Althouse: At Odyssey Café...

September 7, 2018

At Odyssey Café...

... there is a time for many words, and there is also a time for sleep.

66 comments:

rehajm said...: A good day. Good night all...; 9/7/18, 8:13 PM
stevew said...: We have our granddaughter with us today and tonight, she is just shy of her second birthday. Our daughter's sister-in-law is being married tomorrow and we've taken on child care duties.

After dinner we put on the movie "Trolls", as requested. There are quite a few song and dance bits in the movie. We were invited (perhaps commanded would be a better word) to dance along. Quite happy to oblige. We were so engrossed that there was a bit of a bathroom accident - by the granddaughter, not the wife or me. Oh well.

Somehow my interest in the Kavanaugh hearing and the other political topics of the week and day just don't seem so important.

Have a great weekend.

-sw; 9/7/18, 8:17 PM
rhhardin said...: One of the checks for correctness in formal systems is called No Odysseys.; 9/7/18, 8:24 PM
Humperdink said...: So Barack the Magnificent gives a speech at University of Illinois taking credit for Trump's robust economy. That, along with the typical perfunctory Trump bashing. Quite a speech.

What escaped the media's attention was Obama was given the Paul H. Douglas Award for Ethics in Government. Although not confirmed, it was reported former senior IRS official Lois Lerner was the presenter.

Also on hand for the festivities were former Fox News reporter James Rosen, Rosen's parents, jailed you-tube producer Nakoula Basseley Nakoula of Benghazi fame and an assortment of Solyndra executives.; 9/7/18, 8:30 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: 'Under Swami's spell': 14 tourists claim sexual assault by guru at Thai yoga retreat

I think I've discovered how this practice gets rid of the ego....; 9/7/18, 8:30 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: “Mr. Jones likes to portray his digital channel, Infowars, as a media outlet, and he is quick to wrap himself in the First Amendment. But in business terms, it is more accurate to describe Infowars as an online store that uses Mr. Jones’s commentary to move merchandise. Its revenue comes primarily from the sale of a grab-bag of health-enhancement and survivalist products that Mr. Jones hawks constantly.”

I like being right - just for the sake of being right.; 9/7/18, 8:41 PM
Humperdink said...: Go to the mall, walk to the Nike store, take a knee at the entrance, point to your Reebok's, walk away.; 9/7/18, 8:44 PM
traditionalguy said...: Attended a funeral today for an Air Force Veteran and neighbor who flew in Truman's Berlin Airlift. The standard Christian scripture was read, and a former Pastor( it was. Methodist Church) that knew Walt gave a kind eulogy. Then two uniformed Air Force personnel wrapped the flag that had been draping the coffin and presented it to the widow. Then they played taps.

This is serious stuff. The chance that anyone of the 300 people there today will not vote for Trump is near zero.; 9/7/18, 8:57 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: “Supplements are popular,” Mr. Jones said in the interview. “They’re good. They’re a fast-growing market. I use it to fund the operation. Other revolutionaries rob banks and kidnap people, O.K.? I don’t do that.”

Conservatives really know how to pick 'em.; 9/7/18, 9:04 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: The company struck deals with a number of manufacturers, slapping its Infowars Life label on a range of products. A 2014 agreement with one of its most prominent suppliers, Global Healing Center, shows that the manufacturer made at least eight products for the brand, including “Super Male Vitality” a private label of Global Health’s Androtrex, purchased wholesale for $14.99 and advertised on the Infowars Store for $69.95.

Now that's a sign you love America and need 1st Amendment help.; 9/7/18, 9:08 PM
Michael K said...: The world of feminist science.

Not a joke.; 9/7/18, 9:13 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: “He’s a nutter,” he says — “I’ve spent quite a bit of time on the phone with these Alex Jones people who order from me,” and described them.

