October 31, 2018

At the Monona Café...

Lake Monona

"Say you are in the country; in some high land of lakes. Take almost any path you please, and ten to one it carries you down in a dale, and leaves you there by a pool in the stream. There is magic in it. Let the most absent-minded of men be plunged in his deepest reveries—stand that man on his legs, set his feet a-going, and he will infallibly lead you to water, if water there be in all that region. Should you ever be athirst in the great American desert, try this experiment, if your caravan happen to be supplied with a metaphysical professor. Yes, as everyone knows, meditation and water are wedded forever." Moby-Dick.

(Open thread.)

64 comments:

wild chicken said...

If only.

Danno said...

I'm sittin on the dock of the bay....

Bay Area Guy said...

There's a prequel to Moby Dick, written about the whale's father.
It's called - Papa Boner.

BUMBLE BEE said...

Ben & Jerry's RESIST ice cream. Anti Semitic to the last drop!

Humperdink said...

"Take almost any path you please, and ten to one it carries you down in a dale, and leaves you there by a pool in the stream."

I live on a mountaintop in NW PA. Behind our house is a small stream, that, depending on how much rain we have had, is anywhere from 2 feet wide to 10 feet wide. It flows along our dirt road, crossing under the road 4 times. At the bottom, it joins the Allegheny River, then the Ohio River, then the Mississippi River, and finally to the Gulf of Mexico. It would be an interesting trip.

Guildofcannonballs said...

IF pine needles were fruit, that would be some of the lower hanging fruit as it were.

Course I'm probably wrong since I know very little of nature ('cept fresh killed elk tastes real good with pepper and salt) and they are probably (^*&%*&%^* trees not pine.

I've quit trying not to be wrong. It hurts too much being wrong so often when I can just, ala Lebowski, say Fuck It.

Doubt my first tat will be that (on my forehead) but I (and you too?) never can be sure. 'Cept cocksure.

Got a lot of that, a whole helluva lot of it.

JML said...

I had carpel tunnel, two trigger finger and cyst removal surgery today. the cyst was on the inner wrist so they had to put me under. The anesthesiologist explained that she would "...put me to sleep." I asked to make sure she wasn't a Veterinarian - some doctors have no sense of humor.

Guildofcannonballs said...

I always thought "The Grand Opening" ought refer to labor.

Grant said...

Beautifully composed. I could ponder it for a very long time.

tcrosse said...

Fair lakes, serene and full of light,
Fair town, arrayed in robes of white,
How visionary ye appear!
All like a floating landscape seems
In cloud-land or the land of dreams,
Bathed in a golden atmosphere!
-Longfellow

Guildofcannonballs said...

--Their wall are built of cannonballs, their motto is "don't tread on me".--

I thought I heard (and considering all the live versions was I not wrong in this single instance, although I concede perhaps never to be repeated?) 'There was a Guildofcannonballs, their motto is "don't tread on me."'

Anyway it's just great American music by a great American band rightfully admired world-wide. I won't declaim the artists meant a pro-life message however all pro-lifers of sound mind ought see it that way, temporally at least.

"Well the first days are the hardest days, don't you worry any more,
Cause when life looks like easy street, there is danger at your door.
Think this through with me, let me know your mind,
Wo, oh, what I want to know, is are you kind?
It's a buck dancer's choice my friend; better take my advice.
You know all the rules by now and the fire from the ice.
Will you come with me? won't you come with me?
Wo, oh, what I want to know, will you come with me?
Goddamn, well I declare, have you seen the like?
Their wall are built of cannonballs, their motto is "don't tread on me".
Come hear uncle John's band playing to the tide,
Come with me, or go alone, he's come to take his children home.
It's the same story the crow told me; it's the only one he knows.
Like the morning sun you come and like the wind you go.
Ain't no time to hate, barely time to wait,
Wo, oh, what I want to know, where does the time go?
I live in a silver mine and I call it beggar's tomb;
I got me a violin and I beg you call the tune,
Anybody's choice, I can hear your voice.
Wo, oh, what I want to know, how does the song go?
Come hear uncle John's band by the riverside,
Got some things to talk about, here beside the rising tide.
Come hear uncle John's band playing to the tide,
Come on along, or go alone, he's come to take his children home.
Wo, oh, what I want to know, how does the song go."

Songwriters: Jerome J. Garcia / Robert C. Hunter

tim in vermont said...

