Althouse: At the No-Photo Cafe...

July 16, 2018

At the No-Photo Cafe...

... you create your own pictures.

41 comments:

YoungHegelian said...: BAD DAY AT THE OFFICE: I found out at 4:30 today that one of my clients died unexpectedly on Saturday. Not the first client to die on me, but the first so unexpectedly.

I will miss D. because she was about my age & she came from a rough & ready ethnic town outside of Hoboken, NJ, a back ground completely different from my own. She was half Italian & half Hungarian, and grew up in a neighborhood known to the locals as "Guinea Heights" (for those not familiar with ethnic slurs of the northeast, "guinea" is a rude term for an Italian). She grew up immersed in northeastern ethnic Catholicism, which had its standard effect on her -- she left the Church as quickly as she could. As a young woman, she lost what I strongly suspect was the love of her life in Vietnam, and spent the next couple of years recuperating in a house on the Jersey Shore rooming with three gay guys, an experience she recalled with great fondness, as much for the fact that it pissed off her Dad as much as for how much fun it was in & of itself.

Like me, she had been on a large IT support contract for the Feds( She,HHS; me, EOP, FTC, Labor) so we got to swap Federal IT horror stories, of which there is never a shortage. She was also just happy to see me when I dragged my ass on-site, & was even kind enough to special order Mini-Moos for me for the office coffee supply. Rest in peace, D. I hope Jimmy was there to take you to the other side.; 7/16/18, 9:29 PM
WA-mom said...: @YoungHegelian That was endearing tribute to your friend. Sorry.; 7/16/18, 9:41 PM
MayBee said...: I'm so very sorry for the loss, YH. Death is way too hard.; 7/16/18, 9:44 PM
Trumpit said...: The disintegration of the Soviet Union in the sudden way it did was a tragedy for the Russian people and for mankind. A handful of people, the oligarchs, stole the wealth of the country, i.e., its industries, etc., in the blink of an eye. Putin was given his post (starting with Yeltsin) with the understanding that he can remain in power so long as he doesn't try to undo the looting. The hands off goes both ways. This makes Trump's vile tax cuts for the rich seem small in comparison. The impoverishment of the population whether in Russia, here, or elsewhere by corrupt governments is one of the great human tragedies of our times.

Trump is thrilled that he became president by hook or by crook. It's his business and life style. That explains why he is not hard on Putin about meddling in our erections. Pressing the point, only serves to highlight Trump's erection lacking legitimacy. We can vote Trump out of office in 2020, but the Russian people are stuck with Putin and his ilk for the foreseeable future.; 7/16/18, 10:02 PM
gilbar said...: well, we've heard it from the horse's ass; Trumpit misses the USSR. Trumpit wishes we could go back to the good old days, when the Soviet was still running everyone's lives; 7/16/18, 10:07 PM
wildswan said...: It's tough when someone with whom you share a past is swept away. The past is gone and then the people who remember it are gone. And more and more as you get older. Old age ain't for sissies, as a 96 year old friend of mine likes to say.; 7/16/18, 10:10 PM
YoungHegelian said...: @wildswan, Maybee, Wa-Mom,

It's tough when someone with whom you share a past is swept away. The past is gone and then the people who remember it are gone

It's not just this "dying" business, which I'm not too thrilled about in any case. It's that it's so often the wrong people who are dying.

C'mon, God, ask me. Just ask me. I've got a list ready for Ya of who needs to go!; 7/16/18, 10:14 PM
Drago said...: Have the democrats upped the ante yet with calls for Strzok to be awarded not just a Purple Heart but a Congressional Medal of Honor as well?

If obama can be given a Nobel for breathing, I guess it wouldn't be out of the question...; 7/16/18, 10:20 PM
chickelit said...: Trumpit wrote: That explains why he is not hard on Putin about meddling in our erections.

