June 24, 2017

At the Catfé...

DSC04842

... it's lazy summer Saturday.

(But if you must shop, please shop through The Althouse Amazon Portal.)

32 comments:

Robert J. said...

Moar cats, less dogz.

rhhardin said...

It's ham field day, once a year thingy.

I put out my solar panel to qualify for the emergency power category.

As long as the sun stays out it will be okay.

Ann Althouse said...

You can drink your covfefe.

Anonymous said...

Oh there's Inga/ida the Viking ship cat again, she's so pretty.

traditionalguy said...

This magnificent cat is hard on our will power. We are cat less since Kitty died last year. And temptation to get a kitten is strong...but we travel so much now ....maybe.

cf said...

I am delighted that current events are pointing us to the classics of English literature for Summer Reading, what a boon for the Good:

Exhibit A: dylan's distinctive acceptance speech for his Poetry Prize, where he forces a whole new generation to consider reading Moby Dick -- civilization thanks you, dear Mr. Dylan, for pointing out the Gold Mine of truth that awaits every soul that dares to enter. The few loads of worth I managed to lift out from reading it in my 20s has informed me and my family ever since, and I am keen to revisit it and carry put even mote.

Exhibit B: the production of "julius caesar" aimed to murder our sitting president forces a return to that junior high class reading assignment, and I discover the 1952 production with Marlon Brando as Marc Antony.

OHmyGod. Mr. Trump could have no more awesome a defender: that exquisite Brow, that perfectly still sculptor's dream, when the only movement is the flash in his eyes. OHmyGod. (Not to mention the astonishing Deborah Kerr, a single scene so full of the best of Woman -- dylan portrays Woman beautifully, too, ahhh summer, 2017!!!)

cf said...

...and carry Out even More.

David Baker said...

Handwriting/signature analysis of Donald Trump; an overview:

Donald Trump’s signature is more a hallmark, a practiced and not an entirely reliable reflection of his true nature. It’s as if he consulted with a handwriting expert in order to create the desired design, one reflecting a man of action (true based on our own observations), but also a man of extremely high intelligence. He’s certainly intelligent, but there’s a significant difference between what he perceives about himself intellectually (a genius), and reality (above average). Still, one could easily argue in favor of his “genius,” and by virtually any criteria.

You may have also noticed that it takes President Trump an inordinate amount of time to execute his signature, lest he deviate from the desired result. Thus there’s a lack of fluidity, a series of hesitations, which reveal a certain disorderliness in his thinking processes. This also (and inadvertently) explains why his tweets are occasionally conflicted, at times contradictory, and sometimes enigmatic. By designing the “perfect” hallmark, i.e., the perfect man, he actually reveals weaknesses that might be otherwise undetectable.

(The fact is that it’s virtually impossible to disguise or hide one’s self via handwriting. You can’t forge your own signature, nor anyone else’s for that matter)

Lets move on to the natural (unforced) aspects found in his handwriting. One of the most outstanding traits is initiative, a high level of initiative, a powerful and constant call to action. And despite possible initial confusion regarding a particular subject matter, he’s nevertheless a very quick study. He’s also one who recovers quickly from setbacks, allowing him to move on in a more productive and positive direction almost immediately. While others ponder and hesitate, he drops the matter and moves forward.

There’s also strong evidence of perfectionism, which in itself explains a lot about what we’ve already witnessed – such as his cabinet picks, also his personal properties and business holdings. He’s definitely not a man comfortable with second best, about anything. This is also bound up in ego, but it still bodes extremely well when his interests coincide with our own – such as being a first rate president, and a catalyst for positive change.

Although not a social person per se, Mr. Trump does possess a high degree of showmanship, which also translates to salesmanship. In addition, he has a warm emotional base; he cares about people, which generates a strong ”likability” factor, and is outwardly affectionate regarding those close to him.

Now we come to the most highly prized trait in leadership; decisiveness, the ability to make tough decisions quickly and efficiently. Based on the handwriting samples I’ve evaluated, Mr. Trump possesses this trait to an exceptionally high degree. No question that he understands the value of firm, resolute decisions, and that a considered decision is always better than no decision at all. This how the world moves forward, and is why executive recruiters travel the globe in search of individuals who possess this rare and profoundly important leadership trait.

