Althouse: Chez IMA.

August 2, 2017

Chez IMA.

"The Chemistry of Color":

"Have a seat":

Standing in the shadows of "Love":

68 comments:

David said...: sterile looking place; 8/2/17, 1:35 PM
tcrosse said...: It's art, and we're taking it in the shorts.; 8/2/17, 1:41 PM
madAsHell said...: The state of Washington has rigged their elections. The state runs a primary in the first week of August. The results from the primary are used to eliminate all but the top two candidates. Did I mention this election is in August?....when most folks are more concerned about vacation?

The city of Seattle includes 463,660 registered voters. Last night, we effectively elected Jenny Durkan as mayor with 27,500 votes.

It can't be all bad, at least this mayor likes to eat pussy.; 8/2/17, 1:52 PM
Fernandinande said...: "Nasa offering six-figure salary for new 'planetary protection officer' to defend Earth from aliens"

Too late, they got 'im!

More genuine all-American art.; 8/2/17, 2:16 PM
rehajm said...: The chair was performance art.; 8/2/17, 2:18 PM
tcrosse said...: It's the chair of the Art Department.; 8/2/17, 2:28 PM
Robert said...: No issues with taking photos in the musuem galleries?; 8/2/17, 2:55 PM
Sam's Hideout said...: The artist who drew the Chemistry of Color logo either forgot or never knew his/her chemistry. The benzene ring is wrong, like it was drawn by someone who had once seen the diagram and saw that it was a hexagon and had some lines added to some of the sides but had no understanding of what that meant.; 8/2/17, 3:02 PM
Hagar said...: "Men in Shorts."; 8/2/17, 3:14 PM
FullMoon said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 8/2/17, 3:31 PM
rehajm said...: The benzene ring is wrong, like it was drawn by someone who had once seen the diagram and saw that it was a hexagon and had some lines added to some of the sides but had no understanding of what that meant.

Art student.; 8/2/17, 3:35 PM
Chuck said...: Hey Professor Althouse,

You used the italicized "supposedly" to emphasize your doubt (or the official White House denial) as to whether Trump actually said that the White House was a "real dump."

I hoped for more digging into that factual dispute, and I have been rewarded. I posted in the thread, that the two SI/Golf.com writers (highly respected writers, and Bamberger in particular has a long, favorable relationship with Trump) ARE STANDING BY THEIR STORY. They aren't lying and didn't make up the quote.

I now regard it as far more likely that the White House is lying for and on behalf of Trump.

Here is the link to the Shipnuck podcast, posted minutes ago, updating the back-story:

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6329595&postID=6433302922240660371&page=1&token=1501708647765

This would be another good occasion wherein accuracy and furtherance of a story that you blogged, begs for a clarifying post.

Have a nice day!; 8/2/17, 4:24 PM
Chuck said...: (Actually, what I linked to just above was my Althouse comment, where I supplied the Shipnuck podcast link.); 8/2/17, 4:25 PM
Chuck said...: Was this a "café" post? Sorry if it wasn't.; 8/2/17, 4:29 PM
Bad Lieutenant said...: Chuck, do you post anywhere else but here?

Just curious.; 8/2/17, 4:40 PM
Chuck said...: I post quite often on the blog of a casual friend of mine; Geoff Shackelford. It is the leading golf blog in the world.

I asked the commentariat there (very well-connected golfers) to let me know if there was more info on this latest lie coming out of the White House communications office. And they came through! Life is great.; 8/2/17, 4:45 PM
Henry said...: Please, Chuck, write some letters to the editor or something.; 8/2/17, 4:45 PM
Henry said...: The chair in the background of photo 1 becomes the star of photo 2.; 8/2/17, 4:48 PM
Chuck said...: LOL.

I always know that I am winning, when there's no substantive response to what I have written, and instead the reply is a personal attack on me. Or, as Althouse herself chose yesterday, to call my comment(s) "boring."

I never thought that a comment that knocks the stuffing out of a story that she has blogged (as with the Milo-NPR story) was "boring." Maybe we have different ideas of what is boring. I think a droning 45-minute video of Scott Adams holding a selfie cam and laying on his couch is boring.; 8/2/17, 4:55 PM
Fernandinande said...: Sam's Hideout said...
The benzene ring is wrong,

I think it's supposed to be 2-Bromo-1,4-dimethylbenzene.

An aromatic ring walks into a bar, and the bartender says "What'll you have, bud?" and the aromatic ring answers "I'll have a conjugate base of cyclohexanol, and make it a double!"