Remember all of the concern, sturm, and drang when Facebook mined users' private data to get Obama elected? Me neither.

Mid-Life Lawyer said...

I didn't read Bartleby the Scrivener, even though I had heard it mentioned for many years as maybe the greatest American novel/short story/novella, until a Law and Literature class my last semester of law school. I think it's the best thing I have read. I had already done some type of presentation on another story, I don't remember what, but I liked Bartleby so much that the Professor had me do something on it. I got the OSA for that class. Big class too.

tim in vermont said...

Your version makes more sense guido.

Inga...Allie Oop said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
tim in vermont said...

I remember that passage from reading it as a teenager on a dare I made with myself.

Humperdink said...

Our local Veterinarian refuses to treat any and all German Shepherds.

Guildofcannonballs said...

What I find frustrating is after having been tread[ed] upon, oftenly the tread[ed]-upon refuse to acknowledge that indeed they were. After the fall and the boot-on-face conclusion pride remaineth.

Because in their world, treader-uponers must say "We Tread Upon You" otherwise, no matter how extant the treading, the treaded-upon refuse to see the treader's treads.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

My daughter and son in law and grandkids live very close to that spot. Monona is a lovely town, so many cute parks on the lake and the one with the ice cream stand across the street is especially sweet in summer. People are offering $30 to 40,000 over asking price to get one of those little homes in Monona

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

your caravan happen to be supplied with a metaphysical professor.
foreshadowing?

Guildofcannonballs said...

"People are offering $30 to 40,000 over asking price to get one of those little homes in Monona."

Not in Trump's economy, ya chump. You've been sold on how good the economy is, rube. That happened ALL THE TIME under Obama and will under Harris, but as of now that is horse-pucky*.

*or puckey as you like.

Guildofcannonballs said...

https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/311844/#respond

Maybe I'm more normal than I like to let on (to myself), yet the attacks on our host here at Althouse do put me into a different frame than I would prefer to be in ceteras parabus.

Mega-Terrorist threats like Deb Frisch and Protein Wisdom embodied are something us normals have no concept of, and shouldn't ideally as Althouse has actively demonstrated for 13 plus years.

But I know Hardin nor Crack nor Thomas nor etc. have mattered enough in ways that matter to attract and ergo need to defend against this dangerous nuisance.

I wish I were the only dangerous nuisance but, alas, it ain't happenin'.

JML said...

Humperdink, according to 23 and me, I am Norman, English, Iberian and a little under 5% Native American - good to know if I ever get hired by Harvard. Anyway, my point is, no German in me as, so I'm good. BTW, we had a vet in our taekwondo school. She always offed doggie drugs when I got injured, adding, "...and if that doesn't work, I can always put you down." I'm pretty sure she was kidding, but just in case, I never took her up on it.

heyboom said...

Added to the list of questions the media would never ask of a Democrat administration

Love the answer, though!

Guildofcannonballs said...

Danno (Alright-o!) knows his history, that Odis Redding died on/in the lakes of Madison
Monona not Mendota to(o) me.

wild chicken said...

Guild of wha??

JML said...

cannonballs, I was thinking of responding with something witty and cutting to some of the comments, but the people who posted them are just closed minded feckless c@nts, so why bother? BTW, that is the same reason I don't engage some of the commenters here.

FIDO said...

So totally unrelated, I was reading Hugh Thomas' History of the World and one of his chapters dealt with 'Time Spent in Labor'.

Back in the 1750s, the average time per year a man (and maybe women) was 3,500 hours per year.

With the advent of the 40 hour work week, it has dropped to 1,800 per year.

As he noted, a person has more leisure time (72 hours) per week than one works...if one doesn't have a job with billable hours like the legal profession...or one is an untenured teaching assistant.

This seemed interesting so I shared it.

traditionalguy said...

Melville's culture accepted dousing or water witching. It is a magic that worked for them.. And that is perfect for Hallows Eve.

Maillard Reactionary said...

Guild, thanks for the Grateful Dead reference. Very appropriate now since we are into the three day observance (celebration, perhaps, if you are Mexican) of the Day of the Dead. More on that later.

The Dead were a great band, Jerry a musical force of nature. They had a humane outlook on life, it seems to me. Still, it had to end.

Getting back to Moby Dick, I read it voluntarily, and not being one shy of long books or antique prose, thought it would have been quite a bit better if 30% or so shorter.
Did Herman know no editors?