“They’re nonbelievers in what the media tells them. They think there’s more to the story,” he said. “They think there’s aliens, and the government knows about that and they’re not telling them. They’re all religious, and they’re very concerned about the direction the government is going.”

“He’s really good at scaring people,” Mr. Cooper said of Mr. Jones. “He gives them that sense of urgency — they need to hurry up and do something. Now.”

AND HE NEEDS YOUR HELP BECAUSE YOU'RE SOOOOOO PATRIOTIC - and silly.; 9/7/18, 9:13 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: “I don’t think you can establish that anything is 100 percent fact.”

I can see why Jones has so many fans here. Y'all are perfect together.; 9/7/18, 9:16 PM
steve uhr said...: Now that Obama is back in center stage does that increase or decrease the happiness level of the pro-trump commenters? Just curious.; 9/7/18, 9:19 PM
narciso said...: Yet Hezbollah Hamas and the Taliban get blue checkmark still, well it's either that or they use the Twitter founders head in bushkazi; 9/7/18, 9:20 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: I was a gonna make me a riff 'bout darn Gingers having it worse than spic-nigger kike-nips of Asian origin (the worst of origins) but then Iowahawk posted this:

https://mobile.twitter.com/iowahawkblog/status/1038059762708082688/photo/1

Oh dear.; 9/7/18, 9:21 PM
Lucien said...: I thought the whole idea of saying “I am Spartacus” was that you were not Spartacus, but were giving him cover. If you’re trying to say you really are Spartacus, you’re missing the point.

If there really is no Spartacus (in that the documents were coming out anyway) then you wind up looking like even more of a jackass.

Getting caught trying to make yourself cry only digs the hole deeper.; 9/7/18, 9:25 PM
narciso said...: The original draft of the letter.

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/blogs/tim-blair/i-see-all-and-it-shall-burn/news-story/f44e4dade28be8869a628318c80f520e

Someone,suggested he was really pseudolos(sic)

As posited earlier the author doesn't give any evidence of being resistance; 9/7/18, 9:27 PM
Humperdink said...: "Now that Obama is back in center stage does that increase or decrease the happiness level of the pro-trump commenters?"

Even though Barack the Great is breaking all norms for recently recently retired presidents, I don't mind. He will continue to beclown himself.

Oh, and he will not be on center stage. That spot is taken.; 9/7/18, 9:29 PM
tcrosse said...: Now that Obama is back in center stage does that increase or decrease the happiness level of the pro-trump commenters? Just curious.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzz; 9/7/18, 9:29 PM
Drago said...: Steve uhr: "Now that Obama is back in center stage .."

LOL; 9/7/18, 9:31 PM
Unknown said...: Obama is a volley board, I'm not sure that's the correct term, but when tennis and ping pong players practice, they often do it against a wall or a board placed at the net. Trump gets to campaign on the same damn thing. That's not to say that Obama won't inspire his voters to vote, but he's not winning anyone he hasn't already won, and that may well be enough.; 9/7/18, 9:40 PM
Humperdink said...: Obama (to Trump): "How hard can that be, saying that Nazis are bad?"

Responses on Twitter:

> (O'Neill) "Nazis are bad. Now try saying “Radical Islam...”

> (Grenell) "fact check: @realDonaldTrump kicked the Nazi out of NYC after 14 years and multiple Presidents allowed him to stay.