Summary:
As I write this, the media is claiming that President Trump is consumed by the Russia investigation. Based on the evidence found in his handwriting, however, lingering or obsessing over a losing proposition is virtually impossible for him. That’s not his nature. If it's on his mind at all, there's good reason for it.

:Additional handwriting sample...

Next up: Melania Trump

rhhardin said...

It looks like the cat may have a couple ticks, which would not be surprising. It's a bad year for ticks.

Set some chickens loose to clean the place up.

Unknown said...

Catfe is dangerously close to covfefe.

Lucien said...

You CANNOT drink covfefe -- it's an ancient Hittite martial art.

sunsong said...

There is in all visible things an invisible fecundity,
a dimmed light, a meek namelessness, a hidden
wholeness. This mysterious unity and integrity is
wisdom, the mother of us all, "natura naturans."
There is in all things an inexhaustible sweetness
and purity, a silence that is a fountain of action
and joy. It rises up in wordless gentleness, and
flows out to me from the unseen roots of all
created being.”

.
~ Thomas Merton

tcrosse said...

Our Maine Coon cat finds the coolest spot in the house to lounge. It happens to be on the tile floor behind the toilet. Not the prettiest picture.

Trumpit said...

I love all the pictures including this loafing cat. Please comment about which version of Kindle you use. I'm going to get one, and want to know your thoughts. I love your blog, but I can only read about 15% of what you write because you are so incredibly prolific. I can't keep up.

Etienne said...

I'd get another cat, but it cost me $200 to put my last one to sleep. These Vet's think they can charge human prices now.

Instead I pet the neighbors cat.

Bad Lieutenant said...

Catfefe? Spellcheck didn't even blink.

Etienne, shoot, shovel and shut up.

rhhardin said...

Vet prices skyrocketd when pet insurance came in. win/win

rhhardin said...

In the first hour my solar panel (supra) worked
va 4 il 3 nj 3 ontario 3 pa 3 md 2 al 1 fl 1 ma 1 mi 1 nh 1 ny 1 ri 1 sc 1 wi 1

That's enough fun.
Time to bike to the store.

rhhardin said...

Curiously the first station I worked was W2LV, a club station in NJ in honor of Bob Morris, the original W2LV, a guy I happened to know in the 50s when he was an adult and I was a kid.

Etienne said...

Cats with no collar get taken to the pound around here. They will even let you check out a live trap, to capture them.

All non-collared/non-micro-chipped cats get sterilized before being put up for adoption.

Unhealthy cats take a dirt nap.

Etienne said...

"...shoot, shovel and shut up."

My cat tricked me, I thought he could be fixed, otherwise I would have done the deed myself.

Clyde said...

I liked the link from Ferdinande in yesterday's cat café, the one about the history of the domestication of cats. The link at that page to information on sand cats (Felis Margarita) was awesome.

Kevin said...

Hypocrisy, thy name is California.

California’s state government – which viciously opposes President Trump’s travel ban – has expanded their own travel ban. Of course, it only applies to state funded travel, and rather than restricting traffic with terrorist hot spots, it blocks airline tickets to states which it deems insufficiently “woke.” In this case, that would be Texas, Alabama, Kentucky and South Dakota.

http://hotair.com/archives/2017/06/24/california-bans-state-travel-even-states-lgbt-issues/

If Trump were to lose in the Supreme Court, Sessions should immediately file a brief against California, New York, and other states with travel bans just to cut them off in mid-guffaw.

Kevin said...

The wall we keep hitting. It was racism which brought the first Civil War, and it will be "but racism" which brings the second.

Racism-as-murderism is the opposite. It’s a powerful tool of dehumanization. It’s not that other people have a different culture than you. It’s not that other people have different values than you. It’s not that other people have reasoned their way to different conclusions from you. And it’s not even that other people are honestly misinformed or ignorant, in a way that implies you might ever be honestly misinformed or ignorant about something. It’s that people who disagree with you are motivated by pure hatred, by an irrational mind-virus that causes them to reject every normal human value in favor of just wanting to hurt people who look different from them.

