July 8, 2018

I am only on a journey of immersive experiences, not explaining any social, political, and economic changes of today.

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(I took these photos in the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. The post headline is inspired by Fernandistein's fantastic mashup of David Sedaris and Herman Melville.)

55 comments:

Ann Althouse said...

This is an open thread!

Narayanan said...

Congrats Fernandinande... You've been tagged.

Narayanan said...

You've the right to etc.

Caldwell P. Titcomb IV said...

Even if he used magic markers that guy couldn't write his way out of a paper bag, and I've seen him try.

SteveR said...

It’s good to believe we are having profound thoughts.

harrogate said...

Some posts ago-never mind how many precisely-you discussed the mass dumping of garbage in the ocean. That, combined with your recent invocations of Melville, reminded me that I have been meaning to recommend Donovan Hohn's Moby-Duck for you to read, if you haven't already.

Great book title. Even better cover art! Book itself is a pretty wonderful read.

harrogate said...

My apologies; I don't know why the Amazon link doesn't work. Still a worthy book though.

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

There is a door next to the first contemplative piece. A Rexit. Use it.

Roy Lofquist said...

"I am only on a journey of immersive experiences, not explaining any social, political, and economic changes of today."

Back in the day it was called navel gazing.

Sebastian said...

"I am only on a journey of immersive experiences, not explaining any social, political, and economic changes of today.

Is the journey comfortable or uncomfortable?

Robert J. said...

Melville had David Sedaris tagged:

"Look there! that chap strutting round the corner. He wears a beaver hat and swallow-tailed coat, girdled with a sailor-belt and sheath-knife. Here comes another with a sou'-wester and a bombazine cloak. No town-bred dandy will compare with a country-bred one -- I mean a downright bumpkin dandy -- a fellow that, in the dog-days, will mow his two acres in buckskin gloves for fear of tanning his hands. Now when a country dandy like this takes it into his head to make a distinguished reputation, and joins the great whale-fishery, you should see the comical things he does upon reaching the seaport. In bespeaking his sea-outfit, he orders bell-buttons to his waistcoats; straps to his canvas trowsers. Ah, poor Hay-Seed! how bitterly will burst those straps in the first howling gale, when thou art driven, straps, buttons, and all, down the throat of the tempest."

Darrell said...

Just remember to buy your shoe cameras through the Amazon Althouse portal. Throw in a couple of pairs of NOMEX socks, just to be sure.

Tyrone Slothrop said...

Damn. i really need someone to explain them to me.

traditionalguy said...

Moby Dick was far better literature than Americans deserved at the time I like the way Melville observes his ship mates. And who can one up that confrontation ending a fight to the finish I bet that dumb whale still remembers Captain .Ahab.

Yancey Ward said...

That mashup was pure genius!

Yancey Ward said...

Powerline linked to this article from AP describing a letter from late June 2017 from Trump's legal team to Mueller discussing James Comey. AP seems to try to cast this letter as some sort of mistake without saying so explicitly, but here is the thing- this letter from Summer of 2017 pretty much foretells all the issues we found out about Comey since then, including the IG report. Trump's legal team did a good job of summarizing Comey for Mueller long before the public had the facts about him.

Francisco D said...

I don't think this was covered over the weekend, so here it is from The Daily Caller:

"Special counsel Robert Mueller said in a court filing Friday that his prosecutors will not present evidence regarding Trump campaign collusion with Russia at an upcoming trial for former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort."

Make of it what you will.

Jon Ericson said...

discretion, valor. sheesh.

Jon Ericson said...

Oh, and yeah -- Moby Dick.

Jon Ericson said...

*taps pencil while staring at ceiling cat*

Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this son of New York said...

If you're not pushing the narrative, it's not art. Your betters have made that clear. How can you ignore the fact that any immersive experience is plainly a many gendered thing?

Jon Ericson said...

Love is something else!

Bill Peschel said...

Put the "Moby-Duck" book on hold for my wife. She's fascinated with the global economy and the shipping firms that help control and direct it.

harrogate said...

Bill, she will absolutely enjoy the Hohn book, then. I wasn't terribly interested in those things until I read the book and found out that I was.

walter said...

Has the FBI's sensitivity training been successful?

Jon Ericson said...

I feel compelled to comment on old posts.
And do that extra space thing.
For old times sake.
I'm going back to when she crashed her bug.

Jon Ericson said...

Although the typing bug was great!

Jon Ericson said...

Probably Betamax.

Jon Ericson said...

Or proto Meade.

traditionalguy said...

The cable tv enemy of the people media is sucking wind. All news is good news for the USA. So they have defaulted to a re-run of The Apprentice using the SCOTUS judge candidates as apprentices seeking to win a Trump Job. The approach and language is the same.

Boredom with Trump's win them all America is simmering. Heck, it's almost as bad as in Eisenhower's days. Nothing broken and there is no drama. So the Supremes as alt-right ideologues is all they have.

Jon Ericson said...

“I hope our hearts and prayers are also with thousands of children, toddlers and infants, removed from their parents by the Trump administration, under zero tolerance,” he continued. “They’re trapped in a bureaucratic cave, too, so let’s not forget them.”
Chuck's guiding light: Democratic Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin.
Streets of San Francisco smelly dude.

Jon Ericson said...

B-team is over in Michigan.

Etienne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
madAsHell said...

I am only on a journey of immersive experiences, not explaining any social, political, and economic changes of today.

Someone in search of a baptism??

Ohhhh.....and by the way......our Hostess don't understand women's legs.....the woman with the appropriate knee/thigh ratio, and bikini bridge fraction.....WINS!!!