Guildofcannonballs said...

I've ended my saving stray dogs mission.

It was a German Shepard, that I had thrown a makeshift treat to, and waited for about a minute in a church parking lot in my 20 year old Mercury, until I saw it bolt across the road to try and kill a dog in a fenced yard across the byway.

I've since seen little guys that previously I would have attempted "saving" but instead looked askance and into my soul and like Nietzsche found {it} wanting.

Humperdink said...

@JML. My German Shepherd dog should ask the Vet to bake him a cake.

Guildofcannonballs said...

I took great pride in helping when I could the little ones, and my shame now of leaving them in distress alone on the city pavement is abated by my knowledge-gaps previously acknowledged.

In this context abated could mean literally anything, but certainly beyond redoubt never everything.

narciso said...

I picked it up, because of in the heart of the sea, yes Melville threw every tidbit about whale lore 19th maritime practices, American cultural touchstones into it, even footnoted it runs long.

steve uhr said...

Maybe this will be one of those rare years where the lake freezes quick and smooth with no covering snow. The Madison lakes become an enormous skating rink. Fun.

Sprezzatura said...

"Let the most absent-minded of men be plunged in his deepest reveries—stand that man on his legs, set his feet a-going, and he will infallibly lead you to water, if water there be in all that region."

Total lie.

Cause of: 'Murica = https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2018/10/31/nazi-kkk-memorabilia-were-sold-kentucky-gun-show-officials-say-it-wont-happen-again/?utm_term=.f777780988ba

Drago said...

Did youhappen to catch Hillary mentioning black men all look alike?

Fantastic.

Smartest woman that ever existed, said dems everywhere.

narciso said...

There's sort of a sequel ahabs return which does a little retconning

n.n said...

Hillary mentioning black men all look alike

The very progressive definition of a liberal color judgment... interchangeable, exchangeable, and, in fact, disposable. It's a Pro-Choice thing.

Francisco D said...

My godparents had a quaint little house across a small street from Lake Monona.

It was a really peaceful place in the summer. It was set up for reading with a huge basement library. The TV was only for the national news and the Green Bay Packers.

They moved to Mississippi for my godfather's job and were soon divorced. It makes sense now.

Guildofcannonballs said...

I can speak authoritatively 100% for our great auteur Beta Laslo280.

You cheap fucks let him down.

And Tony Clifton too.

Bunch' animals you is.

Guildofcannonballs said...

I (Tony Clifton) am music.

I (Tony Clifton) am love.

Guildofcannonballs said...

"stand that man on his legs, set his feet a-going"--

Unless he is armed and shoots you.

Then, well, in that case, before you go about standing that man on his legs and setting his feet a-going know bullets will pierce the very essence of your mere body, not your Godly thoughts.

Guildofcannonballs said...

"stand that man on his legs, set his feet a-going"

There is honor in truth, even though I admit I am semi-demi caged in a truth of mere White Male American of Irish/German belovedness kinda mostly, Germain Irish mostly kinda, therefore capable of a much grander truth via genetics, I'll concurrantly obstain unless you pay me.

You (who/whomever) know why you owe.

Laslo, Althouse, and Gandi all want you to just pay me.

You know I earned this.

LOOK!!!!

narciso said...


Do you translate from sanskrit:


https://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-ppolitics/273097/american-press-middle-east

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

do you Althousian Appalachians realize what month is now upon you?
were you not foretold?

Guildofcannonballs said...

"Totally unfair.

We wouldn't be able to answer these ourselves. The old man is right, it could be anyone. But he and the young dude both make inappropriate assumptions about plain speaking. And although we see them fully formed, they weren't even born when Clinton was president. They cannot be expected to know all his positions back then.

While none of them seem to recognize Democrat positions change by 180° to suit their perceived needs of the immediate present.

Comments to this video on Daily Caller are just mean and stupid."

One of the greatest of commentators, kicked the Hell out Bissage e.g. and others too, who wasn't hounded like the gay artist who owed some cash/dough.

Palladian?

Palladin?

I remember: "Please stop" but it just intensified.

Sad. Guess that's the price I pay for being a broke joke loser idiot. Fair enough.

narciso said...

It is the age of aquarius, its the actual month of the October revolution.

eddie willers said...