The bartender looks at the aromatic ring under his electron microscope and says "You don't actually know any chemistry at all, do you?" and the aromatic ring says "Sure I do, but never mind the drink, it'd just go right through me", and runs out into traffic.; 8/2/17, 5:10 PM
Bad Lieutenant said...: Life is great.
8/2/17, 4:45 PM

I hope you and the golfers (golf, what a silly game: just think, hitting a ball with a stick when you could be out shooting instead; but hey, free country) feel that way when Althouse ejects you from her blog and you are posting there full time.; 8/2/17, 5:18 PM
Bad Lieutenant said...: Chuck, and I am quite serious here, have you ever considered that your virulent opposition to the President is, effectually, nothing less than unpatriotic?; 8/2/17, 5:21 PM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: "You used the italicized "supposedly" to emphasize your doubt (or the official White House denial) as to whether Trump actually said that the White House was a "real dump.""

Well, it's pretty important stuff, Chuck. No wonder everybody leapt to respond.

Reading here earlier, I was struck, not by the lack of Lefty commenters here, but the low-quality of the ones we have. Cut'n'paste commandos, incontinent ad hominemists, and despairing, alcohol-fueled, ham-handed mobys seem to be our lot here. And Cookie, who's likeable enough, just crushingly wrong. Are there really no Leftists out there who can make a cogent argument for what they claim to believe in?; 8/2/17, 5:22 PM
John Nowak said...: >I always know that I am winning,

Nobody's laughing with you, dear.; 8/2/17, 5:36 PM
Chuck said...: Bad Lieutenant said...
Chuck, and I am quite serious here, have you ever considered that your virulent opposition to the President is, effectually, nothing less than unpatriotic?

Nope!

Thanks for asking and have a nice day!; 8/2/17, 6:02 PM
Fred Drinkwater said...: Fernandinande:
Planetary Protection Officer; 8/2/17, 6:12 PM
Fred Drinkwater said...: Although with respect to cool job titles, I was always partial to
"Director, Directed Energy Directorate"; 8/2/17, 6:15 PM
Kevin said...: always know that I am winning, when there's no substantive response to what I have written, and instead the reply is a personal attack on me. Or, as Althouse herself chose yesterday, to call my comment(s) “boring.”

Low-energy Jeb
Little Marco
Crooked Hillary
Boring Chuck

I would think yesterday’s exchange with our host would have forced you to take a step back and consider what she took time to tell you. I see I was wrong.

You like the truth, so here it is: there’s no substantive response to what you write, because there’s nothing substantive to your posts. One must give substance to receive it.

The people on this blog have stopped replying to you. It is not because you are telling truths. People can tell truths all day and be boring.

This is my new kitchen. It is 462 square feet in area. This refrigerator costs $3215 and has a separate space for chilling vegetables. This counter top is marble. It looks like it has a purple tint, but it is actually blue. The name for this marble comes from the latin word for “blue marble”.

All truths. All boring. Bor—fucking—ing. No one cares.; 8/2/17, 6:18 PM
tcrosse said...: At a large food company, we had a Vice President of Continued Improvement. BTW he was a reptile in a nice suit.; 8/2/17, 6:19 PM
Kevin said...: You know what else no one cares about? Whether or not Trump lies. No one is interested.

You know who did lie?

- George HW Bush, when he said he wouldn’t raise taxes.

- Bill Clinton, when he said he did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.

- George W Bush, when he said Saddam had restarted his nuclear program.

- Barack Obama, when he said if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.

- Hillary Clinton, when she said she the only e-mail she destroyed had to do with yoga and wedding planning.

- Loretta Lynch, when she said she and Bill just discussed their grandchildren on the tarmac.

- James Clapper, when he said the government was not collecting bulk intelligence on the American people.

- The American media, when they discuss Trump’s “collusion” with the Russians hour after hour, when there is absolutely no evidence it ever happened.

These are lies of substance. People lost their doctors, went to war, and exposed information of the highest classification to our enemies over these lies. These lies were made directly to the American people, with forethought and painfully-chosen words, and often under oath. These lies were repeated, and supported, and gobbled up by our media, and beamed to the American people as most certainly to be the truth.

Given all this, you want to have a substantive discussion about whether Trump said the White House was “a dump”? In an offhanded remark? While playing golf?

There isn’t a substantive discussion to be had. Nobody of substance cares whether he said it or he didn’t. And if he did, we’re not interested in what he meant. Was it the decor? The integrity of the building’s systems and physical structure? The level of cleanliness? And if we did know, no one is interested in the follow-on debate about whether or not it happens to be true.

