December 6, 2017

At the Suspended Bicycle Café...

IMG_1689

... you can talk about whatever you want.

And if you've got some shopping to do, I recommend using this Amazon link.

43 comments:

Michael K said...

No comments ? Is the thing working ?

Darrell said...

What did the bicycle do to get suspended?

Paco Wové said...

No one cares about bikes.

rcocean said...

They were suspended for getting high.

Shouting Thomas said...

Ann, I always tell people to read your blog and that you're a great legal mind. I've always been impressed by your use of media.

And, I always warn people that you have your weakness and that is your Marxist feminism. Today was a full day of ludicrous Marxist feminist ranting.

We all have our weaknesses. We are all sinners.

I know you are a good person. We are all screwed up in some ways. Vanity and self-interest have led you to embrace Marxist feminism. We are all subject to those sins.

I stopped commenting for a couple of years, and I'll probably cease again. Continuing to denounce you for the Marxist feminism serves no purpose. You aren't going to let it go. I read the titles of your posts on aggregation sites and try to stick to the legal stuff and avoid the Marxist feminist rants.

Merry Christmas!

MaxedOutMama said...

I always wonder about the quality of the cables when I see a store display like that. Guess I'm just naturally suspicious.

Ken B said...

Why are some unwanted sexual advances allowed? https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/12/05/look-im-a-heterosexual-pa-lawmaker-brings-meeting-to-halt-after-male-colleague-touches-his-arm/?utm_term=.4aa5f767f18f

Think about it. In the cases we have seen we accept the word of the person advanced to that the advance was sexual. So why not here? And here it was a grab? So to be consistent don’t we have to accept this was a sexual grope?

Now that conclusion is silly of course, but that is my point. There is more to it than “believe”.

MaxedOutMama said...

There used to be an Amazon thingie on the sidebar that one could hit to (hopefully) give you credit for purchases. Now it's gone. Or maybe it's me, but I tried everything to make everything on your site load, and I don't see the Amazon thingie any more. Could you just take that link and stick it in the sidebar where it can be always found?

I had to go back and block ads, because I sit there waiting and waiting otherwise. But even unblocked, I did not get a sidebar link to Amazon.

Be said...

New cafe? Have been noting a couple or so photos of it lately.

Not that you're likely to make your way Back East for sometime, but: if you do ever find yourself around New England, particularly Western MA not far from Vermont, do consider this fun place in Greenfield.

http://www.thepeoplespint.com/

Decent beer, excellent Firsts and Desserts, though not so strong on the main courses. Lots of Bike Memorabilia.

Head further north and east, and you might like to try

http://schillingbeer.com/

This Place is Awesome. Last time I visited, learned that the staff are major cyclists, and that they've a whole bike collaborative that's trying to map routes in the area.

***

Libertarians that I think you folks might be, along with beer / cycling / nature enthusiasts that you are, would hope that you'd consider a ride out here.

Unknown said...

I had previously mentioned the forlorn college girl at the bar who lost the expensive special coat from her father who isn't rich: people leave, and -- when they leave -- they forget things at the bar. Because: alcohol. And carelessness. But alcohol and carelessness go together like chocolate and peanut butter. And there are always people who will steal another person's chocolate peanut butter cups if they happen to be left unattended.

So: another story of a lost item at the bar.

And it's another college girl. Because of course it is.

Story pretty much begins the same way: college girl walks into a bar. She was drunk and left her iPhone there the night before. She probably has been passed out since then, because college girls and phones: if they are awake they are using it. So it is around three in the afternoon, and she noticed: no phone. And now she is at the bar, hoping some Good Samaritan turned it in.

Sometimes there are Good Samaritans who turn such things in: not everyone is an opportunistic thieving asshole. But there are a lot more opportunistic thieving assholes on the Ave than Good Samaritans, so: no phone.

What did her iPhone cost? Seven hundred dollars? Would you go to the bathroom at the bar and leave seven hundred dollars in twenties sitting unattended on your table? Because that is what you pretty much did. And you managed to leave, not remembering that, at one time, you had left seven hundred dollars in twenties sitting on your table. Alcohol and carelessness, and someone steals the figurative chocolate peanut butter cups.

So she is distraught. Her parents paid for that phone. Like the previous college girl's father paid for the missing coat. It seems like it is easier to forget something valuable if someone else actually paid for it. For you parents out there with daughters at college: keep this in mind. There are cheaper coats, and cheaper cell phones.

But it gets worse. She alludes to some 'things' on the now lost phone that she never wanted anyone to see. And now the opportunistic thieving asshole is no doubt seeing them.

To which someone at the bar replies "What? You had naked pictures on your phone?"

That person may have been me, but I am leaving it as being said by a person at the bar: it is the question that matters, not the asker of the question. Stop looking at me.

She doesn't say yes, but she doesn't say no. So I take that to mean she had naked pictures on her phone. Which means that those pictures are probably now on the internet. Where they will be, forever. A piece of her privacy lost, and she will never be able to get it back. Someone is no doubt masturbating to those pictures right now. Your little girl. Another thing for you parents to remember when you are giving your college daughter an iPhone. I hope you realize I am helping you.

