Althouse: At the Pictureless Cafe...

December 22, 2017

At the Pictureless Cafe...

... go ahead and talk all night.

79 comments:

Big Mike said...: Did the local coffee shop run out of coffee???; 12/22/17, 8:06 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Nothing's gonna change Trump world.; 12/22/17, 8:06 PM
David said...: I might mumble a little. MMMMMzz.; 12/22/17, 8:07 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Such gray days. No snow. Hard to do pictures.; 12/22/17, 8:09 PM
Sprezzatura said...: Why isn't this a picture cafe?

There's no talking, there's only typing (sure, it's a bit more complicated if folks are using voice recognition) occurring here. So, why not add to this 'talking' lie and come up w/ some sorta pic caption, even though there's no pic?

Anywho.

Just sayin'; 12/22/17, 8:12 PM
peacelovewoodstock said...: Hey, the days are getting longer; 12/22/17, 8:14 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/22/17, 8:17 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: "phone cameras are getting unfairly good", says a popular twitter I follow.; 12/22/17, 8:19 PM
MaxedOutMama said...: Pictureless is okay, but where is the Amazon link?; 12/22/17, 8:23 PM
Sprezzatura said...: I dunno Lem,

A full frame, real camera does way better, imho.

But, I am very impressed w/ the face lock thing-y re the phone re your link. I'd read pre-release reviews that questioned the effectiveness of this. But, as best as I can tell, it's perfect. Always works.; 12/22/17, 8:23 PM
Sprezzatura said...: Even w/ sunglasses that have some mirror-ish-ness. Which is supposed to be a problem re the thing that supposed to make sure yur not sleeping, i.e. eyes open.

IMHO.; 12/22/17, 8:25 PM
Sean Gleeson said...: Well, it would have merely been a pictureless café if you had merely not included a picture. But by titling it “Pictureless Café” you have made it more than merely pictureless; it is conspicuously pictureless. It deliberately calls attention to its lack of any picture.

A conspicuously pictureless café, in real life, would be one that had bare walls, except for empty picture frames.; 12/22/17, 8:27 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: "phone cameras are getting unfairly good"

I'm amazed at how good they are now. My Pixel sometimes takes pictures that I would swear came from an actual camera if I hadn't taken them myself.; 12/22/17, 8:29 PM
traditionalguy said...: Experiencing spring weather at Daughters home in Lithia, Fl( outside Tampa) now. They need to do a new reality show: The Wives of Jaegerglen. Everybody seems to be yankee, military or other intelligent types. And economy is booming evidenced by the comet omg Christmas lights on most homes.; 12/22/17, 8:35 PM
Sydney said...: Would shooting pictures in black and white on these gray days make them more interesting?; 12/22/17, 8:35 PM
traditionalguy said...: That is competing Christmas lights,; 12/22/17, 8:36 PM
Sprezzatura said...: This is the time of year when Meadehouse should give extra weight to Santa re relocate.

IOW, Dylan (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8qE6WQmNus) + Fe = still cold, but less gloomy.

IMHO.; 12/22/17, 8:36 PM
traditionalguy said...: I have talked the immediate family into seeing Darkest Hour . The grandchildren are old enough this year to skip Star Wars #9.; 12/22/17, 8:39 PM
Sprezzatura said...: Or as an Alt, Meade in the apple would be fun. Or at least funny.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9jbdgZidu8; 12/22/17, 8:43 PM
Sprezzatura said...: OTOH,

That apple thing may not be good for marital comity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Y5GtaTrPHM; 12/22/17, 8:45 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: The twitter link goes to a picture Abdul took with his xPhone AT NIGHT.

iT's remarkable. Here is another https://twitter.com/Advil/status/944377495800958976 to it.; 12/22/17, 8:46 PM
Tyrone Slothrop said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/22/17, 8:47 PM
walter said...: Facebook found even "holidays" too controversial:

"Wishing You a Wonderful Winter
All of us at Facebook hope your season is filled with warmth, happiness and the people you love."; 12/22/17, 8:55 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Speaking of twitter...

Tucker Carlson has a seriously funny tread called #100RacistThings.

I though some were a joke/parody, but apparently not. He has verifiable links for every one of the 100 things labeled racist.

Among the things I didn't know are racist include a type of tree and bullet proof glass.

Link; 12/22/17, 8:56 PM
Will Cate said...: re #100RacistThings -- Yeah, that was good. Some of his links were actually pre-2017, but still pretty funny stuff.; 12/22/17, 9:01 PM
Sprezzatura said...: Walt,

I'm fairly sure that the start of winter predates FB's deciding to acknowledge that such a seasonal change exists.