Trump offered the red pill of knowledge, freedom, and the brutal truths of reality; Hillary offered the blue pill of
social security, happiness and the blissful ignorance of illusion. And quite frankly because her supporters all needed a blue pill to get excited over her erection.; 7/16/18, 10:43 PM
narciso said...: Ah but who were the oligarchs party bureaucrats, the siloviki were ex military and kgb so it was a slight of hand enabled by summers protege Schreiber that the old new class became the new ruling class.; 7/16/18, 11:07 PM
Gahrie said...: OK...one more time. Trumpit is a sad attempt at "performance art" It deliberately makes provocative statements seeking to derail topics and engage in meaningless arguments. It's whole raison d'etre is to be outrageous. Ignore it, and definitely stop responding to it.; 7/16/18, 11:13 PM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: Reading the original "Zorro" tale, The Mark Of Zorro (aka The Curse of Capistrano).

Being over 40 I know Zorro's secret going in. I have to guess most careful readers will suss it out fairly quickly, but it's played pretty fairly. Anyway though, I'm about 60% through, and man, he's being kind of a dick about it. His father basically says "I'm not long for the world, and btw I support the brave Senor Zorro" and he still plays him along, not to mention the woman he loves.

Skimmed over some of the Wikipedia stuff on Spanish California. Amazing how late,brief and shallow that colonial regime was..; 7/16/18, 11:18 PM
narciso said...: So sorry to hear that, young hegelian.; 7/16/18, 11:43 PM
Drago said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 7/17/18, 12:09 AM
Drago said...: Two things:

1) If you believe there is such a thing as the "deep state" then you are an insane white supremacist conservative conspiracy nutcase

2) The lefties are openly calling for the "deep state" to rise up and execute a coup to throw Trump out of office

Discuss; 7/17/18, 12:10 AM
BUMBLE BEE said...: Just putting it out there.. do you think Mike Rogers has copies of Hillary's emails? Trump seems too bold with "The Server" topic.; 7/17/18, 2:20 AM
Unknown said...: The loss of a contemporary gives pause and commands reflection. Thanks for the reference to Guinea Heights. Your friend lived in a storied enclave, as that is the old neighborhood of one Francis Albert Sinatra until the late 30's.

We comfort ourselves in these times with thoughts of restored connections on the other side. My prayer for her and those who loved her are that these thoughts are realized and the truth of our earthly existence is revealed.; 7/17/18, 2:52 AM
FIDO said...: I believe I have an answer to the problem of determining consensual sex: sex receipts.

After the coitus, the woman simply signs her name or gives her thumb print if she is afraid of 'name shaming'.

I will have to start selling them on Amazon.; 7/17/18, 4:15 AM
HT said...: Two days ago, Kevin said...

But the point isn't Russian meddling. Was that ever in question?

“I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be.”
Dump, 7/16/18; 7/17/18, 5:28 AM
rhhardin said...: The 30 pounds of dog food, free shipping, that came second-day air last time, was delayed and included with am ordered DVD. Amazon prime cost cutting. Still, there's a packaging problem, you'd think.

Machine decisions make odd bedfellows.; 7/17/18, 6:13 AM
rhhardin said...: If all sex were required to be paid for, consent wouldn't be a problem.; 7/17/18, 6:16 AM
Guildofcannonballs said...: I would bitterly cling to my career as my source of pride if my wife cucked me too.

Better to think of the losers I defeated in the great Med School Acceptance battles than all those cocks in my kid's moms ass, cunt, mouth, and worst of all mind.

I am no better than these broken but very prideful cucks.; 7/17/18, 6:18 AM
rehajm said...: Good Morning Althousians! Yesterdays leftie bedwetting is over! Trump is still in office and it's time for a new day! (of bedwetting...); 7/17/18, 6:31 AM
Shouting Thomas said...: Althouse, I understand and appreciate your commitment to free speech... and here comes the but...

After the first 100 comments or so, the comments section degenerates into madness. Three or four people keep fighting all night for no purpose that I can see other than to vent their spleens and vilify one another. It's ugly.

The subject of your post is usually discarded somewhere along the way.

I visited that late night scene last night for the first time in a few years. Horrifying!; 7/17/18, 6:44 AM
HT said...: If the host of the blog could get into some engaging, non-naming calling back and forth (“You're a failure” etc) with readers/commenters, it would go a long way to elevating the overall discussion IMHO.; 7/17/18, 6:49 AM
Humperdink said...: @ST Are you suggesting our hostess censor speech? Stop the conversation after 100 comments?

