8/16, 1:07 PM
mockturtle said...: At least one course in world history should be mandatory for high school graduation.

Is it not the case? World History was my favorite class in HS with English Lit a close second. My granddaughter tells me that one of her classes last year was 'Diversity'. I'm not kidding.; 8/8/16, 1:29 PM
Fernandinande said...: Hagar said...
"Vlad the Impaler" (aka "Dracula")

Eric might be glad to know that recent research indicates Vlad turned into a fruit bat on nights when the moon was full.; 8/8/16, 1:38 PM
Hagar said...: It is not funny when one reads that x% of college students think slavery only existed in the U.S. more than 100 years ago and stuff.

How many people on this thread are aware that Mao's "Great Leap Forward" killed an estimated 35 - 45 million Chinese by starvation between 1958 and 1964? And that it was not even intentional? Just no one had the courage to tell him his scheme was not working!; 8/8/16, 1:46 PM
Hagar said...: That is, that U.S. was the only place that slavery ever existed.; 8/8/16, 1:48 PM
mockturtle said...: And they think that the entire US was racially segregated prior to the 1960's with Jim Crow laws impacting bathrooms and drinking fountains. It's really shocking what 'education' has become.; 8/8/16, 1:53 PM
mockturtle said...: My personal perspective is possibly skewed because my kids went to private schools and, with inheritance money from my father, I was able to send my grandchildren to private schools when they were young, until the funds ran out. So it was not until my grandchildren went to public schools that I saw just how the curriculum has deteriorated and how political correctness had replaced real history and real science. Sad.; 8/8/16, 1:58 PM
gerry said...: @rhhardin wrote: The insulators on the 19kv power line along the back fence start sparking and generate loud noise on shortwave receivers when they dry out. S7 strength, on the meter.

Arcing when extra dry sounds counter-intuitive to me, but the highest AC I ever had experience with was below 2,000 volts (thank heaven), and never outdoors (again, thank heaven). I just don't know about such things.

What HF band are you working NPOTA on? I've not heard of NPOTA. I've not ever gone in for such things, even WAC or WAS or 100 countries, but once, forty years ago, I was operating portable in Dearborn County, Indiana, checked into a County Hunters net, and it was like being rare DX for about fifteen minutes - at that time there was only one resident amateur in Dearborn County! That was fun.

I really ought to get active again.; 8/8/16, 2:02 PM
rhhardin said...: NBC insults women

"The people who watch the Olympics are not particularly sports fans," he explained recently to Philly.com. "More women watch the games than men, and for the women, they're less interested in the result and more interested in the journey. It's sort of like the ultimate reality show and miniseries wrapped into one."; 8/8/16, 2:13 PM
rhhardin said...: NPOTA is all over. It's just when a guy decides to go out and do it. Google finds it.

I work 40m CW only, owing to having a vertical tuned for only that band.

It's a different experience from the old days, now that your rig fits easily next to the mouse. You can surf either one any time without moving.; 8/8/16, 2:15 PM
Hagar said...: Segregated water fountains is small potatoes compared to parents trading children so that they would not have to butcher their own for food. Or children likewise trading parents.; 8/8/16, 2:21 PM
LCpl Predator said...: I was never a fan of hibiscus. The flowers are just too large, but your photo makes me want to rethink that.

Not sure if Meade knows who Ryan Gainey is, but I just learned today that he died in a house fire. He ran back in to his burning house, apparently, to save his dogs.

My best friend and I have been fans of his gardens, videos and books since the 80's, and were lucky enough to have our picture taken with him.

http://www.myajc.com/news/news/local-obituaries/noted-gardener-ryan-gainey-left-green-thumbprint-o/nr9q6/; 8/8/16, 2:39 PM
jaed said...: The University of Wisconsin - Stout is removing two paintings depicting interaction of Native Americans with French traders.

Some public-spirited Native American students should get together and protest the attempt to hide their people's history from public view. Loudly.

Suggested slogans:
- "We Will Not Be Erased!"
- "Don't Hide Our Culture!"
- "We're Here, We're Indians, Get Used to It!"
- "Who Made White SJWs the Custodians of Indian Pride?"

Pass out flyers, chant, call in the media, tweet, put on a nice photogenic spectacle. Carry posters with the offending murals and captions about "My Ancestors Should Be Honored, Not Hidden".; 8/8/16, 5:03 PM