This frees you from any obligation to do the hard work of trying to understand other people, or the hard work of changing minds, or the hard work of questioning your own beliefs, or the hard work of compromise, or even the hard work of remembering that at the end of the day your enemies are still your countrymen. It frees you from any hard work at all. You are right about everything, your enemies are inhuman monsters who desire only hatred and death, and the only “work” you have to do is complain on Twitter about how racist everyone else is.

And I guess it sounds like I’m upset that we’re not very good at solving difficult cross-cultural communication problems which require deep and genuine effort to understand the other person’s subtly different value system. I’m not upset that we can’t solve those. Those are hard. I’m upset because we’re not even at the point where someone can say “I’m worried about terrorism,” without being forced to go through an interminable and ultimately-impossible process of proving to a random assortment of trolls and gatekeepers that they actually worry about terrorism and it’s not just all a ruse to cover up that they secretly hate everyone with brown skin. I’m saying that when an area of the country suffers an epidemic of suicides and overdoses, increasing mortality, increasing unemployment, social decay, and general hopelessness, and then they say they’re angry, we counter with “Are you really angry? Is ‘angry’ just a code word for ‘racist’?” I’m saying we’re being challenged with a moonshot-level problem, and instead we’re slapping our face with our own hand and saying “STOP HITTING YOURSELF!”

People talk about “liberalism” as if it’s just another word for capitalism, or libertarianism, or vague center-left-Democratic Clintonism. Liberalism is none of these things. Liberalism is a technology for preventing civil war. It was forged in the fires of Hell – the horrors of the endless seventeenth century religious wars. For a hundred years, Europe tore itself apart in some of the most brutal ways imaginable – until finally, from the burning wreckage, we drew forth this amazing piece of alien machinery. A machine that, when tuned just right, let people live together peacefully without doing the “kill people for being Protestant” thing. Popular historical strategies for dealing with differences have included: brutally enforced conformity, brutally efficient genocide, and making sure to keep the alien machine tuned really really carefully.

And when I see someone try to smash this machinery with a sledgehammer, it’s usually followed by an appeal to “but racists!”


http://slatestarcodex.com/2017/06/21/against-murderism/

Rick.T. said...

Blogger traditionalguy said...

"This magnificent cat is hard on our will power. We are cat less since Kitty died last year. And temptation to get a kitten is strong...but we travel so much now ....maybe."

The solution to your problem is a pair of 6 month to 1 year old males. Still a bit kittenish but old enough to get a good feel of fheir temperaments. They'll keep each other company when you are away. A single young kitten left alone is asking for potential behavioral problems. Two females are the hardest to match up unless they are already bonded litter mates or very young. Only room in the house for one princess,

These are general guidelines and of course there are exceptions. I've matched hundreds of cats/kittens to people at a no kill shelter in my Chicago days and only a small handful were ever returned. I've also managed out several hundred longer term cats with many eventual "failed" fosters. And of course we've seldom been without 4 or more rescues who have shown up at our door abandoned, hungry, and injured.

Kevin said...

I've matched hundreds of cats/kittens to people at a no kill shelter in my Chicago days and only a small handful were ever returned. I've also managed out several hundred longer term cats with many eventual "failed" fosters. And of course we've seldom been without 4 or more rescues who have shown up at our door abandoned, hungry, and injured.

Thank you for your service!

Meade said...

"It looks like the cat may have a couple ticks, which would not be surprising. It's a bad year for ticks. Set some chickens loose to clean the place up."

I would but then we'd have loose chickens.

Bad Lieutenant said...

I would but then we'd have loose chickens.

When she goes out, take care of business, and when she comes back and asks where is the chicken you say, with Hemingway:

Le poulet est monté sur le toit et refuse catégoriquement de descendre.

I recommend spatchcocking.

Rick.T. said...

Meade said....,

"I would but then we'd have loose chickens."

Yes, but they will come home to roost.

Rick.T. said...

Or roast.

Gahrie said...

Everyone's talking about Justice Kennedy retiring again....oh please please please....

traditionalguy said...

@ Rick Turley...the wife insists that I thank you for your reply comment @
4:32, and she says God Bless you for the rescues. Thanks for the wisdom about cat mystery.