Once the comments degenerate or are dominated by a few, I just move on to another topic. It's easy. You may want to try it.; 7/17/18, 6:54 AM
HT said...: Humperdink, there's no question that after a while, clumps of people just start attacking each other, and it does not start that way. However, nor is there an enlightened conversation from the get. There is a point that the host (or hostess if you prefer) of the blog could guide a few points here and there. It would, IMO, make the conversation more interesting and thoughtful. Of course, the commenters could do that among themselves, but any expression of a contrary point of view is often mercilessly shot down via insults and accusations.; 7/17/18, 6:59 AM
Shouting Thomas said...: No, I'm not suggesting censorship, and it's up to Althouse to decide what to do with this madness.

As I said, I haven't visited the comments section for years after people have been arguing for hours.

If it were my blog (which it isn't), I would just shut the comments down at some point for no other reason than I couldn't bear the screeching and hatred, and I wanted no association with that.; 7/17/18, 7:03 AM
Ralph L said...: it would go a long way to elevating the overall discussion IMHO.
I've heard that hasn't worked well for Patterico, but that was from people who left.; 7/17/18, 7:27 AM
Ralph L said...: Some people must enjoy that kind of argument. I think it depends on one's childhood. My extended family put a high value on harmony, with occasional outbursts from Dad.; 7/17/18, 7:29 AM
Shouting Thomas said...: Some people must enjoy that kind of argument.

The internet is a very bad place to look to try to assuage your loneliness.; 7/17/18, 7:32 AM
Ralph L said...: My increasingly demented father has lived with me for almost 5 years, 3 of them after I quit working to keep him hydrated and off the roads. I'll take what I can get.; 7/17/18, 7:38 AM
Shouting Thomas said...: I understand, Ralph.

I have never found anybody who could replace my late wife.

Somewhere along the way, I just accepted being alone.; 7/17/18, 7:41 AM
Michael K said...: Blogger Ralph L said...
it would go a long way to elevating the overall discussion IMHO.
I've heard that hasn't worked well for Patterico, but that was from people who left.

Yeah, Patrick has a very bad case of Trump Derangement.

Some commenters like me left, and when I briefly returned a few months ago, he was hostile to any disagreement, so I left again.

Those left, and there are lots of comments, not necessarily commenters, are all NeverTrumpers.

I enjoy many of the commenters here and scroll past the worst of the trolls.; 7/17/18, 9:08 AM
Gahrie said...: I predict that in the next couple of days That YouTube will be bragging about how many hits that Obama got at the conference in South Africa, without admitting that every time you tried to return to the homepage by clicking on the Youtube logo, you got sent to the Obama link.; 7/17/18, 10:09 AM
Michael K said...: A little information on what is going on in classrooms in public schools.; 7/17/18, 10:33 AM
Will Cate said...: "After the first 100 comments or so, the comments section degenerates into madness"

I don't think that attribute is unique to this website alone ;-); 7/17/18, 10:54 AM
Michael K said...: Showtime seems to have taken a big pratfall with the SBC parody interviews.

Just 327,000 sets of eyeballs tuned in to the premium cabler on Sunday night to see the Borat star spoof Senator Bernie Sanders, gun activists, Trent Lott, supporters of Donald Trump and more. Among the key demographic of adults 18-49, Who Is America? pulled in a low 0.1 rating. That put the secretive and controversial Who Is America? in the hinterland of the 70th highest-rated original show on cable on July 15.

What a shame !

Naturally, they are blaming Sarah Palin.

“There has been widespread misinformation over the past week about the character of Billy Wayne Ruddick Jr., Ph.D., performed by Sacha Baron Cohen on the Showtime comedy series Who Is America,” read the statement. “Baron Cohen did not present himself as a disabled veteran, and viewers nationwide who watched the premiere on Sunday can now attest to that.

Of course. It was all in fun.; 7/17/18, 11:21 AM
Robert Cook said...: "If all sex were required to be paid for, consent wouldn't be a problem."

Oh, most sex is paid for, one way or another.; 7/17/18, 11:59 AM
Robert Cook said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 7/17/18, 11:59 AM
Robert Cook said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 7/17/18, 11:59 AM