> (Shapiro) "Agree. Now do Jeremiah Wright and Louis Farrakhan."; 9/7/18, 9:42 PM
Humperdink said...: I haven't seen Obama this exercised since he told Putin to cut it out (on center stage).; 9/7/18, 9:44 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: I'm just saying if he had had a beard it would most-definately be (have been) only one color: red.; 9/7/18, 9:48 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: No matter what damn lighting.; 9/7/18, 9:49 PM
Michael K said...: The Papadopoulis thing is such a miscarriage of justice that I would like to see that judge sanctioned.; 9/7/18, 9:51 PM
narciso said...: As I pointed out in the last thread mifsud halper (both have gone missing) had long standing Russian and allied ties, it's like a,ling season of alias,; 9/7/18, 9:59 PM
Howard said...: O'bama not even appearing on the Lido Deck let alone center stage. Ishmael may talk, but the story is about the Great White Whale.; 9/7/18, 10:01 PM
narciso said...: Meanwhile the vigano revelations seem to have been buried in the same place they put hoffa.; 9/7/18, 10:02 PM
Jon Ericson said...: http://www.theamericanmirror.com/hes-back-obama-refers-to-himself-102-times-during-64-minute-speech/; 9/7/18, 10:06 PM
Andrew said...: "Now that Obama is back in center stage does that increase or decrease the happiness level of the pro-trump commenters? Just curious."

Neither. I don't care enough about him for my happiness level to be effected. But he did remind me today of what a sanctimonious, arrogant windbag he's always been, and to once again be grateful for Trump.

He even did the nose in the air thing. Lecture us some more, anointed professor. Remind us of our better selves, so that we can confront the vulgarian usurper.

For what it's worth, I think it's foolish of the Democrats to trot out Obama and use him for the midterms. He is not the Messiah that they think he is. If they haven't learned that by now, they really are trapped in their own bubble.; 9/7/18, 10:08 PM
narciso said...: That why I dubbed his zaphod, after the self absorbed clown in hitchhikers guide; 9/7/18, 10:10 PM
Lem the artificially intelligent said...: Speaking of sleeping... look at who came up on this page, a pic of an awake Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Hilarious.

I've made a tweet out of it.; 9/7/18, 10:17 PM
narciso said...: When is she awake, is the harder question

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6144807/Prime-Minister-Scott-Morrison-set-introduce-laws-guarantee-religious-freedom.html; 9/7/18, 10:20 PM
Ken B said...: That's the Fagles translation. I have it but I think I will read the Lombardo instead, his Iliad was great, very swift.
I am a big fan of the Fitzgerald, which I read twice. The Lattimore is used a lot on campus, but isn’t nearly as good.; 9/7/18, 10:22 PM
narciso said...: In light of what I mentioned above:

https://www.lifesitenews.com//news/blurb-on-pope-francis-new-book-criticizes-benedict; 9/7/18, 10:23 PM
Bad Lieutenant said...: Blogger steve uhr said...
Now that Obama is back in center stage does that increase or decrease the happiness level of the pro-trump commenters? Just curious.

9/7/18, 9:19 PM

Good here. Remind us what PDJT is dealing with, trying to recover - no, he is succeeding - what he is helping America recover from. Remind us what's in store if they can make the President fail.

Probably is or is intended as sophisticated, impactful political maneuver, but scarcely aware of it really, so hard to judge.; 9/7/18, 10:35 PM
narciso said...: One thinks,the span in the illiad, ten years is long, but then we remind ourselves we've been in Afghanistan for nearly 17.; 9/7/18, 10:38 PM
mccullough said...: Obama’s daughter interned for Harvey Weinstein. Just in case anyone needs a reminder what terrible judgment Obama has.; 9/7/18, 10:45 PM
Ralph L said...: I took a nap a few hours ago and dreamed that Bill Clinton got Hillary to dance with him on a stage, then collapsed and died.; 9/7/18, 10:56 PM
narciso said...: A little cold I think:

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2018/09/democrats-hostility-to-the-constitution-laid-bare.php?; 9/7/18, 11:05 PM
gadfly said...: This just in from the Babylon Bee:

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The confirmation hearing for Judge Brett Kavanaugh heated up as actor Nicolas Cage began an intense line of questioning Friday: “You say you’ve studied the Constitution,” Cage said to the nominee, “so have you seen anything on it that might resemble a map, maybe pointing to the location of a hidden treasure trove?”

Cage’s line of questioning appeared to make Kavanaugh uncomfortable, as he responded with evasive answers such as, “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” “That’s insane,” and “How did you get in here?”