Boring.

The definition of boring is not false, it’s tedious.

No one is responding to your posts. Not because you’re winning. Because you’ve become tedious.; 8/2/17, 6:19 PM
chickelit said...: Sam's Hideout said...The benzene ring is wrong,

Fernandinande added: I think it's supposed to be 2-Bromo-1,4-dimethylbenzene.

Sam is correct. The electrons are all wrong for an aromatic ring. It could be a diquinone, but then the para substituents would have to be oxygens, each double-bonded to the ring.

I suspect the "artist" just liked the six-membered ring and threw in the electrons at a slant like that, presumably to remind us of penis-in-vagina sexual love.; 8/2/17, 6:31 PM
YoungHegelian said...: Talk about yer misleading headlines!

Oh, come on! How did this headline ever get past the editors? Pfffft!; 8/2/17, 6:49 PM
rehajm said...: hitting a ball with a stick when you could be out shooting instead; but hey, free country

As an avid golfer I am seriously pondering this...; 8/2/17, 7:00 PM
Fernandinande said...: chickelit said...
Sam is correct.

I'm sure he was, I was just making up some bullshit.

But that chemical I mentioned looks kinda like the "art", except the extra lines inside which I forget, or more probably never really knew, what they meant.; 8/2/17, 7:23 PM
Fabi said...: You're not really computer-literate are you, Chuck?; 8/2/17, 7:29 PM
Jael (Gone Windwalking) said...: Benzene's the way that Kekule dreamed it, if he dreamed in color, and if color in dreams is conserved?; 8/2/17, 7:39 PM
Ralph L said...: Perhaps it's worse in photos, but spotlights rarely increase viewing pleasure, especially with stark white walls. The golden yellow ones below are nice but are better indirectly lit.; 8/2/17, 7:43 PM
Jon Ericson said...: So, tell us what you stand for.; 8/2/17, 7:45 PM
Jael (Gone Windwalking) said...: Where's the neon?; 8/2/17, 7:49 PM
Mr. Majestyk said...: I hear Trump lies about his golf score too. IMPEACH HIM!; 8/2/17, 8:00 PM
Karen Galle said...: The space is far too open for the amount of artistic works exhibited, and the lighting seems poorly aligned. With the ambient light though, it might be different at various times of day. I like doing exhibits with out exterior lighting which is beyond my control; clouds, winter evenings, thunderstorms, etc. Exhibit lighting is far more difficult than exhibit mounting. Always takes me almost right up to when the grandees cut the ribbon or pop the cork to open the show. I also intensely dislike art exhibits adjudicated by outside 'experts' or 'authorities'. They pick crap and museum staff have to make it look good, all knowing that they cant.; 8/2/17, 8:15 PM
FullMoon said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 8/2/17, 8:39 PM
Fabi said...: The replies were not in his favor, FullMoon, including at least one that requested he stick to discussing golf. A few mocked him, but he clearly didn't catch their "drift".

Maybe he'll also explain how the referenced blog is the "leading golf blog in the world", since it's barely in the top twenty.; 8/2/17, 9:04 PM
Ken B said...: Eye ma kanaydian. Yu kan tel that cuz I don spikka hinglish. Misstur Acosta is sow rite.; 8/2/17, 9:18 PM
Bad Lieutenant said...: have you ever considered that your virulent opposition to the President is, effectually, nothing less than unpatriotic?

Nope!

Thanks for asking and have a nice day!
8/2/17, 6:02 PM

Then you're not a patriotic American and a fig for your opinion.; 8/2/17, 9:29 PM
Meade said...: Kevin at 6:19 -- well done.; 8/2/17, 9:37 PM
Clyde said...: Jon Ericson said...
So, tell us what you stand for.

In my case, "The Star-Spangled Banner" and Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus."; 8/2/17, 9:40 PM
dustbunny said...: Kevin, Bravo!!; 8/2/17, 9:57 PM
Ralph L said...: Standing in the shadows of "Love":
Took me 600 and 4 minutes tops to catch this one.; 8/2/17, 10:45 PM
Ken B said...: Kudos to Kevin, for both posts but especially 6:19.; 8/2/17, 11:01 PM
Laslo Spatula said...: Kevin: I felt the mic drop at the end of that one.

Reverb crackle, low end hum, momentary feedback: all of it.

Well done.