Henry said...

Dropped off the youngest at Scout camp at noon then headed into Cape Cod traffic to deliver a package to a friend's house. Didn't have the energy to listen to Moby Dick. I'm about halfway through the audio book and I'm kind of bored. Put on a Spotify playlist instead.

I've read the book twice, but maybe I'm done with yon unsocial and dreaded creatures, prodigious displacers of briny waters though they be.

On the way to camp, my son picked out a Stuff You Should Know podcast about Narwhals. Narwhal literally means "corpse whale" based on weird gray mottled color of their skin. That led to a funny segue by Chuck (or Josh?) about hypostasis, the effect of blood collecting in a corpse. Reminiscent of the best SYSK episode of all time -- the History of Grave Robbing.

wildswan said...

"How with this rage shall beauty hold a plea,
Whose action is no stronger than a flower?"

Politics vs. poetry

Kathryn51 said...

Open thread! Thanks for clarifying.

My non-partisan question is: Will Althouse be blogging at 9:00 EDT Monday night? (6:00 p.m. for this West Coaster) If so, I will plan my schedule around it so that I don't have to watch Trump (or Hannity) on TV. If not, I'll watch Shannon Bream later on - she's top-notch Supreme Court watcher/reporter.

narciso said...

I took up Moby dick after reading in the heart of the sea, about the incident that inspired It, Melville really put everything he knew about whaling going back to byzanti e days, and many observations about 19th century culture.

Jon Ericson said...

actually socialism does work

narciso said...


In other news:

http://themarketswork.com/2018/07/08/an-important-nunes-interview

walter said...

Marco Rubio
‏Verified account @marcorubio
Jul 6

Calling out @NATO allies for not spending enough is not new. For 70 yrs almost every previous administration did the same. What is new is questioning the value of the alliance. The end of #NATO would be a dream come true for #Putin.

pacwest said...

If pp is around I have a quick opener on the immigration debate we we having. If I understand some common thoughts throughout your comments, one of them is concern for income disparities. Since at least 1920 income disparities have fluctuated up and down in concert with the rising and falling of immigrants entering the country. Low skill and entry level wages are affected by increasing the supply of unskilled labor. Uncontrolled (illegal, lottery, chain) immigration has this effect, and is increasing due to the percentage of immigrants, especially illegals, who enter the US with low skills/low education. As wages decrease or stay stable in a growing economy the people and companies who benifit from low cost labor get wealthier, low wages and increased wealth at the top equals larger disparities.

Controlled (merit based) immigration has the opposite effect on income disparity, and supports growth.

Immigrant populations need to at least match native populations in skills and education if you don't want to increase disparities. Our current mix of immigrants don't do that. In fact they are comprised of nearly twice the percentage of unskilled, undereducated workers as the native population of the US.


narciso said...

Now that the key brexit official has resigned along with his deputy we have the answer fron last night.

Yancey Ward said...

A great, but long, essay from Nassim Taleb on the powerful roles played by intolerant minorities in setting societies rules. There is a lot to think about in this essay.

Yancey Ward said...

I have long predicted that the UK will never exit the EU. The remain faction has been playing for time from the very day after the surprise vote out come 2 years ago. The goal is to make the process such a colossal mess that another referendum has to be held in which every crook and ruse available will be used to make sure Remain wins the second time around.

Jon Ericson said...

*motorboat sounds*

Jon Ericson said...

*squicking*

Narayanan said...

Brits will never grasp what Independence means. If any do, enough others are ready to destroy such.
E.g. the weirdest phrase in their parlance of opprobrium : Unilateral Declaration of Independence.
Not done, dear chaps. Not at all.
May definitely is not another Thatcher ... More a Hillary type personality.

Narayanan said...

@yancey
Haven't read it yet.
Is Taleb able to tell between - intransigently principled and what he may be calling intolerant?
Remember- smallest minority is one individual - think Galileo, or Socrates.

Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this son of New York said...

What is new is questioning the value of the alliance.

One has to question whether the Europeans value it enough to pay their share. Or is it just a “nice to have” for them that they will keep around since Uncle Sam is paying the freight? Oh, and BTW, let’s keep a tariff structure on autos that is strongly biased in the European’s favor too!

Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this son of New York said...

Sorry Marco, I would have voted for you once, but I guess that you think that if Trump doesnt start a war with the Russians, then he is a traitor. This is Hillary’s political attack, and God knows, well we all know, that Hillary loves to start wars. This is what we meant Marco when we said that you would have wasted the nomination kissing her hem as she marched to her coronation.

Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this son of New York said...

Glenn Greenwald explains the whole Hillary - McCarthyism gambit that Marco has been swept up in better than I could.

https://theintercept.com/2018/07/08/msnbc-does-not-merely-permit-fabrications-against-democratic-party-critics-it-encourages-and-rewards-them/

Yancey Ward said...

Narayanan Subramanian asked:

Is Taleb able to tell between - intransigently principled and what he may be calling intolerant?

One man's intransigently principled stand is another man's intolerant one. Of course, Taleb recognizes the difference, but the point is that it doesn't really matter- what matters is whether or not the "flexible majority" cares enough to fight the battle required.

Bad Lieutenant said...


walter said...
Marco Rubio
‏Verified account @marcorubio
Jul 6

Calling out @NATO allies for not spending enough is not new. For 70 yrs almost every previous administration did the same. What is new is questioning the value of the alliance. The end of #NATO would be a dream come true for #Putin.

7/8/18, 11:14 PM



If the other NATO members value NATO so highly, why don't they do what President Trump tells them is necessary in order to preserve it?