- james james

William said...

Slow week for pervs. Jonathan Schwartz got suspended. He's the DJ who was mostly famous for his love of Frank Sinatra. He used to play rock music for WNEW when that was the hip rock station but his heart wasn't really in it. Still, it was the hippest station in town, and he must have been able to parlay that into some worthwhile action......He was playing strictly Sinatra on some Sirius or non commercial station. The heady days of WNEW were over. He got to play the music he liked, but how much action can you get playing Sinatra on an NPR type station. He probably did much worse years ago at WNEW, but didn't adjust to the times......Still, slim pickings this week. An over the hill DJ. I was surprised he was still alive.

gilbar said...

hey! how come the amazon link is only on the café link?
I miss the one on the right :(

Unknown said...

Darrell said...
"What did the bicycle do to get suspended?"

God help me, I actually did laugh out loud.

Well played.

- james james

Ann Althouse said...

The Amazon link is in this post. I am trying to figure out how to pur it back in the sidebar. Please keep using it. I appreciate your support.

Quayle said...

I’m going to stop commenting so I can go research and figure out exactly what is Marxist feminism.

I certainly don’t want to read this blog if Ann is one, and being one is a bad thing.

Mid-Life Lawyer said...

Please put the Amazon link back in the sidebar. I want to chase a woman over to it and masturbate into it. #2017

MadisonMan said...

Is there a site somewhere that tracks all the things that are supposed to have happened in the Trump administration (i.e., for example, Tillerson being sacked) that haven't actually happened? In other words, all the false press?

That would be useful.

MadisonMan said...

Oh sure, Blogger, DON'T give me a conflicting edit when I notice an error in my post after hitting submit.

Just ignore the i.e. above :)

Quayle said...

One can’t be too careful these days in which even a whiff of the wrong association can taint you beyond repair and utterly ruin your life.

These progressive and morally advanced days, I meant to say.

Humperdink said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Guildofcannonballs said...

I appreciate that sentiment ST, stated somewhat forlornly but not at all cunty.

Max Ehrmann
Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.
Max Ehrmann, Desiderata, Copyright 1952.

Guildofcannonballs said...

"One can’t be too careful these days in which even a whiff of the wrong association can taint you beyond repair and utterly ruin your life."

Titus gave me the impression that this wondering over potential whiffs is his minute to minute reality, worrying in a repeated progression if some restaurant or car or ancestor or pair of shoes or dog breed or carpet style or zip code or phone or tablet or cologne or business card taints him right out of high society.

Sad.

Humperdink said...

My fantasy football team included Ezekiel Elliott (Cowboys) and Gronkowski (Patriots). I changed the name my team to Suspensions R Us.

Churchy LaFemme: said...

Hi, I'm Damocles -- Anyone seen my bike?

Michael K said...

Don Surber is preparing for Humpty Dumpty.

Mueller is good, but stubborn. As head of the FBI, he personally directed the investigation of deadly anthrax attacks. The FBI hounded one man for seven years, but he was the wrong guy.

Taxpayers had to shell out $5.8 million to the victim of Mueller's abuse to settle his lawsuits.

That's more than we paid the victims of soon-to-be ex-Congressman John Conyers, a Democrat from Detroit.

Mueller's unwillingness to back down will cost him everything because he is up against an innocent man who happens to be president.

Over the weekend, the results of Trump's investigation of Team Mueller surfaced. Mueller had to fire his top investigator because that investigator left a trail of anti-Trump emails, and was caught destroying evidence and altering statements in that Fake Investigation of Hillary's emails.


The bigger they are....

F said...

Lots of bicycles. No fish thereabouts?

Humperdink said...

Wondering why we don't have self-driving bicycles?

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Didn't realize how long that was.

Didn't seem that way when I was writing it.

Definite tl/dr bait.

- james james

Unknown said...

And that should have been:

"Maybe he said "it was great to be young, wasn't it?" "

Sometimes when you proofread your mind reads what you were trying to say rather than what you actually typed.

In my experience.

- james james

Unknown said...

I have mentioned college girls who have been at the bar. This is because I am at the bar, college girls are sometimes at the bar, and sometimes I am there at the bar when the college girls are there. At the bar. But hopefully you have seen from my writings that it is not all about the college girls.

I have also conversed with the parents of college girls. At the bar.

A few months ago a college girl came into the bar with her parents. I think it was a Saturday, early afternoon. The parents were no doubt visiting their daughter, and she brought them to the bar to have lunch. I'm not sure what signal it sends the parents that their daughter is bringing them to the bar, but I leave it to them to understand their own dynamics.

After lunch and a beer the mother and daughter leave. I assume they are going shopping. It is a thing I suspect mothers and daughters do. Maybe this is stereotypical thinking on my part; maybe they went to attend a rocket science seminar. I know I'd be interested in going to a rocket science seminar, and I'm no rocket scientist. As you have probably determined on your own. And I would hope the seminar was held near the bar. For convenience.