I am Laslo.; 8/2/17, 11:07 PM
toxdoc said...: I have never commented one way or another about you Chuck, but for some reason your post at 4:45 made me think of Kipling Ronald Dynamite. It would only have made me giggle more if you said that when you weren't commenting on Althouse you were "chatting online with babes... all day" and training to be a cage fighter. I didn't realize you and Lafawnduh moved back to Michigan.; 8/2/17, 11:14 PM
Ken B said...: Laslo! I am shocked. After hundreds of posts about reaming we get one right here in front of us and you don't notice!; 8/2/17, 11:59 PM
Laslo Spatula said...: The Guy Who Shows that Daddy Issues Ain't Just for Chicks...

Daddy? Can you hear me Daddy? It's me, your Little Boy! You would be so proud of me, Daddy: I really gave a go at that woman on the Internet! I wish you could have seen it: I won! I won! I do BIG THINGS, Daddy! I do BIG THINGS...!

You were right about women, Daddy: they get to thinking that they are so smart, and what they really need is a Man to explain things to them. I'm that Man now, Daddy! I'M THAT MAN...!

I remember when I was little and you would hold my head under the water and I couldn't breathe and I'd get scared: it all makes sense to me now! People don't get it unless you HOLD THEIR HEAD UNDER THE WATER! You were SO SMART, Daddy! I held her head under the water, Daddy, I did it right on the Internet...!

Do you miss me, Daddy? I know I disappointed you when I was young, but I get it now! I get it, Daddy! Mommy never gave you the Respect you deserved! You deserved Respect! Mommy would try to diminish your Manhood because that's what women do to smart men, she tried and tried until she finally just kept taking those medications and watching TV alone in her bedroom: I get it now, Daddy: you won...!

I'm a winner now, Daddy! I'M A WINNER...!

I am Laslo.; 8/3/17, 12:00 AM
Jael (Gone Windwalking) said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 8/3/17, 12:19 AM
Laslo Spatula said...: The Guy Who Shows that Daddy Issues Ain't Just for Chicks...

Daddy? Can you hear me Daddy? It's me, your Little Boy! I miss you! If you could see me now I just know I would make you PROUD, Daddy, I just know it...!

I admit it -- I used to be afraid of women: I think it was that whole vagina thing, but I'm better now! I'm not scared of vaginas anymore, Daddy! I'M NOT SCARED OF VAGINAS ANYMORE...!

That woman on the Internet, she thinks she's so smart, but I showed her! I explained how things are, and I won! I won, Daddy! Not like when I was little and embarrassed you in front of your friends at the spelling bee! ASPHYXIATION: I can spell it now! You don't need to hold my head under the water anymore...!

I'm a winner now, Daddy! I'M A WINNER...!

I am Laslo.; 8/3/17, 12:22 AM
heyboom said...: I post quite often on the blog of a casual friend of mine; Geoff Shackelford.

Explains a lot. When I see Geoff Shackelford on the Golf Channel I turn to another station. A reliably liberal viewpoint on every issue.; 8/3/17, 12:24 AM
Jael (Gone Windwalking) said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 8/3/17, 12:29 AM
Ralph L said...: Politics on the Golf Channel? Have they no decency?; 8/3/17, 12:34 AM
Laslo Spatula said...: The Guy Who Shows that Daddy Issues Ain't Just for Chicks...

Daddy? Can you hear me Daddy? I remember after losing the Spelling Bee you holding my head under the water in the bathtub. The water was so cold -- I remember that, Daddy! Cold! You kept my head under the water until I could spell the word correctly, and I got it! Remember that, Daddy? A-S-P-H-Y-X-I-A-T-IO-N: I remember...!

Did you ever choke hookers, Daddy? Because sometimes I choke hookers. I don't choke them that hard because I don't want their pimps to beat me up, but if they didn't have pimps I would probably choke them harder, I probably would...

I don't have sex with them, though, because they have dirty vaginas: I mean, a lot of women have dirty vaginas, but hookers have REALLY DIRTY VAGINAS...

I remember one night when I thought I saw you choking Mommy. I was young, I didn't understand, but now I get it, Daddy: now I GET IT...

I'm a winner now, Daddy! I'M A WINNER...!

I am Laslo.; 8/3/17, 12:34 AM
Laslo Spatula said...: The Guy Who Shows that Daddy Issues Ain't Just for Chicks...

Daddy? Can you hear me Daddy? Sometimes I see you in my dreams, Daddy! Like the dream I have where we are taking turns choking a hooker! Just a Father and Son, sharing Time together, choking a hooker: I so wish we could have done that for real, Daddy...