FTR, the start of winter even predates Hey Zeus's being born in a horseshit infested stable.

This ain't one of those tricky chick-egg things.; 12/22/17, 9:03 PM
Sprezzatura said...: Of course, it is true that it was Hey Zeus's old man who decide to spend about 14 billion years to create winter.

So, I guess FB should probably have a footnote re that.; 12/22/17, 9:05 PM
walter said...: Sure 'sitter.
"Winter" is known as a time families get together in warmth.
Yep.
It goes back to the days before central heat.
Necessary huddling for survival.
That's it.
Yep.; 12/22/17, 9:06 PM
narciso said...: https://www.google.com/amp/amp.dailycaller.com/2017/12/22/australian-government-worried-us-will-take-jobs-after-massive-tax-cut/; 12/22/17, 9:06 PM
walter said...: I went to the grocery store yesterday and all the cashiers were wearing winter hats and said "Happy Winter!" as I left.
Yep.; 12/22/17, 9:07 PM
Sprezzatura said...: The existence of winter is Fake News.

Likewise the other three seasons.

Fake!!!; 12/22/17, 9:10 PM
walter said...: "Happy Winter" 'sitter!; 12/22/17, 9:13 PM
walter said...: "I'llllll be hooommmmee..for winter....
If ownnnn--leee innn myyyyy dreammmms"; 12/22/17, 9:15 PM
Sprezzatura said...: BTW,

I may have made an error up-thread. Was Hey Zeus born in a horseshit infested stable, or was it some other sorta animal shit that surrounded the little fella? Seems like most nativities have cows and donkeys, not horses.

I dunno.; 12/22/17, 9:16 PM
Sean Gleeson said...: “Facebook found even ‘holidays’ too controversial”

Well, yeah. It’s right there in the word: ‘holy’+‘day.’ I’m actually a little surprised anyone is allowed to utter such a microagression.; 12/22/17, 9:19 PM
narciso said...: Smell your surrounding you'll find your answer.; 12/22/17, 9:20 PM
Sprezzatura said...: Walt,

If yur trying to convince me that winter didn't just begin because you can think of songs about Christmas, yur gonna need to re-tool your argument.

Not that there's any argument that can disprove that winter just began.; 12/22/17, 9:21 PM
DavidD said...: Got a Canon AV-1 shortly after arriving in Germany in late 1980; got a Canon A-1 a year or so later.

Had a really nice Vivitar Series 1 70-200 zoom lens with a macro ring, too.

Used them a lot in small-town Germany; not so much later in big-city Texas and hardly at all after getting married.

I still miss manual focus sometimes; I really miss the depth-of-field control that aperture-priority afforded.; 12/22/17, 9:22 PM
Sprezzatura said...: Right narc,

My surroundings are really similar to those of the Christ's birth.

Ha.; 12/22/17, 9:23 PM
narciso said...: No just the smell,; 12/22/17, 9:26 PM
walter said...: Yes..that's it.
I'm a Winter Denier.
Yep.; 12/22/17, 9:26 PM
1775OGG said...: What's with Minnesocold? Snow to the South, barely chilly here!

Was AlGoreJr correct? Nah, never! Ain't Climate change, Warming by another name, just old gal Earth showing us who's in charge and we're not!

Vikes over the Packers by 7 to 0. Vikes in SB matchups will be 0 for 5. Ouch.; 12/22/17, 9:28 PM
Sprezzatura said...: Narc, unintentionally, makes an interesting point: would it matter if Christ had lived the life of a filthy rich person?

Maybe not. Many folks follow the prosperity gospel mega-church folks who private jet and Rolls around. Not to mention the Vatican dough. And, now DJT is some sorta savior.; 12/22/17, 9:29 PM
narciso said...: I grew up in Jersey so I have some notion of cold weather.; 12/22/17, 9:30 PM
narciso said...: Yes I find the prosperity gospel like bland tapioca, it doesn't have much sustinence.; 12/22/17, 9:32 PM
narciso said...: That being said, being a,jackass on Christmas is unsporting, yet typical for you.; 12/22/17, 9:33 PM
Clyde said...: Talk about phoning it in!; 12/22/17, 9:34 PM
Sprezzatura said...: BTW narc,

I know that you need a release. You've had too many comments w/o mentioning your go-to.

So, in honor of little baby Hey Zeus and grace and such: I'd like to ask you if these modern whore gals (or their evil docs, assuming the gals are naive innocents (like the murdered babes) are killing babies too much?; 12/22/17, 9:36 PM
rhhardin said...: Some morse code contests have you send a 4-digit number as part of the exchange.