This only seemed to incense Cage, who continued to press this line of questioning with the nominee. “There has to be something!” he asserted. “Maybe a word out of place. Or have you tried applying open flame to the Constitution to reveal a hidden message?”

“No, nothing is hidden on the Constitution,” Kavanaugh responded. “It’s all very clear.”

This enraged Cage, who started shouting and gesticulating in such an over-the-top manner that one could almost mistake him for Senator Cory Booker. “You know something!” he screamed. “You’re trying to get the treasure for the Illuminati!”

Kavanaugh looked like he was about to say something, but he turned to a menacing looking man in a bowler hat who sat behind him, who shook his head. Kavanaugh then announced, “I’m done here,” and abruptly left the hearing while Cage continued to shout at him that the treasure belonged to the American people.

It was the most confrontational questioning of the day, and one thing was clear: either Nicolas Cage was determined like no other to get the hidden treasure of James Madison or he had 2020 ambitions.; 9/7/18, 11:09 PM
Original Mike said...: Papadopolous given only 14 days because the judge doesn’t think he intended to help Russia or hurt the U.S.

But, but, but, ...COLLUSION!; 9/7/18, 11:16 PM
narciso said...: That's probably true:

https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/anonymous-deep-state-trump/; 9/7/18, 11:17 PM
gilbar said...: an abstract about Delicious WHOLE MILK; 9/7/18, 11:23 PM
walter said...: Did Beto get ta dancin' on Ellen? Maybe some racy Reggaeton?; 9/7/18, 11:33 PM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: T. E. Lawrence (yes, that one) did an "Odyssey" translation which is sitting on a shelf across the room, but I believe the Fagles is the only one I've actually read.

You would think the "Odyssey" would get a lot of SF treatments, but only two come to mind right now.

The inimitable R. A. Lafferty's _Space Chantey_, and Brian N. Stableford's "Deus Irae" trilogy.

It seems to me that Xenophon's _Anabasis_ has gotten more treatments, with Andre Norton, David Weber/John Ringo and Jack Campbell all contributing.

(not the Unknown with grandkids, btw); 9/7/18, 11:42 PM
JOB said...: The Sea as Heartbreak

I
A wave. —A wave. —Another wave retells
The gain and loss, the wealth without a cost—
Recalling how each wave crashes memory,
So far from home and counting what to see.
I stand upon the shore, where wind is tossed
As infinitely as clattering shells

Upon the shore. She greets my eyes with bold
Surrender, nothing returning but wave
And tide. As sun and cloud beseech their home,
So I had begged for shelter. Now sands comb
Debris, the shipping bits that time will save
As cold comfort. The shadows grow old

And light that windows offer to my room
Has nowhere to go, now shunted and lamed
By dying shades. She comes to bring me back
With meats and wine, with spells that crack
An ancient code: your deeds are lost, unnamed
By fame, undone by beauty’s beckoning doom.

II
We watch cloudy shadows with sunlit cast
Across the waves, like dark monsters beneath
Our vision. Hand across your brow, you peer
Where sea and sky are married, lost in vast
Declensions: wind and water—spangled breath
Of glittering gems that glow and disappear

Between our separate islands. Though we share
A single epic, lyric solitude
Maroons these comic palms, their offered green
Is lost in ocean’s grey. For ghosts that bear
The memories of tragic war intrude,
Insisting a claim on blood, true and clean

As bodies washed ashore. Such is the loom
In Ithaca that plucks Ogygia
From its threads, woven poor with cramped regret…
Tonight the stars dine alone and assume
A feast of meats we would call nostalgia—
And waves. —And waves. —And other waves forget.; 9/7/18, 11:46 PM
narciso said...: Fascinating I had heard of neither,; 9/7/18, 11:51 PM
Etienne said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 9/8/18, 12:01 AM
narciso said...: One might think haldemans forever war is an elaboration on the theme, the protagonist visit many worlds including different stages of earth development; 9/8/18, 12:02 AM
Lewis Wetzel said...: The pic looks like a a Noble bookstore, circa 1998.; 9/8/18, 12:10 AM
eddie willers said...: I took a nap a few hours ago and dreamed that Bill Clinton got Hillary to dance with him on a stage, then collapsed and died.