Sometimes when I'm choking a hooker I pretend that I'm you, and that makes me FEEL STRONG. I bet you would be the BEST at choking hookers, Daddy -- YOU WERE THE BEST AT EVERYTHING...

Hookers let you choke them if you pay them enough, and that is why they SHOULD be choked -- I know you would understand that, Daddy! I try to find hookers that look like Mommy, and some hookers with DIRTY VAGINAS do kind of look like her when I make them wear Mommy's WIG...

I'm a winner now, Daddy! I'M A WINNER...!

I am Laslo.; 8/3/17, 12:54 AM
Jael (Gone Windwalking) said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 8/3/17, 1:03 AM
Jael (Gone Windwalking) said...: ~
How to Make Our Ideas Clear

Tediously. As a virtue.

Charles S. Peirce

http://www.peirce.org/writings/p119.html

“A distinct idea is defined as one which contains nothing which is not clear. This is technical language; by the contents of an idea logicians understand whatever is contained in its definition. So that an idea is distinctly apprehended.”

The focus here is on ideas. Not on facts. Clarity of ideas.

It’s an open question whether the daily grind of our politics, especially partisan politics, as reported in much daily media, involves many formally clear and distinct ideas. This comment is not meant to be argumentative. Sarcastic. Demeaning. It’s an open question. Much political speech (imho) lacks the “technical language” of clear ideas to which Peirce refers. The question is not whether partisan politics offers different ideas. The question is whether the ideas are clear.

Brevity here does poor justice to Peirce’s short essay.

Perhaps tax codes, statutes, and regs that include self-referential language by way of formal definitions of terms (what is “contained in its definition”) are exceptions. In these sources, clear ‘ideas’ are tedious. Boring. But, substantial.

And we still resort to judges to clear up language that is not clear enough.

It is a practice of much political speech to undermine formal clarity in our ideas. For a roman candle of reasons. Reasons too numerous to count: ignorance, neglect (of formal clarity), compromise, deliberate lying, the thrill of saying nothing clear, and so on.

[Skipping most of the short essay].

“The essence of belief is the establishment of a habit; and different beliefs are distinguished by the different modes of action to which they give rise. If beliefs do not differ in this respect, if they appease the same doubt by producing the same rule of action, then no mere differences in the manner of consciousness of them can make them different beliefs, any more than playing a tune in different keys is playing different tunes. Imaginary distinctions are often drawn between beliefs which differ only in their mode of expression; -- the wrangling which ensues is real enough, however.”

One test of the clarity of an idea is whether the idea makes a clear difference to our behaviors (“habit”). NB - much of the pack has moved beyond Peirce on this test.

In a political system built around compromise, "the wrangling which ensues is real enough." We argue. We wrangle. To the point of tediousness. What counts as “substance” depends on changes to our actions (pragmatism). A huge problem is that more speech, and more speech, and more speech about what counts as “substance” can itself become “a habit” - a habit of speaking tediously - in which speech itself, and sometimes alone, is judged to be the origin, the history, and the end-all purpose of acting - speech as the action (“habit”).

Not good enough.

Paying taxes is “a habit.” Questions of substance regarding taxes include how much we pay, for what purposes, whether promised “massive tax cuts” ought include built-in dynamics and adjustments for holding in check federal and state deficits, and a host of tedious-unto-death minute questions. Substance-talk in taxation affects our habits.

How boring is all this substance-talk? How tedious?

Merely getting our ideas formally clear can be tedious. Acting with habits based on clear ideas - more tedious.

I find - Peirce - maddeningly difficult. Difficult to the point of morbid tediousness.

Skim the essay. Even three minutes. Compare it to daily news. And much daily political speech. And try not to scream at the essay. Or fall asleep. Or beg for nothing-speak.

Short essay. At the link. A bit dated.

Still, it’s good to have some mindless sessions.; 8/3/17, 2:04 AM
Jael (Gone Windwalking) said...: I find - Peirce - maddeningly difficult. Difficult to the point of morbid tediousness.

But, worthwhile.; 8/3/17, 2:11 AM
lonetown said...: I'm stunned by the money spent on this museum with its vast spaces to house mundane crap.; 8/3/17, 6:47 AM
Danno said...: Also, every museum Ann goes to has the same basic look. I thought this might be in Madison at the one on State Street.; 8/3/17, 7:18 AM
Danno said...: Blogger Feste said..."How to Make Our Ideas Clear"

If you truly want to observe that point, less is more!; 8/3/17, 7:20 AM
Biotrekker said...: Best thing is the Stuart Davis painting in "Have a seat" picture.; 8/4/17, 8:56 AM