Long ago signal reports, like 599, were sent as 5nn, n being the first letter of 9, and also beginning in morse code the same way. The latter property is generalized by some people and they might sent 1909 as "antn." The odd thing is that this is very hard to interpret. You don't hear it as partial code for numbers but as letters. Then you have to work backwards, what's the code (that you really don't register) for a, n, t, and n, and then what numbers start in morse the same way.

The code itself really disappears on normal sending and receiving and you don't notice it's gone unless you have to use it in such an odd way.; 12/22/17, 9:38 PM
Sprezzatura said...: BTW, (no offense rh),

Other than me, who in this thread because they're looking to F-around a bit while being one of the few in this country who are still (on this day, at this time) working to MAGA?

Not that there's anything wrong w/ the rest of ya being normal. Especially since many of y'all vote to make the job creators more rich. Which, let's be honest, they deserve. Cause they work harder/smarter.

IMHO.; 12/22/17, 9:43 PM
narciso said...: Well he could have grown up in a palace like Moses but that wasn't the point of the exercise,; 12/22/17, 9:43 PM
narciso said...: Much like the zinoviev letter

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.politico.com/amp/story/2017/12/22/trump-dossier-fbi-james-baker-david-corn-mother-jones-316157; 12/22/17, 9:48 PM
Anonymous said...: re #100RacistThings: apparently "Turkey In The Straw" is racist (according to NPR) because someone later wrote racist lyrics and set it to the same tune.; 12/22/17, 11:38 PM
AllenS said...: Wait until Christmas day, OldGrouchyCranky. High temperature will be -1º. Is that cold enough for ya?; 12/23/17, 12:09 AM
narciso said...: Speaking of cold realitieshttps://mobile.twitter.com/ClimateAudit/status/944351496031805440?p=v; 12/23/17, 12:13 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: Saw that cool missile launch just after sunset. Couldn't stop the car in time to get a shot of the missile itself. Where I live, a damn-near 11,000-foot peak (Mount San Jacinto) blocks our northwestern view.; 12/23/17, 12:23 AM
rhhardin said...: Missle bound for Kwajalein probably.; 12/23/17, 4:58 AM
brylun said...: Ken Starr, in a WaPo oped today, says: "Unfortunately, * * * Mueller has chosen poorly by having smart but deeply politicized senior aides."; 12/23/17, 5:58 AM
Jaq said...: "The prohibitions contained in these Clauses arose from the Framers' concern with protecting the new government from corruption and undue influence. Indeed, at the time of the Founding, the new republic was conscious of the European custom of bestowing gifts and money on foreign officials.... The Framers were not only concerned with foreign corruption, but they were also wary of undue influence from within.... [T]here can be no doubt that the intended purpose of the Foreign Emoluments Clause was to prevent official corruption and foreign influence...

The same people who had no problem with the Clintons, as a couple, taking millions of dollars from foreign officials before Hillary, as Secretary of State, found a way to work them into her busy (records of which were then destroyed) schedule, can, without irony, try to apply this to Trump?

It just goes to show that the GOP is asleep at the switch, in terms of political warfare, and the Democrats never sleep.; 12/23/17, 6:16 AM
Jaq said...: I am reading Murder on the Orient Express. It starts in Syria, the names of the cities probably once sounded impossibly remote and exotic at the time, but now, Mosul, Aleppo, of course Bagdad, have a completely different image.

As you read it however, the matter of fact acceptance of the rule of these places by European empires might give one a clue of the trouble that was to come, I guess, if you could have had an eye for those things at the time.; 12/23/17, 6:21 AM
lonetown said...: I'm at a loss for words.; 12/23/17, 6:30 AM
George M. Spencer said...: Saw the Churchill 'picture' "The Darkest Hour" yesterday

Wanted to like it. Did not.

The movie is literally dark. Scenes are dimly lit and on claustrophobic sets.

Worse, a great amount of the dialogue is incomprehensible to American ears. Be warned that this a movie in which Churchill mumbles, except when he is giving a speech. He is also portrayed as frail, which is hard to believe.

The subway scene is preposterous. We are supposed to believe that Churchill, courage flagging, suddenly dipped into the Underground, to find heart among the commoners. As pure Hollywood, the scene is fun to watch. Every stock character in the book is trotted out for the great man to react to, but as history, it is something up with which we will not put.; 12/23/17, 6:33 AM
Humperdink said...: Hasn't made the national news yet, but a suspect was involved in three (3) separate shootings targeting police officers in Harrisburg, Pa late Friday. Suspect killed.