Both of them?; 9/8/18, 12:17 AM
Lewis Wetzel said...: narciso said...

One might think haldemans forever war is an elaboration on the theme, the protagonist visit many worlds including different stages of earth development.
I met Joe Haldeman twice. Good guy. Very much an outsider in SF world of the 80s. My uncle used to work with Jay's older brother Jack. The last time I saw Joe, in the early 80s, he had lost most of his hair, and some nerdette was pinning him against the wall of an elevator in a Minneapolis hotel. LOL.; 9/8/18, 12:19 AM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: that 14 day prison sentence-- is that 14 business days, or 14 calendar days?
--out sooner on good behavior??; 9/8/18, 12:20 AM
Freeman Hunt said...: The use of The Caine Mutiny quote the other day was hilarious and on point. Meant to say that in that thread and forgot.; 9/8/18, 12:36 AM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: this time we've really got him! Impeachment! Emoluments! 25th Ammendment! Muuuuuulllerrrrrr!"

"'Next, where the Sirens dwells, you plough the seas;
Their song is death, and makes destruction please.
Unblest the man, whom music wins to stay
Nigh the cursed shore and listen to the lay.
No more that wretch shall view the joys of life
His blooming offspring, or his beauteous wife!"; 9/8/18, 1:00 AM
buwaya said...: I have a "Deus Irae" on the shelves, but its Dick and Zelazny.

Stablefords "Dies Irae" I have in a box somewhere .

This might be one of those easily confused titles in classic SF.

I recall, for no good eason I guess, Ilium/Olympos by Simmons. A bit of a literary showoff.; 9/8/18, 1:27 AM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: Yes, "Dies Irae" is the one I meant. IRRC, the Odysseus character was "Mark Chaos". I was 12 or so and didn't realize Stableford was re-imagining Homer until probably several years later. That trilogy was very "new wave"-y. I enjoyed the Grainger & The Hooded Swan books more, despite all the 70s angst.; 9/8/18, 1:39 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: I'm confused: Were Hitler's ancestors slaves, taken against their will, to serve - in war even - for an unrepentant nation? I've been thinking about it and, since I'm pretty sure Jeremiah Wright and Louis Farrakhan could justify their "stab in the back" claim better than Hitler could, I don't see how they equal Nazis, though I'm sure someone here will enlighten me.

Have at it - I'm all ears.; 9/8/18, 4:40 AM
Kevin said...: So your going with the “Wright and Farrahkan can’t be as bad as Nazis because they’re not as bad as Hitler” argument?

They also must not be as bad as any German because they’re not as bad as Hitler.

Not as bad as any European because they’re not as bad as Hitler.

Not as bad as any white person because they’re not as bad as Hitler.

Not as bad as any human because they’re not as bad as Hitler.; 9/8/18, 5:25 AM
Humperdink said...: When Obama suggested in his speech he was The One responsible for the current economic boom, it surprised me he did not mention Cash for Clunkers as the catalyst.; 9/8/18, 5:25 AM
walter said...: He's right in a sense. Sometimes removal of an impediment is the best catalyst.; 9/8/18, 9:06 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: Kevin said...

"So your going with the “Wright and Farrahkan can’t be as bad as Nazis because they’re not as bad as Hitler” argument?"

Your bad reading comprehension wins you no answer.; 9/8/18, 9:36 AM
Ken B said...: Actually, I bet there isn’t a single person alive who doesn’t have slave ancestors.; 9/8/18, 8:41 PM