Anyway: the mother and daughter leave. The father is alone, drinking a new beer, watching sports on the various televisions. He also looks intermittently at a few college girls who are over by one of the pool tables. They are the ones putting money in the jukebox.

I do not think he is looking with lust in his heart. Maybe he is: they are young attractive girls. But I prefer to think that when he looks at them it is because they remind him of his daughter. And they probably remind him of his own college years. Which no doubt makes him think: where the hell did all those years go?

A few college boys enter the bar. IDs are checked, a pitcher of beer is poured, and they proceed to join the girls by the pool table. There is laughter. And mild sexual tension at moments. Because they are young, and they are boys and girls in America.

There is a Hold Steady song, "Boys and Girls in America." The title is from a Kerouac quote.

“Boys and girls in America have such a sad time together; sophistication demands that they submit to sex immediately without proper preliminary talk. Not courting talk — real straight talk about souls, for life is holy and every moment is precious.”

The Hold Steady song is not played on the jukebox by the girls; the band's audience is thirties-ish males who like bar-band rock with smart lyrics. About life in bars, sometimes. So yes: I have heard of them.

The father is at the table next to me. He catches my eye and says something to the effect that "it's great to be young, isn't it?" Maybe he said "it was great to be young, wasn't it?" Which is more wistful and melancholy. But I can't remember precisely what he said. So I'll go with the wistful and melancholy version.

I answer Yeah.

I think the thought crosses his mind that maybe I am there at the bar because of the college girls. Maybe I try to hook up with the college girls. Maybe I have even tried to hook up with his daughter. By 'hook up' I mean 'have sex with'. As I have written before, I do not chase the college girls. But I think that is what he might be thinking; I don't know.

There are post-college guys who occasionally come by the bar to chase the college girls. So his concern is not misguided. But those guys mostly fail. Because it is Boys and Girls in America, not Girls and the Older Guy who might even give them the creeps.

At the pool table one of the college boys grabs the ass of one of the college girls. They are laughing. The father finishes his beer and leaves.

- james james

Unknown said...

Ok. Deleted, corrected, reposted.

Still tl/dr: I didn't do anything about that. Sorry.

- james james

narciso said...


Strike one:

http://freebeacon.com/politics/tillerson-rebukes-press-asked-rumored-tensions-trump-get-new-sources

Strike 2

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/363666-gop-lawmakers-cite-new-allegations-of-political-bias-in-fbi?amp&__twitter_impression=true

Strike 3:

https://mobile.twitter.com/ThomasWictor/status/938565996020842496?p=v

buwaya said...

I gave my daughter a Samsung Android.
Apple, bah.

tim in vermont said...

This is not the story of a plucky band of teenage wizards fighting against an evil sorcerer from the pages of a children’s novel. It’s the story of a federal agency whose employees appear to be violating the Federal Records Act, bypassing transparency, and undermining the lawful authority of the elected president and his team.

Why should federal employees care about a Federal Records Act that Hillary was able to violate with impunity. That Lois Lerner was able to violate, that the FEC apparently violated? Huma Abedin testified under oath to destruction of federal records by Hillary Clinton. That deposition sits there, unattended by the incurious.

When these people talk about the Constitution, it's just to soften you up for a sucker punch. They don't believe in the rule of law, none of them. They believe in the rule of men and they seem to believe that they will always be "The Man."

urbane legend said...

james james said...

Sometimes when you proofread your mind . . .

That sounds like a good habit.

tim in vermont said...

Samsung Android has it's own problems. I bought a Note8, and it turns out that the only way it can be used to text is if you agree to have your texts scanned for advertising purposes. All I want is a simple SMS app. Is that too much to ask. I would pay for a clean, non snoopy one, but they are all "free" with all that implies.

AllenS said...

It's Thursday, Alfranken's big speech day. This morning I've been thinking about what if he does not resign. I base that on the fact that it's the only job he has, or could have. He could not go back to being an entertainer/comedian. Who on earth would hire him? What does he have to lose?

rehajm said...

...that they've a whole bike collaborative that's trying to map routes in the area...

google maps.

Also, ‘bike collaborative’?

Meade said...

"It's Thursday, Alfranken's big speech day. This morning I've been thinking about what if he does not resign."

He's good enough. He's smart enough. And doggonit people like him!

Ralph L said...

James James, I wouldn't not read one of your posts for the world.
But I'm forced to capitalize your names.

The best ice cream social at my eating house in college had fancy, colorful kites suspended from the ceiling. I can't remember who found them all, perhaps a tree.

Our campus had some very fine old trees. Sometimes one would act up and was not just suspended but expelled.

Unknown said...

Thank you, Ralph L.

- james james

Hagar said...

AA, does the "disappeared" button have something to do with a "war" between Gooogle and Amazon that is supposed to have started over Amazon having invaded Google territory?

Not to mention the "conflicting edits!"