Deceased was a recent tourist of the middle east. Ahmed was probably an upset Christmas shopper.

http://www.pennlive.com/news/2017/12/harrisburg_shooting_spree_susp.html#incart_election; 12/23/17, 6:40 AM
rhhardin said...: Wait for the DVD. Then you can turn captions on (if the caption makers can understand the dialogue themselves anyway) and brighten up the screen.

I just watched "Churchill" however and it's turned into a psychodrama so I bailed out.; 12/23/17, 6:42 AM
Humperdink said...: The Cliven Bundy trial is not going to end well for the federal prosecutors on several fronts.

http://www.oregonlive.com/oregon-standoff/2017/12/rebuke_of_federal_us_attorneys.html; 12/23/17, 7:04 AM
Jaq said...: Hasn’t made the national news yet, but a suspect was involved in three (3) separate shootings targeting police officers in Harrisburg,

Last time I passed through that area, I read an article where the local school district was going to ban the word “terrorist” Makes me wonder how anybody is going to have a real discussion about what is going on.; 12/23/17, 7:06 AM
rhhardin said...: Surprising fact. Derbyshire reports on a Boston Fed survey, that in the Boston area the median white net worth is $247,500. The median black net worth is $8.

Fed survey
https://www.bostonfed.org/publications/one-time-pubs/color-of-wealth.aspx

Something assumed to be working isn't working.; 12/23/17, 7:21 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "Talk about phoning it in!"

I iPadded it in.

I can't do links or photos from the iPad, but I can do a very simple post (and I can do a comment on a post).; 12/23/17, 7:47 AM
Michael said...: Was waiting to see if Ann had commentary on the mistrial in the Bundy case. The judge gave federal prosecutors a scathing rebuke for their misconduct.

http://www.oregonlive.com/oregon-standoff/2017/12/rebuke_of_federal_us_attorneys.html#incart_river_home_pop; 12/23/17, 7:48 AM
wildswan said...: Evolutionary Degeneration of the Left in Words

Wonkers, Workers, Wokers, Wankers

Marx, The Left, Gramsci, The Reckoning.; 12/23/17, 8:07 AM
Paco Wové said...: "Wishing You a Wonderful Winter"

And what of the poor downtrodden Southern Hemispherians (who, I note, are disproportionately People Of Color)? Now Facebook is literally erasing their lived current climate experience!; 12/23/17, 8:17 AM
Will Cate said...: @anti-de Sitter space said: "cows and donkeys, not horses."

Correct, and there is historical reason: Horses weren't really considered "ordinary" livestock as they are today: they were part of an army's weaponry. So they wouldn't have been kept in a (run-down) farm stable.; 12/23/17, 8:36 AM
Fritz said...: I iPadded it in.

I can't do links or photos from the iPad, but I can do a very simple post (and I can do a comment on a post).

There is a blogger app for Ipads that will post pictures, but it's difficult to link high quality photos. I agree it's a PIA.; 12/23/17, 8:37 AM
rhhardin said...: Is Australia now having next summer or last summer.; 12/23/17, 8:44 AM
Molly said...: Scott Adams is missing from the blog roll along the right hand side. I see AA is still linking to him in posts, so presumably there hasn't been a falling out. And I do know how to find the blog by googling for Dilbert. But, just curious.; 12/23/17, 9:26 AM
Unknown said...: Scientific explanation - Center of the Milky Way is closer to Chicago on a Chicago summer day than it is to Tasmania on a Tasmania summer day.

So Tasmanian summer is an extension of Chicago summer.

Even more scientific explanation - Also, the Garden of Eden is in the Northern Hemisphere, so Northern Hemisphere summer precedes Southern Hemisphere summer.

Since God did not create the world and the Garden of Eden on a winter day, according to the reliable sources.; 12/23/17, 10:55 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: Is Australia now having next summer or last summer

No. They're having this summer.; 12/23/17, 1:09 PM
Jim at said...: And, now DJT is some sorta savior.

For the umpteenth time, no.

He was simply better than the vile bitch you voted for.
Still is.; 12/23/17, 1:53 PM
Bad Lieutenant said...: Anywho.

Just sayin'

12/22/17, 8:12 PM

Just sayin', shiloh, changing your name and coming here to crap all over the blog isn't the same as going away until the next election. I don't know why a human being would do that, but then you don't seem really human.

I guess the advantage for you is that, for some conservative to come and defecate on the leftist message boards that perhaps you favor, is that they probably would face quick efficient peremptory censorship.; 12/24/17, 10:19 PM