'There was a Guildofcannonballs, their motto is "don't tread on me."

When I first read your screen name, I knew EXACTLY where it came from.

I've been singing the verse the same way for forty years. In fact, it wasn't until I read your name that I Googled the lyrics. Was very sad to see there wasn't a Guild of Cannonballs. (Our other motto is "Free Taco Thursdays!")

Sprezzatura said...

"One of the greatest of commentators, kicked the Hell out Bissage e.g. and others too, who wasn't hounded like the gay artist who owed some cash/dough."

Nobody got it worse from Palladian than that Zach of the Sire Says mess.


Most folks who hang here now probably can't imagine Althouse jumping into a thread to explicitly stoke two commenters trashing each other. For some reason, she sure liked Palladian thrashing that poor kid.

Sprezzatura said...

I tried to leave encouraging comments here and at his mostly horrible (although his annual music list was interesting for the two years (IIRC) he did it) blog.

That kid was (is?) a mess. I don't think that Althouse is wicked. But she can be. Nobody is perfect.

Mike Sylwester said...

Q is Eric Trump.

Q+ is President Donald Trump.

Ray - SoCal said...

Nice!

Very Trumpian.

Surprised he is the first, and not Obama.

https://lidblog.com/camp-nelson-monument/
Trump Creates 1st National Monument Celebrating African-American Civil War Soldiers

BUMBLE BEE said...

Ray-SoCal thanks for that post. Trump is not lazy, Obama is.

walter said...

Drago said...
Did youhappen to catch Hillary mentioning black men all look alike?
Fantastic.
Smartest woman that ever existed, said dems everywhere.
--
Well..she was pretty clearly joking.
Now..the press not lunging at it is another story...

Joan said...

I started reading Moby Dick over the summer and have been stalled 186 pages in for months now. Some parts are vivid and lyrical, and those are delightful, like his descriptions of the chowders at the inn he stayed at before shipping out. But it is a very weird book, and I got tired of the weirdness. There's a chapter that's written entirely in dialog, but you can't even read it like a screenplay, because there's literally no action. Then there's the encyclopedia of whaling that goes on and on and on. It seems to me that Melville didn't need to go to that length to establish his bona fides to write a book about whaling.

I may finish reading it at some point, but at nearly 200 pages in, I should be engrossed in the plot and characters enough to want to finish, but I'm not. Melville, like Stephen King, needed a good editor. Can we develop a new career, the retro-editor, who goes back and edits the bloated great works of the past and whips them into shape? There could be similar film editors who trim the running time of overly-long epics (Peter Jackson, I'm looking at you). I suppose it will never happen because of copyright, etc etc.

It's nice to think about, though.

Anne in Rockwall, TX said...

Legal Insurrection has a look back at the Scott Walker election and recall

here

And in the comments was a link to this hilarious video.

democracy is done

Kevin said...

If Althouse we’re still teaching, she could fail half her class by inserting the word Trump into exam questions and watching her students suddenly lose whatever ability they had to think critically and focus their arguments on the issues presented.

The Crack Emcee said...

As long as morons keep relying on the "metaphysical' and "meditation" to explain things, I'm going to keep relying on common sense to know they're lying, and don't know what they're talking about.



ผ้าม่านพาหุรัด said...

To be fair, a metaphysical professor would always be appreciated in any situation.

Ray - SoCal said...

Video of Trump visiting the hospital - really classy.

https://mobile.twitter.com/CRTV/status/1057674504464404481?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1057674504464404481&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.powerlineblog.com%2Farchives%2F2018%2F11%2Fwhen-trump-went-to-pittsburgh.php

Via power line

FIDO said...

Al Roker decided to dress up as that Professor in 'Back to the Future'. I find that cultural appropriation and he should get the same treatment as Megyn Kelly.

**

CNN ran behind the Hallmark channel and Nickelodeon in ratings. When you have Don Lemon stating that WHITE MEN are the biggest terrorist threat to the planet, well...I wonder why they did even as well as that.

Hagar said...

What happened to the Great Terrorist Pipe Bomb Attack of 2018?

The last thing I saw on the internet was that the end caps on the PVC pipes were not even glued in, but held in place with tape, so that the "bombs" would not fall apart in transit.

Fernandinande said...

"If you wander around long enough, you'll find water. If you wander around where there's more water, you'll find it faster." - Dick Moby

I kan haz novel riter job now?